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December 10, 2018
The 24th Conference of the Parties kicked off in Katowice, Poland last week with the goal of drafting a framework for implementing the Paris Climate Agreement. Image courtesy of pl.wikipedia.org.
On December 6, EPA announced plans to roll back a key restriction limiting the construction of new coal-fired power plants. The proposed action would eliminate a 2013 rule that requires new power plants to limit their carbon dioxide emissions to 1,400 pounds per megawatt-hour, essentially barring the construction of coal plants unless they utilize a carbon capture and storage system. The impact of the repeal will not be immediate, since utility companies have already stopped investing in coal plants due to the low cost of natural gas-fired electricity and other environmental regulations. Instead, the proposal is a signal from the Trump administration that they want to see coal take a more prominent role in the U.S. energy mix. EPA's revised rule would allow new coal plants to be built if they use more efficient boiler technologies and sets the plant emission limit at 1,900 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour. Environmental law professor Richard Lazarus of Harvard University summarized the administration's message: "This says we’re expecting more coal-fired power plants in the future, and we’re going to make it easier to get there."
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New York Times
At the ongoing session of the United Nations climate conference in Katowice, Poland, a coalition of resource-poor developing countries called for greater support in the form of funding and technology to help them achieve necessary climate mitigation and adaptation goals. A new UN report showed that low- and middle-income countries have shown progress in adapting to climate change, but will need "decades" to catch up to developed nations unless available resources increase. India presents a rare exception in the developing world and is on-pace to achieve some of its energy targets ahead of schedule. Representatives from more than 190 countries are meeting through December 14 to develop rules for implementing the framework of the Paris Climate Agreement starting in 2020, while encouraging countries to strengthen their current action plans. Scientists say the world's existing emission reduction pledges would still allow global average temperatures to rise by three degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels this century, well below the ideal 1.5 degree C goal. The world has already experienced roughly one degree C of warming to date, according to the latest science.
Reuters
Civil society representatives attending the United Nations climate conference, COP24, have long questioned the role and presence of corporations at the negotiations. Fossil fuel firms are particularly visible at the event in Katowice, Poland this year, with displays prominently featuring actual coal (a major industry there) and company sponsorships. According to Nathalie Rengifo of the advocacy group Corporate Accountability, there are no stringent rules for limiting the participation of powerful industry interests at the COP, noting some fossil fuel groups "have more money than countries." Jean Su of the Center for Biological Diversity said that many of the UN's major climate agreements, including Paris, make no mention of coal, oil, and gas, reportedly due to the unspoken influence of fossil fuel corporations. In 2017, the governments of several countries, including China, India, and Ecuador, expressed dismay over the "undue influence" of industry and called for rules to curtail their sway. One model proposed by Corporate Accountability is for the UNFCCC to adopt a "conflict-of-interest" policy, similar to that used by the World Health Organization to prevent the tobacco industry from influencing their work.
Pacific Standard
On December 5, French President Emmanuel Macron rescinded a fossil fuel tax increase after it sparked large-scale protests by working class activists. The "yellow vest" protest movement resulted in the worst riots in Paris in decades and placed enormous pressure on the government to change course. Economists and policymakers have often pointed to higher fuel prices as the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging reduced fuel consumption and making alternative energy more competitive. Macron had pitched the fuel tax as a means of averting future climate disasters, but the protestors countered, "It’s hard to talk about the end of the world while we are talking about the end of the month." Critics have argued that carbon taxes can disproportionately harm low-income individuals given the practically unavoidable expense of using energy. Berkeley economist Barry Eichengreen said, "The mistake of the Macron government was not to marry the increase in fuel taxes with other sufficiently compelling initiatives promising to enhance the welfare and incomes of the ‘yellow vests.'"
Associated Press
On December 6, the New Zealand government released a defense policy statement naming climate change as the country's greatest security threat. The statement also emphasized climate's geostrategic significance to the future of the Pacific region. The report posits that nations may seek to use climate assistance as a means of bolstering their influence on the world stage. New Zealand had issued a defense policy earlier in 2018 expressing concern that China's increased influence in the South Pacific could degrade regional stability, which drew a rebuke from China. China's foreign ministry has defended itself by stating it is providing necessary social and economic development assistance to Pacific nations. Defense Minister Ron Mark said climate change is "already having adverse impacts both at home and in New Zealand's neighborhood." Mark added that he will be using climate assessments to inform future defense spending and investment plans. Climate action has become a major initiative for New Zealand, which recently announced a NZ$100 million (US$68.62 million) investment fund to promote emission reduction projects.
Cheap imported coal, increasingly cost competitive renewable energy sources, and European Union environmental regulations have caused Spain's long-standing coal mining industry to lose its economic viability, but the national government is trying to implement a "just transition" for the industry's workers. The transition deal brokered between unions and the government includes compensation payouts for laid-off miners, retraining in low-carbon jobs and environmental remediation work involving old coal pits. Politicians and union officials are hoping for environmental and social protections from the plan, but many workers remain skeptical given a looming wave of layoffs. Spain's coal industry employed more than 100,000 miners in the early 1960s, but that had dropped to around 5,000 workers by the year 2000. 2019 will see the industry shut down completely. Spain's minister for ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, said, "We have worked hard to restore trust in regions that have suffered a long restructuring process, negotiating and coming up with social protection measures that the unions could accept. Now we have to deliver. Climate ambition and social protection have to go hand in hand if we want to succeed."
Grist
European and American technology companies are trying to convince shipping companies to outfit their cargo vessels with wind power to cut fuel consumption and reduce the industry's greenhouse gas emissions. The futuristic sails offer a potentially inexpensive and reliable means of achieving future emission reduction targets. Danish firm Maersk Tankers is currently testing 30 meter (98 foot) deck-mounted spinning column turbines to convert wind power into thrust based on a century-old concept. The world's largest shipping company, A.P. Moller-Maersk, recently pledged to reduce its emissions to zero by 2050. This will require the development of commercially viable carbon neutral vessels by 2030. The pursuit of alternative sail technologies gained momentum following an April 2018 agreement by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization to cut shipping emissions by 50 percent by 2050. Shipping, along with aviation, is not covered by the Paris Climate Agreement due to difficulties in attributing those emissions to individual countries. However, those emissions are projected to grow between 50 to 250 percent by mid-century if the status quo is maintained.
According to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO), meeting the emission reduction goals outlined in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement could save millions of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars by 2050. The report was released as world leaders gathered in Poland for the United Nations' 24th Conference of the Parties to develop a rulebook for implementing the Paris Agreement. Human activities driving climate change, including fossil fuel combustion, currently contribute to about seven million deaths globally each year. The report features contributions from more than 80 health professionals, academics, and civil society representatives from the climate and public health sectors. The authors assert, "The most direct link between climate change and ill health is air pollution." They go on to issue recommendations for how governments may deal with climate change, including mobilizing local level actors and engaging with the health community. The report counts climate change-related health impacts as "mental illness, undernutrition, injuries, respiratory disease, allergies, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases, poisoning, waterborne diseases, and heatstroke."
CNN
Scientists are projecting global carbon dioxide emissions to reach the highest levels on record in 2018. The news underscores the significant gap between the international ambition behind the Paris Agreement and what countries are actually doing to combat climate change. Global emissions had been relatively stable between 2014 and 2016, but they grew by 1.6 percent in 2017 and are on track for 2.7 percent growth in 2018. The increase would place fossil fuel and industrial emissions to a record 37.1 billion tons of CO2 per year. Among the major emitters, China experienced five percent emissions growth, India six percent, and the United States 2.5 percent, while the European Union's emissions declined by about one percent. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said, “It is hard to overstate the urgency of our situation. Even as we witness devastating climate impacts causing havoc across the world, we are still not doing enough, nor moving fast enough, to prevent irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption.”
Washington Post
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