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Large meteor wows Norway after blazing through night sky
Plans of four G20 states are threat to global climate pledge, warn scientists
‘Disastrous’ energy policies of China, Russia, Brazil and Australia could stoke 5C rise in temperatures if adopted by the rest of the world
A key group of leading G20 nations is committed to climate targets that would lead to disastrous global warming, scientists have warned. They say China, Russia, Brazil and Australia all have energy policies associated with 5C rises in atmospheric temperatures, a heating hike that would bring devastation to much of the planet.
The analysis, by the peer-reviewed group Paris Equity Check, raises serious worries about the prospects of key climate agreements being achieved at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in three months. The conference – rated as one of the most important climate summits ever staged – will attempt to hammer out policies to hold global heating to 1.5C by agreeing on a global policy for ending net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
Continue reading...The cost of cooling: how air conditioning is heating up the world
As temperatures rise, a new book delves into the environmental toll of America’s favorite way to cool off
The widespread reliance on air conditioning in the US is explored in Eric Dean Wilson’s book After Cooling: on Freon, Global Warming, and the Terrible Cost of Comfort. The book explores how air conditioning has become one of the most effective ways to cool off – and explains how harmful chemicals that make our lives comfortable also contribute to the climate crisis.
The modern refrigerant – gas in fridges, freezers and air conditioners – was first introduced in 1930s in the form of a chemical called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), better known as Freon. This chemical escaped into the air over time, ripping a hole in the ozone layer. In 1987, a global agreement was reached to ban the production of CFCs – although every year an ozone hole reappears over Antarctica in October.
Continue reading...Yep, it’s bleak, says expert who tested 1970s end-of-the-world prediction
A controversial MIT study from 1972 forecast the collapse of civilization – and Gaya Herrington is here to deliver the bad news
At a UN sustainability meeting several years ago, an economic policy officer came up to Gaya Herrington and introduced himself. Taking her name for a riff on James Lovelock’s earth-as-an-organism Gaia hypothesis, he remarked: “Gaya – that’s not a name, it’s responsibility.”
Herrington, a Dutch sustainability researcher and adviser to the Club of Rome, a Swiss thinktank, has made headlines in recent days after she authored a report that appeared to show a controversial 1970s study predicting the collapse of civilization was – apparently – right on time.
Continue reading...Billionaire space cowboys could become heroes by focusing on the climate crisis
Bezos, Musk and Branson have achieved much – but the biggest challenge facing humanity is not the stars, but our planet
For three of the world’s most famous billionaires, space is indeed the final frontier – for their egos. Jeff Bezos, the planet’s richest man, launched into the great beyond last week via his Blue Origin venture, days after Sir Richard Branson did the same on a Virgin Galactic craft. Elon Musk, the sometime world’s richest man, has yet to join his rivals in the heavens with his SpaceX business, but has bought a ticket to ride with Branson at some point.
Space travel is the stuff of legend and these lauded entrepreneurs are clearly caught up in the mythology. Humanity and space have connotations of bravery, and technological and intellectual brilliance, that run through the ages, from Galileo to Gagarin and the moon landings.
Continue reading...Australia sets new wind output record, breaks through 6,000MW for first time
Relaxation of constraints in South Australia allows wind energy to set second output record in a week in Australia's main grid.
The post Australia sets new wind output record, breaks through 6,000MW for first time appeared first on RenewEconomy.
The Great Barrier Reef is not on the ‘in danger’ list. Why, and what happens next?
Never before had the world heritage committee been asked to list a site mainly because of climate impacts – and it wasn’t willing to
There are tens of billions of corals on the Great Barrier Reef that knit together to form a giant mass that is most certainly, definitely, no doubt about it, in danger.
Nobody at the world heritage committee late on Friday night thought otherwise.
Continue reading...Not declaring the Great Barrier Reef as 'in danger' only postpones the inevitable
CP Daily: Friday July 23, 2021
Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson not yet astronauts, US says
More London carbon traders on the move
WCI speculative holdings rise as emitters add length for 2nd straight week
Nature’s Paris moment: does the global bid to stem wildlife decline go far enough?
There are concerns a new UN biodiversity framework is not ambitious enough and calls for Australia to take a leading role
Can nature have its own Paris moment?
It’s the question facing countries negotiating a new United Nations agreement aimed at stemming the global loss of wildlife.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on the climate summit: 100 days to save the world | Editorial
Floods, fires and droughts show the global urgency. But the prospects are not looking good for the COP26 conference
The global reality of the climate crisis could hardly be more stark. A common theme is clear, from western Germany, where about 200 people perished in floods, to Henan province in central China, where at least 50 have died and about 400,000 have been evacuated after overwhelming downpours, to western Canada and the US, where a blistering set of heatwaves has provided the tinder for wildfires on a growing scale, through to the Middle East, where drought threatens communities from Algeria to Yemen, triggering unrest and regional disputes. On this planet there is no hiding place.
A hundred days now remain before the nations gather in Glasgow at the United Nations Cop26 climate conference on 31 October. More than 190 world leaders are expected. The UK government calls the summit the world’s last best chance. That is true. Yet words are cheaper than actions and sustained effort, especially when Boris Johnson is involved, and the last best chance is at serious risk of being lost. As things currently stand, the governments of the world, the UK included, are heading to Glasgow without having made the ambitious strategic decisions and collective sacrifices that might enable Cop26 to mark a genuine turning point that is needed in the battle to contain and reverse global heating.
Continue reading...Xi Jinping should take the Zhengzhou floods as a warning from China’s history | Philip Ball
The country’s perilous waters have made or broken past leaders. The climate crisis will only make things worse
The footage of a torrent of muddy water engulfing the broad thoroughfares of Zhengzhou, China, may look like a scene from an apocalyptic sci-fi movie. But for China’s leaders, these images speak not only to a dystopian future but also to the struggles of the past – and to the issue of the Chinese Communist party’s mandate to rule.
Related: China floods: thousands trapped without fresh water as rain moves north
Continue reading...Athens appoints chief heat officer to combat climate crisis
Greek capital is first in Europe to create role, which will involve finding new ways to cool the city
Athens has appointed a chief heat officer to protect people from soaring temperatures and try to find ways to adapt the city to the heatwaves and extreme weather that are striking the capital more frequently as the result of the climate emergency.
The appointment, made on Friday by the mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, is the first in Europe and believed to be only the second in the world, after Miami-Dade county in Florida appointed a chief heat officer earlier this year.
Continue reading...Marijuana farmers blamed for water theft as drought grips American west
• California official: ‘Water stealing has never been more severe’
• Water taken from hydrants, homes, rivers and wells
Extreme and prolonged drought in the American west is prompting water thieves to tap into other people’s scarce supplies.
More than 12bn gallons of water have been stolen in California in the past eight years, according to state officials, but the issue has been further exacerbated by the ongoing drought and recent searing early summer heatwaves.
Continue reading...US Carbon Pricing and LCFS Roundup for week ending July 23, 2021
Hitting global climate target could create 8m energy jobs, study says
Researchers suggest net increase would mostly occur in renewables sector, with decline in fossil fuels
If some politicians are to be believed, taking sweeping action to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement would be calamitous for jobs in the energy sector. But a study suggests that honouring the global climate target would, in fact, increase net jobs by about 8 million by 2050.
The study – in which researchers created a global dataset of the footprint of energy jobs in 50 countries including major fossil fuel-producing economies – found that currently an estimated 18 million people work in the energy industries, which is likely to increase to 26 million if climate targets are met.
Continue reading...New banking regulations “unduly penalise” EU carbon trading -financial markets trade group
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