27/12/2020

(AU) Climate Of Change Puts Business And Coalition At Odds

Sydney Morning Herald -  Nick O'Malley | Mike Foley

The energy analyst Tim Buckley keeps a working folder on his computer in which he tracks announcements made by major financial institutions that are no longer insuring, lending to, or investing in, companies that are heavily engaged in coal.

In 2018 Buckley, who works for the pro-renewables Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, noted 31 major outfits abandoned coal.

In 2019 the list was a third larger again, with 46 major outfits dumping coal.

This year Buckley noted 68 exclusions and calculated that the number of announcements per week had more than doubled from 0.6 to 1.4.

The community has increasingly come to view a “net-zero” future as “the only safe future” and companies and investors are now responding to that. Credit: Glenn Hunt

The trickle had become a steady flow by mid-year and by year’s end a flood, says Buckley, with governments themselves following the path away from fossil-fuel heavy investments trodden first by investors.

Last Friday, Boris Johnson, who is busy making common ground with US President-elect Joe Biden over climate, announced Britain would not support any new international projects in oil, natural gas or thermal coal - which is burned to generate electricity.

At the global Climate Ambition Summit hosted by Britain, France and the United Nations the following day (from which Australia was excluded from speaking) Pakistan announced it would build no new coal power plants.

Energy analyst Tim Buckley has charted the number of financial institutions who no longer back companies involved in the coal industry.
On Monday another of South Korea’s top four banks, Woori, announced it would cease lending to coal interests and begin to “retrieve” capital already invested in coal as loans expired or came up for renewal.

Also on Monday Canada’s Scotiabank became the fifth and last major bank in that country to announce it would no longer fund drilling in the Arctic, prompting Buckley to note that coal exclusion is increasingly extending to other fossil fuels.

“They used to carve off coal and throw it under the bus,” he says of the institutions. “It’s more common now to see oil and gas get chucked under too.″⁣

Anna Skarbek is a former investment banker who is now executive director of the non-profit climate change advisory ClimateWorks Australia.

Skarbek says she has detected a shift in culture and perspective from Australian boardrooms this year.

Where once the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance issues (ESG refers to how companies or investors measure the social and sustainability impact of investments) may once have been seen as fringe, they are now viewed as critical.

Skarbek says that either in conjunction with the response to the pandemic or in parallel, society has made it clear to business leaders that it draws certain lines and demands certain behaviours. Business leaders, she says, have heard.

ClimateWorks chief Anna Skarbek appearing at the Financial Review Energy and Climate Summit last month. Credit: Louie Douvis
According to Skarbek, corporate Australia was shocked by the Juukan Gorge incident in Western Australia, in which Rio Tinto proved incapable of measuring the monetary value of a sacred site and destroyed it for profit.

An act like that would now be unthinkable, she says. Similarly the community has increasingly come to view a “net-zero” future as “the only safe future” and companies and investors are now responding to that.

But the shift in corporate attitudes has not been reflected in federal government circles. Australia remains the only developed nation not to have committed to a mid-century net-zero emissions target, and some cabinet members are determined to push back against capital flight from fossil fuels.

This week in federal parliament an inquiry was launched to question banks and insurers over their plans to reduce support for new mines and coal-fired power plants due to global warming.

The inquiry will be led by climate change sceptic and Nationals MP George Christensen, who chairs the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth.

Resources Minister Keith Pitt backed the inquiry, arguing strong demand for international coal would continue and criticising the situation which had emerged where mining-related businesses like ports, engineering and mechanical can’t get “indemnity insurance because you might work in a coal mine for part of your work”.

However, chief executive of the Investor Group on Climate Change Emma Herd says it’s unlikely the government can reverse the trend of financial institutions phasing out support for high-emissions industries and climate-sensitive industries.

“The global financial sector’s appetite for both high-emitting and climate-sensitive industries is moving fast and it will impact those companies’ ability to access capital,” Herd says.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Resources Minister Keith Pitt in June. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“COVID-19 has accelerated the movement. Economic disruption has meant the finance sector, which previously took an incremental approach, is taking big steps out of industries with climate risks, because cheap monetary settings have created the opportunity to move quickly into new industries.”

Financial support for coal in particular has become a flashpoint in Canberra in recent months, particularly after ANZ’s October climate policy announcement.

It is directing its 100 biggest emitting customers in energy, transport, building, food and agriculture to work with it to develop a plan to “establish or strengthen low carbon transition plans”.

The National Party came out swinging. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said “banks are not, and should not try to become, society’s moral compass” and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said a bank forcing industry to report their emissions was “sheer virtue signalling”.

Climate policy and the coal industry have become a proxy test for McCormack. Some in the party who are agitating for leadership change appear to set an impossible task to build new coal power plants and drop support for renewables.

Senator Matt Canavan and New England MP Barnaby Joyce promoted government support for coal when they toured the Hunter Valley in November. They also criticised the NSW government’s energy road map to dramatically boost renewable energy generation ahead of the planned rolling closures of coal plants starting with the Liddell power station.

But financial regulators have recognised companies need to get serious about climate risk to their investments.

In November Australia’s finance sector, including big insurance companies, major banks, and superannuation funds, endorsed a policy to deal with climate change and other sustainability issues.

Finance regulators the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority have endorsed the road map.

Herd says the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative (ASFI) road map showed the sector was “going to push hard into more sustainable industries”.

“ASFI is all about how to do the knitting of the finance sector. If the government says to the finance sector ‘stick to your knitting on climate change’, ASFI is the sector’s way of saying this is our knitting.”

Jacki Johnson, co-chair of AFSI says the road map was “seeking to re-orient capital – where capital is lent, what it insures and where it is invested”.

Outgoing executive board member at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Geoff Summerhayes said last month Australia’s financial system was already responding to threats from climate change.

“Financial regulators recognise the material risk presented by climate change for the finance sector, and are acting to support the industry as it addresses these risks and also the opportunities where they occur,” Summerhayes said.

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(USA) Children Are The Key To Addressing Climate Change And Improving Environmental Health

The Hill - Marianne Sullivan | Nsedu Obot Witherspoon | Kristie Trousdale

© Getty Images
Authors
  • Marianne Sullivan is a professor at William Paterson University of New Jersey’s Department of Public Health
  • Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPH, serves as the executive director for the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN)
  • Kristie Trousdale, MPH, is the deputy director of the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN)
The outgoing (Trump) administration has been particularly hard on children.

Notable examples include the inhumane family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border and the largely uncontrolled COVID-19 outbreak and associated school closures which are having profound impacts on our children’s learning, socialization and mental health.

Less visibly, our children’s health has also been harmed by the current administration’s unprecedented actions to undermine environmental regulations and their enforcement. 

Over the last four years we have lost both time and ground protecting children from climate change, air and water pollution, toxic chemicals and other environmental threats.

The change in presidential administrations provides both hope and opportunity — to not only fix the Trump administration’s environmental backsliding — but to take decisive action to secure our children’s environments now and for the future. 

Children have increased vulnerability to many environmental health threats — and low-income children and children of color are most at risk. Therefore, it is important to prioritize both children’s health and environmental justice in our policy-making. 

Below, we offer some recommendations for what the incoming administration could do to secure our children’s health and their futures.

►First, the federal government and the states must rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Children are extremely susceptible to climate change impacts like increased air pollution, natural disasters, rising heat index, and infectious disease. 

Nevertheless over the last four years, the administration gutted regulations that would decrease emissions of greenhouse gases. 

In February, the World Health Organization issued the stark warning that the world is “failing to provide children with a healthy life and a climate fit for their future.”

►Second, the administration should commit to improving the nation’s childcare and K-12 school infrastructure. 

A recent GAO report found 54 percent of the country’s school districts need more than one major facility upgrade and 36,000 public schools have HVAC systems that need work or replacement. The poor state of school infrastructure has been a challenge to safe re-opening during COVID-19. 

Further, childcare facilities need to be accessible, affordable, healthy, safe, and open for parents to return to work or to effectively work from home. Improving environmental conditions in the buildings where kids spend a significant amount of time will reduce respiratory infections, allergies, asthma exacerbations and improve learning.

►Third, the EPA should both improve enforcement of air and water pollution regulations and further tighten existing standards. 

Air pollution is linked to low birth weight, preterm delivery, respiratory illness, impaired lung function, and asthma exacerbations. 

In 2017, 62 percent of U.S. children lived in a county where one or more air pollutants exceeded federal standards. 

Ignoring recent science, the current administration has failed to strengthen standards for fine particles which have adverse effects on children’s brain development, and for ozone pollution, which is particularly dangerous for children since their lungs are still developing.

►Fourth, the EPA and HUD can do more to eliminate children’s lead exposure, from paint in older homes and schools, drinking water, soil, air, and consumer products. 

Hundreds of thousands of U.S. children still have elevated blood lead levels. Six years after the Flint crisis was uncovered, we do not have a national plan for rapidly replacing millions of remaining lead service lines — the primary source of lead in drinking water. 

The 2018 Federal Action Plan to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposure must be updated to include the regulatory updates, action steps, timelines, and budgetary requests to effectively eliminate childhood lead exposure.

►Fifth, the EPA should work swiftly to protect infants and children from hazardous chemicals, particularly those that can harm brain development, interfere with hormones or cause cancer. 

Bipartisan progress was made in 2016 with the passage of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, intended to improve chemical regulation, with heightened consideration of risks to infants and children. 

The outgoing administration has weakened the law’s implementation, including provisions that protect vulnerable populations like children.

►Sixth, the EPA should strengthen its Office of Children’ Health Protection, a small office which lost expertise and funding in the last four years. 

The agency should also restore funding for children’s environmental health research that was cut by the outgoing administration.

The change in presidential administrations is an opportunity to put children’s environmental health and equity at the center of our approach to regulating pollution today and ensuring a habitable planet in the future. 

By protecting those who are most vulnerable to environmental threats, we will undoubtedly improve health and quality of life for all.

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2020 Closes Hottest Decade On Record Due To Climate Change

Geo News
 ► 2020 has already shown near-record heat comparable to the previous record of 2016
 ►  Since the 1980s each decade has been warmer than the previous one

Smoke and steam billow from the Belchatow Power Station, Europe's largest coal-fired power plant, near Belchatow, Poland. — Reuters/File
As 2020 comes to an end, it leaves in its wake the warmest decade on record and one of the three hottest years ever measured, according to the United Nations weather agency.

Despite a cooling La Niña event, 2020 has been a year of exceptional heat that is now mature and impacting weather patterns in many parts of the world, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said Friday.

“Record warm years have usually coincided with a strong El Niño event, as was the case in 2016”, WMO chief Petteri Taalas said in a statement.

Tuvalu, an archipelago of nine atolls in the South Pacific Ocean, where the average height of the islands is less than 2 metres above sea level, is highly susceptible to the effects of global warming.

Boats are seen on the dried lake Poopo affected by climate change, in the Oruro Department, Bolivia. — Reuters/File
However, he noted, “we are now experiencing a La Nina, which has a cooling effect on global temperatures, but has not been sufficient to put a brake on this year’s heat”.

Tuvalu, an archipelago of nine atolls in the South Pacific Ocean, where the average height of the islands is less than 2 metres above sea level, is highly susceptible to the effects of global warming.
“Despite the current La Nina conditions, this year has already shown near-record heat comparable to the previous record of 2016”, said the top WMO official.

This year in top three

WMO has also documented the last six years as being the warmest.

In January, the UN agency will issue consolidated temperature figures for 2020, based on five global temperature datasets.

This will be incorporated into a final report on the State of the Climate in 2020, which will be issued in March and will include information on selected climate impacts.

To date, all five data sets for the first 10 months of 2020 has placed this year as the second warmest for the year, following 2016 and ahead of 2019.

WMO Provisional Report on the State of the Global Climate in 2020
Climate change continued its relentless march in 2020, which is on track to be one of the three warmest years on record. 2011-2020 will be the warmest decade on record, with the warmest six years all being since 2015, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

Based on monthly reports from the European Unions’ Copernicus Climate Change Service, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and the Japan Meteorological Agency, November has been classified as either the warmest or second warmest on record.

The difference between the warmest three years is small and exact rankings for each data set could change once data for the entire year are available, according to WMO.

A dangerous trend

Ranking temperatures for individual years is less important than long-term trends, the UN weather agency explained.

Since the 1980s each decade has been warmer than the previous one. And because of record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the trend is expected to persist.

A glacier along the east coast of Greenland is seen out the window of a Gulfstream jet. — Reuters/File
In particular, carbon dioxide is driving the planet to future warming because it remains in the atmosphere for many decades.

According to WMO’s Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update, there is a one-in-five chance that the average global temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5 °C by 2024.

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