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December 19, 2016
A new report discusses how policy gaps in South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, may result in the displacement of vulnerable populations due to climate change impacts. Image courtesy of the CAPRA Initiative via flickr.com.
On December 13, the Trump transition team announced Rex Tillerson as the nominee for Secretary of State. Tillerson, chief executive of oil and gas conglomerate Exxon Mobil, is expected to face a stiff confirmation process given his two-decade relationship with Russia's government and energy sector. Tillerson has facilitated multi-billion dollar business deals between Exxon and Rosneft, the Russian-backed oil company, and has made donations to state programs in Russia. According to the New York Times, "[Exxon] has billions of dollars in oil contracts that can go forward only if the United States lifts sanctions against Russia," raising conflict of interest worries. Arizona Senator John McCain stated that Tillerson's ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin were "a matter of concern." Tillerson has taken a broader stance on climate change compared to other incoming cabinet members. In 2012, Tillerson stated, "I’m not disputing that increasing CO2 emissions in the atmosphere is going to have an impact. It’ll have a warming impact." Tillerson has also gone on record in support of the Paris Agreement: “Importantly, as a result of [Paris], both developed and developing countries are now working together to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, while recognizing differing national responsibilities, capacities and circumstances. The best hope for the future is to enable and encourage long-term investments in both proven and new technologies, while supporting effective policies.”
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New York Times, Washington Post
On December 13, former Texas Governor Rick Perry was nominated as Secretary of Energy for the incoming Trump administration. Perry would inherit an agency with a $29.6 billion budget and over 100,000 federal employees and contractors dispersed across the country. The agency also has a strong national security profile, as the maintenance of nuclear weapons and the management of nuclear waste makes up roughly two-thirds of the Department of Energy's (DOE) annual budget. Perry has publicly advocated for the elimination of DOE in the past, but when pressed for details on whether President-elect Trump shares Perry's opinion toward dismantling the agency, a spokesperson was non-committal. Conservative legislators and organizations view Perry as a means to reform the agency's fossil fuel, energy efficiency, and R&D programs, which they have previously criticized as government intrusion into the private sector. DOE's energy efficiency regulations, a key component of the Obama administration's Climate Action Plan, may be in danger of being rolled back under Perry. Perry has deep ties to the petroleum industry and currently sits on the board for Energy Transfer Partners, the developers behind the Dakota Access pipeline.
The Hill, Politico
On December 13, President-elect Trump announced Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana as his choice for Secretary of the Interior. The Department employs over 70,000 people and is responsible for more than 20 percent of federal lands, including the national parks system. Zinke, a former Navy SEAL currently completing his first term in Congress, has received heavy criticism for his voting record from environmental watchdog groups. He has supported legislation favoring fossil fuel extraction, while defending federal ownership of public lands. Zinke departed the GOP platform-writing committee during the summer over the inclusion of language at-odds with his views on public lands. It is unclear whether Zinke would back the President-elect's proposal to open up more federal lands for drilling. Zinke has labeled the Obama administration's efforts to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas operations on public lands as "duplicative and unnecessary." In 2014, Zinke described climate change as "not a hoax, but it’s not proven science either."
Reuters, Washington Post
Kenya and Ethiopia will collaborate on a first-of-its-kind project to evaluate climate change impacts in their respective territories. The pilot project will assess extreme environmental events and attribute a percentage of their severity and likelihood to climate change. Multiple academic and research institutions will team up on the project in an attempt to close data gaps for Africa. The attribution study will utilize climate models to simulate impacts under different levels of greenhouse gas emissions. An attribution study has never been conducted in Africa before. The study's findings will be valuable in planning infrastructure developments and adaptation and humanitarian efforts throughout the region. Zewdu Eshetu, a climate scientist with Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, said, "In the short term, we will make disaster risk management a crucial part of our development agenda. We want to identify disaster risks associated with infrastructure development, for example flooding caused by river dams and road construction." The study could also shed light on influential factors unrelated to climate, such as infrastructure shortcomings.
Climate Change News
A new report published by three international NGOs (ActionAid, Climate Action Network-South Asia, and Bread for the World) documents how crop failures, rising sea levels, and flooding driven by climate change are displacing vulnerable populations in South Asia. Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are especially at risk of future climate-induced migration, poverty, and conflict due to resource losses. The report advises governments to address policy gaps that may enable these disruptions over the short and long-term. Harjeet Singh of ActionAid, observed, "The invisibility of those forced away from their homes as a result of climate change means that they are falling through gaps in policy, and they may not be granted the same protections and rights granted to internally displaced persons or refugees." Women are especially at risk, since those forced to migrate may encounter exploitation and trafficking, while those who stay must face worsening conditions alone if their husbands move in search of work. Sanjay Vashist, Director of Climate Action Network's South Asia program, said, "The governments of South Asia must recognize that climate change knows no borders" and embrace trans-boundary adaptation initiatives.
IPS News, Report
Philanthropist Bill Gates is leading a coalition of investors in backing ambitious energy technologies and research. Gates hopes to raise over $1 billion for investment in research-oriented companies, which are typically viewed as riskier ventures. According to Gates, the capital will likely be deployed within five years, with at least five ideas receiving funds annually. The fund will utilize a team of scientists to evaluate candidate projects in electricity, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, and buildings, with an intent to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The fund would also work to bring viable technologies to market. During a recent call with President-elect Trump, Gates emphasized "the opportunity for innovation in not only energy but also medicine and education," adding, "I do think the most bipartisan piece of energy policy has been a commitment to energy R&D. So, if your framework for looking at where the government should do more is where it’s a good deal for American leadership and jobs, I actually think there is some upside.
Bloomberg
Connecticut's Green Bank was established five years ago as the first ever state-wide financing program for clean energy. The bank leverages the limited amount of public funding available for green projects into private sector investment, eventually eliminating the need for the public funds. Green Bank President Bryan Garcia observes, "The green bank model may be an attractive tool under a Trump presidency. Public-private partnerships like ours spur investment in local clean energy economies that create jobs and ultimately mitigate greenhouse gas emissions." The bank has issued over $1 billion in loans, default security, and other financing and has developed over a dozen clean energy and energy efficiency financial products and marketing campaigns. The bank is credited with the creation of nearly 215 megawatts of clean energy distributed across 20,000 projects and 13,000 jobs. The Green Bank averages $6 in private funds for every $1 in public money invested and features participants from the region's private banking and commercial property sectors.
Inside Climate News
The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), commissioned by the world's 20 richest nations, issued their recommendations for private sector disclosure of climate change risks. TCFD advised corporations to voluntarily disclose climate risks resulting from their operations, but are unlikely to be adopted by the oil and gas industry. The group suggests companies undertake "stress tests" to determine how their businesses would hold up under a projected warming scenario of 2 degrees Celsius. According to the recommendations, the inclusion of climate impacts into corporate financial forecasts would make the business sector more resilient. TCFD lead Michael Bloomberg declared, "Climate change is not only an environmental problem, but a business one as well." Executives from JPMorgan Chase, BHP Billiton, Tata Steel, and other multinational banks and companies provided input on the recommendations. The creation of TCFD was preceded by a 2015 warning to oil companies from Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, that ignoring climate change could spark an economic crisis.
New York Times, Report
Scientists are urgently working to preserve vast amounts of government climate research data in order to safeguard it from politically motivated tampering under a Trump presidency. If the President-elect's rhetoric about dismantling the federal government's climate science programs comes to fruition, the scientific community is deeply concerned that the vital data stores will no longer be publicly available for research. While the incoming administration has not explicitly stated the data will disappear, scientists have advocated for preparedness. Recent "guerilla archiving" events at the University of Toronto and the University of Pennsylvania are part of a widespread effort to download, compile, and share the public data currently accessible on government websites. Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University who expressed doubt that existing data would come under fire, said, “I think it’s much more likely they’d try to end the collection of [new] data, which would minimize its value. Having continuous data is crucial for understanding long-term [climate] trends."
Washington Post
On December 13, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its 2016 Arctic Report Card. The report, co-authored by 50 international scientists, found that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average temperature, resulting in the latest-ever formation of sea ice this past fall and steep declines in the region's sea ice and snow. Between October 2015 and September 2016, Arctic temperatures over land were 2 degrees Celsius higher than the 1981-2010 baseline. The report was released at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, where scientists expressed concern over the Trump administration's stated preference to cut federal earth science programs. The programs are essential to tracking and understanding the rapidly changing Arctic, including NASA's IceBridge program, which provides data on ice thickness. The chair of Arctic 21, Rafe Pomerance, said, "[U.S. government leaders] ought to take what's going on in the Arctic really seriously. This is a crisis. The Arctic is unraveling."
Inside Climate News, Report
In a new study published in Environmental Research Letters, scientists have uncovered a surprising rise in global methane emissions over the past decade. Atmospheric methane concentrations rose by more than 20 parts per billion at a rate of 10 parts per billion (ppb) in 2014-15 alone, with a significantly lower annual increase of 0.5 ppb in earlier years over the study period. A leveling-off of carbon dioxide emissions during the same period suggests international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have failed to adequately account for methane. A lack of sufficient monitoring lends uncertainty to the source of the previously unaccounted for methane, but scientists point to agriculture as a likely culprit. A third of all global methane originates from the extraction of fossil fuels. Robert Jackson, a co-author and professor at Stanford University, said, "Unlike CO2, where we have well-described power plants, almost everything in the global methane budget is diffuse. From cows to wetlands to rice paddies [as well as other sources], the methane cycle is harder."
Guardian, BBC, Study
Department of Energy Rejects Transition Team's Request for Staffers Who Worked on Climate Issues
California Adopts Nation's First Mandatory Energy Efficiency Rules for Computers and Monitors
Report: Majority of U.S. States Have Grown Their Economies While Reducing Carbon Emissions
Canada Sets National Carbon Price at C$10 ($7.60) Per Ton for 2018
Funds Committed to Divestment of Fossil Fuel Assets Valued at $5.2 Trillion
EESI Briefing Recap: Update from the Marrakech Climate Change Summit
On December 12, EESI held a briefing discussing the outcomes of the recently concluded international climate change summit (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco. The featured speaker was Christo Artusio, Director of the Office of Global Change at the U.S. Department of State. The briefing explored the major components of the summit as the 110 nations who ratified the Paris Agreement continue to work toward its implementation. Topics of discussion included the core components of America's long-term climate strategy, how the proceedings at COP22 may influence that strategy, and the status of important ongoing partnerships between the United States and other nations in pursuit of climate-related goals. Additional insights delved into progress on the agreement’s implementation work plan, transparency and reporting guidelines, key financing issues, and the global deployment of renewable energy technologies.
For a full audio recording of the event and an overview of the discussion, connect to the link below:
EESI
EESI Briefing Recap: District Energy, CHP, Microgrids: Resilient, Efficient Energy Infrastructure
On December 6, the International District Energy Association (IDEA), the Microgrid Resources Coalition (MRC), and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a briefing providing policy guidance and showcasing proven technologies and exemplary cases that illuminate the potential for more robust U.S. investment in district energy microgrids. The panel of speakers included Rob Thornton, President and CEO of the International District Energy Association; Ted Borer, Energy Plant Manager at Princeton University; Michael Rooney, Manager of District Energy Initiatives at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Energy; and Jim Lodge, Vice President of NRG Energy.
For a full video of the event, speaker slides, and a detailed summary of the discussion, connect to the link below:
Writer and Editor: Brian La Shier
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