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Equivalent falls in emissions over a decade required to keep to safe limits of global heating, experts say
Carbon dioxide emissions must fall by the equivalent of a global lockdown roughly every two years for the next decade for the world to keep within safe limits of global heating, research has shown.
Lockdowns around the world led to an unprecedented fall in emissions of about 7% in 2020, or about 2.6bn tonnes of CO2, but reductions of between 1bn and 2bn tonnes are needed every year of the next decade to have a good chance of holding temperature rises to within 1.5C or 2C of pre-industrial levels, as required by the Paris agreement.
Continue reading...The energy industry is like a smoker who goes from one pack a day to two – but claims they’re quitting because they switched to filtered cigarettes
The United Nations campaign Race to Zero recently published a paper identifying 20 pathways to reach net zero carbon emissions. In December, the British Oil & Gas Authority published a requirement that oil and gas development be “consistent with net zero” (despite approval of new offshore permits). BP, Shell and other multinational companies have all now published their “net zero” pathways.
Related: The climate crisis can't be solved by carbon accounting tricks | Simon Lewis
Non-proliferation: Preventing proliferation by ending all new exploration and production.
Global disarmament: Phasing out existing production in line with 1.5C.
Peaceful transition: Fast-tracking real solutions through scaled-up access to renewable energy and a just transition for every worker, community and country.
Tzeporah Berman is the chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-proliferation Treaty and a former co-chair of the Oilsands Advisory Working Group in Alberta, Canada
Nathan Taft is a senior digital campaigner who works on the Treaty’s sister campaign, Safe Cities, at Stand.earth
Continue reading...Disaster looms if big finance is allowed to game the carbon offsetting markets to achieve ‘net zero’ emissions
An astonishing global shift is under way: 127 countries have now stated that by mid-century their overall emissions of carbon dioxide will be zero. That includes the EU, US, and UK by 2050 – and China by 2060. Companies are enthusiastically signing up to similar “net zero” goals. Finally the international community seems to have accepted the scientific fact that we need to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere to stabilise our climate. Dare we hope that the climate crisis can be brought under control?
Perhaps, but big problems remain. Long-term commitments have not resulted in sufficient near-term actions. The world is on track for emissions to be just 0.5% below 2010 levels by 2030, compared with the 45% needed on the road to net zero by 2050. The pivotal Glasgow Cop26 climate talks in November will need to tackle this. But a more insidious problem is emerging. Net zero increasingly involves highly questionable carbon accounting. As a result, the new politics swirling around net zero targets is rapidly becoming a confusing and dangerous mix of pragmatism, self-delusion and weapons-grade greenwash.
Related: Fossil fuel emissions in danger of surpassing pre-Covid levels
Continue reading...Drivers of decline likely to be habitat loss, intensive farming, climate change and light pollution
Moths in Britain have declined in abundance by a third over the past 50 years, according to a new study.
The declines of 39% in the abundance of larger moth species over southern Britain and a 22% fall across northern Britain add to the picture of calamitous declines in flying insects in the industrialised world.
Related: UK scientists confirm arrival of brown marmorated stink bugs
Continue reading...Greenhouse gas stored in country’s marine world heritage sites about same as four years of national emissions
Three of Australia’s world heritage-listed marine sites have more than 2bn tonnes of carbon dioxide locked away in their vast seagrass meadows, coastal mangroves and tidal marshes, according to a new report from a UN agency.
Unesco has for the first time calculated all the so-called “blue carbon” stored across its 50 world heritage marine sites and finds they contain about 5bn tonnes of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.
Related: As many corals growing in the Pacific as trees in the Amazon, new study finds
Continue reading...Call comes at event hosted by UK government, which is under pressure over planned coalmine in Cumbria
All planned coal projects around the world must be cancelled to end the “deadly addiction” to the most polluting fossil fuel, the UN secretary-general António Guterres said on Tuesday.
Phasing out coal from the electricity sector is the single most important step to tackle the climate crisis, he said. Guterres’s call came at the opening of a summit of the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), a group of governments and businesses committed to ending coal burning for power.
Continue reading...The financial industry regulator says insurers may be able to pay future claims, but fewer people will be able to secure coverage
Millions of Australians could be left uninsured as the effects of climate change put increasing pressure on the financial system, the industry’s regulatory body has warned.
The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (Apra) executive director Dr Sean Carmody told a Senate hearing on Tuesday the nation’s insurers and banks were taking steps to prepare for worsening bushfire seasons and more extreme weather events.
Related: 'A duty of care': Australian teenagers take their climate crisis plea to court
Related: Australia's summer the wettest in four years amid cooling La Niña
Continue reading...Swedish carmaker also says it will sell its vehicles to consumers online only
Volvo plans to sell only electric cars by 2030 in the latest move by a legacy carmaker to abandon fossil fuels that contribute to global heating.
The Swedish carmaker also said it would sell its electric cars direct to consumers or via dealerships through the same simplified online portal, in a blow to the traditional model of selling vehicles via independent dealerships.
Related: Plug-in hybrid cars burn more fuel than tests record, says Which?
Continue reading...Jebel Akhdar, a mountain range in the north of Oman, receives up to 500mm of rain a year
The gulf state of Oman may be mostly desert, with an annual rainfall of less than 135mm (5in), but there is one exception to this. In the north, the mountain range of Jebel Akhdar, which rises to just over 3,000 metres (10,000ft), receives as much as 500mm (20in) of rainfall, spread fairly evenly throughout the year.
Just over 20 degrees north of the equator, and bisected by the tropic of cancer, Oman’s overall climate is mostly hot and dry in summer and warm in winter, with any rainfall in the lowland areas occurring between the months of October and April. The capital, Muscat, is fairly typical with summer temperatures usually between 36C and 38C, while in winter it is a more pleasant 20C to 25C.
Continue reading...International Energy Agency data shows steady climb over second half of 2020
Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe world has only a few months to prevent the energy industry’s carbon emissions from surpassing pre-pandemic levels this year as economies begin to rebound from Covid-19 restrictions, according to the International Energy Agency.
New figures from the global energy watchdog found that fossil fuel emissions climbed steadily over the second half of the year as major economies began to recover. By December 2020, carbon emissions were 2% higher than in the same month the year before.
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