SPECIAL FEATURE
O ne year after the last United Nations Climate Conference (COP) in Glasgow, most nations still fall short of the needed clean energy transition commitments let alone delivering on their climate finance obligations. Just when we thought we had turned the corner on COVID-19 and run out of excuses to close the climate ambition loop, an invasion of Ukraine was launched driving energy prices, commodity shortages, interest rates and economic slowdowns to new records around the world. It is leading us to another global reset. Yet, like in many other critical moments, people are being left behind in the climate emergency. Code red alerts by the Intergovernmental Panel
North have even revisited a return to oil, gas, and coal. With Global South nations ready to exercise their right to development, the fossil fuel narrative can only stop with people at the front. In the United States, the conversation about tackling the climate crisis has taken a significant turn. At first, the dialogue about President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Bill was going nowhere on Capitol Hill. However, fears around economic costs and job losses, many associated with the climate provisions of the proposed legislation, turned to optimism with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
The discussion in the US continued to an analysis of how the bill will help Americans save US$5 billion annually via clean energy tax
on Climate Change (IPCC) again ignored, economies in the Global
RMI and the OPEC Fund can work together, de-risking renewable energy investment and mobilizing finance for just energy transition partnerships.
Raúl Alfaro-Pelico, RMI Senior Director, Global South Program
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