FtF News #170 – 14th December 2022
The last FtF of 2022 – covering COP15, a fusion power milestone, and how solar could soon be the biggest single source of power generation globally
Well, here we are, rapidly approaching the end of 2022, a year that has seemed both to have lasted an age whilst simultaneously racing by. Appropriately enough for the season, the UK is in the grip of a cold snap, so it’s festively icy outside, though I’m sure it’ll defrost just enough for the traditional wet drizzly Christmas day! The climate news remains heavy going as with much of the news at the moment, though there are still positives amidst the gloom!
This will be the last FtF issue this year, as I’m taking some time off around the festive period, so we’ll return in early January for the traditional round up of the past year, before plunging into whatever awaits us beyond. Have a great holiday period if you celebrate such things, and see you in 2023!
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. If you spot any stories you’d like to share, you can submit them here.
Wild Weather
Mother nature’s reactions to the ever-warming world
Carbon Brief has issued its last State of the Climate report for 2022, suggesting that this year could become the fourth warmest ever, despite a continuing La Niña.
It’s Science!
The latest from in climate research and analysis
The WMO has published the first ever comprehensive review of global water resources, warning that 3.6bn have inadequate access to water at least one month a year – a number that is only growing.
Nearly a million stillbirths are caused by air pollution every single year – nearly 40% of all stillbirths globally.
Analysis of a decade of forest offset programs in California suggests that they have brought essentially no benefit to the climate whatsoever.
Disasters have cost insurers $115bn so far this year, well above the 10 year average, with the total bill estimated at $268bn globally.
Deforestation in the Amazon is down 11% from a year earlier, but remains at near record levels.
New research suggests that public trees in the UK bring a value of hundreds of pounds each in health and carbon removal benefits.
Party Political Broadcast
Climate politics are a special creature indeed
COP15 (the biodiversity one, not the climate one) is here, though it’s unclear how much will be achieved, despite the growing importance of biodiversity protection. As with COP27, Indigenous leaders are fighting for a say in their future.
Vanuatu has drafted a UN resolution calling on the ICJ to decide if countries have legal obligations to take action on the climate.
The EU is to include shipping within its ETS, with ships to pay for emissions from 2026, even if travelling beyond European waters.
This in turn is turning up the pressure on the IMO, which meets this month and is facing calls to create a meaningful global shipping decarbonisation strategy.
The EU has finalised rules banning the import of key goods linked to deforestation including palm oil, cattle, soy and more.
It is also preparing to ban a host of plastic and packaging types in a bid to cut down on plastic waste, estimated at 180kg per person per year.
LA City Council is banning new oil wells within city limits – a move welcomed by campaigners who have fought long and hard for the change.
Germany has become the latest country to withdraw from the controversial Energy Charter Treaty.
Money makes the world go around
The machinations of climate finance
Rwanda has secured $319m from the IMF’s new Resilience and Sustainability Facility – the first African country to do so.
Investments to protect global ecosystems need to reach $384bn annually by 2025, according to numbers prepared by the UN ahead of COP15.
Lula is courting the US and UK to join the Amazon protection fund in a bid to boost cash ahead of his presidency.
Vanguard is pulling out of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative as right-wing US politicians pressure companies on ESG metrics.
Florida is pulling around $2bn out of BlackRock in protest over the firm’s ESG stance.
Haha, Business!
Climate happenings in the corporate world
The US House Oversight Committee has found that Big Oil engaged in a ‘long-running greenwashing campaign’ with no real plans to ever clean up.
Truck makers have been lobbying against climate rules in the US, despite publicly supporting zero-emission trucking.
The UK water industry has been heavily privatised, and as a result investment is plummeting whilst billions in profit are removed as sewage floods beaches.
A massive gas leak in Pennsylvania during COP27 emitted enough methane to cancel out half the EVs sold in the US this year.
The Future is Electric
Renewables, EVs and all things electrification
The IEA has predicted that solar power could surpass coal generation globally in just 5 years after its largest ever upwards revision of its renewables forecasts.
The agency also produced its first global assessment of heat pumps, suggesting they could provide ⅕ of the world’s heating by 2030 if planned roll-outs are met.
High energy prices have driven a 2% improvement in energy efficiency globally, although this is still just half of what’s needed each year for net zero by 2050.
BNEF says that we can still meet the 1.5°C target, but the required investment is vast – clean energy spending must outpace fossil fuels 3:1 alongside gov’t and policy pushes.
The UK might finally relax its de-facto ban on onshore wind after MPs threatened revolt – the policy has cost UK households £800m just this winter.
Tesla has finally handed over the first of its Semi trucks to PepsiCo, some five years (and many, many delays) after they were first announced.
France has got the go-ahead from the European Commission for its plan to ban flights on domestic routes with equivalent trains under 2.5 hours.
Breakthroughs
New inventions to inspire hope
A US research lab may have reached net energy-positive nuclear fusion, in what’s being hailed as a major milestone for the long-awaited technology.
A look at the winners of the recently held Earthshot prize, including low-cost carbon storage and clean cookstoves.
A US startup has found a way to extract copper from mining waste, potentially reducing the need for new mines and the risk of shortages in the coming decades.
Climate Inequity
A hard look at the inequities of the climate crisis
Over half the world’s transition metal resources are on or near Indigenous lands, highlighting the pressures of the clean energy transition on some of the world’s most vulnerable.
Total is under investigation for buying up an area of the DRC for offsets, which has resulted in local farmers being evicted from their land with minimal compensation.
In a long overdue move, the US Dept of the Interior is paying $25m each to three Native American tribes to relocate after their villages were threatened by climate impacts.
Speaking truths
Efforts in activism and awareness
Young people have won a historic human rights case against a coal project in Queensland, which they are hoping will be the first of many such victories.
Puerto Rican municipalities are suing oil majors for hurricane damage, bringing the first major climate case against oil companies under the RICO act in the US.
Another group of more than 600 young people have sued the Swedish state for failing to act sufficiently to tackle the climate crisis.
Long Reads
Interesting deep-dives into climate-related topics
A look at an upcoming Adani coal plant in Jharkhand, and how the enormous political and financial wealth of Gautam Adani is keeping coal alive in India.
Underground greenhouses seem counterintuitive, but for tribal communities in the US, they are a vital route to fresh food amidst food deserts and increasingly extreme weather.
Moves in the Netherlands to halve nitrogen emissions are sorely needed, but for many farmers, that means it might be the end of the line for their businesses.
The paper mill industry has long been a bastion of Canadian industry, but has also been a huge source of toxic pollution.
And finally, something a little different – some visual ideas of what a clean energy future in the US might look like, including DAC, CCS and clean hydrogen.