26/10/2016

Global CO2 Concentration Passes Threshold of 400 ppm—And That’s Bad for the Climate

Time - 

Scientists say humans may need to take some carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to stop global warming 
Steam rises from the cooling towers of the coal power plant of RWE, one of Europe's biggest electricity and gas companies in Niederaussem, Germany, on Mar. 3, 2016. Wolfgang Rattay—Reuters 
The average level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere across the globe passed 400 parts per million (ppm) last year, a symbolic and worrying milestone in growth of manmade climate change, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed Monday.
The carbon dioxide concentration is unlikely to dip below the 400 ppm mark for at least several decades, even with aggressive efforts to reduce global carbon emissions, according to the WMO report, which confirms similar findings reported last month. Carbon dioxide can last in the atmosphere for thousands of years without efforts to remove it.
“The year 2015 ushered in a new era of optimism and climate action,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, referring to the landmark Paris Agreement to address climate change. “The real elephant in the room is carbon dioxide, which remains in the atmosphere for thousands of years and in the oceans for even longer.”
Governments from across the globe committed to cutting their carbon dioxide emissions in the Paris Agreement, negotiated at the end of 2015, but most climate policy experts believe that scientists will need to develop cost-effective methods to actually pull the gas out of the atmosphere to keeping the globe from warming more than 2°C (3.6°F) by 2100. That’s the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement and the level that, if crossed, scientists say could bring the worst effects of climate change.
Passing the 400 ppm threshold will not trigger any devastating effect by itself, but it does provide one metric of just how fast humans are emitting carbon dioxide. It is the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere that actually intensifies the greenhouse effect, in turn warming the climate. (On Venus, where carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere reach 30,000 ppm, the average surface temperature is a toasty 864 F (462 C).
Just what level of carbon concentration in the atmosphere poses an irrevocable danger is up for debate. Many scientists pegged 450 ppm as a red line, while others have said 350 ppm—which the Earth passed years ago—is the safe upper limit. (The Bill McKibben-led climate advocacy group 350.org takes its name from that number.)
The reality is that there is no absolute red line—climate change isn’t catastrophic at 401 ppm and safe at 399 ppm. But we do know that the more carbon we put into the atmosphere with no ability to take it out, the warner the world will get.
The finding comes as the globe continues to experience record a series of temperature records. Eleven of the last 12 months have been the hottest on record and 2016 is widely expected to be the hottest year ever recorded. At the same time, governments from around the globe have made significant progress on the issue in the last several months—from quick ratification of the Paris Agreement to passage of new deals on aviation and HFC emissions.

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Coal Will Be Important 'For Many, Many Decades To Come', Says Turnbull

The Guardian - 

Turnbull arguses that the effort to ‘strangle the Australian coal industry is not going to do anything to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions’. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP
Malcolm Turnbull has declared coal will be part of Australia’s energy mix for “many, many, many decades to come” as a critical Senate bloc expressed opposition to so-called “green lawfare” changes designed to limit the legal standing of conservation groups in court proceedings.
Turnbull made the bullish observation about coal during a radio interview in Brisbane on Tuesday morning, arguing that the effort to “strangle the Australian coal industry is not going to do anything to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions”.
The prime minister’s comments came as Nick Xenophon said he was very unlikely to support legislation removing the right of most environmental organisations to challenge developments under federal laws unless they can demonstrate they are directly affected.
He said he might support amendments “around the edges, in cases where legal challenges were vexatious” but he was not persuaded about the need for a substantial overhaul.
“I have not been convinced of the need for change,” Xenophon told Guardian Australia.
Xenophon opposed the change in the last parliament when it was proposed by Tony Abbott, backed by the majority of the then Senate crossbench.
On the ABC, Turnbull suggested the government might attempt to persuade Labor to look at the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act on the basis that decisions were being “unreasonably delayed” and unreasonable delay in many instances was the same as a denial.
The prime minister linked the issue to housing affordability.
“If you talk to developers, if you talk to investors, this has been an issue across Queensland, across Australia, that the processes for getting approval take too long.
“It’s one of the issues that affects housing affordability, there’s too much red tape, there’s too much delay,” Turnbull said.
“Nobody wants to take shortcuts on environmental matters, least of all me. But there has been far too much delay.”
Turnbull’s comments on coal are something of a departure from a signal that the environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, sent when taking on his new portfolio in July.
In an interview with Guardian Australia, Frydenberg said “I accept that a transition is occurring away from coal and that is not a bad thing.
“Coal-generated power is still a part of our energy mix, with today about 60%, but that has come down from 70% a decade ago,” Frydenberg said on 28 July. “It’s coming down, and the market is bringing on this change.”
On Tuesday, Turnbull said his government had signed an agreement in Paris to reduce carbon emissions, but coal remained part of the energy landscape, either because Australia exported it, or because other countries exported it.
“Coal is going to be an important part of our energy mix, there is no question about that, for many, many, many decades to come, on any view,” the prime minister told the ABC.
“The reality is that Australia’s coal, compared to that from other countries, is relatively clean. The fact is if we stopped all of our coal exports tomorrow you would simply have more coal exported from other countries, like Indonesia, like Colombia, like China, that would be filling the gap,” he said.
“Trying to strangle the Australian coal industry is not going to do anything to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.”
Federal cabinet was meeting in Brisbane on Tuesday.
Turnbull was asked during a press conference how it felt to be a more unpopular prime minister than Tony Abbott after the latest Newspoll indicated his voter support had dropped below Abbott’s last ​reading before he was ousted as prime minister in September last year.
“Thank you very much,” the prime minister said in response to the question.
He got a follow-up question on voter approval. Turnbull said he was focused on delivery, not popularity.
“The important thing for me, as prime minister, and for my government, is to get on with the job of governing and delivering, and that is what we’re doing,” Turnbull said.
“We are delivering, we are governing, we are delivering the jobs and growth that we promised, and we will continue to do so.”
“There will be distractions, of course. That’s in the nature of politics. But we will govern, we will lead, and we will deliver.”

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Climate Change Could Spark The World’s Next Financial Crisis, Former Bank Of England Executive Warns

The Independent - Emily Cadman

‘You don’t need to believe in climate change, you don’t need to believe that it is man-made. You just need to believe that governments are going to do stuff and that is going to affect your business. And then it is a material risk'
A sudden repricing of assets as a result of climate change could trigger the next financial crisis, according to a former BoE veteran Getty
Climate change could spark the world’s next financial crisis, according to Paul Fisher, who retired this year as deputy head of the Bank of England body that supervises the country’s banks.
“It is potentially a systemic risk,” Mr Fisher said Monday in an interview in Sydney.
A sudden repricing of assets as a result of climate change “could be the trigger for the next financial crisis,” he added.
Mr Fisher, a 26-year veteran of the UK central bank, pointed to the renewed fall in sterling earlier this month, after the Government set out a timetable for leaving the European Union, as an example of the way that prices can shift suddenly.
“That is exactly the sort of event you might get with climate change,” said Mr Fisher, formerly deputy head of the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority.
Signs that governments are growing increasingly serious about tackling climate change suggest that businesses need to be ready for greater regulation, Mr Fisher said.
China and the US agreed at the G20 meeting in Hangzhou last month to ratify the Paris accord designed to limit global warming, bringing two of the world’s largest emitters of carbon pollution on board with an agreement to control temperature increases.
A paper presented to the Hangzhou G20 meeting by the UK’s Cambridge Centre for Sustainable Finance urged financial institutions to improve the way they assess climate risks.
“You don’t need to believe in climate change, you don’t need to believe that it is man-made,” Mr Fisher said.
“You just need to believe that governments are going to do stuff and that is going to affect your business. And then it is a material risk.”
Climate change protests around the world. View 25 images
Risks associated with climate change come both from the effect on valuations of the transition towards a lower carbon economy, as well as from the cost of adapting if global warming isn’t checked, according to Andrew Gray, an investment manager at AustralianSuper, the country’s biggest pension fund.
“Climate change is a genuine investment risk,” Mr Gray said at a Citigroup Inc conference in Sydney last week.
Mr Fisher said there is a possibility of unexpected moves in financial markets as a result of climate change.
He warned of the chance of a: “system-wide repricing of assets happening quite suddenly.”

Copyright Bloomberg

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