Hello, and welcome to Forge the Future, your weekly rundown of the latest climate news.
It’s been interesting seeing the reactions from the US to the heat there. As I noted last week, extreme weather has been impacting people for some time now, but the western world has largely escaped the worst of it. That is changing, and whilst there’s still work to do making the connection between events like heat waves and climate change, more and more people are finding that climate change is suddenly happening now, to them.
As a result, there are a lot of people who are suddenly much more aware of climate change, and hopefully at least some want to do something, anything to help tackle it, which can only be a good thing. HEATED this week spoke to that urge to act, with a call to action for anyone that feels a desire to do something. Activism is not for everyone, but there are so many ways to act, to raise awareness and build momentum, that there’s something for us all to do.
State of the world
Climate research and findings, weather events and studies
Weather news this week has unsurprisingly been dominated by coverage of the heatwave in the Pacific North West. For some areas, the heat has abated, although the weekend saw record temperatures in Las Vegas, and Death Valley may have recorded the hottest temperature ever observed on the planet, at 54.4°C.
The heatwave’s impact on people has been well documented, with hundreds succumbing to heat. However, the impact on wildlife has also been severe – as many as 1bn marine animals may have been killed by sustained high temperatures. Mussels were essentially cooked by the sea, with temperatures up to 50°C seen along the shores around Vancouver. An initial rapid attribution study suggests the heat wave was roughly a 1-in-1000 year event in current climatic conditions, but was made at least 150 times more likely by climate change.
This heat wave has led to June being the hottest June ever seen in North America, according to the latest data from the Copernicus climate change agency. Europe saw its second warmest June ever, with Nordic countries seeing record temperatures this weekend. Kevo in Utsjoki reached 33.6°C, the hottest since 1914, and Banak, Norway reached 34.3°C – the highest temperature seen above 70° latitude in Europe.
Politico has released a thorough analysis of how Europe’s climate will shift as the climate warms, and how that will impact different areas. The full article is well worth a read, but essentially, climate impacts will not be evenly distributed, with southern Europe receiving the brunt of impacts, including increased drought, urban heat and a decline in agricultural productivity. Northern Europe won’t be spared, with more floods and fires, but the impacts are likely to strain the north-south split. If the EU wishes to remain a cohesive bloc, it’s likely that northern states will have to help support more heavily impacted southern countries as they wilt under the impact of changing conditions.
Planet positives
Moving towards a greener and more equitable world
Courting the Climate
This week saw another win for the climate at a national level. The French Council of State has ordered the government to act on climate in the next 9 months, deeming its progress towards climate targets not adequate. The ruling is final, with no possibility for appeal, and says the government must take ‘all necessary steps’ to meet its goal of a 40% cut in emissions from 1990 levels by 2030. At least in some countries it seems that setting emissions goals are no longer the empty gesture they often seem, if courts can force governments to stick to them.
The sanctions the French government faces are not clear yet, but could include substantial fines. The deadline for action falls right as current president Emmanuel Macron will be seeking re-election, so the combination of the judgement and potential negative press at a crucial time could be enough to force the government to take action.
Adverse circumstances
Events that move the needle in the wrong direction
FEMA Failure
Analysis of claims made to FEMA, the US disaster management agency, found that they turned down the vast majority of claims made in the wake of fires in Oregon and California. Whilst fraudulent claims are a possibility, it seems many legitimate claims have been rejected by a system so bureaucratic and complex even FEMA officials struggle to explain how and why particular claims were turned down. The agency was criticised in the wake of Hurricane Katrina for handing out money to large numbers of fraudulent claimants, but many say they have gone too far the other way, with automated systems rejecting applications repeatedly. High complexity, time and language barriers all mean that those most in need of payouts aren’t able to access them.
Long Reads
Interesting deep-dives into climate-related topics
Trees are, depending upon who you talk to, either the best or worst kind of climate solution. However, their use in urban environments is less often discussed. The concrete jungles so many of us live in can be massively improved by increased tree cover – trees provide shade, cooling, remove pollution, and much more. Despite this, many cities don’t view them as infrastructure, and struggle to put together money to protect existing mature trees and plant new ones.
I’ve covered the US biomass industry before, but CNN featured another excellent deep dive on this massive sector this week. Thanks to questionable EU rules deeming biomass a viable ‘clean’ fuel, a vast industry has grown in the US, not only processing wood waste, but clear-cutting forests. The environmental impacts are significant, and the industry has also sited itself on top of already marginalised communities, subjecting them to constant noise and air pollution, all to service EU power plants only too willing to import and burn US wood to avoid carbon taxes.
Quick Headlines
Some quick climate news nuggets to sate your appetite
Amazon’s emissions rose by 19% in 2020, although the company is adamant that its carbon intensity fell (so that’s alright then).
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott is planning to incentivise electricity from coal, gas and nuclear over renewables to ‘solve’ Texas’ increasingly urgent grid issues.
VW and BMW have agreed to pay a combined €875m in fines to the EU over collusion around the rollout of AdBlue emissions-reduction technology.