China said it was done with these coal plants. Satellite imagery shows otherwise.
News
China said it was done with these coal plants. Satellite imagery shows otherwise.
China is continuing to build large numbers of coal plants that had supposedly been cancelled or shelved last year, according to analysis of satellite photos by NGO CoalSwarm, covered by Grist and others. Grist quotes CoalSwarm head Ted Nace saying: “This new evidence that China’s central government hasn’t been able to stop the runaway coal-fired power plant building is alarming.” In total, including the plants that were thought to have been stopped, China has around 250GW of coal capacity in the pipeline, CoalSwarm says – equivalent to the current US fleet. This pipeline, if it all gets built, would increase China’s coal capacity by 25%, says the Guardian. BBC News also has the story. Earlier this year, Carbon Brief published a map of all the coal plants in the world.
Wind and solar to drive Corbyn’s green revolution
Jeremy Corbyn will today pledge to double the number of UK onshore windfarms, increase offshore wind sevenfold and put solar panels on “every viable” roof in the country if he wins power, reports the Times, in continuing coverage of this week’s Labour Party conference. In his closing speech later today, Corbyn will also pledge to “kickstart a green jobs revolution” creating 400,000 jobs, reports BBC News. The Sun, i and Reuters also have the story. In a blog for Huffington Post UK, shadow secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy Rebecca Long-Bailey writes about Labour’s pledge to aim for net-zero UK greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 if elected, which she announced yesterday. She writes: “The injustice of climate change is that its impacts are felt most acutely by working people…It cannot be right that the few who are profiting from climate change are shifting the consequences onto the many. Climate change cannot, and will not, be tackled by relying on the actions of individuals or markets, however well intentioned…Climate change is an existential risk, and it needs radical and structural change to deal with it.”
Cuadrilla prepares to start commercial fracking
Seven years after its first attempt to extract shale gas in the north of England, fracking firm Cuadrilla is preparing to start commercial operations within “the next few weeks”, reports the Financial Times. It quotes one protester at Cuadrilla’s Little Plumpton site near Blackpool, saying: “They have been weeks away from fracking for as long as I can remember.” Separately, the Guardianreports that four anti-fracking activists are facing prison for their protest at another Cuadrilla site, in 2017. They will become the first campaigners to be jailed for a protest in the UK since 1932, the paper says. Meanwhile, the Herald Scotland reports that Police Scotland has “reassured MSPs [members of the Scottish parliament]” that it does not consider anti-fracking protestors to be “domestic extremists”.
SSE buys out wind farm partners as it steps up clean energy plan
UK energy giant SSE has stepped up its presence in wind power by buying out its partner in a pair of offshore windfarms off Scotland, reports the Daily Telegraph. Reuters also has the story. The Times adds that SSE is seeking permission to use larger wind turbines at the two schemes, some 27km off the Scottish coast near the Firth of Forth.
Germany’s Merkel: We want and must reach our 2030 climate goals
Germany must reach its 2030 climate targets but it is not clear if it can reach its 2020 goals, according to comments from chancellor Angela Merkel reported by Reuters. Separately, Reuters reports that Merkel is resisting EU moves to introduce tighter CO2 limits for cars and vans, warning that European carmakers could be made uncompetitive as a result.
UN chief: ‘Pivotal moment’ for fighting global warming
The world has reached “a pivotal moment” in global warming and risks runaway climate change if leaders fail to act in the next two years, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres told leaders at the organisation’s General Assembly, reports PBS News Hour. Guterres told world leaders they weren’t doing enough to combat “a direct existential threat”, reports the Associated Press.
Macron rejects trade deals with countries outside of Paris climate pact
French president Emmanuel Macron has told the UN General Assembly his country will begin to make trade deals contingent on membership of the Paris Agreement on climate change, reports the Hill. It quotes Macron telling the assembly: “We will no longer sign commercial agreements with powers that do not respect the Paris accord.” The Hill notes that the US, while not mentioned explicitly by Macron, is the only country set to be outside the Paris pact.
Comment
Feature: Saving Scotland’s Heritage From the Rising Seas
Jim Dwyer and Josh Haner, New York Times
In an interactive feature in the New York Times, reporter Jim Dwyer and photographer Josh Haner travel to the Orkney islands off the north coast of Scotland to investigate how ancient structures are threatened by climate change. More than 3,000 archaeological sites – among them standing stone circles, Norse halls and a Neolithic tomb graffitied by Vikings – have survived for as much as 5,000 years, but coastal erosion and more intense rainfall means many are now being washed away. Dwyer speaks to the scientists, residents and volunteers trying to save them
While economic growth continues we’ll never kick our fossil fuels habit
“We’re still in denial about the scale of the threat to the planet,” writes Guardian columnist George Monbiot, in a piece seeking to burst the bubble of those who imagine we are “making the transition towards an all-electric future…[and] thwart[ing] climate breakdown.” Instead, he notes how oil production is about to hit 100m barrels a day for the first time in history and investments in Canadian tar sands have doubled in a year. The reason, Monbiot says, is economic growth. “There may be more electric vehicles on the world’s roads, but there are also more internal combustion engines. There may be more bicycles, but there are also more planes. It doesn’t matter how many good things we do: preventing climate breakdown means ceasing to do bad things. Given that economic growth, in nations that are already rich enough to meet the needs of all, requires an increase in pointless consumption, it is hard to see how it can ever be decoupled from the assault on the living planet.” He concludes that the only way to challenge this “existential crisis” is to break the silence over “not just climate breakdown, but also growth and consumerism”.
Science
Impacts of El Niño–Southern Oscillation on heat waves in the Indochina peninsula
An El Niño event in winter means the Indochina Peninsula is more likely to see heatwaves in the summer that follows, a new study suggests. The researchers examine the impacts of El Niño–Southern Oscillation on the frequency, duration, magnitude, and timing of heat waves in the region during 1979–2017. A winter El Niño “prominently amplif[ies]” summer heatwaves in most areas of Indochina, the findings show, increasing their likelihood and duration. La Niña events, meanwhile, cause “mostly opposite changes”, thus inhibiting heatwaves.
Enduring Extremes? Polar Vortex, Drought, and Climate Change Beliefs
A new study investigates how some types of extreme weather events may be more likely to influence climate change beliefs than others. Using a representative sample of US adults and National Weather Service data, the researchers find that tornado, hurricane, and flood events do not affect viewpoints on climate change. For polar vortex and drought events, the findings suggest that “self-reported experience” is linked to climate change beliefs, although this is also affected by “political identity and partisan news exposure”. A separate study, published in Environmental Science & Policy, suggests that in regions with colder climates – both US states and countries – there is more public scepticism about global warming.
Other stories
- What does the Chinese public think about climate change? (Climate Home News )
- Standard Chartered to stop financing new coal-fired power stations (Reuters)
- Japan high court gives go ahead for restart of Shikoku Electric nuclear reactor (Reuters )
- Edna Molewa, who fought for unity on climate change, dies aged 61 (Climate Home News )
- At UN, Trump hails Poland, slams Germany over Russian energy reliance (Reuters )
- How Global Warming Is Turbocharging Monster Storms Like Hurricane Florence (Newsweek )
- Texas coal plant announces plans to shut down (The Hill )
- Ireland solar panel scheme is on horizon for Gaza Strip (The Times )
- America’s national parks are being hit harder by climate change than other parts of the country (Mail Online )
- Rising oil prices fuel fears of damage to global economy (The Guardian )
- Nations halt funding to UN environment programme as outcry over chief grows (The Guardian )