Simon Evans Profile picture
Jun 15, 2022 15 tweets 11 min read Read on X
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This week & last, climate negotiators from around the world have been meeting in Bonn #SB56 ahead of the next UN climate talks COP27 in Egypt

We'll be publishing a full @CarbonBrief summary

But meanwhile, what have they been talking about?

1/n

unfccc.int/SB56
COP26 last year finalised the Paris Agreement, but it also gave climate diplomats a lengthy to-do list

✅A "dialogue" on loss & damage finance
✅A "work programme" on adaptation targets
✅A "work programme" on faster emissions cuts
✅…and much more!

2/

carbonbrief.org/cop26-key-outc…
If you're brave, you can see these to-do list items reflected in the *provisional* agendas of the meetings (yes, meetings plural) in Bonn…

SBSTA, the UNFCCC technical body
unfccc.int/event/sbsta-56

SBI, its implementation arm
unfccc.int/event/sbi-56

3/
In fact, the "Glasgow Dialogue" on loss and damage finance did not make the cut and so has not been formally part of the SBI agenda, as @ChloeFarand reported here:

4/

climatechangenews.com/2022/06/10/fru…
…but the dialogue itself did start to take place in Bonn. You can even watch the sessions on demand.

Confused? Me too!

In short:

Dialogue = talking
On the agenda = decisions can be made

You'd need a decision to set up a new finance facility…

5/

unfccc.int/event/glasgow-…
The "work programme" towards a global goal on adaptation (GGA, as if there weren't enough acronyms already) did make the cut to be on the formal agenda in Bonn; some groups formally submitted their views and we even got a draft (decision) text

6/

unfccc.int/event/sbi-56#e…
The LMDC group of big developing countries, including China & India, submitted a paper calling for, amongst other things, extra finance for adaptation

7/

unfccc.int/sites/default/…
The draft GGA decision text draws on a paper from the African Group, but is heavily bracketed (22) & filled with options (37), meaning it's far from being agreed

At this stage, they're haggling over what to discuss in a series of workshops (!)

8/

unfccc.int/sites/default/…
For the "work programme" on "urgently" scaling up emissions cuts, discussions look to be a long way from consensus, which is v reassuring 🤡

It was on the agenda, they talked about it, but couldn't agree even on basics like how long it should last

9/

unfccc.int/event/sbi-56#e…
You can see the draft conclusions here

To paraphrase "we couldn't agree, ppl suggested some ideas, pls send more ideas before October"

…even the invitation to submit more ideas is, in itself, not agreed (see the [square brackets] around item 4)

10/

unfccc.int/sites/default/…
You can see the grab-bag of ideas being discussed in this "informal note", which is a collection of everything suggested, without any judgement on what should ultimately be included

11/

unfccc.int/sites/default/…
As reported by @ClimateHome latest newsletter and shown by the "informal note", countries can't even agree on how long the "urgent" dialogue on raising ambition should last – whether one year only or all the way out to 2030 – or who should be focus

12/

unfccc.int/sites/default/…
Elsewhere, the Bonn talks also included "technical expert dialogue" on climate finance, looking ahead to the new target that will replace the existing (not yet met) goal of $100bn by 2020

This new target will be a big feature at COP27…

13/

unfccc.int/process-and-me…
If you thought "Article 6" on intl carbon markets was agreed at COP26, you're right, but there's still a whole bunch of new processes to put in place before any of it can start to operate… (6.4, L)

…and guidance needed for bilateral deals (6.2, R)

14/

unfccc.int/event/sbsta-56…
Beyond those items, a whole load of other stuff was being discussed in Bonn, from the Global Stocktake that will show (again) how far off track we are, to the Koronivia joint work on agriculture, the WIM on loss and damage, or the forum on response measures

15/ends

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More from @DrSimEvans

Oct 30
Incredible stat:

A single container ship of solar panels can provide as much electricity as more than 50 large LNG tankers of gas – or 100 large coal ships

There's many more insights in IEA Energy Technology Perspectives 2024 – here's a selection 🧵

1/7 Image
Fossil fuels account for 40% of global shipping trade by volume – but only 10% by value

2/7 Image
The world's solar industry employs as many people as gas

Solar + EVs + batteries + wind combined employ as many as oil
3/7 Image
Read 8 tweets
Sep 27
NEW: How the UK became the first G7 country to phase out coal power 🧵

Four key ingredients in UK's success:

❌🏭Stopping new coal
❤️‍🔥☢️🌄Building alternatives
💷Making polluters pay
📢Clear political signals

But there's much more to say…

1/n

interactive.carbonbrief.org/coal-phaseout-…
Image
UK opened the world's first coal power plant in 1882 on London's Holborn Viaduct (pic)

⛰️ Since then, UK coal plants have burned 4.6bn tonnes of coal, emitting 10.4GtCO2
🌍 That's more CO2 than most countries have ever emitted, from all sources (!)

2/n

interactive.carbonbrief.org/coal-phaseout-…
Image
But the UK was the world's first "coal-fired economy" – and that started long before coal-fired power

🥤Coal fuelled pumps to drain mines to get more coal
📈And as steam engines got more efficient, it got cheaper to use and extract ever more of the fuel, inspiring "Jevons paradox"

3/n

interactive.carbonbrief.org/coal-phaseout-…Image
Read 10 tweets
Aug 6
Oh dear oh dear, Andrew likes to pose as an energy expert, but *everything* he adds here is wrong

💷His biggest omission is that higher power imports means lower bills for consumers💷

Shall we count the other ways he's wrong?

Yes, let's, with added GIFs and some MATHS🧵
Let's begin with the facts. Andrew doesn't say so, but I am going to assume he is (correctly) quoting data from Montel Analytics, showing that UK electricity imports were 18.9TWh in H1 2024, up 82% from H2 2023

Here's some news coverage of the data:

current-news.co.uk/spike-british-…
Let's pause for a moment to congratulate Andrew for successfully quoting a report (albeit without attribution)

This is the only thing he did right.
Read 15 tweets
Jun 18
NEW ANALYSIS: Cutting the 'green crap' has added £22bn to UK energy bills since 2015

🏘️Insulation rates down 98%
🏚️>1.6m new homes built to low stds
🌄Onshore wind/solar growth crashed

A decade of rollbacks has left the UK more reliant on gas imports – and exposed to high gas prices

carbonbrief.org/analysis-cutti…Image
Just over a decade ago, then-PM David Cameron was infamously reported to have told aides to "get rid of the green crap" as a "solution to soaring energy prices"… Image
After Cameron's "get rid of the green crap" frontpage, a series of UK climate rollbacks followed

First, policy changes and funding cuts for home insulation improvements, with annual loft+cavity wall installations now 98% below previous levels Image
Read 8 tweets
May 9
Fossil-fueled chemicals boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe has an anti-EV tirade in today’s Daily Telegraph, littered with outright falsehoods, half-truths and selective facts

Exhibit 1: Far from "coming to a halt", EV demand grew by 25% in Q1 of this year

Let’s take a look shall we?

1/ Image
Exhibit 2: Ratcliffe cherrypicks Germany – where EV subsidies recently ended – to argue that demand is drying up

As already mentioned, global EV sales grew 25% in Q1 of this year, according to the IEA

2/ Image
How about China, Jim? Ah yes, EV sales are up 35% so far this year. But I guess that didn't fit your narrative.

Nor does the UK, I guess, given sales are up 11% in 2024ytd (31% for plug-in hybrids, on which more later)

3/
Image
Image
Read 11 tweets
Apr 4
It seems @mattwridley thinks @Telegraph readers are idiots

Let's run the numbers:

244,000km2 = area of the UK
5-10% = share of UK Matt says would need to be covered with solar to meet electricity demand in June

40MW = solar capacity per km2
500-1,000GW = solar capacity, if covering 5-10% of UK
300% = share of total UK electricity demand that would be generated by 1,000GW of UK solar
650GW = current solar capacity of China, roughly half the global total
<30GW = actual UK summer peak demand

15GW = current solar capacity of UK, of which ~10GW ground mounted
0.1% = current solar land take
70GW = UK govt solar target, because no one thinks we can run the country on solar alone
<1% = future land take

>20% = reduction in UK gas imports if govt solar target is met

Zero = credibility of Matt's articleImage
Image
Sources:

Land requirement for UK solar 40MW per km2 = 6 acres per MW, based on current solar farms; as noted in the article, govt says future farms would need 2-3x less land

carbonbrief.org/factcheck-is-s…
Summer peak demand is 28GW says NGESO

nationalgrideso.com/research-and-p…
Read 8 tweets

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