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December 14, 2015
During the United Nations 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) on climate change, the organization 1heart1tree lit up the Eiffel Tower with a "virtual forest of light" from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3rd, to raise awareness for its reforestation initiatives. For every virtual tree broadcast on the Eiffel Tower, a real one was planted in one of its seven reforestation projects. Image courtesy of Yann Caradec.
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On December 11, as United Nations (UN) climate negotiations are nearing completion, President Obama called Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss some of the issues that are drawing the talks out past the Friday deadline. Earlier this week President Obama also called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to push for an ambitious and strong deal. It's been reported that Secretary of State John Kerry and his team have been meeting bilaterally with the teams from India and China for the last few days as well, primarily to discuss financial support for developing countries and accountability measures to ensure countries are following through on their commitments. India and China have both been hesitant about agreeing to review their climate commitments every five years, as well as provisions to have rich developing countries financially assist poorer developing countries.
For more information see:
Politico
On December 9, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the United States plans to double the funding it provides to assist developing nations in adapting to the Earth’s changing climate, from about $400 million to $860 million annually by 2020. The United States will issue the funding in grants through bilateral and multilateral financial channels. Kerry stated, "We will not leave the most vulnerable nations among us to weather the storm alone." These funds are separate from what the Administration has allotted to the Green Climate Fund. This announcement builds on a commitment President Obama made last week to put money into the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) that supports climate adaptation needs in highly vulnerable places, and a $30 million contribution President Obama made to support risk insurance in vulnerable countries.
BusinessGreen, Reuters, U.S. Department of State
On December 7, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz spoke with reporters at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris, France regarding what the United States would like to see out of any final Paris text. Secretary Moniz said he wants to see mechanisms integrated into the agreement that would allow for the systematic improvement and renewal of emissions goals, but warned against any legally binding mechanisms requiring the involvement of the U.S. Congress. Last week the House of Representatives passed two bills meant to hamstring two major pieces of the Obama Administration’s climate policies (see CCN for more information). Moniz also stated that he hoped they would include energy sector technological development in the final deal.
The Hill
On December 7, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee announced a state mandate requiring 20 percent of all new state-owned passenger vehicle fleet purchases to be electric vehicles by 2017, up from a current one percent. “We won’t defeat climate change unless we use all of the tools we have available—and that includes what we buy in the market place for our daily use,” stated Inslee, calling for greater investments in low-carbon options. Washington currently has nearly 13,000 registered electric vehicles on the road. Inslee is also expected to release updated rules later this month to put emissions limits on companies that release more than 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.
KUOW Public Radio, State of Washington
On December 12, the 21st United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP21) concluded with the announcement of an international deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change which will take effect in 2020. The deal calls for keeping warming significantly below two degrees C (3.6 degrees F) and to pursue "efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C." The goal is to achieve carbon neutrality (a "balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases") in the second half of this century. However, according to the Climate Action Tracker, if nations follow through on their unconditional pledges global warming would be about 2.7 degrees Celsius, indicating that further ambition is needed to reach the two degree C and below goals. To ensure ambition increases over time, a legally binding piece of the deal requires countries to reconvene and increase their greenhouse gas reduction commitments every five years beginning in 2020. There will also be a "stocktake," or examination of how well countries are meeting their commitments, every five years beginning in 2023.
The New York Times, The New York Times, Climate Deal, EESI
On December 10, the Climate Reality Project, Avaaz, 350.org, Climate Action Network International, Earth Day Network, Earth Guardians, Greenpeace, Global Gender Climate Alliance, Our Kids Climate and Sierra Club delivered a petition calling for climate action with 6.2 million signatures to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The petition is short and simple, asking signatories to tell world leaders meeting in Paris to "Take Climate Action Now. Zero global warming pollution. Zero extreme poverty." 350.org executive director May Boeve commented, "Millions of us have marched in the streets and millions more will follow. We know our work for a fossil free world is just getting started."
Press Release, Petition
On December 6, during international climate negotiations in Paris, African countries launched the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), which aims to restore 100 million acres of degraded and deforested landscapes by 2030. So far, 10 African nations committed to restore the forests on 31.7 million hectares by 2030. Partners, including the World Bank, Germany and the private sector, have committed $1 billion in development finance and $540 million in private sector impact investment to fund the reforestation activities. "Restoration is really Africa's gift to the world," commented World Resources Institute president and CEO Dr. Andrew Steer. "As the world forges a climate agreement in Paris, African countries – which bear the least historic responsibility for climate change – are showing leadership with an ambitious pledge to restore land."
Thomson Reuters Foundation, World Resources Institute
On December 10, Michael Gill, a senior official with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the aviation industry, which is not covered in the greenhouse gas emission reductions being agreed upon at United Nations (UN) climate negotiations in Paris this past week, will come to a deal on emissions reductions next year. Aviation emissions are covered by a separate UN organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ICAO is considering reducing airline emissions through a market-based system with carbon offset trading and a global emissions standard for aircraft.
Reuters
On December 9, American Electric Power (AEP), one of the largest U.S. electricity utilities, announced that it would be ending its membership with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization that has lobbied against renewable energy and climate change mitigation efforts. AEP said it decided not to renew with ALEC due in part to reallocating resources to focus on implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan (CPP) rules on carbon emissions from existing power plants. AEP added, "We have long been involved in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.” Recently Royal Dutch Shell left ALEC over its climate change stance (ALEC has said climate change is a "historical phenomenon") and BP, Amazon, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, eBay, Facebook and Google have all left the organization as well.
The Guardian, The Hill, Utility Dive
On December 7, a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that regional methane emissions from oil and gas operations in Texas’ Barnett Shale (a major oil and gas producing region) are 90 percent higher than the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) estimates. The study, which used data from 12 papers, found that 30 percent of the oil and gas production sites in Barnett Shale leaked more than one percent of the natural gas they produced, amounting to 70 percent of the region's total oil and gas methane emissions. The study concluded that a relatively small number of leaks are causing the majority of emissions, highlighting the need for more frequent and thorough inspections. Steven Hamburg, chief scientist at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), noted that, "EPA’s already large national estimate of 7.3 million tons of yearly methane emissions from the oil and gas industry could be much higher."
For more information see: Environmental Defense Fund, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
On December 7, the journal Nature Climate Change published a study detailing that global emissions may fall by an estimated 0.6 percent by the end of 2015, despite a growing global economy. The study’s authors state that this drop is related to a decrease in China’s coal consumption, due to a shift toward renewable energy and a slowdown in China's economic growth. However, study co-author Corinne Le Quere cautioned, “It’s unlikely to be a peak of emissions. [A] lot of emerging economies are based on coal, and in just a few years emissions are going to go up really rapidly.” In addition, La Quere cautions the prediction is not set in stone; final year-end data could show that emissions have dropped by as much as 1.6 percent or risen up to 0.5 percent.
The Guardian, International Business Times, Nature (1, 2)
On December 10, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a report in Scientific Reports finding that the town of Tangier, on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay, will be uninhabitable in the next 50 years if sea level rise continues at its current rate. Tangier Island has lost 66.75 percent of its 1850 landmass, and continues to lose about 14 feet a year to erosion, land subsidence and sea level rise. The study found that sea level rise near Tangier Island is "significantly higher" than the global average, and is a "hot spot" of rapidly rising waters within a greater hot spot of rapid sea level rise that stretches from Cape Hatteras, in North Carolina to Boston, Massachusetts. Most of Tangier Island's landmass will be lost in the next hundred years. Tangier was settled in the 1700s by European colonists, and is currently home to 727 people.
The Guardian, Study
On December 7, the Energy Information Administration released new data showing that the U.S. government's energy consumption in fiscal year 2014 (FY2014) was at its lowest level since 1975. Most of the decreased energy use was due to the Department of Defense (DOD) cutting down its jet fuel consumption. Even with this reduction, in FY2014 DOD made up 78 percent of total federal energy consumption. Federal agencies account for one percent of total U.S. energy consumption, and have cut energy use 15 percent since 2010
Climate Central, EIA
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