CLIMATE CHANGE provides space for lengthy pieces which elaborate IMAGINATIVE ACTION
WINTER 2020
Dear Readers,
A call to every one of us, to WAKE-Up, has been The Imagination Acts’ CALL.
Our part in the global call is timely.
THE CRISIS of our time is not the Covid Virus. It is Climate Change.
And it is a stupefying phenomena that the former completely overshadows the latter…in an alarming totalitarian form of “power- over” injunctions.
Anne and Sally are having hopping up- and- down planning wails, as we commit ourselves to firming- up the website’s vision for its role in solidarity with (we trust) myriad voices challenging the Climate Change white-wash in the dominant media.
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”Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
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UN CLIMATE CHANGE COP 26
The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow on 1 – 12 November 2021.
The climate talks will bring together heads of state, climate experts and campaigners to agree coordinated action to tackle climate change.
As COP26 Presidency, the UK is committed to working with all countries and joining forces with civil society, companies and people on the frontline of climate change to inspire action ahead of COP26.
SEE HERE – UK Government – COP 26
SEE HERE – UK COP 26 website – Together for our planet
Keep up to date on the latest from COP26 and sign up for our newsletter.
SEE HERE – UN COP 26 website – Glasgow climate change conference November 2021
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World is running out of time on climate, experts warn
World leaders are running out of time to forge a green recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, with only a year to go before a crunch UN summit that will decide the future of the global climate, leading experts have warned.
Progress on a green recovery, which would reduce emissions while repairing the damage from the pandemic, has been hampered by the need for an emergency rescue of stricken economies around the world and the resurgence of the coronavirus in Europe, the US and some other countries.
But with global heating showing no sign of slowing, and the danger signals of climate breakdown increasingly evident – from the Arctic ice to American wildfires – the race is on to build the global economy back better.
If not for the pandemic, governments would have been meeting on Monday in Glasgow for the start of vital UN climate talks aimed at putting the 2015 Paris agreement back on track. That has been postponed to next November 2021, while governments grapple with the coronavirus.
Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent, Guardian
A firefighter tackles flames in California. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
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New Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill launched to tackle climate crisis
Objectives of the Bill:
- For the UK to do its fair share to limit global heating to 1.5°C
- To do so, the UK must reduce its emissions drastically; take account of its entire carbon footprint, domestically and internationally; and circumscribe reliance on speculative future carbon capture technologies.
- Conserve the natural world
- This requires the UK to focus on restoring biodiversity, soils, natural carbon sinks; to take steps to mitigate the damage to nature caused by UK supply chains, domestically and internationally; and account for the UK’s entire ecological footprint.
- Giving people a real say, supported by experts
- An emergency Citizens’ Assembly working with experts will empower MPs to make tough decisions, and give ordinary people a real say, based on the science, on the pathway forward for a fair and just transition to a thriving zero-carbon society.
2 SEPTEMBER 2020, LONDON: A landmark new Bill, drafted by an alliance of scientists, academics, lawyers and environmentalists—aiming to tackle the biggest environmental crisis of our time—will be introduced in the House of Commons on 2/9/20.
The transformative Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill (CEE Bill) provides a clear framework, based on scientific reality, to deliver the UK’s commitments to the 2015 UN Paris Climate Agreement and to tighten up current UK legislation.
READ HERE – New Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill launched
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Petition to support the ‘Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill’
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION
Take real action on the climate emergency
To The Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Petition text
Implement the Climate and Ecological Emergency private members bill:
- Ensure the UK reduces greenhouse gas emissions in line with its legal obligations to limit global heating to 1.5°C
- Protect and restore woodlands, wetlands and the wider natural world
- Set up an assembly to involve people from all parts of the UK in deciding which policies are needed to deal with the climate emergency
38 Degrees
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Global experts question UK’s commitment to tackle climate crisis
Boris Johnson’s government is investing only 12% of the funds needed to tackle the climate emergency and the growing threat to nature, according to a new report that will raise fresh international concerns about the UK’s commitment to the green agenda.
The study says ministers need to commit £33bn each year of this parliament to green causes. So far only £4bn a year has been pledged.
The report by the IPPR thinktank comes as Johnson faces increasing global pressure to act, most notably from the next US president Joe Biden, who is committed to green causes. Donald Trump took the US out of the Paris agreement on climate change, but Biden has promised to rejoin iton 20 January, the day he takes power.
Next year the UK will chair the Glasgow COP26 climate change summit. It is seen by Biden and other leaders as a critical test of the world’s determination to limit global warming. However, experts are concerned by what they see as the UK’s lack of preparation, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, which has placed huge financial burdens on governments.
Toby Helm and Robin McKie
Sun 8 Nov 2020
Whitelee, the UK’s largest onshore windfarm Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
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Ban on new petrol and diesel cars in UK from 2030 under PM’s green plan
New cars and vans powered wholly by petrol and diesel will not be sold in the UK from 2030, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said. But some hybrids would still be allowed, he confirmed.
It is part of what Mr Johnson calls a “green industrial revolution” to tackle climate change and create jobs in industries such as nuclear energy.
Critics say the £4bn allocated to implement the 10-point plan is far too small for the scale of the challenge.
The total amount of new money announced in the package is a 25th of the projected £100bn cost of high-speed rail, HS2.
PM’s 10-point plan for ‘green industrial revolution’
- Offshore wind: Produce enough offshore wind to power every home in the UK, quadrupling how much it produces to 40 gigawatts by 2030, and supporting up to 60,000 jobs.
- Hydrogen: Have five gigawatts of “low carbon” hydrogen production capacity by 2030 – for industry, transport, power and homes – and develop the first town heated by the gas by the end of the decade.
- Nuclear: Pushing nuclear power as a clean energy source and including provision for a large nuclear plant, as well as for advanced small nuclear reactors, which could support 10,000 jobs.
- Electric vehicles: Phasing out sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and investing in grants to help buy cars and charge point infrastructure.
- Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport for the future.
- Jet zero and greener maritime: Supporting research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.
- Homes and public buildings: Making homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, including a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.
- Carbon capture: Developing world-leading technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030 – equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber.
- Nature: Protecting and restoring the natural environment, with plans to include planting 30,000 hectares of trees a year.
- Innovation and finance: Developing cutting-edge technologies and making the City of London the global centre of green finance.
By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst
18 November
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Pressure grows on Boris Johnson over UK carbon emissions plan
Boris Johnson is facing a fresh test of his green commitments as the UK prepares to submit its national plan on future carbon emissions, before crucial UN climate negotiations.
Pressure is growing on the prime minister to come up with an ambitious national target – known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC) – on cutting emissions substantially by 2030, because the UK will host the postponed Cop26 summit next year.
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, spoke out on Thursday on the need for developed countries to step up their ambition. In a speech to the European council on foreign relations, he said: “By early 2021, countries representing more than 65% of global carbon dioxide emissions and more than 70% of the world economy will have made ambitious commitments to carbon neutrality
“But we are still running behind in the race against time. Every country, city, financial institution and company should adopt plans for transitioning to net–zero emissions by 2050. We need to see these plans well in advance of Cop26 – in particular the NDCs required under the Paris agreement.”
What could a good green recovery plan actually look like?
Nicholas Stern, the author of the landmark review of the economics of climate change and chair of the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics, told the Guardian the UK should aim for a cut of 70% in emissions by 2030, compared with 1990 levels.
Green campaigners wrote to Johnson on Friday calling for a carbon cut of at least 75% to be adopted as UK policy, arguing this was possible in the light of the government’s 10-point plan for a green economy.
Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent, Guardian
Teesside windfarm over the town of Redcar. Photograph: Bill Allsopp/Alamy
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California wildfires spawn first ‘gigafire’ in modern history
On Monday ( 5/10/20), the August complex fire in northern California expanded beyond 1m acres, elevating it from a mere “megafire” to a new classification, “gigafire”, never used before in a contemporary setting in the state.
At 1.03m acres, the fire is larger than the state of Rhode Island and is raging across seven counties, according to fire agency Cal Fire. An amalgamation of several fires caused when lightning struck dry forests in August, the vast conflagration has been burning for 50 days and is only half-contained.
The August complex fire heads a list of huge fires that have chewed through 4m acres of California this year, a figure called “mind-boggling” by Cal Fire and double the previous annual record. Five of the six largest fires ever recorded in the state have occurred in 2020, resulting in several dozen deaths and thousands of lost buildings.
There is little sign of California’s biggest ever fire season receding. The state endured a heatwave this summer, aiding the formation of enormous wildfires even without the seasonal winds that usually fan the blazes that have historically dotted the west coast.
Vast, out-of-control fires are increasingly a feature in the US west due to the climate crisis, scientists say, with rising temperatures and prolonged drought causing vegetation and soils to lose moisture.
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Alarm as Arctic sea ice not yet freezing at latest date on record
For the first time since records began, the main nursery of Arctic sea ice in Siberia has yet to start freezing in late October.
The delayed annual freeze in the Laptev Sea has been caused by freakishly protracted warmth in northern Russia and the intrusion of Atlantic waters, say climate scientists who warn of possible knock-on effects across the polar region.
Ocean temperatures in the area recently climbed to more than 5C above average, following a record breaking heatwave and the unusually early decline of last winter’s sea ice.
The trapped heat takes a long time to dissipate into the atmosphere, even at this time of the year when the sun creeps above the horizon for little more than an hour or two each day.
Graphs of sea-ice extent in the Laptev Sea, which usually show a healthy seasonal pulse, appear to have flat-lined. As a result, there is a record amount of open sea in the Arctic.
READ MORE HERE – Alarm as arctic sea ice not yet freezing
Jonathan Watts Global environment editor, 22/10/20 Guardian
Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
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Looking ahead to the Climate Ambition Summit 2020
A virtual briefing on 27 October 2020 by COP26 President Alok Sharma to all UN Member states ahead of the Climate Ambition Summit on 12 December 2020.
Alok Sharma, COP26 President
”As the Deputy Secretary General has just set out, climate action cannot wait.
Even though COP26 has been postponed, we need to act now to fulfil our Paris Agreement commitments.
Closing comments –
While I recognise that time is short and that the world is facing an immense challenge with COVID-19, we urgently need to raise our ambition.
The Paris goals require us to halve global emissions over the next decade, and to rapidly adapt to our warming climate.
Current NDCs put us on track for 3 degrees warming.
This is simply unacceptable, we must close the gap.
Yet, I remain optimistic; countries such as Jamaica, the Marshall Islands, Norway, Moldova, and our partners Chile have shown leadership by announcing new, more ambitious NDCs.
I am asking today, that you join them by coming forward with enhanced ambition in December.
I also welcome the recent announcements made by President Xi at UNGA and Prime Minister Suga yesterday, and we look forward to working with both countries on their climate ambition.
It is clear that recovery from COVID-19 and climate ambition are not mutually exclusive.
Member states can build back better by embedding their climate commitments into COVID-19 recovery packages, taking advantage of the plummeting cost of renewables, and the opportunities for our societies that green and resilient growth brings.
This will be a chance for us all to turn words into action, and we hope you will all join us for this important summit.
Only by coming together can we build the zero carbon, climate resilient future that is essential for our people and our planet.”
COP26 President Alok Sharma
27 October 2020
SEE SPEECH HERE – Looking ahead to the Climate Ambition Summit 2020
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LOCAL CLIMATE CHANGE STRATEGIES
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (Anne’s locality) –
RBWM – Environment and climate strategy
RBWM – Consultation 20 July 2020.pdf
London Borough of Merton ( Sally’s locality) –
LB Merton – Sustainability and climate change emergency
LB Merton -Draft Climate Strategy and Action Plan .pdf
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Global outrage at FAO plans to partner with pesticide industry
Hundreds of civil society and indigenous peoples organizations call on the UN agency to renounce planned alliance with CropLife International
More than 350 organizations in 63 countries representing hundreds of thousands of farmers, fisherfolk, agricultural workers and other communities, as well as human rights, faith-based, environmental and economic justice institutions, delivered a letter to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Qu Dongyu urging him to stop recently-announced plans to deepen collaboration with CropLife International by entering into a formal partnership.
CropLife is a global trade association representing the interests of companies that produce and promote pesticides, including highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs). According to the letter, HHPs “are responsible for a wide range of devastating health harms to farmers, agricultural workers and rural families around the world,” and these chemicals have “decimated pollinator populations and are wreaking havoc on biodiversity and fragile ecosystems” as well.
READ MORE HERE – Global outrage at FAO plans to partner with pesticide industry
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A fifth of Brazilian soy in Europe is result of deforestation
Large quantities of the soy and beef imported to Europe from Brazil have been “contaminated” by deforestation, research shows.
The findings suggest much more needs to be done to protect Brazilian land as pending trade agreements are likely to increase sales to European consumers.
The EU is finalising a trade deal with the Mercosur group of Latin American countries, including Brazil, that could increase trade in agricultural commodities. Austria has already raised concerns over fires in the Amazon as a reason to reject the agreement.
Environmental campaigners are urgently seeking safeguards to ensure any increase in trade does not encourage deforestation, which has increased in Brazil under the government of Jair Bolsonaro, who has been accused of presiding over the destruction of the Amazon and other key regions. The UK is also pursuing trade deals in the region as part of its post-Brexit trade strategy.
READ MORE HERE – Fifth of Brazilian soy in Europe is result of deforestation
Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty
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