Climate Change News & Discussions

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This is bad. Very bad.

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CPC weekly update has Niño 3.4 up to +1.9C.
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/ ... ts-web.pdf

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Jets Belonging to 200 Entertainers, CEOs, Oligarchs and Billionaires Produce Equivalent to Emissions of Almost 40,000 Britons
by Michael Goodier and Niels de Hoog
November 21, 2023

Introduction:

(The Guardian) Private jets belonging to 200 celebrities, CEOs, oligarchs and billionaires have spent a combined total of 11 years in the air since the start of 2022.

The carbon footprint of all those flights – a jaw-dropping 44,739 journeys – would be the equivalent of the total emissions of almost 40,000 Britons.

The Guardian used public data to track flights by private aircraft owned by celebrities and businesspeople including Elon Musk, the Rolling Stones, the Murdoch family and Kylie Jenner over 21 months.

The figures track the almost 300 jets belonging to those on the list and find that they emitted an estimated 415,518 tonnes of CO2.
The analysis shows that:

• Among the most polluting jets covered by the list was a Boeing 767 wide-body aircraft owned by the Rolling Stones. It emitted an estimated 5,046 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of someone taking 1,763 return flights from London to New York City in economy class.

Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/environmen ... nce-2022

[Powers]

Our elites bad, their elites more bad.

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Monaco Yacht Buyers Shrug Off Climate Concerns
by Ajit Niranjan
November 21, 2023

Introduction:

(The Guardian) The largest of the yachts in Monaco’s harbour were worth more than the annual GDP of some small island states. But few of the customers touring their decks seemed to care that buying the former would help drown the latter. “I don’t think about this yet,” said Elena Papernaya, an artist who had set her eyes on a mid-sized yacht, when asked if she worried about the damage it would do to the climate.

Kasper Hojgaard, a regional manager for an industrial company who charters yachts for a few weeks each year, said he did not consider climate change “at all” when doing so. His friend Lasse Jensen, a pension fund manager, nodded in agreement. “We are beginning to look a bit more into it, but it’s not playing a role.”

The Monaco yacht show is one of the greatest concentrations of wealth in the world. The event, which calls itself “the ultimate gathering of maritime luxury”, takes place in a tax haven where two in three residents are millionaires. When the Guardian visited in late September, the port was filled with more than 100 superyachts, some of which boasted submersibles and swimming pools. Visitors could book airport transfers in private jets and helicopters.

The true cost of such luxury is paid for, in part, by the rest of society. The top 10% of earners in the EU emit 24.5 times as much planet-heating CO2 through their transport as the bottom 10% do, according to new data from the International Energy Agency . At the extreme end of the spectrum, the carbon footprints of the ultra-rich are inflated by giant yachts, private jets and sports cars with engines that burn barrels of oil.

“There is no other way,” said Christian Largura, an Instagram star and founder of a luxury retail site who was about to buy a superyacht that runs on diesel. “For sure, if it’s possible, you take the green one … [but] if you want a big one, there is nothing fully electric.”

Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/environmen ... concerns

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https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/ ... ts-web.pdf

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Announced at COP28 Climate Talks: This Year Is Hottest in Recorded History

Nov. 30, 2023
Updated 10:25 a.m. ET

This year is “virtually certain” to be the hottest year in recorded history, the World Meteorological Organization announced on Thursday at COP28, the United Nations climate summit in Dubai where delegates from nearly 200 countries, including many heads of state and government, have gathered.

The organization said 2023 has been about 1.4 degrees Celsius, or about 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit, above the global average preindustrial temperature from 1850 to 1990. The past nine years have been the warmest nine in 174 years of recorded scientific observations, with the previous single-year records set in 2020 and 2016. This comes in addition to record greenhouse gas concentrations, sea levels and concentrations of methane.

“It’s a deafening cacophony of broken records,” Petteri Taalas, the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization, said in Dubai.

Although data for the end of the year is still to come, the organization issued a draft of its State of the Global Climate report early in order to inform the talks in Dubai, where diplomats and leaders are trying to negotiate plans to accelerate the global transition away from the fossil fuels that are dangerously heating Earth.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/clim ... =url-share

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How the U.S. and the Oil Industry Plans to Drastically Cut Methane Emissions at the Forefront of COP28
by Stephanie Ebbs, Julia Jacobo, and Kelly Livingston
December 2, 2023

Introduction:

(ABC) The U.S. government and the oil industry have announced plans to drastically reduce emissions of methane, one of the most dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, due to its heightened ability to raise global temperatures.

The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28, is currently underway in Dubai, where 50 major oil and gas companies have agreed to a deal that will reduce methane emissions to .2% by 2030.

The announcement was made on Saturday by the Environmental Defense Fund and COP28 President-designate Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who also serves as CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp explained that the deal, dubbed the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Compact, requires these companies to reduce their methane emissions by about 80% to 90% within the next five years while submitting monitoring records to an international verification body.

"In the last year, we've seen really dramatic and grave effects of climate change," Krupp told ABC News. "So it's refreshing to see today from COP28, good news -- not that we've solved climate change --there's way more that needs to be done, but we're dramatically reducing the most potent greenhouse gas: methane."

Read more here: https://abcnews.go.com/International/u ... h%20as

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Impact of Climate Change On Marine Species Distribution
by Tanya Chaturvedi
December 4, 2023

Introduction:

(The Logical Indian) A recent study published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution reveals that rising sea temperatures, attributed to climate change, are compelling tropical marine species to migrate towards the poles. Simultaneously, temperate species are retracting due to increased competition for habitat and the emergence of new predators, marking a phenomenon termed "tropicalisation."

The extensive research, coincidentally released at the onset of COP28 in Dubai, sheds light on the ecological upheaval in oceans. The mass migration of marine life is not only transforming ecosystems but is also expected to have profound consequences for biodiversity and potentially impact the global economy.

Climate change has altered crucial factors influencing species dispersal, such as ocean currents that separate tropical/subtropical and temperate regions. The warming of warm-water boundary currents at a faster rate than the global seawater average is facilitating the movement of species towards the poles and contributing to the retraction of temperate species.

The Mediterranean Sea is identified as a "tropicalisation hotspot," with a surge in tropical species. Karolina Zarzyczny, a researcher at the University of Southampton and lead author of the study, emphasizes the far-reaching ecological and evolutionary consequences of tropicalisation, which may alter global diversity patterns.

The study, based on an extensive review of literature from the past two decades, aims to highlight the gaps in understanding the long-term evolutionary consequences of diverse species coexisting. Suzanne Williams, Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum, UK, and co-author of the paper, notes the lack of comprehension regarding the evolutionary outcomes when new species inhabit the same environment.

Read more here: https://thelogicalindian.com/trending ... ogy-41525

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https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/ ... ts-web.pdf

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Open Letter: The World Needs a Transformational Outcome, Not More Voluntary Pledges
by Al Jonson Kurts
December 1, 2023

Introduction:

(Oil Change International)

Dear COP28 Presidency,

Over 320 civil society organizations say:

This United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) must unlock an equitable global energy transition that phases out fossil fuels – the primary cause of the climate crisis.

COP28 has the potential to be an historic moment in confronting the climate crisis. The COP28 Presidency has an opportunity to secure a transformational negotiated outcome, if it secures a robust negotiated energy package, including an unambiguous agreement to end all new oil and gas expansion, a clear call to equitably and rapidly phase out all fossil fuels, and a commitment to triple deployment of nature-positive and community-beneficial renewable energy and double energy efficiency.

However, instead of focusing on this historic opportunity, the COP28 Presidency appears to have been encouraging fossil fuel companies to make yet another set of hollow voluntary pledges, with no accountability mechanism or guarantee the companies will follow through. Releasing another in the long succession of voluntary industry commitments that end up being breached will not make COP28 a success. Voluntary efforts are insufficient, and are a distraction from the task at hand.

Over 310 civil society organizations agree: COP28 must adopt a comprehensive energy transformation package with legal force – including a full, fast, fair, and funded fossil fuel phaseout, renewable energy and energy efficiency targets, real protections for people and nature, and massively scaled up public funding on fair terms. This is a chance for the COP28 Presidency to show true leadership.

This year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reiterated its finding multiple times that any new oil, gas and coal expansion beyond existing fields and mines is incompatible with keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C). The November 2023 update of the Global Oil & Gas Exit List confirmed that oil and gas companies worldwide still plan to produce far more oil and gas than can ever be burned to limit warming to 1.5ºC – with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) ranking very worst in terms of overshoot beyond the IEA’s 1.5ºC scenario.

The only way to achieve the ambition of the Paris Agreement is to substantially reduce the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels, starting now. In fact, Oil Change International research shows that far too much oil, gas, and coal is already developed: 60% of the fossil fuels in currently active fields and mines must stay in the ground to limit global temperature to 1.5 °C.

Read more here: https://priceofoil.org/2023/12/01/ogda/

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Win for Climate Movement as 117 Countries Announce Commitment to Triple Renewable Energy Capacity but Decry the Industry Transition Accelerator as a Dangerous Distraction
December 2, 2023

Introduction:

(350.org via Common Dreams) DUBAI - Today, 117 countries have announced a commitment to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030. Powering up renewables is a tremendous development and one that 350.org has outlined as vital in keeping to a 1.5-degree temperature limit.

However, the non-binding Industry Transition Accelerator announced in the same speech as the triple renewable energy does not deliver meaningful steps towards reducing emissions and takes attention away from the need to phase out all fossil fuels, oil, coal, and gas.

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/ ... traction