Swedish student leader wins EU pledge to spend billions on climate

BRUSSELS, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The European Union should spend hundreds of billions of euros combating climate change during the next decade, its chief executive said on Thursday, responding to a Swedish teen who has inspired a global movement of children against global warming.

Teenage Greta Thunberg said she and hundreds of thousands
like her were skipping school each week to focus politicians'
minds on a 2020 deadline for countries to step up planned emissions cuts.

In a speech alongside 16-year-old Greta Thunberg in Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker also criticised U.S. President Donald Trump for suggesting climate change was "invented" and “ideological".

"In the next financial period from 2021 to 2027, every fourth euro spent within the EU budget will go towards action to mitigate climate change," Juncker said of his proposal for the EU budget, which is typically 1 percent of the bloc's economic output, or 1 trillion euros ($1.13 trillion) over seven years.

"Mr. Trump and his friends believe that climate change is something that has just been invented and its an ideological concept, but ... something dangerous is already underway," Juncker said.

Thunberg was in Brussels to join a seventh week of demonstrations by Belgian children skipping school to protest against global warming.

Read the Reuters story by Clare Roth  - “Swedish student leader wins EU pledge to spend billions on climate.”

Big Diesel-Burning Pickup Trucks Are Paying for GM’s Electric Future

The vehicles that will secure the next decade for General Motors Co. aren’t covered in self-driving sensors or loaded with batteries. No, the future depends on hulking pickup trucks that often run on diesel and cost more than the average BMW.

Sales of heavy-duty pickups like the 2020 Chevrolet
Silverado are paying for General Motors to invest
billions into electric vehicles and driverless technology.

That’s the irony at the heart of GM’s event this week at its sprawling factory in Flint, Michigan, where the next iterations of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra will be introduced. These revamped heavy-duty pickups, which go on sale in June, feature advanced, lightweight materials and fuel-efficient engines but none of the technology that will supposedly shape the next era of the auto industry. Yet in Detroit that future can’t exist without the profit margins generated by classic pickup trucks.

Read the story from Bloomberg by David Welch - “Big Diesel-Burning Pickup Trucks Are Paying for GM’s Electric Future.”

Coastal erosion to worsen over next decade as storms wash WA beaches away

Western Australia could be hit with some of the worst flooding and coastal erosion it has ever seen in the next decade, as the tidal cycle combines with increased water levels caused by global warming.

A gazebo in the WA town of Lancelin was undercut by
erosion. It was later demolished

Recent storm damage has pounded the Western Australian coast, with the beachside town of Lancelin losing its gazebo at one of the community's main beaches, and a holiday home sliding into the ocean at nearby Wedge Island.

Other parts of the state, including Fremantle's Port Beach and Geographe Bay have copped the brunt of recent ferocious cold fronts.

Read the ABC News story by Rebecca Trigger - “Coastal erosion to worsen over next decade as storms wash WA beaches away.”

Taiwan Announces Ban on All Plastic Bags, Straws, and Utensils

All single-use plastic must be phased out by 2030.

Ordering take-out, picking up groceries, buying a soft drink — these are all activities that will change over the next decade in Taiwan when the island nation imposes a blanket ban on single-use plastic bags, straws, and cups, according to the Hong Kong Free Press.

It will be one of the farthest-reaching bans on plastic in the world, and it demonstrates the momentum of the anti-plastic movement as the scale of environmental harm caused by the substance is fully realized.

"We aim to implement a blanket ban by 2030 to significantly reduce plastic waste that pollutes the ocean and also gets into the food chain to affect human health," said Lai Ying-yaun, a Taiwanese Environmental Protection Agency official, in a statement.

Read the Global Citizen story by Joe McCarthy - “Taiwan Announces Ban on All Plastic Bags, Straws, and Utensils.”