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TODAY'S CLIMATE AND ENERGY HEADLINES

Briefing date 04.12.2018
COP24: Naturalist Attenborough urges climate meet to tackle ‘greatest threat in thousands of years’

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News.

COP24: Naturalist Attenborough urges climate meet to tackle 'greatest threat in thousands of years'
Reuters Read Article

British broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough yesterday urged world leaders meeting at the COP24 climate summit in Poland to tackle “our greatest threat in thousands of years”, reports Reuters. It adds that he said: “Leaders of the world, you must lead…The continuation of our civilisations and the natural world upon which we depend, is in your hands.” Attenborough’s speech was covered around the world, including by USA Today, the AustralianIrish Timesand Scotsman. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the COP24 talks, notes BBC News, which describes the meeting as “the most critical on climate change since the 2015 Paris agreement”. It adds that UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres told delegates that climate change was already “a matter of life and death” for many countries. BBC News also carries a video of reactions to Attenborough’s speech from several UK politicians. The speech was also covered by the Daily Telegraph, the GuardianChannel 4 NewsMailOnline, the Press Association, the Independent and the Times, among others. The Daily Mirror carries the story on its frontpage with the words: “Time is running out to save planet.”

COP24: High stakes as international climate conference begins

Several publications cover the official opening of the COP24 talks in Katowice yesterday. NPR says the meeting is about how countries will meet the goals they agreed in Paris in 2015, quoting Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists: “This meeting in Poland is going to be focused heavily on implementation rules for the Paris Agreement…Exactly how do countries have to report on actions they’re taking? What information do they have to provide on the commitments they’ve made under the agreement? How will the finance flows work? What kind of mechanisms are there to increase ambition of commitments over time?” There is one “glaring absence” at the talks, reports CNN – a “high-level US presence”. Reuters notes comments by Sir David Attenborough describing US president Donald Trump as “out on a limb” with his stance on climate change. Climate Home News reports comments from two former senior US climate envoys suggesting that the US could be pushed out of the Paris deal permanently, if the rules agreed in Katowice “draw a hard line between developed and developing countries”. Such rules could be unacceptable even to a future Democratic administration, Climate Home News reports, based on the comments.

Meanwhile India’s Economic Times reports comments at COP24 by the country’s environment minister Harsh Vardhan, who says its climate pledges will be met early. A feature in the Financial Times notes India’s ambitious solar expansion plans have been hurt by “the ubiquity of coal and [a solar] panel import duty”.

India’s Vardhan is one of 20 key figures at the talks – including scientists, negotiators and politicians – profiled by Climate Home News. Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon is to head to the climate talks this week, reports the Press AssociationClimate Home News also reports on the Polish COP24 presidency’s declaration on “just transition” for workers affected by the shift to a clean economy, launched at a ceremony in Katowice yesterday and signed by France, Germany and the EU, among others. Meanwhile, a Guardian feature by John Vidal explores why the amount of public climate finance currently available is “not enough to provide clean energy for those living off-grid”.

Shell links chiefs’ pay to green targets
The Times Read Article

Executive pay at oil major Shell will be tied to targets for reducing the group’s carbon emissions after it bowed to pressure from investors over climate change, reports the Times. “Shell previously had set out a long-term ‘ambition’ to halve the carbon footprint of its products by 2050 but had claimed that binding targets would be ‘foolhardy’,” the Times adds. Shell’s new near-term targets will be introduced in 2020 and will include emissions from the use of the company’s fuels, reports Reuters, which says this makes the goals “sector-leading”. The Hilland Axios also cover the news.

UK credit agency investigated over fossil fuel investments
DeSmog UK Read Article

The government credit agency UK Export Finance is to be investigated by a parliamentary committee over its support for fossil fuel projects, reports DeSmog UK. The House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) is launching the inquiry in light of reports the agency’s activities to promote UK fossil fuel firms overseas is in direct contradict with commitments to tackle climate change, DeSmog UK says. Separately, a report from industry group Oil & Gas UK says making North Sea oil last “an additional generation” will be key to meeting UK climate goals, reports the Press Association. It says the report notes: “Developing carbon capture and storage (CCUS) and the hydrogen economy based on oil and gas industry expertise has the potential to make the UK a global leader.”

Comment.

Why the Paris Agreement won't save us from climate change
Mark Lynas, CNN Read Article

Environmental author Mark Lynas argues in an opinion piece for CNN that the Paris Agreement will not save us from climate change. Worse, he says, “the current political surge in right-wing populism, exemplified most by the election of President Trump – who duly made a prime-time announcement that America would withdraw from the Paris Agreement – endangers even the tiny progress that has so far been made…Despite decades of COPs, the fight to save the Earth’s climate from collapse has still barely begun.” In Vox, David Roberts says the “Trump effect” threatens the future of the Paris Agreement. He looks at a new paper on this topic by Joseph Curtin at the Dublin-based Institute of International and European Affair and highlights, among other things, that “Trump’s skullduggery offers other scofflaws political cover” (see Brazil’s president-elect Bolsonaro) and that “the erosion of trust poisons climate negotiations”. BBC News and MailOnline also covers the story.

Meanwhile, in the Financial Times, Nick Butler argues that “it should be scientists, not politicians, who gather to combat carbon emissions”. He adds: “The next question is how the science should be funded. The best answer is to pool resources. Why not establish an investment fund open to subscriptions from both the public and the private sector?…If additional funds are needed, why not offer individuals and companies a tax deduction of 110% against income for investments in such a fund?” In the New York Times, Nobel economist Paul Krugman writes that “when you review the history of Republican climate denial, it looks a lot like Trumpism”. He add: “Climate denial, you might say, was the crucible in which the essential elements of Trumpism were formed.” In the Washington Post, Philip Bump says that the Republican party’s “fervent opposition” with climate action predates Trump: “Trump’s embrace of what the base wanted to hear was more robust, more honest and more expansive. But over the course of the past decade, Trump followed the party lead on climate. He didn’t drive it.”

French riots could prove Macron's biggest test
Editorial, Financial Times Read Article

Several newspapers carry editorials on the recent riots in France. The Financial Times says the fuel taxes that triggered the riots are “well-founded”, adding that France “needs to step up action to curb rising carbon emissions”. Its editorial urges President Macron to “hold firm” on the policy, but to expand efforts to mitigate effects on the less well-off. (This morning, it is being reported that Macron has now suspended the fuel taxes.) In the Guardian, an editorial says the Macron “was right to suggest that higher fuel taxes are needed to fight climate change”. But it adds: “While higher taxes can be useful to change people’s behaviours, they are not sufficient when so many people feel they are an extra burden in precarious times.” For the Wall Street Journal, the French are “the latest to refuse to sacrifice growth for green piety”. Its editorial adds: “Nothing reveals the disconnect between ordinary voters and an aloof political class more than carbon taxation.” In a comment piece for the Daily Mail, Dominic Lawson says it is “hard not to gloat” over Macron’s travails, adding: “Macron has made himself the hero of the international green lobby by denouncing President Trump’s abrogation of the Paris Accord on climate change…and by introducing swingeing increases in fuel taxes.”

COP24: Mobilise the private sector to avert a climate crash
Emmanuel Macron and Andrew Holness, The Wall Street Journal Read Article

Government leadership on climate finance is “essential [but] 70% of world economic activity is in the private sector”, write French president Emmanuel Macron and Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness, in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal published on the eve of COP24. “The private sector must be prepared to get in the front seat with world governments to avert a climate crash,” they write.

Science.

Declines in northern forest tree growth following snowpack decline and soil freezing
Global Change Biology Read Article

Losing the insulating effect of a winter snowpack could see growth of forests in northern latitudes decline dramatically, a new study suggests. Researchers conducted a five‐year experiment whereby snow was removed from the ground for the first 4–5 weeks of winter in a hardwood forest in New Hampshire, US. The results indicate that reducing the snowpack led to more soil freezing and a 40% reduction in growth of the sugar maple tree – and no recovery a year after the experiment ended. The study projects that 50-95% of forests in the northeastern US could lose insulating snowpack by 2099, “leaving large areas of northern forest vulnerable to these changes in winter climate”.

Global warming from 1.5C to 2C will lead to increase in precipitation intensity in China
International Journal of Climatology Read Article

Limiting warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels rather than 1.5C is likely to lead to “an increase in precipitation intensity over China, except for some scattered regions in the northwest and southwest of the country”, a new study says. Using CMIP5 climate models, the researchers project future rainfall changes under three emissions scenarios. The findings suggest increases in multiple rainfall metrics under 1.5C and 2C, but a “significant positive influence on extreme precipitation when warming is limited to 1.5C, compared with a limit of 2C”, the authors conclude.

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