Today’s Climate Brief covers Cop26 News, the Downside of carbon Capture and Storage, and how the international community came together to address previous climate catastrophes.
COP26 News: The built Environment
Built environment refers to human-made structures and the environment which surrounds or supports them. It is often expanded to include water supply and energy supply.
The built environment is a key contributor to climate change.
… buildings are a top emitter of climate-changing gases into our atmosphere: 37 per cent of energy-related CO2 emissions in 2020 came from the construction and operation of our buildings – houses, apartments, offices, hospitals, schools, markets, train stations or airports. (sdg.iisd.org/...)
UK Green Building Council picks 17 "exemplary sustainable projects" for COP26 virtual pavilion
Seventeen sustainable projects, including a timber cultural centre in Sweden, a school built from bamboo and 3D-printed clay homes, will be exhibited in the Build Better Now virtual pavilion during COP26 in Glasgow.
The Build Better Now exhibition aims to demonstrate opportunities to tackle the climate emergency and limit the impact of the built environment, which is thought to be responsible for around 40 per cent of global CO2 emissions.
"With COP26 in November, the world is ready to tackle climate change and the built environment has a crucial part to play," CEO at the UK Green Building Council Julie Hirigoyen said.
"We know why we must accelerate climate action and Build Better Now shows how we can get there," she added.
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The good news is that the world is waking up to the reality that the built environment is a critical sector for climate action. Six years after COP21 in Paris that put buildings on the agenda, 2021 features a Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day. Taking place on 11 November, it is spearheaded by a strong alliance of partners rallying under the #BuildingToCOP26 campaign, with support from the COP26 UK presidency and the High-Level Climate Champions.
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The buildings we build today will stand for 50 to 80 years. With buildings accounting for more than one third of global energy-related CO2 emissions, we are at a pivotal moment. Let’s come to COP26 with the resolve of building the buildings we deserve to live and work in and building the future we want. The Built Environment is a giant for the climate that has woken up. Let’s make sure he puts on the seven-mile boots to make the giant steps the world urgently needs.
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS): A Twitter Thread
(MW stands for megawatt hour)
Past Environmental Disasters
There are valuable lessons to be learned in how we can educate and generate engagement about the climate crisis if we look to how we handled previous environmental problems like the ozone hole and acid rain. In a BBC article, Climate change: The environmental disasters we've almost fixed, authors point out success in dealing with these issues, along with how we successfully removed lead from gasoline.
Acid Rain
"In the '80s, essentially the message was that this was the largest environmental problem of all time," says Peringe Grennfelt, a Swedish scientist who played a key role in highlighting the dangers of acid rain.
International agreements were established to cut down on the pollutants in fossil fuels that were contributing to the problem. In the United States, the Clean Air Act was amended and a cap and trade policy was put into place to incentivize companies to cut back sulfur and nitrogen emissions. The cap was lowered each year until emissions were significantly decreased.
The topic of acid rain was internationally contested for several years, with the fossil fuel industry vying with environmentalists. But this contention can inform how we come together as a global community to tackle climate change.
"The first lesson I learned was that we had to effectively communicate the results of our studies, not just to other scientists but to policymakers and the public at large," says Prof John Smol. “If there is an information vacuum, it will be immediately filled by vested interest groups.”
Misinformation and social media add to the complexity of getting real information out to the public, Prof Smol acknowledges.
1980s: The ozone hole
In 1985, British scientists announced there was a large and growing hole above the Antarctic caused by the chlorofluorocarbons which were used in aerosol sprays and refrigerants.
"Suddenly it goes 'boom', and it drops really quickly," says BAS polar scientist Anna Jones, referring to the dramatic thinning of the band of gas that shields the planet from harmful UV rays
Enter the Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is a global agreement to protect the Earth’s ozone layer by phasing out the chemicals that deplete it. This phase-out plan includes both the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances. The landmark agreement was signed in 1987 and entered into force in 1989.
The parties to the Protocol meet once a year to make decisions aimed at ensuring the successful implementation of the agreement. These include adjusting or amending the Protocol, which has been done six times since its creation. The most recent amendment, the Kigali Amendment, called for the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in 2016. These HFCs were used as replacements for a batch of ozone-depleting substances eliminated by the original Montreal Protocol. Although they do not deplete the ozone layer, they are known to be powerful greenhouse gases and, thus, contributors to climate change.
The Montreal Protocol provided a set of practical, actionable tasks that were universally agreed on. The Protocol has successfully met its objectives thus far and continues to safeguard the ozone layer today. Thanks to the collaborative effort of nations around the world, the ozone layer is well on its way to recovery.
Today, the ozone hole is 24.8 kilometers, decreasing from 29.9 in 2008.
"The climate change problem is much more complicated to solve than the ozone problem because we don't have immediate alternatives to fossil fuels in the way that we had alternatives to CFCs," says Dr Jones. "But, that's not a reason for not doing something - the problem is too important, it's too big and they need to get on with it.
"When industry and governments have come together in the past they have solved a globally-threatening environmental problem - now they need to show they can do it again."
In other reporting today, the BBC produced an overview of the Glasgow Climate Talks COP26: What is the Glasgow climate conference and why is it important?
They report that while most nations have already submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions NDCs), some technical issues regarding the Paris Agreement still need to be worked out. The topic of climate finances and the developing world will be a key issue. Other topics which might make news include:
- Making a faster switch to electric cars
- Speeding up the phasing out of coal power
- Cutting down fewer trees
- Protecting more people from the impacts of climate change, such as funding coastal-defence systems.
California has been reeling with drought and wildfires and this past weekend's “bomb cyclone” has now been linked to climate change.
As the storm system pushed on land, its barometric pressure dropped to 945.2 millibars, making it the strongest storm ever recorded to hit the West Coast of the United States. Hurricane-force winds were recorded in multiple locations in the state, downing trees and leaving tens of thousands of people without power. With 4.02 inches of rain, San Francisco set a record for the most rain on an October day in the city’s recorded history. Sacramento received 5.44 inches, an all-time single-day record that came on the heels of another notable milestone: 212 days with no measurable precipitation.
The writers in Climate Brief work to keep the Daily Kos community informed and engaged with breaking news about the climate crisis around the world 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.