All the versions of this article: [English] [Español] [français]
Photo: Global Justice Now
14 November 2022
Statement on ISDS and climate
Civil society organisations are calling on governments to remove the threat that ISDS (investor state dispute settlement) poses to the climate. The following statement outlines our primary concerns and demands. We seek to put pressure on our governments as they meet at COP 27 in November 2022.
Please read it and consider signing on using the form at the bottom
The Vinh Tan thermal power plant in Binh Thuan province, Vietnam.Credit: Depositphotos
ADVERTISEMENT
Earlier this fall, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry shone a spotlight on Vietnam, urging the Southeast Asian nation to “do what is sensible” and refocus its energy sector by investing in renewables and retiring fossil fuels. His remarks coincided with a deal between the European Union and the United Kingdom that made headway last week, which will see the two powers invest at least $11 billion in Vietnam’s green transition. The Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) seeks to cancel projects for new coal plants and build out 60GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Expected to be finalized at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting next month, the ambitious package will include public and private financing, technology transfers, and technical assistance.
JETP is not the first deal of its kind. The last decade has seen investors show a growing interest in expanding renewable technology in Southeast Asia. But for Vietnam’s government, the green energy transition is less about a passion for saving the planet and more about driving economic growth by any means possible. Vietnam cares about decarbonization – and renewables do have the potential to become the lowest-cost available energy option. But many political, regulatory, and financing challenges still stand in the way of this goal. Vietnam will ultimately act in its own best interest when deciding its energy future, but it must be wary of not getting overly ambitious with its commitments to the green transition by taking on debt and accepting capital for projects that are premature, imprudent, or ill-advised. An “energy transition” can be dangerous to any developing country that does not have the same risk tolerance as wealthier nations, and Vietnam is susceptible to falling into this trap.
mekongeye – Residents of the Mekong Delta are seeing houses tumble into rivers and livelihoods disappear due to erosion driven by sand mining
Local government workers use sandbags to fill in areas of subsidence along the Hau River in Chau Phu district, An Giang province, Vietnam (Image: Dinh Tuyen)
Editor’s note: In light of increasingly volatile seasons, the unquantified effects from hydropower, and continued sand mining, mainland Southeast Asia finds itself combating ever more mercurial sandbanks. For the highly populated Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, homes being washed away has become a regular facet of the wet season. But the effects of overdevelopment on the Mekong are felt across the Mekong basin. In Cambodia, the recent consequences have been stark: in May, Vannak Si and Bun Thoeun Srey Leak, both 12, died when a bank gave way in Kandal province, on the border with Vietnam. As the land beneath river-dwellers’ feet becomes ever more unstable, the sand mining and concrete industry defy solutions, as mainland Southeast Asia continues with breakneck development.
When a riverbank subsided and gave way four years ago, Tran Van Bi’s house collapsed into a river in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Everything his family had accumulated over 32 years was gone in an instant.
Phải mất hàng nghìn năm, đồng bằng sông Cửu Long mới ra đời. Con người có thể chỉ cần vài thập kỷ để làm nó co rút. Sạt lở chỉ mới là triệu chứng khởi đầu.
Ông Trương Phi Hải bên khu vực sạt lở từng là căn nhà của gia đình bên sông Tiền, thị xã Hồng Ngự, tháng 6/2020. Ảnh: Thành Nguyễn
Euro Cup 2016, sân vận động Parc des Princes (Pháp) nhuộm nỗi buồn của các cổ động viên Bồ Đào Nha khi cầu thủ của họ liên tục dứt bóng hỏng trước khung thành Áo. Cùng thời khắc ấy, ở một múi giờ khác cách Trung Âu sáu tiếng, nơi cuối dòng Mekong, trận bóng thất vọng của Bồ Đào Nha đã cứu một người đàn ông thoát chết trong gang tấc.
Đêm ấy, ông Trương Phi Hải không ngủ sớm như thường lệ. Người đàn ông 67 tuổi thức bên chiếc tivi, cổ vũ cho Cristiano Ronaldo, cầu thủ ông ái mộ. Phía sau nhà, dòng sông Tiền chảy qua thị xã Hồng Ngự (Đồng Tháp) đang trong con nước ròng, đâu đó vài chiếc sà lan chở cát nổ máy rì rì chạy ngang.
3h sáng, tiếng nước sôi xuất hiện, kéo ông Hải ra khỏi trận đấu. “Nó kêu ục ục. Tui đoán bọn cá lóc trong hồ trước nhà làm bọt bóng”, ông chủ trại cá nhớ lại. Nhưng âm thanh sủi bọt lớn dần, át cả giọng bình luận viên trên tivi. Lo cho đàn cá chỉ còn vài tiếng nữa là đến giờ hẹn bán, ông uể oải đứng lên kiểm tra. Được vài bước, bên tai ông vang tiếng “roạt-rầm”. Và nền đất dưới chân như ai đó bẻ ra, căn nhà tường gạch mái tôn ông vừa bước khỏi bỗng rớt gọn xuống con sông. Tủ, giường, bàn ghế, và cả chiếc tivi đang chiếu hình ảnh Ronaldo cũng trượt vào làn nước.
Trong tích tắc, mảnh sân sau ông Hải đang đứng biến thành một hòn đảo nhỏ giữa dòng nước xoáy đục ngầu. Rồi “hòn đảo” cũng tụt dần. Cú sốc đông cứng chân người đàn ông, ông ngồi thụp xuống, hai tay ôm đầu, phó mặc cho số phận. “Người tôi giống như đi thang máy vậy đó. Ngước mắt lên nhìn, không còn thấy trời, không còn thấy sao. Tôi nghĩ mình chết rồi”, ông Hải rít mẩu thuốc, nhớ lại giây phút sinh tử lúc đó.
Improving lives just as important as closing coal power plants
Training workforce for green energy is key to ‘just transition’
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – After clinching one of the largest-ever climate finance deals to shutter its coal-fired power plants early, Indonesia needs to work out how to make sure communities that will be impacted by the shift to renewable energy do not lose out, analysts said.
A coalition of rich nations pledged $20 billion of public and private finance to help Indonesia retire its coal power plants sooner than planned, the United States, Japan and other partners said this week
The Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), which involves providing grants and concessional loans over a three- to five-year period linked to cuts in emissions from the power sector, is based on a similar deal made with South Africa last year.
Tommy Pratama, executive director of Indonesian policy think-tank Traction Energy Asia, said a “just transition” that benefits local communities is vital for the green deal’s success.
“The key decisions about how the funding is spent must be open and transparent with the full involvement of acknowledged experts, affected local communities and civil society groups,” said Pratama in an interview.
A Dalit woman stands outside a dry toilet located in an upper caste villager’s home in Mainpuri, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Credit: Shai Venkatraman/IPS
MADRID, Nov 14 2022 (IPS) – For those who have it, a toilet is that ‘thing’ in the bathroom, next to the bidet, the hand-washing sink with hot and cold water faucets, and the bathtub.
Given their ‘unprestigious’ function, some billionaires, in particular in the Gulf oil-producer kingdoms, fancy to pose their buttocks on a solid-gold toilet. Once they are there, why not also solid-gold faucets?
Many others prefer a more comfortable use of their toilets, thus endowing them with both automatic heating and flushing. And anyway, being given-for-granted, nobody would give a thought to the high importance of all these ‘things’.
The other side of the coin shows an entirely different picture. A shocking one by the way.
Billions of humans without one
And it is a fact that close to 4 billion people –or about half of the world’s total population of 8 billion– still live without access to a safe toilet and other sanitation facilities.
Nearly a full decade ago, the international community, represented in the United Nations General Assembly, decided to declare 19 November every single year, as a world day to address such a staggering problem.
Today, the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen , on behalf of the EU, and the leaders of the International Partners Group (IPG), which is jointly led by the United States and Japan and includes Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom, launched a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with Indonesia . The launch takes place in connection with an event within the framework of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) at the G20 summit, which takes place on 15-16 November 2022 in Bali.
In a joint statement , Indonesia and international partners have announced their commitment to meeting ground-breaking climate targets and related financing. This is done to support the Asian country in an ambitious and fair energy transition, which is in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement and which contributes to keeping the global warming limit of 1.5 °C within reach.
Climate change is creating many pathways for zoonotic diseases to reach people. Four cases show how the climate crisis is altering disease threats and how the world can respond.
THAILAND: Infectious-disease researchers catch bats to study. Adam Dean/New York Times/Redux
The world is already witnessing the consequences of human-caused climate change, including hotter temperatures, rising sea levels, and more frequent and severe storms. What’s harder to see are climate change’s effects on the spread of disease: on the mosquito that carries a virus, or the pathogenic bacteria on a piece of fruit.
TP HCM chỉ có thể cầm cự không quá một ngày nếu mất nước, bởi đô thị 10 triệu dân chưa có đủ nguồn dự phòng trong tình huống khẩn nguy.
Năm 1975, dân số TP HCM khoảng 3 triệu người. 47 năm sau, số người sinh sống tại thành phố là gần 10 triệu, chưa tính khách vãng lai. Để đáp ứng nhu cầu người dân và phát triển kinh tế của đô thị lớn nhất nước, hơn 4 thập niên qua, ngành cấp nước thành phố liên tục tăng công suất, từ 450.000 m3 lên 2,4 triệu m3 – hơn gấp 5 lần.
Thống kê thời gian gần đây cứ 5 năm, thành phố lại tăng một triệu người. Nếu tính mỗi người cần trung bình 200 lít nước một ngày, đô thị lớn nhất Việt Nam sẽ tiêu thụ thêm 365 triệu m3 nước mỗi năm – bằng gần 1/4 dung tích hồ Dầu Tiếng (1,5 tỷ m3). Đó là chưa kể nhu cầu về nước cho các hoạt động sản xuất, dịch vụ còn cao hơn nhiều so với nước sinh hoạt.
As growing climate change impacts are experienced across the globe, the message that greenhouse gas emissions must fall is unambiguous. Yet the Emissions Gap Report 2022: The Closing Window – Climate crisis calls for rapid transformation of societies finds that the international community is falling far short of the Paris goals, with no credible pathway to 1.5°C in place. Only an urgent system-wide transformation can avoid climate disaster.
The report is the 13th edition in an annual series that provides an overview of the difference between where greenhouse emissions are predicted to be in 2030 and where they should be to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
TTCT – Khi người ta không chỉ “đặt tên cho dòng sông” mà còn trao cho nó các quyền lợi hợp pháp như thứ con người được hưởng, liệu có giúp nó được bảo vệ tốt hơn trước muôn mối đe dọa?
Minh họa: Matt Chinworth/Mother Jones
Trong bài báo sau này sẽ gây tiếng vang năm 1972, giáo sư luật Christopher Stone, người được cho là đã khởi động phong trào trao “nhân vị tính” (personhood) cho thiên nhiên, viết: “Tôi nghiêm túc đề xuất trao quyền lợi hợp pháp cho các khu rừng, đại dương, dòng sông và những cái gọi là ‘thực thể thiên nhiên’ khác trong môi trường – nói chung là cả môi trường tự nhiên”.
Ông cho rằng các tổ chức môi trường nên được quyền xin làm giám hộ cho những ngọn núi hay con suối mà họ cho rằng đang bị đe dọa và đại diện các thực thể thiên nhiên này trước tòa, tương tự cách con người suy sút năng lực vì bệnh tật hay tuổi tác có thể nhờ quyền giám hộ khi có vấn đề pháp lý.
Giáo sư Stone dạy tại Trường Luật Đại học Southern California từ năm 1965 cho đến khi qua đời hồi tháng 5-2021. Không bất ngờ khi không phải ai cũng lập tức đón nhận ý tưởng trao cho thiên nhiên đúng các quyền con người đang hưởng của ông. Trong nước, nhiều ý kiến chỉ trích, phê phán Stone, nhưng cũng có những thay đổi được nhen nhóm. Bên ngoài nước Mỹ, ý tưởng này lại được ủng hộ khá nhiều, hàng chục năm sau đó.
At a cost of $37 billion, Indonesia could retire its coal power plants as early as 2040 and reap economic, social and environmental benefits from the shift, a new analysis by nonprofit TransitionZero shows.
Replacing coal with renewables will create a windfall of new jobs, which would outweigh coal closure job losses by six to one, according to the analysis.
The analysis has also identified three coal plants in Indonesia that are the most suitable for early retirement, as they have lower abatement costs and are the most polluting.
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s plan to retire its coal-fired power plants and replace them with renewable energy by 2050 is not only feasible, but, when environmental costs are considered, will be less costly than relying on coal to power the Indonesian economy, according to a new analysis.
Indonesia is often dubbed as the last bastion for coal, as its power sector remains heavily reliant on the fossil fuel — about 70% of its generated electricity came from coal in 2021. Indonesia is also the world’s biggest thermal coal exporter.
As countries prepare to gather at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt to advance the Paris Agreement on climate change, attention turns once again to its building blocks: countries’ 2030 climate commitments, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
While the Paris Agreement established three global goals — limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) and ideally 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F), promote adaptation and resilience, and align financial flows with low-emissions, climate-resilient development — NDCs are the foundation. In its NDC, each of the Paris Agreement’s 194 Parties must lay out its aims to reduce emissions. Many also include plans for adapting to climate impacts and the financial requirements needed for implementation.
Countries must strengthen their NDCs on a regular, five-year cycle. Most submitted their initial commitments in 2015 and updated them by 2021. A new, stronger round of NDCs is due in 2025.
WRI’s Climate Watch platform tracks more than 200 indicators on all NDCs. The new State of NDCs report analyzed this data to draw out key trends and evaluate where the NDCs now stand. The key takeaway? Countries are making incremental progress on strengthening their NDCs, but what we really need to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement is urgent transformational change.
Here’s what we know and what countries should keep in mind as they formulate new NDCs by 2025:
Indonesia has grand plans for Jakarta—a new capital on Borneo, a giant bird-shaped sea wall to protect Jakarta itself—but they don’t solve the underlying problem.
JAKARTAApart from the narrow, unpaved road, the two-meter-high concrete coastal wall is the only thing that separates Suhemi’s small restaurant in North Jakarta from the sea. Her family depends on that wall. Growing up here in the Muara Baru neighborhood in the 80s and 90s, Suhemi used to play on the beach in front of her house. But by the 2000s the beach had disappeared, and the sea frequently inundated the neighborhood.
In 2002, the government built the coastal wall, to give the residents peace of mind and time—a respite from the steady sinking of the land under the city and the steady rising of the sea. But just five years later, in 2007, the wall proved no match for the worst floods in Jakarta’s modern history. Driven by a storm coming off the Java Sea and torrential rains, the floods claimed 80 lives around the city and caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.
In Muara Baru, the storm surge collapsed the wall, and the sea flooded Suhemi’s house.
CVD 