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November 30, 2015
On November 25, President Obama pardoned National Thanksgiving Turkey Abe. Image courtesy of the White House.
On November 23, the White House announced that federal agencies will cut greenhouse gas emissions 41.8 percent from 2008 levels by 2025, saving $18 billion in energy costs. This new target is even more ambitious than the March 2015 target for 40 percent reductions from 2008 levels by 2025. Federal agencies are also putting out Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans, to outline how they are cutting carbon emissions, waste and energy use to save taxpayer dollars. The White House also announced winners of the 2015 GreenGov Presidential Awards for agency projects, teams, facilities, and programs, as well as civilian and military personnel, that “exemplify” the Federal commitments to cut emissions.
For more information see:
The White House, Reuters
On November 24, the World Bank announced in a press call that it would be putting $16 billion toward climate adaptation projects in African communities, to help offset climate impacts such as more frequent drought and increasing incidence of malaria. The funds, called the African Climate Business Plan, will safeguard water, land, cities and people. The proposed projects will be presented during the United Nations climate negotiations in Paris that begin November 30. “Any African leader will tell you they’ve had very little role putting the carbon in the air, but they’ve suffered most from the impact of climate change,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.
Bloomberg Business
On November 22, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced a plan to implement an economy-wide carbon tax, to start at $20 a metric ton in 2017 and increase to $30 per metric ton by 2018. The plan will cap emissions from oil sands at 100 megatonnes, giving the industry some room to grow from its current 70 megatonnes annual emissions level. The plan also calls for the phase-out of coal-fired power plants by 2030 and the reduction of methane emissions from oil and gas operations by 45 percent from 2014 levels by 2025. “This is the day we stop denying there is an issue. And this is the day we do our part,” said Rachel Notley. Oil sands producers, including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, as well as environmental groups, positively received the plan. Revenues will be invested in sustainable initiatives.
The Star, Marketwired, Global News, Calgary Herald
On November 23, Labor party council leaders from more than 50 British cities, including Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester, pledged to source the cities’ electricity from 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. If this goal is fully realized, the United Kingdom’s carbon footprint would shrink 10 percent. “We are taking action to show a completely clean energy future is both viable and within reach within the course of a generation,” said Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester city council. Lisa Nandy, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, coordinated the pledge.
The Guardian, BusinessGreen
On November 23, over 2,000 academics from more than 80 countries sent an open letter petitioning world leaders to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius instead of the established two degrees Celsius target. With current climate pledges submitted ahead of Paris climate negotiations, the world would warm about 2.7-3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100. “This is profoundly shocking, given that any sacrifice involved in making those reductions is far overshadowed by the catastrophes we are likely to face if we do not,” the letter says. The letter, organized by Global Climate Change Week, was launched September 27 and will continue accepting signatures until November 29. Signatories include Noam Chomsky and Naomi Oreskes.
The Guardian, Global Climate Change Week
On November 24, the chief executive officers of Coca-Cola, The Hain Celestial Group Inc., Hershey’s and PepsiCo signed onto a letter asking governments to achieve an ambitious international agreement on climate change at the United Nations climate negotiations this year in Paris. The letter, originally released October 1, has ten other signatories, including the CEOs of General Mills, Unilever, Kellogg Company, Nestle USA, Mars Incorporated and Dannon USA. “These businesses see both climate impacts in their supply chains and the long-term financial benefits of GHG-reducing efforts,” commented Mindy Lubber, the president of Ceres.
Press Release, Letter
On November 26, Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, pledged to completely stop using coal power over the next five years, and source all of its energy from renewables by 2030. The company plans to produce more renewable energy than it needs, allowing it to sell the surplus and be “carbon positive.” It currently sources 40 percent of its power from renewable energy. Unilever chairman Paul Polman said the target was “do-able, really do-able,” and that he hoped other businesses would come forward with similar pledges.
The Guardian, Business Green
On November 23, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made comments at a Council on Foreign Relations conference saying that government has made little progress to alleviate climate change, and that the private sector has done much more. “Greenhouse gases in the United States have gone down 20 percent in the last few years,” said Bloomberg. “Why? Because the private sector financed the campaign, ‘Beyond Coal,’ and we’ve closed 200 of the 500 coal-fired power plants in this country. No thanks to the federal or state governments.”
Capital New York
On November 23, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) released report findings that more than 600,000 people died and 4.1 billion were injured, displaced or in need of emergency assistance, due to weather-related disasters from 1995 to 2015. The report also warns that the frequency of extreme weather events will increase due to climate change. The authors found that the disasters cost at least $1.9 trillion in damages, noting that 29 percent of total economic damages remain unaccounted for. The United States had the highest number of weather-related disasters during the period, followed by China, India, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Margareta Wahlström, head of UNISDR, commented that an international agreement on climate would be a “significant contribution to reducing damage and loss from disasters.”
The New York Times, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
On November 23, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a study linking corporate money to doubts about the science behind climate change. Study author Justin Farrell, a sociologist at Yale, examined the published works of 164 groups and 4,500 individuals on climate change from 1993 to 2013 to find that groups receiving consistent corporate funding were more likely to deny climate science. "They were writing things that were different from the contrarian organizations that did not receive corporate funding," said Farrell. “This counter-movement produced messages aimed at the very least at creating ideological polarization . . . and at the very most, at overtly refuting current scientific consensus.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Phys.org, The Washington Post
On November 24, the Chatham House and Glasgow University released a new study that found in 12 countries surveyed the population would accept restrictions on meat consumption to alleviate climate change. Meat production is responsible for 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the total exhaust emissions of every vehicle in the world. The report recommends that governments put a tax on meat, increase vegetarian meals at publicly funded institutions, or cut livestock subsidies, to address these emissions.
The Guardian, Study
Canada Reverses Course on Climate Change
Another Study Disproves Global Warming Hiatus
What Corporate America is Saying to Investors about Climate Risk
The $2 Trillion Stranded Assets Risk in Fossil Fuels
Coral Reefs Face Unprecedented Threats Next Year
ExxonMobil Given Privileged Access to European Union Documents During Trade Negotiations
Science Journal Pushes Back Against Republican Probe
Bangladesh Capital Dhaka Sees Flood of Climate Refugees
ExxonMobil Abruptly Cut Climate Science Funding in 1980s
Authors: Gabriela Zayas and Laura Small
Editor: Laura Small