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Theresa May: UK to ratify Paris climate change deal this year, expert agree fracking won't cut energy bills, & more

21.09.16

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Theresa May: UK to ratify Paris climate change deal this year

The Guardian

UK prime minister Theresa May has told the UN General Assembly in New York that the country will start the domestic process to ratify the UN Paris Agreement on climate change, and complete this by the end of the year. Her decision to do so will “relieve green campaigners” that she is serious about remaining a leader on climate change, says the Guardian. Greg Clark, the secretary of state for business, said: “The government is determined to tackle climate change to help create a safer and more prosperous future for us all. That is why we are now starting the process of ratifying the landmark climate deal signed in Paris.” The Independent also covers the story.

Experts agree fracking won’t cut energy bills, ad watchdog rules

The Telegraph

The Advertising Standards Agency has reversed a decision it took last year to ban a Greenpeace anti-fracking advert on the grounds that it said: “experts agree — it won’t cut our energy bills”. It has now called this decision “substantially flawed”. After reviewing the evidence again, it said in a judgement: The general consensus among most appeared to be that a meaningful reduction in UK domestic energy bills was highly unlikely and/or was limited to a small number of potential scenarios.” It is relatively rare for the ASA to overturn its rulings following an appeal, says the Guardian.

U.N. signals that climate deal has backing needed to enter force

The New York Times

The UN is confident that it has secured enough commitments from world leaders to bring the UN climate agreement into force this year. UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon is expected to announce this on Wednesday. Ban has led a sustained push to win the formal approval of 55 countries representing 55% of global emissions, which is the threshold for bringing the deal into force. There has been additional haste because of the threat of Donald Trump as president. The Republican candidate has promised to pull the US out of the agreement, if elected.

August is latest month to break its temperature record

The Hill

According to US federal scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, August was the 16th month in a row to break its temperature record. The departure from the average was the eighth largest on record, they said, while the 16-month streak of monthly temperature records is the longest scientists have ever recorded. It means that 2016 is likely to become the hottest year on record.

Clinton pulled climate from speeches after Sanders endorsement

Climate Home

Since gaining the endorsement of Bernie Sanders, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has cut the amount of times she mentions “climate change” in her speeches, according to analysis by Climate Home. During the last six months of her primary campaign against Sanders, the transcript log of her speeches shows she was talking about climate change at one out of every two speeches. In her 38 speeches since that point, her focus has swung to Trump. While she still talks regularly about her plan for the US to become a “clean energy superpower”, she has only mentioned climate change eight times — or one in five of public addresses.

US and China release fossil fuel subsidy peer reviews

Climate Home

The US and China have put forward their efforts to cut fossil fuel subsidies before peer review, with a panel of officials from China, Germany, Mexico, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development assessing their policies. The documents were released as part of China’s G20 presidency. The US documents show the difficulties of the US political system — all but three of the 16 policies marked for elimination need to be passed by Congress. China, meanwhile, had difficulty estimating the cost of its own subsidies, citing a rapidly changing policy environment.

Comment

How have the U.N.’s global goals fared one year on?

Reuters

With the UN General Assembly taking place in New York this week, it’s the one year anniversary since the UN signed its 17 Sustainable Development Goals into being. Reuters has asked a series of participants how they are faring one year on, including on climate change.

Our roads are choked. We’re on the verge of carmageddon

The Guardian

In his column, George Monbiot looks at the “monumental, world-class mistake” of politicians promising cars for everyone. The increase in road traffic — what he calls Carmageddon — is a disaster for the climate, public health and quality of life, he argues. He suggests various ways in which this could be eased, including more electric cars, scrappage payment and public transport tokens.

Trump threat looms over New York climate week

Climate Home

As Climate Week kicks off in New York, Climate Home editor Ed King looks at the shadow of Donald Trump that hangs over the event, and at the wider US context in which he would operate, if elected president. “There’s an unspoken fear of the momentum gained by the UN’s new Paris Agreement on climate change being Trumped,” he writes.

Science

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

The total amount of human-caused CO2 taken up by the ocean in the last three decades is less than previous estimates suggest, a new study says. The new analysis shows strong decadal variations in the global ocean carbon sink, with a long-term increase that corresponds roughly to that expected from the rise in atmospheric CO2. The decadal variations originate mostly from the oceans outside of the tropics, the researchers say, while the tropical regions contribute primarily to year-to-year variations. Overall, the study concludes that the ocean has taken up around 7.5bn tonnes less carbon between 1982 and 2011 than estimates derived by the Global Carbon Budget project.

Simulating the Earth system response to negative emissions

Environmental Research Letters

A new modelling study suggests the amount of carbon the oceans and land take up from the atmosphere could weaken significantly, and may even reverse, under future low emission scenarios. This would hinder the effectiveness of negative emissions technologies and increase the amount needed to achieve a given climate stabilisation target, say the authors. By the second half of the 21st century under RCP2.6, models project land and ocean sinks to weaken to 0.8 and 1.1 bn tonnes per year, respectively.