The Real Obstacle to Climate Action

WASHINGTON, DC – Climate change is probably the biggest threat facing humanity today. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world must cut its carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050 in order to prevent global warming of 1.5°C, or likely more, above pre-industrial levels in this century. The challenge calls for drastic immediate action, because the infrastructure investments the world makes today will determine the carbon intensity of its growth path for decades.

Yet despite widespread recognition of the size and urgency of the climate challenge, emissions continue to increase, land is “under growing human pressure,” and the Amazon has never been more threatened.Much of the early climate debate revolved around whether the world should take drastic immediate action to mitigate global warming, or adopt a more gradual approach. The gradualists argued with some success that drastic immediate measures would impose heavy short-term economic costs.But three recent developments have altered the course of the debate. First, the various feedback loops triggered by global warming now threaten to cause greater and more imminent damage than previously thought. 

Read the story from Project Syndicate - “The Real Obstacle to Climate Action.”

New UN Climate Report Dims Hope For Averting Catastrophic Global Warming

The world is rapidly running out of time to scale back greenhouse gas emissions, dimming hopes of keeping global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, beyond which catastrophic planetary changes are forecast.

Lovelyn Cesar, 22, carries her one year old baby Matthew
 as she cross a flooded street in a suburb of Manila after
 two historic storms battered the Philippines. 

That assessment comes from a sobering new report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, the leading United Nations consortium of researchers studying the speed and scope of human-caused temperature rise.

“This is one of the most important reports ever produced by the IPCC, and certainly one of the most needed,” Hoesung Lee, the chair of the body, said at a press conference in South Korea on Monday. “Climate change is already affecting people, livelihood and ecosystems all around the world.”

Read the HuffPost story by Alexander C. Kaufman and Chris D’Angelo - “New UN Climate Report Dims Hope For Averting Catastrophic Global Warming.”

Keep global warming under 1.5C or 'quarter of planet could become arid’

More than a quarter of the planet’s surface could become significantly drier if global temperatures rise 2C above pre-industrial levels, scientists predict.

Acidification is a serious threat – as well as leading to droughts and wildfires
it can also have an impact on agriculture, water quality, and biodiversity.

The study, which is one of the most detailed assessments to date of future aridity, suggests that many regions could face an increased threat of drought and wildfires.

Limiting global warming to under 1.5C would avoid extreme changes for two-thirds of these areas, the study suggested.

Chang-Eui Park, the first author from the Southern University of Science and Technology (Sustech) in Shenzhen China, said: “Aridification is a serious threat because it can critically impact areas such as agriculture, water quality, and biodiversity. It can also lead to more droughts and wildfires similar to those seen raging across California.”

Read Hannah Devlin’s story on The Guardian - “Keep global warming under 1.5C or 'quarter of planet could become arid’.”

Climate Change in the Trumpocene Age

Heading into the 'Trumpocene Age'.

In the year since the Paris climate agreement was concluded, the world’s efforts to limit global warming to 2º Celsius above pre-industrial levels seemed to gain momentum.


Enough signatory countries took the necessary steps to formalize the agreement to ensure that it entered into force on November 4. Meanwhile, in October, the international community reached a separate aviation-related climate accord, which covers an area that the Paris agreement did not address; and agreed to amend the 1989 Montreal Protocol to phase out hydrofluorocarbons – a potent greenhouse gas.

But, following the United States’ presidential election, many observers fear that international efforts to combat climate change – such as the Paris accord and the Sustainable Development Goals (specifically, SDG 13) – could be derailed. During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump – who in 2012 took to Twitter to declare that climate change is a Chinese-created hoax – said that he would walk away from the Paris agreement. But, in a post-election interview with the New York Times, Trump said that he had an “open mind” about the Paris agreement, implying that he is now backing away from his previous statements.

Read the story on Project Syndicate by the former editor-in-chief of the Danish daily Politiken, Bo Lidegaard - “Climate Change in the Trumpocene Age.”

Another vulnerable island state signs Paris agreement

The Maldives has become the fourth small island state to announce it has ratified the Paris climate agreement, two weeks before an official UN signing ceremony in New York.

Parliament voted to approve the pact on Tuesday, which commits countries to limit global warming to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels, and target net zero carbon emissions before 2100.

Read the Climate Home story - “Maldives becomes fourth island state to ratify Paris climate deal.”

Remarkable global heat of 2015 to be bettered in 2016

The remarkable global heat experienced in 2015 is not yet over and already forecasters are predicting next year will be hotter again - marking three years in a row of record annual warmth.

The prediction, by Britain's Met Office, for the possibility of a trio of record-breaking years comes just days after almost 200 nations agreed in Paris to a new global agreement to tackle climate change.

Under the pact, to take effect from 2020, nations would review efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions every five years with the aim of keeping temperature increases to "well below 2 degrees" of pre-industrial levels.

The Met Office's release on Thursday of its annual global temperature forecast comes as south-eastern Australia swelters in what is expected to be record early-season heat.

Read the Melbourne Age story - “You think this year is hot? 2016 tipped to break annual global heat records again.”

New GHG concentrations point to 'dangerous and inhospitable future'

A

tmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations hit yet another new record in 2014, “continuing a relentless rise which is fueling climate change and will make the planet more dangerous and inhospitable for future generations,” said the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in a report released today.

The WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin found a 36 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the last 25 years and a 43 percent increase from pre-industrial levels. The report also highlighted the “enhanced greenhouse effect” that more water vapor in the atmosphere is having. As the Earth’s surface temperature warms because of record CO2 concentrations, it’s creating a “vicious cycle” where “higher temperatures lead to more atmospheric water vapor,” explains the Guardian, “which in turn traps even more heat.”

Read the EcoWatch story - “Carbon Levels Rising at ‘Frightening Speed’ as Greenhouse Gases and Global Temperature Hit Record High.”