Report on Climate Change Foretells Risks Ahead
The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a draft report on climate change on November 1, 2011 that raised the specter of extremes caused by the global warming which might lead to so severe extent that some locations could become "increasingly marginal as places to live". The draft, which has not yet received final approval, cited:
** At least 2-to-3 chance that climate extremes have already worsened because of man-made greenhouse gases.
** 99 percent certainity with which scientists are saying that there will be more extreme heat bouts than cold spells.
** Extreme weathers that may make some locations "increasingly marginal as places to live".
The report also said that by the end of century, the intense single-day rainstorms that typically happen once every 20 years will probably happen about twice a decade.
The draft needs to be approved by diplomats at a mid-November meeting in Uganda, and subsequently, a final version will be released.
Meanwhile, the world leaders will meet in the last week of November 2011 in South Africa to deal with climate change. In the run up to the meeting, the U.N. World Meteorological Organization issued a report on November 21, 2011 that pointed to a more severe picture in global warming than anticipated and rising presence of three main greenhouse gases--CO2, Methane and Nitrous Oxide--with an accelerated rate of uptick in the atmosphere. According to UNWMO estimate, total volume of CO2 in 2010 was 389 parts per million (ppm), up from 280 parts per million in 1750, before the start of the Industrial Revolution. Levels increased 1.5 ppm per year in the 1990s and 2.0 ppm per year in the first decade of this century. However, CO2 is now rising at the rate of 2.3 ppm per year. The U.N. WMO cited three main culprits for the rise in greenhouse gases: (1) fossil fuel, (2) loss of forest, and (3) increased use of fertilizers.
DURBAN TALKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Negotiators will meet at Durban, South Africa, beginning November 28, 2011 for two weeks to discuss on various actions chalked out during Cancun meet last year. The immediate focus is on the so-called Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 agreement that called for binding reduction of carbon emission to the level of 95 percent in 1990 for 37 industrialized nations by 2012. The US refused to go along with any binding reduction because countries such as China and India have been excluded from mandatory cuts in carbon emission.
The Durban Talks on Climate Change opened on November 28 with a passionate call from the South African President Jacob Zuma to set aside national objectives and instead work towards a "common good and benefit of all humanity". The front and center of the talks is the 1997 landmark treaty called the Kyoto Protocol that had required 37 industrial nations to binding commitments to reduce carbon emission. There is a conconcerted effort to nudge these countries to agree to new commitments of carbon emission reduction before the treaty expires at the end of December 2012.
Meanwhile on the opening day of the talks (November 28, 2011), a UN FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) report pointed to a looming food crisis in the coming decades. According to the report, world food production needs to rise by 70 percent to support the goal of food sufficiency of an approximate population of 9 billion by 2050. However, most of the available land is already being used, and also in a way that has reduced the fertility because of soil erosion and water wastage due to poor farming practices. To launch remedial irrigation measures, the developing world needs to foot a bill as high as $1 trillion by 2015.
Climate Change and Its Impact: 2012 One of the Ten Hottest Years
The State of the Climate in 2012, an annual health status report for our planet, was issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on August 6, 2013. The report, buried under other pressing news coverage such as continuing turmoil in Egypt, rising death toll in Syrian civil war, deterioration in US-Russian relations because of a temporary asylum granted to the NSA leaker Edward Snowden and inauguration of a new Iranian President, paints a bleak picture of the aftereffect of gradual impact of global warming and the consequence of resulting climate change. According to the NOAA report, the Arctic ice reached record lows in summer thaw in 2012, with 97 percent of Greenland's ice sheet melted away, far greater than in any recent past. Over the last 150 years, the annual average global temperature has risen sharply, and is now 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than in pre-industrial time. Nine of the ten hottest years have been recorded since the late 1990s, with 2012 ranking number 8 or 9, depending on the methodology. In a separate report issued in January 2013, NOAA reported that the year 2012 was the hottest on record for the lower 48 states. Nearly 87 percent of the American West has been going through drought this year (2013).
The Under-secretary of Commerce Kathryn Sullivan, acting administrator of NOAA, has emphasized the risk factors with sober reminder of acceleration in climate change with respect to three principal metrics:
* Arctic Ice
* Sea Levels
* Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Arctic ice layers have shrunk to the smallest ever level since the satellite tracking has begun 34 years ago. Sea levels reached a record high in 2012, having climbed 1.3 inches per decade since satellite tracking of the sea levels began in 1993. Surface ocean temperatures reached in 2012 were among 11 warmest on record, with Australian researchers documenting profound changes in Marine life, including many species migrating to the cooler waters in the poles, in the recent edition of Nature and Climate Change. Meanwhile, to no one's surprise, Greenhouse gas continues to rise. In early May 2013, Hawaii's Mauna Loa Observatory had another ominous reading: the daily average of carbon dioxide concentration in the earth's atmosphere crossed 400 parts per million for the first time ever.
People of varying political stripes may have debate on the scale of Global Warming, but the facts--and the earth--continue to point out the tragic outcome if we all remain mute spectators.
WARSAW TALKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE (NOVEMBER 11-23, 2013)
The two-week talks were bogged down over differences on who among the developed and developing nations shared the primary burden for addressing--both from moral and funding perspectives--the climate change. The U.S. representative Todd Stern cited a 2007 U.N. study to assert that by 2020 the combined emissions by developing countries would exceed those of developed nations.
On December 12, 2013, NOAA provided a report card on Arctic for 2013 that showed less melting of ice this year compared to 2012. According to the report card issued by Martin Jeffries, a University of Alaska geophysicist and science adviser to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission,
(1) Overall arctic temperature didn't rise as high as in 2012
(2) Greenland ice sheets and summer sea ice didn't melt as much as in 2012
IPCC REPORT
A leaked draft report authored by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for its focus on analysis of climate change data and communication to the public, said that nations dragged their feet in curbing the causes of climate change, thus increasing the risks of adverse change in our planet. Inaction on behalf of nations for the next 15 years will render any gain in climate change meaningless and the resulting deterioration impossible to address. The draft, dated December 17, 2013 and leaked in the week of January 12, 2014, was third in a series of IPCC reports. It was not finalized when leaked, and the final version is to be released latter part of 2014. The report also stressed the need of including the emerging economies in the equation of climate change fight. The emissions in the US rose in 2013, but still were almost 10 percent lower than 2005 level because of abundance of natural gas. The report rued that the proportion of nuclear power in the mix of global energy were declining. The first report released in September 2013 found with 95% or confidence that human factors were principal causes of planetary warming. The second report to be published in March 2014 will touch upon the impact of global warming on the food supply.
Legal Wrangling Between Texas and EPA Continues
The legal wrangle between Obama administration's Environmental Protection Agency vs. Texas and other litigants were consolidated into one case, and the hearing began on February 24, 2014 at the U.S. Supreme Court. At the heart of the case was U.S. Supreme Court's 2007 ruling that Congress had authorized the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas from vehicles. However, EPA extended that mandate to assert its regulatory arm not only to cover emission from vehicles, but also to other facilities such as refineries and power plants under the Clean Air Act, which calls for regulating any facility with more than 250 tons of pollutants. The state of Texas and other litigants argued that greenhouse gases such as CO2 were not subject to Clean Air Act, and so the EPA lacked the authority to regulate them. Also, at 250 tons of pollutants, many facilities such as hospitals and schools will be subject to the Clean Air Act regulation. To work around that, EPA tweaked the threshold, thus violating the Clean Air Act, according to these litigants.
U.S. Secretary of State Kerry Pitches Strongly for Measures to Address Climate Change
Addressing a crowd of businessmen, students, civic leaders and politicians at Jakarta, Indonesia, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on February 16, 2014 came down heavily against those who were in denial of climate change, equating them to the group of believers of the so-called "flat earth" theory. Kerry, Obama administration's one of the strongest proponents of strict environment measures to address global warming, wants to leave behind an imprint of environmental legacy as he is pushing for substantive progress in an upcoming environmental summit in 2015.
Extreme Weather Caused by Human
The head of World Meteorological Organization on March 24, 2014 issued his organization's annual assessment report on global climate change, and blamed human factors for the rapid deterioration of the world climate. Michel Jarraud, the Secretary-General of WMO, described 2013 as the sixth-warmest year on the planet. 13 of the 14 warmest years took place in the 21st century.
IPCC Report Warns the World of Climate Change
Prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its second of the three reports on April 1, 2014 at a conference in Yokohama, Japan that called out the looming danger of the adverse effects of extreme climate change on every continent and Ocean beyond remedy. A draft of the report was leaked in December 2013. The report expressed deep concern over the pace of arctic icecap melt, scope of potential devastation of the earth's food chain and scale of natural disasters. The report also focused a sharp light on barriers to economic growth, social tension and human health.
IPCC REPORT
Issuing its latest report in Berlin on April 13, 2014, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that there was possibility to avert the crisis with an intensive push over the next 15 years as both the political and popular will to fight global warming had ben crystalizing in recent years. However, years of foot-dragging put the world at the edge, and needed immediate intervention. The report, titled Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change, included nearly 2,000 pages, with 500 pages of Executive Summary, 285 authors, coverage of 58 countries, 900 per reviews and 35,000 comments considered prior to final draft.
CO2 Level Rises Alarmingly High
Carbon dioxide levels rose to all time high in 2013, according to the environmental arm of U.N. The report, issued on September 9, 2014 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), paints a grim picture on the scope and scale of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In 2013, CO2 concentration in world atmosphere jumped to 396 parts per million (ppm), an increase of 2.9 ppm from the preceding year and almost 42 percent higher than the pre-Industrial Age. According to WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarroud, the CO2 concentration will exceed 400 ppm by 2016. Many scientists and environmentalists believe that concentration over 350 ppm represents significant risk to human health. WMO report is a wake-up call for policymakers, government officials, industry leaders and health officials. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called a special climate change summit on the sideline of U.N. General Assembly on September 23, 2014. After CO2, the largest share of greenhouse gas contributor to world's atmosphere is methane. The concentartion of methane in 2013 in world's atmosphere jumped to 1,824 parts per billion, up 153 percent from pre-Industrial Age level of 700 parts per billion.
Global Move to Address Issues Two Days Prior to Key U.N. Talks on Climate Change
Prior to a key summit on climate change to be held at New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on September 23, 2014, environmentalists, academicians, students and people from other walks of life participated in a colorful rally on September 21, 2014 on the streets of Manhattan. Rallies were held in other cities in the USA as well as in London, Cairo and other world capitals. The New York rally was billed as high-profile because of presence of prominent figures such as former Vice President Al Gore, actors Mark Ruffalo and Evangeline Lilly beside New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. The September 23, 2014, climate change talks called by the U.N.S.G. Ban Ki-moon will offer a platform to more than 120 heads of state to discuss on the pitfalls of rapid climate change, and more importantly, work on formulating a framework for a go-forward strategy in the run-up to the next year's Paris Meet on climate change.
Climate Summit Calls for Action
Addressing a climate summit at New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, the US President Barack Obama said on September 23, 2014 that the threat from the climate change to our planet was more dangerous than those posed by Ebola or Islamic State terrorism. Especially Obama called out China and his own country, USA, as they bore special responsibility to fight against climate change as top two emitters of greenhouse gases.
World Cooking up Record Temperatures, Says NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued another ominous report on October 20, 2014 that portrayed a future world prone to more frequent natural disasters, economic disarray and social chaos. According to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Ashville, NC:
* September 2014 averaged a temperature of 60.3 degrees, setting a record for the month in 135 years of record keeping
* January to September 2014 ranked the hottest first nine months tying up with 1998
* October 2013 through September 2014 ranked the hottest 12-month period since record-keeping had begun in 1880
EU Backs Deal to Cut Greenhouse Gases
Leaders of 28-nation European bloc on October 23, 2014 raised the bar for the fight against climate change by agreeing to cut greenhouse gases to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. The bloc also announced that it would achieve its target by increasing its share of renewable energy to at least 27 percent of total energy output and increase energy efficiency by 27 percent over the next 16 years.
IPCC's Warning Issued
International scientists, academics, policymakers and politicians issued a 175-page synopsis of a series of previous reports under the auspices of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on November 2, 2014 at Copenhagen, Denmark. The report took head on the issues and adverse outcomes of climate change and its direct contribution to growing risk of hunger and poverty in years to come.
US-CHINA JOINT VOW TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GASES
On the sidelines of APEC summit, US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a joint declaration on November 11, 2014, vowing to do their best to reduce global warming. Among the measures to be taken by
USA include
(1) Reduction of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025, compared to the 2005 level
(2) Doubling the reduction rate of greenhouse gases to 2.3 percent to 2.8 percent
(3) Submission of 2025 US greenhouse gas reduction target to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, a treaty nations hope to finalize later in 2015 at Paris, by the first quarter of 2015
China include
(1) Setting a target of CO2 emissions to peak around 2030
(2) Expanding the share of renewable energy to 20 percent by 2030
US to Contribute $3 Billion to UN Fund for Poor Nations to Fight Climate Change
Obama administration on November 14, 2014 announced that it would contribute $3 billion to the $10 billion UN Green Climate Fund that would help the poor nations around the globe in their effort to fight against greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
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U.N. Conference on Climate Deal: Lima Conference to Set the Stage for Next Year's Paris Talks
A two-week conference on the climate change and its repercussions, involving academics, officials, policy experts and leaders, began at Lima, Peru on December 1, 2014 with the aim of formulating a draft among the nations that would form the backbone of an expected landmark agreement next year at Paris Conference. What's at stake in the Lima and Paris Talks is not how to prevent our planet from warming up further, but to reverse the recent trends, if unchecked, that may make the earth nearly uninhabitable. Now, it's given that even with all the ambitious plans put in place and with a landmark U.S.-Chinese climate change pact announced on November 11, 2014, earth will breach the threshold of 3.6 degree Fahrenheit temperature increase compared to pre-industrial era. Since 1992, U.N. convened annual conferences to emphasize and energize the global community to fight climate change.
2014 Marks the Hottest Year, Says U.N. Climate Agency
The Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, Michel Jarraud, issued a report, titled the Status of the Global Climate in 2014, on December 3, 2014 in the midst of the U.N. climate conference that was underway at Lima, Peru. According to the report, 2014 will mark a record hot year and the global average of air and sea temperature for the first 10 months of 2014 has registered 1.03 degree higher than the 30-year average (1961-1990) for the same time duration.
Top Polluters List As Per World Bank, Global Carbon Project, AP
The following six nations emit 60 percent of global CO2 pollution (based on 2013 figures):
(1) China 11 billion tons Population 1.36 billion
(2) USA 5.8 billion tons Population 316 million
(3) India 2.6 billion tons Population 1.20 billion
(4) Russia 2 billion tons Population 143.5 million
(5) Japan 1.4 billion tons Population 127 million
(6) Germany 836 million tons Population 80.6 million
Lima Conference Extended Amid Squabble between Rich and Poor Nations
As has become norm for all other past climate conferences, this year's Lima Conference scheduled to end on December 12, 2014 had been extended as serious difference in opinion surfaced between the developed world and developing world on who should pay for cutting greenhouse gases and other pollutants in the rapidly improving economies of developing countries. Negotiators at Lima have been trying to come up with a framework to fight the climate change that would be finalized and signed next year at the Paris Conference. What's unique about the Lima Conference is that all nations, irrespective of being developed or developing, have to commit to cut greenhouse gases. The last global climate change treaty, 1997 Kyoto Protocol, called only developed nations to cut their emissions while exempting developing nations such as China and India from the purview of the treaty. However, in the decades that followed the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, China and India had experienced significant growth in their respective economies, leading to increased pollutions and climate-changing emissions. However, many experts believe that even with the participation of each nation to fight climate change it's already too late to stop the earth from warming more than 3.6 degree Fahrenheit compared to pre-industrial era, a threshold that would have long-lasting damage to the earth's atmosphere, water, soil and seas.
Accord Reached on Climate Change After Grueling Talks at Lima
After extending a key climate change conference at Lima, nations reached an accord on December 14, 2014 that would work as a framework for next year's Paris Conference to replace Kyoto Protocol with a more expansive and inclusive climate change treaty. The accord, also called as the Lima Accord, will bind both the developing and developed worlds with the singular goal of reducing the carbon emissions aimed at averting the environmental disaster that's in waiting. However, the only stick to adhere compliance is peer pressure and collective shame as each country is to publish a carbon reduction plan by March 31, 2015. If any nation misses to formulate the plan, called in the climate diplomacy parlance as "Intended Nationally Determined Contributions" process, will have until June to complete it. The plan will detail how much each nation, given its domestic political and economic dispensation, will cut carbon emission by 2020. The Intended Nationally Determined Contributions process will be taken up as the starting point and initial template for a potential sweeping climate change treaty at Paris in 2015.
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2014 MARKS THE HOTTEST YEAR EVER
If there lingers any doubt about the existence of global warming, the latest reports issued by the two prestigious national agencies should put that to the rest, federal scientists have said on January 16, 2015. Both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA calculated that 2014 was the hottest year ever during 135 years in record keeping.
* According to NOAA estimate
-- The average earth temperature for 2014 was 58.24 degrees, 1.24 degree above the 20th century average
-- Before 2014, earth broke the records for heat twice in the last ten years: 2010 and 2005, respectively
-- Last time earth broke records for cold, it was more than a century ago in 1911
*According to NASA estimate
-- Average earth temperature in 2014 was 58.42 degrees, 1.22 degrees higher than the average temperature during 1951-80.
The most ominous telling about 2014 was that the record-setting temperature for heat had happened when there was no El Nino effect, a specific weather pattern that takes place in parts of Pacific, causing increase in global temperature. In 1998, 2005 and 2010, the record global temperatures for heat were accompanied by the so-called El Nino effect.
U.N. CONFIRMS 2014 AS THE HOTTEST YEAR
Two weeks after NASA and NOAA declared the last year (2014) as the hottest year on record, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued a report on February 2, 2015 that pronounced last year (2014) as the hottest year. Last year's average surface temperature, according to the Geneva-based organization, was 1.03 degree Fahrenheit above the above long-time average, but statistically tied to 2005 and 2010 as both these years had average surface temperatures recorded were within margin of error of 0.18 degree Fahrenheit.
U.S. Details Carbon Reduction Footprint
Obama administration on March 31, 2015 formally unveiled the carbon reduction plan that was agreed on November 11, 2014 on the sideline of APEC summit. The footprint unveiled on March 31, 2015 will serve as part of U.S. roadmap for the Paris Climate Summit scheduled in December 2015.
California to Take Lead in Reducing Carbon Emission
In what was already a trend-setting climate policy, California is poised to include more interim milestones to reach the goals under its existing climate policy adopted under the previous Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Under the state's existing climate policy signed off by Schwarzenegger, the emission levels in 2050 would have to be reduced by 80 percent compared to 1990 level. Under the plan, the state would have to cut the emissions to 1990 level by 2020, which, many now think, it's all set to accomplish if not exceed. There has not been any specific milestone for 2030. Governor Jerry Brown on April 29, 2015 issued an executive order to cut the emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990 level by 2030 to achieve the 80 percent cut mandate by 2050.
Record Set in Global Monthly Carbon Emissions
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported on May 6, 2015 that the average monthly global CO2 emissions exceeded 400 parts per million for the first time since the record keeping had begun. NOAA said that the monthly global CO2 emissions for the month of March 2015 averaged 400.83 PPM.
Canada to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions 30% by 2030
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on May 15, 2015 that his conservative government had submitted its target to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ahead of its conference in Paris in December 2015. According to the target, Ottawa will reduce its Greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent below the 2005 level by 2030. The Canada's target was announced after US committed to 26 to 28 percent reduction in Greenhouse gases compared to 2005 level by 2030 and EU set a target of 35 percent reduction compared to 2005 level by 2030.
Climate Change Holds Peril for Future Generation
An Obama administration report card prepared and issued on June 22, 2015 by the Environmental Protection Agency said that, if unchecked, 57,000 U.S. deaths would occur because of poor air quality by the turn of the century and cost taxpayers billions of dollars for added electricity bills, health spending and adverse economic impact. The NOAA warned this month that May 2015 was the hottest May globally since the record-keeping began 136 years ago. The EPA report, issued four days after papal encyclical pronounced that global warming had an undue adverse bearing on the world's poor and underdeveloped nations, marked the beginning of a week to emphasize Obama administration's second anniversary of the Climate Action Plan.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Ordered to be Cut by a Dutch Court
In what could be construed as the first ever judicial intervention to mandate emissions reduction, a Dutch court on June 24, 2015 ordered the country's government to cut greenhouse emissions by at least 25 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. The country is currently on the track to meet 17 percent target. It's not quite sure how the Netherlands is going to meet 25 percent. The case was brought by Urgenda, a non-government group focused on environment.
After a Chill, US-Brazil Relations Look for a New Purpose in Climate Change
Stemming from the summer 2013 leak of classified documents by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that included damaging allegations of US spying on Brazilian officials, including President Dilma Rouseff, the diplomatic relationship between the nations went through a downward spiral until recent months when both Brazil and USA pushed the reset button and focused on common interest, including climate change. As a sequel to those diplomatic efforts, small and big alike, came the visit of President Rousseff to Washington, D.C. On June 30, 2015, both Presidents Obama and Rousseff stood beside each other at the White House, and pledged to work jointly on the climate change, including:
* Establishing a joint climate change working group in an effort to reach specific targets to reduce greenhouse emissions
* A joint pledge to generate each country's share of electricity from renewables such as wind and solar to 20 percent by 2030
* An ambitious pledge by Brazil to restore about 30 million acres of Amazon forest
Nations Rush to Beat Deadline on Carbon Emission Plan Filing
As a key deadline approached on October 1, 2015, 51 nations filed their carbon footprints on September 30 and October 1, 2015 with the U.N. As of October 2, 2015, 146 countries accounting for 87 percent of global greenhouse emissions have filed greenhouse emissions reduction plan with the U.N. The question now centers on whether that's enough to reverse the trend of our planet to warm up by 2 degree Celsius by 2050. According to Climate Action Tracker, a group dedicated to fighting the climate change, even if every country which has filed the reduction plan with the U.N. follows up with the action of what it has said it will do, the earth will still warm up by 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2050 and 3.6 degree Celsius by the end of century. India, the third-largest polluter, was one of the nations which had filed the greenhouse emissions reduction plan.
India Files Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Plan with the U.N.
India on October 1, 2015 filed its greenhouse emissions plan with the U.N. that fell far short of expectations by many environmentalists. Under India's plan:
* Greenhouse gas intensity of its economy will fall by 33-35 percent by 2030 off the levels of 2005, implying that there will be increase of absolute quantity Greenhouse emissions, but the emissions as percentage of GDP will fall.
* Most of the emissions intensity will be achieved by reducing the dependence on fossil fuel and increasing the share of nuclear and renewable energy from the current level of 28 percent to 40 percent by 2030.
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U.N. Report Estimates Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths and Trillions of Dollars in Economic Harm
A U.N. report prepared by the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and issued on November 23, 2015, a week before the start of Paris climate change conference, said that more than 600,000 people had died in weather-related disasters in the past 20 years. The report also estimated the economic damage due to weather-related disasters--which included events that had killed 10 or more people, affected more than 1,000 and generated appeals for external assistance--in the excess of $1.9 trillion. The report counted on the average of 335 weather-related disasters every year for the past two decades, almost double the number for the preceding decade. The U.S. sustained the maximum weather-related disasters, but India and China had suffered the severest.
Protesters Show up in Droves at Climate Conference
Paris police detained more than 200 protesters on November 29, 2015 as some protesters turned violent, forcing security forces to lob rounds of tear gas shells.
Climate Jamboree Opens with Call to Save "Future of the Planet"
The World Climate Change Conference opened on November 30, 2015 at a sprawling convention center in the northern Paris suburb of Le Bourget. Addressing a strong 30,000 crowd representing nearly 200 nations, multitude of organizations and businesses, French President Francois Hollande called for a sustained, global effort to save the world as the "future of the planet, the future of life" was at stake. On the opening day of the conference:
* The Breakthrough Energy Coalition, led by Bill Gates, pledged to push harder for the technology relevant to clean energy from the laboratory to marketplace
* A coalition of 19 countries, including the USA, unveiled a $20 billion, 5-year proposal to aid the poor nations to switch to economic model based on less carbon footprint
Obama Calls for Parts of Any Climate Change Agreement to be Binding
Addressing the World Climate Change Conference at Le Bourget, US President Barack Obama on December 1, 2015 pressed for parts of any climate change deal to be binding, thus favoring a so-called hybrid approach in which parts of the deal are mandatory and the remainder is dependent on participant nations' good will.
Draft Text Released; Uncertainty Remains over Who will Pay
After the first week of World Climate Change Conference at La Bourget, a draft text of the U.N. climate change accord was released on December 5, 2015. The 21-page draft talks about reducing emissions and providing financial help to poor nations to achieve their emissions reduction targets, but falls short on details on who will pay how much to help the poor nations.
Accord Reached in Climate Change Talks after Extension
As hectic negotiation continued round the clock with intensity and passion, deadline to wrap up negotiation was extended past the scheduled December 11, 2015. After several rounds of bargain and back-and-forth, negotiators from almost 200 countries were able to reach an accord on December 12, 2015. The accord, for the first time, will commit all 195 participating nations to take actions on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Lauding the landmark accord, the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that "this is truly a historic moment" and the accord was "truly universal agreement on climate change, one of the most crucial problems on earth". President Barack Obama spoke of the deal on December 12, 2015 in a televised address from the White House, calling the Paris Accord as the "best chance we have to save" our planet. Just few years ago such a deal was not only impossible to come up with, but also impractical to take it for discussion. A similar climate change conference at Copenhagen, Denmark collapsed in 2009 as there lacked clear unity among nations not only whether all nations needed to do their parts on emissions reduction, but also whether they were even responsible for global warming. However, this time around, there was a clear consensus among nations that climate change posed the most severe challenge to the humanity of our time. Before the conference, 186 nations already submitted plans to cut emissions in the first cycle, beginning in 2020. Some of the salient features of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 are:
* GOAL: The long-term objective is to ensure that the world temperature doesn't rise more than 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, over the pre-industrial era temperature. The threshold of 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit was set up in 2010 as part of an agreement in Cancun, Mexico. The threshold was set up taking into account plethora of adverse situations, including food shortage, political and social unrest, compromised national security and many others, that were likely to arise in case it was breached. However, since 1950, our planet has warmed up half of that threshold due to rapid industrialization. The Paris Accord also calls for the country to go further and cap the warming up of the planet to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Paris Accord also states that sometime after 2050, there will be a balance reached where man-made emissions will be absorbed by forests and oceans.
* TARGETS: To achieve the long-term goal of limiting the rise of our planet's temperature to 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, nations agreed to set national targets. Before the conference, 186 nations already submitted plans to cut emissions in the first cycle, beginning in 2020 through 2025 or 2030. Only developed nations have to slash emissions in absolute terms, while the developing nations are "encouraged" to do so as their capabilities evolve over time.
* FUNDS FOR POOR NATIONS: Paris Accord has surely failed to satisfy all parties involved. Poor nations have wanted a binding commitment from developed nations for aid to help their economies in exchange for taking steps to reduce carbon footprint. However, the best they could get out of the Paris Accord was part of a preamble in the agreement that calls for infusion of $100 billion to the economies of poor nations. However, no details have been given on how to, or which countries, will provide the money.
* REVIEWS: The initial targets set by the nations are themselves not enough to prevent world from reaching the tipping point. Although nations are not required to deepen their cuts, but they are encouraged to do so in the light of adopting a shift toward embracing more renewable energy. The countries should update their plan after four years, and must convene climate change conferences every five years.
* MANDATORY COMPONENT: There is no penalty for missing the emission cuts target, but countries must report on how they are implementing their plan and monitoring the progress. The developing nations will be accorded the desired "flexibility".
* LOSS AND DAMAGE: The Paris Accord states in unequivocal terms the loss and damage effects faced by small island nations, but stayed away from any liability or compensation part to address those effects.
There will be a formal signing ceremony at the United Nations on April 22, 2016. The Paris Agreement will not be effective until at least 55 nations accounting for at least 55 percent of emissions ratify the deal.
175 Nations Sign Paris Agreement on Climate Change
In a historic action that marked the highest number of nations to be signatory of any international deal ever, 175 nations signed the Paris Agreement on April 22, 2016 at the United Nations. The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, holding the hands of his young granddaughter, signed the deal on behalf of the USA. China pledged during the day that it would "formalize domestic procedures" to ratify the deal before the Group of 20 summit in China in September 2016, a pledge lauded by the U.N. General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon.
China Ratifies Paris Climate Change Agreement on the Eve of G-20 Summit
China on September 2, 2016 announced that it had ratified the Paris Climate Change Treaty as the country was getting ready to host G-20 summit at Hangzhou.
China, U.S. Join Paris Climate Agreement
The G-20 summit at Hangzhou, China was overshadowed by a giant environmental splash as the world's two most polluting nations, the USA and China, on September 3, 2016 delivered documents to the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the summit, certifying their joint commitment to Paris Climate Change Agreement. With China and the USA joining the bandwagon, the prospect of the Paris Climate Change Agreement going into force by the end of this year looks brighter as the combined share of greenhouse gas emissions by China and the USA stands at 38 percent, taking the deal to the final lap to achieve the targets set out for the accord to be effective: at least 55 nations accounting for at least 55 percent of the global emissions must ratify the deal.
India Ratifies Paris Climate Change Deal
On the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, India on October 2, 2016 officially ratified the Paris Climate Change Agreement, consolidating the world effort to fight greenhouse gas effects. The government of India, responsible for 4.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, approved the measure on September 28, 2016 at a cabinet meeting led by the premier Narendra Modi, and on October 2, 2016, the Indian Ambassador to the U.N., Syed Akbaruddin, handed over the instrument of ratification document to the U.N. officials. With India's ratification of the deal, 62 countries with collective share of 52 percent of greenhouse emissions have so far ratified the deal. The deal includes a so-called 55/55 trigger, implying that at least 55 nations with 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions must ratify for the deal to become effective. To meet its goal, India has committed that at least 40 percent of its electricity will come from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, including at least 175 gigawatt of power from renewable energy by 2022. India needs to invest over $2.5 trillion to meet all of its targets.
EU Ratifies Paris Climate Deal
The second condition of the so-called 55/55 trigger for the Paris Climate deal to go into effect was achieved on October 4, 2016 as the European Parliament in Strasbourg ratified the deal, thus achieving a milestone of 55 percent threshold, a critical figure that the ratifying nations collectively should account for in terms of their share of global carbon emissions. Now, the deal goes to a 30-day waiting period to become effective.
Paris Climate Agreement Becomes Effective
The Eiffel Tower has been illuminated with green light, environmentalists across the world are marking a day of accomplishment although many think that it's too late, too little, and most important, a new consensus is emerging that it's incumbent upon every nation on the planet to save earth. The necessity to fight against the climate change can not be any more compelling as the Paris Climate Change Agreement has become effective on November 4, 2016, giving further impetus to the growing global movement to check the warming of the earth to 2 degree Celsius, or 3.6 degree Fahrenheit, compared to pre-industrial time. So far, 96 nations accounting for two-third of greenhouse emissions have ratified the agreement.
Trump: "We are Getting out" of Paris Treaty
U.S. President Donald Trump on June 1, 2017 announced that U.S. would get of the landmark Paris Climate accord. During last year's election campaign, Trump often lampooned and threatened to jettison the landmark accord, dubbing it a job killer. However, the reaction to Trump's action from both home and abroad was swift and bold. Leaders of Italy, France and Germany issued a joint statement, regretting Trump's action and reiterating their common support for climate change fight and the treaty.
States, Cities Trump's Order by Recommitting to Lowering of Greenhouse Emissions
President Trump's decision to quit Paris Climate Accord worked as a catalyst to stir up and solidify a movement by dozens of cities and states to fight global warming and do their shares to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions as required by the Paris Climate Treaty. The most vocal opposition to Trump's move came from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who, as a special envoy of USA's cities and climate change, had reassured the world on June 2, 2017, after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, that USA was on its way to cut emissions as dictated by the accord. California, New York and Washington states had already formed an alliance to coordinate plans to fight climate change and oblige the spirits of the Paris Climate Accord. At the city level, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is leading mayors and leaders of more than 150 cities to achieve the same goals.
Europe, China Re-Commit to Paris Treaty
A day after Donald Trump announced to leave the Paris Climate Treaty, Europe and China on June 2, 2017 formally bound themselves one more time to show their unwavering support to Paris Climate Treaty. Chine Prime Minister Li Keqiang and European Council President Donald Tusk signed an agreement on June 2, 2017 at Brussels to hold firm behind the Paris Climate Agreement, and called Trump's decision "a big mistake".
Trump Administration Formally Notifies U.N. of Its Withdrawal Move
On August 4, 2017, Trump administration formally notified the U.N. its intent to withdraw from the Paris Climate Treaty. However, under the treaty, the earliest any nation can withdraw from it is three years after the treaty has gone into effect: November 4, 2016. So, Trump administration will begin the withdrawal process earliest by November 4, 2019, and will not be able to complete the withdrawal before November 4, 2020, a day after the next presidential election.
Trump Administration Sends Official Notification
Trump administration on November 4, 2019 sent official notification to formally withdraw from the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty.
********* PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE (NOV 30-DEC 11, 2015) **********
2015 Hottest Year on Record
Scientists reported on January 20, 2016, based on separate findings by NASA and NOAA, that the past year (2015) was hottest on the record, beating the previous record that was set a year earlier in 2014. The back-to-back record in 2014 and 2015 reflected a warming world attributed to recent phenomenon of El Nino and man-made global warming. According to:
(1) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
* Average temperature rose 0.29 degree Fahrenheit in 2015 compared to that of 2014
* In the contiguous U.S. of the lower 48 states--with the land mass less than 2 percent of the surface of the earth--past year (2015) was the second-hottest on record after 2012, with the warmest and wettest December since the record-keeping had begun in 1880 (reported by NOAA on January 7, 2016)
(2) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
* Average temperature rose 0.23 degree Fahrenheit in 2015 compared to that of 2014 (record-keeping began in 1880)
(3) Japan Meteorological Agency
* (Based on preliminary report) 2015 was the warmest on record since the record-keeping began in 1891
(4) British Scientists
* 2015 was the warmest on record since the record-keeping began in 1850
U.N. Proposes Major Overhaul in Aviation Emissions
The U.N. aviation agency, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), on February 8, 2016 issued major climate change rules lauded by the White House and environmental groups. Under the ICAO plan,
* The aviation emissions are to reduce by more than 650 million tons between 2020, beginning of the implementation of the rules, and 2040, almost equivalent to removing emissions from 140 million cars a year
* New aircraft design is required to meet the higher standards beginning in 2020
* Designs already in production are required to comply with the new standards by 2023
* Conversion to new design is to be completed by 2028
* The new plan is to be approved by all 36 member nations
The plan on greenhouse emissions announced on February 8, 2016 is one of the two major proposals to be considered this year by ICAO. The second plan to be unveiled later in the year will call for implementing a "market-based approach" to incentivize the stakeholders to reduce aviation emissions.
Seas Rising at the Fastest Clip in 28 Centuries
A scientific research paper published on February 22, 2016 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has reported that seas are rising at the fastest rate in the last 28 centuries.
April 2016 Marks 12th Straight Monthly Record for Hottest Month
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s monthly climate calculation made public on May 18, 2016, April this year was the 12th straight month when the monthly record was broken for global temperature. The hottest April before 2016 was in 2010. Earth's average temperature in April 2016 was 56.7 degree Fahrenheit, 2 degree warmer than the 20th century average. The last time when the earth was not warmer than 20th century average was December 1984 and the last time when the earth set a monthly record for lowest temperature was almost a century ago in December 1916.
********* COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1 CONFERENCE AT MARRAKECH, MOROCCO*******
Marrakech Conference in the Midst of Trump's Victory in the U.S. Presidential Polls
The 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), or 12th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12), or the First session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1), is being held at Marrakech, Morocco between November 7 and November 18, 2016 in the backdrop of the election of Donald Trump, who has called the climate change a "Chinese hoax". However, the overall mood at Marrakech was anything but pessimistic. In fact, there was a newfound resolve among the participants to pursue the goals set out last year in the Paris Conference. On the inaugural day of the COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1 conference, World Meteorological Organization on November 7, 2016 issued a stark report reminding the world the peril of the climate change. The report included, among others:
* Arctic ice coverage was 28 percent lower in 2012 compared to the average of 1981-2010 coverage
* Greenland ice melting rate averaged higher during 2011-2015 period compared to that of 1981-2010 average
Conference Concludes with Request to Trump to Join the Climate Change Fight
The 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), or 12th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12), or the First session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1) concluded on November 18, 2016 at Marrakech, Morocco with call for the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to join the battle against global warming and to see first hand its impact by visiting tiny Pacific island nations. Morocco's Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezounar pleaded to Trump that "we count on your pragmatism and your spirit of commitment" to take the fight against global warming to the next level.
********* COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1 CONFERENCE AT MARRAKECH, MOROCCO*******
2016 Hottest Year on Record
According to reports issued by two respectable agencies on January 18, 2017, 2016 marked the hottest year, implying the peril to the planet and humans if the underlying causes of global warming remained unabated.
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
* Average surface temperature was 0.07 degree Fahrenheit higher than that of 2015.
* Eight successive months (January through August 2016) of record-setting temperatures since the beginning of data tracking in 1880.
NASA
* Average land and oceanic surface temperature is the warmest in 2016 with "a 95 percent certainty".
************ ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE 2017 (BONN) ************
Syria to Embrace Paris Climate Accord, Leaving U.S. Isolated
This year's global annual climate conference began at Bonn, Germany on November 6, 2017, and Syrian minister for environment, M. Wadah Katmawi, had some positive news to share with conference delegates. Damascus will join the Paris Climate Treaty, leaving only the US as pariah in the international stage.
States, Municipalities, Businesses to Continue Sticking to Paris Climate Accord
Despite Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, a coalition of majority of states, municipalities, local jurisdictions, businesses and academic institutions sent a strong message of support for the landmark 2015 deal to an international climate conference in Bonn. Attending the conference on November 11, 2017, California Governor Jerry Brown committed to the accord, saying that "states have real power, as do cities" in forcing a grand coalition to fight against climate change.
Bonn Conference Concludes on High Note
Bonn conference's curtain fell on November 17, 2017 with a focus on transparency, mechanism on how to fund poor nations achieve the Paris Climate Treaty and hasten the treaty's goals.
*********** ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE 2017 (BONN)***************
Trump Administration's Own Report Paints a Bleak Picture about Climate Change
A federal government report issued on November 23, 2018 provided a galling outcome and devastating impact of climate change, including deadly wildfires, destructive heatwaves and devastating hurricanes, and also offered a significantly shorter window of opportunity for governments and policymakers to work on war-footing to address the root causes of climate change. The well over 1,000 pages in the report issued as part of the National Climate Assessment included in graphic details the physical and monetary impact of our planet's deteriorating climate. The National Climate Assessment report, an outcome of collaboration among 13 federal agencies and overseen by the U.S. Global Change Research, was the fourth such report and more damning than its previous report issued in 2014. The report stated categorically that global warming "is transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life". The salient features of National Climate Assessment report include:
* The continental U.S. is now 1.8 degree Fahrenheit warmer than pre-industrial period
* Seas surrounding U.S. are on the average 9 inches higher
* Heat waves are getting worse by the year
* Barring any significant steps taken to reverse the global warming, the U.S. economy will lose 10 percent off its achievable goal by the turn of the century
**** ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE--COP 24 KATOWICE, POLAND ****
U.N. Chief Warns against Backsliding
U.N. Secretary-General Antonin Guterres on December 3, 2018 issued a dramatic appeal to the international community to recommit and renew their fight against climate change and not to be complacent. Addressing the Conference of the Parties (COP) 24 session at the Polish city of Katowice, Guterres warned against falling short of 2015 Paris Climate Treaty goals that had set a bar of 3.6 degree Fahrenheit that the countries would take measures to limit the global temperature to rise to by the end of the century. Famed British naturalist Sir David Attenborough issued the most dire warning that if the world didn't take action now, "collapse of our civilizations and extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon". His December 3, 2018, speech punctuated the sense of urgency that prevailed in the conference being attended by representatives from almost 200 nations. Taking the stage on December 3, 2018, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger electrified the crowd by saying that if he could travel back in time like his character in The Terminator, he would prevent fossil fuel from being used. He also said that America was more than just Washington, and despite Trump's pulling from the Paris Climate Treaty, U.S. was "still in the Paris accord to curb global warming".
Trump's Adviser Faces Ire over Clean Use of Fossil Fuel; U.S. Dilutes Collective Statement
Trump administration's chief adviser on international energy and climate policy on December 10, 2018 faced boos and jeers from protesters as Wells Griffiths espoused, during a panel discussion at Katowice, the clean usage of fossil fuel, attracting loud chants "Shame on you!" and "Keep it in the ground!". Griffith retorted that Trump administration's policy was not to keep coal and other fossil fuel in ground, instead using it efficiently.
Meanwhile, U.S. joined other oil producing nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Russia to dilute a collective statement that took "note" of a damning report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, which described in details the disastrous impact that climate change had on earth's ecosystem and communities, instead of lending a "welcome" embrace. On the surface, there may not be much to read from words "welcome" and "note", but from the climate summit perspective, it's equivalent to endorse or stay neutral.
NOAA Report on Arctic Climate Predicts Alarming Level of Warming
A NOAA report, dubbed the "Arctic Report Card" and authored by the scientists in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Arctic Research Program, issued on December 11, 2018 painted the health of Arctic in grim terms, saying that the trend was the worst since the records keeping had begun. The report was presented during the day at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as rest of the world, according to the region, leading to catastrophic effects such as decimating the region's reindeer and caribou populations by about 56 percent over the past two decades from 4.7 million to 2.1 million. Among other salient features of the Arctic Report Card are:
* The winter-time maximum extent of sea ice, recorded in March 2018, is the second-lowest since 39 years of record keeping.
* Old ice, the ice that persists year over year without melting, consists of only 1 percent of the Arctic ice peak, a decline of 99 percent over the past 33 years.
Countries Reach a Deal to Strengthen Paris Climate Treaty, U.S. also Agrees
Despite Trump administration's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty, U.S. on December 15, 2018 joined about 200 nations to keep the Paris Climate Treaty alive and on track as the COP24 came to an end at the Polish city of Katowice. Although Trump administration has pulled the plug on the treaty, it has to wait until 2020 to formally withdraw from the treaty.
**** ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE--COP 24 KATOWICE, POLAND ****
Billion-Dollar Natural Disasters Skyrocketing in Recent Year, NOAA Study Says
In an indirect connection to how climate change is having a major adverse effect on the livelihoods and economic health of communities, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on February 6, 2019 issued a stinging report, estimating the frequency and scale of high-value disasters. According to the NOAA study, between 1980 and 2013, U.S. experienced 241 weather-related disasters of magnitude $1 billion or more, when adjusted for inflation in today's value, averaging half-a-dozen a year. However, for the past five years, the average jumped to more than 12 per year.
Glaciers are Melting Faster
A study published in Nature on April 8, 2019 gives us an alarming message of how global warming is shaping up our planet. The study, led by Michael Zemp, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich, estimates that world's glaciers are melting 18 percent faster than estimated in 2013. World is losing about 369 billion tons of ice and snow every year.
Madrid to Host COP25 Conference
After Chilean President Sebastian Pinera cancelled this year's annual climate conference in Chile due to political violence, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stepped in on October 31, 2019 to host the Conference of the Parties (COP) 25 conference. Spanish premier's offer to host the conference is all the more laudable as he is facing a tough national election on November 10, 2019, and his political opposition is focusing on nationalistic policies. On November 1, 2019, U.N. climate change chief Patricia Espinosa has declared that the body that organizes the annual U.N. climate change conferences has accepted the offer of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and the COP25 will be held December 2-13, 2019 in Madrid.
U.N. Report Portrays Bleaker Pictures
A U.N. report issued on November 26, 2019 is a harsh update to a damning spiral of climate change taking this planet to downhill slide in ever increasing speed and callous response by most of the international powerhouses in dealing it. The United Nations Environmental Program's Emissions Gap Report 2019 projects that the planet, in the current trajectory, is in the path of rising 7 degree Fahrenheit by the end of the century compared to the pre-industrial era, almost twice the marker, 3.6 degree Fahrenheit, or 2 degree Celsius, set by the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. The outcomes can't be any less devastating: coral reefs disappearing at an astonishing pace, violent flooding and storms overwhelming major cities and towns, and increasingly acidic oceans among others.
The U.N. Environmental Program's Emissions Gap Report 2019 estimates that the past decade has seen an average of 1.5 percent annual rise in emissions. The world has already hit the half of 3.6 degree Fahrenheit, or 1.8 degree Fahrenheit, threshold since the pre-industrial era, leaving us the leeway of only 1.8 degree Fahrenheit for the next eight decades. According to the report, nations have to ramp up their emissions cuts by triple compared to their respective pledge amounts if they want to hold the planet's rise in temperature to a ceiling of 3.6 degree Fahrenheit. The report pegs the amount to five times of emissions cuts if countries aspire to hold the temperature rise to 2.7 degree Fahrenheit.
Mass Demonstrations around the World Days before COP 25 Summit
On the Friday November 29, 2019, three days before the climate change summit is to begin at Madrid, tens of thousands of young people have taken to the streets at capitals around the world in a spirited display of their disapproval of how the leaders are tackling a crisis that by the day is getting out of control. In Australia, elderly victims of wildfire have joined with young environmentalists in denouncing the current plan to reduce carbon footprint. Rallies have been held in Hungary, Belgium, South Korea and Poland. Greta Thunberg is sailing across the Atlantic to attend rallies in Madrid. The current plan designed to hold the rise in planet's temperature to 2 degree Celsius, or 3.6 degree Fahrenheit, is not enough to meet the very goals set out by the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty and, if followed by entirety, may have goalposts to be moved to as high as 7 degree Fahrenheit threshold.
*** ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE (DEC 2-13, 2019): COP25 MADRID ***
U.N. Chief Opens COP25 Conference
On December 2, 2019, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the COP 25 summit at Madrid after this year's host Chile had cancelled the summit due to political unrest that had swept the Latin American nation. Addressing representatives from about 200 nations, U.N. chief reminded that the world had never faced a crisis like this before and warned the nations not to bury the "heads in the sand". Chile's environment minister, Carolina Schmidt, urged the attending delegates to work towards the "carbon-neutral economy" and help out the poor nations to fight the effect of climate change. Paris Climate Change Treaty of 2015 called for a cap of 2 degree Celsius, or 3.6 degree Fahrenheit, rise in global temperature by the end of this century compared to pre-industrial era. Ideally, the cap should have been 1.5 degree Celsius, or 2.7 degree Fahrenheit. However, a November 26, 2019, U.N. Emissions Gap Report gave a rude-awakening to the global community and environmental policymakers as the provisions called for in the 2015 treaty would cut emissions too little to achieve the goal of a ceiling of 2 degree Celsius, or 3.6 degree Fahrenheit. Instead if all the provisions are complied with, according to the Emissions Gap Report, the global temperature is all set to rise as high as 7 degree Fahrenheit compared to pre-industrial era.
Arctic Report Card Warns of Permafrost Melting
As the COP25 conference in Madrid is undergoing travails and tribulation of rich-poor divide and responsibility-and-blame game, U.S. issued the so called 2019 Arctic Report Card at Washington on December 10, 2019. The report is anything but assuring, and warns of massive emittance of greenhouse gases--carbon dioxide and methane--not from the burning of fossil fuel, but from an unlikely source: permafrost in the arctic soil. The report explains that because of warming temperature microbes in the arctic soil become more potent and act on the permafrost, repository of 1,460-1,600 billions of metric tons carbons, to release massive amount carbon into the atmosphere. The report makes an ominous estimate of 1.1 to 2.2 billion tons of carbon emissions per year from the arctic permafrost.
Climate Conference Ends with Little to Show
After going overtime for almost 48 hours, COP25 Madrid Conference concluded on a disappointing note on December 15, 2019. Although the final declaration from the conference, attended by representatives from almost 200 nations, emphasized the "urgent need" to reduce the planet-warming greenhouse gases, many felt frustrated by the outcome as the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he had been "disappointed". Chile's Environment Minister and the Chair of the COP25 Conference Carolina Schimdt said that she became "sad" because of so little to show as the outcome.
The negotiators from 200 nations earlier hunkered down in the passionate discussion about future of the world. German Environment Minister Svenja sounded optimistic on December 13, 2019, the official last date of the conference, over an overnight EU deal to make the bloc "carbon neutral" by 2050. The nation that has faced widespread ire in COP25 Conference is the USA as developing nations are upset over Trump administration's rejection of a landmark 2013 agreement, Warsaw International Mechanism, for the richer nations to help poorer nations.
*** ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE (DEC 2-13, 2019): COP25 MADRID ***
The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a draft report on climate change on November 1, 2011 that raised the specter of extremes caused by the global warming which might lead to so severe extent that some locations could become "increasingly marginal as places to live". The draft, which has not yet received final approval, cited:
** At least 2-to-3 chance that climate extremes have already worsened because of man-made greenhouse gases.
** 99 percent certainity with which scientists are saying that there will be more extreme heat bouts than cold spells.
** Extreme weathers that may make some locations "increasingly marginal as places to live".
The report also said that by the end of century, the intense single-day rainstorms that typically happen once every 20 years will probably happen about twice a decade.
The draft needs to be approved by diplomats at a mid-November meeting in Uganda, and subsequently, a final version will be released.
Meanwhile, the world leaders will meet in the last week of November 2011 in South Africa to deal with climate change. In the run up to the meeting, the U.N. World Meteorological Organization issued a report on November 21, 2011 that pointed to a more severe picture in global warming than anticipated and rising presence of three main greenhouse gases--CO2, Methane and Nitrous Oxide--with an accelerated rate of uptick in the atmosphere. According to UNWMO estimate, total volume of CO2 in 2010 was 389 parts per million (ppm), up from 280 parts per million in 1750, before the start of the Industrial Revolution. Levels increased 1.5 ppm per year in the 1990s and 2.0 ppm per year in the first decade of this century. However, CO2 is now rising at the rate of 2.3 ppm per year. The U.N. WMO cited three main culprits for the rise in greenhouse gases: (1) fossil fuel, (2) loss of forest, and (3) increased use of fertilizers.
DURBAN TALKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Negotiators will meet at Durban, South Africa, beginning November 28, 2011 for two weeks to discuss on various actions chalked out during Cancun meet last year. The immediate focus is on the so-called Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 agreement that called for binding reduction of carbon emission to the level of 95 percent in 1990 for 37 industrialized nations by 2012. The US refused to go along with any binding reduction because countries such as China and India have been excluded from mandatory cuts in carbon emission.
The Durban Talks on Climate Change opened on November 28 with a passionate call from the South African President Jacob Zuma to set aside national objectives and instead work towards a "common good and benefit of all humanity". The front and center of the talks is the 1997 landmark treaty called the Kyoto Protocol that had required 37 industrial nations to binding commitments to reduce carbon emission. There is a conconcerted effort to nudge these countries to agree to new commitments of carbon emission reduction before the treaty expires at the end of December 2012.
Meanwhile on the opening day of the talks (November 28, 2011), a UN FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) report pointed to a looming food crisis in the coming decades. According to the report, world food production needs to rise by 70 percent to support the goal of food sufficiency of an approximate population of 9 billion by 2050. However, most of the available land is already being used, and also in a way that has reduced the fertility because of soil erosion and water wastage due to poor farming practices. To launch remedial irrigation measures, the developing world needs to foot a bill as high as $1 trillion by 2015.
Climate Change and Its Impact: 2012 One of the Ten Hottest Years
The State of the Climate in 2012, an annual health status report for our planet, was issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on August 6, 2013. The report, buried under other pressing news coverage such as continuing turmoil in Egypt, rising death toll in Syrian civil war, deterioration in US-Russian relations because of a temporary asylum granted to the NSA leaker Edward Snowden and inauguration of a new Iranian President, paints a bleak picture of the aftereffect of gradual impact of global warming and the consequence of resulting climate change. According to the NOAA report, the Arctic ice reached record lows in summer thaw in 2012, with 97 percent of Greenland's ice sheet melted away, far greater than in any recent past. Over the last 150 years, the annual average global temperature has risen sharply, and is now 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than in pre-industrial time. Nine of the ten hottest years have been recorded since the late 1990s, with 2012 ranking number 8 or 9, depending on the methodology. In a separate report issued in January 2013, NOAA reported that the year 2012 was the hottest on record for the lower 48 states. Nearly 87 percent of the American West has been going through drought this year (2013).
The Under-secretary of Commerce Kathryn Sullivan, acting administrator of NOAA, has emphasized the risk factors with sober reminder of acceleration in climate change with respect to three principal metrics:
* Arctic Ice
* Sea Levels
* Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Arctic ice layers have shrunk to the smallest ever level since the satellite tracking has begun 34 years ago. Sea levels reached a record high in 2012, having climbed 1.3 inches per decade since satellite tracking of the sea levels began in 1993. Surface ocean temperatures reached in 2012 were among 11 warmest on record, with Australian researchers documenting profound changes in Marine life, including many species migrating to the cooler waters in the poles, in the recent edition of Nature and Climate Change. Meanwhile, to no one's surprise, Greenhouse gas continues to rise. In early May 2013, Hawaii's Mauna Loa Observatory had another ominous reading: the daily average of carbon dioxide concentration in the earth's atmosphere crossed 400 parts per million for the first time ever.
People of varying political stripes may have debate on the scale of Global Warming, but the facts--and the earth--continue to point out the tragic outcome if we all remain mute spectators.
WARSAW TALKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE (NOVEMBER 11-23, 2013)
The two-week talks were bogged down over differences on who among the developed and developing nations shared the primary burden for addressing--both from moral and funding perspectives--the climate change. The U.S. representative Todd Stern cited a 2007 U.N. study to assert that by 2020 the combined emissions by developing countries would exceed those of developed nations.
On December 12, 2013, NOAA provided a report card on Arctic for 2013 that showed less melting of ice this year compared to 2012. According to the report card issued by Martin Jeffries, a University of Alaska geophysicist and science adviser to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission,
(1) Overall arctic temperature didn't rise as high as in 2012
(2) Greenland ice sheets and summer sea ice didn't melt as much as in 2012
IPCC REPORT
A leaked draft report authored by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for its focus on analysis of climate change data and communication to the public, said that nations dragged their feet in curbing the causes of climate change, thus increasing the risks of adverse change in our planet. Inaction on behalf of nations for the next 15 years will render any gain in climate change meaningless and the resulting deterioration impossible to address. The draft, dated December 17, 2013 and leaked in the week of January 12, 2014, was third in a series of IPCC reports. It was not finalized when leaked, and the final version is to be released latter part of 2014. The report also stressed the need of including the emerging economies in the equation of climate change fight. The emissions in the US rose in 2013, but still were almost 10 percent lower than 2005 level because of abundance of natural gas. The report rued that the proportion of nuclear power in the mix of global energy were declining. The first report released in September 2013 found with 95% or confidence that human factors were principal causes of planetary warming. The second report to be published in March 2014 will touch upon the impact of global warming on the food supply.
Legal Wrangling Between Texas and EPA Continues
The legal wrangle between Obama administration's Environmental Protection Agency vs. Texas and other litigants were consolidated into one case, and the hearing began on February 24, 2014 at the U.S. Supreme Court. At the heart of the case was U.S. Supreme Court's 2007 ruling that Congress had authorized the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas from vehicles. However, EPA extended that mandate to assert its regulatory arm not only to cover emission from vehicles, but also to other facilities such as refineries and power plants under the Clean Air Act, which calls for regulating any facility with more than 250 tons of pollutants. The state of Texas and other litigants argued that greenhouse gases such as CO2 were not subject to Clean Air Act, and so the EPA lacked the authority to regulate them. Also, at 250 tons of pollutants, many facilities such as hospitals and schools will be subject to the Clean Air Act regulation. To work around that, EPA tweaked the threshold, thus violating the Clean Air Act, according to these litigants.
U.S. Secretary of State Kerry Pitches Strongly for Measures to Address Climate Change
Addressing a crowd of businessmen, students, civic leaders and politicians at Jakarta, Indonesia, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on February 16, 2014 came down heavily against those who were in denial of climate change, equating them to the group of believers of the so-called "flat earth" theory. Kerry, Obama administration's one of the strongest proponents of strict environment measures to address global warming, wants to leave behind an imprint of environmental legacy as he is pushing for substantive progress in an upcoming environmental summit in 2015.
Extreme Weather Caused by Human
The head of World Meteorological Organization on March 24, 2014 issued his organization's annual assessment report on global climate change, and blamed human factors for the rapid deterioration of the world climate. Michel Jarraud, the Secretary-General of WMO, described 2013 as the sixth-warmest year on the planet. 13 of the 14 warmest years took place in the 21st century.
IPCC Report Warns the World of Climate Change
Prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its second of the three reports on April 1, 2014 at a conference in Yokohama, Japan that called out the looming danger of the adverse effects of extreme climate change on every continent and Ocean beyond remedy. A draft of the report was leaked in December 2013. The report expressed deep concern over the pace of arctic icecap melt, scope of potential devastation of the earth's food chain and scale of natural disasters. The report also focused a sharp light on barriers to economic growth, social tension and human health.
IPCC REPORT
Issuing its latest report in Berlin on April 13, 2014, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that there was possibility to avert the crisis with an intensive push over the next 15 years as both the political and popular will to fight global warming had ben crystalizing in recent years. However, years of foot-dragging put the world at the edge, and needed immediate intervention. The report, titled Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change, included nearly 2,000 pages, with 500 pages of Executive Summary, 285 authors, coverage of 58 countries, 900 per reviews and 35,000 comments considered prior to final draft.
CO2 Level Rises Alarmingly High
Carbon dioxide levels rose to all time high in 2013, according to the environmental arm of U.N. The report, issued on September 9, 2014 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), paints a grim picture on the scope and scale of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In 2013, CO2 concentration in world atmosphere jumped to 396 parts per million (ppm), an increase of 2.9 ppm from the preceding year and almost 42 percent higher than the pre-Industrial Age. According to WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarroud, the CO2 concentration will exceed 400 ppm by 2016. Many scientists and environmentalists believe that concentration over 350 ppm represents significant risk to human health. WMO report is a wake-up call for policymakers, government officials, industry leaders and health officials. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called a special climate change summit on the sideline of U.N. General Assembly on September 23, 2014. After CO2, the largest share of greenhouse gas contributor to world's atmosphere is methane. The concentartion of methane in 2013 in world's atmosphere jumped to 1,824 parts per billion, up 153 percent from pre-Industrial Age level of 700 parts per billion.
Global Move to Address Issues Two Days Prior to Key U.N. Talks on Climate Change
Prior to a key summit on climate change to be held at New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on September 23, 2014, environmentalists, academicians, students and people from other walks of life participated in a colorful rally on September 21, 2014 on the streets of Manhattan. Rallies were held in other cities in the USA as well as in London, Cairo and other world capitals. The New York rally was billed as high-profile because of presence of prominent figures such as former Vice President Al Gore, actors Mark Ruffalo and Evangeline Lilly beside New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. The September 23, 2014, climate change talks called by the U.N.S.G. Ban Ki-moon will offer a platform to more than 120 heads of state to discuss on the pitfalls of rapid climate change, and more importantly, work on formulating a framework for a go-forward strategy in the run-up to the next year's Paris Meet on climate change.
Climate Summit Calls for Action
Addressing a climate summit at New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, the US President Barack Obama said on September 23, 2014 that the threat from the climate change to our planet was more dangerous than those posed by Ebola or Islamic State terrorism. Especially Obama called out China and his own country, USA, as they bore special responsibility to fight against climate change as top two emitters of greenhouse gases.
World Cooking up Record Temperatures, Says NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued another ominous report on October 20, 2014 that portrayed a future world prone to more frequent natural disasters, economic disarray and social chaos. According to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Ashville, NC:
* September 2014 averaged a temperature of 60.3 degrees, setting a record for the month in 135 years of record keeping
* January to September 2014 ranked the hottest first nine months tying up with 1998
* October 2013 through September 2014 ranked the hottest 12-month period since record-keeping had begun in 1880
EU Backs Deal to Cut Greenhouse Gases
Leaders of 28-nation European bloc on October 23, 2014 raised the bar for the fight against climate change by agreeing to cut greenhouse gases to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. The bloc also announced that it would achieve its target by increasing its share of renewable energy to at least 27 percent of total energy output and increase energy efficiency by 27 percent over the next 16 years.
IPCC's Warning Issued
International scientists, academics, policymakers and politicians issued a 175-page synopsis of a series of previous reports under the auspices of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on November 2, 2014 at Copenhagen, Denmark. The report took head on the issues and adverse outcomes of climate change and its direct contribution to growing risk of hunger and poverty in years to come.
US-CHINA JOINT VOW TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GASES
On the sidelines of APEC summit, US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a joint declaration on November 11, 2014, vowing to do their best to reduce global warming. Among the measures to be taken by
USA include
(1) Reduction of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025, compared to the 2005 level
(2) Doubling the reduction rate of greenhouse gases to 2.3 percent to 2.8 percent
(3) Submission of 2025 US greenhouse gas reduction target to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, a treaty nations hope to finalize later in 2015 at Paris, by the first quarter of 2015
China include
(1) Setting a target of CO2 emissions to peak around 2030
(2) Expanding the share of renewable energy to 20 percent by 2030
US to Contribute $3 Billion to UN Fund for Poor Nations to Fight Climate Change
Obama administration on November 14, 2014 announced that it would contribute $3 billion to the $10 billion UN Green Climate Fund that would help the poor nations around the globe in their effort to fight against greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
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U.N. Conference on Climate Deal: Lima Conference to Set the Stage for Next Year's Paris Talks
A two-week conference on the climate change and its repercussions, involving academics, officials, policy experts and leaders, began at Lima, Peru on December 1, 2014 with the aim of formulating a draft among the nations that would form the backbone of an expected landmark agreement next year at Paris Conference. What's at stake in the Lima and Paris Talks is not how to prevent our planet from warming up further, but to reverse the recent trends, if unchecked, that may make the earth nearly uninhabitable. Now, it's given that even with all the ambitious plans put in place and with a landmark U.S.-Chinese climate change pact announced on November 11, 2014, earth will breach the threshold of 3.6 degree Fahrenheit temperature increase compared to pre-industrial era. Since 1992, U.N. convened annual conferences to emphasize and energize the global community to fight climate change.
2014 Marks the Hottest Year, Says U.N. Climate Agency
The Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, Michel Jarraud, issued a report, titled the Status of the Global Climate in 2014, on December 3, 2014 in the midst of the U.N. climate conference that was underway at Lima, Peru. According to the report, 2014 will mark a record hot year and the global average of air and sea temperature for the first 10 months of 2014 has registered 1.03 degree higher than the 30-year average (1961-1990) for the same time duration.
Top Polluters List As Per World Bank, Global Carbon Project, AP
The following six nations emit 60 percent of global CO2 pollution (based on 2013 figures):
(1) China 11 billion tons Population 1.36 billion
(2) USA 5.8 billion tons Population 316 million
(3) India 2.6 billion tons Population 1.20 billion
(4) Russia 2 billion tons Population 143.5 million
(5) Japan 1.4 billion tons Population 127 million
(6) Germany 836 million tons Population 80.6 million
Lima Conference Extended Amid Squabble between Rich and Poor Nations
As has become norm for all other past climate conferences, this year's Lima Conference scheduled to end on December 12, 2014 had been extended as serious difference in opinion surfaced between the developed world and developing world on who should pay for cutting greenhouse gases and other pollutants in the rapidly improving economies of developing countries. Negotiators at Lima have been trying to come up with a framework to fight the climate change that would be finalized and signed next year at the Paris Conference. What's unique about the Lima Conference is that all nations, irrespective of being developed or developing, have to commit to cut greenhouse gases. The last global climate change treaty, 1997 Kyoto Protocol, called only developed nations to cut their emissions while exempting developing nations such as China and India from the purview of the treaty. However, in the decades that followed the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, China and India had experienced significant growth in their respective economies, leading to increased pollutions and climate-changing emissions. However, many experts believe that even with the participation of each nation to fight climate change it's already too late to stop the earth from warming more than 3.6 degree Fahrenheit compared to pre-industrial era, a threshold that would have long-lasting damage to the earth's atmosphere, water, soil and seas.
Accord Reached on Climate Change After Grueling Talks at Lima
After extending a key climate change conference at Lima, nations reached an accord on December 14, 2014 that would work as a framework for next year's Paris Conference to replace Kyoto Protocol with a more expansive and inclusive climate change treaty. The accord, also called as the Lima Accord, will bind both the developing and developed worlds with the singular goal of reducing the carbon emissions aimed at averting the environmental disaster that's in waiting. However, the only stick to adhere compliance is peer pressure and collective shame as each country is to publish a carbon reduction plan by March 31, 2015. If any nation misses to formulate the plan, called in the climate diplomacy parlance as "Intended Nationally Determined Contributions" process, will have until June to complete it. The plan will detail how much each nation, given its domestic political and economic dispensation, will cut carbon emission by 2020. The Intended Nationally Determined Contributions process will be taken up as the starting point and initial template for a potential sweeping climate change treaty at Paris in 2015.
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2014 MARKS THE HOTTEST YEAR EVER
If there lingers any doubt about the existence of global warming, the latest reports issued by the two prestigious national agencies should put that to the rest, federal scientists have said on January 16, 2015. Both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA calculated that 2014 was the hottest year ever during 135 years in record keeping.
* According to NOAA estimate
-- The average earth temperature for 2014 was 58.24 degrees, 1.24 degree above the 20th century average
-- Before 2014, earth broke the records for heat twice in the last ten years: 2010 and 2005, respectively
-- Last time earth broke records for cold, it was more than a century ago in 1911
*According to NASA estimate
-- Average earth temperature in 2014 was 58.42 degrees, 1.22 degrees higher than the average temperature during 1951-80.
The most ominous telling about 2014 was that the record-setting temperature for heat had happened when there was no El Nino effect, a specific weather pattern that takes place in parts of Pacific, causing increase in global temperature. In 1998, 2005 and 2010, the record global temperatures for heat were accompanied by the so-called El Nino effect.
U.N. CONFIRMS 2014 AS THE HOTTEST YEAR
Two weeks after NASA and NOAA declared the last year (2014) as the hottest year on record, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued a report on February 2, 2015 that pronounced last year (2014) as the hottest year. Last year's average surface temperature, according to the Geneva-based organization, was 1.03 degree Fahrenheit above the above long-time average, but statistically tied to 2005 and 2010 as both these years had average surface temperatures recorded were within margin of error of 0.18 degree Fahrenheit.
U.S. Details Carbon Reduction Footprint
Obama administration on March 31, 2015 formally unveiled the carbon reduction plan that was agreed on November 11, 2014 on the sideline of APEC summit. The footprint unveiled on March 31, 2015 will serve as part of U.S. roadmap for the Paris Climate Summit scheduled in December 2015.
California to Take Lead in Reducing Carbon Emission
In what was already a trend-setting climate policy, California is poised to include more interim milestones to reach the goals under its existing climate policy adopted under the previous Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Under the state's existing climate policy signed off by Schwarzenegger, the emission levels in 2050 would have to be reduced by 80 percent compared to 1990 level. Under the plan, the state would have to cut the emissions to 1990 level by 2020, which, many now think, it's all set to accomplish if not exceed. There has not been any specific milestone for 2030. Governor Jerry Brown on April 29, 2015 issued an executive order to cut the emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990 level by 2030 to achieve the 80 percent cut mandate by 2050.
Record Set in Global Monthly Carbon Emissions
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported on May 6, 2015 that the average monthly global CO2 emissions exceeded 400 parts per million for the first time since the record keeping had begun. NOAA said that the monthly global CO2 emissions for the month of March 2015 averaged 400.83 PPM.
Canada to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions 30% by 2030
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on May 15, 2015 that his conservative government had submitted its target to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ahead of its conference in Paris in December 2015. According to the target, Ottawa will reduce its Greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent below the 2005 level by 2030. The Canada's target was announced after US committed to 26 to 28 percent reduction in Greenhouse gases compared to 2005 level by 2030 and EU set a target of 35 percent reduction compared to 2005 level by 2030.
Climate Change Holds Peril for Future Generation
An Obama administration report card prepared and issued on June 22, 2015 by the Environmental Protection Agency said that, if unchecked, 57,000 U.S. deaths would occur because of poor air quality by the turn of the century and cost taxpayers billions of dollars for added electricity bills, health spending and adverse economic impact. The NOAA warned this month that May 2015 was the hottest May globally since the record-keeping began 136 years ago. The EPA report, issued four days after papal encyclical pronounced that global warming had an undue adverse bearing on the world's poor and underdeveloped nations, marked the beginning of a week to emphasize Obama administration's second anniversary of the Climate Action Plan.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Ordered to be Cut by a Dutch Court
In what could be construed as the first ever judicial intervention to mandate emissions reduction, a Dutch court on June 24, 2015 ordered the country's government to cut greenhouse emissions by at least 25 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. The country is currently on the track to meet 17 percent target. It's not quite sure how the Netherlands is going to meet 25 percent. The case was brought by Urgenda, a non-government group focused on environment.
After a Chill, US-Brazil Relations Look for a New Purpose in Climate Change
Stemming from the summer 2013 leak of classified documents by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that included damaging allegations of US spying on Brazilian officials, including President Dilma Rouseff, the diplomatic relationship between the nations went through a downward spiral until recent months when both Brazil and USA pushed the reset button and focused on common interest, including climate change. As a sequel to those diplomatic efforts, small and big alike, came the visit of President Rousseff to Washington, D.C. On June 30, 2015, both Presidents Obama and Rousseff stood beside each other at the White House, and pledged to work jointly on the climate change, including:
* Establishing a joint climate change working group in an effort to reach specific targets to reduce greenhouse emissions
* A joint pledge to generate each country's share of electricity from renewables such as wind and solar to 20 percent by 2030
* An ambitious pledge by Brazil to restore about 30 million acres of Amazon forest
Nations Rush to Beat Deadline on Carbon Emission Plan Filing
As a key deadline approached on October 1, 2015, 51 nations filed their carbon footprints on September 30 and October 1, 2015 with the U.N. As of October 2, 2015, 146 countries accounting for 87 percent of global greenhouse emissions have filed greenhouse emissions reduction plan with the U.N. The question now centers on whether that's enough to reverse the trend of our planet to warm up by 2 degree Celsius by 2050. According to Climate Action Tracker, a group dedicated to fighting the climate change, even if every country which has filed the reduction plan with the U.N. follows up with the action of what it has said it will do, the earth will still warm up by 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2050 and 3.6 degree Celsius by the end of century. India, the third-largest polluter, was one of the nations which had filed the greenhouse emissions reduction plan.
India Files Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Plan with the U.N.
India on October 1, 2015 filed its greenhouse emissions plan with the U.N. that fell far short of expectations by many environmentalists. Under India's plan:
* Greenhouse gas intensity of its economy will fall by 33-35 percent by 2030 off the levels of 2005, implying that there will be increase of absolute quantity Greenhouse emissions, but the emissions as percentage of GDP will fall.
* Most of the emissions intensity will be achieved by reducing the dependence on fossil fuel and increasing the share of nuclear and renewable energy from the current level of 28 percent to 40 percent by 2030.
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U.N. Report Estimates Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths and Trillions of Dollars in Economic Harm
A U.N. report prepared by the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and issued on November 23, 2015, a week before the start of Paris climate change conference, said that more than 600,000 people had died in weather-related disasters in the past 20 years. The report also estimated the economic damage due to weather-related disasters--which included events that had killed 10 or more people, affected more than 1,000 and generated appeals for external assistance--in the excess of $1.9 trillion. The report counted on the average of 335 weather-related disasters every year for the past two decades, almost double the number for the preceding decade. The U.S. sustained the maximum weather-related disasters, but India and China had suffered the severest.
Protesters Show up in Droves at Climate Conference
Paris police detained more than 200 protesters on November 29, 2015 as some protesters turned violent, forcing security forces to lob rounds of tear gas shells.
Climate Jamboree Opens with Call to Save "Future of the Planet"
The World Climate Change Conference opened on November 30, 2015 at a sprawling convention center in the northern Paris suburb of Le Bourget. Addressing a strong 30,000 crowd representing nearly 200 nations, multitude of organizations and businesses, French President Francois Hollande called for a sustained, global effort to save the world as the "future of the planet, the future of life" was at stake. On the opening day of the conference:
* The Breakthrough Energy Coalition, led by Bill Gates, pledged to push harder for the technology relevant to clean energy from the laboratory to marketplace
* A coalition of 19 countries, including the USA, unveiled a $20 billion, 5-year proposal to aid the poor nations to switch to economic model based on less carbon footprint
Obama Calls for Parts of Any Climate Change Agreement to be Binding
Addressing the World Climate Change Conference at Le Bourget, US President Barack Obama on December 1, 2015 pressed for parts of any climate change deal to be binding, thus favoring a so-called hybrid approach in which parts of the deal are mandatory and the remainder is dependent on participant nations' good will.
Draft Text Released; Uncertainty Remains over Who will Pay
After the first week of World Climate Change Conference at La Bourget, a draft text of the U.N. climate change accord was released on December 5, 2015. The 21-page draft talks about reducing emissions and providing financial help to poor nations to achieve their emissions reduction targets, but falls short on details on who will pay how much to help the poor nations.
Accord Reached in Climate Change Talks after Extension
As hectic negotiation continued round the clock with intensity and passion, deadline to wrap up negotiation was extended past the scheduled December 11, 2015. After several rounds of bargain and back-and-forth, negotiators from almost 200 countries were able to reach an accord on December 12, 2015. The accord, for the first time, will commit all 195 participating nations to take actions on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Lauding the landmark accord, the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that "this is truly a historic moment" and the accord was "truly universal agreement on climate change, one of the most crucial problems on earth". President Barack Obama spoke of the deal on December 12, 2015 in a televised address from the White House, calling the Paris Accord as the "best chance we have to save" our planet. Just few years ago such a deal was not only impossible to come up with, but also impractical to take it for discussion. A similar climate change conference at Copenhagen, Denmark collapsed in 2009 as there lacked clear unity among nations not only whether all nations needed to do their parts on emissions reduction, but also whether they were even responsible for global warming. However, this time around, there was a clear consensus among nations that climate change posed the most severe challenge to the humanity of our time. Before the conference, 186 nations already submitted plans to cut emissions in the first cycle, beginning in 2020. Some of the salient features of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 are:
* GOAL: The long-term objective is to ensure that the world temperature doesn't rise more than 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, over the pre-industrial era temperature. The threshold of 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit was set up in 2010 as part of an agreement in Cancun, Mexico. The threshold was set up taking into account plethora of adverse situations, including food shortage, political and social unrest, compromised national security and many others, that were likely to arise in case it was breached. However, since 1950, our planet has warmed up half of that threshold due to rapid industrialization. The Paris Accord also calls for the country to go further and cap the warming up of the planet to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Paris Accord also states that sometime after 2050, there will be a balance reached where man-made emissions will be absorbed by forests and oceans.
* TARGETS: To achieve the long-term goal of limiting the rise of our planet's temperature to 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, nations agreed to set national targets. Before the conference, 186 nations already submitted plans to cut emissions in the first cycle, beginning in 2020 through 2025 or 2030. Only developed nations have to slash emissions in absolute terms, while the developing nations are "encouraged" to do so as their capabilities evolve over time.
* FUNDS FOR POOR NATIONS: Paris Accord has surely failed to satisfy all parties involved. Poor nations have wanted a binding commitment from developed nations for aid to help their economies in exchange for taking steps to reduce carbon footprint. However, the best they could get out of the Paris Accord was part of a preamble in the agreement that calls for infusion of $100 billion to the economies of poor nations. However, no details have been given on how to, or which countries, will provide the money.
* REVIEWS: The initial targets set by the nations are themselves not enough to prevent world from reaching the tipping point. Although nations are not required to deepen their cuts, but they are encouraged to do so in the light of adopting a shift toward embracing more renewable energy. The countries should update their plan after four years, and must convene climate change conferences every five years.
* MANDATORY COMPONENT: There is no penalty for missing the emission cuts target, but countries must report on how they are implementing their plan and monitoring the progress. The developing nations will be accorded the desired "flexibility".
* LOSS AND DAMAGE: The Paris Accord states in unequivocal terms the loss and damage effects faced by small island nations, but stayed away from any liability or compensation part to address those effects.
There will be a formal signing ceremony at the United Nations on April 22, 2016. The Paris Agreement will not be effective until at least 55 nations accounting for at least 55 percent of emissions ratify the deal.
175 Nations Sign Paris Agreement on Climate Change
In a historic action that marked the highest number of nations to be signatory of any international deal ever, 175 nations signed the Paris Agreement on April 22, 2016 at the United Nations. The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, holding the hands of his young granddaughter, signed the deal on behalf of the USA. China pledged during the day that it would "formalize domestic procedures" to ratify the deal before the Group of 20 summit in China in September 2016, a pledge lauded by the U.N. General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon.
China Ratifies Paris Climate Change Agreement on the Eve of G-20 Summit
China on September 2, 2016 announced that it had ratified the Paris Climate Change Treaty as the country was getting ready to host G-20 summit at Hangzhou.
China, U.S. Join Paris Climate Agreement
The G-20 summit at Hangzhou, China was overshadowed by a giant environmental splash as the world's two most polluting nations, the USA and China, on September 3, 2016 delivered documents to the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the summit, certifying their joint commitment to Paris Climate Change Agreement. With China and the USA joining the bandwagon, the prospect of the Paris Climate Change Agreement going into force by the end of this year looks brighter as the combined share of greenhouse gas emissions by China and the USA stands at 38 percent, taking the deal to the final lap to achieve the targets set out for the accord to be effective: at least 55 nations accounting for at least 55 percent of the global emissions must ratify the deal.
India Ratifies Paris Climate Change Deal
On the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, India on October 2, 2016 officially ratified the Paris Climate Change Agreement, consolidating the world effort to fight greenhouse gas effects. The government of India, responsible for 4.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, approved the measure on September 28, 2016 at a cabinet meeting led by the premier Narendra Modi, and on October 2, 2016, the Indian Ambassador to the U.N., Syed Akbaruddin, handed over the instrument of ratification document to the U.N. officials. With India's ratification of the deal, 62 countries with collective share of 52 percent of greenhouse emissions have so far ratified the deal. The deal includes a so-called 55/55 trigger, implying that at least 55 nations with 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions must ratify for the deal to become effective. To meet its goal, India has committed that at least 40 percent of its electricity will come from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, including at least 175 gigawatt of power from renewable energy by 2022. India needs to invest over $2.5 trillion to meet all of its targets.
EU Ratifies Paris Climate Deal
The second condition of the so-called 55/55 trigger for the Paris Climate deal to go into effect was achieved on October 4, 2016 as the European Parliament in Strasbourg ratified the deal, thus achieving a milestone of 55 percent threshold, a critical figure that the ratifying nations collectively should account for in terms of their share of global carbon emissions. Now, the deal goes to a 30-day waiting period to become effective.
Paris Climate Agreement Becomes Effective
The Eiffel Tower has been illuminated with green light, environmentalists across the world are marking a day of accomplishment although many think that it's too late, too little, and most important, a new consensus is emerging that it's incumbent upon every nation on the planet to save earth. The necessity to fight against the climate change can not be any more compelling as the Paris Climate Change Agreement has become effective on November 4, 2016, giving further impetus to the growing global movement to check the warming of the earth to 2 degree Celsius, or 3.6 degree Fahrenheit, compared to pre-industrial time. So far, 96 nations accounting for two-third of greenhouse emissions have ratified the agreement.
Trump: "We are Getting out" of Paris Treaty
U.S. President Donald Trump on June 1, 2017 announced that U.S. would get of the landmark Paris Climate accord. During last year's election campaign, Trump often lampooned and threatened to jettison the landmark accord, dubbing it a job killer. However, the reaction to Trump's action from both home and abroad was swift and bold. Leaders of Italy, France and Germany issued a joint statement, regretting Trump's action and reiterating their common support for climate change fight and the treaty.
States, Cities Trump's Order by Recommitting to Lowering of Greenhouse Emissions
President Trump's decision to quit Paris Climate Accord worked as a catalyst to stir up and solidify a movement by dozens of cities and states to fight global warming and do their shares to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions as required by the Paris Climate Treaty. The most vocal opposition to Trump's move came from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who, as a special envoy of USA's cities and climate change, had reassured the world on June 2, 2017, after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, that USA was on its way to cut emissions as dictated by the accord. California, New York and Washington states had already formed an alliance to coordinate plans to fight climate change and oblige the spirits of the Paris Climate Accord. At the city level, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is leading mayors and leaders of more than 150 cities to achieve the same goals.
Europe, China Re-Commit to Paris Treaty
A day after Donald Trump announced to leave the Paris Climate Treaty, Europe and China on June 2, 2017 formally bound themselves one more time to show their unwavering support to Paris Climate Treaty. Chine Prime Minister Li Keqiang and European Council President Donald Tusk signed an agreement on June 2, 2017 at Brussels to hold firm behind the Paris Climate Agreement, and called Trump's decision "a big mistake".
Trump Administration Formally Notifies U.N. of Its Withdrawal Move
On August 4, 2017, Trump administration formally notified the U.N. its intent to withdraw from the Paris Climate Treaty. However, under the treaty, the earliest any nation can withdraw from it is three years after the treaty has gone into effect: November 4, 2016. So, Trump administration will begin the withdrawal process earliest by November 4, 2019, and will not be able to complete the withdrawal before November 4, 2020, a day after the next presidential election.
Trump Administration Sends Official Notification
Trump administration on November 4, 2019 sent official notification to formally withdraw from the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty.
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2015 Hottest Year on Record
Scientists reported on January 20, 2016, based on separate findings by NASA and NOAA, that the past year (2015) was hottest on the record, beating the previous record that was set a year earlier in 2014. The back-to-back record in 2014 and 2015 reflected a warming world attributed to recent phenomenon of El Nino and man-made global warming. According to:
(1) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
* Average temperature rose 0.29 degree Fahrenheit in 2015 compared to that of 2014
* In the contiguous U.S. of the lower 48 states--with the land mass less than 2 percent of the surface of the earth--past year (2015) was the second-hottest on record after 2012, with the warmest and wettest December since the record-keeping had begun in 1880 (reported by NOAA on January 7, 2016)
(2) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
* Average temperature rose 0.23 degree Fahrenheit in 2015 compared to that of 2014 (record-keeping began in 1880)
(3) Japan Meteorological Agency
* (Based on preliminary report) 2015 was the warmest on record since the record-keeping began in 1891
(4) British Scientists
* 2015 was the warmest on record since the record-keeping began in 1850
U.N. Proposes Major Overhaul in Aviation Emissions
The U.N. aviation agency, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), on February 8, 2016 issued major climate change rules lauded by the White House and environmental groups. Under the ICAO plan,
* The aviation emissions are to reduce by more than 650 million tons between 2020, beginning of the implementation of the rules, and 2040, almost equivalent to removing emissions from 140 million cars a year
* New aircraft design is required to meet the higher standards beginning in 2020
* Designs already in production are required to comply with the new standards by 2023
* Conversion to new design is to be completed by 2028
* The new plan is to be approved by all 36 member nations
The plan on greenhouse emissions announced on February 8, 2016 is one of the two major proposals to be considered this year by ICAO. The second plan to be unveiled later in the year will call for implementing a "market-based approach" to incentivize the stakeholders to reduce aviation emissions.
Seas Rising at the Fastest Clip in 28 Centuries
A scientific research paper published on February 22, 2016 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has reported that seas are rising at the fastest rate in the last 28 centuries.
April 2016 Marks 12th Straight Monthly Record for Hottest Month
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s monthly climate calculation made public on May 18, 2016, April this year was the 12th straight month when the monthly record was broken for global temperature. The hottest April before 2016 was in 2010. Earth's average temperature in April 2016 was 56.7 degree Fahrenheit, 2 degree warmer than the 20th century average. The last time when the earth was not warmer than 20th century average was December 1984 and the last time when the earth set a monthly record for lowest temperature was almost a century ago in December 1916.
********* COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1 CONFERENCE AT MARRAKECH, MOROCCO*******
Marrakech Conference in the Midst of Trump's Victory in the U.S. Presidential Polls
The 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), or 12th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12), or the First session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1), is being held at Marrakech, Morocco between November 7 and November 18, 2016 in the backdrop of the election of Donald Trump, who has called the climate change a "Chinese hoax". However, the overall mood at Marrakech was anything but pessimistic. In fact, there was a newfound resolve among the participants to pursue the goals set out last year in the Paris Conference. On the inaugural day of the COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1 conference, World Meteorological Organization on November 7, 2016 issued a stark report reminding the world the peril of the climate change. The report included, among others:
* Arctic ice coverage was 28 percent lower in 2012 compared to the average of 1981-2010 coverage
* Greenland ice melting rate averaged higher during 2011-2015 period compared to that of 1981-2010 average
Conference Concludes with Request to Trump to Join the Climate Change Fight
The 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), or 12th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12), or the First session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1) concluded on November 18, 2016 at Marrakech, Morocco with call for the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to join the battle against global warming and to see first hand its impact by visiting tiny Pacific island nations. Morocco's Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezounar pleaded to Trump that "we count on your pragmatism and your spirit of commitment" to take the fight against global warming to the next level.
********* COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1 CONFERENCE AT MARRAKECH, MOROCCO*******
2016 Hottest Year on Record
According to reports issued by two respectable agencies on January 18, 2017, 2016 marked the hottest year, implying the peril to the planet and humans if the underlying causes of global warming remained unabated.
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
* Average surface temperature was 0.07 degree Fahrenheit higher than that of 2015.
* Eight successive months (January through August 2016) of record-setting temperatures since the beginning of data tracking in 1880.
NASA
* Average land and oceanic surface temperature is the warmest in 2016 with "a 95 percent certainty".
************ ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE 2017 (BONN) ************
Syria to Embrace Paris Climate Accord, Leaving U.S. Isolated
This year's global annual climate conference began at Bonn, Germany on November 6, 2017, and Syrian minister for environment, M. Wadah Katmawi, had some positive news to share with conference delegates. Damascus will join the Paris Climate Treaty, leaving only the US as pariah in the international stage.
States, Municipalities, Businesses to Continue Sticking to Paris Climate Accord
Despite Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, a coalition of majority of states, municipalities, local jurisdictions, businesses and academic institutions sent a strong message of support for the landmark 2015 deal to an international climate conference in Bonn. Attending the conference on November 11, 2017, California Governor Jerry Brown committed to the accord, saying that "states have real power, as do cities" in forcing a grand coalition to fight against climate change.
Bonn Conference Concludes on High Note
Bonn conference's curtain fell on November 17, 2017 with a focus on transparency, mechanism on how to fund poor nations achieve the Paris Climate Treaty and hasten the treaty's goals.
*********** ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE 2017 (BONN)***************
Trump Administration's Own Report Paints a Bleak Picture about Climate Change
A federal government report issued on November 23, 2018 provided a galling outcome and devastating impact of climate change, including deadly wildfires, destructive heatwaves and devastating hurricanes, and also offered a significantly shorter window of opportunity for governments and policymakers to work on war-footing to address the root causes of climate change. The well over 1,000 pages in the report issued as part of the National Climate Assessment included in graphic details the physical and monetary impact of our planet's deteriorating climate. The National Climate Assessment report, an outcome of collaboration among 13 federal agencies and overseen by the U.S. Global Change Research, was the fourth such report and more damning than its previous report issued in 2014. The report stated categorically that global warming "is transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life". The salient features of National Climate Assessment report include:
* The continental U.S. is now 1.8 degree Fahrenheit warmer than pre-industrial period
* Seas surrounding U.S. are on the average 9 inches higher
* Heat waves are getting worse by the year
* Barring any significant steps taken to reverse the global warming, the U.S. economy will lose 10 percent off its achievable goal by the turn of the century
**** ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE--COP 24 KATOWICE, POLAND ****
U.N. Chief Warns against Backsliding
U.N. Secretary-General Antonin Guterres on December 3, 2018 issued a dramatic appeal to the international community to recommit and renew their fight against climate change and not to be complacent. Addressing the Conference of the Parties (COP) 24 session at the Polish city of Katowice, Guterres warned against falling short of 2015 Paris Climate Treaty goals that had set a bar of 3.6 degree Fahrenheit that the countries would take measures to limit the global temperature to rise to by the end of the century. Famed British naturalist Sir David Attenborough issued the most dire warning that if the world didn't take action now, "collapse of our civilizations and extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon". His December 3, 2018, speech punctuated the sense of urgency that prevailed in the conference being attended by representatives from almost 200 nations. Taking the stage on December 3, 2018, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger electrified the crowd by saying that if he could travel back in time like his character in The Terminator, he would prevent fossil fuel from being used. He also said that America was more than just Washington, and despite Trump's pulling from the Paris Climate Treaty, U.S. was "still in the Paris accord to curb global warming".
Trump's Adviser Faces Ire over Clean Use of Fossil Fuel; U.S. Dilutes Collective Statement
Trump administration's chief adviser on international energy and climate policy on December 10, 2018 faced boos and jeers from protesters as Wells Griffiths espoused, during a panel discussion at Katowice, the clean usage of fossil fuel, attracting loud chants "Shame on you!" and "Keep it in the ground!". Griffith retorted that Trump administration's policy was not to keep coal and other fossil fuel in ground, instead using it efficiently.
Meanwhile, U.S. joined other oil producing nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Russia to dilute a collective statement that took "note" of a damning report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, which described in details the disastrous impact that climate change had on earth's ecosystem and communities, instead of lending a "welcome" embrace. On the surface, there may not be much to read from words "welcome" and "note", but from the climate summit perspective, it's equivalent to endorse or stay neutral.
NOAA Report on Arctic Climate Predicts Alarming Level of Warming
A NOAA report, dubbed the "Arctic Report Card" and authored by the scientists in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Arctic Research Program, issued on December 11, 2018 painted the health of Arctic in grim terms, saying that the trend was the worst since the records keeping had begun. The report was presented during the day at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as rest of the world, according to the region, leading to catastrophic effects such as decimating the region's reindeer and caribou populations by about 56 percent over the past two decades from 4.7 million to 2.1 million. Among other salient features of the Arctic Report Card are:
* The winter-time maximum extent of sea ice, recorded in March 2018, is the second-lowest since 39 years of record keeping.
* Old ice, the ice that persists year over year without melting, consists of only 1 percent of the Arctic ice peak, a decline of 99 percent over the past 33 years.
Countries Reach a Deal to Strengthen Paris Climate Treaty, U.S. also Agrees
Despite Trump administration's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty, U.S. on December 15, 2018 joined about 200 nations to keep the Paris Climate Treaty alive and on track as the COP24 came to an end at the Polish city of Katowice. Although Trump administration has pulled the plug on the treaty, it has to wait until 2020 to formally withdraw from the treaty.
**** ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE--COP 24 KATOWICE, POLAND ****
Billion-Dollar Natural Disasters Skyrocketing in Recent Year, NOAA Study Says
In an indirect connection to how climate change is having a major adverse effect on the livelihoods and economic health of communities, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on February 6, 2019 issued a stinging report, estimating the frequency and scale of high-value disasters. According to the NOAA study, between 1980 and 2013, U.S. experienced 241 weather-related disasters of magnitude $1 billion or more, when adjusted for inflation in today's value, averaging half-a-dozen a year. However, for the past five years, the average jumped to more than 12 per year.
Glaciers are Melting Faster
A study published in Nature on April 8, 2019 gives us an alarming message of how global warming is shaping up our planet. The study, led by Michael Zemp, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich, estimates that world's glaciers are melting 18 percent faster than estimated in 2013. World is losing about 369 billion tons of ice and snow every year.
Madrid to Host COP25 Conference
After Chilean President Sebastian Pinera cancelled this year's annual climate conference in Chile due to political violence, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stepped in on October 31, 2019 to host the Conference of the Parties (COP) 25 conference. Spanish premier's offer to host the conference is all the more laudable as he is facing a tough national election on November 10, 2019, and his political opposition is focusing on nationalistic policies. On November 1, 2019, U.N. climate change chief Patricia Espinosa has declared that the body that organizes the annual U.N. climate change conferences has accepted the offer of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and the COP25 will be held December 2-13, 2019 in Madrid.
U.N. Report Portrays Bleaker Pictures
A U.N. report issued on November 26, 2019 is a harsh update to a damning spiral of climate change taking this planet to downhill slide in ever increasing speed and callous response by most of the international powerhouses in dealing it. The United Nations Environmental Program's Emissions Gap Report 2019 projects that the planet, in the current trajectory, is in the path of rising 7 degree Fahrenheit by the end of the century compared to the pre-industrial era, almost twice the marker, 3.6 degree Fahrenheit, or 2 degree Celsius, set by the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. The outcomes can't be any less devastating: coral reefs disappearing at an astonishing pace, violent flooding and storms overwhelming major cities and towns, and increasingly acidic oceans among others.
The U.N. Environmental Program's Emissions Gap Report 2019 estimates that the past decade has seen an average of 1.5 percent annual rise in emissions. The world has already hit the half of 3.6 degree Fahrenheit, or 1.8 degree Fahrenheit, threshold since the pre-industrial era, leaving us the leeway of only 1.8 degree Fahrenheit for the next eight decades. According to the report, nations have to ramp up their emissions cuts by triple compared to their respective pledge amounts if they want to hold the planet's rise in temperature to a ceiling of 3.6 degree Fahrenheit. The report pegs the amount to five times of emissions cuts if countries aspire to hold the temperature rise to 2.7 degree Fahrenheit.
Mass Demonstrations around the World Days before COP 25 Summit
On the Friday November 29, 2019, three days before the climate change summit is to begin at Madrid, tens of thousands of young people have taken to the streets at capitals around the world in a spirited display of their disapproval of how the leaders are tackling a crisis that by the day is getting out of control. In Australia, elderly victims of wildfire have joined with young environmentalists in denouncing the current plan to reduce carbon footprint. Rallies have been held in Hungary, Belgium, South Korea and Poland. Greta Thunberg is sailing across the Atlantic to attend rallies in Madrid. The current plan designed to hold the rise in planet's temperature to 2 degree Celsius, or 3.6 degree Fahrenheit, is not enough to meet the very goals set out by the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty and, if followed by entirety, may have goalposts to be moved to as high as 7 degree Fahrenheit threshold.
*** ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE (DEC 2-13, 2019): COP25 MADRID ***
U.N. Chief Opens COP25 Conference
On December 2, 2019, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the COP 25 summit at Madrid after this year's host Chile had cancelled the summit due to political unrest that had swept the Latin American nation. Addressing representatives from about 200 nations, U.N. chief reminded that the world had never faced a crisis like this before and warned the nations not to bury the "heads in the sand". Chile's environment minister, Carolina Schmidt, urged the attending delegates to work towards the "carbon-neutral economy" and help out the poor nations to fight the effect of climate change. Paris Climate Change Treaty of 2015 called for a cap of 2 degree Celsius, or 3.6 degree Fahrenheit, rise in global temperature by the end of this century compared to pre-industrial era. Ideally, the cap should have been 1.5 degree Celsius, or 2.7 degree Fahrenheit. However, a November 26, 2019, U.N. Emissions Gap Report gave a rude-awakening to the global community and environmental policymakers as the provisions called for in the 2015 treaty would cut emissions too little to achieve the goal of a ceiling of 2 degree Celsius, or 3.6 degree Fahrenheit. Instead if all the provisions are complied with, according to the Emissions Gap Report, the global temperature is all set to rise as high as 7 degree Fahrenheit compared to pre-industrial era.
Arctic Report Card Warns of Permafrost Melting
As the COP25 conference in Madrid is undergoing travails and tribulation of rich-poor divide and responsibility-and-blame game, U.S. issued the so called 2019 Arctic Report Card at Washington on December 10, 2019. The report is anything but assuring, and warns of massive emittance of greenhouse gases--carbon dioxide and methane--not from the burning of fossil fuel, but from an unlikely source: permafrost in the arctic soil. The report explains that because of warming temperature microbes in the arctic soil become more potent and act on the permafrost, repository of 1,460-1,600 billions of metric tons carbons, to release massive amount carbon into the atmosphere. The report makes an ominous estimate of 1.1 to 2.2 billion tons of carbon emissions per year from the arctic permafrost.
Climate Conference Ends with Little to Show
After going overtime for almost 48 hours, COP25 Madrid Conference concluded on a disappointing note on December 15, 2019. Although the final declaration from the conference, attended by representatives from almost 200 nations, emphasized the "urgent need" to reduce the planet-warming greenhouse gases, many felt frustrated by the outcome as the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he had been "disappointed". Chile's Environment Minister and the Chair of the COP25 Conference Carolina Schimdt said that she became "sad" because of so little to show as the outcome.
The negotiators from 200 nations earlier hunkered down in the passionate discussion about future of the world. German Environment Minister Svenja sounded optimistic on December 13, 2019, the official last date of the conference, over an overnight EU deal to make the bloc "carbon neutral" by 2050. The nation that has faced widespread ire in COP25 Conference is the USA as developing nations are upset over Trump administration's rejection of a landmark 2013 agreement, Warsaw International Mechanism, for the richer nations to help poorer nations.
*** ANNUAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE (DEC 2-13, 2019): COP25 MADRID ***
****************** PRESIDENT BIDEN'S FIRST CLIMATE SUMMIT *****************
Test of America's Credibility in Climate Change Fight
The virtual climate summit set to begin on April 22, 2021 will test the Biden administration in what extent it can persuade skeptical allies to believe in America's resolve to fight climate change after Trump administration's rash decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Treaty that has fractured relations and undermined America's commitment to keep the planet from warming by not more than 1.5 degree Celsius compared to pre-industrial era. As Bloomberg News has reported on April 19, 2021, President Joe Biden will set the most sweeping climate change goal ever pledged by any American president by cutting the greenhouse gas emissions by 50% compared to 2005 emission levels by 2030. That's definitely stronger than Obama administration's pledge to cut emissions by 28% compared to 2005 level by 2025, but falls short of U.K. and E.U. goals of reducing greenhouse gas footprint by 68% and 55%, respectively compared to 1990 levels by 2030. If the baseline is drawn relative to 1990 as opposed to 2005, Biden plan will reduce the greenhouse footprint by a mere 40%.
A
Day before the Climate Summit, EU Agrees to Major Goals
A
day before a two-day Climate Summit, convened by U.S. President Joe Biden,
is set to begin, 27-nation EU’s member states and legislatures on April
21, 2021 reached a key goal to approve an ambitious objective to achieve a carbon-neutral
economy by 2050 and another milestone of reducing greenhouse gas emissions
by 55% compared to 1990 levels by 2030.
Two-day Virtual Climate Change Summit Begins
President Joe Biden is hosting a two-day virtual climate change summit, and on the opening day, April 22, 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris has introduced the president to the heads of about 40 states. President Biden's standing among the participants has improved as U.S. is committed to reducing the greenhouse emissions and doubled its goal of cutting the emissions to 50% level compared to 2005 by 2030. However, number 1 and number 3 polluters, China and India, respectively, didn't commit anything new. Chinese President Xi Jinping said that any new agreement should be based on "common but differentiated responsibilities", an oft-repeated line espoused by Beijing to shift the burden more on developed world. South Korean President Moon Jae-in pledged that South Korea would work towards dissuading its investors in investing in coal-fired power plants overseas, a major source of coal-fired power plants in the developed world. U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cautioned the world that "we are at the verge of the abyss".
Biden Closes the Two-day Climate Summit with the Focus on Economy, New Opportunities
U.S. President Joe Biden on April 23, 2021 drew the curtain on the climate summit that he had hosted as the first major initiative on environment with exhortation to people and leaders of the world to see the climate change fight through the lens of economic opportunities. Biden's climate convoy, John Kerry, reminded the heads of about 40 or so nations about an "apparent lack of willpower". The summit ended on April 23, 2021 with a renewed sense of urgency to fight the climate change, but with few concrete actions beyond what had been already pledged barring U.S. proposal to double the greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 50% compared to 2005 levels by 2030.
****************** PRESIDENT BIDEN'S FIRST CLIMATE SUMMIT *****************
Climate Change's Contribution to Hurricane Sandy's Scale of Damages Quantified
In one of the rare reports, scientists have calculated the climate change-induced human and financial damages as part of the overall destruction stemming from Hurricane Sandy. The report, published in the Nature Communications journal on May 18, 2021, estimated that the sea level was about 4 inches higher because of the climate change when Hurricane Sandy struck the New York and New Jersey coastal areas. Out of a total of $62.5 billion in damages, one of the costliest in Mother Nature's furies on the nation, about 13% might have been contributed by that climate change-induced higher sea level, leading to an incremental damage of more than $8 billion correlated to the climate change.
CO2 Peak Hits Approximately 50% Higher than Pre-Industrial CO2 Level, NOAA Says
In an alarming milestone, average Carbon Dioxide level in May 2021 has hit 419.13 parts per million, almost 50% higher than the pre-industrial stable level of 280 ppm, according to a report issued on June 7, 2021 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Normally in the month of May, Carbon Dioxide in the air reaches the peak volume in the Northern Hemisphere as plants complete their blossoming and start absorbing the gas from the environment.
IPCC REPORT 2021: Code Red Scenario Looming
A U.N. report issued on August 9, 2021 has painted a dire scenario on how fast our planet is heating up that is, according to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a "code red for humanity". The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report--an arduous work of 234 scientists producing a 3000-plus-page document--calls out the climate change as human-caused, "unequivocal" and "an established fact". The report sheds a light on an alarming outcome: Earth has already exceeded about 2-degree-Fahrenheit in average temperature increase compared to the late 19th century, pre-industrial-era temperature, not far from 2.7-degree-Fahrenheit threshold recommended by the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty. The report painted five different scenarios: (1) massive cut in pollution and emissions; (2) intense, but not massive, emissions cut; (3) moderate emissions cut; (4) small pollution reduction; (5) BAU. In five previous IPCC reports, earth has been reported to be warming up in a path considered as "Business as Usual", or BAU. The August 9, 2021, IPCC report portrayed not as dire as one could imagine, saying that the climate change was happening at a pace between scenario 3 and scenario 4. However, the bad news is that under each of the five scenarios, the earth will exceed 2.7-degree-Fahrenheit threshold in 2030s. The report also highlights the extreme fluctuations of weather pattern with "clear evidence on changes in climate extremes as a result of human-induced climate change". Since its last final report in 2014, our earth has radically has changed as far as greenhouse emissions are concerned, with the U.S. experiencing $98.9 billion in weather-related damage in the last year alone.
NOAA: July the Hottest Month Ever
July 2021 has set a record as the hottest month in 142-year record-keeping history, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Administrator Rick Spinrad said in a statement on August 13, 2021. In July 2021, at least five heat domes had set in in parts of Northern Hemisphere, triggering massive wildfire in the Pacific Northwest, record temperatures in Turkey, Northern Japan and Northern Ireland.
Link between Valentine Winter Storm in Texas and Warming of Arctic Found
A research on how polar vortex is pushing the cold snap into south has been published on September 2, 2021 in the journal Science. The research and the related findings are authored by Judah Cohen, a winter storm SME at the Atmospheric Environmental Research, a commercial research firm outside Boston. According to Cohen's research, the arctic is warming significantly, resulting in the weakening of polar vortex which is expanding eastward towards the colder region of Siberia. This expanding polar vortex pushes out the Siberian cold snap over the pole to the southern parts of the U.S. That's what has happened in February 2021 in Texas that has led to frigid few days, massive power outages and more than 170 deaths.
More than 200 million "Climate Migrants" Possible by 2050
A World Bank report, the second part of the so called Groundswell Report, published on September 13, 2021 has provided the world with insight into how climate change is impacting the world and pegged the number of migrants displaced within national borders at up to 216 million by 2050. The report breaks down the world by six regions: North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific. The report has analyzed the effect of climate change on human displacement under three scenarios. Under the most pessimistic scenario, with high level of emissions and unequal development, the climate migrants will total 216 million people by 2050. Under this scenario, Sub-Saharan Africa will account the most internally displaced climate migrants (86 million) and North Africa will account the maximum percentage of region's population (9%, or 19 million people) to be internally displaced by 2050. Under the most optimistic scenario, with low degree of emissions and inclusive, sustainable development, there will be still 44 million internally displaced climate migrants by 2050.
Guterres Calls for "Immediate, Rapid and Large-scale" Cuts in Greenhouse Gas Emissions
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on September 16, 2021 launched a key U.N. environmental report just days before the U.N. General Assembly convened, and warned that "unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in Greenhouse Gas emissions, we will be unable to limit global heating to 1.5 degree Celsius [2.7 degree Fahrenheit]". In their report, titled "United in Science 21", six U.N. bodies and scientific organizations warned the catastrophic effect of global warming and concluded about definitive link between human activities and global warming.
Ozone Hole Larger than Antarctica
An European organization, EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, on September 16, 2021 reported an ominous outcome of the effect of global warming, putting a spotlight on the alarming increase in depth and breadth of Ozone Hole over Southern Hemisphere this year. This year's Ozone Hole is now larger than the size of the Antarctica. The Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987, bans a group of chemicals, called the halocarbons, key to exacerbating the annual Ozone Hole, and is seen by scientists as an effective mechanism to reduce some of the harmful chemicals from our atmosphere. However, even that landmark agreement is turning out to be significantly short of achieving its goals.
WHO Lowers the Thresholds for Six Harmful Pollutants
World Health Organization on September 22, 2021 lowered the cap of six pollutants--PM2.5, PM10Ozone, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide--which could be deemed as safe. WHO's new guidelines raise the bars for individual nations, policymakers, institutions, and even, people to play their part to ensure that the harmful chemicals are emitted less into our environment.
** U.N. CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE (OCT 31 - NOV 11, 2021): COP-26 GLASGOW
Lofty Commitments Urged at the Preparatory Meeting for Annual Climate Conference
In the run-up to the 12-day annual climate conference that is set to begin at Glasgow on October 31, 2021, officials from the developing and developed world have met at Milan, Italy on October 2, 2021. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry called this decade as a "decisive decade". The Glasgow Conference will strive for limiting the global warming to 2 degree Celsius, with a goal of capping the rise to 1.5 degree Celsius. John Kerry has said that the nations which account for 55% of the global GDP have submitted plans to reduce their greenhouse emissions so as to limit the warming to 1.5 degree Celsius. Those nations are U.S., Canada, Britain, Japan and 27-nation E.U.
PROTEST WEEK (October 11-17, 2021)
Dutch Climate Protest Week Begins; 85% of World's People Impacted by Climate Change
In the run-up to month-end U.N. Climate Summit at Glasgow, the Dutch environmental group Extinction Rebellion has begun a weeklong demonstration on October 11, 2021. At least at three road joints in the Hague, climate protesters organized stage-ins, obstructed traffic and denounced wealthy nations' reluctance to accelerate their emissions cuts. Police has detained many of the demonstrators.
Meanwhile, a research shows that at least 85% of world's population is now facing the direct and indirect wrath of climate change. The research, published in the Nature Climate Change on October 11, 2021, has leveraged machine learning to connect the precipitation data and other events with more than 100,000 studies on the climate change to show the scale of impact of fast-changing climate of our planet on the lives of people from New York City to South Sudan to Seattle to Madagascar.
At Least 600 Arrested in the Protest (People vs. Fossil Fuel) Week in the U.S.
The protest week in the U.S. is a blended version of activism that has fallen in the week of the Columbus Day, or Indigenous Day (October 11, 2021) and the environmental protest against Biden administration's and Congress' inaction against the climate change. The participation of the indigenous people in the weeklong demonstrations at the nation's capital was overwhelming and unprecedented. They demanded that Biden administration declare climate emergency, stop giving permits for new pipelines, listen to progressives and indigenous groups and focus on the health of communities. As of the fifth day (October 15, 2021) of the so called People vs. Fossil Fuel protest movement at Washington D.C., at least 600 people were arrested, including 80 for crowding or obstructing the Capitol Hill. Earlier in the week, protesters formed a chain link around the White House, clashed with security officials at the Interior Department and held impromptu demonstrations throughout the capital.
PROTEST WEEK (October 11-17, 2021)
Saudi Arabia Announces "Net Zero" Emission Target by 2060
Saudi Arabia announced its most ambitious plan yet to contribute to the global effort to fight climate change by focusing on its own domestic target of "net zero" greenhouse gas emissions by 2060. Saudi announcement on October 23, 2021 came eight days before the COP-26 Climate Conference was scheduled to begin in Glasgow and in the midst of a controversy stemming from leaked document showing countries such as Saudi Arabia were trying behind the scenes to dilute the language and content being prepared by the climate scientists and environmentalists. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman announced the 2060 "net zero" target at the beginning of the first-ever Saudi Green Initiative Forum. The crown prince vowed to plan 450 million trees by 2030, restore a wide swath of land, cut carbon emissions by at least 270 million tons a year and transform the landlocked capital of Riyadh into a sustainable city. Many critics found fault with the timing of the announcement, saying that it was meant to present the country as a good steward of the environment in the run-up to the Glasgow conference. Also, many critics pointed out that Saudi Arabia was committing to "net zero" concept domestically while exporting fossil fuel to massive consumers such as China and India. Kingdom's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the forum that "it was no state secret" that Saudi Arabia's "economic growth is driven by export of its energy sources".
Saudi Arabia will achieve the "net zero" target through a system, called the Carbon Circular Economy, criticized by many environmentalists as inadequate. The so-called Carbon Circular Economy employs the four pillars of R4, or "Reduce-Reuse-Recycle-Remove", Strategy. The strategy, to the eyes of climate pros, falls short of phasing out the fossil fuel.
Saudi Arabia's 2060 "net zero" target of greenhouse gas emissions coincides with the timeline of China and Russia. U.S. and E.U. are targeting 2050 as their "net zero" target date.
WMO Reports Maximum Concentration of Greenhouse Gas in 2020
The U.N. climate-related affairs arm, World Meteorological Organization, on October 25, 2021 said that 2020 marked the year of maximum concentration of greenhouse gases, with carbon dioxide accounting a large part with concentration of 413.2 parts per million, a record for CO2. Methane and Nitrous Oxide concentrations were alarmingly high too. All three key ingredients of greenhouse gases--CO2, Methane and Nitrous Oxide--had emitted into the atmosphere last year in larger quantity compared to the latest 10-year average of greenhouse gas emissions. Now, all three are well above the pre-industrial era levels prior to 1750. The WMO report released days ahead of COP-26 conference will provide another key data point to climate activists, policymakers and nations' leaders in their effort to coalesce around a common action plan to meet the goals of 2015 Paris Climate Treaty.
10 Treasured Forests Emitting Carbon More than Absorbing
As customary for every annual climate change conference, a host of reports pointing at the warming of our planet come out to raise the alarm for our policymakers, conference attendees, activists and leaders. This year is no different. On October 28, 2021, three days before the conference begins, a joint report by UNESCO and Switzerland-based International Union for Conservation of Nature was released that looked at the environmental health of 257 UNESCO-listed forests that had earned the distinction of World Heritage Sites. Out of 257 such forests, 10 are now emitting more Carbon Dioxide into atmosphere than what they are absorbing. The net emission volume is 5.5 million tons. Both Yosemite National Forest and Sumatra's Tropical Rainforest fall in that category. Sumatra's Tropical Rainforest is emitting 4.2 million tons of carbon while absorbing 1.2 million tons, the imbalance is mostly due to increasing activities of logging and agriculture. However, the report also points out that these 257 forests collectively absorb much more carbon--190 million tons of Carbon Dioxide--from our atmosphere than what these 10 forests' net emissions are.
COP-26 Conference Opens
The 26th Annual Conference of Parties, or COP-26, opened on October 31, 2021. Alok Sharma, U.K.'s climate minister, will be the president of COP-26 conference. Sharma assumes the presidency from outgoing president Carolina Schmidt. Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened the conference on October 31, 2021, and stressed on importance of the 12-day conference in providing guidance to about 200 nations. Pope Francis during Sunday prayer on October 31, 2021 at Vatican prayed for the success of COP-26 conference. Nations' leaders will lay out their vision beginning on November 1, 2021.
Leaders Urge to Save the World in Doomsday-like Speeches
On November 1 and November 2, 2021, it was the session for the heads of state to outline their vision to fight the climate change and to limit the warming of the planet to 2.7 degree Fahrenheit compared to the pre-industrial era. The world has already warmed 2 degree Fahrenheit. President Joe Biden has said that the time to sit idle was over. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres painted the action of humans in a more dystopian color, saying that humans "are digging their own graves". U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the host, called out the urgency of the issue. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid out his five-point plan to fight climate change:
* Achieving "net zero" emissions goal by 2070
* Raising goal for non-fossil fuel-based energy generation
* Meeting half of its energy demand through renewable energy
* Cutting carbon emissions by 1 billion tons compared with previous goals
* Reducing carbon intensity of the economy by 45%
Leaders Agree on End to Deforestation
On November 2, 2021, leaders of the world agreed to end deforestation by 2030 as part of fighting against the climate change. They pledged to plough $19 billion to fund initiatives to reverse and end deforestation by 2030.
Another remarkable agreement reached on November 2, 2021 was meant for weaning South Africa away from coal. The deal, crafted by the U.K., Germany, France and U.S., involves $8.5 billion in loans and grants to South Africa over the next five years.
Arctic Warming up Three Times Faster
The Dallas Morning News reported on November 7, 2021 that the arctic had warmed up at a rate three times the rest of the world between 1971 and 2019, based on the research from Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program. This has led to the recent eruption of wildfire in the arctic, once unthinkable 00 degree Fahrenheit temperature in Siberia during summer and thawing of Permafrost. The ongoing Glasgow conference, COP-26, is having an immersive discussion about how to slow down the arctic ice melting and arctic warming.
Obama Chides Russia and China for Their Leaders' Absence in Climate Summit
November 8, 2021 was a big-hitter from the perspective of speakers amidst rising frustration among developing nations that developed nations were not up to the challenge to aid poor countries in their fight against climate change. Former President Barack Obama on November 8, 2021 addressed the COP-26, saying that, although "images of dystopia" had creeped into his dream, hopelessness and pessimism was not even an option. He took Russia and China to the task for not sending their heads of state to the summit, and called it very "discouraging". Representatives of 77 developing nations on November 8, 2021 condemned the developed world for not coming fast and sufficient enough to help the poor nations. There are three main goals that the U.N. has set in the run-up to the Glasgow Climate Conference, none of which had been followed up with action plans so far:
(1) Pledges to cut Greenhouse Gas emissions in half by 2030 to limit the temperature rise to 2.7 degree Fahrenheit
(2) Annual aid of $100 billion for poor nations to fight against climate change
(3) Half of the annual aid to be used to fight the severest effect of the global warming
Some Serious Toddler Steps Taken so far, Leader of a Prestigious Environmental Group Says
As time is running out for COP-26 summit to take bold actions, so far what has been achieved in the conference is a far cry from that. Releasing a study by the group on November 9, 2021, U.N. Environmental Programme head, Inger Andersen, has said that there are "some serious toddler steps taken" in the COP-26 conference, but what the world badly needs now is a giant leap. The findings by the U.N. Environmental Programme show that the Carbon Dioxide emissions will be 51.5 billion metric tons per year by 2030, only 1.5 billion metric tons less than before the recent pledges. To satisfy the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty, the CO2 emissions have to fall to 12.5 billion metric tons by 2030. A second set of results made public on November 9, 2021 by a Climate Action Tracker study point to a warming of as much as 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit by the turn of the century compared to the pre-industrial era, far higher than 2.7 degree Fahrenheit considered as a safe threshold in the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty. On November 9, 2021, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic-Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez brought their firepower to the Glasgow climate conference.
China, U.S. to Work Collaboratively on Greenhouse Emissions Cut
After so much of back and forth and President Joe Biden's criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping for failure to attend the COP-26 Summit in-person at Glasgow, a ray of hope may be visible at last for growing cooperation of the world's two largest economies to fight climate change amidst their deteriorating relationship in cyber security, regional dominance, trade and commerce. In back-to-back conferences with the reporters on November 10, 2021, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, have emphasized on the mutual agreement in the most consequential challenge that our planet faces today.
COP-26 Goes Overtime as Tension between Rich and Poor Nations Heats up
That the sense of accomplishment varies from country to country and developing world to developed world indicates a broader problem of how nations view the climate crisis and approaches to solve it. The COP-26 conference went overtime as poor nations had vented out their frustration as the clock was ticking late night on November 12, 2021. They had been demanding explanation what had happened to the pledge of $100 billion per year in aid by 2020. The triumvirate of issues around coal, cash and timing turned out to be the largest stumbling block among the participants.
Deal Reached after Hours of Intense Negotiations, Finger-pointing
A late-night agreement has been arrived at among 200 some nations attending the Glasgow COP-26 Climate Conference on November 13, 2021 that has been blasted by small island nations as a deal that has come as far too short, far too late and lauded by the rich nations as a reasonable "progress", not a great "success", in the collective journey to limit the warming of the planet to within the threshold of 1.5 degree Celsius [2.7 degree Fahrenheit] by the turn of the century compared to the pre-industrial era. The earth has already warmed by 1.1 degree Celsius [2 degree Fahrenheit] compared to the pre-industrial era. Many nations, poor or rich, as well as climate activists were aghast at India's late-hour expected insistence to change some crucial provisions of the agreement to "phase down", not "phase out" its reliance on coal. India's Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav defended his nation's stance, instead blaming the developed world for "unsustainable lifestyles and wasteful consumption patterns" for the present state of the earth's climate. Maldives' minister of environment, climate change and technology, Aminath Shauna, lamented that what could be "progress" for some nations would be "too late for Maldives", and added that the "difference between 1.5 degree Celsius [2.7 degree Fahrenheit] and 2 degree Celsius [3.6 degree Fahrenheit] amounts to death sentence" for his tiny island nation.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lamented that none of three goals set in the run-up to the Glasgow COP-26 Climate Conference had been met, but "we have some building blocks for progress". The three goals Guterres is referring to includes:
(1) Pledges to cut Greenhouse Gas emissions in half by 2030 to limit the temperature rise to 2.7 degree Fahrenheit
(2) Annual aid of $100 billion for poor nations to fight against climate change
(3) Half of the annual aid to be used to fight the severest effect of the global warming
The president of COP-26, Alok Sharma, the British minister of state, struck an optimistic tone, saying that the final agreement had included "tangible next steps" for all the nations, a stance and sentiment shared by U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry.
The COP-26 Glasgow Climate Conference's final agreement:
* Re-commits the international community to holding the line on a firmer 1.5 degree Celsius [2.7 degree Fahrenheit] threshold
* Expresses "deep regret" for failing to fulfill the pledge of $100 billion per year aid to poor nations by 2020 and urges the rich nations to come up with the money as soon as possible
* Establishes the international carbon trading rules under Article 6
** U.N. CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE (OCT 31 - NOV 11, 2021): COP-26 GLASGOW
Biden Signs Executive Order to Fuel Clean Energy, Fight Climate Change
Leveraging the federal government's immense purchasing power, estimated at $650 billion per year, President Joe Biden on December 8, 2021 has signed an executive order to accelerate adoption of renewable energy and pursue a procurement policy that discourages over-dependence on carbon imprimatur. Under the executive order, federal operations emissions will reduce 65% by 2030 compared to 2008 level, with an aim of achieving "net-zero Emissions" by 2050. The order includes meeting 100 % goal of "net-zero emissions"-enabled vehicle acquisition by 2035, including accomplishment of 100% goal of "net-zero emissions" light-duty vehicle purchase by 2027. Under the executive order, U.S. federal agencies will promote, among others, sustainability, cleaner environment and buying products with significantly less polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, or "forever chemicals".
Annual Arctic Report "Deadly"
The 16th Annual Arctic Report was shared on December 14, 2021 at the American Geophysical Union conference, and the report points to a "costly, deadly and irreversible" future of the earth because of the climate change. Nowhere in the world the impact of climate change is more pronounced than at the top of the world as Arctic is warming at a rate 2 to 3 times faster than rest of the world, ice caps are disappearing at an "alarming" rate, permafrost is decaying at a significant pace and, to cap it all, there has been first rainfall this year. The report, shared by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on December 14, 2021, is the product of research by 111 scientists from 12 nations.
U.S. Flooding Losses to Increase 26% by 2050
Researchers at the University of Bristol, U.K. said in a paper published on January 31, 2022 in the Nature Climate Change that the annual price tag of flooding-related losses would rise to $40.6 billion by 2050 from the current estimated level of $32.1 billion. This 26.4% increase will be disproportionately borne by minority communities. At present, maximum brunt of flooding is carried by the impoverished White communities.
NOAA Report Points to Epic Sea Level Rise
An 111-page report by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made public on February 15, 2022 predicts as high sea level rise in the next three decades as the entire 20th century, posing a significant threat to a large part of our economy and about 40% of the people who live along the coast. NOAA report, though, does not paint an ominous picture uniformly along the coastal areas. For example, it projects alarming rise in the East and Gulf Coast, but the West Coast will experience a less severe flooding.
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Wildfire Getting More Intense
A new research published on February 23, 2022 drives key insight into what is at stake for us in future as the so called extreme wildfires, once rare, are becoming commonplace due to climate change and erroneous land management. According to the research conducted by United Nations Environment Program and GRID-Arendal, the odds of these extreme wildfires will rise by 14% by 2030, 30% by 2050 and 50% by the turn of the century even with deep greenhouse emissions cuts. The report issued five days before the U.N. Environment Assembly is set to open at Nairobi on February 28, 2022 is a clear eye opener for the communities around the world from Portugal to Indonesia, from Australia to California.
Plastic Ban Resolution Approved
The biennial assembly of U.N. environment arrived at a momentous decision on March 2, 2022 as more than 150 nations agreed to "end plastic pollution" by 2024. If this resolution goes into effect, world will look back and say that the Nairobi conference has been the turning point in the international community's fight against plastic pollution.
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IPCC Report Part II: "Your House Is on Fire"
A U.N. expert panel, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, produces a set of comprehensive reports every five to seven years. The first of a three-part report was released in August 2021. The first part dealt with the science behind climate change. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the first part of the IPCC report a "Code Red" report. The second part of the IPCC Report was issued on February 28, 2022. The second part deals with the past, present and future impact of climate change. The second part consists of more than 1,000 pages, but a crucial component of the report is meant for government officials and policymakers. That component is called the Summary for Policy Makers. A third part will be released in several weeks and will cover various options to fight climate change.
Antarctica: Steepest Temperature Rise; Lowest Ice Sheet Volume in 43 Years of Record Keeping
The Dallas Morning News reported in its March 19, 2022, edition that the Eastern Antarctica had witnessed last week the steepest temperature rise compared to the normal. The average temperature in Vostok, a Russian observatory in eastern Antarctica, is about -63 degree Fahrenheit in March. But, on March 18, 2022, the temperature recorded there was 0 degree Fahrenheit, a record for this time of the year since record keeping had begun 65 years ago. Also, the ice coverage in Antarctica fell to as low as 772,000 square miles, lowest in 43 years of record keeping.
Ice Shelf Collapses in Eastern Antarctica
The Associated Press on March 25, 2022 reported, based on satellite image, that 460-square mile Glenzer Conger ice shelf had collapsed. The ice shelf was an imprimatur of the eastern Antarctica for thousands of years.
IPCC Report Part III: "Firmly on Track toward an Unlivable World"
The third version of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was released on April 4, 2022. The report points to an unsustainable journey toward breaching the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold as the planet has already warmed by 1.1 degree Celsius compared to pre-industrial era. Most likely, the planet will breach the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold before a comprehensive and concerted worldwide effort, if it is ever undertaken, will lower the global temperature to within 1.5 degree threshold. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the report as confirmation that the humanity was "firmly on track toward an unlivable world".
President Biden Signs Executive Order to Promote and Inventory Mature and Old-growth Forests
In the backdrop of a sunny Seattle with flowering trees, President Joe Biden on April 22, 2022 signed an executive order, instructing the U.S. Forest Services and the Bureau of Land Management to define and inventory the nation's mature and old-growth forests. Mature and old-growth trees are natural assets to absorb large quantities of carbon imprimatur from the environment.
U.N. Chief Rebukes Rich Nations for Paying Lip Services on $100 billion Pledge
Representatives from about 40 nations are meeting at a two-day (July 18-19, 2022) session in Berlin to refocus their unified fight against climate change. Developing nations are still awaiting $100 billion annual aid to fight against the consequences of climate change. That pledge, made as part of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Treaty, or formally known as Paris Agreement, is supposed to reach the full amount in 2020. However, poor nations are yet to see their fair share. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, appearing on a video link on July 18, 2022, called the dithering on $100 billion annual aid as the rich nations' lack of "responsibility for our collective future". The Berlin meeting has another goal: building trust among nations in the run-up to the Fall 2022 climate summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. For many island nations, what is a crisis for rich nations is a "catastrophe" for them, according to Antiguan Environment Minister Molwyn Joseph.
Ice Loss of Swiss Alpine Glacier more than 50% in Last Nine Decades
The Associated Press reported on August 22, 2022 that a recent research published in The Cryosphere has pointed a significant loss of ice in Switzerland's around 1,400 glaciers. The research, conducted by prestigious federal polytechnic university ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute on Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, shows that about 50% of the ice loss has happened between 1931 and 2016, and an additional 12% ice loss has been estimated to have happened since 2016.
3.3% of Greenland Ice to Melt irrespective of Human Fight of Climate Change
In a portrayal of an environmental dystopia, researchers have found that independent of how hard we try to fight the climate change now, 3.3% of the Greenland ice will melt, amounting to almost 110 trillion tons of ice. The research published in the Nature Climate Change on August 29, 2022 didn't predict any timeline, but it would be safe to assume that the ice loss would happen between now and 2100. William Colgan, a study co-author and a researcher with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, thinks that much of the ice loss will happen within a century. According to the research, 3.3% of ice melt will lead to an almost a foot high rise in sea level. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with 10 to 12 inch rise in sea level, U.S. coastal areas will experience the "most destructive" floods five times as often and "moderate floods" will be 10 times as frequent.
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High-Profile Climate Conference Begins
Envoys from countries began to arrive at Sharm el-Sheikh on November 6, 2022 to attend the annual climate change conference at a crucial juncture of the human civilization's rendezvous with consequential impact from the climate change. There is at least one breakthrough in the run-up to COP-27. After two days of flurry of negotiation, officials on November 6, 2022 have agreed to put the loss and damage compensation item in the agenda to formally discuss on compensating the poorer nations to mitigate the disproportionate catastrophe that they are facing from the rising sea level, intense weather patterns and hotter planet. U.N.'s top climate official, Simone Stiell, said that the issue's inclusion in the agenda itself "demonstrates progress". German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan, in conjunction with Chile, led the negotiation, resulting in the inclusion of the $100 billion compensation funding as an agenda item.
The outgoing conference chair, Alok Sharma, of the U.K. will hand over the baton to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry at the COP-27. As part of the opening speech, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on the Climate Change, or IPCC, Hoesung Lee, on November 6, 2022 exhorted the world to take meaningful action against climate change by seizing "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to save our planet and our livelihoods".
Many observers are casting doubt on the success of the COP-27 conference as leaders of the two most polluting nations--China and India--will be conspicuous by their absence. Organizers have confirmed that about 110 heads of state, including President Joe Biden, will attend the conference.
Report: Dependence on Gas due to War to Undermine Climate Change Effort
A report compiled by the Climate Action Tracker submitted in the COP-27 conference on November 10, 2022 spells out the potential climate disaster that has been fueled by the geopolitical crisis by Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a result of invasion, Europe and others are relying on liquefied and other natural gas as a source of their energy imprimatur, and the plan and build-up in turn, will emit an additional 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2030, thus making to keep the global temperature rise to within 1.5 degree Celsius, or 2.7 degree Fahrenheit, all the more difficult.
President Biden Addresses COP27, Developing Nations Push back on Loss and Damage
U.S. President Joe Biden might have received a more embracing reception at COP-26 conference, but at the COP-27 conference, his reception was lukewarm at best. He addressed the annual climate change conference at Sharm el-Sheikh on November 11, 2022, stressing the U.S. commitment to the fight against climate change. President Biden cited $369 billion allocated for renewable energy and battery technology in the Inflation Reduction Act, saying that it "will reduce the cost and improve the performance of clean energy technology that will be available to nations worldwide, not just the United States". However, poor nations are clamoring for more action on disbursing the already pledged $100 billion per year as part of the loss and damage compensation.
A Distant Handshake between Biden and Xi May Spur Talks between the Two Largest Polluters
The climate negotiation between Beijing and Washington that had remained suspended since August 2022 after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan angered China was set to resume at Sharm el-Sheikh after a handshake between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping thousands of miles away at Bali that had led to an agreement to "empower key senior officials" to resume talks, among others, on climate. American climate envoy, John Kerry, maintains a good, longstanding working relationship with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, and any thawing between China and the U.S. is good news for negotiators from both nations as far as curbing of the global warming is concerned.
Kerry Speaks with Zhenhua, Formal Talks to Resume
U.S. Climate envoy John Kerry on November 15, 2022 went to the zone of the COP-27 conference venue where Chines delegation had stationed in and spoke with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua. The Kerry-Zhenhua meeting came a day after the two most polluting nations' presidents met at Bali and agreed to "empower key senior officials" to resume talks, among other items, on climate after Beijing had put a pause on such talks in August 2022 after Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Developing nations are pushing for a substantive deal before the COP-27 officially ends on November 18, 2022.
E.U. Proposal Revives the Prospect of a Compensation Package at the Climate Talks
As the end is drawing closer and COP-27 is destined to go down as a conference without any substantive achievement, a last-minute European Union proposal seems to have injected a new life in the talks at Sharm el-Sheikh. Right after the top U.N. climate envoy, Simon Stiell, told the conference on November 17, 2022 that "we are not where we need to be in order to close this conference with tangible and robust outcomes", E.U.'s top climate envoy, E.U. Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans, unveiled a two-dimensional proposal that would tie the so called "loss and damage" compensation package for the poor nations to emission cuts across the board. The two-page E.U. proposal is likely to be last substantive proposal to revive the possibility of an agreement among the nations before COP-27 concludes. Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna captured the mood of the officials in the conference after the E.U. proposal was broached by Frans Timmermans as Shauna added that "this is a historic opportunity that can't be lost and that must be seized now".
Historic Agreement to Create "Loss and Damage" Fund to Help Poor Nations
After several rounds of substantive talks, shoulder-rubbing and defiance amidst an unprecedented unity among the globe's poor nations, the COP-27 conference in the early hours of November 20, 2022 arrived at an agreement to create a "loss and damage" fund to help out the poor nations to fight more effectively the consequences of the climate change. Pakistani Climate Minister Sherry Rehman lauded the "fruition" of a 30-year journey to create the compensation fund as she stressed the plight of her nation impacted so hard by the epic summer flooding this year and said that "what went on in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan". Two leaders who had shepherded the loss and damage talks from the outset of the COP-27 conference were euphoric after the deal had been clinched. German Climate Envoy Jennifer Morgan and Chilean Environment Minister Maisa Rojas posed for a photo together and said: "yes, we have made it". However, a broader and more comprehensive plan floated by E.U.'s top climate official to tie deeper emission cuts to creation of loss and damage fund has not worked out.
India requested before the final vote to change the last year's language of phase-down of "unabated coal" and replace it by adding other fossil fuels such as natural gas and oil. European Union supported India's drive to add oil and natural gas to "unabated coal" for "phase-down", but the language didn't get added because of the resistance from Russia, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.
COP-27 Conference Ends: Loss and Damage Fund a Key Achievement
This year's annual climate conference ended on November 20, 2022 at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with a remarkable achievement: creation of a much touted compensation, or reparation, fund for poor nations who have withstood the brunt of suffering from the climate change that they have very little to do, but suffering the most from cataclysmic flood, earthquakes, wildfire and other natural disasters. Now, the challenge is to flow money to the newly created loss and damage fund.
COP-27 Yields Part Victory, Part Setback for the New U.N. Climate Envoy
The Dallas Morning News on November 22, 2022 summarized in an article the overall progress and impact of the just-concluded COP-27 conference. The outcome of this year's annual climate conference is mixed. While a 30-year journey of negotiations for creating a compensation fund for poorer nations who have not caused global warming, but have suffered the most has yielded to establishment of a loss and damage fund and marks the victory of U.N. new climate chief, U.N. Executive Secretary for Climate Simon Stiell has also expressed disappointment over lack of any new initiatives in emission cuts. The COP-26 conference in Glasgow last year has called for phase-down of "unabated coal", implying the phasing down and eventually phasing out of usage of coal without appropriate carbon capture provision. This year, many environmentalists expected to have a language included in the final document to have a similar phase-down of natural gas and oil. Unfortunately, host nation has a significant say on the final language, and Egypt prominently depends on oil and natural gas revenues, has little motivation to put such language in the final document. Next year's conference will be hosted by UAE, another leading oil and natural gas producer, and many climate scientists are doubtful that any phase-down of natural gas and oil will be taken for serious consideration at the conference next year.
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Doomsday Glacier's Disappearance Raises Alarm
Nature published an article on February 15, 2023 on the decay of the widest glacier of Antarctica. Thwaites Ice Shelf, or Doomsday glacier, is getting fractured instead of being melted away. Its complete disappearance may push up the sea level by more than 2 feet, although it may take hundreds of years.
IPCC REPORT: Humanity Requires All-Hands-on-Deck Strategy to Fight Climate Change
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is a wake-up call to policymakers and public officials. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on March 20, 2023 that "humanity is on thin ice", urging the nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions as deep and as soon as possible. The finding, according to March 20, 2023, report published by The Associated Press, spotlights some ominous data points:
* Over 3 billion people of the world to be severely impacted by climate change
* Temperature to reach, or approximate to, or exceed 1.5 degree Celsius compared to pre-industrial era this decade if status quo continues
* 60% cut in Greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2019 levels by 2035 to restore the world's climate imprimatur
Record Ocean Surface Temperature Observed
The global ocean surface temperature, excluding the polar waters, in mid-March 2023 has averaged 70 degree Fahrenheit, setting a record since the measurement had begun in 1981, according to The Dallas Morning News' March 22, 2023, edition based on a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration database, NOAA Optimum Interpolation 1/4 Degree Daily Sea Surface Temperature, that updates on daily basis the ocean data collected from buoys, ships and satellites. The maximum ocean surface temperature has been recorded although El Nino, which warms up the Pacific waters, is anticipated to arrive few months later.
El Nino warms up the Pacific Ocean waters, leading to evaporation and formation of cloud that traps sunlight, which, in turns, warms up the atmosphere. Although El Nino is associated with less frequent Atlantic storms, it increases the likelihood of extreme floods and droughts elsewhere.
La Nina, to the contrary, brings cooler than normal Equatorial Pacific Ocean surface temperature. La Nina persisted for three years (2020-22).
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Germany Calls for Renewable Target as a Tool to Fight Climate Change
Addressing a major conference of environmental envoys from circa 40 nations at Berlin, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on May 2, 2023 floated the idea of global targets for renewable energy as a tool to "ring in the end of fossil fuel age" at this year's COP-28, or U.N. Climate Conference, scheduled for November 30-December 12, 2023 at Dubai. There is a growing consensus that fossil fuel imprimatur may not be cut deep enough to achieve the goal of limiting the average global warming to within 2.7 degree Fahrenheit because of a large part of our world's dependence on coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels for cheaper fuel sources. As an alternative, investment in emission phase-out such as carbon capture and storage technology has become a mainstay of conversation related to carbon footprint mitigation, only to fall short of expectation because of high price tag and difficulty in at-scale ramp-up. That has led Germany and other nations to embrace the idea of global targets for renewable energy in the run-up to 2023 U.N. Climate Conference in Dubai. However, the idea has run into resistance from the host nation itself as UAE minister who will oversee the COP-28 at Dubai, Sultan al-Jaber, emphasized on "phasing out fossil fuel emissions, while phasing up and scaling up viable, zero-carbon alternatives", a notable distinction between phasing out fossil fuel, which Sultan al-Jaber didn't propose, and fossil fuel emissions. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for end to all fossil fuel use. U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry also attended the annual Petersberg Climate Dialogue.
U.N. Chief Launches Broadside against Fossil Fuel
Rejecting the recent reinvented drive by fossil fuel industry to let them continue pumping oil and natural gas, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on June 15, 2023 lambasted the fossil fuel industry in the sharpest narrative yet, calling that the problem was not the "fossil fuel emissions", but the "fossil fuel" itself. Guterres added that fossil fuel industry reaped about $4 trillion profit last year, yet they were spending only 4 cents in renewable investment for every dollar invested in pumping oil. Guterres' tirade came as the fossil fuel lobby received boost as one of their leaders, Sultan al-Jaber, would chair the COP-28, or Conference of the Parties-28, conference in Dubai this year.
IEA: Oil and Gas Investment to be Cut Significantly
Days before a U.N. climate conference begins in Dubai, a new report by the International Energy Agency describes in an unvarnished terms of what it will take to achieve the climate goals. The report, released on November 23, 2023, says that the current investment of $800 billion in oil and gas sector is to be cut by 50% and the greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by 60% if our planet would have a fighting chance to achieve the climate goals.
Raising the stake for the fossil fuel industry at the COP-28 conference, IEA Executive Director Faith Birol on November 23, 2023 said in a statement on the release of the report that the "oil and gas industry is facing a moment of truth at COP-28 in Dubai".
The report said that if individual nations carried out all the pledges made, the demand for oil and gas would fall 45% by 2050. If the world accomplishes Net Zero by 2050, the demand for oil and gas will fall 75%.
Also hinged on oil and gas sector is another potentially dangerous greenhouse gas: Methane, which is 87 times more potent than CO2 on a 20-year timescale. Oil and gas sector is the source of 60% Methane emissions.
Dubai Climate Conference Opens on Strong Note of Launching Loss and Damage Fund
Delegates from circa 200 nations unveiled an agreement on the opening day of the COP-28 at Dubai to help out poorer nations to mitigate the fallout from climate change. The launch of a World Bank-overseen fund on November 30, 2023 was possible after an intense negotiation over the past several months to meet the threshold of raising minimum seed money of $200 million to make the "loss and damage fund" operational. At the end, the fund, designed to help poorer nations to cope with the adverse impacts of the climate change, raised $260 million, with UAE pledging $100 million, Germany an additional $100 million, U.K. $50 million and Japan adding another $10 million. U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry said on November 30, 2023 that Biden administration was trying to get Congressional approval for $17.6 million for the fund. Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that organizes the annual COP conferences, has lauded the "historic decision" of launching the "loss and damage fund".
Methane Emissions Curtailment Pledged by Half of Global Oil Companies
On December 2, 2023, COP-28 conference president, Sultan al-Jaber, who happens to be the chief of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, has announced that the world's almost 50% of the oil companies are collectively pledging to phase out Methane emissions and end routine flaring in their operations by 2030. Skeptics called the announcement of the COP-28 president as "smokescreen". Oil sectors produce only 23% of Methane while a larger proportion of Methane is produced by agriculture and other sectors.
Call for Taxing Financial Corporations Grows to Raise Funds for Poorer Nations
One of the most impactful voices in climate finance on December 4, 2023 called for imposing taxes on financial corporations, revenues of oil companies and shipping industry to raise additional billions of dollars needed to raise $420 billion, a threshold that's a bare minimum, to mitigate the catastrophic downstream impact of the climate change on the poorer nations. During the COP-28 conference in Dubai, at least $720 million is pledged so far, leaving a huge hole to be filled up by an aggressive climate financing. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Motley, though, expressed optimism over the level of progress witnessed in the past twelve months to move the "loss and damage fund" to fruition. Her call to tax financial behemoths, shipping enterprises and oil companies to raise billions in the "loss and damage fund" is the most expansive push yet by the environmental activist cum the highest-ranking political leader of an island nation that's the cynosure of the climate change's adverse impact.
World Bank President Ajay Banga unveiled the four target areas in climate finance:
(1) Lower Methane emissions from Waste Management and Farming
(2) Help Africa with greener energy
(3) Support voluntary carbon markets such as forest projects
(4) Allow poorer nations to pause on debt repayment if they are hit significantly by the adverse impact of the climate change
Negotiators Embroiled in Phasedown-Phaseout Debate, WMO Issues Stark Warning
Negotiators on December 5, 2023 began the day with the "energy transition day" topic that brings an uncomfortable topic for the fossil fuel industry to be discussed and debated. During the day, a 24-page draft report, known as Global Stocktake, was presented. The report includes myriads of possibilities. Negotiators have to zero on on the core outcome from the Global Stocktake report. Many environmentalists are cautioning against fossil fuel industry's and oil producing nations', including the host nation UAE's, push for "phasedown" language instead of "phaseout" language.
During the day, the U.N. weather agency, World Meteorological Organization, issued a report that put a spotlight on the peril of planet's health. World's glaciers melted more drastically in the decade of 2011-2020 compared to previous decade and antarctica icesheet melted at 75% higher rate compared to the preceding decade. WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, issuing the Decadal State of the Climate Report, said that the world was warming at a higher rate every decade since 1990s.
1.5-degree Breach Likely to Happen Next Year, U.K. Agency Forecasts
As the first week of the COP-28 session is about to wrap up at Dubai, the ominous forecast from the U.K. Mets Office has emerged on late December 8, 2023. According to the Mets' forecast, the global average temperature will rise by a range between 1.34 degrees and 1.58 degrees over the average pre-industrial global temperature between 1850 and 1900. Many climate scientists and environmentalists are calling to shift the narrative and policy prescription to re-orient around how best and quick the temperature can be brought back below the 1.5-degree threshold instead of averting the breach of the threshold. Also, there is growing call for more money on adaptation to climate change in addition to loss and damage funding. The adaptation to climate change refers to how communities and countries will live alongside the changing climate.
Climate Conference Wraps up with a Historic Agreement
COP28 head Sultan al-Jaber may at least brag over some wins that he has scored in this year's climate conference. On December 13, 2023, the COP28 meeting concluded with a "historic"--to some, and to others, a very modest--agreement that called for transition from, but not phase-out of, the fossil fuel. Sultan al-Jaber, who described the 2.7-degree Fahrenheit target as his "North Star", hailed the agreement as a "historic package to accelerate climate action". For many, the agreement is not bold enough as the globe has already warmed 2.2-degree over the pre-industrial temperature baseline.
************ U.N. CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: COP-28 DUBAI, UAE ************
WMO: 2 out 3 Chance for the World to Temporarily Break the Dangerous Threshold
World Meteorological Organization on May 17, 2023 has said that there is a 66% probability that the world's average temperature will exceed the threshold of 1.5-degree Celsius, or 2.7-degree Fahrenheit, above the average pre-industrial-era temperature between now and 2027, albeit temporarily, because of the effect of the El Nino weather pattern. The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement called for a sustained and coordinated effort to cut down the Carbon emissions to limit the global warming below 1.5-degree Celsius, or 2.7-degree Fahrenheit, threshold. Now, with the shift of our weather patterns and spurt of heat wave from the El Nino effect compounded by human-induced global warming, "we will breach the 1.5 C level on a temporary basis with increasing frequency", according to WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
July 4, 2023 Marks the Hottest Day on the Earth
In the rapid turns of events with disastrous climate consequences that the humanity is now facing, the latest is another undeniable evidence of a warming climate as two back-to-back hottest days are July 3 and July 4 of 2023. On July 3, 2023, the average global temperature of 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit beat out the previous record of 62.46 degrees read on August 14, 2016, according to The Dallas Morning News' July 6, 2023, edition based on the findings from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The record of July 3, 2023 lasts only 24 hours as a rapidly changing earth with increasing imprimatur of carbon footprint and the return of a warming El Nino weather pattern in Pacific has led July 4, 2023 to reach a record high of 62.92 degree Fahrenheit.
Hurricanes Turning into Major Hurricanes, Intensify More Frequently
According to a research published on October 19, 2023 in the journal Scientific Reports, there are more storm systems which are transforming into major hurricanes as they make landfall. The warmer ocean temperature is supplying the fuel to transform into a major hurricane as well as the storm to rapidly intensify. The research has looked at 830 Atlantic tropical cyclones since 1971. The study found that 8.1% of the time in the past 20 years, a storm had added fuel to transform from Category 1 storm into a major hurricane in just 24 hours. A Category 1 storm tops out at 95 mph and a major hurricane is defined as a storm with a minimum strength of 111 mph. Between 1971 and 1990, that percentage was only 3.2%.
The research also found that there were more storms now going through rapid intensification. Rapid intensification happens when storms gain at least 35 mph in every 24 hours.
Climate Change's Impact no more Abstract
Climate change is impacting the U.S. and rest of the world in a more severe and significant manner than many do anticipate. It's no more an abstract future issue, it's a crisis in making now. If we were to produce a one-sentence gist, that would have been an apt summary of the health status of our climate based on a voluminous report, National Climate Assessment, released on November 14, 2023. The government-backed study is done every four to five years to create a report cart and accompanying details reflecting the health of our planet.
The report says that since 1970, the lower 48 U.S. states have warmed up on average 2.5 degree Fahrenheit and Alaska 4.2 degrees compared to the global average of 1.7 degrees. The 37-chapter, 2,200-page report spotlights on the impact of climate change on our society, with as severe outcome as food insecurity, compounding of woes of the underprivileged communities, mass-scale migration because of flooding and other natural disasters and social unrest.
According to the National Climate Assessment, U.S. has witnessed [an inflation-adjusted] billion dollar plus damage once in every four months. Now, thanks to the climate change, the frequency is once in every three weeks.
Up to 50% of World's "Carbon Sink" to Degrade by Mid-Century
A peer-reviewed research published in Nature on February 14, 2024 tells us on where we are heading in terms of losing a key asset to fight climate change. According to the research, 10% to 47% of the Amazon Forest will surpass the tipping points for extreme droughts, warming temperatures, deforestation and fires by 2050. Amazon Forest for millions of years has worked as the world's carbon sink and now contains up to 220 billion tons of carbon, equivalent to 15 to 20 years of carbon emissions. The study also calls for preserving the five critical thresholds as violating any one of them will lead to enormous difficulty in containing the parameters causing the Amazon Ecosystem to plunge into irreversible biodegradation. The pillars include limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degree Celsius compared to pre-industrial era, facilitating annual rainfall of at least 39 inches and minimizing deforestation level to 20% or lower.
******* U.N. CLIMATE CONFERENCE (COP-29) AT BAKU NOVEMBER 11-22, 2024 *****
U.S., China Talk about Climate
Amid rising tension over unfair trade, Taiwan, Ukraine and South China Sea, among many other contentious topics, U.S. and China held two-day climate-centric talks this week, according to the May 11, 2024, edition, of The Dallas Morning News. The talks were held in Washington D.C., including a May 8, 2024, dinner at the house of John Podesta, Biden administration's international climate envoy. Podesta and his Chinese counterpart, Liu Zhenmin, emphasized on the importance of climate talks amidst intense competition in almost every other sphere. For both men, this is the first in-person meeting after assuming their new roles early in the year. Podesta said that "we have an obligation to our citizens and the people of the world to communicate, cooperate and collaborate where we can to tackle climate crisis". The talks were held in the backdrop of President Joe Biden's plan to slap tariffs on renewable energy equipment manufactured by the Chinese firms and in the run-up to the November 2024 U.N. Climate Conference, or COP-29, at Baku, Azerbaijan.
Copernicus: Global Warming Hits Record High in Second Successive Year
European climate agency Copernicus on November 7, 2024 reported that the global temperature had hit the highest last year, a record that had broken the previous record set in the preceding year. Copernicus also reported that the global temperature last year exceeded the 2.7 degree Fahrenheit compared to pre-industrial era for the first time.
Climate Conference Starts with Bickering on Funding for Poor Nations
The COP-29 opened at Baku, Azerbaijan on November 11, 2024, but sled into bickering with a nine-hour backroom discussion on the finances to help the poorer nation mitigate the severity of the consequences of the climate change. This year's climate conference has a special historic relevance as the global warming is getting worse, thanks to the unchecked usage of fossil fuel that has its roots in this Caucasus nation with the world's first oil well discovered here in 1846. This year's primary contention is the same topic that has hobbled prior years' conferences: how and what to pay for the world's poorer nations to withstand the adverse outcome of global warming that they have little to contribute to. Initial goal of $100 billion per year is too little to make any tangible remediation and mitigation. Some advocates do think that it's in the ballpark of $1.3 trillion, a figure no rich nations will agree to. A reasonable estimate is about $250 billion a year to be raised through carbon credit trading, pledges, grants and other programs.
South Africa Urges China to Seize the Opportunity to Lead the World on Climate Change
In anticipation of Donald Trump's ascendancy to presidency, South Africa and other developing nations are increasingly looking up to China to lead the global fight against climate change. At the core of the fight is the fund that empowers the poorer nations to mitigate the adverse consequences of global warming that they are not responsible for, but bearing the brunt of it. In 2009, the Developed World pegged the value of the fund at a mere $100 billion a year. The Developing World is demanding that the right size of the climate fund should be around $1.3 trillion a year.
South African Environment Minister Dion George on November 15, 2024 asked China to become an environmental leader and contribute more generously to the climate fund. China's stand is that Beijing has been a developing nation until recently and financial onus should not be on its shoulder. But data are saying something different. Between 1750 and 2018, China emitted 214 billion tons of global warming-related emissions, ranking only second to the U.S. that had emitted 397 billion tons during the same period.
Nations Agree on a $300 billion a year Funding to Climate Fund
On November 23, 2024, a breakout moment emerged, leading to a grand deal on funding $300 billion per annum to help out the poorer nations to wean away from the fossil fuel and mitigate the adverse consequences of the climate change. The amount tentatively agreed came as the fortnight-long climate change conference is coming to an end. Although the amount is far short of what many of the poorer nations have been demanding for--$1.3 billion per year--it's still better than $100 billion that nations have agreed in 2009.
$300 billion Deal Gaveled in on the Last Day of the Extended COP-29 Conference
The COP-29 conference was scheduled to wrap up on November 22, 2024, but extended as a fierce negotiation hobbled talks on agreeing on a deal aimed at replacing a soon-to-expire climate fund deal designed to help poorer nations to mitigate the adverse impact of the climate change. The conference ended on November 24, 2024 after a $300 billion deal was reached on November 23, 2024 and formally adopted on November 24, 2024 amidst deep differences and criticism over the deal-making process.
The U.N. climate chief, Simon Stiell, said that the deal, although not perfect, was the best possible on hand and it would fully fund $300 billion per year by 2035 as commitment to the poorer nations to wean them away from the fossil fuel and fight against the high burden of the catastrophic effects of the climate change. The deal is going to replace an existing fund of $100 billion agreed to in 2009, which was fully funded only in 2022, two years later than the originally scheduled for timeline of 2020. The $100 billion climate fund is to expire in 2025, necessitating its replacement by a higher-price tag fund. Many developing nations were bargaining for as high as $1.3 trillion per year. Indian delegation member Chandni Raina said on the penultimate day that the document containing the agreement was an "optical illusion".
******* U.N. CLIMATE CONFERENCE (COP-29) AT BAKU NOVEMBER 11-22, 2024 *****
Hottest Day of the World
European climate service organization Copernicus said on July 23, 2024 that July 21, 2024 [Sunday] was the hottest day recorded so far. The average temperature of 62.76 degree Fahrenheit broke the past record of 62.74 degree observed a year ago on July 6.
84% of Coral Reefs Risk Exposure to Bleaching
The Dallas Morning News reported on April 27, 2025 a numbing study, indicating the degradation in oceanic life and the resulting threat to coastal communities. According to a recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study, 84% of the world's coral reefs are exposed to bleaching risk in the current global bleaching event. A global bleaching event represents the risk of simultaneous bleaching of coral reefs in world's all of the oceans. The current global bleaching event started on January 1, 2023. The degree of risk exposure (84%) in the ongoing event is the highest among four global bleaching events and significantly higher than the last global bleaching event's [2014-2017] exposure rate (68%). The first two global bleaching events began in 1998 and 2010, but severity was less than the third and the current ones.
The bleaching doesn't mean that the reefs will die, but the likelihood of reefs' death increases with the length and severity of marine heat, which is found to be concomitant with El Nino weather pattern. Also, the world's oceans are becoming more acidic, contributing another factor in the mix to the degradation of coral reefs. However, coral reefs are resilient and recover quickly if authorities and nations plan out and execute on an ambitious agenda to fight climate change on war footing. The beautiful color of coral reefs becomes whitened in bleaching because the water heat kills symbiotic algae, jeopardizing fishing, marine biodiversity, enriched flora and fauna. The sustained bleaching can weaken the reef structure, increasing the odds of coastal flooding.
International Court Rules that Countries Have Obligation to Limit Greenhouse Gases
In an unprecedented and first ever ruling, the 16-judge International Court of Justice on July 23, 2025 said that nations had a "duty" to limit the emissions of Greenhouse gases. The ruling added that the breach by any nation could be pursued as an "internationally wrongful act" that other nations could use to demand reparations.
***** U.N. CLIMATE CONFERENCE COP-30 AT BELEM, BRAZIL (NOV10-21, 2025) *****
COP-30 Opens at Amazon Forest City without U.S. High-level Delegation
It was one time unthinkable. However, under Donald Trump administration it's possible. Trump administration didn't stop after withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement for the second time, it also refused to send a high-level delegation to the annual U.N. Climate Conference this year. This year's COP-30 conference is being held at an Amazon rainforest city instead of a "finished city", in the words of host nation's president, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to strike a contrast between the plight of indigenous people, the disproportionate bearer of Global Warming's worst of worst consequences, and the people of big metropolis who might not yet grasp the adverse effects of climate change more directly. The Belem Conference was opened on November 10, 2025, not with some lofty new agenda items, but with key focus on "Implementation COP".
COP-30 President Andre Correa do Lago asked the participants to be united by the sense of purpose and the gravity of the situation.
No Decision Yet on How to Pay to Climate Fund
The first week of the COP-30 session is gone. Although the agenda items of the COP-30 are less ambitious and risk-averse, still the participants are grappling on how to evaluate and course-correct on the "implementation" of the past conferences' recommendations and resolutions, which are the sole focus of the COP-30.
Also, there was no specific funding model that had emerged yet for $300 billion per year allocation to the climate fund aimed at helping the poorer nations mitigate the impact of climate change.
Brazil Struggles to Reach Consensus on a Final Text amidst Conference Goes Past Deadline
Since the largest economy of the world is officially absent from the COP-30 jamboree at Belem, it's all the more important for the nations to arrive at a consensus on a final communique to be issued at the conclusion of the conference. That's where copious amount of haggling and talks have been bogged down as they have gone past the end of the day on November 21, 2025, the official deadline to wrap up the conference.
Addressing the plenary session of the conference, COP-30 President Andre Correa do Lago said that this "cannot be an agenda that divides us" before releasing the delegates for further talks. In the morning, Brazil unveiled a draft for the final text, but many objected to all the references to the fossil fuels being dropped altogether from the text. Panamanian negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey told a news conference that the draft was not a "compromise", but a "denial" of what had caused the global warming. EU's commissioner for climate, Wopke Hoekstra, called the draft unacceptable.
Final Communique: "Belem Mission to 1.5 degree" Agreed by Nations
After much political jockeying and diplomatic juggling, nearly 200 nations on November 22, 2025 agreed on a transition roadmap to weed the world off fossil fuel dependence. However, eight-page "Belem Mission to 1.5 degree" lacks real teeth for steering the world from the overdependence on the fossil fuel to transition to renewables in near future.
***** U.N. CLIMATE CONFERENCE COP-30 AT BELEM, BRAZIL (NOV10-21, 2025) *****
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