China and France say climate pact should have five-year reviews & NASA study finds net gain in Antarctic ice
News
China and France say Paris climate pact should have five-year reviews
A joint pledge by the presidents of China and France to include five-yearly reviews of climate pledges in the UN deal set to be signed next month marks another key point of convergence in the contentious talks. The pledge comes as Francois Hollande visits his counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing this week. According to Climate Home, they have agreed the process should start in 2017/18 to explore ways to strengthen action by 2020. According to Reuters, Beijing had not previously indicated that it would like to include five-yearly reviews in the deal — something that the EU has long been pushing for. The Hill and the Financial Times also cover the story.
Antarctica is GAINING more ice than it’s losing – but the 10,000-year-old trend could reverse, Nasa warns
There has been a net gain in ice in the Antarctic due to the long term accumulation of snow, which is outweighing losses from glaciers, according to a new study from NASA. Between 1992 to 2001, satellite data shows the ice sheet showed a net gain of 112 billion tons of ice a year. This slowed to 82 billion tons between 2003 and 2008. The Daily Mail says that this challenges the recent report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — but it also points out that losses could offset the gains in years to come. The Times says this reversal could take only a few decades to take effect, as losses in the Antarctic Peninsula and parts of West Antarctica continue to increase. The Telegraph trails the story on its front page. Newsweek says that the findings are “not actually good news” and that they are not a sign that climate change is slowing down. The Express takes the opposite line, and includes a poll asking readers whether they think climate change is real.
Clean energy investment in Australia fell by 31% under Tony Abbott
Renewable energy investment fell in Australia by 31% under former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, due to uncertainty over the future of the renewable energy target, according to the annual report of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). This is in spite of “an all-time record of around US$320bn” of global investment, says the report’s foreword. Abbott sought to gut the renewable energy target shortly after coming to power in 2013. He also wanted to get rid of the CEFC.
TransCanada asks US to suspend Keystone XL application
TransCanada, the company behind the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, is trying to delay its own application for the project. It has written to the State Department, which is reviewing the application, saying that it would be appropriate to “pause” the process. This would mean that President Obama — who has so far neither approved nor rejected the project — would have the decision taken out of his hands, as it would be pushed back to after the election. Hillary Clinton has said she would block the pipeline, although most of the contenders for the Republican nomination have expressed their support. The Hill and Reuters also cover the story.
BP sees technology nearly doubling world energy resources by 2050
The world is not as risk of running out of oil and gas for decades, as existing technology is capable of unlocking enough new global reserves that resources will almost double by 2050, in spite of rising consumption. This is the finding of BP’s inaugural Technology Outlook. These technologies include fracking and new drilling techniques, says the Times, whose headline says that, rather than facing an oil crisis, we are “swimming in the stuff”. The Wall Street Journal leads on another message of the report — it says that renewables will not become cost competitive unless there is a price on carbon, and that natural gas and coal will remain the cheapest source of supply to 2050.
West Antarctic ice sheet could collapse as Amundsen Sea is on knife edge
The West Antarctic ice sheet might already be so unstable that it could cause global sea levels to rise by three metres, according to new research. The current rate of melting means that the ice sheet will hit a critical point in 60 years, starting a process of ice loss that continues for millennia, says the Daily Mail. The Guardian also covered the story, as did Carbon Brief.
Comment
The Paris Climate Conference will bring change – but I doubt it will be enough
Michael McCarthy, The Independent
The UN conference on climate change this December is unlikely to bring about the level of change required, says Michael McCarthy, the Independent’s environment columnist. There are still a number of issues that could cause the talks to founder, including finance, the need for a device to “ratchet up” ambition, and a strong system for verifications and inspections. The devil will be in the detail, he says, and readers should not underestimate the chances that the agreement will eventually be “a fudge”.
Potent greenhouse gases should have no place in our air conditioning units
Gina McCarthy, administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, makes the case for reducing HFCs, a potent greenhouse gas, through amending the Montreal Protocol, as countries meet in Dubai to discuss the 1987 UN treaty this week. This agreement was signed to phase out ozone-depleting pollutants, which led to a rise of HFCs in their place. The US is pushing for a strong outcome, which could equally set the stage for an ambitious and durable global climate agreement in December, says McCarthy.
Science
Mapping the future expansion of Arctic open water
By 2070, Arctic coastlines can expect sea ice cover for just half the year, a new study says. Using climate projections out to 2100, researchers analysed how many sea ice-free days coastal locations around the Arctic would experience. The findings suggest the entire Arctic coastline and most of the Arctic Ocean will experience an additional annual 60 days without sea ice by the 2050s, and many sites will have more than 100 additional days.
Impact of solar panels on global climate
New research investigates the impact on global and regional climate of large-scale application of solar power. The findings show that solar panels alone induce regional cooling by converting incoming solar energy to electricity; however, using this electricity generate heat – primarily in urban areas – increases regional and global temperatures which compensate the cooling effect. These influences on temperature also affect global atmospheric circulation, the researchers say, resulting in changes in regional precipitation.
Other stories
- Germany’s planned nuclear switch-off drives energy innovation (The Guardian)
- UK energy groups warn subsidy cuts threaten old wind farms (The Financial Times)
- Shipping braces for pollution tax after Paris talks (Reuters)
- Business leaders send Paris wish list to finance ministers (Climate Home)
- Atmosphere of Hope: Solutions to the Climate Crisis by Tim Flannery; The Planet Remade by Oliver Morton review (The Observer)
- ‘Inequality is not just bad economics – it’s bad for the planet too’ (The Guardian)
- Argentina to generate 8% of energy from renewable sources by 2017 (The Guardian)
- World’s largest floating windfarm gets green light in Scotland (The Guardian)