Bonn talks: what's happening? View Online [[link removed]] | Subscribe now [[link removed]]Powered byKnow better. Do better.Climate. Change.News from the ground, in a warming world

By Megan Rowling [[link removed]] | Just Transition Editor

Bonn bunfight

More than halfway through the mid-year U.N. climate talks in Bonn, progress is painfully slow - and fights over a lack of climate finance to help developing countries curb their planet-heating emissions are holding up even the adoption of the agenda for the meeting.

This may seem absurd, but it's a sign of the wider politics shaping global climate action, which is hitting a roadblock over insufficient international funding for poorer nations - whether to adopt clean energy, adapt to a warmer world or deal with loss and damage from extreme weather and rising seas.

A three-day dialogue at the Bonn negotiations didn't do a great deal to advance preparations for setting up a new loss and damage fund at the COP28 summit [[link removed]] in Dubai in December, turning out to be more of a wish list and inventory of what's already being done by humanitarian agencies.

The real heavy lifting on loss and damage finance is being done by a committee that's meeting throughout the year to get the nuts and bolts in place for the hard-won fund that gained backing at COP27.

As our explainer outlines [[link removed]], there are quite a few tricky issues to be ironed out before COP28 - including how this fund can improve what's being done on the ground to help people by overstretched aid agencies, which are worried they won't be able to cope in a hotter future.

"We can't allow the accountability to be shifted outside the (U.N. climate) system - for a very simple reason: 90% of disasters we are facing today are climate-related," argues Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy for Climate Action Network International.

People try to salvage things after their homes and neighbourhood were flooded due to heavy rains, in Esmeraldas, Ecuador June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Santiago Arcos

Net-zero noise

Meanwhile, new data released in Bonn on net-zero emissions commitments shows that, at the national level, nearly 150 countries have now set targets to that end - but the devil is in the detail of the plans to get there, including the efforts that will be needed by cities and companies.

In an annual update from Net Zero Tracker, analysts point out that 37% of the world’s largest companies have yet to set any kind of greenhouse gas mitigation target, while only 252 large cities have adopted net-zero goals.

What's more, the credibility of almost all of those targets is weak [[link removed]] - which means implementation could fall short.

One key blocker to action in the real world is a renewed surge in climate disinformation [[link removed]], amid calls for tougher action by Big Tech to enforce policies against it and tackle greenwashing, reports our London-based tech correspondent Adam Smith.

Common tactics by climate deniers these days include the argument that green energy is expensive and exacerbates the cost-of-living crisis, as well as a push to make climate skepticism part of wider culture wars, for example over "wokeness".

Fisherman and free diver Radith Giantiano poses by boats in a port in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia in May 2023. Radith Giantiano/Handout via Thomson Reuters Foundation

Human rights route

But as time runs out to keep warming to the most ambitious globally agreed limit of 1.5C, activists and ordinary folks are increasingly turning to the law [[link removed]] to protect their human right to a clean and healthy environment, declared by the U.N. last July.

Forty such cases were brought between 2015 and 2020, especially in nations or states that have guaranteed rights to a healthy environment in their constitutions or local and national laws, according to Verisk Maplecroft.

"The pivot that these activists have taken is to start using human rights law," said Will Nichols, head of climate and resilience for the risk consultancy. "It seems to be a newer approach."

Indonesian fisherman Radith Giantiano - still suffering the fallout of tropical cyclone Seroja two years after it devastated his coastal community - is one of 13 complainants looking to take legal action based on the claim the government has violated their human rights under the constitution, as they face life-threatening challenges and adverse impacts to their health, education, livelihoods, food and water supplies from climate change.

One to watch amid the 1,400 climate lawsuits worldwide that have been filed since 2015, making the law a major tool in the climate action toolbox.

See you next week,

Megan

This week's top picks Bangladesh tea workers struggle as heat and drought scorch fields [[link removed]]

Climate change impacts from rising temperatures to lack of rain hit Bangladeshi tea harvest as pickers worry about pay and health

Migrate to survive: Water woes clear out villages in hilly Nepal [[link removed]]

Climate migration is rising among many communities in Nepal as worsening droughts and erratic rainfall cause water shortages

Climate lawsuits turn to human rights in search of justice [[link removed]]

Climate litigation is increasingly using human rights laws as basis to hold countries and companies to account on green pledges

How online disinformation threatens climate change action [[link removed]]

Falsehoods spread by oil companies, climate skeptics and others are a threat to progress against global warming, campaigners say

Carbon markets will not save our planet [[link removed]]

As countries meet at Bonn climate talks, they must reject false solutions like carbon offsets

Rejecting nature restoration in Europe is a shot in the foot [[link removed]]

Rather than hurting farming and fishing, protecting nature pays for itself

Read all of our coverage here [[link removed]] Editor's pick: Why the fastest warming place on earth can’t quit coal [[link removed]]

Far beyond the Arctic Circle, Svalbard is struggling to quit coal - what does this say about our reliance on cheap, dirty energy?

[[link removed]]Discover more Nature [[link removed]] Climate Risks [[link removed]] Net Zero [[link removed]] Just Transition [[link removed]] Climate Justice [[link removed]] Green Cities [[link removed]] Thank you for reading!

If you like this newsletter, please forward to a friend or share it on social media. [[link removed]]

We value your feedback - let us know what you think [mailto:[email protected]].

This email was sent to you by Thomson Reuters Foundation located at 5 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5AQ - a registered charity in the United Kingdom and the United States.

If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this email in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. If you do not wish to receive this type of correspondence in the future, contact us at [[email protected]] so that we can remove you from this list.

Thomson Reuters Foundation terms and conditions and privacy statement can be found online at www.trust.org [[link removed]].

Photos courtesy of Reuters or Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Manage your Subscriptions [[link removed]] | Unsubscribe from all TRF communications [link removed]