Ø  UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged countries to ban fossil fuel advertising, in a speech he gave on 5 June on the occasion of World Environment Day. He also announced new data from the World Meteorological Organization showing there is an 80% chance the planet will exceed the 1.5°C limit at least in one of the next five years.

Ø  G7 energy ministers reached a deal to shut down their coal-fired power plants by 2035 – marking a turning point in international cooperation on climate protection, and a significant step towards the transition away from fossil fuels.

Ø  At the UN Climate Conference in Bonn, Azerbaijan’s COP29 focus on peace and climate nexus was praised, as work is underway on an unprecedented COP Ceasefire Appeal, a first in the history of climate conferences. A pressing issue is also how to pre-empt potential conflicts that may arise from food and water shortages stemming from climate change.

Ø  The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea issued on 28 May a groundbreaking advisory opinion that said excessive greenhouse gases could cause irreversible harm to the marine environment and must be cut back. The Tribunal also underscored that States have obligations under the law of the sea – additional to the Paris Agreement ones, in order to protect marine environment from climate change impacts and ocean acidification.

Ø  Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted a new Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge on 24 May 2024, concluding lengthy negotiations that began in 2001. It addresses the interface between the 3 and includes a requirement for patent applicants to disclose the Indigenous Peoples or local community who provided the traditional knowledge. 

Ø  A group of scientists from associations and networks across Europe published on 29 May an open letter to express their concerns over decisions undermining the EU’s environmental agenda while ignoring substantive scientific evidence – the rejection of the Sustainable Pesticide Use Directive, the weakening of environmental standards in the Common Agricultural Policy, halting the approval of the Nature Restoration Law , the proposal for exemptions in the Nitrate Directive, and the  decision to shelve the Framework for Sustainable Food Systems. 

Ø  Bezos Earth Fund announced that it will award USD 100 million in grants to innovative solutions as part of its AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge. 

FACTS ARE CLEAR

Ø  The EU Copernicus Climate Change Service observed that May 2024 was the warmest May on record globally, marking the 12th consecutive month with record-high temperatures, with a global average surface air temperature 0.65°C above the 1991–2020 average.

Ø  Brazil’s Amazon saw record fires in the year’s first four months, due to intensifying drought and budget cuts to the country’s environmental agency Ibama, leaving it with less resources to fight fires.

Ø  More than 40 million students have been shut out of classrooms as heat waves have forced school closures in parts of Asia and North Africa in the last couple of months, widening learning gaps worldwide.

Ø  Venezuela has lost its last remaining glacier after it shrank so much that scientists reclassified it as an ice field.