EU targets energy waste and coal subsidies in new climate package, Britain to become among world’s top wine-producing countries by 2100 - thanks to climate change, & more
News
EU targets energy waste and coal subsidies in new climate package
Europe will begin phasing out coal subsidies and cut its energy use by 30% by 2030, under a major clean energy package announced in Brussels yesterday. The 1,000-page blueprint to help the EU meet its Paris climate commitments also proposes measures to cut household electricity bills, integrate renewables into power markets, and limit use of unsustainable bioenergy. The Guardian says that “It is unclear whether the UK will pass the new clean energy measures into national law before an anticipated Brexit in 2019”. The BBC says that the energy efficiency proposal is “at the heart of a new package”, adding that “the plans also seek to boost renewables and give greater power to consumers to sell any electricity they produce. But green groups have criticised the measures saying they keep the door open for subsidies to coal.” It adds that a “contentious” issue is the “proposal to limit subsidies for fossil fuels in what are called capacity mechanisms, reserve supplies of power that member states keep on tap to prevent blackouts. These are often coal or gas fired plants but the Commission wants to impose a limit of 550 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour, which would rule out older coal plants but not newer, more efficient ones.” Reutershighlights the concerns of coal-dependent Poland which said the plan to put an emissions limit on subsidies would be “hasty and bad for the environment”. Desmog UK says fossil fuel lobbyists would be “celebrating” as the “EU gives coal subsidies a lifeline”. BusinessGreen describes the “once-in-a-decade” package – which will need to be approved by both the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament before entering law – as “cautious”.
Britain to become among world’s top wine-producing countries by 2100 – thanks to climate change
Britain is on target to become one of the world’s top wine-producing regions by 2100 “thanks to climate change”, reports the Mirror. It adds: “While traditional wine houses in Bordeaux, the Rhône valley and Tuscany will suffer from rising global temperatures, researchers have discovered central and eastern England could soon become prime locations for Sauvignon Blanc – with Pinot Grigio grown as far north as Scotland and Northumberland.” The research was commissioned by Laithwaite’s Wine, and conducted by Professor Mark Maslin and Lucien Georgeson from University College London. They looked at average temperature and rainfall conditions required for growing different grape varieties alongside predicted changes in climate over the next 85 years. The findings are also reported by the Express, Telegraph and Financial Times.
How Obama’s climate change legacy is weakened by US investment in dirty fuel
A Guardian investigation has found that “an obscure agency within [Obama’s] own administration has quietly spoiled his record [on climate] by helping fund a steady outpouring of new overseas fossil fuel emissions – effectively erasing gains expected from his headline clean power plan or fuel efficiency standards”. It explains: “Since January 2009, the US Export-Import Bank has signed almost $34bn worth of low-interest loans and guarantees to companies and foreign governments to build, expand and promote fossil fuel projects abroad…Since 2009, it has financed 70 fossil fuel projects.”
Arctic sea-ice struggles to build volume
The BBC reports that “there is likely to be about 10,500 cu km of Arctic sea-ice by the end of the week – a volume that would tie for the lowest on record for a November. It is another indicator of just how warm conditions in the polar north have been of late. Temperatures of -5C have been logged when -25C would be the norm.” The latest sea ice volume assessment comes from the Earth-orbiting Cryosat mission. This European Space Agency satellite carries a radar altimeter designed specifically for the purpose of studying marine floes.
Earth warming to climate tipping point, warns study
A warmer world will release vast volumes of carbon into the atmosphere, potentially triggering dangerous climate change, warn scientists. Writing in journal Nature, they project that an increase of 1C will release an additional 55bn tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere by 2050. This could trigger a “positive feedback”, they say, and push the planet’s climate system past the point of no-return. Previous assessments have not taken carbon released by soil into account. The scientists have produced a video to help explain their results. The Washington Post also carries the story.
Oil price surges as Opec agrees first production cut since 2008
Oil prices surged as much as 10pc to hit $52-a-barrel yesterday after the Opec cartel agreed to cut its production for the first time since 2008 in an attempt to address the global supply glut and lift prices. The Telegraph reports that Opec said it would reduce output by 1.2m barrels per day (bpd) to 32.5m bpd from January for at least six months, under a deal linked to co-ordinated cuts of 600,000 bpd by key non-Opec producers, including Russia. The Telegraph adds: “Experts warned that the devil would be in the detail of the Opec agreement and whether it is actually implemented. Even if it is, US shale may be the first beneficiary of rising prices rather than the cartel’s members or conventional oil projects.” The Financial Times echoes this by reporting that “shares of US energy groups soared on Wednesday, emerging as early winners from Opec’s pact to curb production”.
Over 2,000 scientists urge Trump to respect ‘scientific integrity and independence’
More than 2,300 scientists, including 22 Nobel Prize winners, have issued an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump and the 115th Congress, urging them to “adhere to high standards of scientific integrity and independence in responding to current and emerging public health and environmental health threats”. The list of distinguished signatories, who hail from all 50 states, includes medical scientists, physicists and many climate researchers. “I think all scientists are extremely concerned about what Trump might do to our scientific infrastructure,” said climate scientist Ken Caldeira, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science who signed the letter.
Deforestation spikes in Brazilian Amazon
Illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has spiked 29% since 2015, bringing the rate to its highest level in eight years. The finding has raised fears that the country could lose a decade’s worth of progress in forest protection. In an analysis of satellite data released 29 November, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in São José Dos Campos estimated that 7,989 square kilometres of land — an area more than half the size of Puerto Rico — was cleared between August 2015 and July 2016. The total was 29% above the previous year and 75% above the 2012 level, when deforestation hit a historic low of 4,571 square kilometres.
Shell studies green energy deals to prepare for future after oil
Royal Dutch Shell, the world’s second-biggest publicly listed oil company, is studying acquisitions in the green energy sector, its CEO tells Reuters, as it bows to shareholder demands for a strategy beyond fossil fuels. “The idea that you can just be a very clever observer and step in when the moment is right, forget about it,” says Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden. “I am convinced that in this space we will play an active role, a leading role and we will plan acquisitions in it…Of course we do believe in renewables but probably more in building the utilities and integrating them into our existing operations.”
EU climate spending criticised by auditors
The European Union could miss its climate spending targets due to fragmented funding and inflated numbers, warns the European Court of Auditors (ECA). Although in percentage terms the figures look small, the fact that the total budget is €1 trillion means a great deal of money is being spent on purposes other than mitigating or adapting to climate change. A report by the ECA reveals that some of the funds labelled climate adaptation were “not proven” to be that. If other criteria were used, the actual spending on climate-related issues in fisheries and agriculture alone would be €33 billion less than estimated. The report says the EU will spend just under 19% of its budget on climate-related activities by 2020, short of the union’s 20% spending goal.
Comment
Electric Avenue
The Times argues that the government must do more to address air pollution: “Though diesel vehicles are a health hazard, they produce less carbon dioxide than petrol vehicles. The last Labour government, which prioritised cutting CO2 emissions, therefore attached big fiscal incentives to diesel cars. As a result their market share rose to 50 per cent. That needs reversing. Diesel drivers will not thank the Treasury, but their children will, and incentives can be offered for scrapping diesel to cushion the blow…Old black cabs, which are among the worst offenders, should be excised from the streets altogether. The shift to electric also needs accelerating.”
EU climate chief: we need to be deal makers
Miguel Arias Canete, Climate Home
Climate Home has published the speech given by the EU’s climate commissioner on the day the bloc’s new energy package was released: “This is a comprehensive package full of ambitious measures that will help us reach our 2030 energy and climate objectives and our commitments under the Paris Agreement. With these proposals, the Commission has cleared the way to a more competitive, modern and cleaner energy system.”
A step up for geoengineering
The editorial urges that research into geoengineering must be allowed: “We will need to explore all available options, including the removal of CO2 directly from the air as well as a variety of geoengineering proposals that fix temperature change only…If we are serious about averting dangerous climate change we need to have all the options on the table, and as soon as possible, with a realistic quantification of their potential contribution and associated risks. We know already that restoring planetary balance will require a portfolio of actions, the first of which must be reducing fossil fuel emissions.”
Science
Prospects for a prolonged slowdown in global warming in the early 21st century
Taking the specific timeframe of 1998-2015, global average temperature at Earth’s surface did not warm as rapidly as during the late 20th century, due largely to cycles of natural variability masking the warming. A new paper suggests the existence of a strong period of naturally-forced cooling and/or an overestimation of transient climate sensitivity in models could mean a 16% chance that the period of slower warming persists to 2025. The paper takes account of the record hot year in 2015 but not 2016’s even warmer temperatures.
Will surface winds weaken in response to global warming?
Environmental Research Letters
Historical observations and model projections suggest that wind circulations at Earth’s surface will slow down as the climate warms. Now, a new study says that probably not the case. Observations surface wind speed has not decreased in the averaged tropical oceans, despite a reduction in the region of the Walker circulation, say the authors. Future projections for climate change also suggest a near-zero change in wind speed.
Decarbonizing the EU energy system by 2050: an important role for BECCS
A new study examining the implications of an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions of the EU’s energy system by 2050 against 1990 levels finds that in the absence of significant decarbonisation in the buildings and road transport sectors, substantial ‘negative emissions’ in the power sector will be needed. Decarbonisation would increase energy system costs by 14% compared to a no mitigation scenario – a cost the authors say represents a small additional investment above that required anyway. The study focuses on energy system costs and doesn’t include the likely economic costs of climate impacts under a no mitigation scenario.
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- How do we deal with the prospect of increased climate migration? (The Conversation )
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- Largest all-female expedition braves Antarctica to fight climate change – and inequality (The Independent )
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