Global warming causing 'fundamental change' in world's weather, Scotland beats climate emissions reductions target six years early, & more
News
Global warming is causing a ‘fundamental change’ in the world’s weather
The month of May has topped the charts as the warmest on record, according to NASA data released on Monday. Temperatures were 0.93C warmer than the 1951-1980 average for the month, marking the fifth record warm month this year. It looks virtually certain that 2016 will be the hottest year on record, despite the demise of one of the strongest El Niños in records extending back to 1880, says Climate Central’s Andrea Thompson in The Guardian. The World Meteorological Organisation warned of a “fundamental change” afoot, with the streak of consecutive warmer-than-average months now totalling 370. WMO’s climate director, Dr David Carlson, said: ‘The state of the climate so far this year gives us much cause for alarm…Exceptionally high temperatures. Ice melt rates in March and May that we don’t normally see until July. Once-in-a-generation rainfall events.” The news comes a day after scientists published research indicating global levels of carbon dioxide are unlikely to fall back below 400ppm again, reports Climate Home. The Hill and Associated Press have more.
Scotland beats climate emissions reductions target six years early
Scotland had exceeded its 2020 carbon reduction target in 2014, having reduced its emissions by 46% compared to 1990 levels. The 2020 target, which had been to cut emissions by 42%, will now be raised to reflect the “outstanding progress”, Scottish climate change secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, said yesterday. Climate campaigners warned against complacency, saying the target was reached through factors outside Scottish government control, including a warm winter. They say more needs to be done to tackle emissions from housing and transport, which remain unchanged from 1990 levels. BBC News, The Times Scotland, BusinessGreen and Energy Live News have more on the story.
Finns deeply worried about French nuclear industry
The first customer for French nuclear group Areva’s European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) technology has expressed concern over the future of France’s nuclear industry, after talks between the two companies to resolve legal claims broke down. Hoping that the technology would mark a renaissance for Europe’s nuclear industry, Jarmo Tanhua, chief executive of TVO, told the Financial Times, “We are afraid of what is happening. One thing is we don’t really understand why we don’t proceed with the negotiations.” The technology is due to also be used at the UK’s controversial Hinkley Point power station.
Scientists warn of regular record breaking temperatures within 50 years
The Mail reports on a study apparently from February which found that, averaged across the globe, there is an 80% likelihood that a typical summer in the period between 2061–2081 will be warmer than the hottest one on record so far, if emissions stay high. In parts of North and South America, Central Europe, Asia, Africa, that probability rises to 90%, said the study by researchers at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, with severe consequences for health, food production and droughts. Cutting greenhouse gas emissions by enough to stabilise temperature at around 3C would see those odds drop to 41% in parts of Brazil, Central Europe and China, say the authors.
Investors deterred by energy policy uncertainty
Essential investment in the UK’s energy system is still being deterred by the lack of “energy policy continuity”, according to the Energy Institute, the industry’s professional body. The biggest worry is over support for carbon capture and storage technology, revealed a survey of 438 members, which also indicated the expectation among members that the UK leaving the EU would create problems for energy supplies and renewables. President of the Energy Institute, Prof Jim Skea, told BBC News, “The single biggest wish for people working in UK energy is stable government policy that helps them decide where to invest profitably. Renewable energy and capturing carbon – key to implementing the Paris climate agreement – are seen to have been particularly badly hit by policy changes over the last year.”
Climate scientists urge Obama to rule out more Arctic oil and gas exploration
Nearly 400 international scientists have signed a letter calling on the US president to ban the expansion of oil and gas exploration in 9.8m acres of Arctic waters under US jurisdiction. The letter calls for the entire Beaufort and Chukchi seas to be put off-limits in the next five-year leasing plan from 2017 to 2022, and for the administration to consult native Alaskan groups on any further Arctic developments.
Comment
How will Norway go carbon neutral from 2030?
Norway is poised to adopt a carbon neutral target for 2030, despite resistance from the minority coalition government, but how will the country live up to this bold promise? Plentiful hydropower means Norway’s electricity supply is already virtually fossil free but elsewhere total emissions remain virtually unchanged since 1990 as expansion of the oil and gas sector have outweighed improvements in energy efficiency. Policies include electrifying transport, capturing emissions from cement production, ramping up biofuels and using bio char in steelworks but recent research suggests that even the most ambitious package would reduce emissions 31% from 1990 levels by 2030, falling short of the target submitted to the Paris deal of 40%.
Free Lunch: Beyond fossil fuels
Martin Sandbhu, The Financial Times
Martin Sandbhu takes a look at the “latest feast of energy data” that is BP’s annual statistical review of world energy, released last week. The most striking short-term finding, he says, is the expansion of oil and natural gas, which more than outweighed a sharp fall in coal. But one of the most intriguing trends is the forward march of carbon-free energy, with the energy intensity of the world economy falling at a rate of about 2%. This “stunning number” runs counter to the claim by some environmentalists that permanent economic growth is fundamentally incompatible with finite physical resources, he says.
Science
Effects of a Warming Climate on Daily Snowfall Events in the Northern Hemisphere
The frequency of days with snowfall is expected to decrease through this century across much of the Northern Hemisphere – except at the highest latitudes of northern Canada, northern Siberia, and Greenland, a new study says. Using 24 climate models, researchers simulated future snowfall under a high emissions scenario in the near (2021-2050) and long-term (2071-2100). The study also projects changes in the intensity of snowfall events, including an increase in heavier snowfall even in some regions where the overall snowfall decreases.
Other stories
- Ethanol, bioenergy no threat to food security: report (Reuters)
- BRIEFING: What would a Brexit mean for the UK and the EU ETS? Part I (Carbon Pulse)
- China’s pandas, flowers threatened by global warming (Climate News Network via Climate Home)
- Disasters Debated (Climate Wire via Scientific American)
- Green Climate Fund partners condemned for fossil fuel funding (Climate Home)
- Global wave and tidal market ‘to reach $11bn by 2024’ (Energy Live News)
- Saudi Arabia to install first wind turbine in 2016 (Energy Live News)
- Paris Agreement, six months on: What’s changed? (BusinessGreen)
- IEA: Oil market will not find sustained balance until 2017 (The Financial Times)
- Energy prices start to rise as wholesale costs rebound (The Telegraph)
- It’s the economy that needs to be integrated into the environment – not the other way around (The Guardian)
- Oil veterans’ new frontier (The Financial Times)