Inside the Greenhouse is a monthly update on FCNL’s environmental advocacy and the climate crisis.
2024: The Year of International Climate Assistance
Happy New Year from the Sustainable Energy and Environment team at FCNL! With COP28, the most recent U.N. climate conference, in the rearview mirror, FCNL is getting to work in 2024—a year many experts are already dubbing “the year of international climate assistance.”
Around the world, climate change is having an immediate and outsized impact on developing countries, many of which lack the financial means to respond effectively. Through multilateral climate funds, such as the Green Climate Fund, The United States and other wealthy nations have committed to spending billions annually to help these countries transition to clean energy and adapt to the ravages of climate change.
Our voices will be needed to urge our leaders to support more ambitious global climate action.
The current annual global assistance goal stands at $100 billion. Slow global action and unforeseen crises such as COVID-19 delayed the completion of this goal. It should have been reached by 2020 but was not met until 2022.
The next round of international climate talks is planned for November 2024 in Azerbaijan. There, the global community will establish new goals for international climate assistance for 2025 and beyond.
This work is critical and urgent as it is increasingly clear is that the current goal simply isn’t enough to confront the challenges climate change poses. We must scale up our ambition by appropriating more money to these efforts, and this is the year to do so. The U.S. will be critical in making this happen, and our voices will be needed to urge our leaders to meet current commitments and support more ambitious global climate action.
Historic Fossil Fuel Transition Agreement at COP28
At COP28, 200 countries unanimously agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. This historic agreement emphasizes a just, orderly, and equitable global shift away from fossil fuels by the end of the decade. It aims to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions entirely by mid-century. Additionally, the international community committed to triple renewable energy sources like wind and solar power by 2030 and to reduce methane emissions significantly.
This is major step forward, however, critical challenges remain. Making this transition will require major investment and developing countries will need resources and infrastructure support.
This is why urging the U.S. to support projects in developing countries to enable developing countries to transition to more sustainable energy sources is a crucial part of FCNL’s advocacy for international climate assistance.
Historic U.S. Offshore Wind Projects Launch
The new year started with a bang for the long-troubled U.S. offshore wind industry. Last week, the Vinyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts and the South Fork Wind project off the coast of New York began testing electricity delivery to their state’s energy grids.
The 800-megawatt wind farm in Massachusetts will power more than 400,000 homes and businesses. Globally, offshore wind will be critical to meeting the commitment to triple renewable energy made at last month’s U.N. climate talks.
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