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California imposes first mandatory water restrictions to deal with drought

02.04.15

News

California Imposes First Mandatory WaterRestrictions to Deal WithDrought

The New York Times

Californian governor Jerry Brown has imposed a 25% reductionin water use in the wake of the state’s historic four-year drought.His executive order was directed the State Water Resources ControlBoard, and will affect 90% of California’s residents over thecoming years. State officials said the regulations would affecthomeowners, farms, and businesses.

Climate and energy news

Guardian Media Group to divest its £800m fund fromfossil fuels

Guardian

The Guardian Media Group will divest its £800 millioninvestment fund from fossil fuels, making it the largest fund yetto totally pull out from oil, coal and gas. Neil Berkett, chair ofthe group, called it a “hard-nosed business decision” based on bothethical and financial considerations, while he admitted that theamount of fossil fuel assets held by the fund were in the low,single digits. The Guardian newspaper has been running a divestmentcampaign at the request of outgoing editor Alan Rusbridger.

EU emissions fell five per cent in 2014 undertrading scheme

BusinessGreen

Emissions from installations covered by the EU’s emissionstrading scheme dropped by nearly 5% in 2014, despite a 1.3% growthin GDP. The preliminary figures suggest that the bloc has managedto hit its 20% emissions reduction deadline ahead of its 2020deadline. Analysts agreed that the ETS had caused a record drop inemissions in the region.

Germany sets very high bar forfracking

Reuters

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet effectively ruled outfracking with a draft law regulating the practice. “Protectinghealth and drinking water are top priorities. For this reason, wewant to restrict fracking as far as possible,” said environmentminister Barbara Hendricks. The bill, which requires the approvalof Parliament, would impose an outright ban on fracking for shalegas in the next few years, although it could allow commercialfracking from 2019 in exceptional circumstances.

Prominent climate change sceptic set to makemillions by digging giant open-cast mines on Northumberland familyestate

The Independent

Climate skeptic peer and occasional columnist Matt Ridley isset to receive a share of £20 million from two planned open-castcoal mines on his Northumberland estate. Climate campaigners sayRidley’s commercial interests raise questions about his fossil fueladvocacy and frequent dismissal of climate change risks. Aspokesperson for Ridley’s estate says his views on climate changeand energy policy “would be the same regardless of the amount ofmining revenue that the Estate was receiving.”

Fossil fuels could trigger mass extinction as CO2emissions rise

The Daily Mail

About 200 million years ago, the upper sun-lit oceans becamedevoid of oxygen and too much hydrogen sulphide poisoned the water- a condition known as ‘marine photic zone euxinia”. Scientistsbelieve the same process – which wiped out half of all life onEarth – could be happening to our oceans today. The release ofcarbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning has the potential totrigger changes in ocean circulation, disrupt nutrient cycles andalter food chains, say the researchers.

Climate and energy comment

Climate change: Embed the social sciences inclimate policy

David Victor,Nature

Prof David Victor, international relations expert at UC SanDiego, argues the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)should overhaul how it engages with social science research,expanding its remit beyond just economics. Continuing with itscurrent narrow field of risks the panel becoming irrelevant through”a surfeit of bland statements that have no practical value forpolicy”.

Germany’s G7 can ensure Paris climate deal is asuccess

Liz Gallagher, RTCC

June’s meeting of the G7 leaders in Bavaria offers numerousopportunities to ensure the UN’s climate conference in Paris startson the right foot, says Liz Gallagher in RTCC. Their are theobvious opportunities for leaders to show their commitment toproviding finance and decarbonising their own economies, but it isalso an opportunities to ensure Angela Merkel is at the heart ofthe process, helping to “give Europe its mojo back”.

Australia’s blind spots on road to Paris climatedeal

GrahamReadfearn, The Guardian

Australia is developing a “curious blind spot” as we headtowards climate talks in Paris, says Graham Readfearn in TheGuardian. A key issues paper released earlier this week laying outthe country’s climate ambitions, alludes to the UNFCCC’s broad goalto “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at alevel that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference withthe climate system” – but doesn’t explicitly mention the 2C target.The ‘national circumstances’ section reads like “a list of excusesas to why Australia might not be as ambitious as other countries”,says Readfearn.

New climate science

Simultaneous reductions in emissions of blackcarbon and co-emitted species will weaken the aerosol net coolingeffect

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Reducing emissions of black carbon, or soot, could lead to anunexpected warming of the climate, a new study finds. As blackcarbon has a warming effect on the planet, some scientists havesuggested reducing emissions as a short-term measure for slowingglobal temperature rise. However, as sulphur dioxide and organiccarbon, which have a cooling effect, are also emitted alongsideblack carbon, reducing emissions could mean greater warmingoverall, the researchers say.

UK seasonal weather summary: winter2014/2015

Weather

Winter 2014/2015 was relatively quiet compared with theexceptionally stormy weather of the previous winter, says the MetOffice’s seasonal summary. Nevertheless, the north of the UK borethe brunt of some major storms in mid-December and mid-January,which resulted in significant disruption, it says. Temperatureswere near average overall, but it was the sixth wettest winter onrecord for Scotland, and the sunniest winter for the UK as a whole.