Biden warns “the very life of the planet” is at stake: US President Joe Biden doubled down on climate change warnings during his speech on Friday, saying that “the very life of the planet” is at stake, as he made new pledges that aim to support the world’s fight against climate change. The US doubled its pledge to its “adaptation fund” for poorer countries to USD 100 mn, and pledged a further USD 150 mn to support climate change efforts in Africa. Biden also promised the US will meet its emissions targets by 2030, after unveiling a plan to cut methane emissions from its oil and gas industry to 87% below 2005 levels by 2030.

But the pledges fall short of what developing countries need: Climate activists criticized Biden for failing to call wealthy nations for more climate change support for developing countries and for his “radio silence” on loss and damage finance, Reuters reports. “He announced a slew of new climate programs, but he couldn’t deliver what the developing world most wants — enough money to adapt to climate extremes,” one expert said. A recent report showed that developing countries will need USD 1 tn annually in external financing by the end of the decade to combat climate change.

Biden’s speech got a lot of play in the foreign press: Financial Times | WSJ | CNN | Washington Post | The Guardian | NYT.

TRACKING + COUNTING ALL THE THINGS-

UN unveils satellite-based system tracking methane emissions: The UN unveiled on Friday its Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) to help detect methane emissions, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said in a statement. The system uses data from mapping satellites to identify methane hotspots and their sources, which the UNEP will use to notify governments and companies about the emissions “so that the responsible entity can take appropriate action.”

The UN and global standard setter the International Organization for Standardization published a set of net-zero guidelines (pdf) to crack down on greenwashing and allow companies and organizations to align on net-zero emissions plans. The guidelines act as a “single core reference text” that provides standards for a range of sectors, including automotive, oil and gas, aerospace and telecommunication. This comes after a UN report last week criticized companies, banks, and cities’ net-zero plans for being “rife with greenwashing.”

Countries accounting for half of the global economy have set out a year-long plan to cut industrial gas emissions, according to a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) statement. Countries including the US, Germany, Japan, Canada, and Egypt have agreed on 25 “priority actions” to be unveiled at next year’s COP28 in the UAE to help cut emissions across power, transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM COP-

Egypt launched a program to “decarbonize existing oil and gas facilities” as part of a new private-public decarbonization coalition with engineering giant Bechtel, according to a statement from the COP27 Presidency (pdf). Egypt currently has 126 energy efficiency projects in action and has invested some USD 2.4 bn in decarbonization saving around 7 mn tons of CO2 per year, according to the statement.

---

The Cairo-headquartered East Mediterranean Gas Forum also launched a regional decarbonization initiative for the oil and gas industry, the COP27 Presidency statement says, without providing further information. The issue of gas decarbonization was on the forum’s radar last year.

The UAE unveiled 92 measures businesses can take to reduce emissions, according to a press release picked up by Zawya. The second edition of its “green business toolkit” outlines the measures — including electrifying vehicle fleets and replacing raw materials with low-carbon alternatives — to help guide companies towards developing a net-zero strategy.