As U.N. Climate Talks Go to Overtime, a Battle for the ‘Spirit’ of the Paris Pact

MADRID — After two weeks of contentious negotiations, world leaders put in charge of averting a cluster of accelerating climate threats remained at loggerheads late Saturday about whether they could commit, just on paper, to raise voluntary climate targets next year.

Demonstrators stormed the conference hall at the United Nations
climate negotiations in Madrid on Wednesday.Credit...

The annual talks, formally known as the Conference of Parties, which had been scheduled to end on Friday, were meant to hammer out the final details of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord, and expectations initially ran high that they would yield a collective political call for raising climate targets. 

That is vital for the future of millions. With greenhouse gas emissions on their current trajectory, average global temperatures are on pace to increase to levels where heat waves are very likely to intensify, storms are set to become more severe, and coastal cities are at risk of drowning, according to scientific consensus.

Read the story from The New York Times by Somini Sengupta - “As U.N. Climate Talks Go to Overtime, a Battle for the ‘Spirit’ of the Paris Pact.”

First Heat Wave of the Year Brings Record-High Temperatures, Fire Risk to Bay Area

Just two weeks after rain and cool temperatures put a damper on many Bay Area Memorial Day weekend plans, the region is getting its first real heat wave of the year.

Parts of the Bay Area are expected to break 100 degrees on Sunday and Monday. 

Record or near-record temperatures registered across the Bay Area on Sunday. Downtown San Francisco tied a 33-year-old record high at 91 degrees, the same temperature recorded at the Oakland Airport, a full 5 degrees higher than its previous record. Half Moon Bay obliterated its previous June 9 high of 72 degrees in 1941 with an 86 degree scorcher on Sunday.

Much of the North and South Bays neared triple digit temperatures on Sunday, and the heat is expected to be even worse on Monday, with several cities forecast to break 100 degrees. The National Weather Service issued heat advisories for much of the Bay Area on Sunday and Monday.

"Sensitive populations like the elderly, children, even pets should pay special attention to staying cool because they're the most vulnerable in these types of situations," said National Weather Service meteorologist Spencer Tangen.

Read the story from KQED News by Ryan Levi and Raquel Maria Dillon - “First Heat Wave of the Year Brings Record-High Temperatures, Fire Risk to Bay Area.”

COP24: Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Katowice

This year’s COP24 annual UN climate conference concluded late on Saturday evening in Katowice, Poland, after two weeks of tension-filled talks.

Nearly 23,000 delegates descended on the coal-tinged city with a deadline for hashing out the Paris Agreement “rulebook”, which is the operating manual needed for when the global deal enters into force in 2020.

This was mostly agreed, starting a new international climate regime under which all countries will have to report their emissions – and progress in cutting them – every two years from 2024.

Read the Carbon Brief story - “COP24: Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Katowice.”

Australian canola for European biodiesel emits half the greenhouse gas of fossil fuels

Australia has secured access to a billion-dollar European biodiesel market for canola, just two weeks away from a cut-off date.

Australian canola is highly competitive in the global market, a researcher says.

The CSIRO has found that using Australian canola in the biodiesel supply chain produced half the greenhouse gas emissions of fossil fuel, at the point that it is pumped into the car.

Europe had tightened its Renewable Energy Greenhouse Gas Savings Target to be 50 per cent of the emissions from mineral diesel, a fossil fuel.

That is due to come into effect on January 1.

It had been set at 35 percent.

Read the ABC News story - “Australian canola for European biodiesel emits half the greenhouse gas of fossil fuels.”

‘It's very serious': Australia's farmers pensive after a long, dry winter.

For the next two weeks, Phillip Alcorn will have his eyes glued to the sky, and the weather forecast.

Phillip Alcorn in a field of canola on his property near Harden. 

If there is no rain in the next two weeks, the Harden farmer's canola crop will be a write-off. 

"It's very serious," says Mr Alcorn, who has been farming for 25 years in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales. 

"This is up in the top couple of years for toughness," he says. "That is a direct impact of the dry," he says. 

Read Judith Ireland’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “‘It's very serious': Australia's farmers pensive after a long, dry winter.”