*[Enwl-eng] Медиа мониторинг: G-7 climate coverage
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Here is this month's climate diplomacy media monitoring. I hope you find it useful!
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This monthly email is a brief analysis of major themes in recent international media coverage of climate and energy. It will be produced monthly in the run-up to the COP26 negotiations, which will now take place in November 2021 in the UK.
It provides an assessment of how climate and international diplomacy is discussed in English-language international media, based on insight from social listening tools, media databases and intel and insight from GSCC's network of communications experts.
THIS MONTH'S KEY OBSERVATIONS
THIS MONTH IN NUMBERS 
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE
1. Success in Glasgow hangs in a thread after the
G7 failed to agree on climate finance
details As heads of the US, Canada, Italy, Germany, France, the UK and Japan, along with peaceful and colorful protesters, coalesced in Cornwall for the G7, expectations were high. Ahead of the event everyone from Prince Charles to leading CEO’s, scientists and investor groups were hoping that the G7 would be a climate crisis game-changer. Just the week before, polling showed overwhelming public support for G7 nations to help poorer countries cut fossil fuels by providing finance. Links between the COVID-19 and climate change crises were drawn: among others, Paul Polman, Dr Saleemul Huq, Gordon Brown and Tasneem Essop emphasised that the G7 was a crucial opportunity for governments to plan an equitable vaccination roll out and to make significant progress on the promised $100 billion in climate finance.
The summit, however, ended with little
cause for celebration. The G7 leaders - who were accompanied by honorary online guests
from Australia, South Africa, South Korea and India (online) - (re-)agreed to net-zero by 2050, halving
emissions by 2030, “improving” climate finance, 1 billion vaccines, and
protecting the 1.5C target. Though the outcome looked good on the tin,
experts were quick to point out that unless countries agreed on timelines, details and how to actually provide financial aid and
vaccines to poorer countries, November’s
COP26 in Glasgow will be a flop. As put by former UN climate
envoy Rachel Kyte: “on the outside the deal looks good, but there’s little
detail on the inside'' or by Paris Agreement architect Laurence Tubiana:
“the world's richest democracies have responded [to the crisis] with a
plan to make a plan”.
New climate finance commitments at the G7 were so lacking that Boris Johnson was left to re-announce previously allocated cash. Only Japan, Canada and Germany set out new climate finance pledges, but they came nowhere close to filling the finance gap. These new finance pledges were not advertised widely by government communications teams and went largely unnoticed in the press. Progress on climate finance is a make-or-break issue for Glasgow, as experts underlined this month. More optimistically, Laurence Tubiana offered her advice to Johnson, saying that though the UK needs to do more to reassure the developing world, the path to Paris in 2015 was far from smooth either. Experts are now eyeing up the UN General Assembly, to be held in September, as the next chance for richer countries to rectify their lacking attempts at sorting out the climate finance corundum.
COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTS - COP26 IN GLASGOW HANGS IN A THIN THREAD More needed: G7 nations agree to boost
climate finance (Reuters) Aid to the developing world is key to fighting climate change (Financial Times)
2. The G7 fall short on commitments to end
coal The G7’s commitment to end support for coal production overseas fell short of what’s needed. Earlier this month the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that an end to new fossil fuel development is required to stay below 1.5C. Its new net-zero roadmap was cautiously welcomed by most commentators; regarded as a more ambitious call for decarbonisation from the traditionally conservative agency. With this in mind, the G7’s inability to commit to end coal in their own countries was seen as miles off the mark.
A G7 end-date for coal was blocked by Japan and the US, despite Biden announcing that on issues like climate change “the United States is back”. The G7 fell at a particularly sensitive time for President Biden whose push for a major infrastructure package has divided Congress - and may depend on the vote of just one senator: Joe Manchin, from the coal-dependent state Virginia. The lack of coal commitments left protesters disappointed, including a hoard of yellow Pikachus targeting Japanese coal, and Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists who marched across St. Ives in the hundreds. An XR spokesperson described the disappointing summit as putting us “in no better position than before the G7 took place”.
The elephant in the G7 room? Historical responsibility. Myles Allen, the Director of Oxford Net Zero, took a look at what was not said at the summit. Even though emissions are going down in some G7 nations, this does not reverse historical contribution. Today, the G7 nations produce about a quarter of the world’s emissions, and have spent over $189 billion on fossil fuels bail outs. Looking ahead, Prof. Allen also suggests that countries need to get serious about carbon removal, as stopping emissions alone may not be enough to heed the Paris goals.
COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTS - THE G7 FALLS SHORT ON COMMITMENTS TO END COAL Richest nations agree to end support
for coal production overseas (The Guardian) Climate change: what G7 leaders could have said – but didn’t (The Conversation)
3. Carbon markets and anticipations of Article 6 negotiations Carbon market chat is speeding up. Offsets via nature - like planting trees - are seen by some companies as key to reaching their climate commitments, however, 90% of voluntary nature-based credits fail to meet a set of sustainability criteria, a new white paper by carbon capture nonprofit enterprise Compensate concluded this month. Bloomberg interviewed more than a dozen people involved in a new task force - headed by Mark Carney, CEO of Standard Chartered Plc. and former governor of the Bank of England - and found many areas where the proposal remains unclear. A murky record of carbon accounting has spurred the creation of the taskforce, which hopes to launch a better (private-sector led) pilot market this year. But concerns about transparency are growing, and have even led Unilever to consider withdrawing their support from the taskforce, Bloomberg reports.
Some stakeholders, interested in growing voluntary carbon markets, say that the uncertainty of COP26 negotiations on Article 6 is holding back market developments. Article 6 will decide whether countries can use voluntary carbon markets to achieve climate goals. But many worry that no agreement will be reached: at the COP26 preparatory talks, held this month, discussion on carbon markets reached a ‘stalemate’ according to a senior climate diplomat. The eventual goal of a carbon market is emissions reductions, but without good regulation and accounting it risks turning into a greenwashing machine. Voluntary markets have grown significantly in recent years, and according to standard setter Verra, the market will continue to grow regardless of the COP26 outcome - the question is just by how much.
COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTS - CARBON MARKET AND ARTICLE 6 NEGOTIATIONS Wall Street’s Favorite Climate Solution
Is Mired in Disagreements (Bloomberg)
INSIGHTS FROM KEY GEOGRAPHIES Below is a summary of the media coverage in
key countries, and the news that helped shape the narrative.
CHINA The coverage of G7 on Chinese media was limited and mostly came from state-owned media. Overall, Chinese media took a defensive, hostile framing. A popular narrative was to frame the G7 as a venue where the US tried to get its allies on board to contain China - the US alternative to Belt and Road Initiative, language on Taiwai, Hongkong in the Communique were evidence. Splits among G7 countries were particularly highlighted, and the meetings were described as unproductive, unsatisfactory.
SOUTH KOREA G7 wasn’t really a big thing in South Korea except for the fact that the country was invited to the event. So lots of coverage on it was just about the government claiming that the country’s global status has been “upgraded” to that of the Group of Seven, and other stories were about China under diplomatic pressure and Covid-19 vaccine. G7 wasn’t really linked up well with climate in the Korean market.
INDIA The key message from the G7 coverage was about India's need for climate finance from the developed countries. Modi's speech reiterating India's commitment to climate action and being the only G20 nation on track to meet its Paris commitments, made the bulk of G7 wrap-up coverage. Environment Minister Javadekar also stressed upon the $1.1 trillion climate finance owed by the developed countries for their historic responsibility makes India's stand clear for the upcoming multilateral events in the year.
CANADA Canadian coverage of the G7 began on a defensive note, as Canada was the only G7 member taking vaccines from Covax but not donating any. On the first day of the G7, a government official leaked to multiple Canadian media outlets that Canada would announce a vaccine donation by the end of the G7. Canadian coverage mentioned that climate was on the agenda but focused more on vaccines and discussions on China. Several wire stories on climate finance were picked up by Canadian media outlets. Also in the news - Canada hasn't yet released a formal position on waiving vaccine patents though Prime Minister Trudeau confirmed Canada is in talks with the WTO on this.
AUSTRALIA The G7+4 meeting marked a perceived softening of pressure on Australia on climate, much to the dismay of climate advocates and the joy of the Federal Government, fossil fuel companies and right wing media. Despite signalling that part of Australia's invitation to the G7 was to press for greater climate commitments, Australia emerged diplomatically unscathed, claiming support for its "technology not taxes" mantra, with Australian Deputy Prime Minister also claiming a win with Japan's insistence on excluding so called "abated" coal plants from the declaration to end coal power. Australia also secured a Free Trade Deal with the UK with no climate commitments. Without external pressure, Australia will likely meander towards a non-binding and inadequate net-zero by 2050 target at some point this year, while simultaneously continuing to ramp up coal and gas exploration and production.
CLIMATE COVERAGE WITH THE HIGHEST SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT The English-language articles and social media posts that attracted the most attention this month are listed below.
ARTICLES FROM CLIMATE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS JOURNALISTS ‘America is back’: Biden to outline US
policy to Johnson, Putin in overseas visit - David Smith
ONLINE MEDIA Climate tipping points could topple like dominoes, warn scientists Analysis shows significant risk of cascading events even at 2C of heating, with severe long-term effects. - The Guardian 18.5K ENGAGEMENT Measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide peaked at record levels in May Scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday had reached the highest levels since accurate measurements began 63 years ago . - The Washington Post 11K ENGAGEMENT G7 agrees to stop international funding of coal to limit global warming Why it matters: "Coal mining has come under pressure this week after the International Energy Agency said that no new coal mines should be needed if the world is to cut emissions to net zero by 2050,". - Axios 10.8K ENGAGEMENT
SOCIAL MEDIA I congratulate Pakistan and PM @ImranKhanPTI for championing climate action and successfully hosting this year’s #WorldEnvironmentDay. Australia and Pakistan are committed to support global action on climate change. [Aus] is on track to beat our 2030 target under the Paris Agreement . - Dr. Geoffrey Shaw - Twitter - 8.3K ENGAGEMENT 5.6K ENGAGEMENT
LIVE MONITORING DASHBOARD Bookmark this: live snapshots on COP26 and climate diplomacy
This shows statistics and top articles in the media space on key issues we care about: climate, energy, transport, finance and nature, across mainstream and social media from the past 30 days.
This analysis is based on insight from the social listening tool Talkwalker, English-language media coverage from the media database Factiva, and expert insight from GSCC colleagues.
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