Coronavirus could cause the first big emissions drop in a decade

Four billion people worldwide are being told to shelter in their homes, the world economy has stalled, and scientists are anxiously awaiting what could be one of the largest drops in carbon emissions in history.

Scientists anxiously waiting for what could be one
 of the largest drops in carbon emissions in history.

Climate scientists have spent decades warning the public that fossil fuel use must be curbed significantly to prevent dangerous climate change — but, as world governments drag their feet, emissions have kept climbing. There hasn’t been a serious drop in global emissions since 2009, in the wake of the Great Recession.

Now, a global COVID-19 pandemic might change all that.

Read the story from Grist by Shannon Osaka - “Coronavirus could cause the first big emissions drop in a decade.”

An Ambitious Global Effort to Cut Shipping Emissions Stalls

An ambitious, global agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions from shipping in half by mid-century stalled as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) failed to approve any specific emission reduction measures at a meeting in London this week.

"We've seen no progress on the actual development
of measures and lots of procedural wrangling," said
 John Maggs, president of the Clean Shipping Coalition,
an environmental organization. "We've effectively
 lost a year at a time when we really don't have much time."

The IMO, a United Nations agency whose member states cooperate on regulations governing the international shipping industry, agreed in April to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping 50 percent by 2050. The details—along with efforts to reduce the sulfur content in fuel oil, reduce plastic litter from the shipping industry, and steps toward banning the use of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic—were to be worked out at a meeting of its Marine Environment Protection Committee this week.

The committee considered a cap on ship speeds and other short-term measures that could reduce emissions before 2023, as well as higher efficiency standards for new container ships, but none of those measures was approved.

Read the Inside Climate News story by Phil McKenna - “An Ambitious Global Effort to Cut Shipping Emissions Stalls.”

Energy companies will pay more under budget changes that could also secure company tax win

Oil and gas giants will be forced to pay billions more in tax under changes to the Petroleum Resources Rent Tax that could also deliver the Turnbull government a shock victory on its stalled company tax cuts.

Treasurer Scott Morrison ordered a review into the system in 2016.

It is understood next month's budget will tackle longstanding concerns about the way energy companies are taxed by curbing "uplift concessions", which determine tax deductions associated with exploration and construction. But in a concession expected to win industry support, the changes will exempt existing projects.

Read Eryk Bagshaw’s story from The Age - “Energy companies will pay more under budget changes that could also secure company tax win.”

We can still keep global warming below 2℃ – but the hard work is about to start

Last year we found that the growth in global fossil fuel emissions have stalled over the past three years. But does this mean we are on track to keep global warming below 2℃, as agreed under the 2015 Paris Agreement?

In our study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change today, we looked at how global and national energy sectors are progressing towards global climate targets.

We found that we can still keep global warming below 2℃ largely thanks to increasing use of clean energy, a global decline in coal use, improvements in energy efficiency, and a consequent stalling of emissions from fossil fuels over the past three years.

Nations need to accelerate deployment of existing technologies to lock in and build on the gains of the last three years. More challenging, is the needed investment to develop new technologies and behaviours necessary to get to net-zero global emissions by mid-century.

Read the piece on The Conversation - “We can still keep global warming below 2℃ – but the hard work is about to start.”