Environmental organisations in the #UK have filed a court challenge to the UK government's amended climate action plan, arguing it is insufficient and illegal.
Friends of the Earth, Client Earth, and the Good Law Project argue that the government is failing to meet the standards of the Climate Change Act 2008, relying on unproven technology, and hiding vital information on the risks of its policies.
Small modular nuclear reactors: a history of failure by Dr Jim Green | Jan 17, 2024
Context: Australian conservative Liberal and National Parties will take a pro-nuclear power policy to the next Australian election as the large part to their climate policy, including advocacy for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).
Green itemises the history of failure and massive cost and construction time over-runs in SMRs and current western conventional nuclear power construction.
The US government will charge oil and gas companies a fee for excess #methane emissions.
The fee would start at $900 per ton of methane in 2024 and increase to $1,500 per ton in 2026.
Unlike carbon dioxide, which stays in the atmosphere for centuries, methane only lasts for about a decade. According to a UN report, reducing methane emissions by 45% by 2030 could avoid nearly 0.3°C of global warming by the 2040s.
What is Australia's fair share when it comes to financing the necessary climate transition?
In a headline today, the Australian government has pledged AU$150m in #ClimateFinance for Pacific nations.
Good news, right? Isn't this PM Anthony #Albanese "ending the #ClimateWars" by actually doing what #Australia ought to have done years ago? Let's consider that assumption.
Back in 2009 at the much hyped, but ultimately deeply disappointing international climate negotiations in #Copenhagen known as #COP15, one step forward that was agreed, even as more comprehensive or ambitious agreements slipped away was that the wealthy nations of the world (including #Australia) collectively pledged to be providing US$100b each year to help the poorer nations transition away from #FossilFuels (#ClimateMitigation) and develop in ways that help societies adapt to the warming that cannot be mitigated (#ClimateAdaptation).
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When the #GreenClimateFund was being established, Australia's Prime Minister was #TonyAbbott, a #ClimateDenier, who had won the 2013 federal election promising to dismantle the baby steps towards a #ClimatePolicy the previous #Labor government had made.
So there was little surprise when PM Abbott announced in Nov 2013 that #Australia would be contributing a massive sum of $0 to the Green Climate Fund.
At the time, he claimed Australia would chip in AU$200m (then =USD$187m) over four years, but since this was merely a rebranding of existing #ForeignAid, it clearly didn't count as "new and additional funding", a fact that most journalists blithely ignored, falling for the bait-and-switch. Or we might say instead that the Australian government was overstating its foreign aid commitments by $200m over those years.
Nonetheless, the four years were soon gone, as was Tony Abbott, as well as his successor #MalcolmTurnbull, who in turn had been replaced as PM by #ScottMorrison. When it came time to pledge again in 2018, Morrison announced Australia would be pulling out of the Green Climate Fund entirely, a path also taken by the #Trump administration at the time, whom Morrison was often cribbing notes from when it came to what kinds of #cruelty and #selfishness he could get away with.
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Record number of fossil fuel lobbyists granted access to COP28 climate talks.
A new analysis from the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition has revealed that at least 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the #COP28 climate negotiations in Dubai.
It's a record number. If this is not evidence that fossil fuel money continues to exert heavy influence at the highest levels of climate policy, I don't know what is.
Heated (Arielle Samuelson) exposes the presence of hundreds of fossil fuel industry representatives at the world’s most important climate conference, who are working to delay or weaken #climatepolicy.
The oil industry has been found to lobby extensively against climate change measures. Their presence to #COP28 undermines the credibility and the effectiveness of the conference.
They should be excluded from all future #climate discussions.
Representatives of the fossil fuel industry have attended UN #climate talks at least 7,200 times over the past two decades, according to research.
The industry has increased its presence and influence at the COP summits, which are focused on solving the climate crisis that the industry helped create.
If this is not evidence that #FossilFuel money continues to exert heavy influence at the highest levels of climate policy, I don't know what is.
"En même temps, il conviendra d’éviter que des procédures fastidieuses, des conditions excessives et une bureaucratie dissuasive n’entravent les progrès dans d'autres domaines importants. La politique de protection de la nature ne doit pas devenir une politique d’entrave que les citoyens considèrent comme arbitraire." (Programme de coalition CSV-DP, 2023)
Last night's (fairly) successful team in action: we scored our 2nd highest placing in the #CBquiz ever coming in 13th out of more than 60 teams.
@kristianpagh turns out to be a secret weapon when it came to the solar power per capita picture round and @leifdenby valiantly joined our remote @dmidk team (also remotely).. #CBquiz23
A good result in the #Science + #Energy rounds saved a rather ignominious (as usual) performance on #UNFCCC + #climatePolicy
Headline quote says that the Australian #ALP government is "missing half the equation" when it comes to taking action to mitigate climate disruption.
While there is federal support for expanding cleaner forms of energy, the Australian government continues to approve new coal and gas projects, and even create new forms of indirect #DirtyEnergySubsidies (such as federal funding for the #MiddleArm industrial hub in #Darwin, representing a substantial gift to the #FossilGas industry). Hence, they are "missing half the equation".
But I would argue that they are missing most of the equation, because stopping the increase of climate-disrupting greenhouse gases from being emitted by winding down the #DirtyEnergy industry as rapidly and humanely as possible is the single biggest aspect of #ClimateAction. Doing so will require replacement forms of energy (and all kinds of shifts in how energy is used), yes, but this is actually a secondary goal required to achieve the main one: an end to humanity's dependence on dirty energy ASAP.
This bushfire season will be very telling for Australia ... it's predicted to be a bad one and one top of that all these city dwellers that have moved out of the cities to more rural areas ... not looking forward to it
@melissabeartrix
Australia has done nothing to prepare for it since the last bushfire season 3yrs ago under Morrison.
No advice taken..
No planning..
No consultation with experts..
Government short-sightedness around climate issues is staggering whether LNP or ALP
"Up the coast in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, #OffshoreWind projects are getting canceled due to rising costs and a reluctance to pass along higher rates to customers.
Some of this is bad luck and basic #GrowingPains.
We’re stuck in a world of tradeoffs precisely because unemployment is low and the economy is firing on all cylinders. That’s mostly good — but it means that #ClimatePolicy needs more rigor."
A group of more than 2,000 older women has taken the Swiss government to the European Court of Human Rights over its climate-change policy. They say that, because #heatwaves disproportionately affect older #women , #Switzerland ’s 🇨🇭 inaction on climate change is violating their right to life and health.
From the 4 to the 6th of October, more than 50 European and global scientific experts in the fields of #earthobservation, #geospatialdata, #climatepolicy, and #geospatialresearch, with experience in organizations such as World Resources Institute, European Space Agency - ESA, or Copernicus ECMWF, will share their work in several oral talks, workshops, and poster sessions👩💻👩🏼💻. To register for this workshop at EURAC, Bolzano, please visit: https://earthmonitor.org/gw2023/#program #OpenEarthMonitor
These models are used to compare reducing emissions options (#mitigation) given specific policy goals (e.g., limiting warming to 1.5°C). In contrast to cost-benefit #IAMs, they do not include a feedback from temperature change on population or economy (GDP).
The only effect on GDP are costs from #ClimatePolicy - benefits from avoiding flooding or fires are ignored by assumption.
It's a one-way street: #population & #GDP to baseline-vs-mitigation scenarios (i.e., different #warming levels).
California lawmakers approve the nation’s most sweeping emissions disclosure rules for big business (apnews.com)
California lawmakers have approved legislation requiring major companies to disclose a sweeping range of greenhouse gas emissions.