Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
A standoff between countries that want a dramatic phase-out of planet-warming fossil fuels and those that don't pushed a critical climate summit officially into overtime on Tuesday. But organizers were about to float another try at compromise.
The United Nations-led summit known as COP28 was supposed to end Tuesday afternoon after nearly two weeks of speeches, demonstrations and negotiations. But the climate talks almost always run long, and Monday's release of a draft agreement angered countries that insist on a commitment for rapid phase-out of coal, oil and gas.
Another compromise version of the cornerstone document, called the global stocktake, was being prepped Tuesday evening, along with side potential agreements about adaptation and financial aid to poor nations. Delegates, analysts and activists hadn't yet had a chance to see just what's in the latest proposal from the presidency run by host nation United Arab Emirates, but further negotiations were being set up for after they get a look.
Meetings between delegates and the presidency were ongoing on Tuesday evening and some were optimistic.
"I feel much more encouraged than yesterday," said Canadian environment minister Steven Guilbeault. "I think it will be probably some hours until a new text and I suspect it will be the last," he said around 9 p.m. Tuesday evening.
Monday's criticized draft called for countries to reduce "consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner" instead of a phase-out.
Majid al-Suwaidi, COP28 Director-General, said Monday night's draft was meant to get countries to start talking and presenting their deal-killers.
"The text we released was a starting point for discussions," he said at a news conference midday on Tuesday. "When we released it, we knew opinions were polarized, but what we didn't know was where each country's red lines were."
"We spent last night talking, taking in that feedback, and that has put us in a position to draft a new text," he said.
Al-Suwaidi gave conflicting comments about the future of the fossil fuel phase-out language, which at one point he said "doesn't work."
"It's important that we have the right language when it comes to fossil fuels. It's important that we think about how we get that balance. There are those who want phased out. There are those who want phased down," al-Suwaidi said. "The point is to get a consensus."
On one side are countries such as Saudi Arabia that won't accept phase-out language, while European and Latin American countries and small island nations say it is unacceptable to leave those words out. Countries wanting phase-out are in a tough position because they may have to accept either a weak deal or no deal, neither of which is good for them, said Alden Meyer, a veteran climate negotiations observer for European think-tank E3G.
But Meyer thinks the blowback from phase-out supporters may be the start of strengthening a proposed deal, leaving Saudi Arabia and a few other Gulf states "as the last ones standing in the way of a more ambitious deal. We're not there yet. There's more work to be done."
The key is finding language that won't make someone block a deal because a final agreement has to be by consensus. But consensus isn't always unanimity, with past climate summits pushing through an agreement over the objections of a nation or two, climate negotiations historian Joanna Depledge of Cambridge University said.
"Over-ruling is not impossible, just politically very, very risky," she said.
Jean Su from the Center of Biological Diversity said "a feasible success is some type of language that signals a phase out of fossil fuels and it will not have any abatement in it, any carbon capture and storage, something that is clean and fair."
She said rich countries can leverage financial commitments to developing nations that could help pass fossil fuel language in a final deal.
The aim of the global stocktake is to help nations align their national climate plans with the Paris agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) to stave off the worst effects of climate change. Earth is on its way to smashing the record for hottest year, endangering human health and leading to ever more costly and deadly extreme weather.
In the 21-page document issued Monday, the words oil and natural gas did not appear, and the word coal appeared twice. It also had a single mention of carbon capture, a technology touted by some to reduce emissions although it's untested at scale.
Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists urged negotiators to keep working.
"Please do not shut down this COP before we get the job done," she said.
------
Associated Press journalists Lujain Jo, Joshua A. Bickel, Olivia Zhang, Malak Harb, Bassam Hatoum and David Keyton contributed to this report.
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
Three officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and five other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday at a North Carolina home, police said.
A Calgary elementary school principal has been charged with possession of child pornography, authorities announced Monday.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority is downplaying what staff describe as a cockroach infestation in a medical unit of Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
Toronto police say 12 people are facing a combined 102 charges in connection with an investigation into a major credit fraud scheme.
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears will avoid what could have been a long, ugly and revealing trial with a settlement of the lingering issues in the court conservatorship that controlled her life and financial decisions for nearly 14 years.
The clock is ticking ahead of the deadline to file a 2023 income tax return. A personal finance expert explains why you should get them done -- even if you owe more than you can pay.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.