FtF News #133 – 22nd December 2021
The capitalistic realities of ESG, extreme weather, and 2021 finally draws to a close
Hello, and welcome to Forge the Future, your weekly rundown of the latest climate news.
Well, it looks like 2021 is set to go out as it began, with COVID-19 once again running rampant. As usual here in the UK, things are chaotic, and with political PR clashing with public health priorities – sounds mighty familiar for those of us following climate happenings, no? Anyhow, I hope you are all keeping safe wherever you are based, and manage to make it through the festive season unscathed!
On that note, as a reminder, there’ll be no issue next week, as I take a much-needed week off over Christmas – I’ll be back in the New Year with a round up of the biggest stories of 2021. If the links in this week’s newsletter aren’t enough to tide you through the break, the folks over at CAT have published the latest edition of their Branch magazine, with lots of tech- and climate-focused pieces.
Once again, this week’s issue was ably assisted by Syuan Ruei Chang, who contributed a number of the articles and stories featured this week.
State of the world
Climate research and findings, weather events and studies
This week sees yet another study showing the economic impact of climate change both present and future. The analysis found that the global economy already loses up to $311bn per year from lost labour productivity, but this could rise to as much as $1.6tn if warming reaches 3°C above pre-industrial levels. Those most at risk include the 35m migrant workers in the Middle East, who have minimal protections even as the weather gets ever warmer. A related study has found that tropical deforestation increases heat exposure for workers, with 5m people impacted by warming effects in deforested regions in the last 15 years.
In another reinforcement of a long-known message, a new report from the World Inequality Lab found that the world’s richest 10% emit nearly half of all emissions, with the poorer half of the global population emitting just 12%. This inequity lies between countries, with the average US citizen emitting triple that of someone elsewhere, but also within nations. The top 10% of US citizens emit 75 tons per person per year, whilst low-income US citizens emit a (relatively) mere 10 tons each. Notably, the report also found that most climate policy decisions disproportionately affect the middle and lower classes.
SE Asia has seen a spate of severe weather this week, with the Philippines taking a massive hit from Typhoon Rai, a super typhoon that has killed nearly 400 people, with similar numbers injured. Several provinces still lack power and communications, hampering rescue efforts. The nation normally sees about 20 typhoons a year, but this was one of the most extreme seen in years, and struck hard. Meanwhile, Malaysia has seen torrential rain, with a month’s worth of monsoon-level precipitation falling in just one day, resulting in flooding across the country. At least three have died, and as many as 10,000 have been cut off by the flooding.
Extreme precipitation has also hit California, with parts of LA and Santa Barbara seeing 20cm of rain in just 24 hours. This has struck a state reeling from wildfire impacts, and the combination has resulted in severe mudslides in various parts of southern Cali. Despite the levels of both rain and snow across the state, it remains officially in drought, and is likely to stay so for the foreseeable future.
Climate Visuals
A picture tells a thousand words…
An animated article looking at the powerful currents in the Southern Ocean, and their changing nature and role as the climate warms.
A round-up of Bloomberg’s graphical pieces from the last year across a number of areas, including energy and climate. These are mostly US-centric, but include some great visuals and charts, including the one above.
Planet positives
Moving towards a greener and more equitable world
Gas be gone
New York City is the latest US city to ban gas heating and stoves from new buildings. The ruling will apply to small buildings in 2024, and larger buildings in 2027. Whilst NYC is not the first city to make such a change, it is by far the largest, and proves that even major metropolises can shift their addiction to natural gas. Whilst opponents warned that the change would overwhelm the grid, a well-timed study found that the city has enough spare grid capacity in winter to heat up to 40% of buildings by area, far above that expected from the new measure. Ultimately, existing buildings will need moving over too, but as with all retrofit projects, this is likely to be a much slower and more drawn out process.
Adverse circumstances
Events that move the needle in the wrong direction
Deforestation down under
A Greenpeace investigation has found that the Australian beef industry may well be responsible for extensive deforestation in the country, including areas home to endangered species. A study of satellite imagery found that 13,500 hectares of Queensland forest has been cut down since 2018 across 57 beef cattle properties, with over half the land identified marked by the government as likely habitat for threatened species. Queensland has enacted laws to try to limit deforestation, but loopholes remain and have been heavily exploited. Australia is currently the only developed country on the WWF’s list of global deforestation hotspots, and given the country is suffering ever more severe climate impacts, it would do well to clamp down on this activity.
More misinformation
Google pledged ahead of COP26 to stop running ads on websites and YouTube videos that promoted climate misinformation. However, researchers have found Google ads on at least 50 posts promoting climate denial after their commitment. The company did remove many of them after they were enquired about, but with Facebook’s similarly lacklustre approach to climate disinformation, it’s worth asking whether the companies can even realistically make such pledges. Both companies run vast automated ad placement systems, and are so ubiquitous that manual vetting is impossible. They have built businesses around systems that are essentially impossible to monitor and reign in effectively, which is problematic in a whole host of ways.
Long Reads
Interesting deep-dives into climate-related topics
I’ve touched on the complex issues surrounding ESG ratings before, but this Bloomberg deep-dive is an excellent expose on the murky world surrounding the phenomenon. The analysis looked at the reasons attributed to increases in company ratings according to MSCI, the world’s biggest ESG data provider. The biggest takeaway is that ESG, despite the promises, is much more about rating how the world will affect a company’s bottom line than how that company might impact the world, with firms rewarded for bare-minimum actions, and on the environmental front, virtually no attention paid to emissions.
On a very different note, MIT Technology Review looked at the legacy of the Soviet ‘Big Volga’ project, which harnessed the might of Russia’s biggest river for power, transport and drinking water. The project, which built nearly a dozen massive hydroelectric dams and cross-linked it with the Moskva river, has left as legacy a turgid, polluted and silted up mess in place of the great flow that once was. Invasive species are everywhere, and many wonder whether the project was worth the huge price paid to complete it.
Quick Headlines
Some quick climate news nuggets to sate your appetite
Joe Manchin says he will vote ‘no’ to the Build Back Better Act, continuing the US’ streak of being unable to pass major climate legislation.
China has connected the world’s first small modular pebble-bed nuclear reactor to its grid, likely soon to be followed by several more.
Russia used its veto to block a UN Security Council draft resolution that would’ve defined climate change as a threat to peace.
A company called Airseas is preparing to trial a giant kite which could cut cargo ship emissions by up to 20%.