Eon, the German utility giant, posted a record record annual
loss of €3.2bn on Wednesday as the shift to renewables continues to
squeeze the earnings of conventional power generating businesses,
reports the Financial Times. In a shift of strategy, Eon is
expected to spin off its fossil fuel and nuclear generation
business and focus on renewables. “The earnings situation reflects
the persistently difficult situation on energy markets in Germany
and Europe,” Eon said, as energy companies grapple with the sharp
fall in oil prices. The BBCalso has the story.

Boris Johson has been told by London assembly to pull City
Hall’s £4.8bn pension fund out of coal, oil and gas, as members
voted in support of the fossil fuel divestment movement. The motion
calls on the mayor to publicly support the principle of divestment
and to begin the process of dumping the fossil fuel portfolio – but
the vote is non-binding, meaning the mayor is bound only to
consider its proposals and write a response. The motion was
proposed by the Green party’s Jenny Jones and was unanimously
supported by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

Rather than another ‘giant’ increase in coal consumption,
for the first time in 15 years government data shows that China’s
annual coal consumption declined by 2.9%, with an accompanying 1%
fall in carbon dioxide emissions, the BBC reports. Talk is now is
of “peak coal”, the moment when China begins to wean itself off
fossil fuels. While this shift may partly be down to economic
factors, there is wide recognition that a significant shift in
Chinese environmental policy is also playing a part.

The diesel car is being unfairly “demonised” for polluting,
according to car makers. Diesel was less heavily taxed than petrol
for years because of its lower carbon emissions, but it has fallen
from favour because of its harmful particulates. Mike Hawkes, chief
executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said
it was “a folly to introduce blanket bans”, the Times reports. His
organisation has launched a “stop demonising diesel” campaign.

This year, the Arctic sea ice winter maximum area is
currently on track to hit a record low since satellite records
began in 1979. What that low-ice mark means for the spring and
summer melting seasons is unclear, but it is a notable milestone in
the global warming-fueled cycle of Arctic sea ice decline. Sea ice
extent is crucial to the Arctic’s ecology and economy. “The fact
that we’re starting the melt season with low-maybe record
low-winter extents cannot be good,” Jennifer Francis, a Rutgers
University Arctic researcher.

Shale gas exploration can be environmentally sound, and
should be the centrepiece of the next government’s energy policy,
the Conservative’s most senior green-leaning MP has urged. “There
is an opportunity now, and it might not exist in a few years [when
other European countries have developed fracking],” he told the
Guardian. “People who think fracking is an environmental problem
are mistaken.”

India’s prime minster has said he will cooperate closely
with small island states on work towards a global climate change
pact, RTCC reports. Speaking alongside Seychelles president James
Michel, Narendra Modi said India’s “consistent support” to low
lying states would continue “We are two nations that are vulnerable
to its impact. And we are deeply committed to combating it.”

The US State Department has denied it is pushing for a
legally binding UN climate pact, hours after the head of the US
environment agency said that was the government’s goal, RTCC
reports. “We need a legally binding agreement”, Gina McCarthey,
remarked during a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations. US
diplomats have historically opposed any kind of climate pact like
the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that would see the country face legal
sanctions.

Florida governor Rick Scott’s language prohibition for state
employees is forefront of climate denialism as public policy,
argues Jeb Lund. Making the science invisible is a much better plan
than the current Republican strategy of “foregoing all policy
decisions by pretending to be too stupid to understand science”.

We can talk about carbon bubbles and the risk of investing
in fossil fuels, but the most profound changes come from breaking
down acceptance of existing norms, argues Brett Scott. Like the
abolitionist movement before it, the aim of divestment movement
should be to delegitimise the apparent normality of investing in
fossil fuels, and to showcase the fossil fuel industry as an
entrenched relic of the industrial age resisting attempts to
modernise.

Scientists have developed a new material that can
efficiently remove carbon from the ambient air of a submarine as
readily as from the polluted emissions of a coal-fired power plant.
The material then releases the carbon dioxide at lower temperatures
than current carbon-capture materials, potentially cutting the
energy consumed in the process by half or more. The researchers
describe the advance as “a major leap forward for carbon-capture
technology”.

The number of people at risk from future sea level rise may
be highest in low-elevation coastal zones in Asia and Africa,
according to study of sea level rise, population growth and
urbanisation. The population exposed to 1-in-100 year storm surge
events will be highest in China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and
Vietnam, the researchers say. Future levels of risk will also be
high in West and East Africa, and Egypt where large population
growth and urbanisation in coastal areas is expected.