These are the stories I have for this roundup:
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IEA says clean energy progress remains ‘far too slow’
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Queensland will soon be home to the world's largest green hydrogen manufacturing facility. Here's what that means
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DOE Quietly Backs Plan for Carbon Capture Network Larger Than Entire Oil Pipeline System
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Restoring Utah National Monument Boundaries Highlights a New Tactic in the Biden Administration’s Climate Strategy
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How widespread power cuts are pushing Lebanon towards solar power
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LNG Projects Make Claims of ‘Net-Zero’ to Ease Way for Expansion
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EXCLUSIVE U.S., EU line up over 20 more countries for global methane pact
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'The Burning of Fossil Fuels Is Killing Us,' WHO Warns in COP 26 Report
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At Climate Talks, Can the World Move from Aspiration to Action?
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With a Warming Climate, Coastal Fog Around the World Is Declining
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Rare pink dolphins saved by high-tech fishermen in the Amazon
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‘Overwhelming’ backing for strong climate action, UK study shows
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Everything you need to know about the hydrogen revolution going on in the Netherlands
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Indigenous Leaders Among the 136 Arrested at White House Fossil Fuel Protest
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If the Bath's Overheated, You Turn the Cold Spigot Up and the Hot Spigot OFF.
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Macron unveils massive 'France 2030' green investment plan
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Incredible photos show how artificial glaciers are helping Indian farmers battle drought
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What sea level rise will do to famous American sites, visualized
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China floods: Nearly 2 million displaced in Shanxi province
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Cutting methane emissions is the fastest way to slow warming. Here’s how.
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Ahead of UK-Hosted Climate Summit, Oil Critics Arrested for Blockade Outside Downing Street
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P&G dogged by controversy on forests, human rights at annual meeting for third year in a row
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Google’s climate action challenges Facebook
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Biden Can Block Fossil Fuel Projects With Pollution Equal to Over 400 Coal Plants: Report
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China’s solar power has reached price parity with coal
This Is An Open Thread
IEA says clean energy progress remains ‘far too slow’
The International Energy Agency issued a sobering warning Wednesday, claiming that clean energy progress remained “far too slow to put global emissions into sustained decline towards net zero.”
The Paris-based organization made its remarks in an announcement accompanying the release of its World Energy Outlook 2021. The wide-ranging report’s publication comes as the planet gears up for the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland, which will take place between Oct. 31 and Nov. 12.
The IEA’s report said that while electric vehicle sales achieved new records in 2020 and renewable sources such as wind and solar photovoltaic continued their rapid growth, “every data point showing the speed of change in energy can be countered by another showing the stubbornness of the status quo.” Photovoltaic refers to a way of directly converting light from the sun into electricity.
Queensland will soon be home to the world's largest green hydrogen manufacturing facility. Here's what that means
Mining billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest yesterday announced that Central Queensland would soon be home to the world's largest hydrogen manufacturing facility.
It is expected to make Queensland a "renewable energy superpower".
The facility has been heralded as a "breakthrough" for Australia's green energy market, with predictions the plant will double green hydrogen production capacity across the globe.
It comes as Mr Forrest's company Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) on Monday announced a major partnership with manufacturing company Incitec Pivot to produce green ammonia on an industrial scale in Brisbane.
DOE Quietly Backs Plan for Carbon Capture Network Larger Than Entire Oil Pipeline System
An organization run by former Obama-era Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, with the backing of the AFL-CIO, a federation of 56 labor unions, has created a policy “blueprint” to build a nationwide pipeline network capable of carrying a gigaton of captured carbon dioxide (CO2).
The “Building to Net-Zero” blueprint appears to be quietly gaining momentum within the Energy Department, where a top official has discussed ways to put elements into action using the agency’s existing powers.
The pipeline network would be twice the size of the current U.S. oil pipeline network by volume, according to the blueprint, released by a recently formed group calling itself the Labor Energy Partnership. Backers say the proposed pipeline network — including CO2 “hubs” in the Gulf Coast, the Ohio River Valley, and Wyoming — would help reduce climate-changing pollution by transporting captured carbon dioxide to either the oil industry, which would undo some of the climate benefits by using the CO2 to revive aging oilfields, or to as-yet unbuilt facilities for underground storage.
I don’t believe the Carbon Capture project is worthy, and putting more pipe in the ground isn’t very environmental. But it is a news story we need to know of.
Restoring Utah National Monument Boundaries Highlights a New Tactic in the Biden Administration’s Climate Strategy
The years-long debate about conserving the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments has centered on the tension between preserving the history and culture of the Indigenous peoples who inhabited the region for centuries, and efforts to exploit natural resources.
But on Friday, President Joe Biden gave the monuments a new meaning when he restored their original boundaries in southern Utah and highlighted public lands as a tool in the climate fight.
White House Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy connected global warming to the president’s conservation pledge as she opened the White House ceremony where Biden signed proclamations restoring the boundaries, which former President Donald Trump had reduced to clear the way for fossil fuel exploration.
How widespread power cuts are pushing Lebanon towards solar power
Power cuts in Lebanon have left much of the population grappling with life without electricity. Faced with total blackouts, households and businesses which can afford to are now rapidly shifting to solar power for their basic electricity needs.
The “unpredictability” of the energy sector in Lebanon pushed local resident Emilio Matar to install solar panels at his parent’s home near Beirut. He wants to ensure that they have a reliable supply of energy and are independent from the local suppliers who hold a monopoly over power generators.
Meanwhile, NGOs and UN agencies are upgrading power systems at hospitals and schools to avoid a humanitarian crisis.
LNG Projects Make Claims of ‘Net-Zero’ to Ease Way for Expansion
Under growing pressure to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, developers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are turning to questionable claims about “carbon neutrality,” “net-zero,” or “green LNG,” in order to pass muster with governments, investors, and society, who are becoming increasingly anxious about the climate crisis.
However, while on the surface it may appear to be a positive shift towards lowering the greenhouse gas impact of their projects, the rhetoric about carbon-neutral LNG is mostly hollow, in another attempt to greenwash new fossil fuel projects into existence.
While the U.S. Gulf Coast typically receives much of the attention for the LNG rush, the Pacific Coast of Canada is home to multiple proposed LNG export projects, as energy companies scramble to export fracked gas from northeast British Columbia.
EXCLUSIVE U.S., EU line up over 20 more countries for global methane pact
Two dozen countries have joined a U.S.- and EU-led effort to slash methane emissions 30% by 2030, giving the emerging global partnership momentum ahead of its launch at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow later this month, a government official told Reuters.
Nigeria, Japan and Pakistan are among the 24 new signatories to the Global Methane Pledge, which was first announced by the United States and EU in September with the aim of galvanizing rapid climate action before the start of the Scotland summit on Oct. 31. It could have a significant impact on the energy, agriculture and waste sectors responsible for the bulk of methane emissions.
The nine original partners include Britain, Indonesia and Mexico, which signed on to the pledge when it was announced at the Major Economies Forum last month. The partnership will now cover 60% of global GDP and 30% of global methane emissions.
'The Burning of Fossil Fuels Is Killing Us,' WHO Warns in COP 26 Report
Looking toward the United Nations summit scheduled for the end of the month, a top U.N. agency on Monday released a report that makes a "health argument for climate action" and calls on governments and policymakers to urgently tackle the emergency.
"Protecting people's health from climate change requires transformational action in every sector."
"The burning of fossil fuels is killing us," warns the World Health Organization (WHO) report, noting that the practice is "causing millions of premature deaths every year through air pollutants, costing the global economy billions of dollars annually, and fueling the climate crisis."
In the foreword, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlights that human-caused global heating is impacting droughts, extreme heat, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires.
At Climate Talks, Can the World Move from Aspiration to Action?
Glasgow, once the second city of the British Empire and the biggest shipbuilder on the planet, next month hosts the 26th conference of nations aiming to halt dangerous climate change. The negotiators face the challenge of turning the aspiration of the 2015 Paris Agreement to achieve “net zero” emissions by mid-century into the detailed near-term action plans necessary to turn those hopes into reality in time to halt warming at or near 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
Sadly, while aspiration is going well, progress on action is slow, say scientists. Most big emitters have in recent months promised to achieve national net-zero targets by 2050, allowing the British hosts to claim that Glasgow will “keep 1.5 alive.” But scientists warn that such ambition remains hot air. They say we have to all but halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, or net zero by 2050 will slip out of sight. Yet most of the national plans unveiled so far do little more than prevent further rises in emissions over the coming decade.
With a Warming Climate, Coastal Fog Around the World Is Declining
Fog is a defining element of summer in Santa Cruz, obscuring the view of day trippers descending the hills to the coast and prompting kids to bundle up to hop on their bikes for summer adventures. Its fingerprints are visible in the vast coastal forests, even when it isn’t hanging in the air. The redwood trees towering in a clear blue sky soak up moisture from the fog on gray days. It is often their only source of water for months at a time.
Fog is essential for plants and animals, agriculture and human health, not only in California but in coastal zones around the world. But many scientists believe that fog is declining, another casualty of global warming.
Throughout California and the Western United States, some shifts driven by climate change are easy to see: increasing temperatures, shifting wind patterns and changing ocean currents. Fog trends, on the other hand, are as hard to grasp as the mist itself.
Rare pink dolphins saved by high-tech fishermen in the Amazon
Fishermen who once angled for rare pink river dolphins are now working with researchers in Bolivia's Amazon jungle to ensure the species' survival.
In a high-tech bid to better understand the dolphin, scientists with global environmental group WWF and Bolivian NGO Faunagua tagged four of the freshwater dolphins in the Ichilo river. Using satellite technology, fishermen are now able to track the dolphins using a smartphone app and report their locations.
Despite the iconic status of river dolphins, little is known about their population and habitats. Data from the tagging program will help provide vital information about what dolphins eat, how far they migrate and the threats they face in the Amazon.
‘Overwhelming’ backing for strong climate action, UK study shows
The UK public backs a carbon tax on polluting industries, higher levies on flying and grants for heat pumps in order to tackle the climate crisis, according to the biggest analysis of policy preferences ever published.
Almost 22,000 people chose their favoured mix of policies to hit the government’s 2030 target for emissions cuts. A speed limit of 60mph on motorways and a campaign to reduce meat eating by 10% were also among the most popular measures, all of which had between 77% and 94% public support.
The public went further than the government, choosing to surpass the current carbon target by 3%. Age, location and political leaning made little difference to the policy choices, the researchers found, with an “overwhelming consensus” for strong and fair climate action.
Everything you need to know about the hydrogen revolution going on in the Netherlands
In anticipation of the upcoming COP26 conference taking place in early November 2021, the topic of hydrogen, especially green hydrogen, is becoming more and more talked about.
Especially in the Netherlands, where the government has been officially taken to court by environmental organisation, Urgenda. In December 2019, the court ruled that the government must cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 per cent by the end of 2020 compared to 1990 levels.
Hydrogen could be the solution the country is looking for. Currently, it is considered an important alternative to fossil energy with numerous possibilities of use in industry and mobility but also heating in the private sector. This basically means hydrogen can do everything that oil, coal and natural gas have been used for up until now - without releasing CO2.
Indigenous Leaders Among the 136 Arrested at White House Fossil Fuel Protest
On October 11, Indigenous People’s Day, 136 people, including many Indigenous leaders opposing fossil fuel projects, were arrested in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., while calling on President Biden to declare a climate emergency and to stop approving fossil fuel projects. The day marked the first in a five-day-long series of protests in the nation’s capitol organized by the Build Back Fossil Free coalition, which is made up of numerous environmental and social justice advocacy groups.
Over the course of five days, thousands are expected to bring the message to Biden’s door that he must do more to protect the planet, and many demonstrators are coming prepared to participate in acts of civil disobedience, to make sure the President hears their message before next month’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. These demonstrations, labeled People vs. Fossil Fuels, are being billed as a test for Biden.
If the Bath's Overheated, You Turn the Cold Spigot Up and the Hot Spigot OFF.
Midday yesterday saw scores of religious leaders arrested in front of the White House, demanding executive action to stop massive new fossil fuel projects. The best current example is the Line 3 tarsands pipeline across northern Minnesota, and so at the same moment, a mile away in front of the Army Corps of Engineers headquarters, Indigenous leaders handed over a million petitions demanding that the Biden administration shut down the new pipeline pending a serious environmental review.
The action was all part of the weeklong People Vs. Fossil Fuels protests. I’m joining others to sit in outside the White House gates tomorrow morning for Day 3 of the civil disobedience, both because the Native American leaders who have called the protest deserve all our support—and because it’s the best way to remind our leaders that climate solutions come in two flavors: demand side and supply side.
Macron unveils massive 'France 2030' green investment plan
French President Emmanuel Macron launched his long-term investment roadmap on Tuesday. Dubbed "France 2030," it calls for €30 billion ($35 billion) to be spent on reducing carbon emissions while also revitalizing the industrial sector.
"We must wage the battle of innovation and industrialization at the same time," he told a meeting of French entrepreneurs, company leaders and university students, adding: "We need a country that produces more."
The president promised to promote small, agile startups and create an environment where they could better compete with large, long-established enterprises.
Other key components of the plan included investing in hydrogen and "small-sized" nuclear power plants, expanding electro-mobility, as well as the creation of what he called a "low-emission" airplane.
Incredible photos show how artificial glaciers are helping Indian farmers battle drought
In northern India’s Ladakh desert, farmers are turning excess stream water into artificial glaciers, so that water can be accessed when supplies are scarce in drier months.
Greg White’s photo series, 'Stupa', shows us the inner workings of this artificial glacier system, called an Ice Stupa, which is used by Kashmiri farmers in the region.
The idea is simple and requires no pumps or power, instead relying on the physics of water and the natural progression of the seasons.
What sea level rise will do to famous American sites, visualized
The land on which 10% of the world’s population lives could be lost to sea level rise if carbon emission trends continue, new maps and visualizations show.
Fifty major cities, mostly in Asia, and at least one large nation on every continent but Australia and Antarctica are at risk. Many small island nations are threatened with near total loss of their land.
The collection of images and videos produced by the non-profit Climate Central visualize future sea level rise if the world fails to meet emissions reduction targets. The images show what areas of the world can be saved and which could be lost, taking with them the heritage and history of these coastal communities.
Meeting the most ambitious goals of th
China floods: Nearly 2 million displaced in Shanxi province
More than 1.76 million people have been affected by severe flooding in China's northern Shanxi province, according to local media.
Torrential rain last week led to houses collapsing and triggered landslides across more than 70 districts and cities in the province.
Heavy rainfall is hampering rescue efforts, officials said.
The flooding comes less than three months after extreme rains in Henan province left more than 300 dead.
Cutting methane emissions is the fastest way to slow warming. Here’s how.
In a long-anticipated report released in early August, the world’s leading body of climate experts sent a clear message: To stabilize the climate, we can’t focus on carbon dioxide emissions alone. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report put a spotlight on methane, a greenhouse gas much more powerful than CO2, which has been responsible for about 30 percent of the warming the world has seen since pre-industrial times.
Methane is a menace, but tackling it will have near-immediate benefits. The gas breaks down in the atmosphere in a matter of decades, unlike carbon dioxide which persists and warms the planet for centuries. Curbing methane emissions today would slow the rate of global warming amid the longer-term project of weaning the world off fossil fuels altogether.
Ahead of UK-Hosted Climate Summit, Oil Critics Arrested for Blockade Outside Downing Street
The Metropolitan Police arrested at least seven Greenpeace activists in London on Monday for disrupting traffic outside Downing Street by locking themselves to barrels and a 12-foot oil-splattered statue of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"Johnson must stop Cambo, and instead prioritize a just transition to renewable energy to protect consumers, workers, and the climate from future shocks."
Though Johnson is not currently at his London residence—he is vacationing with family in Spain—the action comes less than three weeks before the United Kingdom is set to host a global climate summit known as COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Some demonstrators toted posters and banners that read "Stop Cambo," referring to a new oil field near Shetland that Greenpeace expects the government to approve "any day now," spokesperson James Hanson told Agence France-Presse.
P&G dogged by controversy on forests, human rights at annual meeting for third year in a row
Environmental advocacy groups raised concerns and activists protested for a third year in a row at Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) annual general meeting of shareholders today, Tuesday, October 12, 2021, drawing attention to the ongoing controversy over the company’s supply chain issues, including its sourcing of pulp from the boreal forest of Canada and palm oil from the tropical forest countries of Indonesia and Malaysia.
Activists with Stand.earth and Rainforest Action Network hosted a caribou dance and die-in, a stunt with tree stumps, and showcased a mobile billboard, banners, speakers, poetry, and music — all to draw attention to the company’s supply chain concerns and controversial business partnerships.
At the annual meeting, which was held virtually, P&G shareholders voted to keep board member Angela Braly on the board despite calls for her ouster. Those calls questioned Braly’s effectiveness in her role as chair of P&G’s committee on social responsibility issues, citing in part her ties to climate denier ExxonMobil’s board. It was the first time a Procter & Gamble board member has faced pushback from environmental advocacy groups and activist investors over the company’s lack of accountability on forest destruction, human rights, and climate change issues.
Google’s climate action challenges Facebook
The Google ads team announced it will prohibit users from profiting from climate denial content on their platforms. The new policy, which applies to Google advertisers, publishers who run Google ads and YouTube creators, increases the pressure on Facebook to crack down on climate misinformation.
Friends of the Earth co-chair of the Climate Disinformation Coalition Michael Khoo issued the following statement in response:
Google’s decision to limit the profiting of climate denial puts a focus on Facebook and its primary role in spreading climate disinformation online. There should be no financial incentive to spread lies about climate change. Facebook has hidden its data on climate denial, but as we approach an international climate negotiation in Glasgow, Facebook must take much stronger action.
Our research has shown that a mere 1% of climate denial even got fact checked, in the Texas “windmill” debacle earlier this year. Now it’s time for Facebook to stop being the last bastion of climate denial.
Biden Can Block Fossil Fuel Projects With Pollution Equal to Over 400 Coal Plants: Report
Two dozen fossil fuel infrastructure projects that President Joe Biden can block via executive action would produce as much annual greenhouse gas pollution as 404 coal-fired power plants—or the equivalent of roughly 20% of all 2019 U.S. emissions—according to a report published Tuesday.
"Building new fossil fuel infrastructure and increasing U.S. emissions at a time when we must persuade other countries to reduce their use of fossil fuels sends the wrong signal to every nation."
The Oil Change International briefing found that the combined greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the analyzed projects—which include the Line 3, Dakota Access, and Mountain Valley pipelines and 20 liquified gas terminals—"would be larger than all current U.S. coal power plants combined, moving the United States away from Paris agreement commitments."
The total estimated emissions of the two dozen projects are far greater than those of the 294 coal-fired power plants currently operating in the continental United States, the report found.
China’s solar power has reached price parity with coal
The incredible plunge in the price of photovoltaic systems has made solar power an affordable option for much of the world. And, as long as solar is providing a small fraction of the power on a given grid, there's little holding back the addition of new photovoltaic facilities. But as the fraction of solar power grows, managing the fact that it only generates electricity intermittently becomes a significant grid-management challenge.
At that point, factors other than price become significant in determining how much solar energy makes sense. And those factors can vary from country to country. This means that understanding solar's potential requires a country-specific analysis. This week, researchers in China released an analysis of their country, indicating that solar has now reached a point where it's cost-competitive with coal. The report also states that solar (when coupled with storage) could handle nearly half of China's needs by midcentury.
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The writers in Climate Brief work to keep the Daily Kos community informed and engaged with breaking news about the climate crisis worldwide while providing inspiring stories of environmental heroes, opportunities for direct engagement, and perspectives on the intersection of climate activism with spirituality politics, and the arts.