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December 15, 2014
This week's image is of Secretary of State John Kerry speaking at the United Nations climate change conference in Lima, Peru. Image courtesy of the State Department.
On December 11, Congress passed a last-minute package to fund the government with $1.1 trillion through the end of the current fiscal year. The spending package blocks the United States from providing funds in fiscal year 2015 to the international Green Climate Fund, which supports climate adaptation efforts in the developing world. The Obama administration recently pledged $3 billion to the Fund, but has yet to request any appropriation to meet the pledge. This makes the blocking provision largely symbolic, though it raises the uncertainty over whether the $3 billion will ever materialize. In addition, Congress passed language that will halt the Environmental Protection Agency’s plans to develop regulation that deals with farm ponds and irrigation ditches near agricultural sites, and lower the agency’s overall budget. The spending package also overrides Export-Import Bank guidelines adopted last year to prevent financing of coal power plants overseas; however, there are doubts of how much influence Congress has over the Export-Import Bank, which is funded by user fees and governed by an independent board of directors. Alan Rowsome, senior director of The Wilderness Society, said in a statement, “It’s alarming that some [Congressional] members are using this major appropriation process to attack America’s bedrock laws protecting our clean air and water, wildlife habitat and healthy forests.”
For more information see:
Science, Bloomberg New Energy and Finance , Roll Call
On December 9, eleven Senate Democrats sent a letter to Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to praise the Clean Power Plan as an important step in fighting climate change, but to also call for it to be strengthened. The letter was spearheaded by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The Clean Power Plan, which is scheduled to be finalized next year, calls for states to cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. “The Clean Power Plan will be the single most significant step this country has ever taken to tackle greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector, so it is essential that it be done right,” states the letter. The letter asks for increased requirements in the rule for renewable energy and energy efficiency. They wrote, “For the Clean Power Plan to be a success, it must achieve the level of emissions reductions that the science calls for to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change.”
The Hill, Letter
December 12 marked the official end of the United Nations (UN) climate talks in Lima, Peru, where delegates from 196 countries met to discuss the framework of an international climate deal they hope will be sealed next year in Paris. The 20th Conference of the Parties (COP 20) neared to a close with the presentation of a 37-page draft of the deal. The document includes options for the deal, such as phasing carbon dioxide (CO2) out by 2100 or cutting CO2 by 40-70 percent by midcentury. However, some questions remain for how national commitments will be measured and reviewed, with some more vulnerable countries advocating a rigorous review process and others saying commitments should simply be publicized on the UN’s website. The draft involves an “each according to their abilities” approach, so that all countries – both developed and developing – are included. With the draft of the new agreement, participating countries are expected to present their plans for curbing their emissions after 2020 by March 2015. Yvo de Boer, former executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNCCC) said, “It’s a breakthrough, because it gives meaning to the idea that every country will make cuts.”
LA Times, The New York Times
On December 5, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) released its first Adaptation Gap Report. The report was created as a way to address the financial, technological and knowledge gaps between adaptation efforts and needs in developing countries. UNEP found significant funding gaps beginning after the year 2020, unless new and additional financing is found. The report states, “The cost of adaption in developing countries is likely to be at least two to three times higher than the expected $70-$100 billion per year by 2050, even with emissions cuts.” Developed countries have so far committed $10 billion to the Green Climate Fund for climate adaption, a fraction of the $100 billion in annual climate financing developed nations have promised. The $70 to $100 billion figure is a cost estimate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report for climate adaptation needs in the developing world, based on 2010 World Bank data. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, “This report provided a powerful reminder that the potential cost of inaction carries a real price tag. Debating the economies of our response to climate change must become more honest.”
Economic Times, The Guardian, Press Release
On December 3, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) presented a report on the climate financing developed countries have been providing developing countries. The report suggests developed countries are not far off from meeting the current agreed-upon goal of providing $100 billion annually in climate funding. During the climate talks in Lima, UNFCCC executive director Christina Figueres suggested the goal itself is likely an underestimation of how much money developing countries need. “Although these numbers are encouraging and give us a sense of hope, the fact is that climate finance needs to be in the trillions if we’re going to get to where we need to be,” stated Figueres. The report stated that public and private finance was between $40-$175 billion every year from 2010 to 2012, with $35-50 billion in public funding and $5-$125 billion in private funding. UNFCCC says in total, global climate finance from all countries has so far been $340-$650 billion.
Bloomberg, Reuters, UNFCCC Report
On December 8, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) published findings that more than half of the $7.6 billion in international funds given to developing nations to counter the effects of climate change had gone to only 10 countries. The report, entitled "Climate Finance: Is it making a difference?" stated that, "The top recipients of finance were Morocco, Mexico and Brazil, receiving half a billion dollars each. Mexico and Brazil are among the top 10 emitters of greenhouse gases, and with Morocco, all have huge renewable energy potential." Furthermore, the report found that countries most at risk from global warming had received fewer funds than needed over the last decade. "Conflict-affected and fragile states such as Ivory Coast and South Sudan, where it is generally difficult to spend finance, received less than $350,000 and $700,000 respectively," said ODI. While ODI says that these funds are "helping make a difference," they acknowledge that improvements could be made. The report also underscores the importance of the Green Climate Fund, which has raised more money in the last seven months than competing funds have over the last decade.
The Guardian, International Business Times, Report
On December 8, researchers from the University of Exeter published a study in Nature Communications with findings that certain changes in the Atlantic Ocean’s circulation may lead to its collapse in 250 years or sooner. This, researchers state, would cause air temperatures in the North Atlantic region to cool one to eight degrees Celsius. The research analyzed the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which acts as a conveyer belt driven by salinity and temperature differentials to transfer warm water from the Southern Hemisphere to the North Atlantic, warming northern latitudes. The model used by scientists showed that an increase in freshwater or surface air temperatures in the North Atlantic may weaken the AMOC, resulting in drought in the south Sahara and sea level rise in North America and Europe. "The best early warning signals in the model world are in places where major efforts are going into monitoring the circulation in the real world - so these efforts could have unexpected added value,” said Professor Tim Lenton, co-author of the study.
Phys.org, Nature World News, Study
On December 2, a study published in Environmental Research Letters found that it takes ten years for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to reach their maximum warming potential in Earth’s atmosphere, with effects continuing for 100 years or more into the future. Previous estimates had said it takes 40 or 50 years for CO2 emissions to reach maximum warming levels, which placed the focus of emissions reductions on benefits for future generations. According to Katherine Ricke, a research fellow from Stanford who led the study, "The difference for an economist or a policymaker between something that happens ten years from now or forty years from now is a big deal . . . People alive today are very likely to benefit from emissions avoided today." Ricke and co-author Ken Caldeira used projections to test when carbon dioxide emissions led to warming and how long the impacts lasted, and found that the warming effects remain for decades and even after a century. Reto Knutti, lead scientist of the climate group ETH Zurich, cautioned against focusing too much on the long term. "It takes only a few years for the climate to respond to emissions, but it takes a generation, at least, to change the emissions. We are slow, not the climate," he said.
Business Spectator, NBC News, International Business Times, Study
On December 9, a study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology found that most methane emissions from the oil and gas sector can be attributed to a small subset of wells and associated processes, and that emissions from the wells studied are higher than previous estimates. These techniques include liquid “unloadings," a process mostly used in older wells to clear them of excess liquids, and pneumatic controller equipment, which are devices that use gas pressure to maneuver these valves. The University of Texas at Austin study, which spanned three years, found that about 20 percent of pneumatic equipment and unloading processes accounted for most of the total methane emissions from those sources. Researchers measured the methane emissions levels from 377 pneumatic controllers at gas and oil production sites, and 107 older gas wells using the liquid unloading methods. The older wells without “plunger lifts,” were responsible for 70 percent of unloading methane leakages, suggesting that deploying more plunger lifts will decrease methane leakages from unloading processes. The high-emitting pneumatic devices were found to be used incorrectly, not operate as they were designed to, or designed to release methane emissions. David Allen, the lead researcher of the study, commented, “We hope the studies provide information as our country and other countries think about policies and what is the smart way to do it,” he commented. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may release a proposed rule on collecting data on methane emissions by December 31.
Oil and Gas Journal, Fort Worth Star Telegram, Study
On December 9, Exxon Mobil Corporation released a report projecting that energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the developing world will increase 50 percent between 2010 and 2040, largely as a result of an expanding middle class. Exxon predicts growth in India, South Africa and Thailand will boost demand for fuels by 36 percent, even as advanced economies curb energy use by almost 10 percent. According to Bill Colton, Exxon's vice president of corporate strategic planning, "It is simply not possible to obtain significant reductions in greenhouse gases without engaging the developing world." Exxon's report uses the assumption that governments will put in place policies to limit pollution and increase energy efficiency. It forecasts world carbon dioxide emissions to grow 20 percent by 2040, an estimate in line with work done by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA has said that limiting global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius would require a decrease in carbon emissions of 39 percent from 2012 levels by 2040. Darek Urbaniak, an energy policy offer for the World Wildlife Fund, said, "Exxon Mobile's outlook is a company wish list fashioned up as a serious energy forecast. It tells us how the company wants to see the future, rather than a plausible projection of what might happen."
Bloomberg, Express News, The Houston Chronicle, Report
Headlines
1. Half of Republicans Want to See Regulations on Carbon Dioxide
2. Study Says Climate Change Will Not Alter Rainfall in Southern California
Author: Angelo Bardales, Brendan Ingargiola, Carlos Villacis and Emily Jackson
Editor: Laura Small
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