Tim McDonnell
@timmcdonnell.bsky.social
📤 3045
📥 1247
📝 37
Climate and energy editor at Semafor.
[email protected]
. Based in Kyiv.
pinned post!
Hi y’all, I’m giving up on the other place & posting here moving forward. If we haven’t met, I’m the climate & energy editor
@semafor.com
. My newsletter on energy transition comes out every Weds & Fri. It’s free. Sign up here:
www.semafor.com/vertical/net...
Send me your biz & policy scoops!
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Semafor Net Zero - An intelligent, transparent global news platform for breaking stories, analysis and video
Transparent, global reporting by Semafor journalists on climate, the environment, renewable energy including wind, solar, and hydropower, green jobs, and energy companies.
https://www.semafor.com/vertical/netzero
10 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Nils Redeker
4 months ago
Bleakly poetic finale for one of Europe’s big green industrial hopes: there’s now a homepage auctioning off the entire Northvolt factory in Sweden - complete sell-off, right down to the parking signs and bike racks.
nvx.psauction.com?gad_source=1...
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Tim McDonnell
Semafor
4 months ago
🟡 SCOOP: The US Department of Energy plans to cancel seven major loans and loan guarantees that had been conditionally approved under the Biden administration,
@timmcdonnell.bsky.social
reports.
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US plans to cancel 7 conditional commitments for green projects
The projects, which had been conditionally approved by the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, are mostly battery factories.
https://www.semafor.com/article/05/19/2025/us-plans-to-cancel-7-conditional-commitments-for-clean-energy
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Scoop, per a source close to the process: LPO will cancel 7 conditional loans/guarantees, the projects are listed here and include Monolith, Sunnova, and others
www.semafor.com/article/05/1...
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US plans to cancel 7 conditional commitments for green projects
The projects, which had been approved by the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, are mostly battery factories.
https://www.semafor.com/article/05/19/2025/us-plans-to-cancel-7-conditional-commitments-for-clean-energy
4 months ago
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Jesse D. Jenkins
5 months ago
😲 “We built our last gas-fired facility in 2022, at $785/kW. If we wanted to build that same gas-fired combined cycle unit today…$2,400/kW" - NextEra CEO John Ketchum
gasoutlook.com/analysis/cos...
🔌💡
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Costs to build gas plants triple, says CEO of NextEra Energy - Gas Outlook
NextEra Energy’s CEO said that gas turbines have a multi-year backlog, leading to soaring costs for new gas-fired power plants.
https://gasoutlook.com/analysis/costs-to-build-gas-plants-triple-says-ceo-of-nextera-energy/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20built%20our%20last%20gas,gone%20up%20three%2Dfold.%E2%80%9D
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Matt Zeitlin
6 months ago
Yesterday Donald Trump said he was going to keep Cholla Generating Station, a coal plant in Arizona, open. The utility that owns it, Arizona Public Service, told that it had already stopped generating and they had procured enough resources to replace it
heatmap.news/energy/coal-...
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Tim McDonnell
Dave Vetter
6 months ago
This just in: IEEFA analysis suggests LNG is unlikely to play a major role in displacing coal (or oil) in China. Notes that "volatility in global markets and escalating tensions with suppliers like the U.S. have only weakened the case for LNG in China"; global oversupply incoming.
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Understanding the competitive landscape for China’s LNG market
Gas exporters have touted the potential of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to replace coal and reduce emissions in China. China’s LNG demand appears limitless when viewed as a simple substitute for coal. ...
https://ieefa.org/resources/understanding-competitive-landscape-chinas-lng-market
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Tim McDonnell
Zack Colman
6 months ago
This story is now free for all to read:
www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
add a skeleton here at some point
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My queen!
www.washingtonpost.com/pr/2025/04/0...
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Siobhán O’Grady Named Ukraine Bureau Chief
https://www.washingtonpost.com/pr/2025/04/07/siobhn-ogrady-named-ukraine-bureau-chief/
6 months ago
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Reaching out for comment to a number of well-placed energy sources in Ukraine about possibility of energy ceasefire discussed by T & P, all think it’s too soon to mark any notable breakthrough and point to the massive attack happening right now on Kyiv as the sign T has so far achieved very little
6 months ago
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Hands down best interview of CERA Week has been with Charlie the conference’s official emotional support pup. Her third birthday is coming soon and she is an absolute delight
7 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Adrian Hiel
7 months ago
I have been collecting these the last few weeks - they are timely once again:
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Tim McDonnell
Justin Gerdes
7 months ago
"What we don’t want to do is drive ourselves to only one solution — that being a gas-fired solution — that’s now more expensive than it ever has been in its history,” NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum told
@timmcdonnell.bsky.social
:
www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...
🔌💡
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🟡 Semafor Net Zero: Trump’s Big Oil bear hug won’t help the AI race | Semafor
Renewables offer a cheaper and faster way to meet surging power demands, said the CEO of the largest US electricity provider.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/03/11/2025/nexteras-john-ketchum-thinks-trump-is-misguided-about-data-centers?utm_source=nowshare&utm_medium=net+zero&utm_campaign=flagshipnumbered1#c
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Tim McDonnell
Brendan Pierpont
7 months ago
NET Power's first full scale project with Oxy appears to have doubled in cost and been delayed.
#energysky
subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
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E&E News: Net Power delays low-emission Texas gas plant as costs climb
The company’s stock price tumbled 31 percent Monday following an update on a key project in the Permian Basin.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2025/03/11/net-power-delays-low-emission-texas-gas-plant-as-costs-climb-00221508
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In today’s
@semafor.com
Net Zero, does Big Oil regret backing Trump? A scooptastic dispatch from CERAWeek in Houston, featuring NextEra CEO John Ketchum, the latest on Equinor’s renewables calculus, and more
www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...
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🟡 Semafor Net Zero: Trump’s Big Oil bear hug won’t help the AI race | Semafor
Renewables offer a cheaper and faster way to meet surging power demands, said the CEO of the largest US electricity provider.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/03/11/2025/nexteras-john-ketchum-thinks-trump-is-misguided-about-data-centers
7 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Michael Li (李之樸)
7 months ago
Ontario will impose a 25% export tax on the electricity it sends to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York.
www.wsj.com/livecoverage...
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Ontario to Slap Export Tax on Electricity to U.S.
Canada’s province of Ontario will slap a 25% export tax on electricity it sends to 1.5 million homes in Minnesota, Michigan and New York, in retaliation for President Trump’s tariffs, said Doug Ford, ...
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-china-stock-market-today-03-04-2025/card/ontario-to-slap-export-tax-on-electricity-to-u-s--jlR92HoSLMWlYIWcvab1
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Trump admin kills US support for Ukraine’s energy security
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sta...
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/state-department-terminates-us-support-ukraine-energy-grid-restoration-rcna194259
7 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Dr. Aaron Thierry
7 months ago
Journalist Mstyslav Chernov's BAFTA-winning and Oscar-winning documentary is an unflinching inside look at the suffering that Russia's invasion has unleashed upon the Ukrainian people. Available on
@channel4tv.bsky.social
www.channel4.com/programmes/2...
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20 Days in Mariupol
(2023) Unflinching, Oscar-winning inside view of Russia's invasion of Ukraine
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/20-days-in-mariupol
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Tim McDonnell
illumi
7 months ago
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Coming to CERA Week in Houston in a couple of weeks? Make sure to join our Monday night cocktail party featuring NextEra CEO John Ketchum and United CSO Lauren Riley, among others.
events.semafor.com/accleratinge...
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Semafor's Accelerating Energy Innovations
https://events.semafor.com/accleratingenergyinnovations/7730272?ref=MAIN
7 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Claire Willett
7 months ago
another great example along with Wired and Teen Vogue of how real journalism these days can be a lot braver at outlets where no one is trying to get in good with the White House press secretary they’re out here with us, reporting on what’s happening to us all, instead of trying to get inside access
add a skeleton here at some point
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In today’s
@semafor.com
Net Zero, looking at the risks of Trump’s possible energy deal with Putin. Ukraine fears a repeat of Biden’s deal to lift Nord Stream 2 sanctions, which “has been haunting us for many years.”
www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...
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🟡 Semafor Net Zero: Trump is playing a dangerous game with Russian energy | Semafor
Lifting sanctions and allowing Russian oil and gas back into the global market could backfire for the US.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/02/20/2025/trump-is-playing-a-dangerous-game-with-russian-energy
7 months ago
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One key piece of the geopolitical puzzle of U.S.-Panama relations is this mine, unpopular in Panama but which Trump could push to open, maybe with the kind of mineral swap he tried to push on Ukraine last week
www.semafor.com/article/12/2...
add a skeleton here at some point
7 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Avi Zevin
7 months ago
Departures starting to pile up at DOE in a way that seems completely counter productive to the Admin's professed goals of "energy dominance", reliable electricity, and rebuilding defense nuclear capabilities. -325 from NNSA including Defense Programs (what happened to the natsec exemption?) (1/x)
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Tim McDonnell
Center on Global Energy Policy
7 months ago
Loosening the methane standards "could be something that [the EU] can offer as a negotiation point on these tariff threats," CGEP scholar Anne-Sophie Corbeau tells
@semafor.com
reporter
@timmcdonnell.bsky.social
.
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Trump-EU tariff spat could put a key climate policy on the negotiating table
Europe’s looming methane standards could hold US gas companies accountable — or devolve into greenwashing.
https://www.semafor.com/article/02/13/2025/trump-eu-tariff-spat-could-put-a-key-methane-on-the-negotiating-table
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In today's
@semafor.com
Net Zero: An exit interview with
@jigarshahdc.bsky.social
, who shares what really has him worried about the Trump transition (it's not Chris Wright)
www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...
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🟡 Semafor Net Zero: Jigar Shah worries about Trump’s unpredictability | Semafor
“I don’t see how anyone can make a 20- or 30-year investment in the energy sector without the rule of law,” former Loan Programs Office director Jigar Shah said.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/02/11/2025/trumps-unpredictability-scares-energy-investors-bidens-green-banker-jigar-shah-says?utm_source=headernewsletterlink&utm_medium=net+zero
8 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Timothy Snyder
8 months ago
Representation without taxation for a handful of billionaires, taxation without representation for the rest of us.
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Scoop in today's
@semafor.com
Net Zero: Senior Democrats worry Trump's foreign aid freeze and chaos at USAID pose an urgent threat to Ukraine’s energy security and will harm efforts toward it reaching a peace deal with Russia
www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...
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🟡 Semafor Net Zero: How the USAID collapse helps Putin | Semafor
Deliveries of critical equipment for rebuilding Ukraine’s energy system have been stopped.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/02/06/2025/usaids-energy-aid-for-ukraine-is-cut-off-a-win-for-vladimir-putin?utm_source=headernewsletterlink&utm_medium=net+zero
8 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
David Dayen
8 months ago
"This is a... harmful, dangerous, killer bluff. But they don't have the law on their side. If we are going to push back on this kind of autocratic behavior, it's not just members of Congress who have to stand up, & we will, it is all of us together"
[email protected]
in front of USAID just now
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Jesse D. Jenkins
8 months ago
Confirmation that distribution of already contracted funds have been frozen: "EPA cuts off IRA solar money already under contract. Recipients of the $7 billion Solar For All program were locked out of an online portal that’s used to distribute federal funding."
add a skeleton here at some point
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In today’s
@semafor.com
Net Zero: NET Power CEO Danny Rice explains why he’s not spooked by DeepSeek, humanitarians on why they are spooked by Trump’s aid freeze, and
@nathanielbullard.com
on his faves from his huge new chart collection
www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...
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🟡 Semafor Net Zero: This fossil fuel billionaire thinks Wall Street is wrong about DeepSeek | Semafor
NET Power CEO Danny Rice is still bullish about data centers’ insatiable appetite for natural gas.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/01/30/2025/this-fossil-fuel-billionaire-thinks-wall-street-is-wrong-about-deepseek
8 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Semafor
9 months ago
🟡 SCOOP: The CEO of the company running one of the world’s largest and most embattled copper mines wants Trump to help rescue the project before the legal battles over its future turn uglier,
@timmcdonnell.bsky.social
reports.
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A massive, embattled copper mine in Panama turns to Trump for rescue | Semafor
Economic competition between the US and China is playing out in Latin America’s mineral mines.
https://www.semafor.com/article/12/20/2024/a-massive-embattled-copper-mine-in-panama-turns-to-trump-for-rescue
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In the last
@semafor.com
Net Zero of 2024, a scoop about how one of the world’s largest and most embattled copper mines, First Quantum’s Cobre Panama, is turning to Trump for help
www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...
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🟡 Semafor Net Zero: Big Copper turns to Trump | Semafor | Semafor
Economic competition between the US and China is playing out in Latin America’s mineral mines.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/12/20/2024/a-massive-embattled-copper-mine-in-panama-turns-to-trump-for-rescue
9 months ago
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This column sucks. Doesn’t name a single suggestion for how to “fix it” other than being better at explaining rationale for unpopular coverage decisions
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/o...
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Opinion | UnitedHealth Group C.E.O.: Brian Thompson Was Never Content With the Status Quo
No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/opinion/united-health-care-brian-thompson-luigi-mangione.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
10 months ago
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In today's
@semafor.com
Net Zero, Exxon's new plan to eat OPEC's lunch, and a look at why the latest auction for federal geothermal drilling leases was a bust
www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...
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🟡 Semafor Net Zero: Geothermal hits a cold spell | Semafor | Semafor
The latest federal lease auction for geothermal drilling was a bust.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/12/11/2024/geothermal-energy-is-heating-up-but-not-yet-boiling?utm_source=headernewsletterlink&utm_medium=net+zero
10 months ago
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In today’s
@semafor.com
Net Zero: the best way to keep LPO, a powerful weapon in Biden’s climate arsenal, from being gutted by Trump is to get as many projects financed as possible. Shuttering LPO won’t be as easy this time as it was in Trump’s first term
www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...
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🟡 Biden’s climate cash ‘supernova’ | Semafor | Semafor
The lending office Donald Trump mothballed in his first term could be harder to shutter this time around.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/12/04/2024/biden-is-racing-to-dole-out-clean-energy-cash-before-trump-cuts-it-off
10 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Joe Lo
10 months ago
Interesting story which shows some of the challenges we will face in scaling up electricity grids to move renewable power around
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
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'A bullet train for power': China's ultra-high-voltage electricity grid
China produces more clean energy than any other country. Now it's rolling out an ultra-high-voltage grid to match – will its strategy of going big pay off?
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20241113-will-chinas-ultra-high-voltage-grid-pay-off-for-renewable-power
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In today’s
@semafor.com
Net Zero, dissecting Northvolt’s bankruptcy for clues about how to tweak industrial policy counter China, & texting
@thenewyorktimes.bsky.social
‘s Moscow chief about bathing in crude oil at COP29
www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...
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🟡 Semafor Net Zero: What Northvolt’s bankruptcy means | Semafor | Semafor
The sweeping trade barriers proposed by Donald Trump could hurt nascent manufacturers more than help.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/11/27/2024/northvolt-bankruptcy-shows-a-new-strategy-is-needed-to-counter-chinas-ev-dominance
10 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Prashant Rao
10 months ago
The bankruptcy of Northvolt has huge symbolic and strategic importance:
@timmcdonnell.bsky.social
digs into them in the latest edition of
@semafor.com
's Net Zero newsletter
www.semafor.com/article/11/2...
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A European bankruptcy shows a new strategy is needed to counter China’s EV dominance | Semafor
The sweeping trade barriers proposed by Trump could hurt nascent manufacturers more than help.
https://www.semafor.com/article/11/27/2024/northvolt-bankruptcy-shows-a-new-strategy-is-needed-to-counter-chinas-ev-dominance
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The headline number from COP29 — $300 billion — isn't great. But the critical fine print is even more disappointing.
www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...
@semafor.com
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🟡 Semafor Net Zero: The COP29 deal is even more disappointing than it looks | Semafor | Semafor
Rich countries have a bad track record on keeping their climate finance promises, and the Baku agreement does little to help.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/11/24/2024/the-cop29-deal-is-even-more-disappointing-than-it-looks
10 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Jason Mark
10 months ago
Privately, European diplomats called the package “empty,” “not helpful,” “unserious” and, in one instance, “shit.” Things did not get much better from there.
subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
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E&E News: Climate deal: ‘It isn’t nearly enough, but it’s a start’
Developing nations got a promise of at least $300 billion in climate finance from rich countries such as the U.S. and the EU’s members. They wanted far more.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2024/11/23/climate-summit-ends-with-300b-deal-and-a-lot-of-grief-00191404
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Tim McDonnell
Simon Evans
10 months ago
BREAKING #COP29 FINAL (?) TEXTS A new package of texts has been published as "draft decisions" – usually means final, but given all we've seen here, who knows – $300bn finance goal – "Baku to Belem roadmap to $1.3tn" – no stocktake progress tracking, just a 2yr chat
www.carbonbrief.org/...
#COP29
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Tim McDonnell
Simon Evans
10 months ago
#COP29
just wrapped up "part 1" of the closing plenary, where a series of less contentious matters were formally adopted Notably, this included carbon trading under Articles 6.2 & 6.4 But now, meeting is suspended until "later on this evening" to, in theory, agree key issues: climate finance etc
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Tim McDonnell
Simon Evans
10 months ago
How's
#cop29
going? On Twitter, Panama's negotiator Juan Carlos Monterey just posted that two big developing country groups, LDCs and AOSIS, have walked out of consultations…
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Tim McDonnell
Rishika Pardikar
10 months ago
Chair of the African Group of Negotiators on new texts on climate finance, adaptation and just transition. Note "totally unacceptable" on
#NCQG
and "not happy with the inclusion of transformational adaptation"
#COP29
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Signs of disappointment and frustration among developing countries on the $250 billion target in latest COP29 draft agreement, with at least some still considering the "nuclear option" of walking out without a deal
www.semafor.com/article/11/2...
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COP faces an existential crisis in Baku | Semafor
None of this matters if countries stop showing up.
https://www.semafor.com/article/11/22/2024/cop-faces-an-existential-crisis-in-baku
10 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Richard Delevan
10 months ago
Meanwhile,
@timmcdonnell.bsky.social
reports from
#COP29
Baku and
@tomraftery.com
debate the future of COP on our latest episode, coming soon to a pod platform near you but available now:
open.substack.com/pub/wickedpr...
🔌💡
#GreenSky
#ClimateSky
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COP29, Dubai Ski Hats, and Small Island Fear and Loathing in Baku
Semafor's Tim McDonnell from the COP29 press room in Baku; and Tom Raftery of Climate Confident makes his WP debut.
https://open.substack.com/pub/wickedpr0blems/p/cop29-dubai-ski-hats-and-small-island?r=r1dq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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One-third of US contributions to loss and damage fund
10 months ago
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Very interesting graf in draft finance decision seems to call for banning the Inflation Reduction Act. Seems doubtful this will survive. Who put this in? China?
10 months ago
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Tim McDonnell
Sara Hastings-Simon 🇨🇦
10 months ago
Read this and follow
@amywestervelt.bsky.social
I found this context resonating with me - that there are people in the process who do/did truly believe that industry would do the right thing or worked to do so but it is now time to look at the evidence of what has actually happened.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Still no real compromise measure or numbers on the table for climate finance goal at COP29. Very real chance of leaving Baku without a specific goal
10 months ago
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