Australia needs to take a leadership position on climate change

Three years after the Paris Agreement was struck, we now finally know the rules – or most of them, at least – for its implementation.

A participant in the UN climate summit in Katowice, Poland. 

The Paris Rulebook, agreed at the UN climate summit in Katowice, Poland, gives countries a common framework for reporting and reviewing progress towards their climate targets.

Read the story from The Age by Kate Dooley - “Australia needs to take a leadership position on climate change.”

Global Emissions Must Drop 55% by 2030 to Meet Climate Goals

After three years of holding steady, global greenhouse gas emissions rose by 1.1% this year. Clearly, this is not good. In a significant report released this fall, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change illustrated the urgent need to rein in global warming, and to essentially decarbonize global industries by 2050. Even a slight increase in emissions is a setback (holding steady, at a level still very unhealthy for the planet, wasn’t great either, but it was at least progress).

Global emissions must drop by more than 50 per cent by 2030
if we are to have any chance of reining in climate change.

It also contributed to a widening of what’s known as the “emissions gap“–essentially, the difference between “where we are and where we need to be.” Every year since 2011, the UN Environment Program has detailed the state of this global emissions gap. Doing so, though, is a bit like trying to hit a moving target. “There’s so much more information now, and so many more models and projections that we have to integrate into our study,” says Philip Drost, program officer at UN Environment. As climate science has grown more evolved, as matters of measuring emissions have become more sophisticated, and most crucially, as global warming goals have become more urgent, he adds, the gap has mutated.

Read the Fast Company story Eillie Anzilotti - “Global Emissions Must Drop 55% by 2030 to Meet Climate Goals.”

Climate change apathy, not denial, is the biggest threat to our planet

Three years after world leaders signed the Paris climate agreement, we’re about to better understand what that deal means for how we live our lives. On Monday, a major report from the UN’s climate science panel will set out what it will take to limit global warming to 1.5C, the key Paris target.

‘Cutting emissions will depend on people changing
how they live: flying less, for example.’ 

There are reasons to think the world is, finally, getting to grips with climate change. Carbon emissions are still rising but more slowly than before, and in many countries they’re falling. The UK has slashed its emissions to 19th-century levels, and we’re not alone – plenty of other countries, including the US, are making progress as well. Crucially, that’s happened without many people noticing, suggesting the world might be able to deal with the problem without having to persuade the public to change their polluting lifestyles.

Read the story by Leo Barasi from The Guardian - “Climate change apathy, not denial, is the biggest threat to our planet.”

World has three years to prevent dangerous climate change, warn experts.

The world has three years to start making significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions or face the prospect of dangerous global warming, experts have warned in an article in the prestigious journal Nature.

The coal-fired Plant Scherer, one of
America's top carbon dioxide emitters 

Calling for world leaders to be guided by the scientific evidence rather than “hide their heads in the sand”, they said “entire ecosystems” were already beginning to collapse, summer sea ice was disappearing in the Arctic and coral reefs were dying from the heat.

The world could emit enough carbon to bust the Paris Agreement target of between 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius in anything from four to 26 years if current levels continue, the article said.

Read Ian Johnston’s story on the Independent - “World has three years to prevent dangerous climate change, warn experts.”

Bureau continues to warn about rainfall deficiencies

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ustralia’s Bureau of Meteorology continues to warn about rainfall deficiencies.

The bureau’s latest missive tells about deficiencies throughout Australia and in considering the May rainfall declares the situation in Victoria to be worsening.

“Longer-term deficiencies are also evident for various periods under 2 years duration in much of this region, and deficiencies are also evident over large areas of eastern Australia for periods of about 3 years duration,” it notes.

Read the bureau’s report - “Victorian situation worsens”.