Five billion dollars still owed

Pacific nations are waiting for more than five billion dollars in promised climate finance that remains unpaid as El Niño drives record sea temperatures.

Cop31 hosts and schedule

Turkey and Australia are co-hosting the UN climate summit from November ninth to twentieth in the Turkish resort city of Antalya. Turkish Environment Minister Murat Kurum holds the presidency.

Tuvalu faces existential threat

Rising seas threaten to make much of Tuvalu, a low-lying Pacific atoll state, uninhabitable. Kurum told reporters the country faces an existential crisis despite making no contribution to climate change.

“Tuvalu has made no contribution to this crisis, but unfortunately, they are faced with the threat. They are faced with an existential crisis, and they are paying the heaviest price.”

El Niño peaks in December

El Niño, a natural warming of the tropical Pacific, is forecast to peak in December. Sea temperatures near the equator are forecast to average three point seven degrees Celsius above average.

Record ocean warmth compounds crisis

The World Meteorological Organisation warned this is a record for the El Niño index. WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo said the ocean is the warmest we have ever measured it.

“The ocean it's drawing from is the warmest we've ever measured it.”

One point five degrees threshold breaching

El Niño adds to long-term warming already approaching the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to one point five degrees Celsius.

Electrification without clarity

Turkey and Australia are pushing a voluntary target to raise electricity's share of global energy from around twenty percent to thirty-five percent by twenty thirty-five.

Coal expansion blocked in Australia

Australia's High Court dismissed an appeal by mining company MACH Energy, blocking approval for an expansion of its Mount Pleasant mine in New South Wales.

Ocean absorbs most climate damage

Around a quarter of carbon dioxide released by human activity and more than ninety percent of excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases have been absorbed by the ocean, Fiji's lands and mineral resources minister Filimoni…

Ocean must lead climate talks

Pacific nations pressed for the ocean to be given a bigger place in UN climate negotiations.

“So, the resounding message from the Pacific Pre-Cop should be that never again should Mother Ocean, the planet's primary climate regulator, be consigned to the back rows of deliberations.”

Ocean declarations before Antalya

Ocean warming, acidification and sea level rise are recognised in the Taku Pakasoa Declaration adopted by leaders last week.Tuvalu has invited other countries to endorse it before the Antalya summit.