The Nakaiy system divides the year into 27 distinct periods, each named after a star or constellation in the night sky.

Any one period in the calendar tells you about expected weather and tidal patterns, navigational routes, and fishing conditions. The Nakaiy was created through centuries of careful observation and local knowledge, passed down through families as an essential tool for survival.

But things are now changing. The climate crisis is leading to more extreme weather events across the Indian Ocean island nation and upending the Nakaiy calendar.

“When you go and speak to communities and ask them what kind of impacts they are facing, a lot of elders will tell you that the weather, it doesn’t follow the calendar anymore,” explained Aishath Reesha Suhail, a programme officer in the Maldives’ Ministry of Tourism and Environment.

As the effects of climate change worsen, it is a real prospect that the Nakaiy may be abandoned by local people, representing a major cultural loss to the Maldives.

‘Systemic and growing threat’

With extreme weather becoming the norm, communities are observing a domino effect of consequences in their everyday lives. The slow onset of heritage loss is now being seen across continents, but notably among small islands in remote parts of the ocean.

“Climate change represents a systemic and growing threat to cultural heritage worldwide,” a UNESCO spokesperson told Climate Home, adding that the World Heritage Committee has identified climate change as “one of the most significant long-term risks affecting properties across all regions.”

UNESCO, the UN body for education, science and culture, defines the loss of cultural heritage as “the erosion of traditional knowledge systems, craftsmanship, social practices and identity, particularly where communities are displaced or livelihoods disrupted”. A clear example is historical sites and even entire islands washed into the ocean as a result of rising sea levels and coastal erosion. 

The Maldives is dealing with such a situation now. The Koagannu Cemetery is a 900-year-old resting place, located on the country’s southernmost atoll, a mere 50 metres from the shoreline. The monument’s intricate coral gravestones are being actively threatened by the encroaching Indian Ocean. 

The government and local community have responded to this challenge with emergency protection measures. Sandbags and concrete structures have been installed along the coastline, complemented by large numbers of palm trees to create a seawall. A wider solution is ‘beach nourishment’, a common practice in the Maldives where sand from elsewhere is brought in to replace what has been lost through erosion. Taken together, these solutions have so far protected the cemetery.

Pacific islands push back against growing climate threats

Among the many issues climate change creates, cultural heritage is not always front of mind. In the Maldives, one of the main barriers people face is awareness. “Most of what we are dealing with relates to the erosion of our islands along with areas such as fisheries… but we are quite limited in our capacity to do something about it,“ Suhail said.

“We don’t understand the full breadth of the issue at present because we haven’t been able to do extensive research on the matter,” she added. However, assessing the extent of the damage – and how to respond effectively – is a key priority for the government, outlined in its latest climate plan, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, and as part of its National Adaptation Plan process.

Fishing is at the core of the country’s culture and identity, employing thousands of people. Most dishes include fish – “we have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Suhail noted – but the climate crisis and overfishing are shifting how and when communities can fish. Tuna makes up 98% of all fish caught in the Maldives, but warmer ocean temperatures are changing migratory patterns, pushing the species into deeper, colder waters.

As a critical economic and cultural resource, the government has outlined a range of solutions to protect the fisheries sector in its first Biennial Transparency Report to the UN. These include using real-time tracking data to improve the efficiency of fishing operations; investing in canneries to increase fish storage; and diversifying away from tuna through marine farming.

Culture and nature go hand-in-hand

The same pattern is playing out elsewhere.

Palau and the Maldives are not close to one another. The two states are separated by around 4,000 miles and sit in different corners of the ocean. But both are experiencing very similar climate challenges, based on their position as a set of scattered, low-lying islands surrounded by an imposing body of blue water.

In the same way as the Maldives, Palau’s cultural heritage is closely tied to “land, coastlines and traditional food systems,” according to Toni Soalablai, at the Palau Office of Climate Change.

“Many of the places that hold stories, history and identity of our communities are located along the coast and are increasingly exposed to erosion and sea level rise,” she said.

One of these places is Ngerutechei village, reportedly the oldest in Palau, and home to ancient stone paths and carvings. The village provides a glimpse into the past social values and culture of the people in this western Pacific nation.

How Vanuatu is facing up to rising climate risks

As part of the development of Palau’s National Adaptation Plan, the government has worked with local leaders to identify similar sites of cultural significance. The plan encourages communities to use their own knowledge to create protective measures for these sites.

Climate change is also prompting communities to take up traditional land and food practices again. These include cultivating taro, a stable food source that has historically supported water, soil and food security on the islands. 

“These systems developed over generations in response to local environmental conditions, so strengthening them today is both a climate adaptation measure and a way of maintaining cultural knowledge that might otherwise fade,” said Soalablai.

Cultural practices in Palau have developed alongside the natural ecosystems that people rely on to survive. It is within this context that researchers believe adaptation policies should be created. Recognising this relationship “can strengthen both community identity and environmental resilience at the same time”, according to Soalablai.

Heritage on the global stage

The issue of cultural loss has not gone unnoticed in international climate negotiations. 

Small island states such as the Maldives have used their role at the UN to push for greater awareness and action, with some key successes.

In 2015, the Paris Agreement established a Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) which recognised that countries needed to do something about climate change now and not later. However, it took six years before a framework and a set of adaptation targets were agreed at the UN climate summit in Glasgow to pursue this goal. 

From this came the establishment of seven overall themes – from poverty eradication to access to health – to guide adaptation action and a set of around 60 indicators to measure progress against the targets.

World leaders invited to see Pacific climate destruction before COP31

Emilie Beauchamp, an adaptation specialist at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), said that “cultural heritage was highlighted as one of the global priorities [of the GGA Framework] and is one of the seven themes, so it is considered very important by the international community.”

The much-debated set of indicators, only finalised in Belém at last year’s COP30, include five related to cultural heritage with a focus on preserving cultural practices and important sites that are “guided by traditional knowledge, Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge and local knowledge systems”. A spokesperson for UNESCO said the inclusion of heritage indicators “marks an important recognition that climate impacts extend beyond economic losses”. 

While critics said the set of final indicators was rushed through by the Brazilian presidency, they now serve as guidance for national governments that wish to implement plans to protect their common heritage. The missing piece of the puzzle remains how to finance these plans – something notably absent from the Belém text, which made clear that the adaptation indicators “do not create new financial obligations or commitments, nor liability or compensation”.

The lack of financial commitments proved disappointing for many small states grappling with how to prevent their cultural history from being entirely forgotten, especially at a time when adaptation finance remains below requirements. A recent UNEP report found that developing nations would need an estimated US$310 billion per year in 2035 to adapt to climate change, while current public financing was around $26 billion.

At these low levels “only a small percentage of what the framework outlines could be implemented,” according to Beauchamp.

The challenge of cultural heritage

When looking at low-lying islands on a map, they can appear as specks of land amid a vast ocean. Many of the stories from these remote places go unnoticed. But the specks represent millennia of human culture that is slowly being lost to the ocean.

While the international community has now recognised the problem and solutions exist, the recurring issue of scarce finance may prevent governments from taking sustained action. Island communities have already been forced to move home as sea levels rise, leaving behind their cultural connections to a place.

The value of any cultural asset, or of human heritage, can be judged by how it is engaged with over generations. Without human intervention, many historical sites, language, cuisine and other local customs would become a forgotten part of history. The rapid onset of climate change brings the role of cultural heritage into sharp relief, challenging communities to decide in real time what they value, what deserves saving, and how to achieve that.

Stories of cultural loss are not confined to small islands but it is here where the challenge is presenting most acutely. The experiences of these vulnerable nations in protecting their heritage will provide the litmus test for effective adaptation responses elsewhere.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

(Main image: The Isdhoo Havitha is an ancient Buddhist monastery in the Maldives, located moments from the shoreline. Photo: Ashwa Faheem) 

The post Island nations fight to save cultural heritage from climate change appeared first on Climate Home News.

July and August typically bring high levels of rainfall across the country, and while flooding isn’t uncommon, the extent and severity could be readily predicted.

These patterns have now changed. In 2022, extreme rainfall swept through Pakistan and huge swathes of the country were under water. Sindh province experienced levels of rain 508% above average for the time of year. 

Extreme weather in Pakistan is becoming the norm. The past 15 years have brought widespread flooding, loss of life and billions in financial costs. A post-disaster report, produced by the Pakistan Government, stated that the 2022 floods were “a wake-up call for systemic changes to address the underlying vulnerabilities to natural hazards”, citing the country’s lack of climate-resilient infrastructure. 

But heavy rainfall is only one of the water-related issues that Pakistan faces. In a country with huge geographical diversity, from sweltering deserts to freezing mountain tops, the water stresses are equally as varied. In many regions the key concern is a lack of reliable, clean water that can be used to grow crops and feed families.

We must invest in early warning systems to tackle crises like Kenya’s drought

The risks of the Indus

The Indus River plays a critical role in Pakistan. This major artery travels almost the entire length of the country, an estimated 2,000 km, from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea. It is a crucial economic lever, supporting nearly 90% of Pakistan’s food production and 25% of its overall GDP. What happens to this river – both human and natural impacts – has huge consequences for the rest of the country.

The government and civil society agree that urgent action is required to protect Pakistan’s fragile water resources. A new adaptation project – SAFER Pakistan – is seeking to address these concerns with solutions that can be used to solve similar climate-related issues elsewhere.

The US$10 million project is led by ICIMOD, an intergovernmental research centre, alongside UNICEF, and financed by the Adaptation Fund. The intention is to tackle six key issues that people face in the Indus Basin: cryosphere risks, drying springs, groundwater, pollution, unsustainable water use, and community resilience.

In practice this means exploring different solutions that put communities in control of their own adaptive capacity. One solution under development is the use of community early warning systems.

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A warning sign

According to researchers, early warning systems “aim to empower affected communities against hazards and help them to sufficiently prepare before disasters strike.” 

The northern provinces of Pakistan – Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – are the main focus for testing these systems. In this mountainous region the Indus is fed by thousands of glaciers which sustain water flow during the dry season. At the same time, increased temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns are changing how these glaciers behave, leading to avalanches, increased snowmelt, and landslides.

As glaciers start to melt due to climate change, they can form large lakes high up on the mountain that can pose a serious threat to the communities living below. When these natural dams fail, huge quantities of water come careening down the mountain, a phenomenon called glacial lake outburst flood.

The SAFER project is exploring how to use local knowledge and observations of the mountain to ensure people know how and when to evacuate when these outbursts occur. This human intelligence will be combined with data from remote sensors to save lives and livelihoods. In total, over 435,000 people will be impacted by the project.

“Early warning systems often serve as the backbone of a multi-faceted response to reduce climate disaster risk,” commented Mikko Ollikainen, head of the Adaptation Fund. “But local information is often just as valuable as the real-time data you receive from sensors or satellites,” he added.

Climate disasters challenge right to safe and adequate housing

Shaping an effective response

Community early warning systems – together with other preventive adaptation measures – are proving a popular solution to extreme weather events. 

A separate adaptation project in the mountains of Central Asia is grappling with the same problem of glacial flooding. In this case, with US$6.5 million in funding from the Adaptation Fund, UNESCO has been implementing early warning systems across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for the past five years, with considerable success.

Diana Aripkhanova, a project officer at UNESCO, and based in Kazakhstan, told Climate Home that glacier lake outburst floods “represent an increasing climate-related hazard across the high mountain regions of Central Asia”.

“These events can trigger destructive floods and debris flows that affect downstream communities, infrastructure, and livelihoods,” she added.

The project utilises real-time data drawn from weather monitoring stations with community preparedness to shape a fast and effective response to life-threatening flooding. This includes training people on evacuation routes, safe locations and simulation drills. In addition, the project has tried preventative measures such as planting hundreds of trees in valleys prone to landslides to provide greater stabilisation.

In total, four early warning systems have been installed across the four countries involved in the project covering seven high-risk areas. As a result, UNESCO estimates these systems are protecting over 100,000 people.

“Early warning systems are a key risk reduction measure, allowing communities to evacuate in time and reduce potential loss of life and damage to assets,” added Aripkhanova.

Community participation

The active role of each community is built into these interventions. Ensuring local people are core contributors is seen as crucial to building long-term climate resilience.

These communities are witnessing the threats from climate change materialise on a yearly basis, and researchers are now tapping into that understanding when implementing adaptation projects. 

After the 2022 floods, Pakistan’s development minister, Ahsan Iqbal, wrote that “there is an opportunity to do things differently” and that “enhancing Pakistan’s resilience to shocks and stresses amidst climate change, especially for the poorest…is essential for the country’s future.”

The climate shocks remain as strong as ever, but using the right tools and simple solutions can soften the blow when they occur.

Adam Wentworth is a freelancer writer based in Brighton, UK

The post Early warning systems are saving lives in Central Asia appeared first on Climate Home News.

Water shortages

Brazil’s northeast region is particularly noted for its semi-arid landscape and water scarcity.

Pernambuco, a small state by Brazilian standards, extends from the eastern Atlantic coast into the region’s interior for around 450 miles. Water availability is a constant concern for many communities across the state, especially family farms which are significant contributors to the regional economy.

“One of the main problems people are facing here is the growing frequency of droughts and the irregularity of rainfall. As a result, producing food has become extremely difficult,” said Carlos Magno, a coordinator at Centro Sabiá, a non-profit organisation in the area.

“We’re also experiencing stronger heatwaves, which have been causing the death of many trees and affecting the local environment even more,” Magno added.

Giving nature breathing room builds climate resilience

He went on to describe how family farming in the region is almost entirely dependent on rain to grow food. There are no irrigation systems or wells to support communities so when the rains fail, it means less food on the table.

Addressing these concerns is a key objective of an ongoing project supported by the Adaptation Fund’s Climate Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA), administered by the UN Development Programme and carried out by Centro Sabiá.

Transforming lives

Centro Sabiá has an intimate knowledge of how family farming operates in the region. It spent time consulting with communities to better understand their concerns, and hearing their ideas on how to combat water scarcity.

The project is implementing simple, yet affordable, climate solutions which are improving the livelihoods of local people. One intervention being explored is to recycle wastewater to help with the growth of new agroforestry plots. The water – taken from washing or cleaning – is filtered and then redirected for use on plots that combine crop farming with tree planting. The technique is designed to improve soil health, cut pollution and improve biodiversity.

“The water that used to pollute the soil now nourishes crops and trees,” added Magno. “When people realise that their available water is limited, but they can reuse it to grow food, it changes everything.”

On the project, 130 families, totalling over 31,000 people, introduced greywater reuse across 30 new agroforestry plots. The systems are low-cost and simple to implement within a farm’s existing infrastructure. They can be used for years with the initial access to technical support, and, as a result, are now treating millions of litres of water each year.

The impacts in Pernambuco have been immediate. Each family is estimated to be saving US$350 a year on water, and earning over US$300 a month from selling agroforestry products.

Making farming greener

Agroforestry has been identified as a sustainable alternative to industrial farming. 

According to some scientists, the Amazon rainforest is able to recycle up to 5 litres of water per square metre a day. By contrast, land used for pasture is only able to recycle 1.5 litres. This helps to explain why some previously biodiverse areas that have been converted for cattle ranching and farming are now becoming drier.

Agroforestry seeks to redress the balance by including trees in the agricultural process, bringing more moisture – and carbon – back into the soil. The response to these techniques from people across Pernambuco has so far been overwhelmingly positive.

“Nature is doing really well for us,” reported Cilene, a local participant in the project. In a recent interview with the Adaptation Fund, she explained how in the past, “we bought things with pesticides. Now with this project we are learning to have better, healthier food.” 

“Compared to how we were living before, we see better results and sustainable benefits,” she added.

How Vanuatu is facing up to rising climate risks

Francisca Ferraz de Aquino Silva, a farmer in Calumbi, agrees. “This project was a real turning point in my life,” she said.

“After the technology arrived, I realised it was possible to make better use of water, without waste, and to produce food while improving the soil. It was a new opportunity in my life,” she told Centro Sabiá.

“Agroforestry reduces the need for heavy labour. You work without much effort, it brings economic return, and nature works in your favour…I saw that it was possible to live in semi-arid conditions with dignity and prosperity – planting biodiversity and working with agroforestry systems,” she added.

What this means for COP30

As heads of state discuss the state of the planet in Belém, they only need look around at the surrounding rainforest to see how vital a role it plays.

Human development and extreme weather are putting significant pressure on nature and people’s livelihoods. If these drier conditions persist, the rainforest could be turned into savannah, which some scientists believe will create further dry weather and drought.

But the lessons from Belém’s southerly neighbour over in Pernambuco could provide an answer.

Five big questions hanging over COP30

“Policymakers and delegates attending COP30 have a lot to learn from the project,” commented Magno. “It was built with civil society. It was carried out with the contribution of organisations and people who work every day with local communities.”

“By the end of the [climate] conference, the decisions and commitments must truly guarantee that adaptation resources reach the communities that are struggling every day to adapt to climate change,” he continued.

“It is crucial for funds from international climate agreements and adaptation policies to reach the local level, where they are needed the most.”

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK

The post COP30: Brazil is drying up despite its rich natural resources appeared first on Climate Home News.

Vanuatu, a collection of 83 islands separated by around 1,300 km deep in the South Pacific Ocean, is among a group of ocean states widely regarded as uniquely exposed to climate change.

The World Risk Index, created by German academics and NGOs, has consistently ranked Vanuatu as the world’s most vulnerable country to climate risks and natural disasters.

Geography plays a large role in this because of Vanuatu’s proximity to the Pacific “Ring of Fire” – an area of strong volcanic activity and earthquakes – and its position close to the centre of a cyclone belt. Cyclonic storms have become more frequent and powerful in recent years due to global warming.

Category 5 tropical cyclones – the most severe – are particularly occurring more often. In 2015, Cyclone Pam damaged an estimated 90% of all buildings in Vanuatu and impacted half the population. This was followed by Cyclone Harold in 2020 when winds of up to 125 miles per hour caused an estimated US$768 million in damages across the Pacific.

Another reason for Vanuatu’s vulnerability is its scattered population around coasts that are exposed to rising sea levels. A total of 325,000 people live across 65 islands, characterised by rugged terrain and limited infrastructure.

Giving nature breathing room builds climate resilience

Despite these limitations, the country is finding new and innovative ways to protect its population against climate threats and regain its economic competitiveness. 

An ongoing project on the country’s largest island, Espiritu Santo, is trialling techniques to support communities adapt. The project grant – funded by the Adaptation Fund and managed by UNDP through the Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA) – focuses on a number of areas that can benefit these isolated communities. Key components include ecosystem restoration, disaster preparedness, improving food security and strengthening institutions.

Disaster committees

The Paris Agreement set a clear goal of limiting global temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius with the aim of keeping to a safer ceiling of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Under current scenarios, where average temperatures increase by more than 2C, island nations such as Vanuatu are predicted to lose 20% of their GDP each year due to climate disasters. This is despite data which shows Vanuatu contributed less than 0.01% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Joses Togase, a project manager at Santo Sunset Environment Network (SSEN), an Indigenous environmental group on the island, told Climate Home News that people in the region are facing serious threats from climate change. “Rising sea levels are damaging the coastal zones and eroding valuable local resources that people depend upon to support their livelihoods,” he said.

Further inland, he commented, people are experiencing an increase in landslides, soil erosion and flooding which is impacting crop production, forest cover and access to freshwater. “The unpredictable changing weather, heavy rainfalls, droughts, very rough storms, and more frequent tropical cyclones are major challenges the communities are facing,” he added.

Climate disasters challenge right to safe and adequate housing

In response, the Espiritu Santo project has supported community leaders, forest rangers and climate-related disaster committees to adapt to a changing climate. In 2023, the island was hit by two Category 5 cyclones within a week. The committees – with the help of the SSEN – immediately undertook a damage assessment and identified emergency needs so the government could act quickly.

In the future, this work will be supported by an upgraded early warning system and improved internet access – thanks to solar-powered satellite communication – to allow the community to access live weather advice.

How to farm smart

Food security is often a concern in remote regions and extreme weather adds another layer of vulnerability to communities on Vanuatu. Under these circumstances, subsistence farmers need to switch to crops which have higher yields in a shorter growing season and are able to withstand much harsher weather conditions.

The project, alongside encouraging families to maintain their traditional methods of food production, is seeking to raise awareness of climate-smart agriculture. Demonstration plots have been established to plant drought-resistant crops, such as manioc, kumara and taro.

Growing cover crops between seasons to protect the soil, and intercropping, where more than one crop is grown side-by-side in the same field, are also promoted. These practices are designed to improve soil health, prevent erosion and protect against extreme weather. 

Togase believes these practices should be shared with other Pacific islands facing similar climate threats. “The traditional planting calendar, food crop planting and preservation are some of the important lessons,” he commented.

Advancing women’s rights and empowerment in climate adaptation

Increase in local awareness

Human settlements on Vanuatu date back over 3,000 years. In that time, Indigenous peoples have dealt with a range of environmental risks. The climate crisis is the latest in that series and local people are looking to utilise – and adapt – traditional ways of life to overcome these challenges. Groups such as SSEN provide an important connection between the community and government as they collectively navigate a way forward.

According to Togase, recent interventions on Espiritu Santo have “increased understanding and realisation among the local people to become more conscious and alert” in mitigating climate threats. This has, in part, been achieved through Indigenous knowledge sharing and respecting community governance.

As Vanuatu faces an uncertain future, its people aren’t shying away from these threats, but using nature, existing customs and new ideas to their advantage.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK

The post How Vanuatu is facing up to rising climate risks appeared first on Climate Home News.

The robotics engineer, now a professor at Columbia University, was referring to the advent of 3D printing – a technology he claimed would “transform every single aspect of our lives”.

That revolution had already been brewing for some time given that the first commercial 3D printer – the SLA-1 – was released in the late 1980s by American firm 3D Systems. 

But it was improvements in the speed, materials and accuracy of the technology that led experts to believe 3D printing would revolutionise the global economy.

Today, it is used in multiple sectors, from automobiles to fashion, housing to healthcare – and in ways many people do not realise. In the future, its efficiency and low cost offer promise to help bring the world’s rapacious use of resources down to levels in line with protecting the climate and nature. 

Engine parts, car dashboards and prosthetics are all 3D printed. New homes, manufacturing tools and custom shoes have followed suit. The possibilities are endless: complex applications such as building human tissue or satellites in space have already been developed.

As a result the industry is now valued at $20 billion-$25 billion, with high growth estimates putting it at over $100 billion within the next 10 years. In the past year alone, the industry grew by around 9%, according to consultants Wohlers Associates. 

The potential for using 3D printing to reduce waste and improve the efficiency of manufacturing processes has also caught the attention of those working on sustainability, as it opens up new possibilities for businesses seeking to reduce their environmental impact. 

The question is whether the industry can live up to its promise and deliver large-scale, affordable environmental solutions.

Built by machines

The extraordinary range of uses for 3D printing is testament to the flexibility of the technology and the ingenuity of its developers. The ability to create freely and on location are hugely attractive options to designers and engineers.

3D printing – also called additive manufacturing – works by first creating a 3D model using computer-aided design (CAD). This model is translated into code the printer can read, and the printer then deposits materials in layers to create the final object.

This process cuts out many of the complicated – and human – elements of manufacturing or construction. Building a house in the conventional manner, for example, can take months, requiring many people from different trades and a multi-layered supply chain.

By contrast, one of the world’s first 3D-printed homes – the TECLA House – was built out of local clay in Italy in around 200 hours and using 60 cubic metres of raw material. Its construction required 350 12-millimetre layers. The house was produced in 2021 as a prototype for future buildings that would need to respond to the climate crisis. 

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In a statement on its launch, Massimo Moretti, founder of WASP, the 3D company behind the project, commented: “TECLA shows that a beautiful, healthy and sustainable home can be built by a machine using on-site materials.”

By using only what is needed in exactly the right place, additive manufacturing greatly reduces waste. Some industry sources claim the difference can be up to 90% less material waste than with traditional methods. The end product can also be designed to be lighter which reduces material use and energy consumption.

Circular by design

The TECLA House, and similar buildings such as the Amsterdam Canal House, are sleek examples of what can be achieved with the latest 3D printing technology.

However, they beg the wider question of whether such projects can be made at scale and within budget, while meeting commercial needs. Affordability and custom-made are words that are rarely used in the same sentence.

Signify, a global lighting company, has been tackling this challenge by turning its attention to how 3D printing can support sustainable, mass-made custom lighting solutions.

Signify began experimenting with 3D printers around 2015, primarily for prototyping moulds, fixtures and early product concepts, explained Bart Maeyens, Signify’s global leader for 3D printing.

“The turning point came when researchers were challenged to explore 3D mass production and succeeded to develop polycarbonate-based formulations able to produce durable end-use parts – not just prototypes – which enabled full-scale production of luminaires,” he added.

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The following year the company launched myCreation, an offshoot that produces on-demand 3D-printed lighting from recycled materials. By 2020, Signify had installed 500 3D printers in hubs around the world, allowing the company to customise lighting at scale.

Signify myCreation offers 3D printing as a sustainability-focused product intended to serve the circular economy. All printed parts are produced with at least 65% recycled materials, while bio-circular and industrial recycled plastics are also used, according to Maeyens.

“We produce on-demand with short production lead times which eradicates obsolete stocks and decimates carbon footprint in production transportation. Rejected parts are recycled in-house, leading to zero waste in production,” he said.

Compared to conventional methods, Signify’s 3D-printed lighting decreases carbon emissions by up to 76% and its products contain up to 40% fewer components, Maeyens noted.

Businesses are responding positively to these possibilities. Food giant McDonald’s and British retailer Marks & Spencer have both signed up to use the 3D-printed products in their stores. 

The El Dorado International Airport in Colombia installed 9,000 3D-printed lights which, along with retrofitting existing points with LEDs, reportedly reduced the airport’s electricity needs by 65%. A similar project at Madrid Barajas Airport saw a 50% drop in electricity needs. 

The quiet revolution

Professor Lipson, when asked by Climate Home about his predictions a decade and a half ago, feels validated.

“3D printers have become so ubiquitous that they exist in every high school in the world, many kids have them at home – and nobody is counting,” he said.

Lipson sees the technology as part of a wider revolution in digital manufacturing, working alongside generative AI, to change how the global industry operates.

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“3D printing allows you to go from a digital blueprint to a physical object quickly, accurately, with little investment in tooling or skill,” he explained. ”That’s the direction manufacturing is moving in many areas that involve complex products.” The result could mean jobs and factories that businesses set up or outsourced overseas to cut costs could be reshored, he added.

The 3D printing age is unfolding without the fanfare of AI, or sky-high levels of investment. This quiet revolution has been embraced behind factory doors where engineers have grasped its enormous potential.

3D printed renewables and batteries

The potential is clear when it comes to cutting environmental impact: lighter-weight products, efficient use of materials, local production and high recycling rates.

There are already examples of 3D-printed solar power cells that can produce renewable electricity without needing to mine and transport heavy materials such as gold or copper over long distances. Wind turbine components, such as blade moulds, are being printed to cut out wasteful alternatives. These flexible and lightweight blades could potentially capture more of the wind’s energy.

And energy storage – a key enabler of the energy transition – is advancing by printing batteries onsite that can increase energy density and improve efficiency. They could also help put an end to environmentally damaging supply chains often associated with battery production.     

These are just a handful of examples where clean tech is taking advantage of the 3D printing revolution. Green industry experts are hoping the next step is to expand the use of these techniques so that the benefits become widespread.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post Does the future of green manufacturing lie in 3D printing? appeared first on Climate Home News.

Despite the vast stretch of water between them, the two small island nations share a common challenge: how to protect their people from rising seas and extreme weather. 

Climate change is an ever-present reality for these two countries – and all other island states – in the region. The land that juts out of the Pacific Ocean makes up less than 1% of the total area. The sea that surrounds these islands is both an essential economic resource and a looming threat.

“Climate change isn’t just science – it’s personal,” one participant told the Cook Islands National Loss and Damage Dialogue held in Rarotonga in mid-April. “With warmer temperatures and fewer pandanus trees, the women’s weaving traditions are under threat.”

Recent research from NASA found that Pacific islands are expected to experience at least 6 inches (15.24 cm) of sea level rise over the next 30 years, whether the world reduces greenhouse gas emissions or not. In recent years, the climate crisis has exacerbated many existing problems for island nations: more severe droughts and cyclones, together with the encroaching sea, have destroyed livelihoods and increased people’s economic vulnerabilities. 

“Communities on remote Pacific islands are in danger of having their culture and way of life erased if we don’t act now and help them survive,” said Mikko Ollikainen, head of the Adaptation Fund. “It’s desperately important that we work to support people most vulnerable to climate shocks,” he added.

Countries reach hard-fought compromise on climate adaptation metrics in Bonn

As extreme weather persists, small but crucial interventions are being explored to support people to adapt to their new reality. In small island developing states, such as the Cook Islands and Federated States of Micronesia, these ideas have been put to the test, with both nations implementing projects to build climate resilience and enable communities to thrive in spite of the growing stresses they face.

Remoteness makes resilience key

Many of the climate-related issues for small island – or large ocean – states are connected to their remoteness. There are over 1,000 islands comprising the sovereign nations in the Pacific – the Federated States of Micronesia alone has more than 600 islands.

These inhabited islands are often hard to reach and lack basic infrastructure such as electricity access, healthcare provision and water security. This makes them even more vulnerable to disasters and increases the need to build resilience to climate shocks.

In recent years, governments in the Cook Islands and Micronesia have sought financing from the Adaptation Fund to address these chronic issues. The resulting projects provide important lessons in adaptation in places on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

Finance flowing for locally led climate adaptation

Both countries have locally based organisations, known as national implementing entities (NIEs), accredited through the Adaptation Fund’s “direct access” scheme which helps countries manage their adaptation efforts. Entities can propose and develop projects and receive financial support from the Fund without going through international agencies.  

Projects in both island states are tailored to local adaptation needs, but bear many similarities in their approach to climate problems. They are focused on outer islands, water and food security, data monitoring, gender concerns and restoring ecosystem health, as a path to climate resilience.

“We need to work harder to understand what life is like for people in remote places, especially on low-lying Pacific islands. From the beginning, these projects built in these concerns, ensuring decisions and solutions were community-led, inclusive, and informed by local knowledge,” added Ollikainen.

Adaptation for farmers and fishers

On the Cook Islands this meant increasing water storage across the outer Pa Enua islands, alongside 25 new farms and 11 agro-nurseries with a strong focus on establishing climate-resilient crops. A new early warning system was created, with local training provided on disaster risk preparedness and centralised data management.

In addition, 35 community grants were awarded to farmers and households to help pay for adaptive tools such as fencing, tanks and agricultural equipment. “The climate has changed, full-stop. But now we’ve got drip irrigation [to sustainably water crops]. We’re still growing,” commented one farmer on Mitiaro, a tiny volcanic island.

Mani Mate, a director at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, the NIE carrying out the resilient livelihoods “PEARL” project, said it shows “how small island nations can deliver tangible, locally led resilience when adaptation is community-driven and well-resourced”. 

“While challenges remain, the Cook Islands now have tools, systems and experience to build on, along with growing interest in a second phase of support,” Mate added.

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In a similar way, the Micronesian project implemented by the Micronesia Conservation Trust, also an Adaptation Fund NIE based on the island, has put in place effective state protections for marine habitats, increasing awareness and enforcement capabilities, as well as access to sustainable finance. The project issued locally led small grants across the islands to allow communities to directly implement marine-based measures, such as the restoration of upland forests and mangroves and stronger fisheries management.

The focus on protected areas is in keeping with the wider Micronesia Challenge, an initiative of five governments across the wider region, to conserve 50% of marine resources by 2030, equivalent to 2.5 million square miles (6.5 million square kilometres).

Adaptation Futures conference in the Pacific

Climate scientists have long understood how precarious islands are when confronted with extreme weather, such as powerful cyclones or long dry spells. The experiences of ocean states, and the recent interventions in the Cook Islands and Micronesia, could provide policymakers with sufficient evidence to inform future adaptation responses.

“The project gave us the tools, but more importantly it gave us the confidence to lead our own resilience,” commented a local representative on Mauke in the Cook Islands.

Practitioners will be given ample opportunity to discuss these issues in New Zealand later this year. The biannual Adaptation Futures conference in October will put Indigenous and Pacific island concerns at the heart of the event, providing a unique moment to have these stories told and acted on.

“Pacific island concerns have not always received the right amount of attention and awareness,” said Ollikainen. “But what happens in these places – drought, flooding, sea level rise – is being repeated around the world. Low-lying islands are the canary in the coal mine – we ignore the warning at our peril.”

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post Pacific islands push back against growing climate threats appeared first on Climate Home News.

Operating with a small in-built solar panel, connected to a battery and using an LED light bulb, it can transform how rural communities see the world.

Its use in places without access to mains electricity has taken off in the past 15 years, alongside the wider growth in solar power around the world.

An estimated 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa still live without reliable access to electricity, according to the World Bank. The introduction of solar power – coupled with energy-efficient lighting – is key in tackling this problem.

Many villages not served by national grids are forced to use kerosene lamps and candles, or burn straw in the evening, which is costly and dangerous to human health. London-based think-tank ODI Global estimates that low-income households in Africa spend US$6.5 billion a year on such inefficient lighting options.

Solar power changes the equation, allowing streets to be lit, children to study at night, and a sense of security to exist. Greater electricity access enables farmers to work an extended day and use solar-powered irrigation and cooling systems to grow and process their crops.

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“Reliable and affordable energy creates economic transformation,” said Eva Roig, a spokesperson for GOGLA, an Amsterdam-based trade body for the off-grid solar energy industry. The organisation estimates that US$9 billion in additional income has already been created by businesses as a result of switching to solar in place of fossil fuel alternatives.

“In off-grid locations, lack of energy restrains farmers from higher productivity and, with a growing young population, offers few employment opportunities or possibilities to create new businesses,” she added.

The challenge for off-grid solar power is to reach the hundreds of millions of people in need and create a stable market for its continuance.

Electric power key to tackling poverty

UK charity SolarAid was founded in 2006 with the aim of creating a world “where everyone has access to clean, renewable energy” and eradicating the use of kerosene lamps in Africa.

A couple of years later it set up SunnyMoney, a social enterprise which uses a community distribution model to raise awareness and increase demand for solar power. Local teachers explain how the technology works and independent agents sell the products. SunnyMoney supports them with logistics, training and engagement along the way.

“We believe that access to electricity is fundamental in the fight against poverty. Access to solar lighting and power means that families are saving money, extending productive hours, increasing access to study hours and also increasing safety,” explained John Keane, CEO at SolarAid, based in Zambia. 

The charity has reportedly helped 12 million people through the social enterprise, with projects in Senegal, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and Malawi.

While models such as SunnyMoney can stoke the solar market, larger businesses need to step in and supply the kit itself. D.light is one of the solar companies that has done more than most to bring affordable solar power to some of the remotest villages in Africa.

Finance for renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa is defying the odds

The US company is deeply embedded across the continent, with a vision to make solar products accessible to low-income families. The business had one of its most successful years in 2024, and says it reached 24 million people with solar systems last year alone.

But it hasn’t always been plain sailing. “I don’t think we realised how difficult it would be to commercialise and scale off-grid solar products,” d.light’s founder and CEO, Nedjip Tozun, commented in an interview last year. 

While its products now power around 32 million homes, building that capacity took time, patience and good fortune. Tozun explained that during the early years in the mid 2000s the difficulties lay in building a high-quality product which could be distributed to remote areas and with financing to enable people to pay for it. The company was forced to create those capabilities in-house in order to scale and overcome external barriers.

Funding energy efficiency to expand use

Improving energy efficiency is one such challenge the off-grid industry has sought to solve. Solar devices need to hold the sun’s energy long enough to be used for a wide range of purposes. This is where LED lighting comes in.

“Over the past 10 years, the growing availability of increasingly energy-efficient appliances, such as LED lighting is transforming what’s possible,” said Keane. “It’s the foundation for designing inclusive solutions that deliver long-term impact.”

The main benefits, he explained, is that LED lighting drastically reduces the amount of electricity needed to light homes, enabling households on lower incomes to meet their essential needs with small solar systems.

As off-grid solar kits are small by design, using the power with efficient lighting or low-voltage appliances, such as refrigerators, means the energy goes further and is matched to the user’s needs.

Pairing solar with technologies to support economic activity, so-called “productive use”, is a growing area within the industry. Solar can be applied in a range of commercial settings, and on any number of appliances, from sewing machines to water pumps, or from seed pressers to ceiling fans. But to do so effectively those appliances need to be energy-efficient and upgrading is expensive. 

New financing initiatives such as PUFF – the Productive Use Financing Facility – are playing a role by offering subsidies to suppliers to help bring down the costs for farmers and businesses. After a successful pilot, the scheme was recently extended with an additional US$6.1 million to support access to 10,000 “high-impact” appliances, according to CLASP, a non-profit which started the initiative.

“Efficient appliances and equipment turn energy into opportunity and should be considered essential energy infrastructure, alongside renewables,” commented Emmanuel Aziebor, a senior director at CLASP, in a media statement.

Financial barriers to adoption

Overall, the coming together of small solar technology, LED lighting and socially minded businesses has grown the market significantly over the past decade.

In Kenya, off-grid solar now accounts for an estimated 75% of rural electricity access. The country has a target to reach universal access by 2030 and solar plays a big part in the government’s plans.

But the same barriers to scaling the market remain. Despite the success of using mobile technology and pay-as-you-go models to spread out costs for the consumer, affordable solar products are still out of reach for many. Research from ESMAP, an energy programme run by the World Bank, found that only 22% of households that lack electricity globally could afford the monthly payment to access a basic solar lantern and home system able to provide power for at least four hours a day.

“Governments should fully integrate off-grid solar into their national energy plans and programmes,” said Roig of GOGLA, adding that incentives such as tax breaks, subsidies and public-private partnerships are needed to reach the poorest households.

Making solar affordable for all

One way to bring down costs for consumers is to de-risk investments for solar power producers. The Beyond Grid for Zambia pilot project sought to do exactly that by providing financing to companies on a per-connection basis. 

The project, which ran from 2016 to 2022, also worked with the Zambian government to smooth market access, such as providing a VAT exemption for LED lights. The successful results – with over 194,000 households fitted with off-grid solar – have led to ambitious plans to scale the project across the whole African continent.

The remoteness of many villages makes repairing and maintaining solar kits another challenge. Collecting, servicing and replacing these products can be expensive for companies. Research from SolarAid suggests that while manufacturers agree that repair work needs to improve, it remains an ambition for many.

Among the possible solutions include extending warranty times, providing technical training in-country, and greater guidance on how to conduct repairs at the community level. SunnyMoney already provides technicians with its own mobile repair app, which could be expanded and used as a template for manufacturers.

Despite the challenges, the work to reach tens of millions of remote households is being reinforced and stepped up. SolarAid is midway through a pilot project to connect TA Kasakula, a village in rural Malawi where almost all residents live in extreme poverty. The project is trialling a new financing model which eliminates upfront costs, with customers only paying for the electricity they use.

The stories coming back to the social enterprise are of revelation and changed lives. “When we switched on the lights, some children were dancing, jumping,” reported Goodwill Kongalwa. “Then everyone rushed to where there were books because they saw they had a chance to study at home.”

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post How off-grid solar is beating the odds to transform lives in rural Africa appeared first on Climate Home News.

But this is Energy House 1, located on Joule Terrace, and it has been designed by scientists researching what Britain’s dreams of an all-electric, net zero future might look like in reality.

The house, and its successor Energy House 2, have been used to test an array of technologies – from smart meters to thermal paints – combined with detailed modelling to understand their real world implications.

As countries race to wean their economies off fossil fuels and reduce their carbon emissions to net zero by mid-century, switching to electricity in homes and transportation looks like a relatively easy win. 

Ageing gas boilers can be replaced with a heat pump to warm radiators and water tanks, for example. And millions of vehicles powered by petrol and diesel can be switched out for electric vehicles (EVs). 

Yet the extent to which that shift contributes to a green energy transition will depend on the level of renewables and other clean energy sources adopted by each country.

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‘Age of electricity’

Globally, power generation from solar panels and wind turbines increased at a record pace in 2024, an annual review by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows. That was thanks to a rapid rate of new renewables installation, while nuclear power output was boosted by new projects and the restarting of reactors in France and Japan.

But electricity generation from fossil gas and coal kept growing and, overall, fossil fuels still represented 60% of the global electricity mix last year.

Soaring use of cooling technologies like air conditioning in response to extreme heat was a key factor in the growing appetite for electricity, especially in China and India, which are heavy users of coal power, the IEA said. 

Growing electricity consumption by industry, the rollout of electric vehicles and the expansion of data centres also drove power demand, it added.

Rising gas and coal use fuelled a 0.8% increase in global carbon dioxide emissions generated by the energy sector in 2024, the IEA said – but trends varied widely across regions.

Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, noted that “even though oil and gas will remain essential energy carriers, we hear the footsteps of the age of electricity coming”.

Governments need holistic vision

Despite this expectation of a fundamental shift in how economies are run, electrification as a goal in itself is often neglected in governments’ climate plans, according to Richard Black, director of policy and strategy at Ember, a UK-based energy think-tank.

“Electrification as a concept is something that’s only really talked about by energy analysts,” he said.

“Governments don’t think in these terms. They think about electric cars or heating, or green steel. They don’t necessarily have a holistic vision of why it makes sense to consider all these sectors together, and how you would plan your electricity system expansion alongside that,” he added.

April’s massive power outage across Spain and Portugal was a reminder of the challenges of growing dependence on electricity, as transport networks and businesses were severely disrupted. While the cause is still being investigated, there have been calls for investment in national grid infrastructure and storage to ensure increases in electricity capacity can be managed appropriately – a challenge that is not limited to the Iberian peninsula.

In the Global South, meanwhile, some 750 million people still live without access to electric power – mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the IEA. That is putting the brakes on ambitious plans to boost EV adoption on the continent, especially in remote rural areas. 

Electricity demand surges, expanding renewables and fossil fuels in 2024

Electric vehicles catch up

Despite such issues, vast strides have already been made on electrification globally, Black said, noting that researchers have dubbed China the world’s first major “electrostate”, having electrified by 10 percentage points per decade.

Crucially, the new clean industries leading the electrification charge will allow governments to meet their climate targets while offering the public the promise of economic growth and green jobs.

The boom in EVs over the last decade is a case in point.

EVs aren’t new. In the early 20th century, they were in widespread use in US cities, with up to 30,000 EVs in operation at their peak. This was followed by a short, sharp decline as cheaper and longer-range petrol cars came to dominate.

In 2010, EVs made up less than 1% of all car sales worldwide.

But by the end of 2024, global sales of EVs had reached 17 million units, an increase of 25% on the previous year, according to data firm Rho Motion. Separate figures put the total number of global car sales at 75 million during the year.

The shift to EVs has been supported by strong government incentives such as subsidies – in places such as Norway, these policies helped new EV sales reach 89% of all car sales last year.

Alongside tax exemptions, Norwegian EV drivers have in the past enjoyed perks such as access to bus lanes, free municipal parking and zero charges on toll roads.

Clear emissions targets and the threat of fines have played a role in pushing European manufacturers to go electric. Across the European Union, CO2 targets for new vehicles are coming into force in 2025, which, although recently watered down, still have the ultimate goal of reaching zero emissions by 2035. 

“The EU’s green policies are beginning to bite,” William Todts, executive director at the climate advocacy group Transport & Environment, told Climate Home. “Thanks to the switch to EVs, we are starting to see a structural decline in transport emissions.”

“Now is not the time to roll back green measures. For the continent’s prosperity and security, now is the time to double down,” he added.

Heat pump race

In the lab at the University of Salford, researchers put the Energy House through its paces by recreating the gamut of British weather conditions – from torrential rain to temperatures from minus 13 degrees Celsius (8.6 Fahrenheit) to 30C (86F).

The weather simulations allow researchers to test the effectiveness of technologies such as battery storage, heat pumps and ‘V2G’, or vehicle-to-grid, where power stored in an EV can send electricity back to the national grid in times of need.

One of their recent studies found heat pumps are successful at meeting the hot water demands of an average UK household, even under challenging winter conditions.

Many countries are betting on pumps that suck in heat from the air, ground or water to heat homes and other buildings as a way to cut their emissions. Over 40% of buildings in Sweden and Finland, for example, contain heat pumps, and North America has the largest number of homes with one.

Britain, which has lagged its European neighbours, has a target to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028 – 10 times the current number of annual installations.

France has already hit over 600,000 units installed a year, and Poland, Italy and Germany have all reached similar numbers. As with EVs, the right government policies are vital to ensuring take-up, energy experts said.

“In the UK the principal problems are the relatively high costs of heat pumps and the electricity-to-gas price ratio,” said Professor Rob Gross, director at the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), calling for policies to reduce electricity prices, change how energy tariffs are structured, and cut gas dependence which often dictates prices.

High installation costs are also an obstacle. Industry estimates put the average cost at between $3,000 and $6,000, but in some markets it can be much higher, and significantly so when compared to a boiler fired by natural gas. 

Tariffs and tensions

Another potential obstacle for clean power advocates is the dramatic US climate policy shift under President Donald Trump and his import tariffs, which have sparked a trade war with China that threatens to bring in other countries too.

This disruption – especially if it leads to rising prices for clean energy equipment, a market dominated by China – could lead policymakers to think twice about the need to electrify their economies. 

At a recent global energy summit in London, a Trump administration official criticised renewables, arguing they cause power cuts and increase reliance on China.

But Black said heightened international trade tensions mean governments “should be thinking logically about energy security”.

“The only way for most countries to become totally energy secure is through renewables,” he said. “There’s no obstacle to really forging ahead with the transition.”

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK

The post Is electrification a no-brainer in the race to net-zero? appeared first on Climate Home News.

The 55th anniversary of Earth Day comes at a perilous time for the planet. The world faces a series of environmental threats unprecedented in the six decades since the event began.

From extreme weather to species decline, deforestation to water insecurity, these risks are growing in scale and severity as the planet heats up and the climate changes. 

Many of these threats are related and the need to tackle them together is widely recognised by scientists and policymakers. Increasing forest cover, for example, can support stable rainfall and reduce carbon emissions.

There are multiple examples around the world of people putting these ideas into practice. More and more communities are looking to “nature-based solutions” to tackle new threats to their livelihood and local environment.

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Restoring the land

One such story of resilience is taking place in the South Ahuachapán region of El Salvador. 

El Salvador is a small and densely populated country in Central America, equivalent to the size of the US state of New Jersey. Its small area belies a wide range of climatic conditions with droughts, floods, and soil erosion commonplace. Its two mountain ranges mean much of the agricultural land exists on slopes prone to landslides.

South Ahuachapán is a dry, coastal territory around 90 kilometres from the capital, San Salvador. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is implementing a project in this region – financed by the Adaptation Fund – to reduce the vulnerability of local communities to climate shocks. It is seeking to achieve this through land restoration, efficient water management, and climate-smart agriculture practices.

The project has a target to restore 3,865 hectares of degraded land, in large part by introducing agroforestry techniques. This includes integrating essential crops such as maize with native tree-planting. Doing so provides shade to the crops, improves soil health, and protects against landslides.  

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“Many of the beneficiaries are smallholder farmers with limited formal education and few prior opportunities for technical training,” Ryna Ávila, a UNDP development specialist based in El Salvador, told Climate Home News.

“Through the project, they received sustained specialised technical assistance, field-based training, and direct support in the adoption of agro-ecological practices.”

She explained that communities have also been equipped with water reservoirs, soil conservation structures, and early warning capacities, which protects against climate shocks such as El Niño-induced droughts and unseasonal storms.

‘They told me I was crazy’

“I used to live on day labour. It was desolate; there was nothing on my plot. I felt depressed because I didn’t know what to do,” Ricardo García, a subsistence farmer in the San Francisco Menendez municipality, told project partners. “The drought would come, and I would lose everything.”

His plot is one which has benefited from sustainable practices – and he now cultivates 12 different crops that can withstand harsh weather conditions and offers him options should some crops fail.

“I never thought about how I was working the soil, and look where I am now. When I planted these coconuts, they told me I was crazy,” he said. 

Ávila explains that through the project, “the introduction of diversified livelihoods, such as climate-resilient crops and improved pasture systems, is reducing dependence on traditional monocultures.”

“These shifts are not only climate-smart but economically beneficial, helping families generate income while preserving ecosystem services,” she added. As a result of these interventions, the local population is becoming more prepared to face climate stresses while quality of life has improved.

Root cause

One of the main aims of the project is to promote efficient water use during times of drought, primarily through improved climate and hydrological data collection. Closely monitoring the quantity and quality of water availability – through local means and satellite data – has provided farmers with more options on how to adapt.

Data was also collected on the effectiveness of these interventions. One climate-smart technique used was drip irrigation – a method designed to drastically reduce water consumption by directly targeting a plant’s “root zone” with small amounts of water.

The results impressed Mevin Pérez, a local farmer in the area. “We have irrigation systems that help us maintain water and give life to the plants,” he told UNDP.

“As a family, we feel grateful because we all work to take care of the plants. It used to be difficult for us to fetch water; now we no longer spend half an hour fetching a jug of water,” he added.

Increasing local knowledge of these techniques – and the data sitting behind it – was seen by project managers as crucial to building climate resilience.

Paying dividends

Over 30,000 people living in rural San Francisco Menendez could benefit from conservation techniques which work with nature instead of against it.

The project – now in its final stages – could have a lasting impact in the region and provide a model for other parts of El Salvador experiencing climate stress. Researchers believe examples like this could be replicated on a much wider scale, providing useful data on how to implement nature-based solutions in agricultural settings elsewhere in the world. And these themes are expected to be discussed and promoted at the UN climate conference – COP30 – in Belem, Brazil later this year.  

2025 is the year to invest in forests – and the people who depend on them 

“The model of ecosystem-based adaptation paired with livelihood diversification offers a replicable strategy for other regions facing climate-related risks,” said Ávila.

“The project has shown that restoring degraded landscapes, when combined with empowerment, training, and inclusive partnerships, can yield durable resilience – especially for those most often left behind in climate action,” she added.

The answer seems simple enough: use nature to tackle nature gone haywire. If climate and nature are seen as two sides of the same coin, then using forests and water systems as a defense strategy against global warming could well pay dividends for the Earth and the people whose well-being depends on it.

The post Giving nature breathing room builds climate resilience appeared first on Climate Home News.

If the world is to start reducing emissions and reach net zero in the second half of the century, as promised under the Paris climate agreement in 2015, we need to know exactly where those emissions are coming from. Crunching the data offers up estimates of which sectors release the most greenhouse gases – but this is a far harder task at the corporate level.

There are the major fossil fuel firms, both state-run and private – such as Shell, Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil or Coal India – which we know play an outsized role. But according to the World Bank, 90% of global businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises.

Understanding their environmental impact – and how they contribute to the emissions of larger companies further up the value chain – is complex but essential if climate action goals set by both governments and the private sector are to be met, experts say.

While businesses have long been aware of the need to curb their emissions, the process of collecting data on their supply chains, and knowing what to do with it, can serve as a barrier to action. And without regulation to make companies set and meet targets to reduce their carbon pollution, monitoring and analysing emissions has so far been a voluntary effort.

Problem with a wide scope

The first attempt to properly account for company-level emissions started almost 25 years ago with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Its corporate standard was developed in 2001 in response to the UN’s Kyoto Protocol on limiting the emissions of wealthy countries, and covered reporting of the seven greenhouse gases covered by that agreement.

The GHG Protocol was formed by two non-profit organisations: the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Its work has become a standard bearer in the field of carbon accounting, with its guidance used by thousands of corporations, and updates to its rules closely followed.

The protocol’s lasting contribution was to create the concept of ‘scopes’, which separate a company’s emissions into three distinct categories. Scope 1 covers all emissions from direct sources a company owns or controls. Scope 2 is indirect emissions from purchasing energy. Scope 3 emissions are all other indirect emissions within a company’s supply chain.

Comment: SBTi needs tighter rules on companies’ indirect emissions

Defining Scope 3 – and how to adequately account for and offset those emissions – has proved a difficult task. These emissions can include everything from business travel to a company’s financial investments. The GHG protocol has 15 separate categories on Scope 3 emissions, reflecting the wide range of where they might be found.

These categories are themselves divided into ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’; for example, upstream could include the use of any vehicle a company doesn’t own but is in the service of its business. Downstream can cover activities such as how products are treated at the end of their life.

“Scope 3 has proven to be one of the most challenging topics to be addressed among the business community,” said Ramiro Fernandez, campaign director at Race to Zero, a UN-backed climate campaign. “For years the climate business community has been developing methodologies and metric frameworks to account for the emissions of companies’ value chains.”

The knottiness of the issue means that many companies are reluctant to engage with tackling this category of emissions. A 2024 survey of 300 large public companies by consultancy firm Deloitte found that while three-quarters disclose their Scope 1 emissions, and around half Scope 2, the figure falls dramatically to 15% for Scope 3.

Threat to 1.5C goal

Sustainability experts warn that ignoring Scope 3 emissions is self-defeating and puts at risk the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial times, given that an estimated 75% of the average company’s emissions fall into that category, according to CDP, a non-profit that helps businesses disclose their environmental impact.

“If we fail to address Scope 3, corporate net-zero pledges cannot be achieved,” said Sanda Ojiambo, CEO and executive director of the UN Global Compact, a voluntary initiative supporting sustainability in business.

“Most business-related emissions come from Scope 3, which means neglecting them keeps us on a dangerous path to exceeding 1.5C [of global warming],” she added.

The Science Based Targets initiative, originally set up to ensure that corporate climate plans are in line with the Paris Agreement, has approved 7,000 targets over the past 10 years. Notably, the initiative requires all companies to include Scope 3 emissions in their long-term emissions reduction targets.

Ojiambo told Climate Home the UN Global Compact is working with thousands of businesses to ensure that Scope 3 emissions are “no longer an afterthought but a core pillar of corporate climate strategies”.

Comment: SBTi’s rigid emissions rules don’t reflect business reality

In tech we trust

The thorny challenge of reducing Scope 3 emissions has given rise to a host of solutions aimed at making it easier. Ways to tackle the problem include engaging with suppliers, investing in data collection and using technology to track emissions across the whole life cycle of products.

German software company SAP, for example, is attempting to integrate carbon data with financial data to create a “green ledger”. This system assigns carbon emissions to a company’s transactions, with a dashboard showing the impact of greenhouse gas intensity on operating income, gross margin and net revenue. The hope is that this process will generate real-world numbers rather than relying on estimates, as most businesses do today.

James Sullivan, global head of product management at SAP Sustainability, said the software will “change business practice… to accurately account for, analyse and report carbon footprints”. The ledger is the latest in a range of data-driven services the company and its peers are putting into the market to help businesses wrestle with emissions that are beyond their immediate control.

Locating accurate data on all Scope 3 emissions – and then calculating how they have reduced over time – can seem like a Herculean task. Where data gaps exist, the GHG Protocol advises using secondary data based on industry averages, government statistics, or public databases that are representative of a company’s activities. But using such generic data at scale may not provide an accurate picture of emissions or the impact of corporate action to stem them.

Sullivan believes that better data is key to solving the Scope 3 puzzle. “A major advancement is the widespread understanding that managing Scope 3 emissions requires high-quality data and transparency into supply chains,” he said. “It is crucial for businesses to integrate sustainability data into core business processes.”

Getting ahead of competitors

Companies like SAP are confident their technological solutions are having a tangible impact on that front. Sullivan pointed to one of its customers, Martur Fompak International, a Turkish supplier of seats for the automotive sector. As a result of using SAP’s technology, Sullivan said the company has reported a 52% reduction in transportation-related carbon emissions and a 34% decrease in emissions linked to its automotive seats.

Martur Fompak achieved this, in part, through tracking emissions across its products’ entire lifecycle, from where the materials were sourced to where they were sent and used. The software analysed the carbon footprint of different fabrics and suggested lower-impact alternatives. It also provided real-time monitoring of the company’s energy consumption at more than 600 work centres, and created new delivery routes for its drivers.

Ojiambo noted that many large companies are making emissions reductions a condition of doing business with them and weaving such criteria into their procurement contracts. This could give suppliers like Martur Fompak a major incentive to lower their emissions in order to gain a competitive edge.

“Suppliers are feeling the pressure, but the smartest ones see this as an opportunity rather than a burden,” she added.

Business contribution to NDCs

The current global political climate has made sustainability concerns a convenient punchbag, with US President Donald Trump’s anti-green agenda already encouraging many companies to scale back their environmental ambitions. Across the Atlantic, the European Commission is planning to water down a package of sustainability rules originally intended to be world-leading.

The mood music is not exactly positive. According to the Financial Times, some participants at January’s World Economic Forum in Davos reported that ambition around tackling Scope 3 emissions was “crumbling” among business executives.

This comes at a time of record heat and more frequent extreme weather events, when scientists are concerned at the pace of change in the Earth’s climate and its effects. To tackle this, countries are due to submit stronger national climate plans by September, including emissions reduction targets for 2035, as required by the Paris Agreement.

These plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), are a clear example of where businesses could play a bigger role in supporting government efforts to fight climate change but currently lack the capacity, partly due to a lack of data and other resources.

How can corporates ‘course correct’ on climate?

Tom Cumberlege, a director at The Carbon Trust, who leads the consultancy’s work on value chain analysis and strategy, said NDCs that are able to leverage both public and private funding for implementation “could be a win-win” for governments and businesses.

“It can reduce the risk of investing in projects – such as energy efficiency improvements or renewable assets in the supply chain – and contribute to effective emissions reductions at a national level,” he explained.

Achieving NDC targets will require businesses to align their own climate action plans with those of governments and their suppliers. “Companies have an increasingly important role to play in engaging and supporting their own value chain to be part of the contribution [to NDCs],” said Fernandez of Race to Zero.

“Transitioning to net zero requires a whole of society approach,” he added. “Even with all the uncertainties and lack of clarity, companies have to reduce their Scope 3 emissions if we want to have any chance of remaining within the 1.5C threshold.”

The post Neglecting ‘Scope 3’ emissions could sink corporate climate action appeared first on Climate Home News.

Climate change has a habit of exploiting weaknesses. Existing problems are made worse and new ones are created in its wake.

How the climate crisis unequally impacts women is well-documented – but no less shocking. According to the UN, women and girls are estimated to make up around 80% of the people displaced due to climate change. This often forces them into extreme poverty and a heightened threat of violence.

Researchers attribute this disparity to a range of factors. Women are typically among the majority of the world’s poor, with fewer decision-making powers and a greater reliance on their country’s natural resources for survival. The crisis brings deeply entrenched inequalities to the surface and makes them hard to ignore. 

This year’s International Women’s Day takes up the issue with the theme of “For All Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment”.

Many women in Peru, for example, are experiencing these inequalities firsthand as climate change forces them to adapt.

But they aren’t alone in the effort. Profonanpe, the Peruvian environmental fund, was established in 1992, and is at the forefront of conserving the country’s globally significant biodiversity.

As part of this work, the fund empowers women to take a central role in their future, by moving into new roles in their communities, and contributing vital local knowledge to adaptation responses.

Business leaders

Profonanpe is spearheading two climate projects, financed by the Adaptation Fund, and women’s rights are a main priority throughout. One of these initiatives, located in the Andes, is about to get underway, while another on the coast has recently reached completion.

Both present different challenges. In the mountains, women often participate in the same activities as men. The new project will increase adaptive capacity and reduce the vulnerability of forests, grasslands and wetlands using an inclusive approach that combines ecosystem monitoring and resilience-building.

A tale of two women: What climate vulnerability actually looks like

Along the coast it is uncommon to find women who work on fishing boats, but they play a crucial role in processing and marketing the day’s catch. Acknowledging this fact and finding alternative lines of work was a key consideration.

Peru’s significant fishing industry accounts for an estimated 10% of all fish captured around the world, but as fish stocks plummet, local communities need to diversify fast. Profonanpe’s approach was to help women create their own community associations, and run their own businesses.

New industries popped up using fish waste as a biofertiliser, aquaponic plants were created to cultivate fish stocks, and eco-tourism was promoted in marine protected areas.

José Zavala, a general coordinator on the project, explained: “The work of women within the productive chain of artisanal fishing was invisible for a long time. That is why it was decided, in a participatory way, to include activities exclusively for them and that would adapt to their way of life.”

Gloria Tarazona, president of the Women’s Association of Aquaponics in Huacho, said many women in Peru – particularly mothers of young children – can’t get paid work because they have to take care of their family. The project changes this dynamic by allowing them to join part-time with manageable schedules. “We are generating food and jobs for many people,” Tarazona said.

“The food is natural and organic, and little by little with climate change and pollution these products are becoming more necessary. The positive change that I’ve seen in all the women of the project is that they like what they have learned. I always tell them they have to continue forward because this is a project of the future,” Tarazona added.

Inspiring change

Claudia Godfrey, Profonanpe’s director of innovation and strategic management, told Climate Home how women’s stories from the project are a strong motivator. 

“Daughters have seen the change in their mothers, and felt inspired. They realise that their mothers can be leaders and entrepreneurs,” she said.

“Seeing younger generations inspired by their mothers reminds us how important it is to include women in climate adaptation.”

Strong gender policies, including setting high targets for female leadership on projects, have helped embed women’s rights in other organisations. These policies ensure fewer women are overlooked for leadership positions.  

The Adaptation Fund’s own social and gender policies are aimed at empowering women and marginalised groups. They do this by providing equitable access to resources and livelihoods, and inclusive decision-making.

Sustainable fishing offers lifeline to communities hit by climate crisis

“It’s moving to see how women have grown in confidence and recognition within their communities. Many of them have told us that they now have a voice in decision-making and how their lives have changed. Not just economically, but socially,” Godfrey added.

She added that climate change is increasing awareness of women’s roles and pushing them to have a stronger voice on the issue. The crisis has been a catalyst for changing how women within the environmental sector are viewed.

“In Peru, there has been great progress in recognising women’s role in environmental management. But there is still a lot to do,” Godfrey said.

Tracking progress

Mikko Ollikainen, head of the Adaptation Fund (AF), said the fund’s gender policies and monitoring approaches are continually being enhanced.

“For me, this resonates deeply with the fund’s ongoing efforts to promote gender equality and empower women and girls.”

“Women are a vulnerable group at risk of being overlooked in the design and implementation of adaptation projects. We need to actively ensure that women’s specific adaptation needs are duly considered. This in turn improves adaptation work on the ground,” he added.

“Lessons learned about considering the needs of women and girls will help us address the needs of other vulnerable groups.”

“We are continuously tracking progress on our gender work. We will continue to increase gender responsiveness so no one is left behind.”

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post Advancing women’s rights and empowerment in climate adaptation appeared first on Climate Home News.

In recent years, fresh conflicts have erupted across the globe with alarming regularity, coinciding with a decade of record high temperatures.

While the wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East tend to receive the bulk of global attention, there are many other conflicts that are equally severe and protracted. According to analysis from the Peace Research Institute Oslo, 59 conflicts were recorded in 2023, the highest number since the end of the Second World War.

Many people would assume that climate adaptation takes a back seat when confronted with conflict. But new research from the Adaptation Fund provides insights and firsthand experience of successful projects operating within fragile states and conflict-affected countries.

The fund has invested $1.2 billion across 180 projects around the world – and so it’s to be expected that some of these would fall within areas of potential conflict. A number of projects are within countries, such as Mali, where wars have raged for years, while others are in places where sporadic and unpredictable violence can suddenly break out.

Still others are in especially fragile areas, such as the Volta Basin in West Africa, which is highly vulnerable to devastating floods and droughts. Knowing how to quickly respond and adapt is crucial within these different contexts, researchers found.

The study highlights a number of key factors for improving the outcomes of projects in conflict zones: strengthening institutions, ensuring local ownership of finance, allowing for flexibility on climate funding, building strong partnerships and close monitoring are all seen as critical.

Cross-border climate risks can’t be solved in isolation

Climate change is exacerbating instability by weakening institutions, displacing communities and increasing tensions over available food and water. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change drew attention to this in its 2022 climate science report, stating “there is increasing evidence linking increased temperatures and drought to conflict risk in Africa.”

Mikko Ollikainen, head of the Adaptation Fund, commented last year that conflict-affected countries are “among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and their needs for external assistance are high”.

He added that the fund’s research “reinforces the importance of strengthening institutions in fragile settings to deliver climate finance effectively, and building strong partnerships between governments, civil society and the private sector to ensure proper funding”.

Water conservation in Ethiopia

One case study that demonstrates these complexities is a climate-smart agriculture project in Ethiopia. The $10-million initiative took place between 2017 and 2022, and was designed to increase resilience across seven ‘woredas’ (districts), vulnerable to drought. 

These districts included areas both designated as arid and semi-arid, owing to the predominance of drylands throughout the country. This can make farming difficult as crop production is largely dependent on varying levels of rainfall. An estimated 8 million households in the country earn a living through small-scale subsistence farming, and the practice is of critical importance to overall food supplies.

One of the districts involved in the project was Tigray, an area in the northernmost reaches of Ethiopia, and at the time the site of intense fighting between the government and a paramilitary group called the Tigray Defense Forces.

Can climate funders overcome fear to tread in conflict zones?

The outbreak of conflict meant that planned infrastructure development in the region was delayed and staff were unable to assess sites. Therefore, the project focused on strengthening institutional capacity and increasing local awareness and ownership over adaptation activities in other districts.

One of the long-term benefits was the successful engagement of local communities to provide common training on using new water facilities. According to researchers, water stress was reduced in affected communities as an underground source of drinking water was provided and local training given to ensure its maintenance.

Over 15,000 households benefited from access to safe drinking water, and a further 8,500 farmers were trained in irrigation agriculture. In addition, 3,300 hectares of degraded land were restored using soil and water conservation techniques, such as constructing shallow wells, small dams and hillside terraces to prevent water runoff.

The impact of these interventions was to reduce conflict in parts of the country where climate change is fuelling tensions over the availability of freshwater.

Cristina Dengel, the Adaptation Fund’s knowledge management officer, who coordinated the study, said: “The water facilities helped to drastically limit the conflict between crop farmers and livestock herders at the local level. Even if anecdotal, it shows the potential of climate adaptation projects to have a positive impact in reducing conflict and fragility.”

This success has been used as a template for a much larger project funded by Green Climate Fund which could reach ten times as many districts.

Building trust

Working in conflict-affected countries means having a different mindset about what can be achieved. In Ethiopia, the security situation in Tigray meant it wasn’t possible to operate in the region. As such, attention turned to the other districts involved in the project and how to ensure the best possible outcomes – and reduce further conflict – for people on the ground. 

Speaking at a COP29 event on adaptation in conflict areas co-organised by the Adaptation Fund and the Global Environment Facility, Srilata Kammila, head of climate change adaptation at the United Nations Development Programme, said working in fragile states is complex for a host of reasons.

Not only are institutions weaker to implement projects over the long-term, but there is also often discord between communities and the government. “The people in these situations have been affected with lack of trust in the government and other entities coming from outside. Building that trust and engaging communities becomes a critical part and entry point of designing adaptation projects,” said Kammila. 

Record-hot 2024 shows world must adapt to extremes, says EU climate service

Researchers found that in the case of Ethiopia, and others like it, having flexibility to adapt to a rapidly evolving situation is critical, together with community ownership over how projects are designed and implemented. This is easier said than done while in a conflict zone, but it at least provides better odds for success.

Ollikainen told Climate Home he hoped lessons learned in Ethiopia and the other case studies analysed will be applied elsewhere as conflicts continue to put pressure on local populations struggling with worsening climate extremes.

“We know that people need our help and it’s our responsibility to ensure financing is there to support them,“ he said. “As the climate crisis intensifies, we need to be prepared to work in conflict zones and let communities know we aren’t going to abandon them.”

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post Renewed global violence puts pressure on climate adaptation appeared first on Climate Home News.

There are an estimated 200-300 million pastoralists – livestock herders – who provide the continent with 75% of its milk and half of its meat. In some countries, the trade can make up more than one-third of GDP.

It might seem surprising then that this vital sector doesn’t have a stronger political voice and that its concerns are not a major priority for many governments. Yet it has long been the case that nomadic groups of herders are likely to be marginalised more than other food producers – or even ignored. 

The centuries-old practice of pastoralism now faces a constellation of threats that are pushing some communities permanently out of business. In some places, the long-term viability of pastoralism is at risk, buffeted by multiple, overlapping factors – both related to climate change, and unconnected to it.

Conflict concerns

Pastoralists make a living by raising animals – including goats, cattle and sheep – and move with their herds across vast distances between seasons. Historically, they have enjoyed a resilient and adaptive lifestyle, allowing them to travel where the weather and grazing conditions are most favourable and avoiding disease and potential disasters. 

The practice also has environmental benefits – periodic grazing improves soil health and prevents the land and vegetation from becoming degraded while improving biodiversity.

The problem facing pastoralists today is that their livelihood has come into direct competition with a range of public and private interests. More and more land traditionally used by herders is being given over to other uses: large-scale commercial farming, mining or energy operations, urbanisation and even conservation areas. 

Cross-border climate risks can’t be solved in isolation

These are often the economic priorities of national governments, which see them as more productive, and so hand farmers and companies stronger rights to manage the land. This puts them in conflict with pastoralists who are forced to graze their livestock on someone else’s land – in some cases leading to violence. 

Thousands of deaths have been reported in West and Central Africa over the past decade as a result of this kind of conflict. Clashes are particularly prominent in Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso, where tensions cross ethnic, religious and social lines. 

In Nigeria – home to some of the worst fighting – state governments have enacted controversial anti-grazing laws which they claim are designed to prevent further fatalities. Pastoralist groups have pushed back, arguing that the legal restrictions reflect a longstanding bias against nomadic herders and will make it even harder for them to earn a living.

Despite agreements to allow the free movement of herders, some countries in West Africa have closed their borders, citing the prevalence of livestock disease. With smaller areas of land to graze on and migratory routes closed off, pastoralists are being boxed into a corner.

Climate risk

Climate change serves to pile on the pressure. Persistent drought, more intense rainfall and extreme temperatures are creating difficult conditions for pastoralists. Many animals die on long treks with little water and less productive lands to graze on.

This creates the conditions for conflict with settled farmers – but on the ground, the situation is more complicated, experts say. Camille Laville, a research fellow at ODI Global, a London-based think tank, told Climate Home: “There is an oversimplification in our understanding between herder-farmer conflicts and the role of climate change.”

“We can start this discussion with the climate, but we can also start it with years of political changes, ethnic differences, religious differences. There are many ways to frame this subject and the climate is just one of them,” she added. 

Aid agencies grapple with climate adaptation in fragile states

Climate change creates harsher conditions and increased vulnerabilities, but existing social and political factors weigh heavily on herders’ livelihoods.

Fiona Flintan, a senior scientist at the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), said “climate change may not be the biggest problem that pastoralists face”. 

Among the many different users of land, pastoralists “as ‘masters’ (and ‘mistresses’) of adaptation can be the most resilient and skilled at adapting to climate change”, she added. But trouble can start to mount up when they aren’t given the right kind of support.

Flintan sees land security as the main gap for pastoralists. “If they have guaranteed security to their land and resources, they will be better positioned to deal with shocks and stresses,” she explained. “And more than that, pastoralists will then be willing to invest in their land to support biodiversity, soil health, and emissions reduction. It will resolve a lot of challenges.”

Yet, in many parts of Africa, obtaining secure access to the land is a complex process, and some national governments are more willing to recognise land rights than others. 

Kenya’s Community Land Act, for example, offers pastoralists a route to seeing their land claims recognised and their rights protected. But the challenge in places like Kenya or Ethiopia – which has also adopted a Pastoral Development Policy – is defining in a legal context the unwritten customs and traditions of many different pastoral communities.  

As Flintan notes, governments often lack resources and sometimes the technical expertise to prioritise land use strategies. “It’s about having proper planning and governance, supported by a skilled team and adequate funds in place to ensure it happens,” she said.

Greener pastures

Getting to the root cause of the challenges facing pastoralists could mean missing the urgency of more immediate problems, while difficulty in trying to untangle all of the interwoven factors could slow progress. 

This complexity leads some researchers, such as Laville, to call for more practical responses, while accepting that there isn’t a perfect answer. “If we wait to fully understand this issue, we will never have sufficient time for action,” she said.

Some experts point to the need to raise the profile of pastoralists both within countries and on the international stage. The latest COP summit of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification is taking place in Saudi Arabia this month – reportedly the largest UN land-focused conference to date. 

Can climate funders overcome fear to tread in conflict zones?

Marginalised groups often lack a voice at UN talks – and while pastoralist civil society organisations will be in Riyadh, they need a stronger presence at the negotiating table in order to be able to influence what is decided there, experts say. 

“We are getting better at listening to herders, but we need to be cautious not to bring our own preconceptions to the discussion,” said Laville, commenting on the UN COP process. “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to this problem.”

Scientists have argued for some time now that UN member states could benefit from pastoralists’ expertise in tackling emerging threats including biodiversity loss and global warming. Being open to learning from those who know the land intimately and how it is changing could pay practical dividends, they say.

Pastoralism is a livelihood that has lasted for generations and weathered many storms. The first step for any government is recognising the significant economic and environmental contributions it makes, researchers told Climate Home.

“It’s not a job; it’s a cultural identity. This doesn’t get eradicated by droughts or government policy,” added Flintan.

Sponsored by SPARC (Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises).

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK. 

The post The world is getting smaller for pastoralists facing multiple threats appeared first on Climate Home News.

The drought that came before this latest disaster didn’t single out one place either. Farmers across the region were faced with destitution from crop losses.  

Extreme weather fuelled by climate change does not respect national borders or geographical boundaries. This simple fact has multiple knock-on effects and dictates how we should respond to such crises – including through international coordination.  

In September, Nigeria’s Alau Dam collapsed as a result of floods in the country’s northeastern region, killing up to 1,000 people and displacing a million. The rupture of the dam was mainly due to poor maintenance over the years – and a government failure to heed warnings of danger.  

A week later, across the border in Cameroon, the government there decided to release water from the Lagdo dam, after the same bout of heavy rainfall had increased levels. This put added pressure on 11 states downstream in the part of Nigeria that was already scrambling to deal with the crisis – although the water releases were regulated, and alerts were issued. 

Nepal says China withholds “essential” info on bursting Himalayan glacial lakes

South Asia is also grappling with cross-border river-related threats. Izabella Koziell, deputy director general of ICIMOD, a Nepal-based research centre working to protect the Hindu Kush Himalaya, said the mountain region is “falling under increasing risk from the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and air pollution”.  

“Each of these risks are mobile and not limited by national borders,” she said. The region extends over 3,500 kilometres from Afghanistan to Myanmar, making cooperation between countries essential, she added. “Over two billion people living within the mountains and downstream will be affected by changes that happen here.” 

Shared prosperity  

Climate change is fuelling new and complex risks that require countries – and the international community – to look beyond their own borders and siloes. But that is not how governments and their partners have typically responded to the threats.  

“Adaptation is still very much seen as a local to national issue. Thinking more broadly and working regionally is challenging. We saw this with the COVID-19 pandemic – just how difficult it was to get coordinated regional and global responses on something which affected everyone,” said Sarah Opitz-Stapleton, a senior research fellow at ODI Global, a London-based think-tank.   

Opitz-Stapleton has been working with a research programme called “Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises” (SPARC) to help policymakers better understand and manage transboundary climate risks, including in Africa.  

She told Climate Home: “Countries tend to think first about their own sovereignty and protecting their own populations. This is understandable – but when we are facing challenges like this, everyone going in on their own is insufficient.”  

Food and finance 

People’s livelihoods and future prosperity are dependent on a globalised economy and shared resources, with flows of trade and finance binding countries together across continents. And it is becoming increasingly how clear how climate change – which affects the whole planet – can hijack development efforts in an interconnected world.  

A simple example of this is food. In Senegal, changing dietary habits have led to a sudden surge in imports of rice from Southeast Asia. This now makes Senegal’s food security dependent on countries far away that are facing their own severe climate risks – because how they adapt to those risks will influence rice supplies to West Africa. 

In 2022, India temporarily banned wheat exports after a severe heatwave jeopardised its own domestic supplies. The move led to a sudden jump in the price of this crucial commodity, impacting countries in Africa, such as Kenya, which rely on imports. 

Transboundary climate risks come in many guises – from shared ecosystems to migration patterns, infectious diseases and ocean resources. 

Finance is one example where the risks and impacts can be indirect and not always immediately clear. Financial firms are often greatly exposed to climate-related risks through investments in sectors from energy to mining.  

When a gold mine is hit by drought or flooding, for example, this can lead to plant shutdowns, lower production and a higher probability of debt default. 

Money is as transboundary as the climate. Banks that fail to carry out climate risk assessments across whole supply chains could be creating the conditions for stranded assets in the future. 

Adaptation winners and losers 

By focusing solely on how to adapt to issues within borders the problem is pushed into someone else’s backyard – the adaptation equivalent of whack-a-mole.  

“The problem is the way we crafted the policy,” said George Wamukoya, team lead at AGNES, a non-profit which advises African governments on climate issues. 

“We focused on ‘national’ adaptation plans and commitments which leads people to think inward. There is competition among neighbouring countries who don’t want to share resources or investment. This is despite the need for regional and global support to achieve these plans. We need to be alive to these facts,” he added. 

Examples abound of so-called “maladaptation”. This can occur when a country seeks to control coastal erosion and flooding by building protective infrastructure but ends up pushing the problem to shorelines further away where the impacts might be worse. Or switching to climate-resilient crops can reduce harvests – and increase prices – for more mainstream varieties. 

Global adaptation goal 

On the other hand, done right, adaptation can lead to shared resilience between neighbours and strengthen global supply chains. Instead of redistributing the risk, the idea is to confront it with collaboration.  

As the world kicks off two weeks of climate negotiations in Baku next week, campaigners are hoping that transboundary risks are higher on the agenda.  

Last year’s UN climate summit, COP28, made only two references to transboundary issues in its final decision text. New work on adaptation did come out of the Dubai talks, including a programme to develop indicators to measure progress on targets under the Global Goal on Adaptation.  

COP29: We need to adapt to climate chaos now

So far, the two-year initiative – called the UAE-Belem work programme – has led to over 5,000 indicators being submitted for consideration. Yet only 22 of these are related to transboundary climate risks. 

This speaks to a lack of awareness among states of the shared risks they face and the dangers of ignoring them. Both Kenya and Ethiopia – which share a border that is porous especially for pastoralist communities – failed to mention cross-border risks in their national adaptation plans (NAPs) submitted to the UN. 

Ensuring that transboundary risks are included in the UAE-Belem work programme is seen as crucial, as its results will dictate how adaptation policy and finance are set in the future. “If we don’t have these indicators, then it becomes very hard to track these particular risks,” said Wamukoya. 

COP29 and beyond 

Experts agree that national and local governments need to do a better job of assessing cross-border risks and working with their neighbours to understand how to collectively address them. To date, they feel that not enough work has been done to research transboundary risks and work out strategies for tackling them.  

“We need to demystify the issue for countries and convince them that, when you include transboundary issues, this will not limit access to resources. We also need to show how and where these risks are occurring within the five subregions of Africa, because some places will be more exposed than others,” adds Wamukoya. 

COP29 offers a unique forum to address transboundary risks that are global in nature – and this perspective also needs to be applied to finance for adaptation projects, where multiple countries are involved, Wamukoya said. COP29 is tasked with agreeing a new global goal for climate finance, he noted. 

Rich nations “on track” to double adaptation finance but huge gap persists

To date, adaptation financing typically goes to a single country, and there are few mechanisms for allowing funding to be split across states – although the Green Climate Fund has taken a regional approach in some of its projects.  

Opitz-Stapleton – who is helping organise several COP29 events on transboundary climate risks at the Climate, Peace and Transboundary Climate Pavilion, the first such COP pavilion – noted that awareness of the issue has grown.  

But, she said, “many countries are not adequately assessing these risks and there isn’t capacity to manage them”. “They need to be incorporated within a country’s adaptation plans and actually acted on,” she emphasised. 

Sponsored by SPARC (Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises) through the Climate, Peace and Transboundary Resilience Pavilion at COP29. See our supporters page for what this means. 

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK. 

The Climate, Peace and Transboundary Resilience Pavilion at COP29 will host 30 events with world-leading experts, including heads of state and other leading representatives from governments, climate funds, aid agencies, civil society organisations, and more. All events will be livestreamed. For more information visit the Pavilion page here.

The post Cross-border climate risks can’t be solved in isolation   appeared first on Climate Home News.

New research from the UN Environment Programme highlights the scale of the adaptation challenge and how it has grown in prominence, while finance to tackle rising needs has lagged behind. 

This year’s Adaptation Gap Report highlights the “extremely large” gap between adaptation finance needs in developing countries – estimated at $215 billion-$387 billion per year this decade – and actual flows of money. In 2022, international public finance for adaptation projects reached only $28 billion, up from $22 billion in 2021, the report notes.

“The climate crisis is here. We can’t postpone protection. We must adapt – now,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Gueterres said in a video statement when the report was released, calling for “a massive increase in adaptation finance from public and private sources”.

“Immediate necessity”

Since the Adaptation Fund was established, it has invested more than $1.2 billion in over 180 different projects around the world, benefiting around 46 million vulnerable people and training around 1.6 million people in climate resilience measures.

In the more than 17 years that the fund has operated in the field, the urgency to respond in the present – and not leave it to future generations as the problem was often framed in the past – has become crystal clear. 

The fund has managed to stay flexible and evolve with the world around it. 

“In this rapidly changing world, adaptation is no longer a distant goal; it is an immediate necessity that requires urgent investments because delays in meeting adaptation finance needs lead to increasing costs of inaction, reaching limits of adaptation and increasing loss and damage,” said Adaptation Fund Head Mikko Ollikainen. 

“The Fund’s ability to adapt to a changing landscape has been crucial. By fostering tangible and scalable actions on the ground, innovation and locally led adaptation, we empower pilot projects to demonstrate their value and pave the way for larger-scale climate action.” 

Proud pioneers 

This is what happened, for example, with one of the Adaptation Fund’s earliest recipients of its grant funding: the Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE), an environmental institution in Senegal, which tapped into the fund’s pioneering direct access programme. 

Back in 2010, CSE was awarded $8.6 million to implement a complex project to stop coastal erosion in three regions – Rufisque, Saly and Joal – where sea level rise threatened thousands of livelihoods in tourism and fishing. 

In Saly, a village around 50 miles (80.5 km) from the capital Dakar, the project built a new 730-metre seawall, 1.4-km long underwater berms, and a 3.3-km dyke to prevent saltwater from reaching fertile rice fields. 

According to Dr. Assize Toure, then CSE’s director-general, the project “helped protect thousands of lives, infrastructure and goods while raising awareness of climate change in three cities along Senegal’s vulnerable coast”. 

Senegal was “proud to be a pioneer” of that original funding, he said, adding that it directly led to new opportunities and initiatives to combat climate change in the country.

After the success of the initial project – which protected an estimated 3,000 jobs – CSE won a separate round of funding a few years later to further bolster the resilience of coastal communities to the encroaching sea. 

The head of CSE’s climate finance unit, Aïssata Sall, believes that the different forms of support on offer from the Adaptation Fund – to help with everything from project preparation to learning grants – have improved results, and boosted the ability of CSE and other partners working on the ground to mobilise more resources.

“That inevitably contributes to the Paris Agreement,” she told the fund.

Adaptation grows in importance

The earliest UN climate conferences, back in the 1990s, often made only passing references to adaptation.  

The first climate COP in 1995 stated that adaptation would “require short, medium and long-term strategies which are cost-effective”. But it was the Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, that first established a specific vehicle – the Adaptation Fund – to help finance these projects in developing countries through concrete projects for the most climate-vulnerable. 

Dr. Toure of CSE described the Adaptation Fund’s arrival in the landscape of climate finance as “a major development for developing countries”. The fund now serves the Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015.

Almost 30 years since the fund’s inception, we are living with the impacts of extreme weather on a regular basis – and the need to adapt to this new reality is urgent. It is hard to tell whether those negotiating at the early COP summits fully anticipated how climate change would develop, and the role adaptation would need to play as the crisis intensifies. 

By contrast, the outcome of the COP28 conference in Dubai last year includes almost 100 references to adaptation, starting on the very first page. 

The adaptation landscape has changed considerably since the first UN climate conference was held in Berlin. More money is flowing into projects that vary in size and ambition around the world – and there are more funds dedicated to scaling up this work to ensure many more millions of people can be protected against climate disasters. However, adaptation finance needs continue to rise sharply.

Resource mobilisation target

The Adaptation Fund Board has set a resource mobilisation target of $300 million for this year amid a growing project pipeline approaching $500 million. Leaving Baku without meeting this target would send a dire signal to climate-vulnerable people around the world. 

The importance of the UN COP process as a central place for galvanising adaptation policy and finance should not be underestimated. It remains one of the few forums that gathers so many stakeholders for two weeks – and where new commitments are made each year. This COP in particular is of critical importance as it should agree on a new global climate finance goal. 

Those same governments and partners coming together in Baku for the latest negotiations are aware that sea levels are rising and extreme weather is directly threatening our way of life. Adaptation is the solution that can keep the waters at bay. It’s time to ensure that it’s properly funded. 

Sponsored by the Adaptation Fund. See our supporters page for what this means. 

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK. 

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In 2023, the figure reached 26.4 million worldwide as a result of floods, storms, wildfires and other disasters, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

Climate change is not solely responsible, but the frequency and intensity of extreme weather is increasing as global temperatures continue to rise. As a result we can expect that more and more people will face losing their homes and their livelihoods.

It is commonplace to see people boarding up their homes and literally battening down the hatches before a major hurricane is predicted to make landfall. For those facing extreme weather, this mentality is no longer confined to one-off events, but a regular mindset as the climate crisis continues to bite. Many communities around the world know that building resilience against intense storms, floods and heat waves is now essential to daily life.

“No country is immune to disaster displacement,” Alexandra Bilak, IDMC’s director, said in a recent press statement. “But we can see a difference in how displacement affects people in countries that prepare and plan for its impacts and those that don’t. Those that look at the data and make prevention, response and long-term development plans that consider displacement fare far better.”

This kind of planning is happening in countries on the front line of the climate crisis. Some small island nations, for example – many of them low-lying – are seeing their homes permanently washed into the Pacific Ocean.

Paradise lost

According to Fiji’s government, disaster events in the Pacific island state over the past 40 years have led to annual economic damages of around US$16 million, with 40,000 people impacted each year. This is due to increase to an average of US$85 million per year in losses, as a result of cyclones and earthquakes. These figures are high for a country with a population of under 1 million people.

Many of the people most impacted by climate disasters live in informal urban settlements. Their homes are extremely vulnerable to the regular cyclones that hit the island nation, especially as they are often located near riverbanks or around the coast.

The subtle art of scaling up climate adaptation

A recent Adaptation Fund project in Fiji was designed to build resilience against regular extreme weather events and “climate proof” housing for the foreseeable future. The project, implemented by UN-Habitat, looked at ways to protect thousands of homes when storm surges overwhelm local water and sanitation infrastructure. The settlements were located across four main urban areas on the island: Lautoka, Sigatoka, Nadi and Lami.

Low-cost, high-impact

Constructing cyclone-resilient buildings was essential to the work.

Moving new homes away from vulnerable hot spots, such as foreshores, floodplains and riverbanks, was a first step. As many settlements are self-built, training local people in new construction methods ensures future homes can be built with extreme weather in mind. An innovative element from the project was so-called ‘stilted safe rooms’ – low-cost and simple raised structures intended to provide refuge during periods of intense flooding.

Flood control is a vital component of climate-proofing infrastructure. In Fiji, priorities included building upgraded site drainage to reduce runoff; upgrading water sources and storage; and improving access ways, to ensure people can respond when cyclones put pressure on local infrastructure.

School’s out

In Haiti, a conflict-torn country beset with repeated natural disasters, climate-proofing infrastructure is still at an early stage. The country’s education sector, for example, has been repeatedly hit by extreme weather, including in 2016 when Hurricane Matthew damaged a quarter of its schools. Rebuilding after such frequent turmoil now requires new ways of thinking.

With the help of around US$10 million of funding from the Adaptation Fund, UNESCO is currently supporting the restoration of 620 schools across the country. Their work has included raising awareness of disaster risk reduction, improving knowledge of safety levels, and retrofitting existing buildings.

As climate disasters grow, early warning systems become essential

Panaroty Ferdinand Prophete, UNESCO’s national coordinator, told Climate Home that “nearly 200 technicians, students and experts received training on new construction techniques, an early warning system and the management of temporary shelters.” This training included working directly with the Ministry of Education to develop new construction standards for schools.

Over 150,000 students have so far benefited from the project, a success Prophete attributes to “very good synergy” between the different stakeholders. “This makes it easy to put in place a community emergency plan as well as the execution of the national action plan for resilient school infrastructure,” he added.

Best defence

Experts agree that we need to change the way we live in response to climate disasters. Moving settlements away from major water sources is, if possible, a simple solution. More projects supported by the Adaptation Fund – from Indonesia to Antigua and Barbuda – are focusing on blocking, redirecting or draining excess water as it comes in, to keep homes intact and habitable. These responses will remain some of our best defence against more unpredictable and extreme weather.

“A key sector for the Adaptation Fund is averting and reducing loss and damage through disaster risk reduction and early warning systems, which account for about 16% of the Fund’s current portfolio. Many additional multi-sector projects also include elements that are building resilience to disasters,” said Mikko Ollikainen, head of the Adaptation Fund.

“From climate-proofing homes and community centres to making informal settlements resilient to floods, it’s a vital aspect of the Fund’s work. Many of the projects are replicable and scalable so we hope they will also serve as models to create a larger positive impact on additional vulnerable communities beyond those served by the projects,” he added.

There is only so much adaptation can achieve if the flood waters get too high, or if cyclones increase in intensity and destructive force. But there are many cost-effective solutions to offer people a better chance of keeping their homes intact when extreme weather hits.

These investments can’t come soon enough for communities living in climate hot-spots and can serve to tackle long standing poverty issues at the same time. Fast-tracking these solutions will become ever more important if we want to reduce the millions of newly displaced people each year.

Sponsored by the Adaptation Fund. See our supporters page for what this means.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

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Achieving this aim would mean tens of billions more dollars flowing into adaptation projects. This huge – but achievable – feat would be immensely beneficial for communities around the world suffering from regular extreme weather events.

Alongside his call for greater adaptation finance, Guterres outlined five priorities for the sector, one of which was making it easier to access funding, especially for the vulnerable.

If billions are going to be spent on helping countries adapt to climate change, we need to make sure the money is reaching the people who need it the most. This is where the concept of locally led adaptation (LLA) comes in. The term refers to the central importance of providing frontline communities with the power and resources to respond to the climate crisis.

The Adaptation Fund was among the first group of international organisations to endorse a set of principles on locally led adaptation during COP25 in 2019. These principles cover everything from devolving decision-making to addressing inequalities, from providing predictable funding to ensuring the whole process is open and transparent. The principles have since been endorsed by over 100 organisations, including government ministries, global charities and development agencies.

This new model sets the scene for how current and future climate adaptation should be implemented. The focus is on an inclusive approach which puts communities most affected by climate change at the heart of how decisions are made.

Putting words into practice

The Adaptation Fund has been applying the principles of locally led adaptation for over a decade. The fund’s direct access scheme allows national organisations based in the countries they serve to manage all elements of a project, from design to monitoring.

The fund pioneered its first enhanced direct access (EDA) projects in 2014, taking direct access a step further in empowering national institutions to identify and fund local adaptation projects. This led the fund to establish an EDA funding window in 2021, and in April 2024, it went one step further by creating dedicated finance streams to support locally led adaptation.

The fund believes this new approach makes it “the first multilateral climate fund that has fully operationalised the global LLA principles,” it said in a press statement.

“The Adaptation Fund has a rich history of innovating and evolving to respond to countries’ urgent adaptation needs. Over several years, the fund has continued to offer more opportunities to vulnerable countries through diverse funding windows beyond its regular projects,” Mikko Ollikainen, who heads up the organisation, told Climate Home.

“Creating these dedicated funding windows to support locally led adaptation will open even more opportunities for vulnerable countries to enhance capacity building by offering local governments, NGOs, community organisations, indigenous groups, young entrepreneurs and a broad range of local actors the opportunity to develop and implement sustainable adaptation actions directly,” he added.

Tailored solutions

One of the pioneering locally led adaptation projects the fund supported took place in South Africa from 2015 to 2020. On opposite ends of the country, two districts – Namakwa in the Northern Cape and Mopani in Limpopo – are subject to the same extreme weather: hotter temperatures with more intense dry and wet spells. These more uncertain, dangerous conditions put ever greater pressure on fragile local communities.

The pilot project was implemented by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). It was intended to strengthen local institutions to adapt to these new climate realities, and provided funding to 12 ‘small grant recipients’ – groups based in the region and with an intimate understanding of how the communities work.

Investments were made after vulnerability studies were conducted and tailored solutions created to meet local needs. The ambition of these groups was simple – to ensure resources went to people most vulnerable to climate change. A raft of innovative solutions were then implemented, from rainwater harvesting and solar pumps, to cooling sheds and bio-gas digesters.

‘Considerable impact’

“The reach and positive impact on people’s livelihoods and adaptive capacity through assets, learning and networks was considerable,” the project’s evaluation report concludes, adding that the focus on careful, appropriate investment “has significantly improved the lives of those directly, and indirectly connected with the projects.”

Mandy Barnett, SANBI’s chief director for adaptation policy, told Climate Home that one lesson from the project was a need to develop trust and effective relationships with people on the ground.

“We learned what we should do and what we shouldn’t do in terms of getting climate finance to the right people,” she added, noting that communicating expectations, from the funder downward, was key.

“A wider challenge is the need to translate climate science into local concerns. We want to empower people to make informed decisions, and to do this requires you to invest time and resources into capacity building,” she added.

New opportunities

The South African project helped pave the way for the many LLA schemes the fund is now supporting around the world. Fast forward to 2024 and a range of new proposals have just been approved which puts decision-making powers into the hands of local institutions.

They include a Peruvian project to support water, agriculture and food security; a Rwandan project to build climate resilience in rural areas; and in Belize, a plan to restore ecosystems and livelihoods battered by climate-related disasters. What these projects have in common is not only a plan to fight climate change, but one where the tools and resources are under local control.

“These new LLA windows take a significant step forward in providing an opportunity to directly lead and develop adaptation projects on the ground and accelerate effective, scalable actions worldwide in the process,” said Ollikainen.

The way forward

On World Environment Day this June, the UN Secretary-General took the opportunity to speak up about adaptation finance again. He highlighted how the last 12 months have been the hottest on record. “For every dollar needed to adapt to extreme weather, only about 5 cents is available,” he said.

The most recent data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that, in 2022, $115.9 billion was raised for climate finance, the first time this target has been achieved. Adaptation finance made up $32.4 billion of the total, a way off the 50% goal endorsed by the UN head, but still three times higher than what it was in 2016.

Where this money is spent will determine how vulnerable regions can survive the impacts of climate change in the coming years. But as more locally led adaptation projects are rolled out, affected communities will finally have a direct say in how that happens.

Sponsored by the Adaptation Fund. See our supporters page for what this means.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post Finance flowing for locally led climate adaptation appeared first on Climate Home News.

But recent price spikes mean the commodity has become a flashpoint for wider concerns about the impact of climate change on agriculture and the need to shift to more sustainable farming.

For such a widely consumed product, the cocoa bean requires a surprisingly unique set of conditions in which to grow. Cocoa trees only survive within a belt 20 degrees north or south of the Equator and at an altitude with a consistent, humid climate and plenty of rain.

Around 50 countries meet these exacting conditions, and they account for the vast majority of all cocoa production. West Africa, in particular, is a hotspot, with Ghana and Ivory Coast producing 60-70% of all the world’s cocoa.

“Smallholder cocoa farmers in West Africa are the backbone of the chocolate industry, yet they remain at the losing end of the supply chain,” said Ghana-based Kwame Osei, senior director for global programmes at the Rainforest Alliance, an international nonprofit that works to protect forests through responsible business.

The price of cocoa has skyrocketed as a result of intense heat and rainfall in West Africa, which has greatly reduced crop yields, as shown in data by the International Cocoa Organization.

While the rise in cocoa prices might seem like good news for farmers in the region, Osei noted that they receive on average only 6% of a chocolate bar’s retail price. In recent years, they have struggled with the impacts of climate change, to which their crop is highly susceptible.

The price per tonne for cocoa on the futures market has doubled since the start of the year, reaching over $10,000 for the first time. In the longer term, higher prices could boost farmers’ incomes, experts say – if the right policies are put in place.

Both Ghana and Ivory Coast have recently increased the fixed price producers receive for their crop before export by over 50%, albeit from a low base. But long-term changes are needed for the industry to go green, sector experts told Climate Home.

Currently, the risk is that market volatility linked to extreme weather could drive money away from the sector. Companies seeking to develop cocoa alternatives, for example, have attracted investment of $51 million since the start of 2023, according to recent research from data firm New Food Finance.

Wrong incentives

The upheaval in the market has highlighted the need to adapt cocoa production to a warming world while at the same time reducing the industry’s environmental impacts. Current incentives enable deforestation and water depletion – and need to be changed to support greener practices, the experts said.

Subsidies come in different forms – whether as direct payments and tax breaks, or indirectly through external social and economic impacts. Both types of subsidy combined exceeded $7 trillion in 2023, covering fossil fuels, agriculture and fisheries, according to a 2023 World Bank Report.

Direct subsidies for the agricultural sector add up to $635 billion a year, it notes. They mainly support the use of fossil fuel-based fertilisers and intensive cultivation of cash crops for export, which are contributing to rising emissions of planet-heating gases.

In the case of cocoa, the report suggests that in Ivory Coast, increasing subsidies to the industry drove deforestation, as farmers cleared more land to grow trees along the border between Ivory Coast and Ghana. The analysis shows that, between 2000 and 2010, agricultural subsidies were 56% higher in Ivory Coast than in Ghana, translating into a 3% higher deforestation rate.

Data released this month by Trase, a non-profit initiative tracking commodities, also finds persistently high rates of deforestation in the region. Researchers calculated that between 2003 and 2017, 1.65 million hectares of tropical rainforest in Ivory Coast was lost to cocoa production. That is an average of 110,000 hectares per year – about the size of New York City.

In a bid to rein in forest losses, both Ivory Coast and Ghana are now taking steps to make their key industry more sustainable – and to protect producers against the growing impacts of the climate crisis. This includes shifting subsidies to promote greener methods of production.

Investing in farmers

Reforming subsidies is not only about removing harmful incentives, but also redirecting subsidies and taxes to support regenerative agriculture, said Osei of the Rainforest Alliance.

Poorly designed policies that are seen as unfair to producers can easily escalate into major political problems. This has occurred in European countries where farmers have taken to the streets this year to protest new green rules and the removal of subsidies for diesel.

The world’s food producers need financial and technical support – especially in poorer developing nations – to swap their old practices for newer, more eco-friendly methods, experts say.

“Decades of lack of investment in the farmers who grow our cocoa means they do not have the resources to invest in mitigation,” said Surmaya Talyarkhan, a senior sustainable sourcing manager for cocoa at the Fairtrade Foundation.

She believes the solution lies in ensuring farmers receive a stable price for their crop, allowing them to earn a living income. “Only then will farmers have the financial headroom to invest in measures to manage climate change and other challenges,” she told Climate Home.

To shift the cocoa industry in a greener direction, the Rainforest Alliance recommends taxing chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and ending mono-cropping practices which can harm soil health and biodiversity.

It says subsidies should instead be provided for practices that improve soil conditions and local ecosystems, including growing cover crops that maintain soil nutrition over the winter months, and shade trees to protect seedlings from harsh weather.

“Better farming techniques, like regenerative agriculture, can help farmers improve soil health and productivity while also expanding their sources of income – ultimately making them more resilient to the impacts of climate change,” said Kerry Daroci, cocoa sector lead at the Rainforest Alliance.

EU cocoa pact

In 2022, Ivory Coast and Ghana signed a joint agreement with the European Union, called the Alliance on Sustainable Cocoa, which commits them to a government-led system of transparency and traceability to curb deforestation linked to the industry.

This includes detailed monitoring and data collection on cocoa production in high-risk areas, with the information made publicly available to boost knowledge of what is driving the problem. The project is being supported with upwards of 25 million euros ($27 million) from the EU – a drop in the subsidy ocean.

When the alliance was launched, EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said that the EU – as the world’s largest importer of cocoa – had a duty to act on deforestation. “Together with our African partners, we have built a movement for positive change that can benefit everyone: farmers, industry, traders and consumers alike,” he added in a press statement.

The importance of such partnerships is borne out by the latest Trase data which shows that, in 2021, the EU and Switzerland combined imported 1.1 million tonnes of cocoa products from Ivory Coast, associated with 800,000 hectares of tropical deforestation.

The cocoa alliance preceded the EU’s landmark deforestation law – coming into force in less than a year’s time – which could pose a challenge for smallholders. Cocoa is one of the seven high-risk commodities targeted by the regulation, with farmers required to provide evidence that their produce is free from deforestation.

Meanwhile, the European Commission sees high cocoa prices as an opportunity to boost sustainability in the sector, as long as farmers benefit directly.

A commission spokesperson told Climate Home that farmers need to receive a living income that will “allow for the necessary investments”, such as agroforestry practices that support soil fertility in tropical environments.

“Investments in agricultural research and technical assistance could increase the adoption of such practices even further,” the spokesperson added. Other support could be made available to help ensure fair labour practices, incentivise environmentally sound methods, and build resilience.

Power from cocoa waste

The two West African cocoa powerhouses are already rolling out programmes to make their cultivation more sustainable. Ghana is implementing a climate-smart programme covering over six million hectares of the West Guinean forest. It includes practices such as growing shade trees to improve crop yields and is expected to earn the country $45 million by the end of 2024 in carbon credits via the World Bank.

Meanwhile, Ivory Coast is building a major new biomass power plant to run on the enormous amounts of waste that come from harvesting cocoa. Usually, much of the plant – the shells and pod husks – is thrown away, but these will now be used to generate renewable electricity instead.

Osei of the Rainforest Alliance noted that smallholders produce around 30 percent of the world’s food crops – and it is therefore in the interest of governments to help them become more resilient to climate change, to maintain supplies and export capacity.

This must be done in a way that protects the climate and improves the health of soils, forests and wider ecosystems on which the cocoa crop depends, he added.

“Regenerative agriculture holds huge potential to transform food systems and respond to some of the most pressing challenges governments and farmers are grappling with, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, and water scarcity,” he said.

(Reporting by Adam Wentworth; editing by Megan Rowling and Sebastián Rodríguez; graphics by Fanis Kollias)

This story is supported by Unilever. Special reports are produced by Climate Home News journalists with the support of partners on topics of mutual interest. Partners do not review the copy before publication.

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The declaration is thorough in its recognition of Indigenous peoples’ fundamental freedoms, stating that they have “the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources”.

The importance and value that Indigenous peoples bring to tackling climate change is essential. Local communities should be at the heart of how to solve the climate crisis not only because they are at risk. Their connection to place provides unique insights into how to adapt to increasingly frequent extreme weather events. They have been the custodians of their land and water for generations – and the knowledge that brings is priceless.

The Adaptation Fund has financed multiple projects around the world where Indigenous peoples are being impacted by climate change. This offers the Fund unique opportunities to explore how climate adaptation can be implemented in lockstep with Indigenous knowledge.

Restoring forest

One such opportunity comes from a project that faced challenging circumstances in the deep jungle between Ecuador and Colombia. The project, implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP), covers an area of over 915,000 hectares and two watersheds important to both countries.

The region’s Afro and Awá communities live in precarious conditions there, affected by extreme weather events including drought, floods and storm surges. This border area is one of the most food-insecure regions in Latin America. Changes in climatic conditions have meant loss of mangrove forests, unstable crop production and a decline in fish species. This is having a knock-on effect on people’s diet, and malnutrition is increasing.

To address these issues, WFP worked closely with communities to raise awareness of climate risks and incorporated ancestral knowledge into adaptation measures. Restoring over 8,000 hectares of forest helped the livelihoods of 120 communities and 1,100 families in the region. In addition, the creation of resilient family gardens using organic products has helped to improve the diet of a further 600 families.

Using these techniques, alongside other activities such as sustainable agroforestry, helped to protect against damage from heavy rains. At each step, WFP has worked with communities imparting their knowledge and sought to empower local people. This included greater representation for women who, given historic inequalities, are more exposed to climate-related risks.

Local knowledge

The project faced unique challenges: the partners had to navigate working across borders in a large and remote region where there are serious security concerns. Diego Guzmán, the WFP’s national programme officer for food systems and climate change, worked closely on the project. He told Climate Home that the team maintained a line of communication to the UN’s security unit in Ecuador. “We actively engaged local organisations and leaders, leveraging their intimate knowledge of the territory,” he said. This solved some of the additional obstacles of size and borders.

Improving food security and its relationship to climate change among the community was one of the key components of the project. This first meant understanding and respecting traditional norms. “It’s crucial to acknowledge and value the local products that hold significance within these communities, fostering sustainable use of resources for improved food security and economic well-being,” said Guzmán. One of the key lessons from the project – and others like it – is to strengthen how local organizations work. Decisions need to be “inclusive, transparent, and reflective of the community’s priorities,” he added.

It is the sense of mutual respect and a shared end goal that supports the success of these projects. The Fund has also seen other significant components aimed at restoring sustainable ancestral practices in projects it funds in Morocco (reviving ancient underground water channels to address drought), Costa Rica (diversified forest farming to enhance food security), and Mexico (adapted fog catchers to store water), among others. 

Local women in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, taking part in an
adaptation project seeking to diversify food and livelihood security.
Photo credit: Adaptation Fund

Diversifying incomes

Mikko Ollikainen, head of the Adaptation Fund, said the organisation “takes great pride in supporting and empowering the most vulnerable local communities and groups, and you see this across many of our projects on the ground”.

“Our five-year medium-term strategy and environmental and social safeguards further foster support of human rights and equitable opportunity, including for Indigenous communities, which very often have the best ideas of what works well locally in building climate resilience,” he explained. 

Another related Indigenous project comes from the other side of the world, on the Indonesian island of  Sulawesi in South Sulawesi province. It aimed to raise awareness of watershed and climate impacts among the Indigenous people of Ammatoa Kajang. The implementing entity was Kemitraan, or the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, a non-profit established in the country for the past two decades.

Here the challenge was to reduce climate-related vulnerabilities through improving how the watershed was managed. This included the creation of different social business groups to help people diversify incomes, selling existing products like candlenuts in more profitable ways, and upgrading crop machinery. Not only did this approach require a climate adaptation plan based on local knowledge, but active lobbying of the regional government to see it implemented over the long-term. Again, strengthening local governance was seen as key.

A shift in thinking

One of the project participants, Namesiah Munaati, told the Adaptation Fund: “What has changed is the mindset of the community – a shift in thinking, from farming practices to managing agricultural products and marketing strategies.”

“There has been an improvement in our family finances. There is enough for children’s allowances and our household needs are met,” she added.

It’s no secret that outside entities have not always acted with local concerns in mind when developing plans and projects designed to support people on the ground. As Indigenous rights have grown in prominence, so has awareness among external partners. There is now recognition that working in partnership with Indigenous people will empower and protect their unique cultures to face new threats including climate change, ensuring their survival for decades to come.

Sponsored by the Adaptation Fund. See our supporters page for what this means.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post Indigenous peoples give fresh impetus to fight against climate crisis appeared first on Climate Home News.

National governments signed up to keep global temperatures “well below 2C” and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5C. The immediate years after the deal led to a wave of interest around how this can be achieved and how it translates into action for people, governments, and business.

Since 2015, many corporations have recognised their crucial role in tackling the crisis, with early adopters setting bold targets to reduce emissions quickly. It is now commonplace to hear of another big business pledging to cut their greenhouse emissions by X amount by, say, 2030, or 2050.

As public concern around climate change has grown, business has recognised the need to do something. But the difficulty lies in trying to work out what all these new climate targets mean, and how to hold companies to account on what actions they are taking.

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) was set up after Paris to support businesses by translating the goals of the agreement into meaningful climate action. It’s become the gold standard with targets independently validated by a group of experts. To win approval a company’s target needs to provide a clear pathway to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and be in line with the latest climate science.

The initiative has seen strong growth in recent years. There are now over 2,250 companies with science-based targets – up from 500 a couple of years ago – spanning 70 countries and 15 industries.

But the need for stronger climate action has become clear and corporate commitments need to keep up. Where the Paris Agreement led with “well below 2C”, the focus now is on keeping the goal of 1.5C alive.

The concept of “net zero” has also been introduced to tackle the crisis. Nowhere in the text of the Paris Agreement does this term exist, but it is now essential to credible climate action. Net zero is a state where all greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere are equally removed, or neutralised. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, governments and businesses need to reach this state with their own emissions. 

As interest in science-based targets has grown, so has the need to toughen up what counts as a credible plan. The introduction of the new Net-Zero Corporate Standard by SBTi aims to do just that. The new criteria require companies to make rapid, deep cuts to emissions across their entire operations and supply chain.

A credible net zero plan needs to have targets both in the short and long term, and crucially companies are unable to claim to have reached net zero until those long-term targets have been met. This means companies will need to take proactive steps to reduce their emissions by at least 90-95% by 2050 to meet the new standard. In addition, carbon offsetting is only permitted for the final few percent which cannot be eliminated. The standard also asks companies to go beyond their own business by making investments to tackle climate change elsewhere.

While only 11 companies have an approved net-zero target under the new framework, over 1,000 have reportedly made a commitment to do so.

Ørsted, a global renewable energy company, is one of the few to currently have their net-zero target signed off by SBTi. Their new plan includes a target to reach net-zero emissions across the entire value chain by 2040. 

Mads Nipper, company CEO, said last year that “the only route to a climate-safe future is one that prioritises emissions reductions, both in the near and long-term”. Ørsted is also the only energy company on the Net-Zero Standard list, an important distinction given that the sector contributes 73% to global greenhouse gas emissions.

This point was brought out by a recent report from SBTi which looked at the climate progress of “high-impact” companies. Out of this group of over 2,200 companies across all sectors of the global economy, only 32 companies in power generation had made commitments to cut emissions. Not only were heavy-emitting industries absent, but a very high number of targets were being set by companies based in Europe, North America, or Japan.

It might be the case that many companies have set strong climate targets and haven’t engaged with SBTi, or communicated their plans to the public. But this lack of transparency makes it much harder to judge the credibility of company targets, and to help them improve as time goes on.  

Nipper added: “We need bold but credible net-zero plans from companies. If you are a business leader who wants to walk the talk, I encourage you to align your company’s climate strategy with what is required by science.”

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in London.

This post was sponsored by Orsted. See our editorial guidelines for what this means.

The post How can we zero in on the right climate targets? appeared first on Climate Home News.

Over the course of three decades the technology has gone from research project to global energy technology. The first offshore wind farm was installed in Danish waters in 1991. The 11 turbines had a total capacity of 4.5 megawatts, roughly enough to power 2,000-3,000 homes. Fast forward to today and the industry is developing single turbines which are three times as powerful. One sweep of a modern turbine could power the average European household for more than a day.

The industry has reached this level of maturity in some ways against the odds. In a short number of years the demands placed upon it to grow and cut costs have been enormous. And yet it has delivered through a combination of industry innovation, experience, and supportive government policies.

From those first humble turbines the industry has installed over 60 gigawatts, enough to power tens of millions of households. But this is where things get tricky. The sector now faces unique headwinds which threaten to push its growth journey off course and into choppy waters. 

Challenging environment

At any one time the renewable energy industry has to navigate policy landscapes and uncertainties which are a function of doing business across different countries and continents. In recent years these uncertainties have grown and been exacerbated by economic pressures. Persistent inflation and rising interest rates have meant the cost of building new wind farms has spiralled. The war in Ukraine has led to skyrocketing energy prices and supply chain constraints as Europe confronts a full-scale conflict on its doorstep.

This has had a knock on effect for many millions of people, businesses, and the offshore wind industry. Cost matters when the turbines you are building are bigger than the Eiffel Tower and being placed miles from land. Offshore projects can be sensitive to global shocks as it takes years to go from first designs to final turbines in the water.

Despite these pressures the world is depending on offshore wind to help meet its climate targets and reduce global temperatures to 1.5C. To do this requires a tripling down of support for renewable technologies. The International Energy Agency and its renewables counterpart, IRENA, both see clean energy capacity tripling to 11,000 gigawatts by 2030 if we are to stand a chance of meeting our climate goals.

Getting back on track

Ørsted, a global renewable energy company and the world leader in offshore wind, argues that the long-term prospects for the technology remain bright. But the sector’s current issues jeopardise whether it can build out projects as fast as is needed. Last September the company published a seven-point plan to help the industry get back on track. It insists that offshore wind remains essential to the energy transition especially given the “recent global fossil fuel supply shock”, adding that “it is crucial for governments and industry to work together to weather the current storm and facilitate future offshore wind deployment.” 

This push-pull dynamic has historically been such a success for the sector. Supportive government policies have helped spur innovation and investment. Strong levels of action from policymakers matched by industry commitments to drive down costs will now prove decisive. This means creating a path from high government targets to a place where investment decisions can be made and high volumes of clean power can be brought online. For example, making it simpler and more predictable to get projects approved, and creating a market which accounts for future risks. Among other things, it is these risks, seen in the global upheaval of the past 18 months, which create uncertainty and a lack of confidence.

All hands on deck

Emil Damgaard Grann, head of global positioning at Ørsted, commented: “This is not just an issue facing the offshore wind industry. If we don’t fix these problems, from high inflation to supply chain bottlenecks, then society stands to lose out. Climate targets, job creation, and the huge economic growth opportunities which flow from offshore wind will be missed.”

Government targets for offshore wind will require an estimated US$100 billion in supply chain investment over the next seven years. This would have huge economic and environmental benefits for the planet. But to get there means adopting an all hands on deck approach.

Sponsored post by Ørsted. See our supporters page for what this means.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post How to weather the offshore wind storm appeared first on Climate Home News.

Research from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) found that between 2000 and 2019, there were almost twice as many climate-related disasters as during the previous 20 years. The number of major floods, for example, doubled from 1,389 to 3,254. These disasters are being fuelled by the world’s toxic love affair with carbon.

There was a time in which people discussed what the impacts of climate change might be on our children or grandchildren. It is clear that the pace of change is happening right here and now. As the planet continues to warm we have to accept that an increased number of climate-related disasters is inevitable, despite what progress is made between now and 2050.

Tried and tested

But accepting their occurrence doesn’t mean we can’t do anything about it. There exists a tried and tested approach to tackling the growth in climate disasters. One of the main solutions is to set up an effective early warning system (EWS). This simple concept has proven so popular that the UN has set a target for every person on the planet to be covered by an EWS by 2027.  “The evidence is clear: early warning systems are one of the most effective risk reduction and climate adaptation measures to reduce disaster mortality and economic losses,” the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, recently commented.

The Adaptation Fund was created to support communities against the impacts of climate change. Disaster risk reduction coupled with early warning systems now account for around 18% of all the projects it funds. To date it has helped install 526 early warning systems across all continents, at the local, national and regional levels.

Mikko Ollikainen, who heads up the fund, recently commented that  “many of our projects are helping to reduce and avert further loss and damage,” adding that “the fund is committed to supporting developing countries to build resilience to climate disasters. With the global urgency for adaptation expressed in recent international reports, such as the UNEP Adaptation Gap Report, we must accelerate and scale up our collective adaptation activities, including DRR/EWS. We have seen several instances where Adaptation Fund projects were successfully scaled up to create transformational DRR/EWS systems in countries.”

On the ground

Among the many projects which are now building out early warning systems, one in Colombia stands out. This small-scale, innovative example shows the benefits of a tailored approach working closely with local people. The La Mojana region in northern Colombia is an area of around 500,000 hectares, rich in wetlands and biodiversity. But it is also incredibly vulnerable to climate impacts and has frequently experienced bouts of severe flooding and drought.

Funded by the Adaptation Fund and carried out by the UN Development Programme together with the Colombian government, the project aimed to protect and strengthen local communities to future climate impacts. It managed to achieve this, in part, through creating stronger flood infrastructure, restoring damaged wetland areas, and the creation of an early warning system. A hydro-meteorological forecast and alert centre was created to monitor water levels, map flood threats, and provide safe evacuation routes. This provided 100% coverage for thousands of people in the affected regions, up from zero a few years earlier.

Heed the lessons

Juana Madariaga, a restoration expert, told UNDP that: “We learned about everything. We received a lot of training and finally we were able to move this project forward…now we are supporting other communities in doing the same thing.” The success has been taken forward by the Green Climate Fund which has greatly scaled up the funding and coverage of the EWS to the wider region.

A recent study by AF concluded that the most successful disaster risk reduction projects shared many of the same characteristics. These include leading with the community, empowering women and indigenous groups to design the campaign, and ensuring strong involvement from regional and national institutions. In addition, strong investment in data collection and improving data quality is essential to ensuring long-term sustainability and effectiveness.

These ideas may seem straightforward on paper but each region is unique. When it comes to disaster risk the value comes through forming lasting partnerships, a willingness to learn, and an understanding of local concerns. If the number of climate disasters only continues to grow as expected, we will need to heed these lessons and fast. Because if we cannot prevent disasters from happening, we have to learn to adapt, build resilience and reduce climate change risks.

This post was sponsored by the Adaptation Fund. See our supporters page for what this means.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post As climate disasters grow, early warning systems become essential appeared first on Climate Home News.

Tens of trillions of dollars move through the global economy and financial markets each year. Finding a way to direct that money towards fighting climate change is one of the most pressing and urgent questions we face.

The Paris Agreement contains an important line on climate finance. It says that governments should “make financial flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”.

If the world is to be successful in this objective then it would mean nothing less than a complete transformation of the financial sector as we currently understand it. But before that can be achieved there is also a huge amount of groundwork which needs to be laid.

Trailblazers

A variety of different climate funds have been set up to support the goals of the Paris Agreement. And even before the landmark deal was signed there existed funds which helped countries and communities build resilience to the climate crisis. These funds can be seen as the first movers, or early adopters, of a different way of doing finance. One which prioritises the climate, communities and the natural world.

The Adaptation Fund (AF) was established to protect vulnerable communities against the devastating impacts of climate change. Its pioneering approach is to create small-scale pilot projects which are innovative, impactful and can be scaled up elsewhere. By providing entities with direct access to finance from the Fund the work can be conducted quickly, something of great benefit when combating the urgency of the crisis.

Since 2010, AF has committed over US$1 billion across nearly 160 projects with an estimated 42 million people impacted. Its work has touched communities on almost every continent; from coastal erosion in Senegal to water management in the Maldives. Mahamat Abakar Assouyouti is a senior climate change specialist at the Fund. He comments that the scalability of financed projects “allows targeted and efficient use of resources, and ultimately an increased and long-lasting impact,” adding that scalability leads to economies of scale and “enables proof of concept”.

At the Fund’s heart is providing the space and opportunity to affect change where it is needed most, and to set an example for others to follow. This has been seen in the work of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the world’s largest climate fund with over US$13.5 billion allocated across 240 projects.

Restoring mangroves

One of the clearest examples of scaling up innovation comes from the waterways of Andhra Pradesh in India. The state sits on India’s southern coast and is exposed to an increased number of cyclones and storm surges coming in from the Bay of Bengal. This causes coastal erosion, depleted fishing stocks, and ruined crops from saltwater intrusion. 

The AF project, funded through its pioneering direct access modality and carried out by its national implementing partner in India, NABARD, sought to combat the problem by restoring mangroves in the Krishna Delta. This would prevent sea-level rises and create a habitat for fish farming. The project used a small sum of US$0.7 million to restore degraded mangrove forests, train local people in the techniques, and create 50 hectares of an integrated fish farming system. The low-budget, innovative techniques, and successful outcomes provided a strong example to follow. The GCF did exactly that with a scaled-up, US$130 million project to protect mangroves and seagrass in 24 ecosystems across coastal districts in India.

Scaling up successful projects such as this one ultimately means more impact and reaching more vulnerable people. But taking a successful smaller project and widening its scope is not without its challenges. Each project is only as good as the support it receives from host countries and institutions, local communities, and the availability of financing. The more complex the project, the greater likelihood it will need extra support to ensure its sustainability in the long-term. 

Teaming up

For this reason, climate funds often work together to ensure effectiveness, and the Adaptation Fund and GCF have agreed on a framework to scale up projects. The relationship has been working well with the larger GCF involved in scaling up around 18 projects initially funded by AF. 

In addition to its concrete projects on the ground, the AF also recently started offering scale-up grants to help bridge the gap from completion of a project in preparations to scale it up.

The private sector and national governments should look at the example set by climate funds. Financing innovative projects on the ground and with direct local involvement is a proven recipe for lasting impact. As we seek to change the way the financial system operates, we need to have strong and actionable examples of how to do things differently. Climate funds offer one recipe which does exactly that.

This post was sponsored by the Adaptation Fund. See our supporters page for what this means.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post The subtle art of scaling up climate adaptation appeared first on Climate Home News.

The annual summit has grown to become an important part of the climate calendar, attended by leading politicians, businesses and investors alike.

This year it takes place under difficult circumstances. The moral case for acting on the climate crisis has never been clearer. The past six months has seen a devastating round of extreme weather events which have hit multiple continents. Sea, land and air temperatures have set new records. June and July were the hottest known to us.

Further to this there is a lack of political consensus in the United States around how to combat the crisis. The political mood often swings in opposite directions; while issues caused by regular extreme weather, such as droughts, floods, fires or food insecurity, have the potential to lead to further instability. 

On your marks

The other side of the coin is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). One of the most significant pieces of climate legislation in history, it is sending ripples across the global economy.

President Joe Biden’s bold attempt to throw the might of the US federal government behind the green economy is already having a major impact. Multibillion dollar investments have been made off the back of the legislation with global companies eager to take advantage of the $400 billion in new funding for clean technologies.

Meanwhile the European Union is hastening its own climate policies. The bloc has formulated a new Green Deal to support member states and industries on the road to net zero. “Europe is determined to lead the clean tech revolution,” said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.

This race to the future will be much discussed at Climate Week NYC as many businesses weigh up new and sometimes conflicting net zero policies. During the week the UN is hosting a Climate Ambition Summit, to hear from “first movers and doers” among business, governments, investors, and civil society.

Switching up

One of those companies in attendance will be Signify, a global leader in lighting. For companies like this, on the frontlines of climate innovations, the answer is straightforward: continue at pace down the path of electrification. 

Harry Verhaar, Signify’s head of global and government affairs, explains: “The solutions to this crisis are well-known and need to be rapidly scaled up. Clean electricity will be the backbone of the net-zero economy, enabling us to electrify almost everything which currently emits carbon. This combined with energy saving technologies will mean we can go much further and faster than we are today. These developments will have multiple co-benefits, from cleaner air to improved living and work spaces.”

Investments being made right now in electric vehicles, battery storage and renewable energy, are starting to join the dots in that electric vision of the future. But it doesn’t take huge sums or a shift in the political landscape to take serious action. 50% of all light points in the US and in Europe, for example, use old technology and are deeply energy inefficient. Upgrading these lights to new LED units would have an immediate and long-lasting impact on carbon emissions. 

Economic benefits

Internal analysis from Signify also suggests it will have significant economic benefits by reducing energy costs for Europe by €65 billion. The same is true in the US with a shift to LEDs projected to save an estimated $31.5 billion. This highlights how climate action is not just the right thing to do, but also the economic one. Energy efficiency is often the unsung hero of the climate transition, but it should be obvious by now that we cannot achieve our climate goals without it.

Delegates arriving at Climate Week NYC for a fresh round of debate and decision-making, we should focus on ways to seek stronger consensus in the US on the way forward. We know the world’s largest economy can be directed towards rapid, positive change when consensus is reached, and compromise is accepted. As the impacts of the climate crisis become more acute, our mantra should also include “We Must”.

This post was sponsored by Signify. See our editorial guidelines for what this means.

The post Climate Week NYC: Clean technologies are racing to the future appeared first on Climate Home News.

An office or home built in the 21st century is dizzyingly complicated – plumbing, wiring, insulation, an entire world exists beneath the surface of a perfectly furnished property. This level of complexity has expanded over decades as we add layers of technology and convenience to our everyday lives.

But this complex system comes with a heavy environmental price tag. It is estimated that the building and construction sector accounts for 34% of global energy demand and 37% of energy-related emissions.

It takes a lot to keep the lights on and the heat running, but it doesn’t have to be this way. 

Light bulb moment

The World Green Building Council (WGBC), a non-profit, works to support the sector to become greener, more sustainable, and to achieve net zero emissions. Its network of Green Building Councils operates in over 70 countries to promote sustainable practices within the industry.

A recent report from the organisation identifies some of the solutions to achieving net zero in buildings. These include setting strong targets, access to sustainable finance, accurate data collection, and deep retrofitting of existing buildings.

Another key solution is electrification. Replacing old gas boilers with heat pumps, installing roof-top solar panels, and upgrading to energy efficient lighting will have a huge impact on a building’s carbon footprint.

Industry estimates highlight how switching the world’s buildings to use connected LED lighting could save around 260 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, or over 900,000 gigawatt hours, more than three times the annual electricity consumption of the United Kingdom. If we want all buildings to be net zero within a generation then we will need to look at lighting.

The World Green Building Council’s CEO, Cristina Gamboa, commented that “we know that the solutions exist for a decarbonised future; and our network is ready to support industry and government to ensure that pledges, commitments and promises are turned into action.”

Data-driven insights

Signify, a global leader in lighting, has long made a commitment to net zero emissions and since 2020 it has been carbon neutral in its own operations. One of its new innovations works on the theme of data collection and environmental management. The idea is to help building owners use their space more efficiently by monitoring what needs to be used and when.

The ‘Interact Space’ platform uses environmental sensors to analyse vital data such as temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels. This is combined with a people sensor which counts how many people are on a floor or in a room. The data can be used to adjust working conditions to avoid unused space and promote productivity. 

Greg Nelson, Signify’s Global Business Leader, Systems and Services, commented: “There has been a major evolution in what we expect from our place of work. Employees today expect their work environment to be adapted to their needs and support their health and well-being. Signify is the first lighting company to support building owners with the information they need to optimize working conditions for tenants and their employees”.

It is precisely these kinds of innovations, with lighting seen as a service, which will be needed in the net zero buildings of the near future. Using data-driven insights can boost the power of LED units – dramatically reducing the inefficient use of space and electricity, which, in turn, means lower carbon emissions and increased quality of life. Real-time data allows us to continuously evaluate progress and determine where the efficiency savings can be made. 

Circular procurement

These insights are especially important in public sector spaces such as schools, or hospitals, where creating the right environment can have a significant impact. Research has shown, for example, that energy efficient lighting leads to better learning outcomes for students with increased concentration and reading speed.

In the European Union there is also the added challenge to meet the new Energy Efficiency Directive, which requires the public sector to reduce its annual energy consumption by 1.9%, which as a result, will require upgrading 3% of the total floor space in public buildings per year.

Public sector procurement has a central role to play in accelerating the uptake of net zero buildings. In the European Union alone an estimated €2 trillion is spent each year by a collection of 250,000 public authorities.

The public sector acts across the economy and its influence could be used to enable rapid change. Instilling circular principles into its procurement processes would force the building sector, and its supply chains, to rethink how it does business. 

Tackling carbon emissions in buildings is no small feat. The vast majority of homes in a net zero future have already been built. We need to upgrade and retrofit where we can, using new smart technologies to allow us to live more efficiently and without taking energy for granted.

The good news is that the net zero transition will have a positive impact on people’s quality of life and we shouldn’t wait to usher in that future.

The post How can we create the net zero buildings of tomorrow? appeared first on Climate Home News.

The SME Climate Hub exists to help businesses effectively measure, report on – and manage – their emissions.

Started in 2020, the idea was simple: support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in taking climate action to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C. The initiative forms part of the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign, which was designed to support emissions reduction from a wide range of players, from cities to financial institutions.

The SME Climate Hub is the official pathway for small and medium sized enterprises to join the initiative.

Small business, big impact

The term SME can be deceptive and doesn’t necessarily mean a local corner store. By the SME Climate Hub’s standards, the category includes any business with up to 500 employees.

Taken together, SMEs make up 90% of all businesses globally and so cutting emissions within this group is vital. 

Any business which joins the SME Climate Hub pledges to take action to halve their emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050. All companies have to report publicly on their annual progress towards cutting their emissions and reaching net zero targets.

Joining the SME Climate Hub is a serious commitment that will be transformative for any business whatever the size. Fortunately, the initiative supports businesses with a wealth of resources, including guidance on setting a 1.5°C-aligned business strategy, a carbon calculator offering a personalized emissions breakdown, and courses on taking effective climate action.

Pressure building

Pamela Jouven, Director of the SME Climate Hub, explained in a recent article that “the pressure on businesses to track and reduce their emissions is escalating,” with new regulations already coming into force in the UK and the United States.

“Businesses are also faced with customer, investor, and employee demands to account for and report their carbon emissions,” she added. Emissions reporting and reduction, therefore, becomes essential not only to stay in line with new legislation but to protect against business risks and remain competitive.

Businesses often operate without a complete understanding of their environmental impact. Reporting is one way to raise awareness of these impacts and ensure decision makers take action. This can be a challenging process as emissions have to be counted across the entire supply chain, and hunting them down can be a full-time job.  

To help companies navigate their way through the maze towards net zero, the initiative recently launched a new reporting tool to compliment its existing suite of action and measurement tools. The resource allows SMEs to provide a streamlined report on where their emissions are coming from and what actions they have taken over the past year to reduce them.

All data will be made publicly available to drive further transparency and to support other businesses to learn which climate solutions might work for them. Companies can also put the reports to wider use, for example, to show investors or customers what actions they are already taking on their net zero journey. 

Virtuous circle

One category of SME customer interested in their reporting will come in the shape of a large corporate partner. Many corporates have made net zero pledges and understand the need to work with SMEs – as their suppliers – in order to reduce their indirect, or ‘Scope 3’, emissions.

SMEs which can evidence their efforts to cut emissions through the new reporting tool will, therefore, be contributing to a virtuous circle: addressing their own climate impact and supporting bigger partners to reduce their emissions, too. And as new regulations come into force, the push to report will become stronger as SME corporate partners have greater pressure put upon them to measure their Scope 3 emissions. 

Johan Falk, CEO of Exponential Roadmap Initiative, the co-founding partner of the SME Climate Hub together with the We Mean Business Coalition, foresees that banks will “start to link green loans to SME Climate Hub reporting capability” and will ask their SME customers to disclose progress via the Hub.

“We developed the SME reporting tool with simplicity in mind, while ensuring alignment with science. SMEs can start reporting on concrete actions without being required to provide perfect numbers from day one, but rather show progress and develop capabilities over time,” he added. 

Starting the journey

As more companies make net zero pledges, it is essential to have accountability mechanisms which track and monitor progress. The SME Climate Hub’s reporting tool is a new contribution to a growing field which pushes companies to do their homework.

But it is important to note these actions are only one part of a comprehensive climate journey, what the We Mean Business Coalition calls the “Four A’s” of climate leadership. To have real climate impact, accountability needs to sit alongside strong ambition, action, and advocacy, driving down business emissions, while inspiring systems of change across industry, governments and customers.

Taking effective climate action can be daunting for small companies that want to do good but don’t know where to start.

The urgency of the crisis and pressure from corporate partners means more suppliers need to engage with the issue, and fast. The SME Climate Hub is able to set them on the right path and its new reporting tool is a key step on the journey.

This post was sponsored by the We Mean Business Coalition. See our editorial guidelines for what this means.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

The post SME Climate Hub drives accountability with new reporting tool appeared first on Climate Home News.

Peru catches on

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For one thing its coal industry plays an outsized role in the economy, employing 46,000 people and generating over 50% of electricity. The country is also dealing with the impacts of its addiction to such fossil fuels.

Australia’s climate has, on average, increased by over 1.47C since records began in 1910, and extreme weather events – wildfires, flooding and drought – have all increased in recent decades.

On the positive side there are reasons to believe Australia could become a leader in the transition to a net-zero economy. As a large island nation blessed with an abundance of sunshine and open land there are ample opportunities to build renewable power.

In this regard the government has a mixed climate record with successive administrations going out of their way to favour the fossil fuel industry and undermine clean energy. Nevertheless, 35% of Australia’s electricity came from renewable sources last year, and multiple large-scale wind and solar power plants are under construction.

Increasing efficiency

Energy efficiency is one example of an area which needs attention with a recent government assessment concluding that “Australian homes are largely inefficient”. Funding to the tune of AUS$1.3bn is at least now being made available for upgrades.

The reason is that a new administration, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has signalled a change in government policy with net-zero back on the agenda.

Speaking to the BBC after his election victory last year Mr. Albanese pledged to “end the climate wars in Australia” and that “Australian businesses know that good action on climate change is good for jobs and good for our economy, and I want to join the global effort.”

Charting a way to net zero can be difficult even with consistent policymaking and high levels of investment. This is because our highly sophisticated economies are highly dependent on burning carbon.

Electricity generation, heating and transport are the three biggest contributors to any country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. The most viable carbon-free solutions in these sectors are based on tapping into the vast energy efficiency potential and using more clean electricity to power heat pumps and electric vehicles.

But how to manage that transition is not always straightforward. As we build out these technologies there is much hand wringing around where all the extra electricity will come from.

New technology

The answer need not seem so complicated. Signify is the largest lighting company in Australia and an innovator in energy efficiency lighting.

The company’s own analysis has found that roughly 50% of all light-points in Australia consist of old technology (“tubes and bulbs”) and that switching to connected LED lighting could have a major financial and carbon impact in the country.

If all light points were shifted to connected LEDs it could save AUS$8.1 billion (US$5.3 billion) each year, and save an estimated 7.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. This is the equivalent of flying 76 million passengers from Melbourne to Sydney.

But more than this, modern LED lighting frees up electricity to be used to power other parts of the economy. Further analysis from Signify estimates that if the technology was used everywhere in Australia it could power 3.8 million heat pumps, 4.4 million electric vehicles, or 5.2 million electric cooking units each year.

Harry Verhaar, Signify’s head of global public & government affairs, commented: “Australia is a sleeping giant in the fight against climate change. The country is sitting under a green goldmine and should be showing other countries the way forward. Combining new energy efficient technology with plentiful renewable resources could supercharge the economy to a net-zero electric future. There is little time to waste and everything to gain from making this transition now.”

Climate change has become ever present in recent years with Australia’s major towns and cities battered by constant flooding and engulfed by wildfires. A big part of the solution is to address the way people use and waste energy across the entire economy.

Small but effective steps to save energy through new technologies will not only free up electricity to be used elsewhere, but dramatically curb the emissions which are fuelling extreme weather events.

The post Australia can leverage efficiency and electrification to power a net-zero future appeared first on Climate Home News.

One example comes from Christian Aid. Analysis by the charity found that in 2022 alone the top 10 climate disasters cost an estimated US$168 billion. These disasters, from flooding in Pakistan to drought in China and Europe, displaced over seven million people.

But the current frequency of climate disasters could serve as a mere prelude for what is to come as temperatures continue to tick upwards. The UN’s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction estimates that by 2030 the number could increase to 560 a year, or 1.5 disasters a day.

As the costs mount so do calls for compensation from vulnerable nations which have contributed little to the crisis. The issue of loss and damage has gained prominence in recent years, but so far it remains a work in progress.

Preparing for risk

A crucial way to stem the rising economic and human cost is to improve resilience and to better prepare for the future. And one key component behind any effective disaster risk strategy is to have an early warning system in place.

“Vulnerable communities in climate hotspots are being blindsided by cascading climate disasters without any means of prior alert,” the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said at the COP27 climate summit last year. He was speaking at the launch of ‘Early Warnings for All’, an initiative which seeks to protect the global population with early warning systems by 2027.

By some estimates an effective warning system could avoid billions of dollars in losses and even 24 hours’ notice could cut the damage caused by 30%. The question is how to develop the technology as part of a wider strategy to tackle disaster risk.

The Adaptation Fund is one organisation working on the issue, and it was set up to support developing countries against the ravages of climate change. The fund is heavily involved in financing disaster risk reduction projects, in particular across the African continent, which is deeply exposed to the climate crisis.

Mikko Ollikainen, who heads up the fund, said it has “a lengthy history of supporting adaptation projects that help minimize and avert further loss and damage” adding that 20% of the overall portfolio across the globe is now dedicated to disaster risk reduction.

“Often projects are helping establish early warning systems and hydrometeorological monitoring for the first time in certain vulnerable areas, which create models that can later be scaled up to other areas and nationwide,” he commented.

Adaptation in Africa

One of its funded projects is being run by the World Meteorological Organization in the Volta Basin in West Africa, and involves six countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Togo. The basin covers an area of 400,000km2 and in recent decades flooding and drought have become commonplace, affecting up to two million people in the region.

The project seeks to identify risk maps where flooding is likely to take place, sophisticated modelling on future flood and drought scenarios, and real-time data shared across borders and national institutions.

A main consideration is that disasters do not respect borders and building an effective response will mean strengthening networks across neighbouring countries which all have an equal stake in being fully prepared.

Another partner of the Fund in the region is the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), an intergovernmental organisation, based in Tunisia. One of its ongoing projects is supporting farmers from persistent drought affecting parts of Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda.

Lack of rainfall in the region is putting hundreds of thousands of livelihoods at risk. OSS approaches its work from the bottom up rather than top down. The organisation understands the central role for communities in building a lasting response to current and future disasters.

Culture-centered work

Projects are implemented with an understanding of the huge variety of cultures in the region, and with an estimated 340 different languages spoken, finding the right people to go in and speak to farmers is essential. An example includes learning how smallholders are being forced into different regions to maintain a living.

“It is learning from people who will tell you why the birds are not flying to the east but to the south instead”, comments Steve Muhanji, a project coordinator at OSS. “This is local knowledge that can be used with technology.”

The technology includes upgrading existing weather stations and using remote sensors to better understand how the environment is changing each year.

On top of this, OSS is working to ensure gender balance across its projects so that in the course of developing a new early warning system in the region, women are fully involved and an action plan is created to guarantee female participation.

“We work hard to support the community to organise and appoint a focal point, or leader, on the project. This person will speak the local language, advocate for others, and champion the project’s benefits,” adds Muhanji.

If the world hopes to reduce the impact of climate disasters it needs to work harder to understand them. A recent UN conference to review progress on the subject found that while 125 countries now have national strategies on disaster risk reduction, half of the world does not have early warning systems in place.

Lessons from projects on the frontline emphasise the need for high levels of investment in these new technologies, combined with deep levels of community participation, backed up by strong and supportive national institutions.

This post was sponsored by the Adaptation Fund. See our editorial guidelines for what this means.

The post Disaster risk reduction needs to sit at the heart of climate adaptation appeared first on Climate Home News.

The debate around energy efficiency is often confined to policymakers and industry experts rather than teachers and schoolchildren. But it remains the case that how we use energy is directly connected to how we work and how we learn.

In a busy classroom, energy efficiency offers students increased quality of life and improved learning environments. And schools will see lower energy bills, reduced carbon emissions, and more engaged teachers. 

The political deal on a revised Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), reached in Brussels earlier this year, puts in place a compulsory target to reduce final energy consumption across the EU by 38% in 2030.

The increased target is a recognition of the progress made so far on energy efficiency – an average 29% reduction on projections for 2030. But it can also make a positive impact on education.

Ambitious target

The renewed ambition represents an awareness of the key role energy efficiency plays in hitting carbon targets, and specifically the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ plan to cut emissions by 2030 by at least 55% compared to 1990 levels.

The new EED target translates into around 760 million tonnes of oil equivalent, a huge amount which will make a dent in the bloc’s significant reliance on imported fossil fuels.

Arianna Vitali, secretary-general of the Coalition for Energy Savings, a trade body, said there needed to be more assurances that the deal will be delivered on: “With energy saving becoming more and more essential to solve the energy security, affordability and climate challenges, member states must act fast to implement the revised provisions so that benefits for citizens and businesses can materialise,” she commented.

Efficient classrooms

What this all means for classrooms across Europe is now becoming clear. The deal includes a special provision for the public sector to lead the way in making fresh efficiency savings with a specific year-on-year target.

Member states will be required to renovate at least 3% of floor space owned by public bodies per year. This all adds up to a new and urgent charge to make energy savings across the European economy.

The impact on education could be huge. There are almost as many young people in education as there are adults in the workplace. But we provide more attention and investment to offices than to classrooms.

As a result classrooms are often inappropriately lit and deeply energy inefficient. Aside from the negative impacts on learning there are also health concerns. Research from the University of New South Wales has found the rates of myopia, in part caused by poor light exposure, are growing fast and could hit 50% of the global population by 2050.

Improving conditions

Signify, a global lighting company, has been researching the ways in which new lighting technologies can improve educational experiences for teachers and students alike.

This includes developing a product, called Interact, which connects LED lighting into one smart management system on the internet. The system provides insights into how spaces are used, when they are occupied, and at what room temperature.

Alongside using the latest LED technology, savings are made through using motion sensors and dimming lighting when necessary. The technology was deployed by the Eindhoven University of Technology in one of its buildings dating back to the 1960s and used by up to 4,000 people. The results were resoundingly positive: a 80% cut in carbon emissions and a 60% saving on energy bills.

The same technology fitted in a classroom can greatly impact how children concentrate, feel comfortable, and engage with a lesson. It does this by fine tuning existing LED lighting to the time of day and to appropriate levels, recreating the feeling of being outdoors.

Better learning

Research from the government of Hamburg found that installing such energy efficient lighting leads to significant payoffs in concentration, attention span, and behaviour. Over the course of one year, students were found to have a 35% increase in reading speed, a 45% decrease in the frequency of errors, and a 76% decrease in hyperactivity. This is compared to children using normal lighting.

Harry Verhaar, Signify’s head of global public and government affairs, explains, “Students switch off when they are forced to sit in classrooms which are either too dark or too bright for their needs. They are more tired, less attentive, and less willing to learn. Intelligent lighting systems can be adjusted to work for very different spaces, class sizes and with specific uses in mind. This technology offers young people a better start in education, and teaches them the benefits of energy efficiency from an early age.” 

To date the uptake of smart lighting systems in educational buildings across Europe has been low. The revised EED could provide the market with a much-needed boost in the right direction, improving a whole generation of young people’s learning experiences.

The current generation of students will be the ones most affected by climate change. It is crucial we offer them a head start before going out into the world and upgrading their classrooms should be the first step. The scene is now set for businesses and governments to roll up their sleeves and take meaningful action.

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It is an essential component of daily life which most people do not engage with, safe in the expectation that it will always be there at the flick of a switch or reliable click of a gas hob.

In Europe, this has dramatically changed over the past couple of years due to the precipitous rise in energy costs for both households and businesses. This shift has many causes, but was stoked by global forces, such as the post-Covid-19 economic recovery and the war in Ukraine.

Between the first half of 2021 and 2022, the cost of natural gas increased across almost all households in the European Union. There are some notable variations, from a 154% increase in Estonia to 9.8% in Portugal, but with an average increase of 35% across the bloc.

And Europe is not the only place affected; US consumers have faced double digit increases in their electricity and gas bills over the past 18 months. 

This means that energy suddenly matters a lot more to millions of people who are facing unsustainable increases in their monthly bills. Energy security has always been a political issue, but recent months have led to permanent changes in energy policy in both Europe and North America.

Climate investments

In 2022, the United States passed the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, which earmarked almost US$ 400 billion in spending on clean energy. This move, according to the White House, will be “the single largest investment in climate and energy in American history”.

Signify, a global leader in lighting innovation, believes that Europe should respond by embedding clean energy as a core component of national budgets.

While the US has laid down the gauntlet by offering generous subsidies to domestic and foreign companies, these incentives have a shelf life. Placing energy security under a government’s annual spend could offer a huge boost if it is directed towards clean and efficient sources. 

And importantly, current US and European responses to the crisis have been fixated more on the supply side, by an understandable desire to replace fossil fuels with clean energy. But this intent risks ignoring simple solutions which could be implemented right now.

Harry Verhaar, head of global public and government affairs at Signify, explains: “This is a race to the future and we need to be investing in the right technologies. The Inflation Reduction Act should inspire Europe to act quicker on the net-zero transition. This means putting energy efficiency at the heart of new green infrastructure and industrial plans.” 

Aiming for efficiency

Energy efficiency is one of the great underplayed and underestimated tools in the transition to a zero-carbon economy. Our concerns around energy security, the climate crisis, and an economic downturn could be significantly addressed through tackling our own demands which perpetuate these problems. 

Energy efficiency as a whole means looking at every corner of our modern economy and seeing how we can make savings. From roof insulation to district heating, or from LED lighting to building automation, the true size and scale of energy saving technology is enormous.

This largely untapped sector will allow us to spend less on energy, dramatically cut carbon emissions, and invest in new clean tech industries which will grow our economies.

Many European countries have responded to the energy crisis by subsidising consumer bills. This move might be understandable, but only serves to continue support for fossil fuel industries which are themselves the source of the crisis. The money would be better spent on structural solutions like the switch to connected LED lighting, to heat pumps and electric vehicles..

Recent research from the IEA backs up this view – its analysis found that subsidies for fossil fuel consumption hit a record high of US$ 1 trillion in 2022, driven by the energy crisis. This extraordinary sum could have been a gamechanger if directed towards industries which solve our energy, climate and economic crises.

Efficient lighting

For its part, Signify’s internal analysis found that the simple act of providing LED lamps could save households more on energy costs than subsidising bills, on average to the tune of 58 euros a year. 

If we take that idea and run with it the cost savings really start to add up. Data from the company further shows how LED lights could play a simple, but significant role in both reducing energy costs and emissions across continents.

Switching all light points in all 27 EU member states to LEDs could reduce energy costs by €65 billion, or 51 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, each year. Similarly the US could save US$ 31.5 billion by switching to LEDs, with the biggest cost savings coming in residential homes and manufacturing.

To date, energy efficiency has not played a central role in Europe’s response to the crisis.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently announced a new European Green Deal Industrial Plan aimed at making the EU a more attractive and competitive place for clean tech investment.

It was a clear riposte to the US but her speech made no mention of energy efficiency in leading this charge.We need all the tools at our disposal to tackle the energy and climate crises. If the greenest electron is the one you don’t use then we should look much closer at the energy demands of our homes, businesses and cities. Supporting innovations in this area could be the simplest and easiest response open to us.

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This fact is apparent in the Sundarban region of southern India and Bangladesh. It is a biodiverse landscape covering a vast area of swamp and mangrove. The region extends to 10,000 square kilometres where the Bay of Bengal meets the land and seeps inward through a network of winding rivers.

It is a place where people have spent generations living alongside water and the rhythm of the seasons. But the Sundarbans are now feeling the force of climate change as it faces regular extreme weather events and the devastating impacts of cyclones. The waters here are rising by an average of over 3 cm a year and storms have increased by 47% in the past decade.

Floating farms

The huge amounts of water coming off the bay during these cyclones deposit an equal amount of salt onto farmland and in groundwater, destroying crops and putting clean drinking supplies at risk. Increased extreme weather is forcing communities into greater conflict with natural wildlife – in an area with a sizeable population of tigers – and leading to greater urban migration. In response, communities are looking at new ways to protect their livelihood and the environment they depend on.

Conventional farming methods in the region are chemically intensive, harm nature and remain at the mercy of rising sea levels. One innovative project is instead seeking to work with the water, lifting farms onto floating platforms which support sustainability and restore community life.

A trial of floating farms is run by the South Asian nature Forum for Environment (SAFE), supported by the Adaptation Fund. Funded by the Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA), the initiative is part of the first round of AFCIA grants financed by the Fund and administered by the UN Development Programme. The project involves 12 local villages and 2,200 households, which in turn support thousands in the wider agrarian economy.

First piloted in India and Bangladesh, the initiative is being scaled up through AFCIA. The new farms use hydroponic technology, which avoids the damaging effects of regularly toiling soil. They can grow a variety of seasonal crops in grow bags, fed by solar power and a small irrigation unit which removes saltwater from the process. The unique structures are also designed to work alongside fish and crab farming and support the restoration of embankments in flooded areas.

Climate resilience

The farms are also more resilient to the extreme weather which is now hitting India and Bangladesh.

In the past two years the Sundarbans have experienced two ‘super-cyclones’, called Yaas and Amphan, which caused billions of dollars of damage. Despite this, the floating farms, due to having climate resilience built into their design, saw only an estimated 10% loss.

Ranjan Mandal, the head of Amtoli village council, said that: “After Amphan and Yaas, three quarters of the village was under saltwater. We had lost all hope but were provided for by SAFE’s innovative adaptation. It is unique that on a bamboo float raft, we can grow all vegetables for both self-consumption and sale, as well as saving the seeds for the next crop cycle. This is very much locally made and well-framed to survive the storms. Our farmers can make it (the floats) themselves and we can use it for multiple purposes.”

Community benefits

The project has been a revelation to the local community which has worked in participation with SAFE on its implementation. Bisakha Mondal, a farmer and leader of a local women’s self-help group, said the farms “look like one vast garden loaded with fresh vegetables”.

“Our group can collectively harvest all vegetables and fish in the seasonal cycles that we plan together. We have over 500 women in my village now trained in either float farming techniques or fish and crab farming.”

Another benefit from the scheme is market access for farmers. The farms allow crops to be rotated with wider market demands. SAFE trains farmers in maximising the benefits of their produce, including by being provided improved access to banking. Mondal adds that “this is the first time we went to town for training and got our own bank accounts”.

Deepali Auliya, a farmer in Tipligheri village, comments: “I can now grow both vegetables and fish in my own pond even in flood situations. I don’t have to leave my kids all alone and go to work. I can also spend my time on other activities like honey harvesting and taking care of my kids”.

Innovative farming

Regenerative farming, an approach aimed at farming with and revitalising nature such as restoring soil health, has the potential to transform areas which face a constant battle with the rising tides. But its focus on hydroponic technology means it can be used in areas experiencing drought or soil depletion.

It is clear this is vital in many parts of the world where climate disasters are becoming the norm, and where relying on the land and seasonal patterns is no longer possible.

“The Adaptation Fund by its nature has been financing innovative and often groundbreaking projects over the years, but with the rising climate urgency and adaptation gap we are seeing in developing countries we need to focus more support to innovation in order to advance new ways to accelerate effective climate action,” said Mikko Ollikainen, Head of the Adaptation Fund.

“It is great to see effective and scalable results happening on the ground, and improving lives of vulnerable communities in the Sundarbans,” added Saliha Dobardzic, senior climate change specialist who coordinates the Fund’s Innovation programme. “The floating farms project and others around the world are great examples of the Adaptation Fund’s innovation pillar in action.”

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in London.

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Many people who don’t pay close attention to the energy industry will have noticed wind turbines popping up around coastlines all the way from Europe to Asia.

It’s a marvel of modern engineering that we can place very heavy material – thousands of tonnes – in the open water and they can not only withstand the ravages of the sea but safely generate huge quantities of electricity.

These wind farms vary in size, number, and proximity to the shore, depending on when they were built. The one feature they have in common is fixed foundations going into the seabed to keep them firmly in place.

But things are now changing. As the wind industry has become more sophisticated so has the potential for new technologies to support different ways for us to harness the power of the wind. One of these new innovations is floating offshore wind.

What is floating offshore wind?

Floating turbines are not so much floating as the name suggests. While existing turbines are based on foundations, which are fixed securely on the seafloor, sometimes by piling foundations down to a depth of 60 metres below the seafloor, floating foundations are more flexible. The turbine sits on a platform, buoyant on the ocean surface, which is anchored to the seabed with long cables.

The major benefit of this innovation is that it unlocks a whole range of new locations which were previously too deep or too complex to host wind farms. This means many places with coastlines with a deep seabed, for example, the west coast of the United States, or large parts of South America, could benefit from a new and plentiful source of clean power.

At the moment the market for floating offshore is small – only around 60 megawatts of capacity have been built, compared to the 52,000 megawatts for existing offshore projects. But trials have shown the concept works.

The world’s first floating offshore wind farm, called ‘Hywind’, was built in 2017 around 16 miles off the northeast coast of Scotland, a place known for experiencing rough weather. The project has exceeded expectations, able to withstand storms and waves up to 10 metres, all the while producing high levels of clean power.

The next stage in the process is to build floating offshore bigger and further out to sea. Ørsted, a Danish renewables developer, has been an early mover into the floating offshore wind market. The company recently won the right to develop a huge 1 gigawatt floating project, also off the coast of Scotland.

Next frontiers

Gabriel Davies, Ørsted’s Programme Director for Floating Wind, said an ideal future for her would be to see a significant number of very large floating projects in operation within 10-15 years. This would help to bring costs down and open up new markets across the globe.

For the market to take off at this scale would mean an increase hundreds of times on what it is today. This is an ambitious target and one which would need high levels of investment and political support.

Nevertheless, from a technical perspective, the floating wind market is enormous, taking into account the fact that almost 80% of offshore wind suitable seabed is in floating only areas.

Davies explains that the technology can act “as a complement, not replacement” to existing, seabed-fixed projects. “In the next decade, floating offshore wind will become like ‘ordinary’ offshore wind, only placed on another type of foundation.”

One concern for the technology as it grows is to ensure the environment is protected. Floating offshore wind projects’ interaction with wildlife far out to sea is a relatively new subject area, that needs to be explored further.

Ørsted has a commitment that any new offshore wind project it commissions by 2030 will have a net-positive impact on biodiversity. With this in mind one suggestion the company has is to create a ‘biodiversity criteria’ when developers are bidding for the right to build new floating projects. This would mean protecting nature from day one. “We want to see these projects co-existing in harmony with marine life and fisheries,” says Davies.

At a time when the world needs to dramatically increase ambition on tackling the climate crisis, floating offshore wind could provide an answer. By tapping into an existing renewable technology it offers access to ever greater amounts of clean power, something we will need to fuel the net-zero economy. The prospect is tantalising if we get it right.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in London.

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This may be one of the most enduring images from this year’s record flooding in Bangladesh. People are trying to continue with life as normal, despite the deluge.

The monsoon rains hit the northern regions hardest, first in May, and then again in June as communities were trying to recover. Sylhet province was more than 80% underwater when flooding was at its peak.

There are many other images of people waist high in water, carrying emergency food aid, precious household items, or simply their daily belongings. This is a common and stark reminder of how climate change is impacting people’s lives in the country. The waters are rising. Low-lying areas in northern Bangladesh are prone to flooding, but this year’s downpour was the worst in Sylhet for over 120 years, according to the Department of Disaster Management.

On the other side of the country, Bangladesh’s southern shores are exposed to cyclones and storms coming off the Bay of Bengal. In a lesser reported event, high tidal surges swept through coastal districts over the summer, ruining the livelihoods of farmers and fishermen. Entire crops were lost as seedbeds became awash with seawater and salt found its way into the soil. This forced farmers to start again, buying seedlings from other regions at higher prices. Standing water is also a danger, not only destroying vegetable crops but increasing the likelihood of disease. Fishermen too were caught out by the tidal surges, which prevented them from going out to sea. This is on top of depleted fish stocks and regular cyclone warnings.

One of the impacts from these disasters is forced migration. Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, sits in the middle of the country, and is home to over 20 million people. This number has been growing year-on-year, in part due to new arrivals from the coasts. As hundreds of thousands of families leave their hometowns, Dhaka, and other nearby cities, are facing renewed pressure to provide for a daily influx of climate migrants.

The international aid organisation, Helvetas, works across Bangladesh to respond to the crises. Ashish Barua, Helvetas’ programme manager for climate change and sustainable development, says, “you can’t imagine how people are suffering on the ground”. He explains that supporting migrant decision-making is key. Raising awareness of safe migration routes, legal rights, and financial literacy can protect people in desperate situations from becoming exploited.

One of Helvetas’ major projects is called Panii Jibon, or “water is life”. Its aim is to improve the resilience of coastal communities to climate change. This huge undertaking supports people to change their approach to growing food and managing their water resources in response to the changing climate conditions. Each year is bringing more saltwater into crucial food and drinking water sources. One answer is to install solar-powered filtration systems which remove sand from existing ponds that store rainwater, providing access to safe drinking water. Another is to support household rainwater collection for cooking and other domestic needs.

The Panii Jibon project is in its seventh year of building climate resilience and is now working on replicating some of these solutions. But more than this, Helvetas acts as an advocate for local people: connecting local producers to sources of micro-finance; showing the government where money needs to be allocated or plugging data gaps on how communities are being affected.

The repeated floods in 2022 serve to highlight Bangladesh’s precarious position in a changing climate. While the country is a minor contributor to global greenhouse emissions, it sits on the frontline of a global crisis. Barua will be at the upcoming Cop27 conference and plans to “voice what we experience in the field and hope it is finally accepted and recognised”.

He adds that “dialogue is fine, but we need the support urgently”. The negotiations at the summit will include more urgent demands from developing countries for compensation in the face of mounting losses. The knock-on effects of climate change for Bangladesh are not only lost houses or damaged crops; in a densely populated country it is making land uninhabitable and creating dangerous levels of urban sprawl.

The Government is acutely aware of this problem but lacks the resources to take on such a Herculean challenge. It’s clear that greater assistance, and political will, is needed from the major emitters if Bangladesh is going to succeed in tackling climate disasters. As Barua notes: “We are suffering due to your lifestyle.”

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in London.

Join Helvetas’ Cop27 side event on November 10, 2022.

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The war in Ukraine has laid bare Europe’s deep dependence on Russian oil and gas. Replacing that dependence overnight was never going to be easy, but it has always been possible.

Renewable energy has long since broken into the mainstream and now waits patiently to step in as the supply of fossil fuels becomes increasingly precarious.

In the European Union, 2021 saw renewables reach an impressive 37% of total electricity production. Wind and solar power have shouldered the majority of this increase, and last year these twin technologies generated more electricity than gas for the first time. This strong level of progress shows the potential is there to go even higher.

Despite recent events, the most compelling reason to wean ourselves off fossil fuels remains the climate crisis. Cop27 will provide a moment to take stock of the progress countries have so far made on cutting greenhouse gas emissions during this crucial decade for climate action. Renewable energy has never been a more relevant and urgent part of the solution.

The current progress on wind and solar power over the past 10 years would astonish the early innovators of these clean technologies. But the question now turns to how we can scale up further and faster to meet our climate targets.

Offshore wind stands out as a technology which can meet our need for new, quick-to-build, and large-scale, clean power. Energy analysts BNEF estimate that global offshore wind capacity could reach 286 gigawatts by 2030, up from 52 in 2021. This is a near sixfold increase within a decade, an astonishing figure which could provide clean energy to millions of households. But building such large amounts of renewable power is no small task. It will require high levels of investment, strong political will, and a commitment to sustainability.

Danish renewables giant Ørsted has decades of experience in the field, having developed both the world’s first offshore wind farm and the world’s largest. New offshore wind farms are now huge in scale and ambition. The biggest projects require installing hundreds of turbines twice the height of Big Ben many miles out to sea. To steer such a project from conception to birth is a major undertaking. To ensure we build enough of them in a short space of time will mean simplifying the process.

Government priorities and energy policies often change at a moment’s notice, and this naturally creates uncertainty. This needs to end. Renewable projects which can take years to build are made more expensive and more complicated by an unstable policy environment.

Another element we need to change is complication. The journey from scoping out plans to getting permission to build can take an inordinately long period of time. Developers rightly have to go through different levels of assessment, from site selection to supply chains. But national governments should aim to make this process easier, clearer, and more transparent.

The other concern in a headlong rush to build new renewable energy capacity is the possible impact on nature. Ignoring this concern would run counter to caring for the planet. Benj Sykes, Head of Environment, Consenting and External Affairs at Ørsted UK, commented earlier this year that: “We know that the climate crisis is one of the biggest threats to our biodiversity and so we must start to implement tangible projects that will help restore nature.” As a result, Ørsted now aims to deliver ‘a net-positive biodiversity impact’ on all the projects it commissions from 2030 onwards.

Businesses also need to have the circular economy in mind when they build out renewable projects. Here it is encouraging to see the industry investigating recyclable wind turbine blades; using recycled materials in the manufacturing process; and exploring how scrap steel from old projects can be used for new wind farms.

But a positive impact requires us to go further. Everything that goes into the ground needs to be 100% recyclable, and the ground itself needs to be 100% restored when a project reaches the end of its life.

The sky is quite literally the limit for renewable energy. For all the progress we’ve made there remains huge untapped potential in these technologies. We should aim to be as bold and as ambitious as possible.

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Extreme flooding over the summer has left an estimated 1,700 people dead, nearly 2 million homes destroyed, and billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure damage.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres told diplomats last month that Pakistan was facing “a level of climate carnage beyond imagination” and that it was paying a “supersized price for man-made climate change”. The country has experienced extreme weather before, most notably in 2010 when record monsoon rains also caused widespread damage across the country.

But this year’s flooding feels different. The scale and intensity of the disaster is heightened, impacting vast areas of land and in provinces unused to seeing such rains. Half of the country has been designated as “calamity-hit”, according to the National Disaster Management Authority, with a further 40 districts declared as “flood-affected”. This means 75% of Pakistan has felt the impacts.

This is particularly true of Balochistan in the southwest of the country. Seasonal floods have usually been driven by conditions further north in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces. This year, Balochistan, a huge yet sparsely populated region known more for its desert climate, has been one of the worst affected.

Helvetas, a Swiss international aid agency, has been in Pakistan for 40 years. Dr Arjumand Nizami, the organisation’s country director, tells Climate Home News the flooding was a “monster disaster” and likens it to “someone beating the hell out of the sky”.

Extreme contrasts

Helvetas helps communities to prepare for climate shocks.

This work includes reinforcing protective structures for villages and improving drainage to channel flood water towards agricultural land. Controlling water is important in places such as Balochistan due to frequent and severe drought. When the mountain rains do come, local people need to know how to use it.

It’s these extreme contrasts which make climate adaptation such a challenge in the country. “You either have too much or you have no water,” notes Nizami. “And these kinds of situations are becoming more frequent. We have emergency-like situations which require a humanitarian response. There’s no time for development because it’s one emergency after another.”

The emergency Pakistan now faces is on multiple levels: food shortages in areas which already rely on imports; hundreds of thousands of cattle lost; contaminated drinking supplies; and standing water increasing the likelihood of disease.

On a recent visit to Balochistan, Dr Nizami saw housing loss on such a scale that “one cannot imagine if life was ever there”.

The challenge of rebuilding a country where extreme weather is becoming commonplace is a long term one. And this is where the issue of loss and damage comes in.

In the weeks following the flooding, politicians, and diplomats, least not the UN secretary general, made clear the disconnect between Pakistan’s contribution to global greenhouse gases – less than 1% – and its position on the frontline of the climate crisis.

Cop27 negotiations

As calls for climate compensation grow louder, Pakistan’s brutal experience could guide negotiations at Cop27 international negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt next month. How a deal will translate to the local level is unclear, but the projects that aid agencies, such as Helvetas, are developing can point the way.

Dr Nizami says the debate around loss and damage needs to focus on three areas: improved governance, early preparedness, and local capacity.

Helvetas is already working on these issues, from enhancing water management in remote areas to creating in-depth disaster risk scenarios for the Government. One of the benefits of this approach is cost. It’s cheaper and more effective to prepare for climate disasters before they happen than to conduct crisis management afterwards.

It’s difficult to see how Pakistan can begin to address these problems without outside assistance. The bill for the flooding sits at an estimated $30 billion. Inflation recently reached 27%. And one of the largest packages of financial assistance has come via a $1.17 billion IMF loan. This is clearly insufficient to meet the scale of this year’s extreme weather, let alone what might be round the corner.

“Disasters cannot be stopped. The rains will come,” adds Nizami. 2022’s flooding may serve to raise awareness of the need to fully prepare for the future. The Pakistani government has come a long way since the last major disaster in 2010 and climate change is now firmly on the policy agenda. It’s only by seeing this disaster through a climate lens that we can improve our response, and for the ones which follow.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in London.

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And now 2022 has entered the record books with parts of the country experiencing the most severe example of drought to date.

These conditions can, in part, be explained by the El Niño and La Niña weather systems, which bring severe dry weather to some areas, and flooding to others. Ethiopia’s landscape shifts dramatically between mountainous regions above 3,000m and low-lying desert. Climate change is perfectly placed to exploit this – turbocharging La Niña into regular extreme weather.

Ethiopia also knows political upheaval. A protracted dispute, and conflict, with its neighbour Eritrea ended in 2018, only to be immediately replaced by a brutal civil war in the northern region of Tigray. The war, and ensuing humanitarian crisis, means that the needs of people in drought-affected areas are either going unmet or ignored.

For a country with a long and devastating relationship with dry weather, it’s hard to conceive of the current crisis as being different to others. But as the UN recently reported, drought conditions are now the worst for 40 years, with some communities calling it “the unseen”.

Ethiopia’s vast southern reaches are on the frontline of this crisis.

These areas, bordering Kenya and Somalia, extend for tens of thousands of square miles, covering desert, semi-arid and savanna lands. In a country with a population of over 110 million, these regions are some of the most remote, but more than 20 million people are estimated to be suffering under the drought with a million people in dire need of food assistance.

The people who live in places such as in the Borana zone on the border with Kenya are now heavily reliant on international aid agencies for daily support.

Swiss-based Helvetas runs multiple projects to help communities most impacted by the drought. This support includes providing hay for livestock, installing solar-powered pumps to extract water from deep underground, and using local knowledge to develop a climate warning system.

Fanaye Gebrehiwot, the organisation’s country director, explains that many of its programmes have an in-built “crisis modifier” which allows the agency to keep projects going in areas which are prone to drought. But she adds that “the situation now is more than we can respond to with this modifier. We’ve had to find funds from elsewhere to provide emergency support.”

A recent Helvetas project aims to revive the market conditions for buying and selling livestock in the region. The UN estimates that 4.5 million livestock have so far died due to lack of water and pasture. Millions more are weak and starving. This means traders are unwilling to buy cattle which supports community life.

“Our livestock are our bank; if we lose them, we are nothing. Even if we do business, it is through livestock,” says Tume Jirma, a farmer who reported their experience to Helvetas.

Under these extreme conditions, Helvetas will support the market with small amounts of money to incentivise traders to buy cattle. It also conducts pilots to feed livestock in very poor conditions to get them into better shape. This helps to raise prices and mobilises more money. These schemes have proven successful in supporting communities recover from losing their livelihood, but at present they have only been conducted as small projects and do not address the full scale of the problem.

However, as a test case they could provide an answer to the fallout from Ethiopia’s climate disaster. Gebrehiwot argues that scaling up financial solutions, alongside working with other NGOs in the country, is key to ensuring effectiveness.

This is where the issue of climate compensation, or finance for loss and damage, can play a role. Ethiopia’s latest drought may be the worst in living memory, but it won’t be the last. Millions have been forced to leave their homes and may never return. Addressing loss and damage in Ethiopia could simply be a case of building and expanding on existing solutions, be it solar pumps or better livestock insurance.

The question of loss and damage will take centre stage at the upcoming Cop27 climate negotiations in Egypt. The issue has gained prominence as the world experiences the regular impacts of climate disasters. Asked about what might be missing from these talks, Gebrehiwot insists they need to include the expertise and knowledge of people on the ground.

“Representing the real people who are actually suffering is very important. We must give a voice to the people living through this disaster.”

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in London.

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