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TODAY'S CLIMATE AND ENERGY HEADLINES
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Sky News reports that, in the UK, senior government officials have held a “COBRA” crisis meeting inside Downing Street to “discuss plans for the first-ever heatwave emergency in a bid to deal with the rising temperatures”. It adds that a “level four” national emergency is declared when the hot weather is so extreme that “illness and death may occur among the fit and healthy” as well as vulnerable people, according to the UK Health Security Agency. If implemented, the article noes that this could cause disruption to schools, travel, health services and “even nuclear power plants”. The i newspaper says that summer 2022 could be the hottest ever recorded in the UK, as meteorologists warn that people should prepare for a “historic, even unprecedented” season of high temperatures. According to the Met Office, the nation could exceed its 2019 temperature record of 38.7C on Sunday or Monday and could even reach 40C in parts of the country, the newspaper adds. According to BBC News, three parts of England endured “tropical nights” on Monday nights, meaning temperatures fell no lower than 20C. The i newspaper has a piece examining what extreme heat could mean in the UK, noting that the record-breaking temperatures “can place strains on water and energy utilities, road and rail transport and the health and fire services”. It says that rail operators may introduce speed restrictions because of the risk of tracks buckling. The article is clear that “research shows that climate change is making heatwaves more likely”.
The Met Office has already issued an “amber” warning for potentially deadly heat across most of England this Sunday, the Daily Mail notes, adding that “some Conservative MPs” have accused “bureaucrats” of “alarmism” over the warnings. Another Daily Mail piece notes that despite the soaring temperatures, what it calls “snowflakes were still out in force” in the UK. It references various statements from groups expressing concerns about working in the heat, including refuse collectors and unions suggesting staff should be allowed to work from home during heatwaves. Carbon Brief’s Leo Hickman summarised the newspaper’s coverage in a tweet this morning.
BBC News has an overview of the heatwave currently gripping much of Europe, including Spain, Portugal, France and the UK, noting the continent has “barely recovered from its last heatwave”. The article states early on that “heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting because of climate change”, adding that “the world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began”.
With temperatures above 40C in many parts of the country, several wildfires have swept across Portugal’s central region, according to Reuters. The newswire reports that hundreds of people have fled their homes and firefighters have struggled to put out the flames as the nation endures a “sweltering heatwave”. Sky News reports from the ground in Portugal and says the prime minister had “already issued a grim warning that things are likely to get worse”, as temperatures climb towards 46C in the coming days. The UK has also been struck by heatwave-related flames, with a “huge fire” breaking out in a field in North Yorkshire amid the scorching temperatures, according to the Independent. According to MailOnline, fires have also struck Spain, where temperatures have already reached as high as 43C, and in Italy the Serchio river in Tuscany has dried up. The Guardian says that as northern Italy suffers its worst drought in 70 years, crop yields supplying key ingredients such as “olive oil, risotto rice and passata” could be significantly affected, “driving up prices by as much as 50%”. Politico has a piece sharing the views of its readers from across Europe on how they are seeing climate change play out in their area.
The Guardian also has further international coverage of the extreme heat, which is also affecting parts of China (see below) and south-west and central US. It notes that in the US, temperatures of 42C in Waco were among more than a dozen daily temperature records broken over the weekend in cities across Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Arkansas. France24 has reporting from Jacobabad in Pakistan, one of the world’s hottest cities, after it recorded temperatures up to 51C at the peak of the heatwave in May.
The New York Times has an article about how authorities in Yosemite National Park, California, are hopeful that a sprinkler system can save the Grizzly Giant, a sequoia dating back at least 2,000 years, from fires. An editorial in the Los Angeles Times also focuses on this topic, stating: “Sequoias, with their thick bark and branches high above the ground, have adapted to living with fire and even rely on low- to moderate-intensity heat from wildfires to reproduce. But they are less able to withstand the intense blazes that are regularly burning through California, fuelled by decades of fire suppression and climate change”.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, the Independent reports that water rationing is now in place in the wealthy north-eastern city of Monterrey, home to more than 1 million people, as the nation faces a historic water shortage.
The British Conservative party’s dedication to climate action is “wavering before the nation even gets on track to reach its carbon goals”, according to Bloomberg, noting that the next prime minister is “likely to have a weaker commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions than Boris Johnson”. It says that the “bookmakers’ favourite” Rishi Sunak, who until very recently was the chancellor, has been a “somewhat reluctant” backer of green policies, encouraging investment in UK oil and gas as well as cutting fuel duty for drivers. Sunak also did not mention the net-zero goal when launching his leadership bid, it adds. The Big Issue has a rundown of the 11 candidates for Conservative leadership – which has now been whittled down to eight – and their attitudes to climate change. It notes that another favourite in the race, Penny Moradunt, “has a mixed record on climate change”, but notes that she has “openly named climate change as a major challenge for the global community”. According to the Independent, another contender, Kemi Badenoch, has “branded” the net-zero target “unilateral economic disarmament” and “vowed” to get rid of it if elected. (Some 136 countries accounting for 91% of global GDP have committed to reach net-zero.) Meanwhile, the i newspaper has an interview with the Conservative president of the COP26 climate summit, Alok Sharma, in which he says his colleagues will be taking a “road to nowhere” if they get rid of net-zero policies. BusinessGreen reports that the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), which includes over 130 MPs, has written to all the candidates, “urging them to clarify their stance on environmental issues ”. The Guardian reports that, while speaking at the CEN’s summer party, environment secretary George Eustice reassured green Tories that the net-zero target will be protected by the next administration.
Many of the UK’s leading business groups, including Amazon, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Lloyds have written an open letter to the leadership hopefuls calling on them to maintain the net-zero target, deliver for climate and nature, and in doing so give businesses confidence to invest, the Guardian reports. According to the newspaper, the letter states: “We have seen first-hand that investment in low carbon infrastructure and technologies delivers huge economic benefits.”
inally, following the recent findings from the UK government’s climate advisers that the country is not on track to meet its net-zero target, New Scientist reports that figures from the European Heat Pump Association show the UK was bottom of a list of more than 20 European countries for domestic heat pump installations last year. At current rates, the nation will take 600 years to meet its 2050 target, the piece says.
China’s “commercial capital of Shanghai and dozens of other Chinese cities baked in scorching temperatures as unusually hot weather buckled roads, popped roof tiles and drove people to seek the cool in raid shelters underground”, reports Reuters. The newswire says 86 cities had issued red alerts, the highest in a three-tier warning system, warning of temperatures above 40C, adding that “construction and other outdoor work are to be halted”. It adds: “Chinese authorities citing climate change have warned against disasters from mid-July, usually the hottest and wettest time of year”. Additionally, the state-run newspaper People’s Daily says that the country’s “widespread and persistent high temperature” in many places “breaks the historical high-temperature extreme in the month of July”.
Meanwhile, China Electric Power News carries an article on how China should hold the “bottom line” on energy security. The state-run industry newspaper cites Zhou Ji, chief executive and president of Energy Foundation China, a non-profit organisation registered in the US, who says: “Going forward into the ‘15th five-year plan’ period, it is important to further expand incremental non-fossil energy sources and gradually replace the existing coal stock in an orderly manner.” Yan Bingzhong, chief planner of the General Institute of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Planning and Design, which is supervised by the Ministry of Water Resources, is also quoted as saying: “The 14th five-year plan is a key five-year period for China to promote the high-quality development of renewable energy…[which] will play a leading role in the clean and low-carbon transformation of energy and promoting the realisation of energy independence”.
Separately, an article by Reuters, titled “China’s surging hydropower a boon for its climate goals, energy bills”, says that “a surge in hydropower output in China this year, boosted by record-breaking rainfall, is helping the world’s biggest polluter meet green targets as well as cut liquefied natural gas imports (LNG) amid tight global supplies”.
Elsewhere, a Xinhua report, titled “Foreign companies eye opportunities in western China’s green industries”, says that China’s western region, which is “rich in solar power and wind resources”, has “become a pioneer in the country’s new energy drive by turning its natural endowments into energy for a greener future”. The state news agency adds that “green” industries, “including hydrogen energy development, high-end copper foil manufacturing, and NEV [new energy vehicles] production, strike a pose at this year’s investment and trade fair” in Gansu province.
Finally, a feature by Xinhua focuses on Sakai photovoltaic power plant, a Chinese aided project built by China Energy Engineering Group Tianjin Electric Power Construction Corporation, which has “developed local society and economy” while “easing” Central African Republic’s capital Bangui’s “lack of electricity”.
Five of the world’s biggest emitters – the US, China, India, Russia and Brazil – cost the world some $6tn in gross domestic product (GDP) over a quarter-century period, according to new research covered by the Hill. The study “also put a specific number to the damage major emitters have done to developing nations, which are often especially vulnerable due to their geographic locations in the global south and along continental coastlines”, the piece adds. The Guardian notes that the new analysis is the “first measurement of nations’ liability in stoking the climate crisis”. It adds that the US has inflicted the most damage to other nations – $1.9tn in total – with China just behind at just over $1.8tn. According to CNN, the novel study could serve as a “starting point for legal action against the world’s wealthiest nations” as it allows direct links to be made between their specific emissions and damages elsewhere. Explaining how the research was undertaken, Reuters says the analysis sampled 2m possible values for each country-to-country interaction and “used a supercomputer to crunch a total of 11tn values to quantify and address cause-and-effect uncertainties”. In its coverage, Associated Press makes the connection with on-going negotiations around the concept of “loss and damage” in the UN climate process, in which developing countries have been seeking restitution for damage already caused to them by developed countries’ emissions. Study lead author Christopher Callahan tells the publication that, until this point, major emitters have had a “veil of deniability” that their actions caused specific damages, adding that this research “lifts that veil”.
Separately, the Guardian reports on analysis by the international NGO Tearfund, which concludes African countries that are the least responsible for climate change will have to spend up to five times more on adapting to global warming than they do on healthcare.
Die Zeit reports that German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck is hoping for further gas deliveries from Russia after the end of maintenance work on the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 within 10 days, noting that “there’s also a chance that it won’t happen”. However, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised the planned delivery of a serviced Russian turbine, saying in a video message quoted by the publication: “If a terrorist state can enforce such an exception to sanctions, what exemptions does it want tomorrow or the day after? This question is very dangerous.” Deutsche Welle reports that Slovene prime minister Robert Golob rejected criticism from Kyiv about repairs to the gas pipeline running from Russia to Germany, saying “gas supplies ensure a strong European Union that can, in turn, keep supporting Ukraine”. The Daily Express also covers the story, adding that Ukraine’s energy and foreign ministries said a decision by Canada to return a repaired turbine to Germany that is needed for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which supplies Russian gas, “amounted to adjusting sanctions imposed on Moscow”.
Meanwhile, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Slovene prime minister Golob “want to work together to find a way out of the energy crisis”. Scholz is quoted saying that “the expansion of wind power, solar power plays a big role for our two countries and we have discussed it very carefully”. EurActiv reports that Germany signed an agreement with Austria “to increase collaboration, in which they also recommended other member states follow suit amid the current energy crisis”. During a meeting of Habeck and Austrian environment minister Leonore Gewessler, the article reports Habeck saying: “European solidarity is more important than ever in the current energy crisis…This also includes closer consultation and coordination between direct neighbours.”
In other energy news, Al Jazeera reports that Habeck has defended the government’s commitment to ending the use of nuclear power at the end of this year, amid fears that Russia may halt natural gas supplies entirely. “Nuclear power doesn’t help us there at all…We have a heating problem or an industry problem, but not an electricity problem – at least not generally throughout the country”, said Habeck at a news conference in Vienna on Tuesday, notes the media outlet. Reuters reports that Germany will completely stop buying Russian coal on 1 August and Russian oil on 31 December, marking a major shift in the source of the country’s energy supply, German deputy finance minister Joerg Kukies said at a conference in Sydney.
Finally, Reuters reports that US climate envoy John Kerry has said in an interview that EU nations’ return to using coal following the Russian invasion of Ukraine should only be “temporary”. Bloomberg reports on new analysis demonstrating that despite the EU’s use of more coal and imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to replace Russian fossil fuels, this should be addressed by new legislation coming into force that will require sharper emissions cuts. “If all goes to plan, by the end of the decade, the total amount of greenhouse gases Europe dumps into the atmosphere will remain the same,” the piece states.
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has a piece in the Independent in which she reels off information about the sweltering heat currently gripping the UK and other parts of the world, using it as a warning of the need for action on climate change. With temperatures potentially set to creep above 40C in the UK, she notes the thousands of excess deaths that took place in England in the summer of 2020 as a result of hot weather. Lucas also describes what she sees as insufficient action from the current UK government to address climate change, citing the recent progress report from the Climate Change Committee (see Carbon Brief’s coverage here). “As the sun bears down on us this week, we must remember that we don’t need – and can’t afford – to keep pouring fuel on the fire. The solutions to the climate emergency are staring us in the face. We just need to get on and make them a reality,” she concludes.
Meanwhile, in the Daily Mail, climate-sceptic columnist Richard Littlejohn writes in his column about the hot weather: “Naturally, the global warming alarmists were out in force again, blaming the high temperatures on ‘climate change’. From the lunatic over-reaction to a few days of sunshine, you’d think Britain had never experienced hot weather before.” He goes on to reminisce about hot weather he has experienced in the past, noting that in the summer of 1976 “nobody issued a ‘Level Three’ health alert. We just got on with it”. LittleJohn is not alone in his disdain, with Daily Telegraph columnist Philip Johnston joining him in accusing UK authorities of overreacting to the heat in a fit of “nanny statism”. He writes: “After all, hot summers are nothing new…What is different nowadays is the direct intervention of state agencies, a reprise of what we saw during the Covid lockdowns.”
Helena Horton, an environment reporter for the Guardian, relays her experiences of reporting on the climate-sceptic wing of the Conservative party, and warns that with so little support for the net-zero agenda from the current leadership hopefuls, the UK’s climate policies are under threat. She says that while reporting on the climate-sceptic parliamentary Net Zero Scrutiny Group, she has been told that most Conservatives support net-zero, making this a fringe concern. “But while covering the Brexit campaign, I’d seen how a small, nimble alliance of rightwing campaigners can leave a large group enjoying contented consensus in the dust,” she writes, adding “I fear this has happened” with net-zero, as the green wing of the party do not have a candidate to replace Johnson. “All of this disorganisation and turmoil has resulted in a leadership campaign that could strip this country of its climate commitments and end the dream of net zero,” Horton says.
Chris Skidmore, one of the green Conservatives Horton is talking about, has a comment piece in the Times in which he makes the importance of climate change clear. “I have spent this short election campaign ensuring that the voice of the environment and action on climate change is heard in the debate. I still intend to press all candidates on their environmental commitments, alongside other MPs who recognise the importance of the environment,” he writes. Skidmore adds that he is supporting former chancellor Rishi Sunak, the “only candidate who is facing up to all the issues – including the environment – that matter to our voters”.
A piece by Daniel Johnson, writer and editor of TheArticle, in the Daily Telegraph accuses Germany of hypocrisy as “energy rationing now looks inevitable” in the country due to the on-going threat to supplies due to its dependence on Russian gas and oil. “Germans used to lecture their neighbours about environmental virtue. Not any more: fossil fuels such as gas are now deemed to be ‘clean’, while coal-fired power stations are back in business,” he writes.
Forests in the EU and UK currently sequester around 360m tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, according to new research. However, the study finds that by 2100, under a “business as usual” scenario, sequestration will decrease to 80m tonnes per year. The authors combine the outputs from four land-climate models, run under two different future emission scenarios, with data on forest growth. The projected drop in annual carbon sequestration is mainly driven by “the ongoing ageing process of the European forests, mostly determined by past and ongoing management”, the study finds.
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