LONDON: Billionaire investor and philanthropist Bill Gates called on world leaders on Tuesday to adapt to extreme weather and focus on improving health outcomes rather than temperature reduction targets ahead of the COP30 climate talks in Brazil.
COP30 will be held November 10-21 in the port city of Belem in Brazil’s lower Amazon region. Countries are due to present updated national climate commitments and assess progress on renewable energy targets agreed at previous summits.
The world has spent the last decade working toward the goals of the Paris Agreement, aiming to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average by mid-century — something that remains well off-track.
While climate change was serious, it was “not civilization-ending,” Gates posted on his personal blog. He wrote that rather than focus on temperature as the best measure of progress, climate resilience would be better built by strengthening health and prosperity.
He called for a shift in focus toward improving human welfare, particularly in vulnerable regions, through investments in energy access, health care, and agricultural resilience.
These areas, he argued, offered more equitable benefits than temperature goals and should be central to climate strategies discussed at COP30.
Gates, who has invested billions to accelerate clean technology innovation through his climate-focused venture network, Breakthrough Energy, also challenged policymakers and donors to scrutinize whether climate aid was being spent effectively.
He urged them to use data to maximize impact, and called on investors to back companies developing high-impact clean technologies so they could more quickly lower costs.
He said direct deaths from natural disasters have fallen 90 percent over the last century to between 40,000 and 50,000 annually, largely due to better warning systems and more resilient infrastructure.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the World Meteorological Organization last week urged countries to implement disaster warning systems to protect people against extreme weather.
The WMO said that in the past five decades, weather, water and climate-related hazards have killed more than 2 million people, with 90 percent of those deaths occurring in developing countries.
Billionaire Bill Gates calls for climate strategy pivot ahead of COP30
https://arab.news/cm5ud
Billionaire Bill Gates calls for climate strategy pivot ahead of COP30
- While climate change was serious, it was “not civilization ending,” Gates posted on his blog, continuing rather than focus on temperature as the best measure of progress, climate resilience would be better built by strengthening health and prosperity
Russia committed ‘crimes against humanity’ in deporting Ukrainian children: UN inquiry
- The inquiry said Russia had deported or transferred “thousands” of children from occupied areas of Ukraine, of which it had so far confirmed 1,205 cases
- “Four years on, 80 percent of the children deported or transferred in the cases investigated by the commission have not returned,” it said
GENEVA: Moscow’s deportation and forcible transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia amounts to a crime against humanity, a United Nations team of investigators said Tuesday.
The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said it had collected evidence leading it to conclude that “Russian authorities have committed the crimes against humanity of deportation and forcible transfer, as well as of enforced disappearance of children.”
The probe was established by the UN Human Rights Council shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The inquiry said Russia had deported or transferred “thousands” of children from occupied areas of Ukraine, of which it had so far confirmed 1,205 cases.
“Four years on, 80 percent of the children deported or transferred in the cases investigated by the commission have not returned,” it said.
Moscow has failed to establish a system facilitating returns, and has instead focused on long-term placement of the children with families or institutions in Russia, while relatives were not informed of their fate.
The commission confirmed its previous finding that Russian authorities had unlawfully deported and transferred children — as a war crime — “and that they have unjustifiably delayed their repatriation, which is also a war crime.”
These measures “were not guided by the best interests of the child,” and have violated international law, the probe found.
- Putin cited -
It said the involvement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, “including through his direct authority over entities that have steered and executed this policy, has been visible from the outset.”
In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued a war crimes arrest warrant against Putin, accusing him of “unlawfully deporting” Ukrainian children.
The issue is highly sensitive in Ukraine and remains central to negotiations for a potential peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow.
According to Kyiv, nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly removed since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Russia insists it has moved some Ukrainian children from their homes or orphanages to protect them from hostilities.
As for Russian trials in the context of its invasion of Ukraine, the commission found that Russian authorities have “systematically fabricated evidence” and “systematically violated a range of fair trial guarantees,” while judges “have not acted with independence and impartiality.”
- ‘Extreme violence’ -
The commission also probed the situation of nationals from 17 countries who were recruited — either voluntarily or through deception — to fight with Russian troops in Ukraine.
They included men from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Cuba, Egypt, Ghana, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nepal, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkiye and Yemen.
“After training, usually lasting between one week and 30 days, they were forced to serve on frontlines in Ukraine, often assigned extremely dangerous duties,” the commission said in its report.
Commanders arbitrarily imposed “extreme violence” as punishment for refusing orders that meant almost certain death, with soldiers describing being treated like “cannon fodder,” sent on “meat assaults” without training or necessary equipment, and “forced to advance at all costs.”
“The evidence collected demonstrates abusive behavior, cruelty, humiliation, inhuman treatment, and a total disregard for human life and dignity, perpetrated with a sense of impunity,” the report said.
Regarding Ukraine, the report voiced concern about the overly broad definition and sometimes distorted interpretation of the crime of “collaboration.”
The commission also said reports regarding violent treatment of conscientious objectors during Ukrainian mobilization were “a source of concern.”
The report will be presented at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday.
Moscow does not recognize the commission and does not answer its requests for access, information and meetings.
