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Pledges Made So Far At The COP28 Climate Talks

Published

2 years ago

December 2, 2023

The COP28 climate talks in Dubai have begun with a flurry of announcements promising action on global warming, led by its big-spending, oil-rich host the United Arab Emirates.

But observers have warned that the headline-grabbing pledges could distract from the real battles on fossil fuels and negotiating a formal COP28 text at the end of the two-week talks.

As pressure builds during what is expected to be the hottest year on record, here are some major funding pledges and declarations announced so far at COP28:

Loss and damage

The first day of the talks Thursday saw the launch of a landmark “loss and damage” fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the increasingly costly and damaging impacts of climate disasters.

The UAE and Germany pledged $100 million each, France $109 million, $50 million from Britain, $25 million from Denmark and $17.5 million from the United States, the world’s biggest historical polluter.

Campaigners said the US offering was woefully inadequate.

The total committed as of Saturday was some $656 million, according to a tally by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.

That falls vastly short of the $100 billion a year that developing nations — which have historically been least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions — have said are needed to cover losses from natural disasters.

Tripling renewables

At least 116 countries committed Saturday to triple renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030 and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements.

G20 nations, which account for nearly 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, paved the way for a deal when they endorsed the renewable energy goal in September.

While supporters are expected to push for the pledge to be included in the outcome of the talks, there are fears that the COP28 hosts were willing to shunt the more ambitious targets into voluntary deals.

Fossil fuels

The US committed to phasing out its existing unabated coal plants as it joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) Saturday.

Abatement generally means when the emissions from a power plant are captured before going into the atmosphere.

Global CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants reached a new high in 2022 and the US has the world’s third-biggest capacity behind China and India.

Colombia became one of the largest fossil fuel producers to join the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, a movement led by climate-vulnerable island nations to end new development of coal, oil and gas.

Meanwhile, 50 oil and gas companies representing 40 percent of global production also pledged to decarbonise their operations by 2050. However, the non-binding agreement does not include emissions when their fuels are burned by customers.

Tripling nuclear

More than 20 countries led by the US called on Saturday for the tripling of world nuclear energy capacity by 2050. While nuclear generates almost no greenhouse gases, the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011 dealt it a severe blow.

But experts and activists point to the fact that new nuclear plants can take decades, while renewable energy is rising fast.

Food and farming

More than 130 countries have agreed to prioritise food and agriculture systems in their national climate plans.

The non-binding declaration was welcomed by observers, with food systems estimated to be responsible for roughly a third of human-made greenhouse gases.

But some criticised it for lacking concrete goals — and not mentioning fossil fuels or signalling any change to more sustainable diets.

Healthy future?

Over 120 countries signed up to a declaration to “place health at the heart of climate action”. It called for governments to step up action on climate-related health impacts like extreme heat, air pollution and infectious diseases.

Almost nine million people a year die from polluted air, while 189 million are exposed to extreme weather-related events.

The declaration notes “the benefits for health from deep, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions”, but makes no direct reference to the fossil fuels responsible for most human-caused pollution. COP28’s themed day on health is Sunday.

UAE Climate Investment fund

The UAE said it is putting $30 billion into a new private climate investment fund.

The oil-rich COP28 host said that the fund, called Alterra, would partly try to focus on climate projects in the developing world, and hoped to stimulate investments totalling $250 billion by 2030.

AFP

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TikTok Bans 49,512 Live Sessions In Nigeria As Creators Stream Sex Romps

Published

13 hours ago

November 22, 2025

Editor

For the first time, TikTok has shared data on its enforcement of Live Monetization guidelines, following a surge in users going live during sexual activity. The platform released the figures during its West Africa Safety Summit in Dakar, Senegal, held in partnership with AfricTivistes.

In the second quarter of 2025, TikTok took action, including warnings and demonetization, against 2,321,813 Live sessions and 1,040,356 Live creators for violating its Live Monetization guidelines.

In Nigeria alone, 49,512 Live sessions were banned during the same period.

The Summit brought together senior government officials, policy experts, NGOs, regulators, media representatives, and industry leaders from West African nations, including Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Ethiopia.

Delegates discussed strategies to strengthen user protection and content moderation frameworks tailored to regional challenges.

The event marked a pivotal moment for TikTok’s regional safety efforts and its commitment to upholding global safety standards across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Experts shared insights, examined online safety challenges, and explored collaborative measures under TikTok’s #SaferTogether initiative.

TikTok’s Outreach and Partnerships Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, Duduzile Mkhize, emphasized the platform’s commitment to enhancing user security through stakeholder collaboration.

She stated: “While global, we remain hyper-local in our day-to-day efforts. The dialogue at this Summit is invaluable because only through insights sharing and collaboration with policymakers and local partners across West Africa can we prevent a fragmented and insecure digital environment.

“United action can help us guarantee a safe space for our community to discover, create, and connect responsibly.”

A key partner in this effort is Nigeria’s Dr. Akinola Olojo, expert on preventing and countering violent extremism, and member of TikTok’s Sub-Saharan Africa Safety Advisory Council.

He said: “The convening of various stakeholders in Dakar, sharing insights for collaborative action, proves that the work we do alongside TikTok is not in vain.

“We must move beyond reactive measures and continue to build proactive systems that empower communities to resist radicalization and leverage online spaces for positive social impact.”

Globally, TikTok removed over 189 million videos in the same quarter, representing just 0.7% of all content uploaded. Of these, 163.9 million were flagged by AI-driven moderation systems.

Notably, 99.1% of removals were detected proactively, and 94.4% were taken down within 24 hours. The platform also removed 76,991,660 fake accounts, alongside 25,904,708 accounts suspected to belong to users under the age of 13.

In Nigeria, TikTok removed 3,780,426 videos between April and June 2025 for violating Community Guidelines. Impressively, 98.7% were removed before being viewed, and 91.9% were taken down within 24 hours.

The data, released in TikTok’s Quarter 2 2025 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, underscores the platform’s ongoing commitment to creating a safe digital space for its users.

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Nnamdi Kanu’s Case Proof Of Religious Persecution In Nigeria – US lawmaker, John James

Published

3 days ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

Former chairman of the Africa Subcommittee and now a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative, John James, has claimed that the case of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is proof of religious persecution in Nigeria.

James stated this when the United States House Subcommittee on Africa on Thursday, held a public hearing to review President Donald Trump’s recent redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern.

The hearing in Washington, DC included senior US State Department officials and Nigerian religious leaders.

James claimed that in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, Nigeria’s Court of Appeal had struck down the charges against him and ordered his release in 2022.

He said: “Religious persecution is tied to political repression and weakening institutions in Nigeria. The detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a clear example.

“In 2022, Nigeria’s Court of Appeals struck down the charges against him and ordered his release.

“The UN Working Group for Arbitrary Detention has also called for his unconditional release, yet he remains in solitary confinement in deteriorating health and recently had to represent himself in court.

“Nigeria has signaled that the law is optional and targeting Christians is fair game. Just hours ago this morning, despite the pleas and cries of Nigerian people and many Nigerian lawmakers, Kanu was convicted on all charges.”

Nnamdi Kanu was on Thursday, sentenced to life imprisonment over terrorism charges.

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Nigerians Don’t Trust Their Govt – US Congressman Riley Moore

Published

3 days ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

US Congressman Riley Moore has said that Nigerian people do not trust their government.

Moore stated this on Thursday at US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa, which is investigating Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’, CPC.

“The Nigerian people don’t trust their government. ‘How can you trust a government that doesn’t show up when you ask them to?

“The Nigerian government must work with the US in cooperation to address these insecurity issues.

“A case that just happened recently in Plateau state. We had a pastor there who warned the Nigerian government that they were under attack. There’s imminent attack forces here in the next 24 hours. Please come and help us.

“The Nigerian government did not only ignore it but put up a press release that it is fake news,” he said.

Moore would be meeting with a delegation of senior members of the Nigerian government, over the devastating insecurity in Nigeria and the US designation of the country as CPC, DAILY POST reports.