After Baku and Dubai, messy decision making rears its ugly head again in Belém. Objections have been raised in final plenary to two decisions *after adoption*, by several countries who say their flags were ignored.
It would be almost unprecedented for the President to go back on the decision.

👍Great to hear strong defence of the energy transition by @ed-miliband.bsky.social on BBC Today Radio 4 (8:10 interview).

💡Key point: “in 10-15 years time, people will not look back and say why were they going on about climate, they will say why didn’t they talk about it more”

Listen on catch up

PM faces growing internal backlash over potential approval of Rosebank oilfield Labour MPs describe ‘breaking point’ in relations, calling for Keir Starmer to stand by party’s manifesto commitments

Surely this should be a red line. New oil and gas for a rich OECD country in 2025 is unconscionable.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Totally encapsulates how I feel right now 😞

Consent for Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields was unlawful The judgement came after a case brought by environmental campaigners at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

🎉 Good news!!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Expanding Heathrow is incompatible with net zero – here’s the evidence The UK’s environmental commitments leave no room for extra runways.

This excellent analysis speaks for itself. It's incomprehensible that @ukgovernment.bsky.social is planning to expand airport capacity in the midst of a #climatecrisis

Expanding Heathrow is incompatible with net zero – here’s the evidence theconversation.com/expanding-he...

Start the Week - Climate Crisis: truth, lies and compromise - BBC Sounds Adam Rutherford with Mike Berners-Lee, Joe Murphy and Marianne Brown

Amazing discussion this morning on #climateaction, truth & (dis)agreement, from UN climate treaties, to Shetland wind farms.

🌍 Framed around the brilliant West End play Kyoto

@mikebernerslee.bsky.social
@adamrutherford.bsky.social
@bbcradio4.bsky.social

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

New analysis: If four UK airport expansions including Heathrow are allowed to go ahead, they will cancel out the carbon savings of this government’s clean power plan IN JUST FIVE YEARS. This government must cancel these planned expansions.

neweconomics.org/2025/01/airp...

Absolutely. Plus the report said US is completely out of international climate agreements, when it remains within UNFCCC. Not clear to me if this means US still has emissions reporting obligations. My interpretation would be yes

Trump has pulled the US out of the #ParisAgreement as expected.
🌎But let's be relieved he has not announced any intention to withdraw from the #UNFCCC That would have been much more serious.

About to speak at a @cambridgeuni.bsky.social Cambridge Zero event on implications of Trump presidency for international #climatechange action

😐Hard to be positive!!
🤞But maybe we can find some crumbs of comfort

www.tickettailor.com/events/cambr...

Delighted to be taking part in FOGGS consultation on future of international climate change cooperation, led by the excellent Richard Kinley
with top experts eg
@niklashoehne.bsky.social @jenirisallan.bsky.social
@oberthuerseb.bsky.social
@michaeljgrubb.bsky.social

www.foggs.org

Is it really 27 years? OMG we are so old!! 😃 Hugs from Cambridge and hope to see you again before too long!

Very interesting comment, thanks. I’ll investigate preferential voting further.

Thank you @lisaschipper.bsky.social ! I think you understand as much as I do, and certainly a lot more than me about policy on the ground. Looking forward to following your feed! ☺️

How can we fix climate COPs? Let's start with the voting rules We can't fix climate COPs with organisational reforms - we need to address the obstruction from blanket consensus decision-making

Excited to join international climate politics debate @bsky.app

Reposting my recent commentary on COP reform. Key points:

🌎 Organisational tweaks not enough
🌏 Smart voting rules would enable stronger decisions
🌍 Amending UNFCCC to do this not impossible

www.climatechangenews.com/2025/01/13/t...

Thanks for this!

3/4 majority of 198 parties is 149. Likely (but obvs NOT guaranteed) supporters: 45 LDCs + 35 AOSIS (-overlap) + 27 EU + 7 AILAC + 6 EIG + approx 11 CVF (-overlap) + maybe 5 other global North = 136. Not far off. Others eg Brazil maybe. Not impossible to forge a coalition.

This is why it would be helpful - no need to adopt the rules of procedure, which must be adopted by consensus (Article 7.2k)

Actually it doesn't. That's the whole point. An Amendment to the Convention can be adopted with a 3/4 majority vote (Article 15).

🌎 Some follow-up to my @climatenews.bsky.social commentary:
- Mexico & PNG tabled a proposal to amend UNFCCC to introduce voting rule in 2017.
digitallibrary.un.org/record/71962...
- See a legal response to it here
legalresponse.org/legaladvice/...
- Still on COP agenda, but not discussed

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

I develop the idea a bit more fully here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Thanks Wolfgang! Yes this is right. But my thinking is that, once the amendment entered into force, Parties to it could adopt their own decisions, and supportive non-Parties also declare their support. While not idea, this would still send a stronger high-level message than weak global consensus

How can we fix climate COPs? Let's start with the voting rules We can't fix climate COPs with organisational reforms - we need to address the obstruction from blanket consensus decision-making

Amid all the suggestions for reforms to make
COPs more effective, one has flown under the radar: a shift from consensus decisions to majority voting.
@joannadepledge.bsky.social
writes for
@climatehome.bsky.social
on how this could be a game-changer www.climatechangenews.com/2025/01/13/t...