In a letter signed by ministers of 12 other countries, world leaders called on the COP28 presidency, led by the United Arab Emirates’ Sultan al-Jaber, to deliver an agreement at the upcoming UN climate conference to end public and private financing for new coal power projects. (Financial Times)

Talking point: The letter comes two years after almost 200 countries agreed at COP26 in Glasgow to phase down coal power with unabated emissions—that is, CO2 emissions that aren’t captured and reduced. But there’s been little progress since then, as demand grows in developing countries like China and India. Cutting coal is just one aspect of reducing fossil-fuel emissions to the levels needed to keep the Earth from warming beyond 1.5 C. An International Energy Agency (IEA) report published Thursday shows oil and gas companies aren’t doing enough, either. The sector invested about 2.5 per cent of total capital spending in clean energy in 2022. Aligning with the Paris Agreement would require firms to spend 50 per cent of capital on clean energy, according to the IEA, on top of investments for reducing operations emissions.