Giant arch slides over Chernobyl site to block radiation for a century, Brussels to cut power subsidies to meet Paris Agreement, & more
News
Giant arch slides over Chernobyl site to block radiation for a century
The world’s largest land-based moving structure has been positioned over the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, to prevent radiation escaping from the reactor for the next 100 years, and allow the remains of the reactor to be dismantled safely. The ‘New Safe Confinement’ arch has been slowly pulled over the site during the last four days, and is a major milestone in decades of efforts to secure the site, Reuters reports. It was funded by donations amounting to over 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion). You can watch time-lapse footage of its construction. Energy Live News and the MailOnline also have the story.
Brussels to cut power subsidies to meet Paris Agreement
The European Commission will reveal plans today to eliminate public subsidies for power generation by coal, gas and peat in a five-year transition period, as part of an effort to help the EU meet its climate pledges made under the Paris Agreement. The 1,000-page document also outlines plans to step up the use of renewable energy. The energy market overhaul will go ahead despite doubt over Washington’s support, the Financial Times reports. Miguel Arias Cañete, the EU’s climate and energy commissioner, presented the overhaul of energy markets as an opportunity to pump €190bn into Europe’s struggling economy by increasing investment in wind power and other forms of renewable energy, and to spur the creation of 900,000 jobs.
Pope Francis: “Never been such a clear need for science” to protect the planet
Pope Francis has implored world leaders not to delay the implementation of global environmental pacts, during a gathering of scientists at the Vatican. The remarks ‘appeared aimed’ at President-elect Donald Trump’s vows to end the US’ leading role in combating climate change, the Washington Post writes. The pope commented that there has “never been such a clear need for science” and that “the ‘distraction’ or delay in implementing global agreements on the environment shows that politics has become submissive to a technology and economy which seek profit above all else”. The Hill also carries the story. The pope has been a vocal advocate for action on climate change, dedicating an encyclical last year to the subject.
Antarctica ice shelf is breaking from the inside out
An ice sheet in West Antarctica is breaking from the inside out, according to research published yesterday in Geophysical Research Letters. The ocean is melting the interior of Pine Island Glacier, which is about the size of Texas, Scientific American reports. The crack seems to be accelerating, said the study’s lead author Ian Howat: “It’s showing a new weakness in the ice shelf, and it’s showing the weakness may be extending far up the glacier…That’s the alarming thing from our standpoint”. Elsewhere in Antarctica, scientists have begun searching for the world’s oldest ice.
China to invest $174 billion in hydro and wind from 2016-2020: NEA
China will spend at least 1.2 trillion yuan ($174 billion) on hydro and wind energy infrastructure between 2016 and 2020, its National Energy Administration has said, providing about 300,000 new jobs by 2020. It also aims to have a market-based subsidy system for the wind industry, Reuters reports.
Trump adviser Conway to tour Alberta oil sands
Donald Trump’s aide Kellyanne Conway will make a trip to the Alberta oil sands in Canada before January’s inauguration, the Hill reports. Alberta’s oil sands are the source of the sands oil that was set to flow through the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that was rejected by Obama, but that which Trump has said he will approve. The Alberta Prosperity Fund described her visit as “a call to action for Alberta industry whose competitiveness and market access have been restricted by excessive regulation and public protests”. The Washington Post also has the story.
Opec heavy-hitters rush to rescue supply deal
Opec’s most powerful members, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, were scrambling on Tuesday to rescue a deal to curb oil supplies and end the long price decline, the Financial Times reports. The cartel of oil-producing nations is trying to finalise a deal to curb production at between 32.5m and 33m barrels a day but its 14 members have not yet agreed how the cuts will be dealt out.
UK grid loses half the power from link to France
Half the capacity of a major power link beneath the English Channel has been knocked out, leading to a threat of higher electricity prices in the UK this winter. The fault happened in the midst of Storm Angus last Sunday, and National Grid is investigating whether a boat’s anchor is to blame. The cable will not be fixed until February, the Telegraph reports.
Comment
Burning less coal isn’t just making air cleaner. It’s making your tuna safer
A feature in the Washington Post takes a look at how burning less coal doesn’t just have benefits for reducing air pollution and combating climate change – it has also been found to reduce the levels of methylmercury in bluefin tuna caught in the gulf of Maine. Research published this month found a decrease in their methylmercury levels of of 2% per year as nearby coal power stations began closing in 2008. Although the mercury levels in the fish were still dangerously high, “the research showed that the benefits of lowering coal emissions as power plants switch to natural gas are almost immediate and measurable”, the Darryl Fears writes.
Earth isn’t doomed yet. The climate could survive Trump policies.
Eduardo Porter, New York Times
If the president-elect keeps nuclear plants going and maintains momentum for wind, solar, and shale energy, the US could outdo its Paris pledges, despite his Trump’s promise to renege on the Paris Agreement, argues Eduardo Porter in the New York Times. If Trump is drawn to the objectives of promoting natural gas and achieving energy independence, then, despite his promises to bring back coal jobs, “he could well end up pursuing policies that would ultimately lower carbon emissions”, Porter notes.
Let the people lighten energy load with citizen-owned schemes
“The potential for citizen involvement in electricity production is considerable”, writes Gérard Magnin in the Guardian. Counting generation from wind and solar power alone, “small actors could meet almost half of Europe’s total electricity needs”, potentially transforming our energy system, if the right environment is created to enable them to do so. “These new entrants need to have fair access to the market, with rules designed for small, medium and large producers alike, without discrimination”, he writes, with an “end to punitive taxes, charges and administrative procedures that favour the bigger established players”.
Why land rights for indigenous peoples could be the answer to climate change
The best way – or at least the cheapest way – to stop climate change is to grant land rights to indigenous communities, writes explorer and documentary-maker Bruce Parry. Globally, one of the main causes of climate change is land-use change: the conversion of forest to agricultural land. Preventing deforestation is well-established as an efficient climate change mitigation strategy, and “indigenous peoples are the forests’ greatest conservationists”, he argues.
Science
Local reduction of decadal glacier thickness loss through mass balance management in ski resorts
A new paper describes how adaptation measures such as glacial cover, snow farming, and technical snow production have helped to reduce the thinning of glaciers in Austrian ski resorts. Using satellite data, the researchers studied the impact of these measures over the last decade. The findings show that the loss of ice thickness at ski resorts with the measures has been around half a metre per year less than at the resorts without them. The results are promising for the sustainable maintenance of the infrastructure at glacier ski resorts, the researchers say.
Variability and predictability of West African monsoon on seasonal and decadal scales
Recent observations suggest there have been strong decadal fluctuations in the Sahel and surrounding areas between the 1950s and the 2000s – not just in rainfall, but also sea surface temperature (SST), vegetation, and land use change. In a special issue of Climate Dynamics, a series of papers present the latest advances in modelling and evaluation of the West African Monsoon (WAM) – one of the main drivers of climate variability in the region. The findings from the papers will provide information that is not only useful for WAM research but also for society more widely, the researchers say, including applications in monitoring, water management, future projections, and possible mitigation activities.
Other stories
- Drax seeks to reinvent itself for a post-coal future (Financial Times )
- Australia to probe energy taxes after revenue drop (Financial Times)
- Revealed: Most popular climate story on social media told half a million people the science was a hoax (DeSmogBlog)
- Great Barrier Reef DIES: Scientists record BIGGEST ever coral die-off in history (Daily Express )
- Things Donald Trump has written and said on climate change (CNBC )
- Brand new Dutch coal plants are crashing in value (Climate Home )
- Biggest-ever coral die-off reported on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (Scientific American )
- Rowan Williams: Businesses are waking up to climate change (BusinessGreen )
- Bill for Japan’s Fukushima cleanup to double to $201 billion: source (Reuters )
- What will be bundled up in the European Commission’s winter package? (BusinessGreen )
- Researchers retract study suggesting pro-nuclear countries lag on clean energy (BusinessGreen )
- Paris climate deal needs US, warns White House (Climate Home )
- This is what it would take for Trump to truly damage the planet’s climate (Washington Post )
- A wrenching choice for Alaska towns in the path of climate change (New York Times )
- Trudeau reveals playbook on tackling Trump climate denial (Climate Home )
- North America’s grasslands are slowly disappearing — and no one’s paying attention (Washington Post )
- David Attenborough on climate change: ‘The world will be transformed’ – video (Guardian )