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El Niño set to cause worldwide hunger & no long-term future in tar sands

01.10.15

News

Record El Niño set to cause hunger for 10 million poorest, Oxfam warns

The Guardian

At least 10 million of the world’s poorest people are set to go hungry this year because of failing crops caused by one of the strongest El Niño events on record, Oxfam warns. In a report, called Entering Uncharted Waters, the charity says the El Niño will rival that of 1998, and several countries are already facing a “major emergency”, such as Ethiopia, where 4.5 million are in need of food aid because of a prolonged scarcity of rain this year. Reuters also covers the story.

No long-term future in tar sands, says Alberta’s premier

The Guardian

The leader of Canada’s biggest oil-producing province says she sees no long-term future in fossil fuels, predicting Alberta would move beyond fossil fuels within a century. In an early reveal of her forthcoming new energy policy, Alberta’s Rachel Notley said she would fight climate change by cleaning up the tar sands, shutting down coal-fired power plants, and converting to wind and solar power. The move is likely to put her on a collision course with Canada’s conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, the Guardian says.

European and African countries launch plan to protect tropical rainforest in the Congo

Reuters via The Telegraph

Six African nations have agreed with donors including the UK on a plan to protect the tropical forests of the Congo basin, the second biggest in the world after the Amazon’s, to help ease poverty and combat climate change. Norway, the first donor to announce a pledge for the project, said it would give up to £31 million a year from 2016 to 2020. The project aims to slow illegal logging and burning of forests in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Climate Home also has the story.

World’s energy systems at risk from global warming, say leading firms

The Guardian

Energy infrastructure around the world is at risk from more extreme weather as a result of climate change, a group of prominent energy companies has warned. Energy systems, such as fossil fuel power stations, distribution grids, and power networks are all at risk from effects such as flooding, severe storms and sea level rises, says a new report from the World Energy Council (WEC). Christoph Frei, secretary-general of the WEC, warned that current estimates for adapting modern energy systems to extreme weather “do not fully account for the additional financing required to accommodate these new emerging risks.”

Many natural World Heritage sites threatened by oil, mining – report

Reuters

Almost a third of natural World Heritage sites are threatened by mining and oil exploration, and companies and investors face reputational and legal risks by backing such activities, reports Reuters. As many as 70 out of the 229 sites are at risk from extractive industries, the research from the WWF and asset managers Aviva Investors and Investec. This includes most of Africa’s 41 natural heritage sites, designated by UNESCO as areas that have outstanding natural beauty or have ecological significance.

Italian firm Eni poised to begin Arctic oil quest as Shell quits Alaska

The Guardian

Italian oil giant Eni will press ahead with oil production in the Arctic by the end of the year, undeterred by Shell’s decision to abandon its search for Arctic oil. Eni is making final preparations to a £3.6bn project in the Norwegian Arctic, which would become the world’s northernmost offshore oil field to come on stream. The project hopes to pump 100,000 barrels of oil per day from reserves believed to hold around 175m barrels of oil and 8bn cubic metres of gas. A spokesman for Eni told the Guardian that work at Goliat is at its “final stage”. The project’s 64,000-tonne floating platform is already in place and its wells have been drilled, ready for imminent production, a spokesman said.

England’s universities are losing steam on climate change

The Guardian

More than three-quarters of England’s universities are set to miss carbon reduction targets for 2020, new analysis suggests. The results show emissions from the majority (76%) of 127 universities are due to miss the target of 43% reduction across the sector by 2020, as set by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in 2010. The overall reduction is likely to be closer to just 12% by that date, with 35 universities found to have increased their carbon emissions since 2005.

Subsidies for solar panel industry ‘cut to less than £2m’

The Times

The government is to spend less on subsidies for new solar rooftop panels from next year than it has committed to give China to fund a grass-roots football programme, figures show. Calculations by the Solar Trade Association say that solar subsidies would fall to less than £2 million a year – a 98% cut from the present £70 million. Britain’s solar industry expects demand for solar panels to evaporate because of the cuts, prompting job losses and the collapse of many companies, The Times says.

Comment

Mark Carney’s climate warning splits opinion

The Financial Times

Mark Carney’s speech on the risks of climate change to investors has split opinion, with the governor of the Bank of England being branded “either a far-sighted visionary or a dangerously deluded fool,” says Clark. Particularly under attack is Carney’s views on stranded assets – that vast reserves of oil, gas and coal will be uneconomic to extract as the world shifts towards cleaner fuels to avoid the risk of climate change, says Clark in a separate piece. Martin Sandbu takes a closer look at the issue and the adjustments needed to avoid greater financial instability, concluding: “Carney’s conclusion is spot on: all this means markets need to be created to manage the orderly transition.”

Getting to $100 Billion in Climate Change Aid

The New York Times

Porter examines the progress made towards hitting the promised $100 billion a year in climate finance to address the needs of developing countries. While developed nations have pledged around half the amount, there are differences in opinion as to what is development aid money and what is climate finance. Reaching $100 billion is even more important for its diplomatic significance, Porter argues, as a “down payment intended to encourage [developing] countries to redouble efforts to cut carbon emissions.”

Science

International Journal of Climatology

A new study suggests the most intense rainfall events in England and Wales have not become more severe between 1931 and 2014. However, four recent years (2000, 2007, 2008 and 2012) have seen a greater number of extreme events in the 3- and 5-day accumulations than any previous year in the record. These are particularly relevant for river flooding risks, the study says. It is the duration of rainfall events in these years that is remarkable, rather than the magnitude of the daily rainfall amounts, the researchers say.