NuseReal
COP28
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COP28 puts climate AI on global agenda — euractiv — 20 December 2023 (LINK)
— Nations are already using AI for climate objectives, from mapping the carbon absorption capacity of forests in Indonesia to providing communities in Malawi with flood warnings fifteen days in advance, enabling them to evacuate. The UN Climate Technology Mechanism has this year created a dedicated Initiative on Artificial Intelligence for Climate Action (AI4ClimateAction).
Foreign Policy on COP28 — foreignpolicy — 17 December 2023 (LINK)
- China and Russia undercut efforts to phase out dirty energy
- The main obstacle to tackling global emissions is money.
- The COP deal was a breakthrough, but subsidy policy will be key in achieving its goals.
COP28: Key outcomes for food, forests, land and nature at the UN climate talks in Dubai: in-depth analysis of all the key outcomes for food, land use and nature in Dubai — carbonbrief — 15 December 2023 (LINK)
— Most mentions of food systems removed in the second set of GST "building blocks", released on 5 December. Getting food back into the final text took a "true push" from both civil society and governments, WWF said.
Vox: Don't be satisfied with a pledge to transition away from fossil fuels: Climate activist Bill McKibben interview on how to make sense of COP28: "Let's make that concession hurt." — 14 December 2023 (LINK)
Inside Climate News ●: COP28 does not deliver clear path to fossil fuel phase out: 29 small island states that arrived after the document was approved, don't accept the outcome as a consensus decision — 13 December 2023 (LINK)
— The finalized text calls only for accelerating efforts to "phase down" the use of unabated coal power, to "[transition] away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner," and to accelerate action toward that transition "in this critical decade."
The new COP28 agreement also calls for "accelerating and substantially reducing non-carbon-dioxide emissions globally, including in particular methane emissions by 2030," and for speeding the reduction of emissions from road transport, as well as "phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that do not address energy poverty or just transitions, as soon as possible."
— John Kerry said the document should be seen as a significant achievement, given the challenge of trying to win consensus among 200 parties. "For the first time in the history of our regime, the decision supported by all nations of the world calls for transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, so as to achieve net zero by 2050," Kerry said. "That is clear," he said, even if it is not as strong as many would have liked.
Fast Company:7 major loopholes in the new climate agreement — 13 December 2023 (LINK)
— It says that "transitional fuels can play a role" in the energy transition, which fossil fuel companies will interpret as meaning that it's okay to keep drilling and burning natural gas. "Natural" gas is a major problem for the climate in part because methane, its main component, traps around 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2 over the short term.
It seems to leave room for subsidies if they're helping consumers who don't have reliable access to energy—even though those energy needs can also be met with clean sources.)
The text about transitioning from fossil fuels also only references energy systems, ignoring agriculture and plastic production, which also use massive amounts of fossil fuels. It acknowledges the need for funding to help poorer countries decarbonize, but lacks a concrete plan.
"With every vague verb, every empty promise in the final text, millions more people will enter the frontline of climate change, and many will die," climate scientist Friederike Otto, cofounder of the World Weather Attribution group, said in a statement.
The Conversation: The COP28 climate agreement is a step backwards on fossil fuels: there is no clear definition of what abatement would entail. This ambiguity allows for a broad and and easily abused interpretation of what constitutes "abated" fossil fuel use — 13 December 2023 (LINK)
New Republic: The U.N. climate talks hung poorer nations out to dry — 13 December 2023 (LINK)
The Messenger: COP28's landmark climate deal, explained — 13 December 2023 (LINK)
— "For the first time in three decades of climate negotiations, the words 'fossil fuels' have made it into a COP outcome," said Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa.
"There's no question the text falls short of what science tells us is required to mitigate the existential risk climate change poses to us," said Katherine Hayhoe, the Nature Conservancy's chief scientist.
the COP28 agreement offers a menu of options for countries to pursue. These include tripling renewable energy capacity globally by 2030; "accelerating efforts" toward elimination of coal power; accelerating the use of other zero- or low-carbon tech like nuclear power as well as carbon capture and green hydrogen; and reducing other greenhouse gas emissions like methane.
Vox: 3 wins and 3 losses at the biggest climate conference ever — 13 December 2023 (LINK)
— The wins:
- Pledges to cut methane pollution from fossil fuels
- A huge boost for renewable energy
- There's more money to address the pain caused by the climate crisis
— The losses:
- Methane pollution from agriculture remains a cow-sized blind spot
- On the whole, this is an anemic effort to curb fossil fuels
- The goal to limit warming to 1.5 C is pretty much dead
COP28 nations adopt first-ever climate deal to 'transition away' from fossil fuels — ground.news: 3 media reports — 13 December 2023 (LINK)
— The global deal, approved without comments, calls for transitioning away from fossil fuels but falls short of seeking a phase-out. Critics argue that the deal contains loopholes allowing for the continued expansion of fossil fuels, including natural gas.
World Economic Forum at COP28: 12 high-impact business, government and civil society partnerships for climate and nature — eurasiareview — 12 December 2023 (LINK)
Scientists warn that the Dubai Climate Conference is full of crap: "It's frightening because [companies] see this as a new business opportunity, a new way to make money and continue as befores" — futurism.com — 12 December 2023 (LINK)
COP28: UN climate talks in jeopardy in fossil fuel backlash — BBC — 12 December 2023 (LINK)
5 big promises made at annual UN climate talks and what has happened since — ground.news main source: AP, 27 media reports — 12 December 2023 (LINK)
- Kyoto Protocol, 1997: Despite the agreement to cut emissions, it was only in 2005 that countries agreed to finally act on the Protocol. The United States and China — the two highest emitters both then and now — didn't sign the agreement.
- Copenhagen, 2009: Rich countries promised to channel $100 billion a year to developing countries for green technologies by 2020. But they didn't reach $100 billion by the start of the 2020s, drawing criticism from developing states and environmentalists alike. In 2022, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development said rich countries might have finally met and even exceeded the $100 billion goal. But Oxfam, a group focused on anti-poverty efforts, said it's likely that 70% of the funds were in the form of loans that actually increased the debt crisis in developing countries.
- Paris Agreement, 2015: The world hasn't exceeded the 1.5C warming limit set in the Paris agreement — it has warmed around 1.1 or 1.2 degrees Celsius (2 to 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the early 1800s — but is currently well on its way there, unless drastic emissions cuts are made quickly.
- Glasgow 2021: So far, countries have failed to deliver on the Glasgow deal. Emissions from coal have slightly increased and major coal-using countries have yet to begin moving away from the dirtiest of fossil fuels.
- Sharm el-Sheikh, 2022: fund to help poorer nations recover from the impacts of climate change. Formally created on first day in Dubai. Over $700 million has already been pledged. Climate experts say the pledges are just a fraction of the billions of dollars.
Monday, 11 December 2023
COP28 Summit: UN, activists ramp up urgency as talks enter final days: poring over the latest language on how the world plans to cap planet-warming emissions and keep the worst of warming at bay — AP — 11 December 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 10 December 2023
UN sets out roadmap to combat global hunger amid climate crisis:
Targets include cutting methane emissions from livestock by 25%, halving food waste and managing fisheries sustainably by 2030 — The Guardian UK ● — 10 December 2023 (LINK)
climatecrisis247: Villains Of COP28 — climatecrisis247 — 10 December 2023 (LINK)
Thursday, 7 December 2023
Opec urges members to reject any COP28 deal targeting fossil fuels — ground.news: 22 media reports — 8 December 2023 (LINK)
Thursday, 7 December 2023
COP28 So Far: A Cheat Sheet — heatmap.news — 9 December 2023 (LINK)
Wednesday, 6 December 2023
Catastrophic climate 'tipping points' may be imminent: hundreds of scientists warn that the world must rapidly phase out planet-warming emissions to avoid crossing dangerous thresholds — politico — 6 December 2023 (LINK)
— Chief among the report's recommendations is a rapid phase-out of greenhouse gas emissions from human land use and the burning of fossil fuels. Other tipping points could also be triggered at 1.5 degrees of warming, including unstoppable ice loss in West Antarctica; rampant thawing of permafrost; widespread coral die-offs; and the collapse of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre, a circular ocean current that helps distribute heat through parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
Countries should strengthen global frameworks for adapting to unstoppable climate impacts and financially supporting the world's most vulnerable populations, the report recommends. It also urges nations to feature tipping points more prominently in their commitments under the Paris climate agreement, factoring the dangers into their carbon-cutting pledges and their assessments of global progress on climate change.
Nations should also invest more resources into the scientific research on the Earth's tipping points, the report adds. And world leaders should organize a global summit devoted to the subject to share knowledge and manage the risks.
Humanity is on the verge of 5 climate 'tipping points,' report warns — ground.news: 45 media reports — 6 December 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 5 December 2023
Podong Indigenous Peoples Initiative, co-designed and co-led by Indigenous Peoples and IUCN, launches at COP28 — iucn — 5 December 2023 (LINK)
Last decade hottest on record, with polar ice melting faster than in the last century, says WMO — ground.news: 7 media reports — 5 December 2023 (LINK)
— The hottest years of the decade were 2016 and 2020 while the six hottest years taken together on record were between 2015 and 2020.
Monday, 4 December 2023
President hits back on big bank day — cityam — 4 December 2023 (LINK)
Latin America must invest up to 4.9% of GDP annually to meet climate goals, up from just 0.5% in 2020 — UN's ECLAC — Reuters ● — 4 December 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 3 December 2023
Al Gore says fossil fuel industry has 'captured the COP process' — commondreams — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Open secret at climate talks: The top temperature goal of 1.5C is mostly gone — politico — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Earth is running a fever. And UN climate talks are focusing on the contagious effect on human health — ground.news main source: AP, 43 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
COP28: UN climate conference kicks off first day centred on health and peace — euronews — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
— The first-ever faith pavilion at a COP was inaugurated. Pope and Grand-Imam sent messages.
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — (LINK)
'No science' behind phasing out fossil fuels, UAE climate host said in November — ground.news main source: CNN/Guardian, 22 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Al Gore's climate watchdog Climate Trace nonprofit reveals gaps in countries' greenhouse gas inventories at U.N. meeting, using satellites and AI — science.org — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
— In 2021 Russia left out greenhouse gases equivalent to 1.5 billion tons of CO2 and the United States missed 400 million tons, much of it driven by CO2 emissions from oil and gas operations. Overall that year, among wealthy nations required to report to the U.N., Climate Trace estimates 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent gases went unreported — some 5% of total global emissions.
— The UAE last estimated emissions of 225 million tons in 2019, but Climate Trace found at least 354 million tons for that year.
For Gore, Climate Trace fulfills a dream he laid out in a 1998 speech at the California Science Center, when he called for a "digital Earth".
Error-detection tool makes AI mistakes easy to spot — spectrum.ieee.org — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Saturday, 2 December 2023
China's solar module production is unmatched in quantity and costs — here's what that means for US solar:"Oversupply will undeniably hinder some of the current expansion plans" — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Biden administration issues rule to cut methane emissions from oil and gas — thehill — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Scientists' discovery deep underground could have massive applications: 'climate holy grail': white hydrogen, also known as natural hydrogen or gold hydrogen, has been found deep below the Earth's surface — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
— Research from the Energy Institute found that 82% of the world's energy consumption came from dirty energy sources in 2022, leading to a 0.8% rise in planet-warming gases expelled into the atmosphere.
Friday, 1 December 2023
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news — (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news: 32 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Thursday, 30 November 2023
U.N. establishes fund for developing nations affected by climate change: the U.S. pledged $17.5 million, while the United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million and the European Union promised $225 million — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Climate change misinformation in Latin America threatens efforts to combat it: A new study looked at the online spread of false narratives in Spanish and Portuguese after climate-fueled natural disasters hit Brazil, Peru and Chile — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Cop28 president denies on eve of summit he abused his position to sign oil deals — ground.news: 30 media reports — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28 should seek total fossil fuel 'phaseout': UN chief to AFP — AFP / barrons — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28: four key issues that will dominate the latest UN climate summit — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— Whether the host really matters, a fight over the agenda, the global stocktake, phasing down (or out) fossil fuels.
COP28: 7 policies could help save a billion lives by 2100 — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— "A 2 C temperature rise equates to a billion prematurely dead people over the next century. Direct mortal effects of climate change include heat waves, which have already caused thousands of human deaths by a combination of heat and humidity and even threaten babies. Intermediate causes of death involve crop failures, droughts, flooding, extreme weather, wildfires and rising seas. Crop failures, in particular, can make global hunger and starvation worse. More frequent and severe droughts can lead to more wildfires that also cause human deaths, as we saw in Hawaii. Droughts can also lead to contaminated water, more frequent disease and deaths from dehydration."
On the other hand, climate change can also cause flooding (and crop failures from too much water), which also drives hunger and disease. Climate change drives sea level rise and the resultant submersion of low-lying coastal areas and storm surges exacerbate flood risks, which are life-threatening for billions of people in coastal cities who face the prospect of forced migration.
Climate change also increases extreme weather events, which kill and cause considerable damage to essential services such as the electric grid and medical facilities. Salt water intrusion also threatens coastal agriculture, further reducing food supplies.
Finally, climate change also indirectly increases the probability of conflict and war. Although the academic consensus on climate-change-induced war is far from settled, there is little doubt climate change amplifies stress and can cause more localized conflict.
- We must mandate all new construction be net-zero buildings or positive energy buildings.
- Mandate mass purchases of energy conservation or renewable energy technologies and make them freely available to everyone with zero-interest loans that are easily paid back with energy savings.
- Immediately end the sale of fossil fuel vehicles which will save considerable carbon and money as electric vehicles already have a lower lifetime cost than gas vehicles).
- Revoke the charters of fossil fuel companies and disperse their assets if a company or industry is responsible for killing more people from emissions than they employ. The United States coal industry already kills more people from air pollution per year than it employs, and that does not include climate change-related deaths.
- Immediately stop investing in more fossil fuels and heavily tax all fossil fuel-related investments, and/or hold climate emitters as well as investors economically liable for harm caused by carbon emissions in the future.
- Retrain fossil fuel workers en masse for renewable energy jobs which would help both society and workers who could expect an on average seven per cent pay rise moving to the solar industry.
- Immediately ban the extraction of fossil fuels with enforced moratoriums.
From climate-denying bots on X/Twitter to Big Oil Facebook ads and right-wing news sites, an echo chamber of disinformation is set to muddy efforts to cut emissions in the UAE — dw — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
UNFCCC partners with Microsoft to use AI and advanced data technology to track global carbon emissions and assess progress under the Paris Agreement — microsoft — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
Monday, 27 November 2023
UAE reportedly planned to use COP28 climate summit to lobby for oil and gas deals — ground.news: 47 media reports — 27 November 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 26 November 2023
Joe Biden will not attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai this week, says US official: contrasts with his attendance at previous COP summits since his inauguration in 2021 — ground.news: 27 media reports — 26 November 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 21 November 2023
The world is careening toward 3 degrees of warming, UN says ahead of climate conference — grist.org — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 — ground.news main source: AP, 20 media reports — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Past week
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Media
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Metoo
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Sites to explore
Digital tools
COP28 Summit: UN, activists ramp up urgency as talks enter final days: poring over the latest language on how the world plans to cap planet-warming emissions and keep the worst of warming at bay — AP — 11 December 2023 (LINK)
UN sets out roadmap to combat global hunger amid climate crisis: Targets include cutting methane emissions from livestock by 25%, halving food waste and managing fisheries sustainably by 2030 — The Guardian UK ● — 10 December 2023 (LINK)
climatecrisis247: Villains Of COP28 — climatecrisis247 — 10 December 2023 (LINK)
Thursday, 7 December 2023
Opec urges members to reject any COP28 deal targeting fossil fuels — ground.news: 22 media reports — 8 December 2023 (LINK)
Thursday, 7 December 2023
COP28 So Far: A Cheat Sheet — heatmap.news — 9 December 2023 (LINK)
Wednesday, 6 December 2023
Catastrophic climate 'tipping points' may be imminent: hundreds of scientists warn that the world must rapidly phase out planet-warming emissions to avoid crossing dangerous thresholds — politico — 6 December 2023 (LINK)
— Chief among the report's recommendations is a rapid phase-out of greenhouse gas emissions from human land use and the burning of fossil fuels. Other tipping points could also be triggered at 1.5 degrees of warming, including unstoppable ice loss in West Antarctica; rampant thawing of permafrost; widespread coral die-offs; and the collapse of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre, a circular ocean current that helps distribute heat through parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
Countries should strengthen global frameworks for adapting to unstoppable climate impacts and financially supporting the world's most vulnerable populations, the report recommends. It also urges nations to feature tipping points more prominently in their commitments under the Paris climate agreement, factoring the dangers into their carbon-cutting pledges and their assessments of global progress on climate change.
Nations should also invest more resources into the scientific research on the Earth's tipping points, the report adds. And world leaders should organize a global summit devoted to the subject to share knowledge and manage the risks.
Humanity is on the verge of 5 climate 'tipping points,' report warns — ground.news: 45 media reports — 6 December 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 5 December 2023
Podong Indigenous Peoples Initiative, co-designed and co-led by Indigenous Peoples and IUCN, launches at COP28 — iucn — 5 December 2023 (LINK)
Last decade hottest on record, with polar ice melting faster than in the last century, says WMO — ground.news: 7 media reports — 5 December 2023 (LINK)
— The hottest years of the decade were 2016 and 2020 while the six hottest years taken together on record were between 2015 and 2020.
Monday, 4 December 2023
President hits back on big bank day — cityam — 4 December 2023 (LINK)
Latin America must invest up to 4.9% of GDP annually to meet climate goals, up from just 0.5% in 2020 — UN's ECLAC — Reuters ● — 4 December 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 3 December 2023
Al Gore says fossil fuel industry has 'captured the COP process' — commondreams — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Open secret at climate talks: The top temperature goal of 1.5C is mostly gone — politico — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Earth is running a fever. And UN climate talks are focusing on the contagious effect on human health — ground.news main source: AP, 43 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
COP28: UN climate conference kicks off first day centred on health and peace — euronews — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
— The first-ever faith pavilion at a COP was inaugurated. Pope and Grand-Imam sent messages.
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — (LINK)
'No science' behind phasing out fossil fuels, UAE climate host said in November — ground.news main source: CNN/Guardian, 22 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Al Gore's climate watchdog Climate Trace nonprofit reveals gaps in countries' greenhouse gas inventories at U.N. meeting, using satellites and AI — science.org — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
— In 2021 Russia left out greenhouse gases equivalent to 1.5 billion tons of CO2 and the United States missed 400 million tons, much of it driven by CO2 emissions from oil and gas operations. Overall that year, among wealthy nations required to report to the U.N., Climate Trace estimates 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent gases went unreported — some 5% of total global emissions.
— The UAE last estimated emissions of 225 million tons in 2019, but Climate Trace found at least 354 million tons for that year.
For Gore, Climate Trace fulfills a dream he laid out in a 1998 speech at the California Science Center, when he called for a "digital Earth".
Error-detection tool makes AI mistakes easy to spot — spectrum.ieee.org — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Saturday, 2 December 2023
China's solar module production is unmatched in quantity and costs — here's what that means for US solar:"Oversupply will undeniably hinder some of the current expansion plans" — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Biden administration issues rule to cut methane emissions from oil and gas — thehill — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Scientists' discovery deep underground could have massive applications: 'climate holy grail': white hydrogen, also known as natural hydrogen or gold hydrogen, has been found deep below the Earth's surface — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
— Research from the Energy Institute found that 82% of the world's energy consumption came from dirty energy sources in 2022, leading to a 0.8% rise in planet-warming gases expelled into the atmosphere.
Friday, 1 December 2023
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news — (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news: 32 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Thursday, 30 November 2023
U.N. establishes fund for developing nations affected by climate change: the U.S. pledged $17.5 million, while the United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million and the European Union promised $225 million — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Climate change misinformation in Latin America threatens efforts to combat it: A new study looked at the online spread of false narratives in Spanish and Portuguese after climate-fueled natural disasters hit Brazil, Peru and Chile — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Cop28 president denies on eve of summit he abused his position to sign oil deals — ground.news: 30 media reports — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28 should seek total fossil fuel 'phaseout': UN chief to AFP — AFP / barrons — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28: four key issues that will dominate the latest UN climate summit — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— Whether the host really matters, a fight over the agenda, the global stocktake, phasing down (or out) fossil fuels.
COP28: 7 policies could help save a billion lives by 2100 — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— "A 2 C temperature rise equates to a billion prematurely dead people over the next century. Direct mortal effects of climate change include heat waves, which have already caused thousands of human deaths by a combination of heat and humidity and even threaten babies. Intermediate causes of death involve crop failures, droughts, flooding, extreme weather, wildfires and rising seas. Crop failures, in particular, can make global hunger and starvation worse. More frequent and severe droughts can lead to more wildfires that also cause human deaths, as we saw in Hawaii. Droughts can also lead to contaminated water, more frequent disease and deaths from dehydration."
On the other hand, climate change can also cause flooding (and crop failures from too much water), which also drives hunger and disease. Climate change drives sea level rise and the resultant submersion of low-lying coastal areas and storm surges exacerbate flood risks, which are life-threatening for billions of people in coastal cities who face the prospect of forced migration.
Climate change also increases extreme weather events, which kill and cause considerable damage to essential services such as the electric grid and medical facilities. Salt water intrusion also threatens coastal agriculture, further reducing food supplies.
Finally, climate change also indirectly increases the probability of conflict and war. Although the academic consensus on climate-change-induced war is far from settled, there is little doubt climate change amplifies stress and can cause more localized conflict.
- We must mandate all new construction be net-zero buildings or positive energy buildings.
- Mandate mass purchases of energy conservation or renewable energy technologies and make them freely available to everyone with zero-interest loans that are easily paid back with energy savings.
- Immediately end the sale of fossil fuel vehicles which will save considerable carbon and money as electric vehicles already have a lower lifetime cost than gas vehicles).
- Revoke the charters of fossil fuel companies and disperse their assets if a company or industry is responsible for killing more people from emissions than they employ. The United States coal industry already kills more people from air pollution per year than it employs, and that does not include climate change-related deaths.
- Immediately stop investing in more fossil fuels and heavily tax all fossil fuel-related investments, and/or hold climate emitters as well as investors economically liable for harm caused by carbon emissions in the future.
- Retrain fossil fuel workers en masse for renewable energy jobs which would help both society and workers who could expect an on average seven per cent pay rise moving to the solar industry.
- Immediately ban the extraction of fossil fuels with enforced moratoriums.
From climate-denying bots on X/Twitter to Big Oil Facebook ads and right-wing news sites, an echo chamber of disinformation is set to muddy efforts to cut emissions in the UAE — dw — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
UNFCCC partners with Microsoft to use AI and advanced data technology to track global carbon emissions and assess progress under the Paris Agreement — microsoft — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
Monday, 27 November 2023
UAE reportedly planned to use COP28 climate summit to lobby for oil and gas deals — ground.news: 47 media reports — 27 November 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 26 November 2023
Joe Biden will not attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai this week, says US official: contrasts with his attendance at previous COP summits since his inauguration in 2021 — ground.news: 27 media reports — 26 November 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 21 November 2023
The world is careening toward 3 degrees of warming, UN says ahead of climate conference — grist.org — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 — ground.news main source: AP, 20 media reports — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Past week
Ukraine
Gaza
Switzerland
AI / ChatGPT
Media
UN
Putin watch
China
Youth
Travel
Afghanistan
Bahamas
Thailand
Trump
Alt-News
Biden News
Metoo
Covid-19 News
Sites to explore
Digital tools
Opec urges members to reject any COP28 deal targeting fossil fuels — ground.news: 22 media reports — 8 December 2023 (LINK)
COP28 So Far: A Cheat Sheet — heatmap.news — 9 December 2023 (LINK)
Wednesday, 6 December 2023
Catastrophic climate 'tipping points' may be imminent: hundreds of scientists warn that the world must rapidly phase out planet-warming emissions to avoid crossing dangerous thresholds — politico — 6 December 2023 (LINK)
— Chief among the report's recommendations is a rapid phase-out of greenhouse gas emissions from human land use and the burning of fossil fuels. Other tipping points could also be triggered at 1.5 degrees of warming, including unstoppable ice loss in West Antarctica; rampant thawing of permafrost; widespread coral die-offs; and the collapse of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre, a circular ocean current that helps distribute heat through parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
Countries should strengthen global frameworks for adapting to unstoppable climate impacts and financially supporting the world's most vulnerable populations, the report recommends. It also urges nations to feature tipping points more prominently in their commitments under the Paris climate agreement, factoring the dangers into their carbon-cutting pledges and their assessments of global progress on climate change.
Nations should also invest more resources into the scientific research on the Earth's tipping points, the report adds. And world leaders should organize a global summit devoted to the subject to share knowledge and manage the risks.
Humanity is on the verge of 5 climate 'tipping points,' report warns — ground.news: 45 media reports — 6 December 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 5 December 2023
Podong Indigenous Peoples Initiative, co-designed and co-led by Indigenous Peoples and IUCN, launches at COP28 — iucn — 5 December 2023 (LINK)
Last decade hottest on record, with polar ice melting faster than in the last century, says WMO — ground.news: 7 media reports — 5 December 2023 (LINK)
— The hottest years of the decade were 2016 and 2020 while the six hottest years taken together on record were between 2015 and 2020.
Monday, 4 December 2023
President hits back on big bank day — cityam — 4 December 2023 (LINK)
Latin America must invest up to 4.9% of GDP annually to meet climate goals, up from just 0.5% in 2020 — UN's ECLAC — Reuters ● — 4 December 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 3 December 2023
Al Gore says fossil fuel industry has 'captured the COP process' — commondreams — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Open secret at climate talks: The top temperature goal of 1.5C is mostly gone — politico — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Earth is running a fever. And UN climate talks are focusing on the contagious effect on human health — ground.news main source: AP, 43 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
COP28: UN climate conference kicks off first day centred on health and peace — euronews — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
— The first-ever faith pavilion at a COP was inaugurated. Pope and Grand-Imam sent messages.
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — (LINK)
'No science' behind phasing out fossil fuels, UAE climate host said in November — ground.news main source: CNN/Guardian, 22 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Al Gore's climate watchdog Climate Trace nonprofit reveals gaps in countries' greenhouse gas inventories at U.N. meeting, using satellites and AI — science.org — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
— In 2021 Russia left out greenhouse gases equivalent to 1.5 billion tons of CO2 and the United States missed 400 million tons, much of it driven by CO2 emissions from oil and gas operations. Overall that year, among wealthy nations required to report to the U.N., Climate Trace estimates 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent gases went unreported — some 5% of total global emissions.
— The UAE last estimated emissions of 225 million tons in 2019, but Climate Trace found at least 354 million tons for that year.
For Gore, Climate Trace fulfills a dream he laid out in a 1998 speech at the California Science Center, when he called for a "digital Earth".
Error-detection tool makes AI mistakes easy to spot — spectrum.ieee.org — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Saturday, 2 December 2023
China's solar module production is unmatched in quantity and costs — here's what that means for US solar:"Oversupply will undeniably hinder some of the current expansion plans" — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Biden administration issues rule to cut methane emissions from oil and gas — thehill — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Scientists' discovery deep underground could have massive applications: 'climate holy grail': white hydrogen, also known as natural hydrogen or gold hydrogen, has been found deep below the Earth's surface — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
— Research from the Energy Institute found that 82% of the world's energy consumption came from dirty energy sources in 2022, leading to a 0.8% rise in planet-warming gases expelled into the atmosphere.
Friday, 1 December 2023
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news — (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news: 32 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Thursday, 30 November 2023
U.N. establishes fund for developing nations affected by climate change: the U.S. pledged $17.5 million, while the United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million and the European Union promised $225 million — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Climate change misinformation in Latin America threatens efforts to combat it: A new study looked at the online spread of false narratives in Spanish and Portuguese after climate-fueled natural disasters hit Brazil, Peru and Chile — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Cop28 president denies on eve of summit he abused his position to sign oil deals — ground.news: 30 media reports — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28 should seek total fossil fuel 'phaseout': UN chief to AFP — AFP / barrons — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28: four key issues that will dominate the latest UN climate summit — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— Whether the host really matters, a fight over the agenda, the global stocktake, phasing down (or out) fossil fuels.
COP28: 7 policies could help save a billion lives by 2100 — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— "A 2 C temperature rise equates to a billion prematurely dead people over the next century. Direct mortal effects of climate change include heat waves, which have already caused thousands of human deaths by a combination of heat and humidity and even threaten babies. Intermediate causes of death involve crop failures, droughts, flooding, extreme weather, wildfires and rising seas. Crop failures, in particular, can make global hunger and starvation worse. More frequent and severe droughts can lead to more wildfires that also cause human deaths, as we saw in Hawaii. Droughts can also lead to contaminated water, more frequent disease and deaths from dehydration."
On the other hand, climate change can also cause flooding (and crop failures from too much water), which also drives hunger and disease. Climate change drives sea level rise and the resultant submersion of low-lying coastal areas and storm surges exacerbate flood risks, which are life-threatening for billions of people in coastal cities who face the prospect of forced migration.
Climate change also increases extreme weather events, which kill and cause considerable damage to essential services such as the electric grid and medical facilities. Salt water intrusion also threatens coastal agriculture, further reducing food supplies.
Finally, climate change also indirectly increases the probability of conflict and war. Although the academic consensus on climate-change-induced war is far from settled, there is little doubt climate change amplifies stress and can cause more localized conflict.
- We must mandate all new construction be net-zero buildings or positive energy buildings.
- Mandate mass purchases of energy conservation or renewable energy technologies and make them freely available to everyone with zero-interest loans that are easily paid back with energy savings.
- Immediately end the sale of fossil fuel vehicles which will save considerable carbon and money as electric vehicles already have a lower lifetime cost than gas vehicles).
- Revoke the charters of fossil fuel companies and disperse their assets if a company or industry is responsible for killing more people from emissions than they employ. The United States coal industry already kills more people from air pollution per year than it employs, and that does not include climate change-related deaths.
- Immediately stop investing in more fossil fuels and heavily tax all fossil fuel-related investments, and/or hold climate emitters as well as investors economically liable for harm caused by carbon emissions in the future.
- Retrain fossil fuel workers en masse for renewable energy jobs which would help both society and workers who could expect an on average seven per cent pay rise moving to the solar industry.
- Immediately ban the extraction of fossil fuels with enforced moratoriums.
From climate-denying bots on X/Twitter to Big Oil Facebook ads and right-wing news sites, an echo chamber of disinformation is set to muddy efforts to cut emissions in the UAE — dw — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
UNFCCC partners with Microsoft to use AI and advanced data technology to track global carbon emissions and assess progress under the Paris Agreement — microsoft — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
Monday, 27 November 2023
UAE reportedly planned to use COP28 climate summit to lobby for oil and gas deals — ground.news: 47 media reports — 27 November 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 26 November 2023
Joe Biden will not attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai this week, says US official: contrasts with his attendance at previous COP summits since his inauguration in 2021 — ground.news: 27 media reports — 26 November 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 21 November 2023
The world is careening toward 3 degrees of warming, UN says ahead of climate conference — grist.org — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 — ground.news main source: AP, 20 media reports — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Past week
Ukraine
Gaza
Switzerland
AI / ChatGPT
Media
UN
Putin watch
China
Youth
Travel
Afghanistan
Bahamas
Thailand
Trump
Alt-News
Biden News
Metoo
Covid-19 News
Sites to explore
Digital tools
Catastrophic climate 'tipping points' may be imminent: hundreds of scientists warn that the world must rapidly phase out planet-warming emissions to avoid crossing dangerous thresholds — politico — 6 December 2023 (LINK)
— Chief among the report's recommendations is a rapid phase-out of greenhouse gas emissions from human land use and the burning of fossil fuels. Other tipping points could also be triggered at 1.5 degrees of warming, including unstoppable ice loss in West Antarctica; rampant thawing of permafrost; widespread coral die-offs; and the collapse of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre, a circular ocean current that helps distribute heat through parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
Countries should strengthen global frameworks for adapting to unstoppable climate impacts and financially supporting the world's most vulnerable populations, the report recommends. It also urges nations to feature tipping points more prominently in their commitments under the Paris climate agreement, factoring the dangers into their carbon-cutting pledges and their assessments of global progress on climate change.
Nations should also invest more resources into the scientific research on the Earth's tipping points, the report adds. And world leaders should organize a global summit devoted to the subject to share knowledge and manage the risks.
Podong Indigenous Peoples Initiative, co-designed and co-led by Indigenous Peoples and IUCN, launches at COP28 — iucn — 5 December 2023 (LINK)
Last decade hottest on record, with polar ice melting faster than in the last century, says WMO — ground.news: 7 media reports — 5 December 2023 (LINK)
— The hottest years of the decade were 2016 and 2020 while the six hottest years taken together on record were between 2015 and 2020.
Monday, 4 December 2023
President hits back on big bank day — cityam — 4 December 2023 (LINK)
Latin America must invest up to 4.9% of GDP annually to meet climate goals, up from just 0.5% in 2020 — UN's ECLAC — Reuters ● — 4 December 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 3 December 2023
Al Gore says fossil fuel industry has 'captured the COP process' — commondreams — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Open secret at climate talks: The top temperature goal of 1.5C is mostly gone — politico — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Earth is running a fever. And UN climate talks are focusing on the contagious effect on human health — ground.news main source: AP, 43 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
COP28: UN climate conference kicks off first day centred on health and peace — euronews — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
— The first-ever faith pavilion at a COP was inaugurated. Pope and Grand-Imam sent messages.
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — (LINK)
'No science' behind phasing out fossil fuels, UAE climate host said in November — ground.news main source: CNN/Guardian, 22 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Al Gore's climate watchdog Climate Trace nonprofit reveals gaps in countries' greenhouse gas inventories at U.N. meeting, using satellites and AI — science.org — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
— In 2021 Russia left out greenhouse gases equivalent to 1.5 billion tons of CO2 and the United States missed 400 million tons, much of it driven by CO2 emissions from oil and gas operations. Overall that year, among wealthy nations required to report to the U.N., Climate Trace estimates 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent gases went unreported — some 5% of total global emissions.
— The UAE last estimated emissions of 225 million tons in 2019, but Climate Trace found at least 354 million tons for that year.
For Gore, Climate Trace fulfills a dream he laid out in a 1998 speech at the California Science Center, when he called for a "digital Earth".
Error-detection tool makes AI mistakes easy to spot — spectrum.ieee.org — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Saturday, 2 December 2023
China's solar module production is unmatched in quantity and costs — here's what that means for US solar:"Oversupply will undeniably hinder some of the current expansion plans" — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Biden administration issues rule to cut methane emissions from oil and gas — thehill — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Scientists' discovery deep underground could have massive applications: 'climate holy grail': white hydrogen, also known as natural hydrogen or gold hydrogen, has been found deep below the Earth's surface — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
— Research from the Energy Institute found that 82% of the world's energy consumption came from dirty energy sources in 2022, leading to a 0.8% rise in planet-warming gases expelled into the atmosphere.
Friday, 1 December 2023
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news — (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news: 32 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Thursday, 30 November 2023
U.N. establishes fund for developing nations affected by climate change: the U.S. pledged $17.5 million, while the United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million and the European Union promised $225 million — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Climate change misinformation in Latin America threatens efforts to combat it: A new study looked at the online spread of false narratives in Spanish and Portuguese after climate-fueled natural disasters hit Brazil, Peru and Chile — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Cop28 president denies on eve of summit he abused his position to sign oil deals — ground.news: 30 media reports — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28 should seek total fossil fuel 'phaseout': UN chief to AFP — AFP / barrons — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28: four key issues that will dominate the latest UN climate summit — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— Whether the host really matters, a fight over the agenda, the global stocktake, phasing down (or out) fossil fuels.
COP28: 7 policies could help save a billion lives by 2100 — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— "A 2 C temperature rise equates to a billion prematurely dead people over the next century. Direct mortal effects of climate change include heat waves, which have already caused thousands of human deaths by a combination of heat and humidity and even threaten babies. Intermediate causes of death involve crop failures, droughts, flooding, extreme weather, wildfires and rising seas. Crop failures, in particular, can make global hunger and starvation worse. More frequent and severe droughts can lead to more wildfires that also cause human deaths, as we saw in Hawaii. Droughts can also lead to contaminated water, more frequent disease and deaths from dehydration."
On the other hand, climate change can also cause flooding (and crop failures from too much water), which also drives hunger and disease. Climate change drives sea level rise and the resultant submersion of low-lying coastal areas and storm surges exacerbate flood risks, which are life-threatening for billions of people in coastal cities who face the prospect of forced migration.
Climate change also increases extreme weather events, which kill and cause considerable damage to essential services such as the electric grid and medical facilities. Salt water intrusion also threatens coastal agriculture, further reducing food supplies.
Finally, climate change also indirectly increases the probability of conflict and war. Although the academic consensus on climate-change-induced war is far from settled, there is little doubt climate change amplifies stress and can cause more localized conflict.
- We must mandate all new construction be net-zero buildings or positive energy buildings.
- Mandate mass purchases of energy conservation or renewable energy technologies and make them freely available to everyone with zero-interest loans that are easily paid back with energy savings.
- Immediately end the sale of fossil fuel vehicles which will save considerable carbon and money as electric vehicles already have a lower lifetime cost than gas vehicles).
- Revoke the charters of fossil fuel companies and disperse their assets if a company or industry is responsible for killing more people from emissions than they employ. The United States coal industry already kills more people from air pollution per year than it employs, and that does not include climate change-related deaths.
- Immediately stop investing in more fossil fuels and heavily tax all fossil fuel-related investments, and/or hold climate emitters as well as investors economically liable for harm caused by carbon emissions in the future.
- Retrain fossil fuel workers en masse for renewable energy jobs which would help both society and workers who could expect an on average seven per cent pay rise moving to the solar industry.
- Immediately ban the extraction of fossil fuels with enforced moratoriums.
From climate-denying bots on X/Twitter to Big Oil Facebook ads and right-wing news sites, an echo chamber of disinformation is set to muddy efforts to cut emissions in the UAE — dw — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
UNFCCC partners with Microsoft to use AI and advanced data technology to track global carbon emissions and assess progress under the Paris Agreement — microsoft — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
Monday, 27 November 2023
UAE reportedly planned to use COP28 climate summit to lobby for oil and gas deals — ground.news: 47 media reports — 27 November 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 26 November 2023
Joe Biden will not attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai this week, says US official: contrasts with his attendance at previous COP summits since his inauguration in 2021 — ground.news: 27 media reports — 26 November 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 21 November 2023
The world is careening toward 3 degrees of warming, UN says ahead of climate conference — grist.org — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 — ground.news main source: AP, 20 media reports — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Past week
Ukraine
Gaza
Switzerland
AI / ChatGPT
Media
UN
Putin watch
China
Youth
Travel
Afghanistan
Bahamas
Thailand
Trump
Alt-News
Biden News
Metoo
Covid-19 News
Sites to explore
Digital tools
President hits back on big bank day — cityam — 4 December 2023 (LINK)
Latin America must invest up to 4.9% of GDP annually to meet climate goals, up from just 0.5% in 2020 — UN's ECLAC — Reuters ● — 4 December 2023 (LINK)
Al Gore says fossil fuel industry has 'captured the COP process' — commondreams — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Open secret at climate talks: The top temperature goal of 1.5C is mostly gone — politico — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Earth is running a fever. And UN climate talks are focusing on the contagious effect on human health — ground.news main source: AP, 43 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
COP28: UN climate conference kicks off first day centred on health and peace — euronews — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
— The first-ever faith pavilion at a COP was inaugurated. Pope and Grand-Imam sent messages.
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — (LINK)
'No science' behind phasing out fossil fuels, UAE climate host said in November — ground.news main source: CNN/Guardian, 22 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Al Gore's climate watchdog Climate Trace nonprofit reveals gaps in countries' greenhouse gas inventories at U.N. meeting, using satellites and AI — science.org — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
— In 2021 Russia left out greenhouse gases equivalent to 1.5 billion tons of CO2 and the United States missed 400 million tons, much of it driven by CO2 emissions from oil and gas operations. Overall that year, among wealthy nations required to report to the U.N., Climate Trace estimates 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent gases went unreported — some 5% of total global emissions.
— The UAE last estimated emissions of 225 million tons in 2019, but Climate Trace found at least 354 million tons for that year.
For Gore, Climate Trace fulfills a dream he laid out in a 1998 speech at the California Science Center, when he called for a "digital Earth".
Error-detection tool makes AI mistakes easy to spot — spectrum.ieee.org — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
Saturday, 2 December 2023
China's solar module production is unmatched in quantity and costs — here's what that means for US solar:"Oversupply will undeniably hinder some of the current expansion plans" — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Biden administration issues rule to cut methane emissions from oil and gas — thehill — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Scientists' discovery deep underground could have massive applications: 'climate holy grail': white hydrogen, also known as natural hydrogen or gold hydrogen, has been found deep below the Earth's surface — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
— Research from the Energy Institute found that 82% of the world's energy consumption came from dirty energy sources in 2022, leading to a 0.8% rise in planet-warming gases expelled into the atmosphere.
Friday, 1 December 2023
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news — (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news: 32 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Thursday, 30 November 2023
U.N. establishes fund for developing nations affected by climate change: the U.S. pledged $17.5 million, while the United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million and the European Union promised $225 million — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Climate change misinformation in Latin America threatens efforts to combat it: A new study looked at the online spread of false narratives in Spanish and Portuguese after climate-fueled natural disasters hit Brazil, Peru and Chile — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Cop28 president denies on eve of summit he abused his position to sign oil deals — ground.news: 30 media reports — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28 should seek total fossil fuel 'phaseout': UN chief to AFP — AFP / barrons — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28: four key issues that will dominate the latest UN climate summit — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— Whether the host really matters, a fight over the agenda, the global stocktake, phasing down (or out) fossil fuels.
COP28: 7 policies could help save a billion lives by 2100 — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— "A 2 C temperature rise equates to a billion prematurely dead people over the next century. Direct mortal effects of climate change include heat waves, which have already caused thousands of human deaths by a combination of heat and humidity and even threaten babies. Intermediate causes of death involve crop failures, droughts, flooding, extreme weather, wildfires and rising seas. Crop failures, in particular, can make global hunger and starvation worse. More frequent and severe droughts can lead to more wildfires that also cause human deaths, as we saw in Hawaii. Droughts can also lead to contaminated water, more frequent disease and deaths from dehydration."
On the other hand, climate change can also cause flooding (and crop failures from too much water), which also drives hunger and disease. Climate change drives sea level rise and the resultant submersion of low-lying coastal areas and storm surges exacerbate flood risks, which are life-threatening for billions of people in coastal cities who face the prospect of forced migration.
Climate change also increases extreme weather events, which kill and cause considerable damage to essential services such as the electric grid and medical facilities. Salt water intrusion also threatens coastal agriculture, further reducing food supplies.
Finally, climate change also indirectly increases the probability of conflict and war. Although the academic consensus on climate-change-induced war is far from settled, there is little doubt climate change amplifies stress and can cause more localized conflict.
- We must mandate all new construction be net-zero buildings or positive energy buildings.
- Mandate mass purchases of energy conservation or renewable energy technologies and make them freely available to everyone with zero-interest loans that are easily paid back with energy savings.
- Immediately end the sale of fossil fuel vehicles which will save considerable carbon and money as electric vehicles already have a lower lifetime cost than gas vehicles).
- Revoke the charters of fossil fuel companies and disperse their assets if a company or industry is responsible for killing more people from emissions than they employ. The United States coal industry already kills more people from air pollution per year than it employs, and that does not include climate change-related deaths.
- Immediately stop investing in more fossil fuels and heavily tax all fossil fuel-related investments, and/or hold climate emitters as well as investors economically liable for harm caused by carbon emissions in the future.
- Retrain fossil fuel workers en masse for renewable energy jobs which would help both society and workers who could expect an on average seven per cent pay rise moving to the solar industry.
- Immediately ban the extraction of fossil fuels with enforced moratoriums.
From climate-denying bots on X/Twitter to Big Oil Facebook ads and right-wing news sites, an echo chamber of disinformation is set to muddy efforts to cut emissions in the UAE — dw — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
UNFCCC partners with Microsoft to use AI and advanced data technology to track global carbon emissions and assess progress under the Paris Agreement — microsoft — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
Monday, 27 November 2023
UAE reportedly planned to use COP28 climate summit to lobby for oil and gas deals — ground.news: 47 media reports — 27 November 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 26 November 2023
Joe Biden will not attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai this week, says US official: contrasts with his attendance at previous COP summits since his inauguration in 2021 — ground.news: 27 media reports — 26 November 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 21 November 2023
The world is careening toward 3 degrees of warming, UN says ahead of climate conference — grist.org — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 — ground.news main source: AP, 20 media reports — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Past week
Ukraine
Gaza
Switzerland
AI / ChatGPT
Media
UN
Putin watch
China
Youth
Travel
Afghanistan
Bahamas
Thailand
Trump
Alt-News
Biden News
Metoo
Covid-19 News
Sites to explore
Digital tools
China's solar module production is unmatched in quantity and costs — here's what that means for US solar:"Oversupply will undeniably hinder some of the current expansion plans" — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Biden administration issues rule to cut methane emissions from oil and gas — thehill — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
50 major oil and gas companies agree to cut down methane emissions at COP28 — ground.news: 51 media reports — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 — ground.news — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
Scientists' discovery deep underground could have massive applications: 'climate holy grail': white hydrogen, also known as natural hydrogen or gold hydrogen, has been found deep below the Earth's surface — thecooldown — 2 December 2023 (LINK)
— Research from the Energy Institute found that 82% of the world's energy consumption came from dirty energy sources in 2022, leading to a 0.8% rise in planet-warming gases expelled into the atmosphere.
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news — (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Takeaways from 1 December events at UN climate conference — ground.news: 32 media reports — 3 December 2023 (LINK)
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a climate club where countries pursuing different paths can work together towards a climate-neutral economy, with many countries from the global South interested in joining.
- Financial commitments, including a $30 billion fund from the UAE, were announced.
- Brazil's President pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address climate change.
- Speed was highlighted as a key factor in combatting climate change.
Thursday, 30 November 2023
U.N. establishes fund for developing nations affected by climate change: the U.S. pledged $17.5 million, while the United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million and the European Union promised $225 million — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Climate change misinformation in Latin America threatens efforts to combat it: A new study looked at the online spread of false narratives in Spanish and Portuguese after climate-fueled natural disasters hit Brazil, Peru and Chile — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Cop28 president denies on eve of summit he abused his position to sign oil deals — ground.news: 30 media reports — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28 should seek total fossil fuel 'phaseout': UN chief to AFP — AFP / barrons — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28: four key issues that will dominate the latest UN climate summit — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— Whether the host really matters, a fight over the agenda, the global stocktake, phasing down (or out) fossil fuels.
COP28: 7 policies could help save a billion lives by 2100 — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— "A 2 C temperature rise equates to a billion prematurely dead people over the next century. Direct mortal effects of climate change include heat waves, which have already caused thousands of human deaths by a combination of heat and humidity and even threaten babies. Intermediate causes of death involve crop failures, droughts, flooding, extreme weather, wildfires and rising seas. Crop failures, in particular, can make global hunger and starvation worse. More frequent and severe droughts can lead to more wildfires that also cause human deaths, as we saw in Hawaii. Droughts can also lead to contaminated water, more frequent disease and deaths from dehydration."
On the other hand, climate change can also cause flooding (and crop failures from too much water), which also drives hunger and disease. Climate change drives sea level rise and the resultant submersion of low-lying coastal areas and storm surges exacerbate flood risks, which are life-threatening for billions of people in coastal cities who face the prospect of forced migration.
Climate change also increases extreme weather events, which kill and cause considerable damage to essential services such as the electric grid and medical facilities. Salt water intrusion also threatens coastal agriculture, further reducing food supplies.
Finally, climate change also indirectly increases the probability of conflict and war. Although the academic consensus on climate-change-induced war is far from settled, there is little doubt climate change amplifies stress and can cause more localized conflict.
- We must mandate all new construction be net-zero buildings or positive energy buildings.
- Mandate mass purchases of energy conservation or renewable energy technologies and make them freely available to everyone with zero-interest loans that are easily paid back with energy savings.
- Immediately end the sale of fossil fuel vehicles which will save considerable carbon and money as electric vehicles already have a lower lifetime cost than gas vehicles).
- Revoke the charters of fossil fuel companies and disperse their assets if a company or industry is responsible for killing more people from emissions than they employ. The United States coal industry already kills more people from air pollution per year than it employs, and that does not include climate change-related deaths.
- Immediately stop investing in more fossil fuels and heavily tax all fossil fuel-related investments, and/or hold climate emitters as well as investors economically liable for harm caused by carbon emissions in the future.
- Retrain fossil fuel workers en masse for renewable energy jobs which would help both society and workers who could expect an on average seven per cent pay rise moving to the solar industry.
- Immediately ban the extraction of fossil fuels with enforced moratoriums.
From climate-denying bots on X/Twitter to Big Oil Facebook ads and right-wing news sites, an echo chamber of disinformation is set to muddy efforts to cut emissions in the UAE — dw — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
UNFCCC partners with Microsoft to use AI and advanced data technology to track global carbon emissions and assess progress under the Paris Agreement — microsoft — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
Monday, 27 November 2023
UAE reportedly planned to use COP28 climate summit to lobby for oil and gas deals — ground.news: 47 media reports — 27 November 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 26 November 2023
Joe Biden will not attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai this week, says US official: contrasts with his attendance at previous COP summits since his inauguration in 2021 — ground.news: 27 media reports — 26 November 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 21 November 2023
The world is careening toward 3 degrees of warming, UN says ahead of climate conference — grist.org — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 — ground.news main source: AP, 20 media reports — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
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U.N. establishes fund for developing nations affected by climate change: the U.S. pledged $17.5 million, while the United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million and the European Union promised $225 million — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Climate change misinformation in Latin America threatens efforts to combat it: A new study looked at the online spread of false narratives in Spanish and Portuguese after climate-fueled natural disasters hit Brazil, Peru and Chile — nbcnews — 30 November 2023 (LINK)
Cop28 president denies on eve of summit he abused his position to sign oil deals — ground.news: 30 media reports — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28 should seek total fossil fuel 'phaseout': UN chief to AFP — AFP / barrons — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
COP28: four key issues that will dominate the latest UN climate summit — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— Whether the host really matters, a fight over the agenda, the global stocktake, phasing down (or out) fossil fuels.
COP28: 7 policies could help save a billion lives by 2100 — theconversation — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
— "A 2 C temperature rise equates to a billion prematurely dead people over the next century. Direct mortal effects of climate change include heat waves, which have already caused thousands of human deaths by a combination of heat and humidity and even threaten babies. Intermediate causes of death involve crop failures, droughts, flooding, extreme weather, wildfires and rising seas. Crop failures, in particular, can make global hunger and starvation worse. More frequent and severe droughts can lead to more wildfires that also cause human deaths, as we saw in Hawaii. Droughts can also lead to contaminated water, more frequent disease and deaths from dehydration."
On the other hand, climate change can also cause flooding (and crop failures from too much water), which also drives hunger and disease. Climate change drives sea level rise and the resultant submersion of low-lying coastal areas and storm surges exacerbate flood risks, which are life-threatening for billions of people in coastal cities who face the prospect of forced migration.
Climate change also increases extreme weather events, which kill and cause considerable damage to essential services such as the electric grid and medical facilities. Salt water intrusion also threatens coastal agriculture, further reducing food supplies.
Finally, climate change also indirectly increases the probability of conflict and war. Although the academic consensus on climate-change-induced war is far from settled, there is little doubt climate change amplifies stress and can cause more localized conflict.
- We must mandate all new construction be net-zero buildings or positive energy buildings.
- Mandate mass purchases of energy conservation or renewable energy technologies and make them freely available to everyone with zero-interest loans that are easily paid back with energy savings.
- Immediately end the sale of fossil fuel vehicles which will save considerable carbon and money as electric vehicles already have a lower lifetime cost than gas vehicles).
- Revoke the charters of fossil fuel companies and disperse their assets if a company or industry is responsible for killing more people from emissions than they employ. The United States coal industry already kills more people from air pollution per year than it employs, and that does not include climate change-related deaths.
- Immediately stop investing in more fossil fuels and heavily tax all fossil fuel-related investments, and/or hold climate emitters as well as investors economically liable for harm caused by carbon emissions in the future.
- Retrain fossil fuel workers en masse for renewable energy jobs which would help both society and workers who could expect an on average seven per cent pay rise moving to the solar industry.
- Immediately ban the extraction of fossil fuels with enforced moratoriums.
From climate-denying bots on X/Twitter to Big Oil Facebook ads and right-wing news sites, an echo chamber of disinformation is set to muddy efforts to cut emissions in the UAE — dw — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
UNFCCC partners with Microsoft to use AI and advanced data technology to track global carbon emissions and assess progress under the Paris Agreement — microsoft — 29 November 2023 (LINK)
Monday, 27 November 2023
UAE reportedly planned to use COP28 climate summit to lobby for oil and gas deals — ground.news: 47 media reports — 27 November 2023 (LINK)
Sunday, 26 November 2023
Joe Biden will not attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai this week, says US official: contrasts with his attendance at previous COP summits since his inauguration in 2021 — ground.news: 27 media reports — 26 November 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 21 November 2023
The world is careening toward 3 degrees of warming, UN says ahead of climate conference — grist.org — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 — ground.news main source: AP, 20 media reports — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Past week
Ukraine
Gaza
Switzerland
AI / ChatGPT
Media
UN
Putin watch
China
Youth
Travel
Afghanistan
Bahamas
Thailand
Trump
Alt-News
Biden News
Metoo
Covid-19 News
Sites to explore
Digital tools
UAE reportedly planned to use COP28 climate summit to lobby for oil and gas deals — ground.news: 47 media reports — 27 November 2023 (LINK)
Joe Biden will not attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai this week, says US official: contrasts with his attendance at previous COP summits since his inauguration in 2021 — ground.news: 27 media reports — 26 November 2023 (LINK)
Tuesday, 21 November 2023
The world is careening toward 3 degrees of warming, UN says ahead of climate conference — grist.org — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 — ground.news main source: AP, 20 media reports — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Past week
Ukraine
Gaza
Switzerland
AI / ChatGPT
Media
UN
Putin watch
China
Youth
Travel
Afghanistan
Bahamas
Thailand
Trump
Alt-News
Biden News
Metoo
Covid-19 News
Sites to explore
Digital tools
The world is careening toward 3 degrees of warming, UN says ahead of climate conference — grist.org — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 — ground.news main source: AP, 20 media reports — 21 November 2023 (LINK)
Past week Ukraine Gaza Switzerland AI / ChatGPT Media UN Putin watch China Youth Travel
Afghanistan Bahamas Thailand Trump Alt-News Biden News Metoo Covid-19 News Sites to explore Digital tools
