Welcome to Volume 2 of Green Queen’s #COP30 Digest. Here, our editorial team curates the must-reads, the must-bookmarks and the must-knows from around the interwebs to help you ‘skim the overwhelm’.
Catch up: VOLUME 1
Headlines You Need To Know
The COP-related news you cannot miss.
BEEF INDUSTRY GREENWASHING IN FULL SWING: Brazil’s meat industry is trying to convince people that it can produce “low-carbon” beef, which – of course – is not a thing. It’s consistent with previous research showing the livestock sector’s plan to greenwash its way into COP30.
UNEP LAUNCHES FOOD WASTE INITIATIVE: The UN Environment Programme and partners have launched the Food Waste Breakthrough initiative to halve waste by 2030 and reduce methane emissions by 7% at COP30.
BLUEPRINT TO END FOSSIL FUEL ADS: Act Climate Labs has published a new plan for media and advertising companies outlining how they can transition away from fossil fuels in their businesses in a commercially viable way. It has received support from Selwin Hart, the UN assistant secretary-general and special adviser on climate action.
CLIMATE ACTIVISTS CONFRONT BIG AG LOBBYISTS: With Big Agriculture looking to make a mark on yet another COP summit, campaigners held a protest at the AgriZone, a new area near the conference’s venue that’s sponsored by Nestlé and Bayer and dedicated to agribusiness interests.
A PROTEIN TRANSITION INVESTMENT FRAMEWORK: Three animal rights charities have launched a Protein Shift Responsible Minimum Standard under the FARMS Initiative, a framework to guide investors and financial institutions to shift their portfolios towards sustainable food systems.
ONLY 30 COUNTRIES HAVE MADE FOOD WASTE PLEDGES: Despite food waste and loss causing up to a tenth of global emissions, only 30 countries attending COP30 have made commitments to tackle this issue in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
BRAZILIAN FARMERS GET $5.4M TO BOOST RESILIENCE: US non-profit The Rockefeller Foundation has announced over $5.4M in funding for 12 organisations that support Brazilian farmers in strengthening food system resilience and providing nourishing, locally sourced food to children through school meals.
Key #COP29 Reports
The food and climate reports you need to know about.
- World on track for 2.6°C rise: Despite the 1.5°C commitment, current policies mean global temperatures would rise by 2.6°C above preindustrial levels by the end of the century, according to Climate Action Tracker. If you’ve been listening to what scientists are saying, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
- Fossil fuel emissions hit record high: To make matters worse, emissions from coal, gas and oil production will rise by 1% this year to reach an all-time high, although the pace of growth has slowed. Annual emissions have risen by 0.8% in the last decade, compared to 2% in the 10 years prior, thanks to the boom in green energy, the Global Carbon Project’s report shows.
- One in 25 attendees is a fossil fuel lobbyist: Analysis by Kick Big Polluters Out suggests that if the fossil fuel industry were a country, it would be the second-best represented nation at COP30, behind host Brazil. It has sent over 1,600 lobbyists this year, equivalent to one in 25 attendees, its largest share ever analysed.
- NDCs missing action on forests: A new report finds that most NDCs at COP30 are focused on land-based carbon removal (like tree planting) instead of protecting forests by halting and reversing deforestation, linking it to debt, trade and tax policies that force countries to rely on forest destruction for financial survival.
Awesome Resources From Media Friends
A curation of our favourite reads from COP29 – excellent guides, explainers and op-eds from around the web.
- Climate finance, explained: Climate finance is a term that appears in almost every piece of reporting on COP summits. The Guardian explains what it really means, and who is involved.
- Food is everywhere and nowhere: The COP30 programme is full of food system panels, but the topic is largely absent from negotiations. Will that change over the course of these two weeks, ask ODI Global’s Maryam Rezaei and Donya Khosravi?
- Food the only marker for success: In that vein, Mercy for Animals’s Amelia Linn argues that the only way COP30 can succeed is if countries finally integrate food and agriculture into their climate plans.
Lighter Green Fun
Funny stuff, weird stuff, random stuff related to COP you may enjoy.
- A COP earworm: A YouTube channel called Join the Resistance has released an Earth Song for COP30, parodying UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer. Warning: it will stay stuck in your head all day.
- Badvertising: Climate campaigning group Badvertising has taken over ad spaces at Transport for London stations for its Station Domination campaign, featuring satirical Fossil Ads that call for an end to adverts promoting polluting sectors.
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