Lethal Heating: 06/16/19

16/06/2019

This Is A $15 Trillion Opportunity For Farmers To Fight Climate Change

CNBC - Lori Ioannou

Indigo Agriculture, the Boston-based start-up that uses natural microbiology to revolutionize the way farmers grow crops, has unveiled a first-of-a-kind program to tackle climate change worldwide.
The company launched the Terraton Initiative on Wednesday to accelerate carbon sequestration from agricultural soil on a massive scale.
The goal: to capture 1 trillion metric tons (a teraton) of carbon dioxide worldwide from 3.6 billion acres of farmland through a marketplace that gives farmers incentives to implement regenerative farming practices.
Capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide from agricultural soil is a way to restore soil health while returning carbon levels to those prior to the Industrial Revolution, according to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Today many environmental experts say agricultural farming emits 25% to 35% of all CO₂ into the atmosphere — more than all modes of transportation combined. The trend has contributed to extreme changes in weather that are reducing crop yields and making livestock more vulnerable to disease.
All this threatens the global food supply as demand from a booming global population grows.
“The potential for agricultural soils to capture and store atmospheric carbon dioxide is the most hopeful solution I know of to address climate change,” said David Perry, Indigo’s CEO. “The technology and know-how for regenerative farming already exists, so we can begin to make a difference right now.”
“And this can be done on a massive scale,” says the company’s co-founder and chief innovation officer, Geoffrey von Maltzahn.
These practices include minimal tillage of the soil, cover cropping, crop rotations, using fewer chemicals and fertilizers, and incorporating livestock grazing. These are all ways to increase soil’s carbon content and water retention so less CO₂ is released into the atmosphere.
As Maltzahn explains, soils play a key role in the carbon cycle by soaking up carbon from dead plant matter. Plants absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and pass carbon to the ground when dead roots and leaves decompose. But it can cause carbon to be released from the soil at a faster rate than it is replaced. This net release of carbon to the atmosphere contributes to global warming.

A marketplace to capture CO2
To catalyze the initiative, Indigo is creating the Indigo Carbon marketplace. Growers who join Indigo Carbon for the 2019 crop season are eligible to receive $15 per metric ton of carbon dioxide sequestered.
In partnership with the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium and other organizations, such as The Rodale Institute and the Soil Health Institute, Indigo will use its digital agronomy capabilities and software imagery analysis to measure and verify soil carbon sequestration and on-farm emission levels.

At the same time, Indigo is partnering initially with the Soil Health Institute, the Rodale Institute, and a network of grower partners to launch the largest longitudinal study of soil carbon on record. The goal of the study, which will include tens of thousands of farms followed for a decade or more, is to quantify farming practices that maximize soil carbon sequestration and understand the impact of these practices on farm profitability and crop nutrition.
The results of this study will form the blueprint for maximizing soil carbon sequestration. Indigo intends to make the data from this study available to other research institutions.

We are willing to put our balance sheet at risk for the first year, because we have a high degree of confidence we will have buyers and other partners to help cover the costs.
David Perry
Indigo Agriculture CEO

Initially, Indigo will market the initiative to its 10,000 grower customers worldwide through its account managers and agronomists. They will be testing soil samples to determine carbon and nutrient concentrations. But the exchange is open to everyone.
To encourage innovation and participation in the effort, Indigo is launching several open calls to action. This includes the Carbon Cup, a nationwide sequestration competition to spark on-farm innovation. Broken down on a region-by-region basis, first-place growers competing in the Carbon Cup will receive recognition and a monetary prize for their efforts.
Additionally, Indigo is launching a series of challenges, calling on innovators and entrepreneurs to develop technologies for maximizing soil carbon sequestration rates, improving soil carbon measurements and reducing the need for chemical and fertilizer inputs. Winning innovations will be awarded $1 million contracts by Indigo.

Source: Mauna Loa Observatory

The hope is that this effort will encourage more innovation in sustainable farming practices worldwide and encourage all parties in the food chain — from food companies and packaged goods companies to retailers — to align business practices toward this goal. Many companies are seeking ways to be carbon neutral, and many investors, insurance companies and nonprofits are eager to support such endeavors.
One of the first companies on board is Anheuser-Busch. It has agreed to buy 2.2 billion of Indigo sustainable rice that is grown with specific environmental attributes. Growers contracting with Indigo to produce rice for Anheuser-Busch will reduce water and nitrogen use by 10% and achieve at least 10% savings in greenhouse-gas emissions compared to state benchmarks.
Sparking a revolution in farming
The effort sounds like a cool idea from a company that snared the top spot for its innovations on CNBC’s 2019 Disruptor 50 list in May. But it may be challenging to scale up. The investment costs are high.
But Perry says it has a coffer of capital for these payouts to jump-start the initiative, and investors are supportive of the idea that could be a game changer in the fight against global warming. Currently, the company has a valuation of $3.5 billion and $650 million in VC funding, PitchBook reports.
“We are committed to this project, and all of our investors are on board,” Perry said. “We are willing to put our balance sheet at risk for the first year, because we have a high degree of confidence we will have buyers and other partners to help cover the costs.”
Then there is the issue of igniting a paradigm shift toward regenerative farming.
According to Indigo’s Maltzahn, “there is a group of regenerative growers who are remarkable entrepreneurs that gave Indigo the inspiration to do this. Many have been commissioned by Indigo to be consultants and teach methods to other farmers to spur adoption.”
Among them is Russell Hedrick, a fireman-turned-grain farmer in Hickory, North Carolina.
Hedrick used regenerative practices taught by leading conservationists that has helped him grow the 30-acre farm he started in 2012 into a 1,000-acre farm and a 100-acre parcel for cattle and sheep grazing.
“A lot of these practices were used hundreds of years ago by farmers in the U.S.,” he says. “I think this is a way for farmers who are struggling to change their practices and boost profitability.”

Links

Pope Francis Backs Carbon Pricing And 'Radical Energy Transition' To Act Against Global Warming

ABC News - Reuters

The Pope has spoken extensively about climate change's impacts on the poor and future generations. (Malacanang Photo Bureau, Philippines)

Pope Francis says that carbon pricing is "essential" to stem global warming — his clearest statement yet in support of penalising polluters — and appealed to climate change deniers to listen to science.
In an address to energy executives at the end of a two-day meeting, he also called for "open, transparent, science-based and standardised" reporting of climate risk and a "radical energy transition" away from carbon to save the planet.
Carbon pricing, via taxes or emissions trading schemes, is used by many governments to make energy consumers pay for the costs of using the fossil fuels that contribute to global warming, and to spur investment in low-carbon technology.
The Vatican did not release the names of those who attended the closed-door meeting at its Academy of Sciences, a follow-up to one a year ago, but industry sources said the companies represented were believed to be the industry giants Eni, Exxon, Total, Repsol, BP, Sinopec, ConocoPhillips, Equinor and Chevron.
A small group of demonstrators gathered outside a Vatican gate.
One held a sign reading "Dear Oil CEOs — Think of Your Children".
Pope Francis, who has made many calls for environmental protection and has clashed over climate change with leaders such as US President Donald Trump, said the ecological crisis "threatens the very future of the human family".

'Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony'

California's long-running drought has exacerbated its annual fire seasons in recent years. (AP: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department)

He implicitly criticised those who, like Mr Trump, deny that climate change is mostly caused by human activity.

"For too long we have collectively failed to listen to the fruits of scientific analysis, and doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain," he said.

The regions most at risk from climate hazards are Asia-Pacific and South Asia. (Supplied)

He said discussion of climate change and energy transition must be rooted in "the best scientific research available today".
Last year, Mr Trump rejected projections in a report by his own government that climate change will cause severe economic harm to the US economy.
The US President also announced his intent to withdraw the country from the 2015 Paris deal to combat climate change, becoming the first country to do so among 200 signatories.
Francis's 2015 encyclical Laudato Si' — a significant document on Church teaching — called for greater protections of the environment, and strongly supported the Paris accord, and said time was running out to meet its goals.

"Faced with a climate emergency, we must take action accordingly, in order to avoid perpetrating a brutal act of injustice towards the poor and future generations," he said.

"We do not have the luxury of waiting for others to step forward, or of prioritising short-term economic benefits."

The new US foe

The Trump administration insists climate change is not a big deal, but the Pentagon can see its bases going under water with its own eyes. This is how it's fighting back.

Oil companies have come under growing pressure from investors and activists to meet the Paris goals.
Companies including Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Total have laid out plans to expand their renewable energy business and reduce emissions, though many investors say they will have to do more.

Links

Norway's $US1 Trillion Sovereign Wealth Fund To Dump Billions In Coal Investments

ABC News - Stephanie Chalmers

Norway's sovereign wealth fund may offload coal investments, including its stake in BHP. (Supplied: BHP)

Key points:

Environmental group Urgewald says the fund will have to offload stakes in companies including BHP, South32 and AGL Energy

Rules will exclude companies that mine more than 20 million tonnes of coal annually or generate more than 10 GW of power from coal

The fund is already prevented from investing in companies that derive more than 30 per cent of revenue from coal

The world's largest sovereign wealth fund will divest from a slew of coal companies and oil explorers and producers, after Norway's parliament approved tighter investment rules.
Norwegian politicians voted in favour of excluding the $US1 trillion fund from investing in companies that mine more than 20 million tonnes of coal annually or generate more than 10 gigawatts of power from coal.
The country's Government Pension Fund Global currently holds a $US1 billion stake in commodities giant Glencore, as well as investments in Australian companies BHP, South32 and AGL Energy.
Non-profit environmental group Urgewald said the new rules mean the fund will have to divest from those companies, as well as Anglo American, Italy's Enel and Germany's RWE and Uniper.
The new coal investment restrictions come on top of existing rules preventing the fund from investing in companies that derived more than 30 per cent of revenue from coal.
Urgewald estimates the divestments resulting from the new restrictions will total 5.1 billion euros ($8.3 billion), on top of the 4 billion euros the fund shed in 2015 when it adopted its first coal exclusion criteria.
"It is great to see Norway divesting some of the biggest enemies of the Paris Climate Agreement," said Urgewald director Heffa Schuecking, while urging the fund to also exclude companies that are planning new coal plants, coal mines or other coal infrastructure.

'Signal to the rest of the market'
Norway's sovereign wealth fund will also offload stakes in oil and gas explorers and producers, but retain investments in integrated energy companies including Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil.
When first proposing the move in March, Norway's finance ministry said it was aimed at reducing the "aggregate oil price risk in the Norwegian economy".
The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), a European group representing 170 members with a collective $US26 trillion in assets under management, has welcomed the decision by Norway's parliament.
"The multi-billion-dollar move out of fossil fuels into renewables by the world's largest sovereign wealth fund sends a clear signal to rest of the market," said IIGCC chief executive Stephanie Pfeifer.

"Other investors will take note when a fund built on oil shows the future is in clean energy."

Norway's sovereign wealth fund was established to manage petroleum revenues from the North Sea oil fields.
Oil and gas companies represent 5.9 per cent of its equity investments, according to its 2018 annual report, and it currently invests more than 9,000 companies worldwide.

Links