Scotland

UK: Globe bounces back to nearly 2019 carbon pollution levels

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The dramatic drop in carbon dioxide emissions from the pandemic lockdown has pretty much disappeared in a puff of coal-fired smoke, much of it from China, a new scientific study found.

A group of scientists who track heat-trapping gases that cause climate change said the first nine months of this year put emissions a tad under 2019 levels. They estimate that in 2021 the world will have spewed 36.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, compared to 36.7 billion metric tons two years ago.

Japan pledge brings $100 bln climate funding target closer, U.S. envoy says

GLASGOW, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The developed world's $100 billion climate financing target could be met a year earlier than expected, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said on Tuesday, citing new commitments made earlier in the day by Japan.

In 2009, the developed countries most responsible for global warming pledged to provide $100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing nations deal with its consequences. That commitment is currently not expected to be met until 2023.

UK: Over 100 countries vow to end deforestation at climate talks

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — More than 100 countries pledged Tuesday to end deforestation in the coming decade — a promise that experts say would be critical to limiting climate change but one that has been made and broken before.

Britain hailed the commitment as the first big achievement of the U.N. climate conference known as COP26 taking place this month in the Scottish city of Glasgow. But campaigners say they need to see the details to understand its full impact.

UK: Prince Charles calls for ‘war-like footing’ in climate change fight

GLASGOW, November 1. /TASS/: World leaders need to be on "a war-like footing" and launch a "vast military-style campaign" in order to tackle the climate change crisis, Prince Charles said in his address to the climate summit in Glasgow on Monday.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us just how devastating a global, cross-border threat can be. Climate change and biodiversity loss are no different — in fact, they pose an even greater existential threat, to the extent that we have to put ourselves on what might be called a war-like footing," the Prince of Wales said.

UN Secretary General calls on nations to form coalitions on decarbonization

GLASGOW, November 1. /TASS/: Both the developed counties and emerging economies should create coalitions on decarbonization and a stage-by-stage abandonment of coal use, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said speaking at the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

"I urge developed countries and emerging economies to build coalitions able to create the financial and technological conditions to accelerate the decarbonization of the economy and the phase out of coal," he said.

UK’s Johnson warns of ‘doomsday’ as climate summit begins

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson opened a global climate summit Monday, saying the world is strapped to a “doomsday device.”

Johnson likened an ever-warming Earth’s position to that of fictional secret agent James Bond — strapped to a bomb that will destroy the planet and trying to work out how to defuse it.

UK: 2-week UN climate summit formally opens in Glasgow

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow has formally opened, kicking off two weeks of intense diplomatic negotiations by almost 200 countries on how to tackle the common challenge of global warming.

Following the opening gavel, officials set about addressing a raft of procedural matters before leaders from around the world gather in Scotland’s biggest city Monday to lay out their countries’ efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and deal with the effects of climate change.

UK: Court action seeks probe of Trump’s Scottish golf course buys

(Reuters) --- The Scottish government is facing a new legal challenge over its February rejection of a motion to investigate former U.S. President Donald Trump’s all-cash purchases of two golf courses, reviving an effort to force Trump to disclose how he financed the deals.

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