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TODAY'S CLIMATE AND ENERGY HEADLINES

Briefing date 16.09.2022
Climate change: Pakistan floods ‘likely’ made worse by warming

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News.

Climate change: Pakistan floods 'likely' made worse by warming
BBC News Read Article

There is widespread media coverage of a new “rapid attribution” study, carried out by the World Weather Attribution service, which finds that climate change “likely” worsened that extreme rainfall that caused widespread flooding in Pakistan this summer. BBC News reports that “climate change may have increased the intensity of rainfall”, while the New York Times notes that “Pakistan’s monsoon rains have long varied wildly from year to year, which made it hard to pin down precisely how much more severe this season was because of climate change”. Reuters says: “In the hardest-hit areas of Sindh and Balochistan provinces, where August rainfall was seven to eight times heavier than usual, climate warming made average five-day maximum rainfall about 75% more intense… Across the entire Indus River basin, the scientists found maximum rainfall was about 50% heavier during a two-month monsoon period due to climate change.” The Independent notes that the study was “conducted by 26 researchers from 10 countries”. The Associated Press reports that “global warming wasn’t the biggest cause of the country’s catastrophic flooding”, pointing instead to “vulnerability” in Pakistan. The GuardianFinancial TimesBloombergWashington Post and the Press Association all cover the study. Carbon Brief also has all the details.

Meanwhile, the Independent carries a warning from Pakistani health officials that cases of dengue and malaria are rising. According to Reuters, the death toll from the Pakistan floods has risen to almost 1,500. Climate Home News says that with winter weeks away, and half a million people still living in camps, Pakistan’s prime minister “promised the country’s homeless people that the government will ensure they are paid to rebuild and return to their lives after the country’s worst-ever floods”. The New York Times has published a piece entitled: “In Pakistan’s record floods, villages are now desperate islands”. And the New Scientist says: “Thanks to millions of farmers’ irrigation systems in Bangladesh, there is more space for monsoon water to go straight into aquifers, possibly mitigating flooding.”

In other news, the Guardian covers a new report from Oxfam, which finds that rates of extreme hunger have more than doubled in the past six years in 10 of the world’s worst “climate hotspots”. The newspaper says: “Within the countries studied, 48 million people are currently suffering from acute hunger, up from about 21 million people in 2016. Of these, about 18 million people are on the brink of starvation…The 10 countries covered by the report – Somalia, Haiti, Djibouti, Kenya, Niger, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Madagascar, Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe – were those with the highest number of UN appeals driven by extreme weather events.”

UK: Liz Truss to lift fracking ban ‘despite little progress on earthquake risk’
The Guardian Read Article

A leaked government document shows that Liz Truss plans to lift a ban on fracking, despite making “little progress” in reducing and predicting the earthquakes caused by the practise, the Guardian reports on its frontpage. According to the newspaper, “the first drilling licences in nearly three years are expected to be issued as early as next week”. It continues: “A long-awaited report by the British Geological Survey (BGS) was promised to be published, but it has been held up owing to the Queen’s death. The report, seen by the Guardian, admits that forecasting fracking-induced earthquakes and their magnitude ‘remains a scientific challenge’. It says there are still ‘significant existing knowledge gaps’ and that problems remain with identifying potential new fracking sites that may be able to handle earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0. Existing rules require drilling to stop if tremors of 0.5 or more are caused. But fracking companies are reportedly lobbying for that to be substantially increased… In its report, the BGS offers little evidence that there has been enough progress since the fracking ban to meet a 2019 manifesto promise that it would only be resumed if ‘the science shows categorically that it can be done safely’.” The paper adds: “There are 93 exploratory drilling licenses already granted for 159 areas of the country, 75% of which are related to fracking, which will be automatically reactivated once the moratorium on fracking is lifted.”

In related comment, a piece by thriller writer and political commentator Frederick Forsyth in the Daily Express says: “If newly-installed Liz Truss does as she has announced and sweeps aside the eco-idiots to re-permit fracking for the huge seas of shale gas and oil beneath our feet, a large glass will be raised to her in the garden of Chateau Fred.” Meanwhile, Natascha Engel – a former Labour MP who has advocated strongly in favour of the UK’s fracking industry – has penned a comment piece in the Daily Telegraph (not yet online) entitled, “We cannot allow extremists to derail Britain’s fracking revolution”. (For more on why fracking is not the answer to the UK’s energy crisis, see Carbon Brief‘s factcheck.)

Separately, the Guardian reports that chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will deliver his “emergency mini-budget” next Friday. The budget is “expected to outline further details of Truss’s £100bn-plus emergency bailout to help households with energy bills”, the paper notes. A separate Guardian piece says: “The bill contains reforms to bolster Britain’s domestic energy supplies, but sources say the government is instead prioritising work on a framework for decoupling electricity prices from global gas prices and ‘locational pricing’, which could bring down costs.” The Daily Telegraph says that in its statement next week, “the Treasury will effectively admit it does not know how much the energy price freeze will cost the taxpayer”. However, it adds that the package “could prove to be the single most expensive government policy announcement since the second world war”. The Sun writes: “Consumers are expected to get help directly from their energy suppliers – and are likely to not have to do anything to benefit from the new price cap. But there is little detail on how businesses will get the same help.” Bloomberg reports that “the UK government is set to meet with some of the country’s biggest power producers to push through a measure that would cap wholesale electricity prices starting this winter”. The outlet says that UK business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg could sign long-term contracts with wind farms, nuclear plants and biomass-burning stations to sell power at fixed prices in the coming weeks. “The UK wants to get the measure set up as soon as possible, potentially by 1 October,” the paper adds.

Meanwhile, the Times reports that the chairwoman of the John Lewis Partnership has called the government’s plans to freeze consumer energy bills for two years is “a potential ‘game changer’ for consumer sentiment”.

Renewables boss Wael Sawan takes over at Shell
The Times Read Article

Oil and gas company Shell has named Wael Sawan – current head of the company’s integrated gas and renewables division – as its new chief executive, when Ben van Beurden steps down in the new year, the Times reports. The paper says: “Sawan’s appointment will complete a changing of the guard at Shell… However, analysts said they expected Sawan to continue the strategy set out by van Beurden, as Shell attempts to navigate the transition to greener energy in pursuit of a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.” The appointment “comes at a pivotal time for the oil giant”, Reuters says. The Financial Times reports that “in 2020, Shell was the first of the supermajors to commit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050, but has since struggled to retain talent in the low-carbon businesses that are central to its transition strategy”. It adds that “Sawan has less experience in clean energy than in other parts of the company, having only run the gas and renewables division since October”. The Guardian says the appointment “is being viewed as a signal that Shell intends to increase its focus on transitioning to a renewable energy business”. It adds: “The company’s renewables and energy solutions division, which includes businesses such as renewable electricity generation and hydrogen, accounts for about 12% of Shell’s $23bn to $27bn capital expenditure this year.” In a separate piece, the Guardian says: “Campaigners hope to see a radical shift under the former renewables boss but it is likely to be more continuation than revolution.” The TimesIndependent and Bloomberg also cover the story.

Germany working on historic takeover of three gas companies
Bloomberg Read Article

Germany is in advanced talks to nationalise Uniper and two other large gas importers “in a historic step” to avoid a collapse of its energy market, according to people familiar with the matter, reports Bloomberg. State ownership of Uniper, VNG and Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE), formerly Gazprom Germania, “is the main solution under discussion”, notes the outlet. It says the government is considering buying from Finnish Fortum a controlling stake in Uniper “for a nominal price”. The news reminds that due to Russia’s cut-off of the main pipeline to Germany, Uniper losses of as much as €100m a day, according to its CEO. Asked about nationalisation plans, German economy minister Robert Habeck is quoted as saying: “Things are complex, we are working it through very carefully”. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung adds that as a part of Uniper’s rescue operation, only 30% of federal participation was initially agreed upon. It also notes that VNG covers a fifth of the gas requirements in Germany and supplies 400 municipal utilities and industrial customers. However, unlike Uniper, only a minority stake by the federal government is being discussed for VNG, says the article. Die Welt reports that the German government also placed the Russian majority owner of the Schwedt oil refinery, Rosneft, and RN Refining & Marketing under the trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency initially limited to six months. This was announced by the Federal ministry of economics on Friday morning in Berlin, notes the outlet. The background is the oil embargo against Russia because of the Ukraine war, which will take effect on 1 January 2023, explains the story. The Guardian carries a story about the possible consequences of gas rationing at Germany’s chemical firm BASF. Elsewhere, the Financial Times reports that “the German government has taken control of three refineries owned by Russian oil company Rosneft, the latest in a flurry of measures to deal with the energy crisis triggered by the invasion of Ukraine”.

Meanwhile, the German government has announced a €3bn subsidy scheme put in place until 2026 that will support the construction of district heating grids that use at least 75% renewable energy, reports EurActiv. It explains that “district heating, where pipes are laid from a central heating facility to individual houses, is more efficient than households heating themselves”. Robert Habeck is quoted as assuring that “heat grids are the key if we want to make heating greenhouse gas neutral. They tap into climate-friendly heat sources that cannot be used by decentralised heating systems in the home – including deep geothermal energy.”

Elsewhere, Politico reports that Germany’s “Porsche-driving” finance minister Christian Lindner “is frantically lobbying to keep e-fuels in the mix past 2035”. He told Politico that German chancellor Olaf Scholz “had reached a backroom deal with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in June to ensure that the use of synthetic fuels, or e-fuels, would be permitted under fresh EU fuel efficiency standards that will introduce a zero emissions mandate for new car and vans sales by 2035”. However, the Commission declined to comment, the article notes.

Finally, the Wall Street Journal reports that electric car manufacturer Tesla has stopped the construction project for a battery factory in Germany for the time being because the company wants to examine the effects of the new US law, which promotes domestic battery production. President Joe Biden’s government is planning tax credits of €7,500 for US citizens who buy US-made electric vehicles with a US-made battery, explains the outlet.

US had the third-hottest summer ever this year as several states experience warmest ever August
The Independent Read Article

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that, so far, 2022 is the sixth-warmest year ever on Earth, the Independent reports. According to the paper, there is a 99% chance that the year will be one of the top 10 hottest years on record. “All 10 of the top 10 hottest years recorded since 1880 have occurred in the past 17 years,” the paper adds. Both North America and Europe had their hottest August on record, and North America saw its second-hottest summer ever, the outlet notes. It adds that this August was the hottest on record for the US states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The Washington Post also reports on the new data.

In other US news, Bloomberg reports that the Biden administration have “set a new goal for deploying floating wind turbines in deep waters off US coasts and unveiled nearly $50m in initiatives designed to propel the nascent technology”. Elsewhere, the Guardian reports that “Republican officials and corporate lobby groups are teeing up a multi-pronged legal assault on the Biden administration’s effort to help investors hold public corporations accountable for their carbon emissions and other climate change risks”. And Reuters reports that US climate envoy John Kerry has told a conference that “African nations must help combat climate change and halt a rise in temperatures that is hitting crop yields and causing flooding and drought in the region”.

UK: Zac Goldsmith loses environment job amid fears of animal welfare downgrade
The Guardian Read Article

Conservative peer Zac Goldsmith has been sacked as from his role as environment minister, the Guardian reports. Goldsmith, who the paper describes as an “environmentalist” and “close friend of Boris Johnson”, wrote in a farewell letter to staff at the environmental department: “We have so much more to do to turn the tide here… The UK is, after all, one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries. But if Defra [the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] continues to get the backing you need and deserve across government, you can and you will turn the tide.” The paper notes that “animal welfare campaigners are concerned that under the new environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, a former trade minister, farmers could be undercut on animal welfare grounds in trade deals”. The Independent and Times also cover that story.

In other UK news, the Independent reports that Sir David Attenborough has praised King Charles III for being at “the forefront” of concern about the natural world. The Big Issue says: “The King was way ahead of his time when he spoke about the environment back in the 1970s.” It continues: “As an unelected ruler, King Charles does not have the democratic mandate to push his preferred policies. By convention as head of state, the monarch has to remain strictly neutral with respect to political matters. But like his mother, Charles will have weekly audiences with the Prime Minister, during which the monarch may ‘advise and warn’ when necessary.”

Four Chinese government bodies jointly issued a notice about the raw materials industry
China energy news Read Article

The Chinese ministry of industry and information technology together with three other government bodies on Wednesday jointly issued a notice on an implementation plan of the raw materials industry, which “proposes the development of green low-carbon products”, reports China Energy News. The notice mentions: “focusing on petrochemical and chemical, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, building materials and other industries, the country should carry out energy-saving carbon reduction and green transformation and upgrading”, the state-run industry newspaper notes. Shanghai-based Jiemian also covers the plan.

Meanwhile, China Energy News carries an article quoting Yunlai Zhu, financial expert and former president and CEO of CICC – a Chinese multinational investment management and financial services company – who said that: in general, by “replacing coal with photovoltaic” and “replacing oil with electricity”, and introducing “new energy-saving and emission-reducing production technologies in industry, China’s dual carbon target is “entirely possible to achieve”. Separately, China Electric Power News reports that the National Energy Administration (NEA), the country’s top energy regulator, on Thursday released the data of electricity consumption of the whole society from January to August, which shows the figure reached “5,783.9TWh (terawatts-hours) during the period, an increase of 4.4% year-on-year”.

Bloomberg reports that China faces its “biggest annual drop in oil demand in more than three decades as Covid-19 lockdowns and a property crisis weigh on growth in the world’s No. 2 consumer”, according to the International Energy Agency. Elsewhere, an article by the Economist, titled “China’s plunging energy imports confound expectations”, writes that with the price of fuels “surging”, the “collapse” in Chinese imports of gas and other forms of energy has been an “unexpected boon” to countries around the world. Finally, the New York Times published an opinion article by David Wallace-Wells, titled “China is writing the story of the climate future”. He writes: “But if China is doing much more damage now to the future of the climate than any other nation, it is also the case that the country has been the strongest force for clean energy over the past decade.” (The article cites Carbon Brief’s analysis on Chinese emissions’ fall in the second quarter of 2022.)

Conservative party given £651k by aviation industry
DeSmog Read Article

The UK Conservative Party received £651,000 from the aviation industry between April and June this year – making aviation the third largest sector by donations, DeSmog reports. The outlet continues: “Green MP Caroline Lucas said the findings showed the Conservatives were ‘in the pockets of an industry responsible for vast and increasing quantities of greenhouse gas emissions’… Campaigners said the aviation-related donations looked like ‘sweeteners’ from a sector that has largely escaped regulation over its climate impacts, and suggested the money would have been better invested in efforts to cut the companies’ emissions.” The outlet adds: “In July, the government announced its ‘Jet Zero Strategy’, which aims to cut UK aviation emissions to net-zero by 2050 and allow travellers to fly ‘guilt-free’. The policy, which backs further aviation growth, was dismissed as ‘pure greenwash’ by environmental groups, which cast doubt on the viability of the technologies and solutions proposed.” (Carbon Brief’s analysis of the strategy finds that “the plans will also see passenger numbers increase by 70% from 2021 to 2050, representing an additional 200m passengers”.) The Times also covers the story.

Patagonia founder hands company to trust to tackle climate crisis
Financial Times Read Article

The founder of outdoor clothing brand Patagonia – Yvon Chouinard – “is handing the outdoor clothing company to a trust that will use future profits to battle the climate crisis”, the Financial Times reports. According to the paper, the company expects to give $100m a year to the non-profit organisation. In an open letter, Chouinard wrote “Earth is now our only shareholder… Each year, the money we make after reinvesting in the business will be distributed as a dividend to help fight the crisis.” The Daily Telegraph says: “all of the company’s voting shares, or around 2% of the stock, will be handed to The Patagonia Purpose Trust, while the remainder will go to The Holdfast Collective. The trust’s aim will be to ‘ensure there is never deviation from the intent of the founder’, while Holdfast will ‘use every dollar received from Patagonia to protect nature and biodiversity, support thriving communities and fight the environmental crisis’.” The New York TimesIndependent and the Guardian have published lengthy pieces about Chouinard. The Washington Post lists “five things to know about Patagonia’s unusual history of activism” – including that since 1985, “the company pledged that 1% of its sales would go toward ‘the preservation and restoration of the natural environment.’” Meanwhile, the Independent‘s US reporter, Josh Marcus, asks “how much can even the most sustainable corporations really do to stop the climate crisis?”

Comment.

Shell must accept it has lost the battle on fossil fuels
Ben Marlow, The Telegraph Read Article

In reaction to the appointment of a new chief executive at Shell, Ben Marlow – chief city commentator at the Daily Telegraph – writes: “New boss Wael Sawan needs to go green now, or watch others come to dominate the energy market”. Marlow continues: “Shell declared last year that oil production had peaked and that it would stop drilling for fossil fuels in new markets after 2025, an important milestone on the journey. It has also pledged to halve emissions from its own operations by 2030 and to hit net zero by the middle of the century, and recently committed to reducing the carbon expelled when customers burn its fuel – known as Scope 3 emissions… [Sawan must] not allow himself to be brow-beaten by ministerial knee-jerk responses to the energy supply crunch. That’s not to say oil, gas, and even coal can’t provide a short-term bridge so that society can move more seamlessly from fossil fuel dependency to renewables, or that the UK hasn’t been overly reliant on overseas supplies. But the idea that salvation lies in the North Sea is a red herring. Ditto that fracking is the magic solution. Ministers are allowing nostalgia and nationalism to get the better of them. Given that it typically takes between five to 10 years for a new field to start production, a new North Sea licensing round will offer no short-term relief for crippling energy bills. Domestic production is sold on the international markets anyway and the North Sea is essentially a sunset industry.” He concludes: “With wind and solar costing just a fraction of fossil fuels, there has never been a better time to invest in renewables.” Elsewhere, a Financial Times opinion Lex piece argues that Sawan “must make the most of group’s gas potential”. The piece says: “Gas has relatively low emissions when fully combusted. It should figure as a stepping stone in the crossing to a low-carbon economy. Meanwhile, Alistair Osborne – chief business commentator of the Times – has penned a piece entitled, “Shell boss spot-on with exit timing”. He says that Sawan “will be judged” on the company’s “transition to green energy”.

Science.

Concerned yet polluting: A survey on French research personnel and climate change
PLOS Climate Read Article

A new study finds that researchers continue to emit high levels of greenhouse gases, despite being highly willing to implement changes. The authors survey more than 6,000 public-sector researchers in France on their attitudes towards climate change and their high-emitting activities, such as air travel. They find that nearly 90% of respondents agree that “climate urgency calls for profound changes” in how researchers practice and almost two-thirds are willing to reduce their emissions associated with conferences and meetings. However, they state that there is a “clear gap” between these attitudes and the actual changes being made to reduce the climate impacts of research, and call on research institutions to support “profound reforms in the organisation of research activities”.

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