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TODAY'S CLIMATE AND ENERGY HEADLINES

Briefing date 20.03.2018
Climate Change Could See 143 Million Displaced: Report

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News.

Climate Change Could See 143 Million Displaced: Report
Time Magazine Read Article

New findings from the World Bank suggest that as many as 143 million people could become displaced by 2050, as the effects of climate change make their homes uninhabitable. The scenario examines three climate “hotspots”: Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, which between them account for 55% of the developing world’s population. “The shift will likely involve the poorest people from the poorest countries moving in large numbers from rural regions to increasingly overburdened urban areas”, Time writes, adding: “such dramatic swells of migration could lead to major disruption and instability”. Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the World Bank, said in a statement: “We have a small window now, before the effects of climate change deepen, to prepare the ground for this new reality”. The study’s authors say that if the world reduces greenhouse gas emissions in time and engages in “robust development planning,” the flood of “climate migrants” could be reduced by 80% to a mere 40 million people. The Carbon Brief, Business Standard, National Geographic, the Independent, Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Guardian also covered the report.

Fish and chips to curry: UK's favourite dishes at risk from climate change, research shows
The Guardian Read Article

Some of Britain’s most popular dishes – from chicken tikka masala to fish and chips – could be threatened by climate change, a new report has found. Warmer seas could see populations of cod, a staple ingredient in fish and chips, displaced by other less-familiar species, while impacts on soy production could end the era of cheap chicken. Other key ingredients of a tikka masala, such as rice, tomatoes and onions could all face shortages or price hikes as a result of changing weather patterns. Gareth Redmond-King, head of energy and climate at WWF commented: “The threat to these classic dishes just shows that climate change could impact every aspect of our lives in future if we don’t act now.” The research, commissioned for Earth Hour, was widely covered, including in the MirrorBusinessGreen the Daily Mail, the Scotsman and Wales Online.

Marine heatwave set off 'carbon bomb' in world's largest seagrass meadow
The Guardian Read Article

A heatwave in the ocean off Western Australia in 2010 damaged the world’s largest seagrass meadow, setting off a massive “carbon bomb” as millions of tonnes of carbon was released. Around 22% of the seagrass in Shark Bay was lost, according the paper in Nature Climate Change. The stored carbon, which has been sequestered over thousands of years, can be quickly released when the dead seagrass allows oxygen to penetrate the layers of dead seagrass, changing the bacteria that live in it. “If we’re not counting this carbon, then we’re underestimating our footprint”, said Gary Kendrick, a co-author on the paper. Elsewhere, an article in the Washington Post looks at a different “carbon bomb”, in the frozen soils of the Arctic. New research suggests that methane releases could be considerably more prevalent as Arctic permafrost thaws, a shorter-lived but far harder-hitting gas than carbon dioxide, which could cause faster bursts of warming.

A third of power from wind as new ‘green’ highs recorded
Press Association via Belfast Telegraph Read Article

Britain set a new “green” record on St Patrick’s Day as onshore and offshore wind turbines generated more than a third of the UK’s electricity. National Grid confirmed that the “mini Beast from the East” produced new record highs from wind generation, as it delivered 14.2 gigawatts of power at 2.30pm. This is well above the previous record of 13.9 gigawatts, the Belfast Telegraph reports. BusinessGreen also has the story.

Pakistan among most vulnerable countries to climate change: HSBC report
Pakistan Today Read Article

A report from HSBC has found that Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines are among most vulnerable countries to climate change, with India topping the list.The bank examined the nations’ vulnerability to the physical impacts of climate change, sensitivity to extreme weather events, exposure to energy transition risks and ability to respond to climate change, Pakistan Today reports. Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines are susceptible to extreme weather events, such as storms and flooding, while India has said climate change could cut agricultural incomes.

Cutting carbon emissions could save 153 million lives, study finds
Mail Online Read Article

Up to 153 million deaths linked to air pollution around the world could be prevented if governments reduce their fossil fuel emissions faster, new research has found. The study looked at the numbers of people in urban areas whose lives could be saved if temperature increases are limited to 1.5°C, a target mentioned in the Paris Agreement.

Dutch offshore wind farms first in world to go subsidy-free
EurActiv Read Article

The Dutch Government has awarded Swedish firm Vattenfall two contracts for what will be the world’s first wind farms to be built entirely without public money. The successful tender means that the farms will sell the electricity they generate on the wholesale market rather than relying on revenue stabilisation schemes, Euractiv reports. The two facilities will be built in the North Sea by 2022. Renewables Now and Energy Live News also have the story.

Comment.

Plight of Phoenix: how long can the world’s 'least sustainable' city survive?
Joanna Walters, The Guardian Read Article

The city of Phoenix, Arizona, has a problem: the Colorado river it relies on is drying up, while the state faces “extreme drought”. As part of their Overstretched Cities series which features articles by environmental journalists such as John Vidal and Fred Pearce, the Guardian explores how this could affect the Phoenix’s future. “The Phoenix metro area is on the cusp of being dangerously overextended. It’s the urban bullseye for global warming in north America”, says climate researcher Jonathan Overpeck.

Can climate litigation save the world?
Damian Carrington, The Guardian Read Article

The Guardian’s environment editor has written a feature discussing how the courts represent a “new front line of climate action”. “A flurry of billion-dollar cases against fossil fuel companies brought by New York city and communities in California over the rising seas has pushed climate litigation into the limelight”, he writes “but cases are being brought across the globe”. More the 1,000 suits are now recorded. And though “victories have been rare to date wins are more likely in future, as legal experts say the attitudes of judges often shift with the times”, Carrington writes. The piece examines the parallels between legal battles fought with big tobacco – such “corporate obfuscation”, and growing the reputational risk for big oil – as well as the differences, such as the longer chain of causation.

Science.

Quantified, localized health benefits of accelerated carbon dioxide emissions reductions
Nature Climate Change Read Article

A new study investigates the co-benefits for health of cutting CO2 emissions in line with the long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. Meeting the 1.5C limit or achieving 2C without needing negative emissions technologies would essentially “require elimination of most fossil-fuel-related emissions”, the paper says, which would mean 150 million fewer premature deaths worldwide from air pollution. “More than a million premature deaths would be prevented in many metropolitan areas in Asia and Africa, and >200,000 in individual urban areas on every inhabited continent except Australia,” the paper concludes.

A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world’s largest seagrass carbon stocks
Nature Climate Change Read Article

A marine heatwave in Australia in 2010-11 caused the release of as much as 9m tonnes of CO2 from the world’s largest seagrass carbon store, new research suggests. Collecting data from satellites and fieldwork, the researchers found that 36% of seagrass meadows in Shark Bay in Western Australia were damaged by the heatwave. This potentially increased Australia’s land use emissions by 4-21% in the three years following the heatwave, the researchers say.

Future equivalent of 2010 Russian heatwave intensified by weakening soil moisture constraints
Nature Climate Change Read Article

A repeat of the 2010 “mega” heatwave that hit eastern Europe and Russia could be more extreme in future because of a reducing buffer effect from soil moisture, a new study says. At present, high soil moisture levels and strong surface evaporation generally tend to cap maximum summer temperatures, the paper says, but this “may weaken under future warming”. Future heatwaves under unmitigated climate warming “will become even more extreme than previously thought”, the researchers say, “with temperature extremes increasing by 8.4C over western Russia”.

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