Protesters hold a demonstration marking the delayed Cop26 UN climate negotiations in Glasgow. Getty Images
Protesters hold a demonstration marking the delayed Cop26 UN climate negotiations in Glasgow. Getty Images
Protesters hold a demonstration marking the delayed Cop26 UN climate negotiations in Glasgow. Getty Images
Protesters hold a demonstration marking the delayed Cop26 UN climate negotiations in Glasgow. Getty Images

Cop26 agreement vital as world climate at 'critical point', says UK minister


Thomas Harding
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The world is at a “critical point” for climate change, Britain's international trade minister Graham Stuart said on Tuesday.

This makes it vital that a global agreement is struck at the upcoming Cop 26 summit, he told the Climate Innovation Forum in London.

Mr Stuart said the changing climate would force policy makers and investors to work in tandem to address the threat and ensure temperature increases do not exceed 2°C, to prevent dangerous global warming.

The plea for action comes as Canada this week recorded its highest temperature to date of 46°C and the Pakistan city of Jacobabad recorded highs of more than 52°C, a threshold hotter than the human body can withstand.

There was also a plea for countries to embrace wind energy technology to help drive down costs, making it affordable for developing countries.

“We are at a critical point and we need immediate progress in ensuring that mean temperatures don't rise by more than two degrees,” Mr Stuart said. “We have a great responsibility and with Britain hosting the event in November we really have to optimise its impact.”

The number of countries and organisations aiming for carbon net zero is approaching 70 per cent of global gross domestic product. While that is “great news”, the minister for exports said “academia, businesses and policymakers from all over the world need to come together to make sure that we don't lose momentum because global problems require global solutions”.

A key element in reducing fossil fuel emissions is to introduce wind farms worldwide. With Britain becoming a major investor, the price per megawatt hour for wind energy in the UK has gone from £120 ($167) in 2015 to less than £40 four years later.

“It is deliverable, it is affordable and the more that we work together and create common frameworks, common actions, the faster we will be able to drive that cost down,” said Mr Stuart. “Even from a purely economic basis, you want to be on board as this is where technology is going and it's where the private investment’s going.”

He said that it was Britain’s ambition to become “the world's number one centre for green technology and finance” that would lay the foundations for “green fuel prosperity”.

A resident walks through a temporary misting station on Abbott Street during a heatwave in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on June 28. The heat is expected to continue for several days in some parts of British Columbia, according to weather warnings from the government. Photographer: Trevor Hagan / Bloomberg
A resident walks through a temporary misting station on Abbott Street during a heatwave in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on June 28. The heat is expected to continue for several days in some parts of British Columbia, according to weather warnings from the government. Photographer: Trevor Hagan / Bloomberg

Gina Hall, of the Carbon Trust, which helps business acquire sustainable energy, said Britain’s wind energy revolution was an “innovative model” that could be copied globally. “The more you can move down that economy of scale curve, like we saw with solar, the more everyone benefits from new technologies.”

She also said it was vital that China, one of the biggest users of fossil fuels, “shows up” at Glasgow. “By that I mean make sure the negotiators from key Chinese industries show up, willing to put a meaningful price on carbon, willing to tackle hard to decarbonize industries, because they're big investors and big builders”.

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference - Cop26 - will be held in Scotland from October 31 to November 12.

TOUR RESULTS AND FIXTURES

June 3: NZ Provincial Barbarians 7 Lions 13
June 7: Blues 22 Lions 16
June 10: Crusaders 3 Lions 12
June 13: Highlanders 23 Lions 22
June 17: Maori All Blacks 10 Lions 32
June 20: Chiefs 6 Lions 34
June 24: New Zealand 30 Lions 15 (First Test)
June 27: Hurricanes 31 Lions 31
July 1: New Zealand 21 Lions 24 (Second Test)
July 8: New Zealand v Lions (Third Test) - kick-off 11.30am (UAE)

Landfill in numbers

• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane

• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming

• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi

• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year

• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away

• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition

The biog

Hobbies: Writing and running
Favourite sport: beach volleyball
Favourite holiday destinations: Turkey and Puerto Rico​

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Meydan Racecourse racecard:

6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes Listed (PA) | Dh175,000 1,900m

7.05pm: Maiden for 2-year-old fillies (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m

7.40pm: The Dubai Creek Mile Listed (TB) Dh265,000 1,600m

8.15pm: Maiden for 2-year-old colts (TB) Dh165,000 1,600m

8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh265,000 2,000m

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,200m

10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,600m.

UAE rugby in numbers

5 - Year sponsorship deal between Hesco and Jebel Ali Dragons

700 - Dubai Hurricanes had more than 700 playing members last season between their mini and youth, men's and women's teams

Dh600,000 - Dubai Exiles' budget for pitch and court hire next season, for their rugby, netball and cricket teams

Dh1.8m - Dubai Hurricanes' overall budget for next season

Dh2.8m - Dubai Exiles’ overall budget for next season

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

Water waste

In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.

Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.

A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.

The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.

Pad Man

Dir: R Balki

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte

Three-and-a-half stars

The Two Popes

Director: Fernando Meirelles

Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce 

Four out of five stars

The bio:

Favourite film:

Declan: It was The Commitments but now it’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Heidi: The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Favourite holiday destination:

Declan: Las Vegas but I also love getting home to Ireland and seeing everyone back home.

Heidi: Australia but my dream destination would be to go to Cuba.

Favourite pastime:

Declan: I love brunching and socializing. Just basically having the craic.

Heidi: Paddleboarding and swimming.

Personal motto:

Declan: Take chances.

Heidi: Live, love, laugh and have no regrets.

 

'Project Power'

Stars: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback

Director: ​Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman

Rating: 3.5/5

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Transmission: two-speed

Power: 671hp

Torque: 849Nm

Range: 456km

Price: from Dh437,900 

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Uefa Nations League: How it Works

The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.

The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.

Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.

The biog

Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology

Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India

Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur

How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993

Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters

Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo

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A Bad Moms Christmas
Dir: John Lucas and Scott Moore
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines
Two stars

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Updated: June 29, 2021, 4:50 PM`