FtF News #187 – 23rd August 2023
Wildfires, the impacts of the US IRA, and how to spend an oil fortune in the right way
I’ve been thinking a lot about communications in our social media age this past few weeks. The dominance of social media over traditional news has made many of us reliant on it for everything from breaking news to understanding major dynamics like climate change. That’s not to say traditional media was some bastion of perfection, but this new era feels very fickle and fragile.
We’ve seen waves of disinformation sweep over all of the major platforms in recent years, and now with Elon Musk actively dismantling Twitter’s protections, we’ve entered a new era. Meta recently shut down all news in Canada in protest over a bill that would see it pay for news in the country, but as a result many have been unable to access news about the ongoing wildfires. It all highlights that we’ve handed over much of our news media to a handful of very powerful tech companies, who are increasingly demonstrating that they can’t be trusted with that responsibility.
Wild Weather
Mother nature’s reactions to the ever-warming world
July has now officially been declared the hottest month ever on record, with the previous record surpassed by 0.33°C, an unusually large margin.
Massive wildfires have raged across Maui, fuelled by winds from Hurricane Dora. The death toll is at least 106, but is expected to rise further, making this the deadliest fire in the US since 1918. The fires destroyed many historic and sacred sites, and have been linked both to climate change but also changes wrought by colonialism, which drained wetlands and introduced fast-burning non-native grasses.
A wildfire in Portugal has burned around 10,000 hectares as the Iberian peninsula continues to see temperatures well over 40°C.
Landslides in the Indian Himalayas have killed over 70 people, with rescue efforts still ongoing.
Storm Hans has brought Norway’s heaviest rains in 25 years, resulting in landslides and at least two deaths, and the partial collapse of a dam.
It’s Science!
The latest from in climate research and analysis
A scientific review of conditions in Antarctica has concluded that extreme weather events on the continent are ‘virtually certain’ to get worse without drastic changes to emissions.
A study in Pittsburgh has found that after a major coal processing plant closed, ER visits for cardiovascular issues dropped 42%, and continued to fall for several years.
Party Political Broadcast
Climate politics are a special creature indeed
New analysis of the US IRA suggests it will shift US emissions down to 33-40% below 2005 levels by 2030, with most gains coming from electricity generation.
The UAE, despite hosting COP28 in just a handful of months, has failed to report its methane emissions to the UN for almost a decade.
The eight countries making up the Amazon basin met for a key summit last week. Unfortunately they failed to agree on a region-wide commitment to halt deforestation by 2030 or a halt to oil exploration in the area, but it did see all the nations commit to protecting the forest in more general terms. The summit also saw major representation from environmentalists and Indigenous activists.
The Biden administration has created a new national monument near the Grand Canyon, protecting culturally important lands for over a dozen tribal nations from future uranium mining.
Money makes the world go around
The machinations of climate finance
A year into the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, and no-one is quite clear yet on the full price tag. Initial estimates were around $370bn, but newer analyses put the cost through to 2030 as high as $1tn.
Growth in UK low-carbon power generation is likely to fall behind all other major economies for the rest of the decade, thanks to stagnating investment and a lack of incentives for firms to invest in the country.
The Future is Electric
EVs and all things electrification
China’s EV incentives have driven meteoric growth in EV adoption, but the introduction and removal of subsidies on a vast scale has led to enormous EV ‘graveyards’ across the country, where cheap EVs lie abandoned by the thousands.
Clean Green Energy Machine
Renewables versus coal – a look at the changing energy system
China’s emissions have risen to a new high, jumping 10% in Q2 versus last year. However, this looks to be largely due to weather-related factors, with hydropower suffering due to major drought. Renewables continue to roll out at a record pace.
A new solar farm near London has been sited on an old landfill, allowing developers to use previously barren ground whilst reducing the need for solar elsewhere.
The UK’s next renewable energy auction may not include offshore wind for the first time, after prices have been driven so low that companies can no longer compete. This would put a major dent in UK clean energy targets, but that would fit with the wider political backlash against climate here currently.
Breakthroughs
New inventions to inspire hope
Fashion is a massive contributor to the climate crisis, but innovators are coming up with novel solutions, from dyeing approaches using CO2 to algae-based dyes and protein fabrics, but adoption is tricky in an industry that moves fast and where cost dominates everything.
Climate Inequity
A hard look at the inequities of the climate crisis
A new study has found that in the US, Atlantic tropical storms are much more likely to kill those in communities identified as vulnerable.
A study of US household carbon footprints from 1990-2019 found that the top 10% of households by income produce 40% of emissions, with the top 1% producing 15-17% of all US emissions.
Speaking truths
Efforts in activism and awareness
Youth climate activists have won a landmark case against the Montana state, with the judge ruling that the state’s failure to consider climate change when approving fossil fuel projects was unconstitutional.
This is the opposite of awareness, but researchers have found that around half of the 380,000 accounts on Twitter that regularly tweeted about the climate have become inactive, whilst hate speech and mis/disinformation runs rampant on the platform.
Long Reads
Interesting deep-dives into climate-related topics
Aviation remains extremely tough to decarbonise, but even with the easiest option, drop-in ‘sustainable’ fuels, the costs will still be immense – as much as $5tn. Airlines, who run on the slimmest of margins, cannot front this cost so are likely to pass the bill to passengers, with prices likely to rise by hundreds of dollars.
Not directly climate-related, but this dive into Saudi Arabia’s efforts to launder its reputation through investment in sport is a fascinating read, and is valuable context for many of the current debates around the UAE hosting COP28.
I’m no fan of excessive wealth, but this profile of oil heiress Leah Hunt-Hendrix paints an interesting portrait of how someone can use such a legacy for good, though there are many complex dynamics that come alongside it.
Finally, something a bit different – those of us in the UK have likely become used to the constant presence of seagulls in our cities, but how did this happen? It turns out that they’re long-lived, smart and extremely well suited to urban environments!