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TODAY'S CLIMATE AND ENERGY HEADLINES

Briefing date 05.11.2018
Young activists can sue government over climate change, Supreme Court says

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News.

Young activists can sue government over climate change, Supreme Court says

A group of young people can sue the US federal government over its climate change policies, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday, report NPR and many others. The ruling rejected a Trump administration request to stop the lawsuit, CNN reports: “The court said the administration had not reached the high bar necessary to halt the lawsuit for now. But the justices suggested that the government might be able to seek relief…at a later stage of the litigation”. The case, first filed in 2015 by 21 plaintiffs aged 11 to 22, claims the federal government encouraged the production of fossil fuels, causing the plane to warm and infringing on their fundamental rights, NPR explains. It adds that the case has faced repeated government requests for dismissal. The “Juliana v. United States” case aims to compel the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with bringing atmospheric CO2 levels below 350 parts per million, says Nature News. The US Department of Justice argues that “there is no right to ‘a climate system capable of sustaining human life'”, according to Nature News. The case had been put on hold by a previous Supreme Court decision but can now proceed, reports Sky NewsVoxBuzzFeed NewsThink ProgressClean Technica and the Independent all have the story.

Britain's Cuadrilla extracts first shale gas at English fracking site
Reuters Read Article

Fracking firm Cuadrilla has extracted its first shale gas at a site near Blackpool in northwest England, Reuters reports. The firm says the gas flows were small, Reuters says, quoting an emailed statement from chief executive Francis Egan saying: “This is a good early indication of the gas potential that we have long talked about”. Tests will continue to determine if commercial extraction would be viable, Reuters adds. MailOnline and the Financial Times also have the story. Meanwhile the Guardian reports a fresh legal challenge to government plans to fast-track new fracking exploration sites by loosening planning regulations. The high court will today decide whether to allow the legal challenge to proceed. It is being led by the mayor of a town in north Yorkshire, the Guardian says. BBC News continues coverage of a debate last week in parliament: “Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and SNP MPs lined up to lambast the [fast-tracking shale gas planning] proposals and call for a rethink,” it reports. Separately, the Independent interviews fracking protestor Simon Blevins, who was briefly jailed for his part in action at a Cuadrilla site.

More Evidence Points to China as Source of Ozone-Depleting Gas
New York Times Read Article

There is new evidence showing China is behind the resurgence of banned industrial gases that harm the ozone layer and contribute to global warming, reports the New York Times, picking up on findings from the NGO the Environmental Investigation Agency. Rogue factories in China are behind the resurgence, it says.

Comment.

The Guardian view on environmental activism: new energy is welcome
Editorial, The Guardian Read Article

“Protestors promising a new wave of civil disobedience linked to the extinction crisis are right to be infuriated by government inaction,” says an editorial in the Guardian. In light of chancellor Philip Hammond failure to mention climate change at all in last week’s budget and the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on 1.5C, the editorial says: “It is not rational to deny that [the activists] are justified in rebelling against the government’s inaction”.

Is corporate Australia facing a 'tipping point' on climate change?
Ruth Williams, Sydney Morning Herald Read Article

Last week, Australia’s second biggest asset manager said investors, regulators and companies were reaching a “tipping point” on their approach to climate change, writes Ruth Williams in the Sydney Morning Herald. So far, investor action on the issue has often related to asking for information about climate risks, Williams notes, asking “what comes next?” She points to shareholder resolutions on climate action, as well as divestment, noting that the latter is not an option for “the big passive managers like Blackrock and Vanguard”. Meanwhile, an article from Reuters says: “Years of energy policy flip-flops are holding up billions of dollars of investment in new generation and transmission even as Australia looks to prevent a repeat of blackouts suffered over the past two years.” It says A$25bn in investment will be needed for a mix of wind, solar, hydro, batteries and grid infrastructure, as well as gas power, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator. In the Guardian, Australian political editor Katharine Murphy argues: “Instead of ‘fair dinkum’ power, how about some ‘fair dinkum’ action?” Muprhy – riffing on the language used in prime minister Scott Morrison’s call for “fair dinkum power” – notes the coalition government is being “lambasted for doing nothing” to tackle climate change.

The Mail on Sunday comment: There's only one way to stamp out the BBC's blatant bias
Editorial, Mail on Sunday Read Article

An editorial in the Mail on Sunday lambasts the “blatant political and cultural bias” of the BBC. “On many issues – from man-made global warming to drug legalisation – the BBC makes no attempt to be or even look impartial,” it says. The BBC recently issued editorial guidelines on how to cover climate change, as first reported by Carbon Brief. Meanwhile, the Guardian reports comments from Sir David Attenborough on the launch of his new BBC wildlife series “Dynasties”. Attenborough says repeated warnings about human destruction of the natural world can be a turn-off for viewers, the Guardian reports. Separately, a comment article in the Irish edition of the Times says: “We need more heretics to question the new religion of tackling climate change.” The author, Cormac Lucey, bemoans the “air of hysteria used to promote it as a cause” and says: “I am somewhat sceptical about the ideology of climate change”.

It’s not rocket science: Climate change was behind this summer’s extreme weather
Michael Mann, Washington Post Read Article

Prof Michael Mann of the Penn State Earth System Science Center writes in the Washington Post about his new co-authored Science study, which shows that a key factor behind the rise in extreme summer weather events is not being captured by current generation climate models: “We showed that climate change is causing the summer jet stream to behave increasingly oddly. The characteristic continental-scale meanders of the jet stream (its ‘waviness’) as it travels from west to east are becoming more pronounced and are tending to remain locked in place for longer stretches of time…Just as climate models almost certainly underestimate the impact climate change has already had on such weather extremes, projections from these models also likely underestimate future increases in these types of events.”

How to power India: Modi tweaks the energy mix
Anjli Raval, Financial Times Read Article

India’s government needs to weigh consumer aspirations against fears of pollution as the country grapples with a surge in oil demand and an investment boom, writes Anjli Raval in a Financial Times “big read”. “According to government figures, more than 230m vehicles clog up India’s roads, up threefold since 2001, but it is still an under-developed market,” Raval notes, with the number of fuel stations having risen 40% in six years. “The rapid growth in India is set to support the global energy industry at a time demand growth for oil elsewhere is slowing,” the feature says, with a chart from the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggesting China will overtake the US as the number one user of oil before 2035 – with India not far behind. “Yet India is also battling air pollution and collaborating on international emissions policies, given its vulnerability to climate-related stress,” Raval notes. “In a country where fossil fuels account for 90 per cent of its energy mix, its choices have an impact on the environment as well as global energy markets.” The feature covers coal use as well as oil, quoting the IEA’s head of demand outlook Laura Cozzi saying: “Solar is as cheap as coal in certain areas, but the challenge is to keep up with demand and to do it cheaply”.

How Washington state can lead Washinngton, DC, on climate change
Editorial, USA Today Read Article

“Washington DC remains hopelessly gridlocked on the existential threat posed by human-induced climate change,” says an editorial in USA Today. It says Washington state has an “opportunity to do something about it on election day” as voters will choose tomorrow whether to tax greenhouse gas emissions under “Initiative 1631”. The tax would start at $15 per tonne of CO2, rising by $2 per year through 2035, it explains, with 70% of the money raised invested in clean energy, 25% to protect water and forests and the rest to support communities and workers affected by the tax. “Washington’s ballot measure could offer a worthwhile template for other states and – who knows? – maybe one day for lawmakers in Washington, DC.” Meanwhile, BuzzFeed News reports on the election race in Florida, where “Republican candidates are talking about climate change – because they have to.”

Science.

Spatiotemporal Analysis of Near-Miss Violent Tornadoes in the United States
Weather Climate & Society Read Article

A new study investigates the frequency of “near-miss” violent tornadoes in the US – i.e. those which had a “nontrivial probability of causing loss of life or property, but did not due to chance”. The researchers collected and replicated the “footprint” of every violent tornado in the US during 1995-2016 and estimated the population at risk from each one. The results suggest that violent tornadoes are more likely to touch down in less populated areas, with only around a third potentially impacting 5,000 people or more. “Hits and near-misses were most common in the Southern Plains and Southeastern US with the highest risk in central Oklahoma and northern Alabama,” the researchers note.

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