US Climate Envoy John Kerry yesterday warned the world is off-track in meeting goals to maintain global warming at 1.5 degrees C.
“Let be factual, above all, but let me also be blunt and hopefully motivating. We’re in trouble, I hope everybody understands that. Not trouble we can’t get out of, but we’re not on a good track,” Kerry said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event.
“Many countries — most countries — have the ability to deploy very significant additional amounts of renewables, and they’re not doing it,” he said. Rather than having gas function as a ‘bridge fuel”, he said, there has been an increase in the use of gas and the building of supporting infrastructure.
Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal this morning introduced a 131 page bill focusing on mitigating the impacts of climate change on marginalized communities.
“One of the things we really want to fix is how the resources get distributed: who gets the jobs, how do we make sure that those jobs are well paid, and that it becomes an opportunity to—wait for it—build back better in those communities,” says Jayapal.
Jayapal’s legislation, which draws on consultation with a range of environmental groups, contains a laundry list of policies with that aim in mind. The bill would establish a grant program for states, local governments and nonprofits to create jobs in “climate resilience” with a requirement that the recipients commit to employing a diverse workforce. These jobs include things like preemptive climate resilience work—think of retrofitting and restoration that helps soften the blow of a major disaster—as well as jobs that follow the storm, like clean up and debris removal. These industries already exist in some parts of the country, but worker protections are uneven. The bill’s text say that this grant program could create one million jobs annually that provide for worker safety and benefits.
Deloitte Report: Inaction on Climate Change Could Cost the US Economy $14.5 Trillion by 2070
Yahoo Finance highlights a new report - "The Turning Point: A new economic climate in the United States which reveals rapid decarbonization could lead to a $3 trillion while creating 1 million more jobs.
"The Deloitte Economics Institute Turning Point report makes the case for another industrial revolution in the U.S.—one built on low-emissions growth—to avoid significant losses from the climate crisis and to create a more dynamic, prosperous economy for the U.S.," said Alicia Rose, Deputy CEO for Deloitte US. "The analysis shows that the battle to slow climate change is not only an aspirational goal, but an economic imperative for the U.S."
Meanwhile, as legislation addressing climate change languishes in the United States Congress with the collapse of BBB, the COP26 presidency today announced its plan of action until the UK turns over the presidency to Egypt at next November’s COP27. Unlike the industrialized UK, which hosted COP26 last winter in Glasgow, Egypt represents one of the Least Developed Countries relying on financial support from the developed countries to address climate change.
The UK COP26 four top priorities include a commitment to work towards meeting the $100 billion goal of assistance to the most climate-vulnerable nations, with a focus on climate adaptation projects and loss and damage.
The four priorities:
- Ensuring promises on emissions reductions are kept to keep 1.5 degrees alive: That every country honours the commitment in the Glasgow Climate Pact to strengthen their climate change targets to align with the Paris temperature goal as necessary in 2022, as well as for delivering on their net zero commitments and 2030 emissions reduction targets – particularly through policies to end coal power, halt deforestation and transition to clean vehicles
- Delivering for climate vulnerable countries by ensuring commitments on adaptation and loss and damage are honoured: Working with donors to make progress towards doubling adaptation finance by 2025 and developing a clear proposal and funding for the Santiago Network by COP27
- Getting finance flowing: The UK through the COP Presidency will help ensure countries, international financial institutions and private financial institutions deliver on the commitments they have made to meet the $100bn goal. And we will aim to increase public-private partnerships to support climate action, building on the South African Just Energy Transition Partnership. We will support Parties to make progress on the post-2025 climate finance goal
- Working together and continuing to be an inclusive Presidency: Pushing for further action across critical sectors and turning promises into clear delivery plans through established forums and international councils. The UK through the COP Presidency will work hand-in-hand with the COP27 President Egypt, COP28 President UAE, our international partners, business, youth and civil society, to deliver our priorities and keep climate at the top of the international agenda
A look at Egypt’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) shows how the country’s plan to mitigate climate change relies on contributions from the Global North.
From the document:
Locally-appropriate technology transfer and financial flows from industrialized countries (Annex I countries) to support carbon emission abatement according to the UNFCCC principles, which acknowledges that developed countries should provide required support to developing countries in this regard.
Egypt estimates it will need an infusion of $73.04 billion to implement its NDCs.
There’s been a miraculous discovery made in the depths of the South Pacific Ocean—a rare stretch of pristine corals off the coast of Tahiti that appears to be unscathed by climate change or human activities.
The coral reef was first discovered by Laetitia Hédouin from France’s National Center for Scientific Research and her colleagues. They first spotted it at depths of between 35 and 70 meters while they were on a diving expedition off the peninsula of Tahiti. The astounding reef is primarily made up of two coral species. Porites rus dominates from 30 to 45 meters deep, however, at depths of 50 to 55 meters, Pachyseris speciosa takes over.
“It looks like a giant rose garden going as far as the eye can see,” says Julian Barbière at UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. “It’s a very healthy reef, like a dream come true,” he continues. “In the middle of the biodiversity crisis, this is very good news.”
The Atlantic yesterday published a story The Utility of White-Hot Rage, examining how we keep going with the grief, fear, and rage we feel as we confront the realities of a climate-changed world.
A poll conducted by Yale and George Mason University researchers in September found that 70 percent of Americans are worried about climate change, and 47 percent describe themselves as “angry” about it. I’m in both of those groups. In my 15 years as an environmental journalist, I’ve always been able to ground myself on a bedrock optimism that humanity will get its act together. Lately, though, as the pandemic has dragged toward its third year, the West has continued to burn, drought has parched my part of the world, and climate action has stalled at the federal level even with Democrats in control, that has changed. I am burned out. For some people, this might manifest as fatigue, or disengagement. For me, it’s anger. On a near-daily basis, I can feel my blood sizzling in my veins.
So what do you do with about climate rage? The author suggests you engage in work like joining a climate-focused group, promoting climate action where you work or in your child’s school, and working collectively.
Leslie Davenport, a psychologist and the author of Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change, would put this in the category of “external strategies” for staying mentally healthy. Note that these are all collective actions, which not only are more effective at stopping climate change than reducing our own emissions, but also place us in community with others who share these complex feelings. You don’t have to jump in the deep end of hard-core activism and protest, Davenport told me. No matter what your current skills are, there’s a way to use them to support climate justice. “Do what you are good at,” Heglar agreed. “If you can’t do the work, care for people who can.” And collective work can actually change things. The fact that the current worst-case scenario is only a “demi-Armageddon” is absolutely because of widespread social movements demanding action on climate change.