Pope to weigh in on climate change action
News
Pope to weigh in on climate changeaction
In a sign that Pope Francis will aggressively push forclimate change action in his much anticipated encyclical, a senior Vatican officialyesterday launched an attack on fossil fuels and urged wealthynations to slash their carbon emissions. Addressing the Vaticanclimate summit yesterday, United Nations chief Ban-Ki moonyesterday strongly supported the Pope’s treatment of climate actionas a moral imperative, says The Times. Meanwhile, climate changesceptics claim Pope Francis is “deeply ill-informed” about globalwarming, having been fed false information by the UN,reports The Telegraph. In a hotel conferenceroom nearby, the Heartland Institute – a climate skeptic USthinktank – gave a press conference accusing the pontiff ofscare-mongering on the issue. But prominent UK skeptics, ViscountMonckton of Brenchley and James Delingpole, were interrupted by”papal heavies” half-way through making their point,reports The Independent. The New York Times, RTCC, APand The Washington Postall have moreon the story.
Climate and energy news
Shell and BP alone eclipse renewable energy sectoron access to ministers
The fossil fuel sector is enjoying far more access togovernment than renewable energy companies, according to Guardiananalysis. Between 2010 and 2014, ministers held 230 meetings withShell, BP, ExxonMobil, Total, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and the tradeorganisation Oil & Gas UK compared to 119 for organisations inthe renewable sector. Former green MP Caroline Lucas criticised theapparent priority given to fossil fuel giants, saying: “The chasmunearthed here is sadly illustrative of a government out of touchwith the vast opportunities offered by the renewables industry”.
BP first-quarter profit falls 20% as crude oilprice plunges
BP’s profits in the first quarter of 2015 fell to $2.1bn, a39% decline on the same period last year. But this is better thanexpected, says The Telegraph, as analysts predicted theoil giant would feel a much tighter pinch from falling crudeprices. Chief executive Bob Dudley says the company’s performanceis down to a careful period of “resetting and rebalancing”investment priorities. The company has cut expenditure by 20% thisyear and laid off staff in high-cost operating areas such as theNorth Sea. The BBCalso has the story.
Artificially manipulating Arctic climate by’whitening’ surface of ocean to reflect sunlight back into spacewill fail, say scientists
Attempts to whiten the surface of the Arctic Ocean toreflect sunlight are doomed to fail, according to new research.This radical suggestion for how to artificially manipulate theclimate in the event of a “global emergency” may allow some ice toreform but warming in the region would persist, says theIndependent. Even if ocean whitening held some potential forlowering temperatures or preserving permafrost, there is currentlyno technically feasible way to do it, the researchers note.
Amazon: 1% of tree species store 50% of region’scarbon
A new study estimates that just 1% of tree species areresponsible for locking up half of the carbon absorbed by the vastAmazon forest. The findings, published in the journal NatureCommunications, show just a few of the region’s 16,000 tree speciesare “hyperdominant”, says co-author Sophie Fauset from theUniversity of Leeds. A second study suggests emissions from forestscould be underestimated because calculations have not fullyaccounted for the dead wood from logging.
UK installed more solar power than any otherEuropean country in 2014
The UK installed more than a third of new European solarcapacity last year, outperforming more traditional solarpowerhouses Germany and France. But with just 7GW of new capacity,installation rates across the bloc fell to just a third of 2011levels, according to preliminary figures by the EuropeanPhotovoltaic Industry Association.
Climate and energy comment
Britain’s political leaders have a clear moralduty to end coal-fired power
Nicholas Holtam, the Bishop of Salisbury, calls for a moralawakening on climate change in today’s Guardian, urging politicalleaders to close the chapter on old king coal in Britain no laterthan 2025. The church aims to cut the carbon footprint of 42dioceses and 16,000 churches by 80% by 2050, and is expected toannounce in July if it will divest from fossil fuels.
New climate science
Deadwood biomass: an underestimated carbon stockin degraded tropical forests?
Global carbon emissions from forests could be underestimatedbecause calculations don’t fully account for the dead wood fromlogging, a new study suggests. Selective logging, where onlyhigh-value trees are removed, accounts for around 30% of tropicaldeforestation around the world. But this leaves behind significanttree debris, the researchers say, which releases carbon dioxide asit decays.
Hyperdominance in Amazonian forest carboncycling
Approximately 1% of all tree species are responsible forhalf of the carbon storage and productivity of the Amazonrainforest, new research finds. Despite being home to an estimated16,000 different species, about half of all Amazonian trees belongto just 227 species, the study says. The findings raise concernsthe forest could be less resilient to the impacts of climate changethan previously thought, the researchers say.
Impacts of ocean albedo alteration on Arctic seaice restoration and Northern Hemisphereclimate
A new study investigates a potential geoengineering optionof artificially whitening the Arctic to stem sea ice decline andfuture global temperature rise. Researchers modelled the impact ofraising the surface albedo, or reflectivity, of the Arctic Ocean.The results show that despite reducing some loss of sea ice, theoption didn’t have a substantial impact on global temperatures andhad potentially significant adverse effects on Arctic marineecosystems and northern hemisphere weather.
Other stories
- India to voluntarily reduce emission intensity ofGDP (Press Trust of India)
- Onshore Wind Earns U.K. $1.4 Billion Amid Plans toEnd Subsidies (Bloomberg)
- Three steps to build a greener and climateresilient India (RTCC)
- Venezuela rations electricity as demand soars amidhot weather (Reuters via The Guardian)
- BP’s ‘activist resolution’ was a triumph forenvironmentalists – or was it? (The Guardian)
- US drought takes its toll on clean energyproduction (The Washington Post via The Guardian)