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TODAY'S CLIMATE AND ENERGY HEADLINES

Briefing date 13.12.2019
EU agrees ‘climate neutral’ target for 2050, but Poland stands alone

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News.

EU agrees 'climate neutral' target for 2050, but Poland stands alone
Climate Home News Read Article

Many outlets cover the news that leaders of the European Union have, according to Climate Home News, “brokered a long-awaited agreement to set a 2050 target for the continent to become ‘climate neutral’”. Following a meeting of the European Council in Brussels, which concluded in the early hours this morning, the council’s president Charles Michel said the 2050 target was a “common goal” agreed by all leaders. [The European Council statement says EU leaders: “endorse[d] the objective of achieving a climate-neutral EU by 2050”.] According to Climate Home News, however, Poland has stated that it “can’t commit to implement this objective” – and the European Council statement says that “one member state, at this stage, cannot commit to implement this objective as far as it is concerned,” adding that EU leaders will come back to the issue in June 2020. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has reacted by saying: “It is acceptable for a country that has to come a long way. That has regions that are really coal dependent. So we acknowledge that the transition is a big one for Poland. The country has to step up. It needs more time to go through the details but it will not change the time setting of the commission [of 2050].” EurActiv says that “the issue will come back on the leaders’ agenda in June 2020, after the Commission unveils its Just Transition Mechanism in January and publishes its so-called Climate Law in March”. The publication adds: “Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki lauded the ‘very good solution’ and said that his country had ‘been exempted from the principle of applying climate neutrality policy. We will reach it at our own pace.’ Morawiecki added that Poland would be allocated a ‘fair share’ of the Just Transition Mechanism, expected to leverage around €100bn in financing, suggesting that an eventual agreement is indeed possible once the full details are revealed.” The Financial Times says that Poland’s position is a “blow” to the “EU’s ambition to become the world’s first carbon-neutral continent in 2050”. Reuters adds that “the Czech Republic and Hungary eventually dropped their resistance after winning a guarantee that nuclear energy would be recognised as a way for EU states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”.

Stalemate at UN talks as splits re-appear
BBC News Read Article

BBC News says that the UN’s climate talks in Madrid, COP25, have “become bogged down in rows over key technical issues” as they enter their final scheduled day. It adds: “Serious disagreements have emerged over how much carbon-cutting the major emitters should undertake…The conference has become enmeshed in deep, technical arguments about a number of issues including the role of carbon markets and the financing of loss and damage caused by rising temperatures. The key question of raising ambition has also been to the forefront of the discussions.” BBC News also highlights one notable point of drama at the talks yesterday: “In a rare move, negotiators from the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) pointed the finger of blame at countries including Australia, the US, Canada, Russia, India, China and Brazil. They had failed to submit revised plans that would help the world keep the rise in global temperatures under 1.5C this century. As well as naming names, AOSIS members were angry at the pressure being put on the island nations to compromise on key questions.” Meanwhile, Reuters reports that former US vice president Al Gore urged China to stop financing coal power plants at a COP25 meeting with the lead climate negotiator for the world’s second-largest economy. “It would redound to China’s everlasting credit if this policy of financing the construction of so many new coal plants in other countries could respectfully be reviewed and reconsidered,” Gore told a small crowd at China’s pavilion, according to Reuters. The Guardian highlights how “youth climate activists have called for a global strike on Friday to protest that human rights and social justice have been sidelined at the UN climate talks in Madrid”. It adds: “Campaigners have been frustrated not only at the slow progress of the talks, but also that groups representing women, indigenous people and poor people have struggled to have their voices heard within the conference halls.” EurActiv notes that a “rift between negotiators and civil society at COP25 [is] becoming very obvious”. The Associated Press focuses on the speech made by UN secretary-general António Guterres yesterday at COP25, in which he warned that unchecked climate change would lead to “survival of the richest”.

Meanwhile, many outlets report that Greta Thunberg, who made a high-profile speech at COP25 earlier this week on the day she was named Time’s Person of the Year, has responded to a personal attack on Twitter by Donald Trump by mockingly changing her Twitter profile to repeat his criticism. BBC News says that the teenage climate activists has “adapted her Twitter bio to say she was ‘a teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend’.” Writing in the Washington Post, Molly Roberts says that Trump’s attack on Thunberg “tells us a lot we already know about our leader, from his empty bluster to his bullying (especially of women and, now, even girls) and his envy (especially of fame)”.

World must reach 'peak meat' by 2030 to meet climate change targets, scientists warn

Many publications report on a letter sent by scientists to the Lancet Planetary Health Journal warning that the world needs to reach “peak meat” within the next 10 years to combat the effects of climate change. CNN says that the scientists say that “all but the poorest countries needed to set a time frame for livestock production to stop growing, since the meat and dairy sector is responsible for such a large proportion of emissions”. The Guardian adds: “More than 80% of farmland is used for livestock but it produces just 18% of food calories. Reducing meat and dairy, and eating plant-based diets instead, would free up land to be returned to natural forest. Researchers say that is the best option currently available for storing large amounts of carbon.” The Independent notes that the scientists say in their letter that “if the livestock sector were to continue with business as usual, this sector alone would account for 49% of the emissions budget for 1.5C by 2030”.

Australia's bushfires have emitted 250m tonnes of CO2, almost half of country's annual emissions
The Guardian Read Article

The Guardian exclusively reports on new Nasa data showing that “bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland have emitted a massive pulse of CO2 into the atmosphere since August that is equivalent to almost half of Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions”. It adds: “Analysis by Nasa shows the NSW fires have emitted about 195m tonnes of CO2 since 1 August, with Queensland’s fires adding a further 55m tonnes over the same period. In 2018, Australia’s entire greenhouse gas footprint was 532m tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Experts say the pulse of CO2 from this season’s bushfires is significant, because even under normal conditions it could take decades for forest regrowth to reabsorb the emissions. But scientists have expressed doubt that forests already under drought stress would be able to reabsorb all the emissions back into soils and branches, and said the natural carbon ‘sinks’ of forests could be compromised.”

Comment.

Europe leads the world with its climate mission
Editorial, The Financial Times Read Article

An editorial in the FT says that the “EU is leading the world in the urgent fight against climate change”. It adds: “Achieving carbon neutrality in three decades requires a complete transformation of Europe’s economy with crucial decisions taken in the next few years…It will need the EU and its member states to deploy all available policy instruments and tap vast public and private finance to shift to a model where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. And in the race to get there, the EU risks accentuating its social, political and geographical fractures despite a mainstream consensus on the need to act.” The editorial then zooms in on the EU’s plans for a cross-border carbon tax: “Implementing a border levy that complies with World Trade Organization rules will be complex as well as provocative. Sensibly, the commission is proposing to experiment with a few energy intensive sectors. But that will still amount to a revolution in the way Europe, the most open economy in the world, regards free trade. It is no longer about just opening markets but about exporting European standards. If Donald Trump dislikes France’s digital tax, he will hate this. There will be plenty of resistance in Europe too once the scale of the challenge and the potential cost of the Green Deal sink in. Brussels calculates that the current target of 40% emissions reduction by 2030 requires additional investment of €260bn a year. People will revolt if the burden is not spread equitably. And Europe’s populists are waiting to exploit their anger. The EU’s ambition to save the planet is laudable. It will prove considerably harder than a lunar landing.” The Daily Telegraph carries an opinion piece by climate sceptic Ross Clark who argues that the EU will “simply use its ‘Green Deal’ to effect a leftwards, protectionist shift in economic and social policy, it will do nothing but harm”.

Separately, the Financial Times carries a feature on how climate change is “raising the geopolitical temperature” by intensifying the fight for resources. An editorial in the Economist says that “central banks must pay some attention to climate change, but they should resist mission creep”. It continues: “If governments want to penalise polluters they can do so directly with taxes, or by empowering new environmental bodies. There is no need to muddy the waters over the responsibilities of central banks. And the banks themselves should resist the perennial temptation to expand their territories.”

The party that ruined the planet
Paul Krugman, The New York Times Read Article

Writing in the New York Times, economist Paul Krugman says that “one factor stands out above all others [for why the world has so far failed to tackle climate change]: the fanatical opposition of America’s Republicans, who are the world’s only major climate-denialist party”. He adds: “The truth is that even now I don’t fully understand how things got this bad. But the reality is clear: Modern Republicans are irredeemable, devoid of principle or shame. And there is, as I said, no reason to believe that this will change even if Trump is defeated next year. The only way that either American democracy or a liveable planet can survive is if the Republican Party as it now exists is effectively dismantled and replaced with something better — maybe with a party that has the same name, but completely different values. This may sound like an impossible dream. But it’s the only hope we have.” Meanwhile, the New York Times has published a feature about the “vast invisible climate menace” of methane emissions “escaping from oil and gas sites nationwide”.

Separately, responding to Donald Trump’s attack on Greta Thunberg via Twitter, an editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald observes that “even with the best will in the world, climate change is a difficult and complicated topic to discuss”. It adds: “Unfortunately, the past week has reconfirmed how some people are not even trying to conduct a civilised, intelligent debate…Personal attacks of this kind are regrettable at the best of times and unconscionable when directed at a minor. The world’s most powerful leader publicly belittling a teenager standing up for her views can only be viewed as bullying.” The Sydney Morning Herald also carries an opinion piece on “how Australia’s attempted carbon trickery is stoking India to pollute”.

Science.

Deep glacial troughs and stabilizing ridges unveiled beneath the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet
Nature Geoscience Read Article

The Antarctic ice sheet has been losing mass over past decades through the accelerated flow of its glaciers. Glaciers retreating along slopes where the elevation drops in the inland direction are potentially unstable, while subglacial ridges slow down the glacial retreat. Despite major advances in the mapping of subglacial beds, significant sectors of Antarctica remain poorly resolved. This study presents a high-resolution description of Antarctic bed topography using mass conservation. Their results reveal previously unknown features with major implications for glacier response to climate change.

Stable climate metrics for emissions of short and long-lived species – combining steps and pulses
Environmental Research Letters Read Article

Climate agreements rely on a methodology to place emissions of different gases on a CO2-equivalent scale. There has been an ongoing debate on the extent to which existing metrics serve current climate policy. Metrics such as global temperature-change potential – GTP – are the most closely related to policy goals based on temperature limits such as the Paris Agreement. However, for short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), endpoint metrics vary strongly with time horizon making them difficult to apply in practical situations. This paper shows how combining endpoint metrics with a pulse emission of CO2 leads to an endpoint metric that only varies slowly over time horizons of interest.

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