Study: Global warming has dramatically upped the odds of extreme heat events
News
Study: Global warming has dramatically upped the
odds of extreme heat events
The Washington Post, along with many other media outlets,
reports the findings of a new study by Switzerland-based
climatologists Erich Fischer and Reto Knutti, in which they perform
an analysis, not for any individual event, but rather for all daily
heat and precipitation extremes of a “moderate” magnitude occurring
over land in our current climate. The Post stresses that “this does
not mean that these extreme events are ’caused’ by climate change;
rather, it means they were made more likely to occur in a
statistical sense.” The Independent, MailOnline, Guardian, Time, Nature, NBC NewsandReutersall carry the story.
And Carbon Briefexplains the study,
speaking to Knutti.
Climate and energy news
Vatican urges action on climate
change
The BBC’s environment analyst is in Rome ahead of today’s
Vatican conference “Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity”, which is
being held at the Vatican Science Academy. The meeting is a
precursor to the much-anticipated papal encyclical on climate
change expected next month. Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sondoro, who
heads the academy, tells Harrabin that the “oil industry was
fomenting distrust of science in the US because it did not want
society to change”. The New York Times Natureand theWashington Postalso preview
today’s meeting. Meanwhile, DesmogUKreports on attempts by a
small group of climate sceptics to influence the meeting. Earlier
this month, Carbon Briefpublished an explainer
on the papal encyclical.
Prince Charles on brink of ending all fossil fuel
investments
The Prince of Wales is on the “brink of eradicating all
fossil fuel investments from his financial holdings”, according to
the Guardian. Over the weekend, sources at Buckingham Palace
confirmed to the Financial Timesthat “his private
investments and his charitable foundation do not have any fossil
fuel holdings”. The Guardian has now also received a statement from
the £900m Duchy of Cornwall estate, from which the heir to the
throne extracts an annual income. It said it “does not have any
direct hydrocarbon investments. A review of collective investments
is currently being undertaken”.
UK people happy to cut energy use, but wary of
smart meters
A study published in Nature Climate Change has found that
many people in the UK are worried about having smart meters in
their homes because they fear that data about their personal energy
use will be shared. In an online survey of more than 2,400 people
in the UK, Alexa Spence of Nottingham University found that a fifth
would be “uncomfortable” with smart meter data sharing. However,
those who were more concerned about climate change tended to be
more amenable to data sharing. The Guardianalso carries the story.
Leaked: EU confident plans for UN climate deal
progressing
European Union officials are confident most of the world’s
top greenhouse gas emitters are on track to deliver carbon cutting
plans ahead of a UN summit in Paris this December. A leaked
document seen by RTCC offers feedback from meetings with 62
countries after an intensive diplomatic push by Brussels and EU
member states. China, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Australia are set to
deliver pledges by June, according to the document. Brazil is
aiming for October, but the document does not mention India.
Hedge funds bet big on oil price
rally
Hedge funds have placed one of their largest ever bets on a
rally in oil prices, just as evidence mounts that energy companies
are hunkering down for a delayed recovery, reports the FT. Exchange
data show hedge funds and other large speculators have accumulated
a record-breaking number of North Sea Brent futures and options
contracts equal to almost 265m barrels of oil – the equivalent of
almost three days of global oil demand.
Deforestation area the size of Germany, France,
Spain and Portugal by 2030 say
WWF
By 2030, up to 170 million hectares of forest – equivalent
to the combined size of Germany, France, Spain and Portugal – could
be lost, WWF has warned. The deforestation “hotspots” are expected
to be the Amazon, the Atlantic Forest and Gran Chaco, and the
Cerrado in South America, the Choco-Darien in Central America, the
Congo Basin, East Africa, eastern Australia, the Greater Mekong in
South East Asia, Borneo, New Guinea and Sumatra. The
Guardianalso carries the story.
We’ll need Russian gas for years to come, says
Centrica
Europe will remain dependent on Russian gas for many years,
energy giant Centrica has warned, dismissing suggestions the EU can
replace it with other sources as “unrealistic”. Iain Conn, Centrica
chief executive, told shareholders: “Russia supplies…about a
third of Europe’s gas. You can’t switch that off easily without
huge consequence. There is no way the US can supply that volume of
LNG [liquid natural gas] to replace it.”
Climate and energy comment
Scepticism over rising temperatures? Lord Lawson
peddles a fake controversy
Ward casts a cynical eye on a new “inquiry” set up by the
Global Warming Policy Foundation, a UK-based climate sceptic lobby
group, to re-examine global surface temperature datasets. “The move
by Lord Lawson’s foundation was widely expected because it casts
doubt on the scientific evidence for global warming ahead of the UN
climate change summit in Paris at the end of this year…This is
just the latest attempt by climate change sceptics to damage
confidence in the global temperature record.”
From ‘axe the tax’ to ‘climate consensus’: how
Abbott reshaped our climate
story
Frankel, an Australian pollster, says the Abbott government
has been successful in getting the climate movement “tangled in
talking about the science of climate change, policy details of
climate action, and now Lomborg’s cost-benefit analysis angle”. He
adds: “The result is the story about the big polluters, and the
solution story about clean energy, get buried in bureaucratic
climate talk. The public are left with the story about the
costs…The word ‘carbon’ is something most people can make neither
head nor tail of. It confuses the hell out of them.”
We need our leaders to speak out on climate
change, not stay silent
Adam
Corner, Guardian Sustainable Business
The less that political, community and business leaders talk
about climate change, the more scope there is for scepticism to
emerge, argues Corner, the research director for the Climate
Outreach & Information Network (COIN). He notes: “One important
factor known to influence public opinion is whether elite groups
(such as politicians and other public figures) give positive or
negative cues on climate change. What our political leaders say
about climate change matters – especially if they say nothing at
all.”
New climate science
Increased Interannual Precipitation Extremes over
California Under Climate Change
A new study projects that extremely dry wet seasons in
California will become about 1.5 to two times more common by the
end of the century, while wet extremes will occur about three times
as often. Despite these trends, evidence from observations and
models suggests low rainfall associated with the 2013/4 drought in
the region is very likely down to natural variability, say the
researchers.
Metabolic and trophic interactions modulate
methane production by Arctic peat microbiota in response to
warming
Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences
Microbes in Arctic permafrost can adapt rapidly to warming
temperatures to produce methane at consistently high rates, a new
study finds. Researchers collected peat samples from soils in
Svalbard and incubated them at different temperatures. Their
results showed that methane production rates rose rapidly with
temperature, and that microbes could adapt to warmer conditions
within 30 days.
Public perceptions of demand-side management and a
smarter energy future
Reluctance to share data about personal energy use is likely
to be an obstacle to ‘smart’ technologies that monitor use and
support energy efficient behaviours, new research suggests.
Researchers surveyed around 2,500 UK residents and found that just
over half were willing to reduce their energy use. However,
approximately a fifth of respondents said they were uncomfortable
sharing data about their energy use with other organisations.
Rapid evolution of thermal tolerance in the water
flea Daphnia
For the first time, scientists have documented a genetic
change in the thermal tolerance of a species in the wild. The study
of the water flea Daphnia in lake sediments between the 1960s and
2000s found increased tolerance to higher temperatures. The
evolution is likely a response to more frequent heat waves over the
past decades, the researchers say.
Other stories
- Microbes play villainous role in Arctic climate
change (New Scientist) - General Election 2015: Why has climate change
melted off the election agenda when it should be a boiling point
issue? (WalesOnline) - From the carbon bubble to ‘dirty
energy’ (BBC News) - Drought may bring West Coast brownouts this
summer: energy secretary (Reuters) - Climate indicators suggest El Nino is forming –
Australian weather bureau (Reuters) - Work begins on US’s first offshore wind
farm (The Hill) - Ghana told to stop new oil drilling in disputed
waters (BBC News) - Solar farm generates dazzling returns for local
residents (BBC News) - ()