FtF News #208 – 28th July 2024
FtF News #208 – 28th July 2024
The hottest day on record (twice), a promising UK climate turnaround, and a look at the greenest Olympics yet
Although I try to avoid over-indexing on US news and politics, there’s no doubt that the outcome of the upcoming election this November will have a significant impact on the future trajectory of emissions for the immediate future. I’m unsure on the impacts of Joe Biden stepping aside so late in the race, but should Kamala Harris win the Democratic nomination, there’s no doubt it will shift the positioning of the party significantly. Not only is Harris potentially more forward on climate than Biden, it will make a massive difference for at least one of the candidates not to be a white man in his eighties (well, Trump is 78, but close enough). It’s still all to play for, but here’s hoping the US manages to steer away from authoritarianism.
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Wild Weather
Mother nature’s reactions to the ever-warming world
Last Sunday saw the planet’s hottest day on record, as average surface air temperatures reached 17.09°C, just breaking the record set last year. However, that lasted just one day, with the record broken again on Monday, with the average reaching 17.15°C globally.
Southern Europe has been wilting under a massive heatwave, with Greece, Italy, Spain and the Balkan states amongst those reaching 40°C or more. Spain saw its highest temperature of the year so far, reaching 45.6°C on Wednesday.
The US wildfire season is off and running, with around half a million people under ‘red flag’ warnings across the west of the country.
More than 200 people have been killed and millions displaced by torrential rainfall and flooding across South Asia, with impacts across India, Nepal and Afghanistan.
Flooding in Niger has killed 53, with another 18,000 impacted, and the damage is only expected to grow as the rainy season continues.
Twin landslides in Ethiopia have killed more than 200 people after heavy rains in the south of the country.
It’s Science!
The latest from in climate research and analysis
Researchers have found that microbes in tree bark remove methane from the air – previously it was thought that soil microbes were the only land-based way for methane to be naturally removed from the atmosphere.
A new report shows that 93% of new steelmaking capacity announced this year uses greener electric arc furnace technology, which now makes up half of all capacity under development, meaning steel-making is nearly on track for the IEA’s decarbonisation targets for 2030.
Party Political Broadcast
Climate politics are a special creature indeed
The new UK Labour government must act quickly to make up ground lost by the previous government if it is to keep up with planned decarbonisation targets, according to the UK climate watchdog, the CCC.
Campaigners have expressed alarm at Trump’s choice of JD Vance as his vice-presidential pick – Vance has leaned hard into conservative anti-climate rhetoric in recent years.
Money makes the world go around
The machinations of climate finance
Azerbaijan, host of COP29, has announced a new $1bn climate fund to support developing countries’ climate targets, to be capitalised by contributions from petrostates and oil and gas companies.
The EU’s spending watchdog has criticised the bloc’s €20bn hydrogen plans as unrealistic, with hydrogen demand likely to be far from the 2030 target.
Haha, Business!
Climate happenings in the corporate world
A UN draft document calls for companies not to use carbon credits to offset emissions, but instead to focus on directly reducing their impact, in a blow to private carbon credit providers.
Clean Green Energy Machine
Renewables versus coal – a look at the changing energy system
The UK’s new government has announced plans for a ‘rooftop revolution’ in solar power, making it easier to install panels on new and existing buildings, as well as approving three major new solar farms in just the first few days of government.
The PM has also launched the flagship GB Energy fund, which aims to add 20-30 GW of offshore wind power within five years.
UK energy suppliers are calling for green tariffs on electricity to be shifted to gas bills instead, which would help boost EVs and heat pumps by making power cheaper.
A UK firm has begun construction on France’s biggest battery electric storage facility, a 100 MW project in Nantes able to power 170,000 homes for up to 2 hours.
Breakthroughs
New inventions to inspire hope
San Francisco has launched the world’s first commercial hydrogen fuel cell ferry, in a bid to reduce the outsize emissions impact of such craft.
A startup called Range Energy is putting batteries into truck trailers, allowing them to reduce driving demand, reducing emissions and extending range.
Tyres are gaining attention as a source of particulate emissions from EVs, but a new startup is looking at making them last longer.
Wood vaulting, where wood and other biomass is directly buried in the ground, could be a novel approach to sequester carbon and reduce wildfire risks at lower cost than many other techniques.
Climate Inequity
A hard look at the inequities of the climate crisis
The world’s wealthiest countries are amongst those who have pushed hardest into new oil and gas exploration, with the UK, US, Canada, Norway and Australia leading the charge.
Speaking truths
Efforts in activism and awareness
Five Just Stop Oil protesters have received record jail sentences for conspiring to block a motorway. The sentences have been widely condemned, including by a UN special rapporteur, who said such sentences were ‘not acceptable in a democracy’. The trial is just the latest in a series of steps to crack down on climate protests and suppress their message.
A series of coordinated demonstrations from climate activists shut down or severely disrupted airports across Europe to protest the impact of flying.
Long Reads
Interesting deep-dives into climate-related topics
Coffee demand is growing year on year, but coffee beans are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Grist looks at initiatives to find new, more climate- and pest-resilient strains of coffee.
The Paris Olympics is aiming to be the greenest yet, with a conscious effort to reduce new infrastructure, and to use the Games to accelerate the city’s movement towards active travel.