FtF News #188 – 6th September 2023
El Niño impacts, micro forests and (successful) oil referendums
Somehow it’s September already, which should mean that summer is gradually fading into the autumn. This year, here in the UK at least, it feels like the weather didn’t get the memo, as this week we’re due to see temperatures soar hotter than the Mediterranean. A recent study found that anger is the most powerful emotion by far for spurring climate action, but some weeks it feels like overwhelm is the predominant feeling – the climate crisis is no longer a future event, but very much here, and it is constant and unrelenting. Even more reason to push, cajole, and coerce our politicians into further action – if this is what 1.2°C feels like, imagine what 2.7°C will entail!
Wild Weather
Mother nature’s reactions to the ever-warming world
Texas has been struck by Tropical Storm Harold, the first Atlantic storm to make US landfall this year, which brought heavy rain and 50mph winds.
Storm Hilary has become the first tropical storm to reach California in over 80 years after making landfall in Mexico.
Shortly after, Storm Idalia destroyed a swathe of Florida, which though expensive, was relatively minor compared to last year’s Hurricane Ian.
Tenerife is battling a major blaze which has burned 2,600 hectares so far, as temperatures soared to around 40°C recently.
Meanwhile a wildfire near Alexandroupolis in Greece has become the largest fire ever recorded in the EU, burning over 810 sq km.
The ‘zero degree line’ - the line where the air temperature is at 0°C – was at a record 5,300m above Switzerland in recent checks, breaking a record set just last year.
An upcoming marine heatwave off the SE coast of Australia is forecast to be literally off the scale, with expected heat starting where the normal scale ends.
It’s Science!
The latest from in climate research and analysis
A major study has concluded that more than 90% of rainforest carbon credits are basically worthless, and are just a means for companies to greenwash their activities.
Initial results from an EPA survey has found that up to 26m people in the US are drinking tap water contaminated with PFAS, with that number expected to rise.
In an unsurprising result, a rapid attribution study has found that climate change doubled the likelihood of ‘extreme fire weather’ in Eastern Canada this year.
Record low sea ice levels in Antarctica have had a catastrophic impact on Emperor penguin colonies, with surveys suggesting most colonies lost every single chick this year.
At 2°C of warming, at least a quarter of European ski resorts will have scarce snow every other year, suggesting a dire future for the sport.
The risk of heat-related deaths has massively increased over the past 20 years, and is likely to become commonplace unless societies adapt fast.
A promising study on Pacific corals suggests that they do have some capacity to adapt to higher temperatures.
Party Political Broadcast
Climate politics are a special creature indeed
A historic referendum in Ecuador saw 60% of the population vote to stop oil drilling in a portion of Yasuní National Park, following more than a decade of organising and advocacy.
Colombia has seen a huge drop in deforestation recently, but that is mostly at the whim of warlord Ivan Mordisco, giving him an outsize voice in the future of the country’s deforestation.
London has rolled out the final phase of its low emissions scheme, making it the largest in the world, despite it increasingly becoming a political football of late.
The UK is planning to scrap EU environmental rules that protect waterways, even amidst the current water quality controversies, allegedly to boost housebuilding.
Speaking of water quality, a previously-annual health check of England’s water bodies has been delayed by the government by six years.
Money makes the world go around
The machinations of climate finance
The G20 has hit a record level of fossil fuel subsidies, despite pledging to end them in 2021, with payments reaching $1.4tn last year, more than double the 2019 figure, with consumer subsidies increasing nearly five-fold.
Haha, Business!
Climate happenings in the corporate world
The new CEO of Shell has quietly abandoned a $100m/yr plan to develop high quality carbon offsets.
Exxon’s latest annual Energy Outlook predicts the world will emit more than twice the CO2 needed to limit warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
Occidental Petroleum has been pushing ‘net zero oil’ for years, but its role in the recent Biden administration announcement of DAC suggests that it is lobbying to secure a social licence to drill oil for decades into the future.
A recent study has found that on average, publicly traded companies do damage equivalent to 44% of their operating profits just through their scope 1 emissions.
Apple has reversed its years-long stand against right-to-repair and publicly come out in support of a repair bill in California, after years of calls for it to do so.
The Future is Electric
EVs and all things electrification
Sinopec, the Chinese state oil company, now expects to reach peak gasoline demand this year, two years earlier than expected, thanks to soaring EV sales.
There are now 23 countries that have reached the threshold of 5% of new car sales being electric, oft seen as the tipping point for widespread and rapid adoption.
Clean Green Energy Machine
Renewables versus coal – a look at the changing energy system
China is preparing to scale up a massive renewables recycling system as its vast investments in producing clean energy are starting to result in a similarly huge waste issue.
Equinor has opened the world’s largest floating wind farm off the Norwegian coast. However, the 11 turbine farm has a capacity of just 88MW.
The EU’s consumption of fossil fuels for power dropped to its lowest ever level through a combination of record renewables roll-out and falling demand.
Climate Inequity
A hard look at the inequities of the climate crisis
A new report highlights how richer countries and private lenders are trapping heavily-indebted countries into reliance on fossil fuels in what’s increasingly seen as a new form of colonialism.
Speaking truths
Efforts in activism and awareness
The Guardian profiled Mylene Vialard, who is going on trial this week for opposing the Line 3 pipeline in the US, and who has been punished under what has become a global move to crack down on peaceful protest.
The organisers of the Rugby World Cup have been using legal threats to try and block a Greenpeace video condemning oil company sponsorship of the event.
Long Reads
Interesting deep-dives into climate-related topics
Hip-hop is not normally associated with environmentalism, but this long read highlights the long links between the genre and environmental justice and activism.
Community efforts often have most success when they have a hyper-local focus, but they can still learn a lot from one another, even when they’re on opposite sides of the planet.
Efforts are underway in Amman, Jordan, to plant mini forests throughout the city to try and cool areas as heat grows ever more intense. The efforts use a technique developed by Akira Miyawaki to grow dense native forests extremely quickly – an approach which is also being tried in locations across the US and elsewhere.
Finally, a look at the history of cleantech cycles, focusing on the UAE’s efforts in this space, where huge promises were made, but a decade on, the environmental targets have been dropped in favour of commercial goals.