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It’s a fairytale that world governments will fix our climate crisis. It’s up to us | Bill McKibben
Thank climate activists for the fact that any progress was made in Glasgow. Unless we push hard, powerful interests don’t budge
It was inspiring to watch activists – especially young people and those from the global south – as this Glasgow Cop limped towards its mushy end. They were on top of every twist in the text, and they won significant concessions from the big polluting countries. At the time of writing, it looks as if the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels will be mentioned in a Cop document for the first time, and that there will be more money for nations of the global south to “adapt” to the climate crisis. The activists’ anger echoed through the halls, and was heard in whatever parts of the world were listening. To the extent that this Cop worked at all, it’s a tribute to their perseverance and creativity.
But was this a sea change in the way we deal with the global climate crisis? No –Glasgow moves us down the track a little and boxes in national governments a little more, but it has changed not nearly enough. After 26 iterations, the truth about these Cops is pretty clear: the results are largely determined before they even begin. Yes, there’s an endless succession of concerts, marches, seminars, negotiating sessions, speeches, ultimatums, declarations, photo-ops; and yes, everyone works hard to build a sense of drama (the media especially). But history would suggest that the parties rarely go beyond what they’d intended to do before they arrived.
Bill McKibben is the Schumann distinguished scholar at Middlebury College, Vermont, and leader of the climate campaign group 350.org
Continue reading...Can California save itself from the flames?
Glasgow Brief: Australia given “Colossal Fossil” award as COP26 goes into overtime
Australia recognised as the worst performer in Glasgow, as the COP26 talks set to run for at least one extra day.
The post Glasgow Brief: Australia given “Colossal Fossil” award as COP26 goes into overtime appeared first on RenewEconomy.
CP Daily: Friday November 12, 2021
How the Morrison government chose fossil fuels over farmers, detailed in “laughable” net zero modelling
Long awaited Morrison government modelling shows its "Plan" falling short of net zero and choosing a weaker path to protect coal and gas industries.
The post How the Morrison government chose fossil fuels over farmers, detailed in “laughable” net zero modelling appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Scott Morrison’s net zero modelling reveals a slow, lazy and shockingly irresponsible approach to ‘climate action’ | Ketan Joshi
The modelling was delayed until the final Friday of COP26 to avoid embarrassment. But it’s even worse than expected
In April this year, Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, said that “we will not achieve net zero in the cafes, dinner parties and wine bars of our inner cities”. This explains why he turned to the salt-of-the-Earth hard-workin’ rural folk at McKinsey – one of the biggest billion-dollar multinational consulting agencies on the planet – to produce the Australian government’s long-awaited modelling explaining the pathway to “net zero by 2050”.
In some parallel universe, the task may have gone to Australia’s chief science agency, the CSIRO (a former employer of mine). But it was revealed at Senate estimates a few weeks back that despite the CSIRO applying for the tender, the government rejected them and paid McKinsey $6m to model the changes Australian society must go through to decarbonise within 30 years. This choice makes sense in the context of recent leaks to the New York Times that revealed McKinsey has advised 43 of the 100 biggest corporate polluters, including “BP, Exxon Mobil, Gazprom and Saudi Aramco”. 1,100 of its employees signed an open letter pleading the consultancy reveal the carbon impacts of its clients.
Continue reading...Canada narrows CCS crediting scope as it delays final Clean Fuel Standard regulations
COP26: Climate talks into overtime as nations near deal
COP26: REDD+ moving ahead of Article 6, but questions remain on approach, integrity
Success or failure?: Cop26 protesters give their verdict on the climate summit – video
After two weeks of negotiations, protests and climate action, the deadline for the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow came and went with leaders continuing to negotiate over the final details of a potential deal. The Guardian spoke to activists on the ground to find out their verdicts on the historic climate conference
Continue reading...Martin Rowson on attempts to phase out fossil fuel subsidies at Cop26 – cartoon
Sound the alarm: bees ‘scream’ when murder hornets attack, study finds
Royal Society Open Science research finds bees release ‘rallying call for collective defence’ that is ‘quite harsh and noisy’
A study has revealed a new defense mechanism used by bees when attacked by giant “murder” hornets: screaming.
When left unchecked, the giant Asian hornets can destroy a honeybee hive in hours, feeding on larvae and decapitating bees in what scientists call a “slaughter phase”. The hornets then feed severed body parts to their young.
Continue reading...Thinking of buying an electric car? Here’s what you need to know about models, costs and rebates
The upfront price of a new EV is still high in Australia but incentives such as rebates and interest-free loans can help. We look at what’s on offer
Scott Morrison once claimed electric vehicles might end the weekend, but the prime minister changed his tune this week when he announced the Australian government’s new EV policy.
While the strategy may not actually do much to help get people into an electric vehicle, it’s the start of a shift as state and territory governments are already setting up incentives to get more people into EVs.
Continue reading...Amazon birds shrink but grow longer wings in sign of global heating
Some species in Brazil have shrunk by nearly 10% over 40 years of measurements, say researchers
Birds in the Amazon are becoming smaller but growing longer wings, a study has found, with scientists saying global heating is the most likely explanation.
Several recent papers have reported birds getting smaller, but as their subjects were migratory birds there were many confounding factors that could have explained the results, such as hunting, pesticide use or habitat loss.
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Transform approach to Amazon or it will not survive, warns major report
Panel of 200 scientists tells Cop26 Indigenous people, business, governments and scientists must collaborate
The world’s approach to the Amazon rainforest must be transformed to avoid an irreversible, catastrophic tipping point, according to the most comprehensive study of the region ever carried out.
More than 200 scientists collaborated on the new report, which finds that more than a third of the world’s biggest tropical forest is degraded or deforested, rainfall is declining and dry seasons are growing longer.
Continue reading...COP26: How might decisions at the climate summit change our lives?
Cop26 guards slept in 40-person ‘dorm’ at Gleneagles despite Covid fears
Staff guarding delegates at five-star venue were asked to sleep on cots in cramped hotel lounge where they also ate meals
Government delegations staying at the five-star Gleneagles hotel for Cop26 were guarded by security personnel who slept on camping cots in a 40-person dormitory set up in a lounge at the venue, raising concerns about Covid safety at the climate summit.
The team of men were recruited and housed by a security company under a Foreign Office contract just days before the world leaders summit opened at the Glasgow climate talks. Three individuals have now come forward to raise their concerns about the cramped and unsanitary conditions in which they were housed at the luxury hotel.
Continue reading...The US-China climate agreement is imperfect – but reason to hope | Sam Geall
The surprise Cop26 announcement could herald a crucial era of climate cooperation between the two carbon superpowers
It could have been so much worse. At this critical juncture, talks between the world’s two carbon superpowers – together accounting for some 40% of global greenhouse-gas emissions – could easily have collapsed into a blame game, and a standoff that would have seriously set back global efforts. Instead, the surprise China-US agreement announced on Wednesday night offers renewed hope for joint leadership at last. After the bruising years of the Donald Trump presidency, and the impact of Covid-19 on the negotiations themselves and those poor countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis, trust in multilateralism hangs in the balance.
The new agreement is far from perfect and doesn’t go far enough. Despite promises to cooperate on reducing methane emissions, details in the plan are patchy and need more substance. It could even risk distracting from the multilateral work needed in these crucial last moments of the UN-led Cop26 talks. But it is still important, even inspiring, to see new cooperation emerge. The US and China climate envoys, John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua, shared warm words, the latter announcing that “there is more agreement between China and the United States than divergence.”
Sam Geall is CEO of China Dialogue and associate fellow at Chatham House
Continue reading...It’s half-time in Humanity v Climate Crisis, and Boris Johnson is our captain | Marina Hyde
The prime minister loves a metaphor, but is anyone looking forward to the outcome of this particular match?
Time’s a great healer. It may feel incredible now, but I think Boris Johnson will eventually look back on his final appearance at his own climate conference and regard it as a win that he spent it answering questions about some pompous Devonian QC-slash-MP. Let’s face it: the question of why Geoffrey Cox was allowed to coin it in the British Virgin Islands is ultimately going to feel a lot easier to handle than the question of why the British Virgin Islands were allowed to be permanently submerged under six feet of water.
So yes – right now, there are those who might imagine it embarrassing for the prime minister to have to spend so much as one nanosecond of Cop26 podium time addressing the institutionalised chiselling that still riddles both houses of parliament. But look at the bigger picture, guys! You’ve simply failed to consider how much more awks it’s going to be when we’re all distilling urine for drinking water, composting the dead, and fighting our own vengeful children for control of the higher ground. If Cop26 ends disappointingly, Johnson will eventually judge it a dodged bullet that the most significant failure of his premiership was veiled by 10 days of ferocious sleaze coverage.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
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