Around The Web

Strong civil society movements are needed to ramp up pace of change, says study

Greenhouse gas emissions could be halved in the next decade if a small number of current technologies and behavioural trends are ramped up and adopted more widely, researchers have found, saying strong civil society movements are needed to drive such change.

Solar and wind power, now cheaper than fossil fuels in many regions, must be scaled up rapidly to replace coal-fired generation, and this alone could halve emissions from electricity generation by 2030, according to the Exponential Roadmap report from an international group of experts.

Continue reading...

The Alliance seeks to recruit a Coordinator who will be recruited under the RCC Kampala Ci-ACA project by RCC Kampala, on behalf of UNFCCC, through the East African Development Bank (EADB).

The UK government has awarded a contract to build and maintain an emissions trading registry for use when the country leaves the EU.

Eight-country poll shows people view climate crisis as priority over migration and terrorism

A majority of the public recognise the climate crisis as an “emergency” and say politicians are failing to tackle the problem, backing the interests of big oil over the wellbeing of ordinary people, according to an eight-country poll.

The survey, which comes before what is expected to be the world’s biggest climate demonstrations on Friday, found that climate breakdown is viewed as the most important issue facing the world, ahead of migration, terrorism and the global economy, in seven out of the eight countries surveyed. In the US it comes third behind terrorism and affordable healthcare.

Continue reading...

Few feel the pain of the Great Barrier Reef's decline more acutely than the scientists trying to save it. Ahead of a UN climate summit, two researchers write of their grief, and hope. Jon Brodie, Professorial Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University Alana Grech, Assistant Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A bipartisan group of Pennsylvania state lawmakers will introduce legislation this fall that may prevent the state from implementing a RGGI-linked ETS or carbon tax through regulatory channels, arguing that such a climate policy must be authorised by the General Assembly.

Why is human childbirth so long and difficult? Scientists may have the answer from studying fossils.

A new study shows that there's a higher probability for extreme flooding on UK coasts as global temperatures rise.

Offshore leasing auction starts for 7GW capacity project that could supply 6m UK homes

The crown estate has opened the first leasing round for offshore windfarms in a decade to usher in a new generation of wind projects expected to eventually generate an investment of £20bn.

The business intends to auction off new seabed rights in the waters around England and Wales to wind power developers. The leasing scheme allows up to 7GW of electricity generation capacity – enough to meet the needs of more than 6m homes.

Continue reading...

New Democrat Coalition worried that Green New Deal plays into Republican messaging, seek ‘secure durable climate legislation’

Moderate congressional Democrats worried about the infeasibility of passing the kind of sweeping climate legislation their progressive counterparts are proposing, such as the Green New Deal, are laying out their own policies.

The New Democrat Coalition released an 11-page outline of principles on Wednesday, along with a list of bills to back them up, advocating for incremental and “pro-market” steps to cut pollution.

Continue reading...

Greta Thunberg tells Congress to ‘listen to the scientists’ and take real action on climate change.

The teenage climate change campaigner submitted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change special report on rising temperatures as her testimony, pointing out it was not ‘political opinion’ but simply ‘science’

• Greta Thunberg tells Congress to ‘listen to the scientists’ during testimony – live

Continue reading...

New rules will allow production lines at pork plants to run faster, despite concerns over safety and quality

The US government has given the go-ahead to new rules to eliminate production line speed limits at pig slaughterhouses, deeming restrictions “unnecessary” despite fears that lifting them will worsen the already high number of serious injuries suffered by US meat plant workers.

Amputations, fractured fingers, second-degree burns and head trauma are just some of the serious injuries suffered by US meat plant workers every week, according to an investigation last year by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Continue reading...

Italy-based utility Enel aims to cut its emissions intensity by 70% under 2017 levels by 2030, it said on Wednesday, extending a company-wide target as one of a handful of firms to set an independently verified goal aligned with the 1.5C Paris Agreement global warming limit.

The German government will on Friday unveil its comprehensive new climate plan, which is said to centre around a domestic emissions trading scheme for the country’s transportation and heating sectors.

The Trump Administration revoked California’s Clean Air Act waiver to set its own more stringent vehicle GHG standards on Wednesday, likely setting up a contentious legal battle between the US federal government and the Golden State.

The addition of a low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) in Washington state’s Puget Sound region could slash the carbon intensity (CI) of transportation fuels by over a quarter during the next decade with little economic impact, according to analysis released Tuesday.

António Guterres cites ‘fantastic leadership’ of young activists and is counting on public pressure to compel governments to honor the 2015 Paris Agreement

The UN secretary general says that he is counting on public pressure to compel governments to take much stronger action against what he calls the climate change “emergency”.

“Governments always follow public opinion, everywhere in the world, sooner or later,” António Guterres, said Tuesday in an interview with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets, led by Columbia Journalism Review and the Nation, in partnership with the Guardian. Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal, added: “And so … we need to keep telling the truth to people and be confident that the political system, especially democratic political systems, will in the end deliver.”

Continue reading...

The Independent Planning Commission in Australia’s New South Wales on Wednesday rejected plans by South Korean firm KEPCO to build a new coal mine, citing environmental impact concerns and that the company had not done enough to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Rogue construction union boss John Setka is already in fights with the Labor party and the ACTU leadership. Now he faces a battle with parliament. Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick is moving to refer… Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

European carbon posted big losses for a second straight day on Wednesday, as much of the energy market declined as France's EDF said there was no need to close any of its nuclear reactors after it last week flagged the discovery of faulty components.