FtF News #194 – 27th December 2023
A look back at the year that was 2023 – weather continues to worsen as leaders hesitate to truly commit to decisive action
Well, we’ve somehow made it almost to the end of 2023, and it’s been quite the year. I thought a review of the year would be an apt way to round things off, much as I’ve done in previous years. It’s certainly been far from a smooth year, and looking at the past 12 months of climate news, the planet has not had a great time of things – whilst there have been strides forward in some areas, the world continues to prevaricate and ponder rather than act. Movement is definitely occurring, but so too is change on the climate side, more so than ever before.
As an aside, given the recent disclosures about Substack’s proactive support for far-right writers, I will be looking into moving this newsletter away from Substack, and am actively scouting for alternatives. It’s not something I particularly want to do, as Substack has been by far the simplest platform I have found for making a free newsletter like this, but I’m not OK supporting a platform that actively promotes and makes money from some of the most hateful and divisive voices out there.
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
What a year in weather it has been. 2023 was the warmest year ever, a result of unrelenting heat through much of the year across much of the world. Global average temperatures topped 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels, then 1.5°C, then 2°C, in quick succession. With the current El Niño in full swing, next year is likely to bring more of the same. We also saw unprecedented Antarctic melting, and Canada saw its worst ever year of wildfires by a vast margin, which sent skies orange across North America.
Weather has been trending to the extreme, with droughts in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and many other places, often broken by equally extreme rainfall. Flash floods hit every single continent, often simultaneously, with thousands killed, and impacts often continuing for months after the headlines moved on. China managed to break both heat and cold records, and South America has sweltered in both winter and summer this year.
It’s Science!
The latest from in climate research and analysis
Research continues to flood in on the state of the climate and our planet, including the latest UN synthesis report, and a first-of-its-kind FAO report on the path to 1.5°C for the world’s agricultural sector. Climate attribution studies, linking major environmental events such as floods or droughts to climate change, are becoming commonplace, and they continue to tell a chilling tale – almost every major weather event is being made more common, more extreme (or both) by climate change.
Party Political Broadcast
Climate politics are a special creature indeed
This year has definitely not been a hopeful one in the political sphere this year. There have been some definite wins – Lula’s electoral victory in Brazil seems to already be delivering gains on deforestation in the Amazon, and the EU rolled out a carbon border policy – but overall it’s been a slow year, punctuated by a few grand statements but little meaningful action. Many nations are leaning to the right, and nationalist tendencies are coming to the fore across the world. The UK, where I’m based, has seen a leadership shift from trying to lead on the climate to clamouring to extract every last drop of oil from domestic reserves.
In many ways this was reflected in COP28, which was the biggest and grandest such event ever, but which delivered little in the way of meaningful progress. A high-level statement on transitioning away from fossil fuels is definitely nice, but with no concrete timelines and strong lobbying efforts from the oil and gas industry, it feels like a slap in the face to the many nations that are facing massive impacts right now, and who increasingly feel the COP process is failing them. The US continues to act like it is leading on the climate, whilst facing political deadlock at home, and continuing to export gas on a vast scale.
Money makes the world go around
The machinations of climate finance
The year has proved equally mixed in the economic sphere. Funds going to climate-related areas continue to grow, and developed nations appear to finally have reached the much-vaunted $100bn/yr climate financing target, though much of that is still in the form of loans. The loss and damage fund agreed upon at COP27 was set up in the first days of COP28, though contributions so far have been pitiful, particularly from the US, which continues to avoid any suggestion that it pay for the climate damage it has caused.
Reports continue to flood in on the scale of finance needed, and that sum only grows the more time that passes. Momentum is growing against fossil fuel subsidies, but they reached a new high last year, and developing nations are increasingly finding themselves in ever-worsening debt traps magnified by the climate crisis.
Haha, Business!
Climate happenings in the corporate world
The year opened with record profits for almost every major oil company thanks to what some dubbed war profiteering following the invasion of Ukraine. This was almost immediately followed by most firms doubling down on production, backing away from any green initiatives, and ploughing funds back into exploration and extraction.
2023 has also seen the role of corporate lobbying exposed like never before, from fossil fuels to plastics, from PFAS to agriculture – any time there’s legislation in the offing, there’s sure to be a bevy of lobbyists to steer it to some firms’ advantage. One positive is that the bottom finally fell out of carbon credits, exposing the sheer scale of some companies’ greenwashing, though that didn’t stop others trying to peddle so-called ‘plastic credits’.
The Future is Electric
EVs and all things electrification
EVs continue to roll out at pace, particularly in China and Europe, now making up more than 10% of all new vehicle sales globally. The US is lagging, and continues to struggle with significant public transport adoption, which is sorely needed to help decarbonise transport in an equitable fashion. The world continues its love affair with SUVs, which is working against what gains have been made on electrification, and which continues to place significant burdens on the rare earth metals needed for the switch to EVs. Adoption of four wheeled EVs has been slower elsewhere in the world, but 2- and 3-wheelers are electrifying rapidly across Asia, and are increasingly seen as the future in parts of Africa too, suggesting that the world’s transportation will electrify at an accelerating rate in the coming years.
Clean Green Energy Machine
Renewables versus coal – a look at the changing energy system
Renewables are one of this year’s success stories, despite some rocky moments. Numerous countries had record production of renewable energy, and renewables became the biggest single source of energy in the EU. China continues to deploy solar and wind at a pace unmatched elsewhere either geographically or historically, and looks set to pass its targets years early. Despite the world needing to roll out clean energy at a stupendous pace, somehow we’re keeping up for now, though the latter half of the year saw a few stumbling blocks appear, including less favourable financing for wind power in Europe, and supply chain issues and oversupply in the solar industry, along with EU and US concerns over China’s dominance of renewables production.
Climate Inequity
A hard look at the inequities of the climate crisis
This year has seen the continuation of previous themes of inequity. Aside from the growing gulf between developed and developing nations (both in terms of wealth and emissions), evidence continues to mount on the outsize impact of the richest in society. They consume vastly more, and live a lifestyle far in excess of most of us. Private jet travel continues to grow, despite no clear solution being in sight for sustainable aviation.
Speaking truths
Efforts in activism and awareness
It’s been a difficult year for activism, with attention shifted away from the climate by the war in Ukraine and then in Gaza. Punishments have also been increasing against climate activists, with the UK’s draconian anti-protest approach even securing rapprochement from the UN.