FtF News #172 – 25th January 2023
Snowless ski resorts, carbon border taxes and yet more damning evidence against offsets
Hello, and welcome back to Forge the Future after what feels like quite a pause since our last regular issue. I may have been away for a bit, but the climate world certainly hasn’t slowed down in my absence, so we have a bumper issue this week!
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
California has been battered by a series of extreme rainstorms, breaking precipitation records. This has restored snowpack levels somewhat, though the state is still in drought.
New Delhi’s air pollution spiked high at the end of last year as cooler autumn temperatures combined with annual crop stubble burning.
The Arctic continues to heat, shifting to a warmer and wetter outlook, with more storms and vegetation.
Although we’re into 2023, summations of 2022 are still coming in, concluding that it was the fifth warmest year yet, with the last eight years the warmest on record.
Last year was the UK’s hottest ever, with the record temperatures seen made 160x more likely by climate change.
The coming year and next are likely to be even warmer as it is likely that El Niño will return, potentially seeing temperatures break 1.5°C of warming for the first time.
Europe started the year with a record heatwave which led many ski resorts to shut their slopes as temperatures reached 20°C in some areas.
It’s Science!
The latest from in climate research and analysis
New research suggests that contrary to long-standing belief, newly logged areas are a substantial carbon source for at least a decade.
The coldest and highest parts of Greenland are the warmest that they’ve been in at least 1,000 years.
Half of the world’s glaciers could disappear with just 1.5°C of warming, releasing ¾ of the world’s freshwater supply.
Sophisticated chemical methods have shown that Auckland has as much as 74 tonnes of microplastics falling on it each year.
A rapid attribution study has found that Argentina’s record-breaking temperatures were made 60x more likely by climate change.
The world’s oceans were the hottest they’ve ever been recorded in 2022, and are likely heating faster than at any time in the past 2,000 years.
Researchers have finally found out why the southern hemisphere is so much stormier than the northern hemisphere, and how this will change as climate change progresses.
In more positive news, UN scientists have confirmed that the hole in the ozone layer is healing, and should completely recover by 2066.
Party Political Broadcast
Climate politics are a special creature indeed
The EU has agreed upon a carbon border tax – a world first – although it is facing fierce pushback from other nations concerned about being priced out.
There are rumours that the UK could follow suit as part of a deal to protect and decarbonise the UK steel industry.
Australia has unveiled new plans to cap the emissions of the heaviest polluting companies and reduce them 30% by 2030, although the rules do allow offsetting.
The UAE looks set to choose the CEO of one of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies as president of COP28.
A report commissioned by the UK government on the cost of net-zero found that it would be a huge economic opportunity, but current policies are sorely lacking.
The UK’s environment agency has moved back its targets to clean up lakes, rivers and coastal waters by 36 years.
The US EPA has finalised stricter emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles – the first update to the rules in 20 years.
Money makes the world go around
The machinations of climate finance
Despite the fanfare at COP26, members of the GFANZ net zero financial initiative are still investing hundreds of billions in fossil fuel companies.
The US Congress has proposed just $1bn in funding for developing countries to cope with climate change, despite President Biden promising $11.4bn annually by 2024.
The lack of snow in Davos may finally be bringing climate change home to the world’s elite, as the WEF gathering warns that the current waves of crises threaten both progress on climate action and social stability.
Haha, Business!
Climate happenings in the corporate world
An investigation has found that more than 90% of Verra-approved offsets are ‘largely worthless’ despite being used by many of the world’s largest companies to underwrite their net-zero claims.
European oil majors refuse to change, with planned investments into biofuels amounting to 8x more than the amounts for (mostly blue) hydrogen.
New research has found that Exxon’s climate models from 40 years ago were as accurate as independent researchers and government climate scientists.
Of the 900+ companies registered for environmental ratings agency CDP, just 1.3% received the top triple-A rating for transparency and action in 2022.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Keystone Pipeline has leaked again, dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of tar sands oil into waterways.
The Future is Electric
Renewables, EVs and all things electrification
The UK set a new record for wind generation, generating 20.91GW on 30th December, and producing nearly 88% of its power from renewables and nuclear.
California has greenlit another 800MW of storage and solar projects to help boost grid reliability whilst continuing to shift to renewables.
BritishVolt, the much-hyped UK startup battery manufacturer, has gone into administration, likely spelling disaster for the UK’s domestic car industry.
The USPS has committed to a much more ambitious electrification plan and is now set to buy up to 60,000 EVs thanks to funding from the IRA.
Hyundai is stopping sales of all ICE vehicles in Norway, including plug-in hybrids, from the start of this year, after most of its sales shifted electric in the country.
Breakthroughs
New inventions to inspire hope
Lab-grown meat is edging closer to the mainstream, but the technology still faces a host of hurdles before it has a chance of hitting mass adoption.
A Boston-based startup has raised $40m to develop tech to generate low-carbon cement in a novel manner.
Researchers have come up with a way of capturing water vapour from above the ocean as an alternative to conventional desalination.
In a concerning stunt, a startup claims to have released sulphur particles in a bid to induce geo-engineered cooling and sell ‘cooling credits’. The Mexican government swiftly responded by banning all solar geoengineering attempts.
Climate Inequity
A hard look at the inequities of the climate crisis
New research has found that the richest 10% in the UK use more energy on flying alone than the bottom 10% do overall.
A report from Oxfam found that nearly ⅔ of new wealth created since the pandemic went to the richest 1%, with a rise in extreme poverty for the first time in 25 years.
A massive solar park in India highlights the challenges in trying to create ethical renewables development, with many landless farmers losing their livelihoods as a result of the project.
As mountains warm, ski resorts are increasingly consolidating and relying on artificial snow, making the sport even more the preserve of wealthy white people.
Speaking truths
Efforts in activism and awareness
The UK government is continuing to push for even more draconian powers to shut down protest, with new plans aiming to shut down protests before they even begin.
In related news, the activist group Extinction Rebellion is stepping away from public disruption in the UK, and instead focusing on mass mobilisation and climate awareness.
Danone is being sued by three environmental groups in France over its plastic waste under a law that requires large companies to address their impact.
Despite its importance, the burden of activism often falls on the most vulnerable in society, including children and people of colour, leading to huge pressure and burnout.
Long Reads
Interesting deep-dives into climate-related topics
A look at the context around the German village of Lützerath, the subject of dramatic photos amidst clashes between environmental protesters and police ahead of the expansion of a massive open-cast lignite mine.
Peruvians are turning to ancient pre-Incan dykes to solve water shortages in the mountains around the capital, Lima.
Whilst climate change is becoming a more and more polarising term in the US, meteorologists are proving a surprising way to persuade more of the coming impacts.
The wealthy have long owned huge swathes of the Scottish countryside, but increasingly billionaires are turning to the country’s land for ecological reasons.
An excellent piece on the need for positive stories to guide the change of the climate crisis, and to shift the dialogue from fear to hope.