In recent years, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has emerged on the world scene as a fierce champion of global financial reform to avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis. In an interview with Canada's National Observer, she unpacks what she hopes to see unfold in forthcoming negotiations.

In the face of accelerating natural disasters and the slow state of climate negotiations, new diplomatic efforts to rein in fossil fuels are being developed. Will it be enough to avoid catastrophe?

The ‘UAE Consensus’ on climate change is anything but universal agreement. In fact, it reveals the deep divisions set to define the next decade of climate action.

Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault now finds himself, alongside a select handful of other countries, in a pivotal role brokering the fierce debates around phasing out fossil fuels that have defined COP28.

At the annual UN climate change negotiations now unfolding in Dubai, Quebec was promoted to the leadership team of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance –– a coalition of countries and sub-national governments that have committed to banning the exploration and development for new oil and gas.

Former environment and climate change minister Catherine McKenna told Canada’s National Observer it’s “completely bonkers” to come to a climate summit to push oil and gas extraction.

“There's all sorts of reasons why it's challenging for governments to deliver on commitments, so that's the person who ultimately is cracking the whip, saying we've got to get this done faster," says former federal environment and climate change minister Catherine McKenna.

"They're private sector entities for whom their priority is to do what's best for their business. And that doesn't make them evil, but it does mean they don't belong here.”

In an interview with Canada’s National Observer, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault said details of the oil and gas emissions cap framework are being finalized but should be ready “in the coming days.”

New commitments under the Paris Agreement to slash more planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions are due in 2025, the UN's climate change executive secretary told delegates on the opening day of the annual climate change negotiations, upping the pressure on countries like Canada that remain off track.

With the leadup to COP28 marked by scandal after scandal and geopolitical tensions pitting the Global North and South against each other, establishing a loss and damage fund and pouring hundreds of millions into it on the first day of the UN climate conference is an unprecedented achievement, advocates say.

The annual UN climate change negotiations officially kick off in Dubai, and Canada’s National Observer is on the ground to cover it.