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March 28, 2016
On March 21, Todd Stern, the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, announced he would be leaving his position in the State Department on April 1. Stern was instrumental in ensuring the success of the international deal on climate agreed to in Paris last December. Image courtesy of the U.S. Mission in Geneva.
On March 21, during his three-day visit to Cuba President Obama released an action plan that outlined new goals and actions for the Federal government to proactively deal with drought. The President's new goals include more data collection and sharing, better communication of drought risks, and increasing Federal support of research and innovation in water conservation and efficiency. As of March 2016, drought is affecting 12.5 percent of the continental United States, which Associated Press estimates is home to about 39 million people. “In the context of a changing climate, the likelihood of increased frequency, duration, and intensity of droughts will further necessitate this range of concerted action,” the new "Drought in America" plan states. Last year, the Federal government committed $110 million in drought aid to support communities suffering from drought.
For more information see:
The Christian Science Monitor, AP News, Action Plan
On March 21, Todd Stern, the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, announced that he will be leaving his position in the State Department on April 1. Stern has held the position since 2009. Jonathan Pershing, who has been the senior climate advisor to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Ernest Moniz for the past three years, will be replacing Stern. Todd Stern was instrumental in shaping President Obama’s global climate change strategy, and played a critical role in the international community's successful climate deal at the Paris negotiations last December. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement, “He played an enormous role in achieving so many of our climate milestones.” Stern has indicated he will likely teach at a university beginning this fall.
POLITICO, Bloomberg
On March 18, Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Tom Udall (D-NM) wrote a letter asking the Senate Appropriations Committee to "provide funding" for the United Nations Green Climate Fund (GCF) in fiscal year 2017. Their letter stands in sharp contrast to a letter from 26 Republican Senators sent the same day to the Appropriations Committee to request that it stop future transfers of U.S. funds to the GCF. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) led the second group, which included Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rand Paul (R-TX) and James Inhofe (R-OK). The Green Climate Fund works to support climate resilience and adaptation efforts in developing nations with support from developed countries. The United States has pledged to support it with $3 billion, $500 million of which was sent recently. Last year, Senators Kirk and Collins cosponsored an amendment to support the GCF.
Carbon Pulse, Letter, Sierra Club, Letter
On March 21, the Maryland House of Delegates voted 92-43 to raise the state's renewable portfolio standard from a 20 percent renewable energy generation target by 2022 to 25 percent by 2020. The bill, called the Clean Energy Jobs Act of 2016 (HB 1106), will now go to the Maryland Senate. HB 1106 is projected to create 1,300 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy generation in Maryland, with an accompanying 1,000 new solar jobs and 4,600 wind jobs. The bill will help Maryland accomplish its probable new emissions reduction goal of 40 percent cuts in Maryland greenhouse gas emissions from 2006 levels by 2030, enshrined in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act of 2016 which was sent to Governor Larry Hogan (R) last week to be signed into law.
Utility Dive, Utility Dive, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, The Friderick News Post
On March 21, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is currently considering the legal case against the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Power Plan (CPP), refused a conservative group's petition to file a separate brief against the CPP. The conservative group, called the Energy and Environmental Legal Institute (E&E Legal), argued that the EPA improperly worked with environmental lobbyists when it wrote the CPP. "The rule is invalid because undisclosed ex parte communications with environmental groups formed the basis of agency action," E&E Legal wrote. The Court of Appeals did not say why they did not allow E&E Legal's brief. E&E Legal is working with other groups that are filing petitions against the CPP. The CPP is a regulation on carbon emissions from existing power plants.
In related news on March 21, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wrote a letter to every U.S. governor suggesting that the Supreme Court's recent stay on the Clean Power Plan (CPP) supported his earlier advice that states should stop working toward complying with the CPP. Sen. McConnell said again that states should stop compliance activities.
The Hill, The Hill, Overnight Energy, Letter
On March 24, an official at China's National Energy Administration (NEA) confirmed reports that China has stopped the construction of coal-fired power plants in 15 regions of China, in order to address an overabundance of energy capacity in those areas. Greenpeace estimated the announcement could affect 250 power plants with 170 gigawatts (GW) of capacity. Earlier this year, NEA said the rapid growth of China's coal power plants combined with a slowdown in energy demand growth to create low utilization rates, at a level not seen since 1978. A report released several days earlier on March 22 by Greenpeace found that coal-fired power plants were contributing to a severe water shortage in Northern China.
In related news on March 23, China's special representative on climate change Xie Zhenhua stated at the Boao Forum that China was on track to exceed its target of a 40-45 percent reduction in carbon intensity by 2020, and will likely cut carbon intensity 49 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Zhenhua also said it would increase the amount of non-fossil fuel primary energy generation to 15 percent in 2020, from its current level of 12 percent.
Reuters, Carbon Pulse, The New York Times
On March 23, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the creation of a new clean energy innovation fund, which will annually put A$1 billion (US$761.60 million) toward "cutting edge" clean energy technologies and businesses. Turnbull stated that the money would ensure Australia is playing its part in "cracking the very hard problems, the challenging technical difficulties that we face in terms of reducing emissions." Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the fund would be "investing in storage, in new battery technology, in smart grids, in some of the exciting solar visions that people have hoped for and imagined for Australia."
Reuters
On March 19, cities in 178 countries around the world turned off their lights for the tenth annual Earth Hour, an international event to bring attention to climate change. Starting at 8:30 p.m. local time, the lights went out on famous buildings and monuments in cities like Paris, Rome, Moscow, Beijing, Athens, and Cairo. Around 366 landmarks – from Big Ben in London to the Empire State Building in New York City – went dark to demonstrate solidarity on climate change. Although it is primarily meant to be a symbolic gesture, previous Earth Hours have cut electricity usage by four percent.
Associated Press, Independent
On March 18, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Red, the lead character in hit game "Angry Birds," as an honorary United Nations (UN) Ambassador for Green to inspire young people to take action against climate change. The campaign encourages people to “go green” by conserving water, taking public transportation, and recycling. Participants are asked to share their green initiatives on social media, using the hashtag #AngryBirdsHappyPlanet. On March 21, Red will begin a “virtual world tour” to raise awareness of climate change. Red’s first stop is Paris, where the international community reached a historic deal on climate last year. He will finish the tour at UN headquarters in New York on April 22, when many world leaders are expected to sign the Paris agreement.
International Business Times, ABC13
On March 22, a team of 18 prominent climate scientists, led by former National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientist Dr. James Hansen, published a new 52-page report suggesting that climate change's impacts will arrive more quickly and be more disastrous than had been generally expected. The report, which synthesizes a number of older studies with new ones, found that warming of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels could catalyze a sudden climate shift, as Antarctica and Greenland's ice sheets melt, putting a layer of fresh water on top of polar oceans. This fresh water layer may slow or stop the ocean currents that distribute heat around the world, leading to increased ice melt, far more powerful storms, and rapid sea level rise – perhaps several feet in the next 50 years, and several meters in the next hundred years. "That would mean the loss of all coastal cities, most of the world's large cities, and all their history," Dr. Hansen said in a video statement.
The New York Times, The Washington Post, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
On March 25, a new study by the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communications revealed that more than 95 percent of meteorologists say climate change is happening, and more than 80 percent of them say human activities are contributing to it. Ed Maibach, lead author of the survey, stated, "[It] does appear that more meteorologists are now more convinced that human-caused climate change is happening. That is exactly what one would expect, of course, given the trajectory of our changing climate and the ever increasing [state] of the science." The meteorologists said they were increasingly convinced by new studies, the scientific consensus on climate change, and evidence of climate change near them.
The Washington Post, Survey
On March 21, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provided new evidence of the environmental and health benefits of shifting to a plant-based diet. The current food system releases more than a quarter of total greenhouse gas emissions, but the study found that if people ate less or no meat, food sector emissions could by reduced 29 to 70 percent by 2050, and up to $700 billion in healthcare costs and five billion deaths could be avoided. Vegan diets release the least greenhouse gases, followed by diets that cut out red meat and poultry. “For a high probability of keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees C, we need urgent and dramatic shifts toward plant-based diets,” said Brent Kim, an agriculture and climate researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
Climate Central, Study1, Study2
On March 21, a study released in Nature Geoscience showed that the current rate of carbon emissions is greater than any in the past 66 million years, surpassing the largest known natural carbon emissions surge (known as the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM), 56 million years ago. The study found that the current carbon emissions rate is about 10 billion metric tons annually, much higher than the historic rate of 1.1 billion annual metric tons rate which triggered the PETM global warming event. PETM saw a five degrees C (nine degrees F) temperature rise over 4,000 years, a much slower change than the one currently underway, as scientists project temperatures could rise 4.8 degrees C by 2100. Lead author Richard Zeebe at the University of Hawaii said, "Our results suggest that future ocean acidification and possible effects on marine calcifying organisms will be more severe than during the PETM."
Reuters, Al Jazeera, The Christian Science Monitor, Study
On March 21, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its annual Statement on the Status of the Climate for 2015. The WMO found that 2015 broke previous global average surface temperature records by a large margin, with a global average temperature 0.76 degrees Celsius greater than the 1961-1990 average. The WMO report also notes the extreme weather events that took place last year, including increased tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean, torrential monsoon rains leading to flooding in India, and severe heat waves and drought in South Africa. The report concluded that 2015 is likely reflective of what we can expect from the climate going forward. "Our planet is sending a powerful message to world leaders to sign and implement the Paris agreement," commented WMO chief Petteri Taalas.
Climate Home, UN News Centre, Scientific American
Donald Trump Says Nuclear Weapons Are “Biggest Form of Climate Change”
GE To Sell Power to Cuba
Divesting From Coal Is Becoming an Economic, Not Just Moral, Decision
Study Finds People of Color Care about Climate Change, but Do Not Call Themselves Environmentalists
China’s Sea Level Rising Faster than Global Average
New Zealand Glaciers Melting Rapidly
U.S. Faces Rising Tide of Climate Change Refugees
Indigenous Americans Need Help Relocating Due to Climate Change
Global Coal and Gas Investment Less than Half Global Clean Energy Investment
Authors: Anthony Rocco and Taotao Luo
Editor: Laura Small
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