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kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #850 on: November 19, 2020, 08:16:42 PM »
India only G20 nation to meet its climate change mitigation goal

New Delhi: India is the only country on track among the G20 nations to meet its climate change mitigation commitments, according to a the 2020 Climate Transparency report published on Wednesday.

Climate Transparency, an international partnership of 14 research and non-governmental organisations, examined efforts to combat climate change among the G20 nations — examining their climate goals and actions taken.

The report found that India's "fair share" climate targets that it set under the 2015 Paris Agreement as well as the actions it's taken in the years since make it "compatible" with the upper goal of curbing global warming by 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

India has promised to reduce its emissions intensity by 33-35 per cent by 2030 and took actions in its energy, waste, industry, transport and forestry sectors, the report said.

However, the report noted that India continues to not be on track to reach the Paris Agreement's long-term 1.5 C target. It added that India could be a "global leader" if it didn't build new coal fired power and phased out the use of coal by 2040.

...

According to the report, other nations and the European Union's targets do not go far enough to curb global warming between 1.5 to 2 C, and their actions have fallen short of the targets set when the Paris agreement was ratified. Projected temperature increases under these commitments are now expected to be more than 2.7 C of warming by 2100.

No country, barring Japan, has submitted new targets until now — although the report noted that Japan has made no changes to its original target.

...

The use of natural gas in the EU was also flagged as a threat for a potential "carbon lock-in." The EU is currently co-funding 32 new gas infrastructure projects worth €29 billion ($34.3 billion)

https://timesofoman.com/article/india-only-g20-nation-to-meet-its-climate-change-mitigation-goal

So that´s all going much slower then pledged...

Report:
https://www.climate-transparency.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Climate-Transparency-Report-2020.pdf
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gerontocrat

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #851 on: November 19, 2020, 09:20:00 PM »
Quote
India only G20 nation to meet its climate change mitigation goal

However, the report noted that India continues to not be on track to reach the Paris Agreement's long-term 1.5 C target.

According to the report, other nations and the European Union's targets do not go far enough to curb global warming between 1.5 to 2 C, and their actions have fallen short of the targets set when the Paris agreement was ratified. Projected temperature increases under these commitments are now expected to be more than 2.7 C of warming by 2100.

No country, barring Japan, has submitted new targets until now — although the report noted that Japan has made no changes to its original target.

The use of natural gas in the EU was also flagged as a threat for a potential "carbon lock-in." The EU is currently co-funding 32 new gas infrastructure projects worth €29 billion ($34.3 billion)

https://timesofoman.com/article/india-only-g20-nation-to-meet-its-climate-change-mitigation-goal


So that´s all going much slower then pledged...

No shit, shylock? Shock, horror, amazement.
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kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #852 on: November 22, 2020, 05:29:42 PM »
British billionaire to force ‘hundreds’ of companies into climate action

British billionaire Chris Hohn is aiming to force hundreds of U.S. and European companies to slash their greenhouse gas emissions by enlisting global investors to demand an annual vote on their climate plans at shareholder meetings.

Hohn, who has emerged as a major investor voice on climate change, set a precedent last month by using a shareholder resolution to force Spanish airports operator Aena AENA.MC to draft a new climate plan and submit it to an annual vote.

Hohn, founder of the TCI hedge fund, aims to replicate that model at many more companies in the next two years by mobilising investors to sponsor similar resolutions as part of his new Say on Climate www.sayonclimate.org campaign.

...

Under Hohn’s plan, shareholders submit a resolution requesting companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, present a plan to reduce them, and give shareholders an annual nonbinding advisory vote on that plan.

Rather than push for specific action by groups of high-emitting companies, such as oil and gas majors, Hohn aims to drive a systemic shift so that it becomes standard practice for all major companies to submit climate plans for annual scrutiny.

“We think we need an annual general meeting shareholder vote to create an accountability mechanism for the execution of the plan – otherwise companies will do as little as they can get away with,” Hohn said.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2020/11/22/billionaire-companies-climate/

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Juan C. García

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #853 on: November 23, 2020, 08:49:47 PM »
Quote
With John Kerry Pick, Biden Selects a ‘Climate Envoy’ With Stature

When John Kerry served as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state, he helped steer the negotiation of the Paris Agreement, locking down commitments from nearly 200 nations — including his own — to begin to reverse the dangerous warming of the planet.

Now his diplomatic task may be even tougher.

On Monday, president-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said he intended to name Mr. Kerry his special presidential envoy for climate, a cabinet-level position in the new administration. In that role, Mr. Kerry will need to persuade skeptical global leaders, burned by the Trump administration’s hostility toward climate science, that the United States is prepared to resume its leadership role — and will stay the course, regardless of the Biden administration’s future.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/climate/john-kerry-climate-change.html
Which is the best answer to Sep-2012 ASI lost (compared to 1979-2000)?
50% [NSIDC Extent] or
73% [PIOMAS Volume]

Volume is harder to measure than extent, but 3-dimensional space is real, 2D's hide ~50% thickness gone.
-> IPCC/NSIDC trends [based on extent] underestimate the real speed of ASI lost.

kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #854 on: November 30, 2020, 09:10:48 PM »
Quote
De uitstoot van broeikasgassen in de Europese Unie is in 2019 met 3,7 procent gedaald. Dat meldt de Europese Commissie maandag. De emissies zijn inmiddels met 24 procent teruggedrongen ten opzichte van het niveau van 1990. Het doel is om de uitstoot voor 2030 met 55 procent terug te dringen.
https://www.nu.nl/economie/6093687/uitstoot-van-broeikasgassen-daalde-in-eu-vorig-jaar-met-37-procent.html

2019 GHG emissions in the EU down 3,7%

Of course that is created and not used emissions but whatever.
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Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #855 on: December 01, 2020, 05:17:05 PM »
Dutch climate activists Milieudefensie sue Shell over emissions
Quote
A group of environmental organizations backed by thousands of Dutch citizens launched a civil case Tuesday against the energy giant Shell, asking a court to order the multinational to commit to reining in its carbon emissions by 45 percent by the year 2030.

Lawyer Roger Cox told a panel of three judges at The Hague District Court that Royal Dutch Shell’s corporate policy is “at odds” with global climate goals.

“The claimants therefore conclude that Royal Dutch Shell’s corporate policy is on collision course with global climate targets,” Cox said as he opened four days of hearings spread over the coming weeks.

Shell lawyers were to make their opening statement later Tuesday.

The legal battle led by Milieudefensie, the Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth, is the latest in a string of cases around the world in which activists are using the courts as a venue to fight for action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from governments and companies.

A victory for climate activists in a Dutch courtroom could spur even more legal challenges. ... 
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/6/160088/Dutch-climate-activists-Milieudefensie-sue-Shell-over-emissions
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Iain

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #856 on: December 02, 2020, 09:42:34 AM »
"Climate change: Temperature analysis shows UN goals 'within reach"

We can keep it down to a 2.1C rise by 2100, now that China and the US are onboard, IF the Paris pledges are met.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55073169
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kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #857 on: December 02, 2020, 10:24:41 AM »
How can we even think of 2.1C as safe or a worthy goal?

Our current inputs are already enough to lose Arctic sea ice, to turn Siberia into a source instead of a sink and to accelerate Antarctic ice loss.

All these things were the things we needed to prevent from happening.
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Iain

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #858 on: December 02, 2020, 12:25:37 PM »
I agree, and note the "IF" in caps

The UK is NOT on track to meet it's pledge:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55138338
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Tor Bejnar

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #859 on: December 02, 2020, 04:44:56 PM »
Then there's the fine print, here enlarged for your education:
In the spirit of wishful thinkingFor those who want to remain hopeful in government action
Arctic ice is healthy for children and other living things because "we cannot negotiate with the melting point of ice"

gerontocrat

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #860 on: December 02, 2020, 05:16:25 PM »
There is a conventional wisdom gaining credence that reducing fossil fuels by 6% per year up to 2030 somehow fixes everything. How wrong can you get? My understanding is that carbon capture and storage on a large scale and further fossil fuel reduction will then be required.

Obviously there will be increasing use of renewable energy and it is likely that much loot will be wasted on investments in increased fossil fuel production capacity that will never be used.

I reckon we will see at least one year of +1.5 before 2030, +2 by then will be wishful thinking, and further environmental damage done to Planet Earth, life survives but damaged even more (see last image).

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/02/world-is-doubling-down-on-fossil-fuels-despite-climate-crisis-un-report
World is ‘doubling down’ on fossil fuels despite climate crisis – UN report

Production must fall by 6% a year to avoid ‘severe climate disruption’ but Covid-19 funding is supporting increases

Quote
The world’s governments are “doubling down” on fossil fuels despite the urgent need for cuts in carbon emissions to tackle the climate crisis, a report by the UN and partners has found.

The researchers say production of coal, oil and gas must fall by 6% a year until 2030 to keep global heating under the 1.5C target agreed in the Paris accord and avoid “severe climate disruption”. But nations are planning production increases of 2% a year and G20 countries are giving 50% more coronavirus recovery funding to fossil fuels than to clean energy.

The Covid-19 pandemic is expected to cut production in 2020 by 7%, the report says, but this barely changes the total production expected by 2030. Countries are on track to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels consistent with a 1.5C limit by that date.

The Production Gap report says G20 governments have committed more than $230bn (£173bn) in Covid-19-related funding to fossil fuel production and consumption to date, far more than the $150bn to clean energy. But it found that between 2020 and 2030, global coal, oil, and gas production must fall by 11%, 4%, and 3% a year respectively, to meet the 1.5C target.

The assessment of future fossil fuel production is based on the most recent published energy plans by eight key countries that produce 60% of the world’s fossil fuels: Australia, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Norway, Russia and the US.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2020, 06:58:02 PM by gerontocrat »
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Sciguy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #861 on: December 02, 2020, 06:49:32 PM »
Quote
The Production Gap report says G20 governments have committed more than $230bn (£173bn) in Covid-19-related funding to fossil fuel production and consumption to date, far more than the $150bn to clean energy. But it found that between 2020 and 2030, global coal, oil, and gas production must fall by 11%, 4%, and 3% a year respectively, to meet the 1.5C target.

In addition to government policies, economics are also important.  And the reality is that alternatives to fossil fuels are either cheaper now (wind and solar power) or are becoming cheaper in the next few years (battery electric vehicles).

Oil demand is expected to drop in the next few years due to decreased air travel (which will lead to a 4% drop in oil demand alone in 2021), and the increased adoption of electric vehicles.  So beating the 4% for oil is a given.

Coal is dropping like a rock due to the fact that it's more expensive than renewables and natural gas.  Global consumption peaked in 2013 and more capacity is being retired than is being built now.  While China still builds new coal fired power plants to keep construction workers employed, they run the plants at lower capacity factors because the electricity is more expensive and more polluting than the alternatives.  While reductions in coal use may not reach 11% in the early 2020's, reductions of greater than 11% per year are likely by the end of the decade.  It's unlikely that any coal fired power plants will be operating in the US, India or Europe after 2035 because it is cheaper to build new wind and solar than it is to run an existing coal fired power plant.  It will be interesting to see how China treats coal in it's new five-year plan to be published soon.  They can't afford to have their manufacturers pay more for electricity if Vietnam, India and their other competitors switch to cheaper renewable electricity.

Natural gas is currently the most competitive fossil fuel with renewables, but as renewables continue to decrease in cost, natural gas will lose that advantage.  For electricity generation, renewables will continue to take market share from gas at an increasing rate.  In the US, we're currently installing 75% new renewables to 25% new gas.  A few years ago, those numbers were reversed.  In the US, we're seeing media reports about natural gas being in the same position coal was a few years ago (about to be replaced by renewables).

And we're seeing large battery installation replace peaker gas plants and investment in new LNG export facilities has dried up with no new final investment decisions for LNG facilities in North America this year.  Several major pipeline projects in the US were cancelled this year.

In summary, while fossil fuel producers may have grandiose plans to continue to grow their facilities and production ability, the reality is that they're on the decline.  And the alternatives to fossil fuels continue to get cheaper, which will lead to more cancellations for planned projects and more early retirements for existing facilities.

Exxon just wrote down $17 billion in fossil fuel assets.  BP has acknowledge that peak oil demand occurred in 2019 and shifted billions of dollars of investment plans from oil production to renewable energy projects.  With these large private corporations making these financial decisions, it's clear that the energy transition is well underway.


Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #862 on: December 08, 2020, 04:25:17 PM »
Ardern declares climate emergency, pledges carbon neutral New Zealand government
Dec 2
Quote
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand promised its public sector would become carbon neutral by 2025 as it declared a climate emergency on Wednesday, a symbolic move that critics said needed to be backed with greater actions to reduce emissions. ...
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN28C0CR
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Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #863 on: December 09, 2020, 08:08:11 PM »
Influential New York pension fund will drop fossil-fuel stocks, put pressure on utilities and auto makers to cut emissions
Dec. 9, 2020
Quote
New York’s $226 billion pension fund sets 2040 net-zero carbon emissions target
New York State’s $226 billion pension fund, one of the world’s largest and most influential investors, will eliminate many of its fossil-fuel stocks in the next five years, officials said Wednesday.

In addition to the split from oil, gas, oil-services and pipeline companies, the fund will sell shares in other companies that contribute to global warming by 2040, the state comptroller added.
“Achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 will put the fund in a strong position for the future mapped out in the Paris Agreement,” Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a release.

“We continue to assess energy-sector companies in our portfolio for their future ability to provide investment returns in light of the global consensus on climate change. Those that fail to meet our minimum standards may be removed from our portfolio,” DiNapoli said. “Divestment is a last resort, but it is an investment tool we can apply to companies that consistently put our investment’s long-term value at risk.”

New York’s fund, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, has historically invested about $12 billion in fossil fuels, the New York Times reported. The fund’s announcement comes after it moved to sell its stock in 22 coal companies last year.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/influential-new-york-pension-fund-will-drop-fossil-fuel-stocks-put-pressure-on-utilities-and-auto-makers-to-cut-emissions-11607538475
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Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #864 on: January 19, 2021, 09:39:32 PM »
Tomorrow, January 20 at noon EST, Joe Biden becomes President of the U.S.

Biden will move to implement his $2 trillion climate plan on Day 1 to bolster the economy and kick off the new administration's fight against climate change
Jan 20, 2021
Quote
In his $US1.7 trillion climate proposal, Biden plans on reversing many of President Donald Trump’s actions that relate to the climate on his first day in office, such as rejoining the Paris Agreement, ending the Keystone XL pipeline, and establishing rules that limit methane emissions from oil and gas drilling operations. The proposals are also intended to boost the still-struggling economy, and by confronting climate change, 10 million clean energy jobs could be created if the proposal is successful.

“If executed strategically, our response to climate change can create more than 10 million well-paying jobs in the United States that will grow a stronger, more inclusive middle class enjoyed by communities across the country, not just in cities along the coasts,” Biden’s website states.

The climate was also high up on the agenda during the confirmation hearing of Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen on Tuesday. Yellen told lawmakers that Biden’s infrastructure plan will involve investing in clean technology, renewable energy, promoting electric vehicle usage, and creating jobs.

Yellen also said that Biden is in “full support” of restoring full incentives for electric vehicles, along with ensuring workers have the skills to succeed in the electric vehicle industry.

Democratic lawmakers support federal spending for combating climate change. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said in Yellen’s hearing that he hopes to advance a bill that will prioritise clean energy, clean transportation and energy conservation – efforts that address the “existential threat” of the warming climate. …
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/biden-enact-climate-plan-on-first-day-in-office-2021-1
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Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #865 on: January 21, 2021, 02:59:10 PM »
U.S.: Big business backs key climate change regulations
Jan 21
Quote
Two of Washington’s biggest lobbying groups say they support the Biden administration’s plan to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas wells.

Why it matters: The shift, instigated by the Chamber of Commerce and American Petroleum Institute, is one of the most concrete signs of how corporations are beginning to support action on climate change in the face of pressure from investors, politicians and the public.

Catch up quick: The organizations have for years opposed any direct regulation of methane, a greenhouse gas that’s the primary component of natural gas. ...
https://www.axios.com/business-back-key-climate-change-regulations-b55ccce6-1595-415b-975e-7c57555745a0.html
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Tom_Mazanec

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #866 on: January 22, 2021, 01:16:05 PM »
Worried about Earth’s future? Well, the outlook is worse than even scientists can grasp
https://theconversation.com/worried-about-earths-future-well-the-outlook-is-worse-than-even-scientists-can-grasp-153091
Quote
First, we reviewed the extent to which experts grasp the scale of the threats to the biosphere and its lifeforms, including humanity. Alarmingly, the research shows future environmental conditions will be far more dangerous than experts currently believe.
This is largely because academics tend to specialise in one discipline, which means they’re in many cases unfamiliar with the complex system in which planetary-scale problems — and their potential solutions — exist.
What’s more, positive change can be impeded by governments rejecting or ignoring scientific advice, and ignorance of human behaviour by both technical experts and policymakers.
More broadly, the human optimism bias – thinking bad things are more likely to befall others than yourself – means many people underestimate the environmental crisis.

Reginald

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #867 on: January 26, 2021, 03:57:09 AM »
The Climate Crisis Is Worse Than You Can Imagine. Here’s What Happens If You Try.

A climate scientist spent years trying to get people to pay attention to the disaster ahead. His wife is exhausted. His older son thinks there’s no future. And nobody but him will use the outdoor toilet he built to shrink his carbon footprint.

ProPublica, by Elizabeth Weil, Jan. 25

Link: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-climate-crisis-is-worse-than-you-can-imagine-heres-what-happens-if-you-try

sidd

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #868 on: January 26, 2021, 05:41:16 AM »
"One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds." as Leopold said. But living with a light tread is difficult when you have a family who don't necessarily agree with your visions.

Here is one family that took such a path:

https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,3189.msg275747.html#msg275747

sidd

kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #869 on: January 26, 2021, 04:45:32 PM »
Climate change is often discussed by environmental campaigners or renewable energy investors as a future threat or long-term business opportunity. The reality is that climate change is costing lives right now, and is a humanitarian crisis as well as an environmental one. It's time we all started treating it as such, to increase the speed of policy changes in this crucial area. We need to stop measuring environmental catastrophe in degrees and start measuring it in lives lost.

Whether the earth becomes one degree hotter means very little to the average person, but what an extra degree actually means is environmental chaos, lives in danger and families uprooted.

People are dying at the hands of climate change right now and yet we hear very little about the climate body count. Approximately 250,000 additional deaths will be caused by climate change per year between 2030 and 2050, according to the World Health Organization.

Climate change is criminally underreported as a cause of human suffering. Every day we are confronted with the horror of the coronavirus pandemic by 24-hour news coverage and a grim daily death counter – should we do the same for the climate?

and more:
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-01-24/Climate-change-is-already-a-humanitarian-crisis-XjsWbrZwDC/index.html

The WHO report:
https://www.who.int/health-topics/climate-change#tab=tab_1
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Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #870 on: January 27, 2021, 12:33:10 AM »
U.S.: The new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer believes President Biden may declare a 'climate emergency'
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/schumer-calls-on-president-biden-to-declare-climate-emergency-100012613548
1 minute of his interview with Rachel Maddow.
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Iain

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #871 on: January 27, 2021, 02:07:10 PM »
"Climate change: Biggest global poll supports 'global emergency'"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55802902

Conservation and renewables are popular mitigations.

A plant based diet, not so much.
"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." Isaac Newton

gerontocrat

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #872 on: January 28, 2021, 01:54:59 PM »
As a finance man, I hate the idea of putting a price on everything. But like it or not, it may be the only way the people who presume to govern us will do the necessary.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/28/how-much-is-an-elephant-worth-meet-the-ecologists-doing-the-sums-aoe
How much is an elephant worth? Meet the ecologists doing the sums
The idea of being able to put a price on nature is dividing opinion, but the financial value of ‘ecosystem services’ is increasingly guiding policy
Quote
The financial value of ecosystem services is at the heart of much of 21st century conservation, increasingly guiding economic decision-making and government policy. It is on the agenda at Davos this week in discussions about protecting the Amazon and the post-Covid economic recovery, and is likely to be a central issue in UN discussions on a Paris-style agreement on biodiversity to be negotiated in Kunming, China, later this year.

More than half of global GDP – $42tn (£32tn) – depends on high-functioning biodiversity, according to the insurance firm Swiss Re. The “natural capital” that sustains human life looks set to become a trillion dollar asset class: the cooling effect of forests, the flood prevention characteristics of wetlands and the food production abilities of oceans understood as services with a defined financial value. Animals, too.

The services of forest elephants are worth $1.75m for each animal, the International Monetary Fund’s Ralph Chamihas estimated; more than the $40,000 a poacher might get for shooting the mammal for ivory. Whales are worth slightly more at over $2m, he also estimates, due to their “startling” carbon capture potential, and therefore deserve better protection.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #873 on: January 29, 2021, 02:48:54 PM »
U.S.
Senator Whitehouse delivers 279th and final ‘Time to Wake Up’ climate change speech
Quote
US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on Wednesday delivered his 279th and final speech about climate change on the Senate floor.

The Rhode Island Democrat has come to the Senate floor for the speeches every week the Senate has been in session since April 2012, except for emergencies such as the COVID-19 crisis.

But now, as President Joe Biden is vowing to combat climate change, calling it “the existential threat of our time,” and Democrats hold power in both the House and Senate, Whitehouse says the conditions are in place for “a real solution,” he said.

“A new dawn is breaking, and there’s no need for my little candle against the darkness — my little pilot light can now go out,” Whitehouse said. “So instead of urging that it’s time to wake up, I close this long run by saying it’s now time to get to work.”

Hours after taking office on Jan. 20, Biden signed an order to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and one to begin the process of overturning environmental policies put in place by the Trump administration, including revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and re-establishing a working group on the social costs of greenhouse gases.

Whitehouse called that executive order “a fine start,” saying, “I appreciate particularly the restoration of the social cost of carbon.”

On Wednesday, Biden signed a series of executive orders that aim to “confront the existential threat of climate change” throughout the federal government.

In a separate statement, Whitehouse applauded those executive orders, saying, “I’m particularly encouraged by the Biden administration’s push to end the public subsidies that provide an enormous advantage to the fossil fuel industry, and his push to expand renewables like offshore wind.”

In his speech, Whitehouse said he is hoping for bipartisan support for climate legislation. Since he’s no longer the majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, cannot block bipartisan climate bills from coming to the Senate floor, he noted. “So there’s a point to legislating, and a point to advocates showing up,” he said. ... 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senator-whitehouse-delivers-279th-and-final-time-to-wake-up-climate-change-speech/ar-BB1d9lXc
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

gerontocrat

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #874 on: January 31, 2021, 08:18:17 PM »
Menawhile in China, life is not so simple. I worked in China 25 years ago on some water projects a long way away from Beijing. Naughty stuff went on, and the "need to know" built into the information systems made it very hard for Beijing to keep an eye open for wrong-doing.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinas-sweeping-climate-goals-meet-resistance-on-the-ground
China's sweeping climate goals meet resistance on the ground
Quote
Earlier this month, the eastern Jiangxi province revived plans to build a dam that would regulate the flow of the Poyang Lake, the country's largest freshwater body and an important resting area for birds.

The project had been mothballed for a decade, with conservationists warning that it would alter natural water flows between the Poyang and the Yangtze River, further harming an already fragile ecosystem. The local government says the dam would alleviate worsening droughts in the Poyang, in part caused by the Three Gorges Dam located upstream on the Yangtze.

The surprise decision to move ahead with the Poyang dam came two months before a law protecting the Yangtze comes into effect, spurring speculation among activists that the Jiangxi government wants to get construction started before the new rules ban such projects.

In its notice seeking public feedback, the Jiangxi government couched the project in slogans associated with Xi's green push. It said the dam would "adjust the interactions between the lake and the river in a scientific way" and "protect the environment".

Far away from Beijing, it's easy for local officials to pay lip service to new directives while continuing to pursue policies that generate short-term economic growth for their regions at the expense of the environment. Without the right incentives and fiscal support, Mr Xi's 2060 pledge risks becoming a burden for local governments already struggling with mounting debt.

In a recent article published by a magazine owned by the Ministry of Water Resources, Mr Zhang Boting, deputy director of the China Society for Hydropower Engineering, argued against restricting dam construction along the Yangtze River to protect the environment.

Doing so would run counter to the 2060 net-zero goal, he said, because expanding hydropower is key for China to reduce emissions. While using water to generate power doesn't cause carbon emissions, the creation of dams can release large amounts of trapped carbon, not to mention do irreversible damage to the surrounding ecosystem and reduce biodiversity.

After Mr Xi announced the 2060 goal, major companies including China Baowu Steel Group have shown their support by releasing net-zero plans for the first time. But many proposals consist of vague promises rather than concrete measures.

Take, for example, China National Offshore Oil Corp, the largest offshore oil and gas producer in China. It followed Mr Xi's speech with a statement earlier this month that it's working on a plan to reach peak emissions. It wants to do so largely by increasing natural gas production and developing what it calls "green oil fields", indicating that it doesn't intend to meaningfully move away from fossil fuels anytime soon.

"It's like putting old wine in new bottles," said Mr Li Shuo, a climate analyst at Greenpeace East Asia. "The local governments and industries know they have to respond by vowing to do something green, but what they actually do is misinterpreting these goals to suit their own agendas."

"Now is a key time as China is rolling out its 14th five-year plan and local governments and industries are keen to secure their interests for the next few years," Mr Li said. "I'm concerned there will be many instances of greenwashing and that environmentally damaging projects are carried out in the name of environmental protection."
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

Niall Dollard

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #875 on: February 01, 2021, 12:21:19 AM »
Micheal Mann the New Climate War, how the inactivists' plans have changed and how to tackle them. 

Non techie 16 minute interview

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1850184259685/

kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #876 on: February 01, 2021, 04:22:53 PM »
Thanks Niall!

1m10 Mann on new climate war (he talks about arguments used instead of denial, some seem familiar...)
3m30 Manns 4 point plan
11m30 models might underestimate GW
15m00 optimism
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gerontocrat

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #877 on: February 02, 2021, 01:34:26 PM »
A report from the UK Treasury that basically says economics and economists have screwed up completely in failing to account for the tradeoff between BAU economic growth and consequent environmental destruction.

Coming from the money men it might have an impact.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/02/economics-failure-over-destruction-of-nature-presents-extreme-risks
Economics' failure over destruction of nature presents ‘extreme risks’

New measures of success needed to avoid catastrophic breakdown, landmark review finds

Quote
The world is being put at “extreme risk” by the failure of economics to take account of the rapid depletion of the natural world and needs to find new measures of success to avoid a catastrophic breakdown, a landmark review has concluded.

Prosperity was coming at a “devastating cost” to the ecosystems that provide humanity with food, water and clean air, said Prof Sir Partha Dasgupta, the Cambridge University economist who conducted the review. Radical global changes to production, consumption, finance and education were urgently needed, he said.

The 600-page review was commissioned by the UK Treasury, the first time a national finance ministry has authorised a full assessment of the economic importance of nature. A similar Treasury-sponsored review in 2006 by Nicholas Stern is credited with transforming economic understanding of the climate crisis.

The review said that two UN conferences this year – on biodiversity and climate change – provided opportunities for the international community to rethink an approach that has seen a 40% plunge in the stocks of natural capital per head between 1992 and 2014.

“Nature is our home. Good economics demands we manage it better,” said Dasgupta. “Truly sustainable economic growth and development means recognising that our long-term prosperity relies on rebalancing our demand of nature’s goods and services with its capacity to supply them. It also means accounting fully for the impact of our interactions with nature. Covid-19 has shown us what can happen when we don’t do this.”

Sir David Attenborough said the review was “immensely important”. In a foreword, he said: “If we continue this damage, whole ecosystems will collapse. That is now a real risk. The review at last puts biodiversity at the core [of economics]. It shows how we can help save the natural world at what may be the last minute, and in doing so, save ourselves.”

Humanity’s impact on the natural world is stark, with animal populations having dropped by an average of 68% since 1970 and forest destruction continuing at pace – some scientists think a sixth mass extinction of life is under way and accelerating. Today, just 4% of the world’s mammals are wild, hugely outweighed by humans and their livestock.

The Dasgupta review urged the world’s governments to come up with a different form of national accounting from GDP and use one that includes the depletion of natural resources. It would like to see an understanding of nature given as prominent a place in education as the “three Rs”, to end people’s distance from nature.

Dasgupta also called for new supranational institutions to protect global public goods such as the rainforests and oceans. Poorer countries should be paid to protect ecosystems, while charges for the use of non-territorial waters should be levied to prevent overfishing.

The report said almost all governments were exacerbating the biodiversity crisis by paying people more to exploit nature than to protect it. A conservative estimate of the global cost of subsidies that damage nature was about $4tn-$6tn (£2.9-£4.4tn) a year, it said. “Humanity faces an urgent choice. Continuing down our current path presents extreme risks and uncertainty for our economies.” the review said.

“The Dasgupta review shows we are running down our natural capital fast, and we will pay the price,” said Lord Stern, a professor at the London School of Economics. “Reversing these trends requires action now, and as the review stresses, to do so would be significantly less costly than delay. Crucially, it would [also] help us to reduce poverty.”

A comprehensive UN global assessment of biodiversity in 2019 concluded that human society is in jeopardy from the accelerating decline of the Earth’s natural life-support systems, with about half of wild places lost and a million species at risk of extinction.

Prof Bob Watson, who led the UN assessment, said: “The most important thing is that the Dasgupta review was commissioned by the UK Treasury ministry, not the environment department. Hopefully this will mean that finance ministries around the world will acknowledge that the loss of nature is an economic issue, not simply an environmental issue.”

Jennifer Morris, head of the Nature Conservancy, said: “In the same way the Stern review proved transformational in raising awareness of climate risk for business and financial markets, the Dasgupta review is likely to represent a watershed moment for how we value the contributions made by nature across nearly every aspect of our lives.


"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

Sciguy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #878 on: February 02, 2021, 08:51:16 PM »
Micheal Mann the New Climate War, how the inactivists' plans have changed and how to tackle them. 

Non techie 16 minute interview

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1850184259685/

Here's a link to a brief summary of his new book:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-climate-war-book-exposes-tactics-climate-change-inactivists

Quote
‘The New Climate War’ exposes tactics of climate change ‘inactivists’
Climate scientist Michael Mann argues outright denialism has morphed into inactivism


By Carolyn Gramling

January 15, 2021

Quote
Mann is a veteran of the climate wars of the 1990s and early 2000s, when the scientific evidence that the climate is changing due to human emissions of greenhouse gases was under attack. Now, with the effects of climate change all around us (SN: 12/21/20), we are in a new phase of those wars, he argues. Outright denial has morphed into “deception, distraction and delay.”

Such tactics, he says, are direct descendants of earlier public relations battles over whether producers or consumers must bear ultimate responsibility for, say, smoking-related deaths. When it comes to the climate, Mann warns, an overemphasis on individual actions could eclipse efforts to achieve the real prize: industrial-scale emissions reductions.

He pulls no punches, calling out sources of “friendly fire” from climate advocates who he says divide the climate community and play into the “enemy’s” hands. These advocates include climate purists who lambaste scientists for flying or eating meat; science communicators who push fatalistic visions of catastrophic futures; and idealistic technocrats who advocate for risky, pie-in-the-sky geoengineering ideas. All, Mann says, distract from what we can do in the here and now: regulate emissions and invest in renewable energy.

kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #879 on: February 03, 2021, 05:34:25 PM »
Court finds French government guilty of failing to meet climate commitments

A French court ruled on Wednesday that the government is guilty of failing to fulfil its obligations to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as laid out under the Paris Climate Accord.
The court’s judgement on Wednesday marks the end of a case launched in 2018 by a group of NGOs, including Oxfam France and Greenpeace France, accusing the French government of not doing enough to address global warming. The organizations also called for France to implement even more measures to tackle harmful emissions.

In a statement after the ruling, the NGOs involved expressed “hope that justice will not be limited to acknowledging the state’s fault, but will also force it to finally take concrete measures to at least meet its climate commitments.”

...

The government has been ordered to pay €1 as a symbolic gesture of compensation for their “moral prejudice.” The court has set itself two months to consider what measures it will order France to take to address the existing damage and to ensure the state meets its climate obligations in future.

https://www.rt.com/news/514501-france-guilty-failing-climate-commitments/
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vox_mundi

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #880 on: February 04, 2021, 01:42:10 AM »
NASA Creates New Senior Climate Advisor Role
https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nasa-senior-climate-advisor-role.html

NASA announced Wednesday it was creating a new position of senior climate advisor as part of the administration of President Joe Biden's climate science objectives for the agency.

Gavin Schmidt, who currently heads up NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Science (GISS) in New York, will take the role in an acting capacity until a permanent appointment is made.

"This position will provide NASA leadership critical insights and recommendations for the agency's full spectrum of science, technology, and infrastructure programs related to climate," said acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk.

According to a statement, responsibilities would include promoting climate-related investments in the Earth Science Division.

The new science advisor would also promote aeronautics and other technology initiatives focused on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #881 on: February 09, 2021, 03:44:04 PM »
A tidal wave of new carbon emissions data soon will be upon us

A radical increase in available carbon emissions data may be just around the corner. Should it happen within a matter of months as proponents hope, its effects will spread around the world to dramatic effect.

Cities failing to measure and publish their emissions data will find themselves under renewed and intense scrutiny. Slow-to-change investors and greenwashers in the business community will lose their cover to continue propping up the fossil fuel economy. And citizens and consumers will have the kind of granular information they need to more effectively target the decision-makers and brands standing in the way of a sustainable future.

Central to this shift is likely to be is a collaborative endeavor called Climate TRACE. Climate TRACE (Tracking Real-Time Atmospheric Carbon Emissions) is a project to use satellite image processing, remote sensing technologies, machine learning and artificial intelligence to monitor worldwide human-made greenhouse gas emissions in real time. Unlike other approaches to monitoring emissions, it plans to attribute emissions to specific sources, whether these be individual factories, ships, power plants or a range of other facilities and all its data will be placed in the public domain.

...

f successfully on stream by summer 2021 as its designers hope, the service should drive not only increased transparency but also increased accountability.

For the unprepared, the damage could be severe. The kind of Reddit-coordinated collective action by retail investors that disrupted stock prices recently soon may be copied by ethical investors armed with highly specific real-time emissions data to achieve similar effects. Some previously untargeted companies, brands, institutional investors and geographies will be thrust into the limelight as central problems in the battle against climate change. Their asset values and prospects will be damaged by sudden negative shifts in both consumer and investor sentiment as a result. 

Those that up to now have been talking a good game on environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting while failing to deliver in practice are likely to be exposed as greenwashers, sometimes brutally and at high speed. And data sets currently used to track a company’s ESG performance also will need to be radically overhauled.

As a result, we can expect to see personal, political and business incentives tilt in favor of more action to combat climate change. Faster private- and public-sector innovation to get emissions down should follow. Sustainable investments should grow as divestment from carbon-intensive industries intensifies. And the newly available data should make it easier for governments to enforce environmental laws and for climate change mitigation measures and aid flows to be more efficiently financed and targeted at the areas of greatest beneficial impact.

and much more on:
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/tidal-wave-new-carbon-emissions-data-soon-will-be-upon-us

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interstitial

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #882 on: February 10, 2021, 07:41:32 PM »
I am excited for TRACE data. It will be interesting to see how badly estimates fall short. I expect estimates are made from relatively simple calculations and ignore spill leaks and inefficiencies. Here is EIA estimate for CO2 emissions for energy.

Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #883 on: February 10, 2021, 11:50:56 PM »
Leonardo DiCaprio: "Scientists have put together a Joint Declaration on transitioning to 100% clean, renewable energy by 2035. Based on research from multiple groups, this Declaration states that a transition will reduce costs, create jobs, & eliminate air pollution problems:   https://global100restrategygroup.org/  “

https://mobile.twitter.com/leodicaprio/status/1359264562684510208 
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #884 on: February 22, 2021, 04:45:26 PM »
Dr. Leah Stokes on Twitter: "This is absolutely exceptional climate communication. Bravo @KHayhoe!”
https://mobile.twitter.com/leahstokes/status/1363649141218271232

8 minute video: Prof. Katharine Hayhoe interviewed on CNN. Texas cold, and global weirding.
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #885 on: February 24, 2021, 05:00:54 PM »
Japan advisers urge quick adoption of carbon pricing to hit emissions goal
Quote
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan must introduce carbon pricing and fiscal incentives for green investment to achieve its goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050, private-sector members of a key government panel said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga last December instructed his environment and industry ministries to work on a plan in 2021 to create a carbon pricing scheme, as part of efforts to meet his pledge to make Japan carbon-neutral by 2050.

But progress has been slow due to differences between the environment ministry, which is keen to adopt carbon pricing, and the industry ministry, which is wary of initiatives that increase costs for Japan’s manufacturers. ...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-economy-climate-change-idUSKBN2AO1EI
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Tor Bejnar

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #886 on: February 24, 2021, 06:11:27 PM »
Dr. Leah Stokes on Twitter: "This is absolutely exceptional climate communication. Bravo @KHayhoe!”
https://mobile.twitter.com/leahstokes/status/1363649141218271232

8 minute video: Prof. Katharine Hayhoe interviewed on CNN. Texas cold, and global weirding.
Very good, indeed! (with the assistance of an informed CNN interviewer)
Arctic ice is healthy for children and other living things because "we cannot negotiate with the melting point of ice"

kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #887 on: February 26, 2021, 02:29:50 PM »
European court forces 33 governments to prove emissions cuts in line with Paris climate accord


The European Court of Human Rights is forcing 33 governments to prove they are cutting emissions in line with the requirements of the 2015 Paris climate accord.

The court also rejected an attempt by those governments to overturn its decision to fast-track a lawsuit filed by six young Portuguese climate activists.

The activists claim the countries’ efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions are inadequate.

The governments asked the court to drop its priority status for the case and hear their argument that the case was inadmissible, the activists’ legal representatives said on Friday.

But the court dismissed the arguments against an urgent hearing and denied their application to defer scrutiny of their climate policies.

The governments now have until May 27 to submit their legal defence.

The activists are aged between 12 and 21.

Four of them live in central Portugal, where bushfires blamed in part on climate change killed more than 100 people in 2017.

The others in Lisbon, a coastal city threatened by rising sea levels.

Scientists say the man-made emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide must end by 2050 at the latest to avoid pushing global temperatures beyond the threshold of 1.5°C set out in the Paris agreement.

Gerry Liston, legal officer at the Global Legal Action Network, an international non-profit organisation assisting the activists, said the group would provide evidence that European governments were failing to adopt enough measures to meet the requirements of the accord.

The organisation starteda crowdfunding campaign to help support the activists.

They filed their claim last September at the court in Strasbourg, France.

On November 30, the court said it required a prompt response from the 33 countries named in the case, a move that activists said gave heart to their cause.

At the time, the court ordered the European countries to respond to the complaint and granted it priority status because of the “importance and urgency of the issues raised".
The countries named in the complaint are the 27 members of the EU, as well as the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

If the activists win, the countries will be legally bound to cut emissions in line with the requirements of the climate accord.

They will also have to address their role in overseas emissions, including those from multinational companies.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/european-court-forces-33-governments-to-prove-emissions-cuts-in-line-with-paris-climate-accord-1.1173684
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kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #888 on: February 26, 2021, 02:31:53 PM »
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark risks not reaching its ambitious goal to cut carbon emissions by 70% by 2030 because it is too reliant on unproven technology, an independent council monitoring the effort said on Friday.

The Nordic country in 2020 set one of the most ambitious and legally binding climate targets in the world - cutting CO2 emissions 70% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, but its government has yet to come up with a detailed plan for how to achieve that target.

With the government’s current initiatives, Denmark is on course to reduce emissions by 7.2 million tonnes in 2030, much below the intended 20 million tonnes, an independent council set up to monitor progress said in a report.

The government said in September that 9-16.5 million tonnes could be cut by using new technologies such as carbon capture storage and using wind turbines to power hydrogen plants, to be used by heavy industry, shipping and air travel.

But progress on these technologies has “not reached a sufficiently high level” to reach the 2030 goal, with two-thirds of advances in these technologies having a “high risk” of not being developed in time to reduce emissions sufficiently, the council said.

“(Our) overall assessment is that the government’s climate plan does not clarify how the 70%-target can be reached,” the report said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-denmark/denmark-climate-goal-too-reliant-on-unproven-tech-govt-council-says-idUSKBN2AQ1GA?rpc=401&
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zufall

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #889 on: February 27, 2021, 08:14:27 AM »
I hope this is the right thread. I just discovered this document from 2018 about the Energy Charta Treaty (ECT):

https://energy-charter-dirty-secrets.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/One-treaty-to-rule-them-all.pdf

Background: The next round of negotiations over the ECT is due this March, but since all member states have to agree to a change, negotiations have stalled. The EU wants to protect foreign investments in fossil infrastructures until 2030 and natural gas until 2040 (some states even longer).

Some French ministers have proposed to the EU Commission that the EU states withdraw from the ECT in a coordinated manner. This is supported by the Spanish government. There is also resistance to the ECT in the European Parliament.

According to the treaty, states can withdraw from the Energy Charter within just 60 days. Italy did that in 2016 (probably in reaction to being hit with a lawsuit by Rockhopper over a ban on offshore oil drilling). France and Spain are now proposing that all participating EU states leave together and agree internally that the companies based in their jurisdiction cannot invoke the "zombie clause" (which unilaterally protects investors for 20 years after a member state has left the treaty in deals made before the termination). Such an "interest agreement" could prevent the vast majority of lawsuits because around two thirds of ECT lawsuits currently come from companies based in the EU and are directed against EU countries.

gerontocrat

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #890 on: March 21, 2021, 09:23:58 PM »
Canada politics goes 2 steps backwards - or maybe not. It may scupper the Conservatives at the election due in Oct 23 or before.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/20/canada-conservative-party-climate-change-real

Canadian Conservative party votes not to recognize climate crisis as real
Delegates vote 54%-46% against policy change request

Leader O’Toole has sought ambitious climate change agenda


Quote
Canada’s main opposition Conservative party members have voted down a proposal to recognize the climate crisis as real, in a blow to their new leader’s efforts to embrace environmentally friendly policies before a likely federal election this year.

The rejected motion included the willingness to act against climate risks and to make highly polluting businesses take more responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

On Friday, the Conservative leader, Erin O’Toole, urged party members to rally around an ambitious climate agenda, in order to avoid a defeat at the hands of Liberals.

He asked members to be open to new ideas if they were serious about toppling the Liberals in the next election, even if that went against the party’s conventional thinking.

He did not want Conservative candidates to be branded as “climate change deniers”, he said.

On Saturday, Conservative delegates rejected the policy shift by 54% to 46%.

Climate change was a polarizing issue in the last election campaign. While Justin Trudeau stresses that the environment is a priority, Canada has failed to meet any of its climate pledges amid resistance from politicians who say the targets threaten the oil industry.

Canada is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer and one of the highest emitters of greenhouse gases on a per capita basis. The prime minister’s Liberal supporters rank it among their top concerns.

Joe Biden’s aggressive climate policies are expected to galvanize Canada to march in step with Washington’s tough measures to avoid being disadvantaged.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #891 on: April 01, 2021, 05:30:04 PM »
Climate change: Net zero targets are 'pie in the sky'

Sharp divisions between the major global emitters have emerged at a series of meetings designed to make progress on climate change.

India lambasted the richer world's carbon cutting plans, calling long term net zero targets, "pie in the sky."

Their energy minister said poor nations want to continue using fossil fuels and the rich countries "can't stop it".

China meanwhile declined to attend a different climate event organised by the UK.

...

To have a decent chance of keeping the increase in global temperature under 1.5C - which is now considered as the gateway to dangerous warming - carbon emissions need to reach net zero by 2050.

Net zero refers to balancing out any greenhouse gas emissions produced by industry, transport or other sources by removing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere.

India, the world's fourth largest emitter, doesn't seem keen to join the club.

"2060 sounds good, but it is just that, it sounds good," Raj Kumar Singh, India's minister for power, told a meeting organised by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

"I would call it, and I'm sorry to say this, but it is just a pie in the sky."

To the discomfort of his fellow panellists, Mr Singh singled out developed countries where per capita emissions are much higher than in India.

"You have countries whose per capita emissions are four or five or 12 times the world average. The question is when are they going to come down?"

"What we hear is that by 2050 or 2060 we will become carbon neutral, 2060 is far away and if the people emit at the rate they are emitting the world won't survive, so what are you going to do in the next five years that's what the world wants to know."


Mr Singh pointed out that while it was the richer countries who had burned most of the fossil fuels that have caused the problems, they now wanted developing countries to stop - that was unfair, he said.

"The developed world has occupied almost 80% of the carbon space already, you have 800 million people who don't have access to electricity. You can't say that they have to go to net zero, they have the right to develop, they want to build skyscrapers and have a higher standard of living, you can't stop it," he told the meeting.

etc

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56596200

He is not wrong in the bolded part...
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

interstitial

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #892 on: April 02, 2021, 01:53:37 AM »
I fully agree that more should talk about what they plan to accomplish in the next five years. It quickly becomes obvious if they any intention of achieving there goals.
The other deceptive practice I see is assuming reaching a carbon reduction goal is a linear or nearly linear endeavor. Reducing the first 10% is far cheaper and easier than the last 10% will be. The first 10% reduction in emissions is easily done by adding solar and wind to the electric grid. Their is very little increase in variability for the load to meet demand.  All of the renewable energy can be used without storage. Doing this is cheaper than not doing it without even considering environmental costs. Eliminating the last 10% from the electric grid will require large amounts of storage. It will require a large excess in renewable energy production. The electric grid is not the hardest thing to decarbonize. The hardest thing will probably some industrial process. It will require research to create a non polluting process but will not have the volume steel or cement do to spread the costs over. Or it will be having the political will to fund carbon removal from the atmosphere to mitigate the emissions. Achieving a goal of 100% by 2035 probably means 70% by 2025 and 90% by 2030.


gerontocrat

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #893 on: April 12, 2021, 10:54:10 AM »
What's New in Climate Change Acceptance ?

Hope dies in the face of truth

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/12/racked-with-guilt-and-grief-and-climate-despair-how-do-we-go-on
Racked with guilt and grief and climate despair – how do we go on!?
First Dog on the Moon


We are not surrendering! Just the opposite in fact, we are getting on with it despite everything

click images to enlarge

"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

Sigmetnow

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #894 on: April 18, 2021, 08:09:47 PM »
China, U.S. agree to move forward on climate action
Yes, but: The document is lacking in specifics, including any new emissions targets from either country.
https://www.axios.com/us-china-agree-joint-climate-action-838a35b5-92a8-47c6-901f-1a7e9926f5bc.html
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #895 on: April 30, 2021, 02:02:11 PM »
German climate law puts unfair burden on young, court rules

Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that the government’s climate law places an unfair burden on younger generations.

The ruling came after climate activists from Germany and large environmental groups filed four complaints to the court, claiming that the rights of younger generations were in danger because the country does not have concrete goals for curbing climate change in the next decade, according to The Associated Press.

Germany, like other European Union countries, is working toward cutting emissions by 55 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2030

...

In their ruling, the judges wrote that the regulations set in 2019 “irreversibly pushed a very high burden of emissions reduction into the period after 2030,” according to the AP.

They said it would be wrong to have one generation “use up large parts of the CO2 budget with a comparatively mild reduction burden, if that simultaneously means following generations are left with a radical reduction burden and their lives are exposed to comprehensive limits to freedom.”

As a result, the judges instructed the government to set new objectives for after 2030 by the end of next year.


https://thehill.com/policy/international/europe/550971-german-climate-law-puts-unfair-burden-on-young-court-rules

Nice ruling...the problem in a nutshell, or at least the generational aspect of it.
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NeilT

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #896 on: April 30, 2021, 03:02:16 PM »
I'm not sure that they were quite correct in this decision.

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Greenhouse gas emissions in Germany have fallen since 1990: from 1,249 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents in 1990 to 810 million tonnes in 2019 – the lowest level since 1990. This amounts to a decline of more than 35 %.

https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/data/environmental-indicators/indicator-greenhouse-gas-emissions#assessing-the-development

Which means that the current generation has to reduce emissions by 20% in 11 years under the 2019 ruling.

Then, post 2030, emissions would have to be reduced by a further 45% in the next 20 years.

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The country set a long-term goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050
https://thehill.com/policy/international/europe/550971-german-climate-law-puts-unfair-burden-on-young-court-rules

However the steps taken to reduce emissions by 20% in 11 years would continue with a beneficial effect long after they have been implemented.  Consider both wind and solar farms which continue to produce power as consumption falls and also farms which can be expanded with sunk cost still supporting that expansion for decades to come.

We see this especially with North Sea wind farms in the UK where initial investment required a strike price for electricity as high as £140 per MW/h but newer farms are averaging £40-£60 per MW/h.

I would have said that the steps taken in the next 9 years, especially for energy interconnects (something Germany is working very hard on), will be leveraged by the next generation for decades to come.

If I were a German suffering punishing electricity costs to help build out renewable capacity and transmission capability, I would be quite insulted.

Just because:

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The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 were 51% below 1990 levels, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. This means the UK is now halfway to meeting its target of “net-zero” emissions by 2050.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-is-now-halfway-to-meeting-its-net-zero-emissions-target#:~:text=The%20UK%27s%20greenhouse%20gas%20emissions,%2Dzero%E2%80%9D%20emissions%20by%202050.

and

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The Prime Minister has today (Friday 4 December) announced a new ambitious target to reduce the UK’s emissions by at least 68% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

and because

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Over the past decade, the UK has cut carbon emissions by more than any similar developed country and was the first major economy to legislate for net zero emissions by 2050.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-sets-ambitious-new-climate-target-ahead-of-un-summit

Does not mean that the current German generation has foisted the bulk of the work on future generations because it didn't set goals for the 2030 to 2050 time frame.

It means that the prior German generation from 1990 to 2019 didn't do anything like enough to reduce emissions and now everyone has to pay the price.

Nice swerve by the courts in choosing their response.
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kassy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #897 on: April 30, 2021, 11:17:56 PM »
It means that the prior German generation from 1990 to 2019 didn't do anything like enough to reduce emissions and now everyone has to pay the price.


Yes exactly and that is true all over the world.

Now we can only set policy goals going forward but we have simply run out of time where we can claim to do a bit by 2030 and then see where the elections take us afterwards and that is the essence of this ruling.
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oren

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #898 on: May 01, 2021, 11:33:12 AM »
It's not a linear excercise in percentages. The first reductions are much easier than the next ones. So the younger generation gets stuck with nearly impossible tasks, not to mention the fantasy of negative emissions.

Sciguy

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Re: What's New in Climate Change Acceptance and Action
« Reply #899 on: May 03, 2021, 08:22:54 PM »
One of the obstacles to change is that many people have given up hope that we can tackle the climate crisis.  That's false.  Here's another article explaining why we should be more optimistic about the challenges we need to address.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/01/climate-change-environment-hope-future-optimism-success

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Dare we hope? Here’s my cautious case for climate optimism
Rebecca Solnit
May 1, 2021

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Three things matter for climate chaos and our response to it – the science reporting on current and potential conditions, the technology offering solutions, and the organizing which is shifting perspectives and policy. Each is advancing rapidly. The science mostly gives us terrifying news of more melting, more storms, more droughts, more fires, more famines. But the technological solutions and the success of the organizing to address this largest of all crises have likewise grown by leaps and bounds. For example, ideas put forth in the Green New Deal in 2019, seen as radical at the time, are now the kind of stuff President Biden routinely proposes in his infrastructure and jobs plans.

It’s not easy to see all the changes – you have to be a wonk to follow the details on new battery storage solutions or the growth of solar power in cheapness, proliferation, efficiency and possibility, or new understanding about agriculture and soil management to enhance carbon sequestration. You have to be a policy nerd to keep track of the countless new initiatives around the world. They include, recently, the UK committing to end overseas fossil fuel finance in December, the EU in January deciding to “discourage all further investments into fossil-fuel-based energy infrastructure projects in third countries”, and the US making a less comprehensive but meaningful effort this spring to curtail funding for overseas extraction. In April, oil-rich California made a commitment to end fossil fuel extraction altogether – if by a too-generous deadline. A lot of these policies have been deemed both good and not good enough. They do not get us to where we need to be, but they lay the foundation for further shifts, and like the Green New Deal many of them seemed unlikely a few years ago.

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The organization Carbon Tracker, whose reports are usually somber reading, just put out a report so stunning the word encouraging is hardly adequate. In sum, current technology could produce a hundred times as much electricity from solar and wind as current global demand; prices on solar continue to drop rapidly and dramatically; and the land required to produce all this energy would take less than is currently given over to fossil fuels. It is a vision of a completely different planet, because if you change how we produce energy you change our geopolitics – for the better – and clean our air and renew our future. The report concludes: “The technical and economic barriers have been crossed and the only impediment to change is political.” Those barriers seemed insurmountable at the end of the last millennium.

One of the things that’s long been curious about this crisis is that the amateurs and newcomers tend to be more alarmist and defeatist than the insiders and experts. What the climate journalist Emily Atkin calls “first-time climate dudes” put forth long, breathless magazine articles, bestselling books and films announcing that it’s too late and we’re doomed, which is another way to say we don’t have to do a damned thing, which is a way to undermine the people who are doing those things and those who might be moved to do them.

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Another expert voice for hope is Christiana Figueres, who as executive secretary of the United Nations framework convention on climate change negotiated the Paris climate accords in 2015. As she recently declared: “This decade is a moment of choice unlike any we have ever lived. All of us alive right now share that responsibility and that opportunity. The optimism I’m speaking of is not the result of an achievement, it is the necessary input to meeting a challenge. Many now believe it is impossible to cut global emissions in half in this decade. I say, we don’t have the right to give up or let up.” She speaks of how impossible a treaty like the one she negotiated seemed after the shambles at the end of the 2009 Copenhagen meeting.