Storm Desmond & Paris climate change talks yield first draft
News
COP21: Paris climate change talks yield first draft amid air of optimism
After a week of negotiations in Paris, diplomats managed to sign off a draft text that it is hoped ministers can finalise by the end of this week. While all the contentious issues are still on the table, the draft text demonstrates progress and has raised hopes that a deal can be struck, says theGuardian. Nonetheless, the document remains “cluttered in brackets” that ministers will have to untangle, says Associated Press. French climate ambassador Laurence Tubiana has warned that major political issues have yet to be resolved, reports the BBC. Reuters includes the views of various negotiators, including those fro China, South Africa and the EU. Nature, Agence France Presse, Xinhua and the Business Standard also cover the story.
Storm Desmond: Homes flooded and thousands without power
Thousands of homes have been flooded and tens of thousands are without power across northern England and parts of Scotland, reports the BBC. Storm Desmond brought more than 340mm of rain in 24 hours, smashing a previous 316mm record set in 2009 when homes were also flooded, as theGuardian notes. More flooding could be on the way today, says the Times, which also notes the record-breaking rains. The floods are a sign of things to come, say campaigners quoted in aGuardian article that links the heavier rainfall to climate change. Met Office research found the wet UK winter of 2013/14 was made more likely by climate change, as Carbon Brief reported. The link between flooding and climate change has been controversial in the past, as a 2014 Carbon Brieffactcheck attests.
G20 sets up task force to get firms to disclose climate risks
At an event at COP21, Bank of England governor and Mark Carney, also chairman of the G20’s Financial Stability Board, launched a task force designed to get companies to disclose the risks they face from climate change. The task force will be chaired by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, reports the Guardian. Alleged failures to disclose climate risks is behind the legal probes into Exxon and Peabody, says Bloomberg Business. An initial 10-member task force will come up with a scope and goals by next March, reports Business Green. Business must admit climate change is real, Bloomberg said, according to Canada’s CBC. China’s Xinhua also reported the news. The London Times reported the announcement under the headline “Loving the planet could make you richer”.
Justine Greening: Our choice is climate aid or more refugees
Helping poor countries deal with climate change is in Britain’s national interest, says international development secretary Justine Greening in an interview with the Telegraph. Without climate aid, more refugees might arrive in the UK, she says. An “investigation” in the Times says the UK is “lavishing” £274m on the “controversial” Strategic Climate Fund, created in 2008 by George W Bush. Carbon Brief published a detailed analysis of UK climate finance in July.
COP21: UK under fire on climate policy
The UK faces allegations of hypocrisy as energy and climate secretary Amber Rudd arrives in Paris today, reports the BBC. The government has talked “impressively” on climate change to an international audience while down-grading policy at home. The BBC has asked the Treasury questions including if it accepts recent changes will “mostly increase emissions”, but has received no response.
COP21: Small island states hopeful of climate damage deal
Industry argues for UK electricity subsidy reform
The UK’s capacity market, which provides subsidies to ensure adequate electricity supplies, should be reformed according to industry groups that helped design the scheme, says the Financial Times. Another capacity market auction is due to take place this month, amid criticism the process could hand hundreds of millions to highly polluting small-scale diesel generators.
Comment
COP21: Climate change is the challenge of our generation – here’s how we tackle it
Andrew Sentance, The Telegraph
Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser at PwC, runs through his views on why Paris will yield a more successful deal than Copenhagen. Technology is having a bigger impact through renewables and in the development of electric cars, he writes. But there will still need to be changes in lifestyles, including the need to become more energy efficient at home and at work. There also needs to be a wider use of electricity to heat homes and power cars, while accepting that energy will not be as cheap as it was in the past. The agenda sounds intimidating, but will be manageable if approached sensibly, he writes.
Warming to an answer on climate change
While nations have put their climate pledges on the table ahead of Paris, there continue to be difficulties for all the major emitters, says an editorial in the Chicago Tribune. Obama’s pledge is not fully supported by Congress and India plans to keep burning coal. The outlook is good for a deal on climate change by the end of this week — but the deal will only be meaningful if leaders act with more urgency once they have returned to their home countries.
COP21: Missing on Paris climate summit agenda: A return to nature
Mark Tully, The Hindustan Times
Mark Tully, former Bureau Chief of BBC, New Delhi, writes that the UN climate talks are ignoring nature and relying too heavily on technology. This is the elephant in the room, says Tully, as it allows humans to continue with their current lifestyles “with a clear conscience”, including cutting down forests and plundering the seas. He also questions Modi’s ability to fulfil his promises, saying that nothing he has done so far shows he is prepared to make the “radical structural reforms” needed to fulfil his climate commitments.
Science
Glacier maxima in Baffin Bay during the Medieval Warm Period coeval with Norse settlement
When the Vikings arrived in Greenland in the 10th century, the conditions might not have been as clement as previously thought, as new study suggests. Samples of boulders left by advancing glaciers over the last 1,000 years in southwest Greenland suggest that glaciers were at – or near – their maximum extent around the time to Vikings colonised Greenland. The findings imply that it was at least as cold when they arrived as when they left several centuries later, the researchers say, and so climate probably played little role in their mysterious demise.
Other stories
- Should you believe polls of what China thinks about climate change? (Noise of the Crowd)
- Half of £24bn nuclear reactor investment will go to overseas suppliers (The Guardian)
- Radio 4 show on climate ‘broke rules’ (The Times)
- El Niño is related to long-term climate patterns in Northern Hemisphere (Mail Online)
- An unspoken option if climate talks fail: Geoengineering (Associated Press via Yahoo)
- Stop Saying Climate Change Causes War (Foreign Policy)
- Exxon put on mock trial in Paris for ‘climate crimes’ (Climate Home)
- COP21 diary: Envoys meet in open, fearing rooms are bugged (Climate Home)
- COP21: Coalition of business leaders challenges 2C climate change target (The Guardian)
- New Charts Show The Downward Spiral Of Chinese Coal Use (Climate Progress)
- COP21: Nicaragua refuses to make climate pledge at Paris talks (The Financial Times)
- From Bangladesh flood map to the Bank of England, a ‘carbon bubble’ is born (Reuters)