‘Green News Report’ – November 28, 2023

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: U.N. report warns world is far off track to avoid catastrophic warming; Annual U.N. climate conference, COP28, gets underway in oil-rich Dubai; PLUS: International Energy Agency warns fossil fuel industry faces a reckoning… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s grand plan to ‘hook’ poor countries on oil; As prices fall, EVs and hybrids take hold in light truck market; Fires in Brazil threaten jaguars, houses and plants in the world’s largest tropical wetlands; New Jersey banning sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035; Electric heat costs way less than reports say, new data suggests; TV forecasters talk about climate change but face pushback and threats; US oil and gas production set to break record in 2023 despite UN treaty… PLUS: Former coal towns get money for clean-energy factories… and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• Planet’s average air temperature temporarily hits 2C warming:
• Earth passed a feared global warming milestone Friday, at least briefly (Washington Post):
  Friday marked the first time that everyday fluctuations around global temperature norms, which have been steadily increasing for decades, swung the planet beyond the dangerous threshold. It occurs after months of record warmth that have stunned many scientists, defying some expectations of how quickly temperatures would accelerate this year.
• Earth likely briefly passed critical warming threshold on Friday and Saturday (Axios):
  Breaching the 2-degree threshold for two days does not mean that the Paris Agreement’s target of holding global warming to “well below” such a mark has been exceeded. The agreement refers to the long-term average over two or more decades rather than one day, month or even year.
• UN Emissions Gap Report: world on track for 3C warming:
• Earth is hurtling toward nearly 3°C of warming: Report (Axios)
• World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief (Guardian)
• VIDEO: Emissions Gap Report 2023 launch press conference (UN Environment Programme)
• Transcript: Secretary-General’s press conference on UNEP Emissions Gap Report Launch (United Nations)
• ‘Baby Steps’ Will Not Avert Climate Catastrophe, UN Warns (WhoWhatWhy)
• What to know about today’s three big climate reports (Washington Post):
  If fully implemented, current NDCs would lead to a 9 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 compared to 2010 levels, the report found…It’s still far short of the consistent 43 percent decreases needed to meet the 1.5-degree target.
• World’s ice and glaciers won’t survive 2C of global warming:
• Warming of 2C would trigger ‘catastrophic’ loss of world’s ice, new report says (Carbon Brief)
• State of the Cryosphere Report 2023 (International Cryosphere Climate Initiative)
• VIDEO: ‘We absolutely need to act immediately,’ says UN chief during visit to Antarctica ahead of COP28 (AP)
• COP28 gets underway in Dubai:
• Main page: COP28 UN Climate Change Conference, United Arab Emirates (UNFCCC)
• COP28: What key issues will be discussed at UN climate change conference? (Reuters):
  Following a year of record heat and drought, this year’s U.N. climate summit will feature a contentious set of issues for countries working to find common ground in tackling climate change, including whether to phase out fossil fuels and how to finance the energy transition in developing countries.
• Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 (AP)
• Why an oil kingdom is hosting the COP28 climate summit, what’s at stake, and other questions answered (Washington Post)
• From carbon capture to King Charles: what to look out for at Cop28 (Guardian)
• What is global stocktake at COP28? What does it mean for climate ambition? (Straits Times)
• Inside the campaign that put an oil boss in charge of a climate summit (Center for Climate Reporting)
• UAE secretly pitching oil and gas development at COP28:
• COP28: UAE planned to use climate talks to make oil deals (BBC):
  The United Arab Emirates planned to use its role as the host of UN climate talks as an opportunity to strike oil and gas deals, the BBC has learned. Leaked briefing documents reveal plans to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 nations. The UN body responsible for the COP28 summit told the BBC hosts were expected to act without bias or self-interest. The UAE team did not deny using COP28 meetings for business talks, and said “private meetings are private”.
• COP28 president secretly used climate summit role to push oil trade with foreign government officials (Center for Climate Reporting)
• IEA: fossil fuel industry faces a reckoning — transition or disappear:
• Oil and gas industry needs to let go of carbon capture as solution to climate change, IEA says (CNBC):
  An “inconceivable” 32 billion tons of carbon would need to be captured for utilization or storage by 2050 to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius under current projections for oil and gas consumption, according to the IEA. The necessary technology would require 26,000 terawatt hours of electricity to operate in 2050, more than total global demand in 2022, according to the IEA.
• ‘Moment of truth’ for oil industry: Deepen the climate crisis or help fix it (CNN):
  The industry invested around $20 billion in clean energy projects last year — only around 2.5% of its total capital spending, the IEA found. That share would need to shoot up to 50% by 2030 to help keep global warming to the less dangerous level of 1.5 degrees.
• OPEC head accuses IEA of vilifying fossil fuel industry (Reuters/MSN)
• The Oil and Gas Industry in Net Zero Transitions (International Energy Agency)

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Daily Headlines page

• Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s grand plan to ‘hook’ poor countries on oil (Guardian)
• EIA: As Prices Fall, EVs, Hybrids Take Hold in Light Truck Market (Climate Crocks)
• Are home electric ‘composters’ the solution for food waste? Or a waste of time (Guardian)
• Fires in Brazil threaten jaguars, houses and plants in the world’s largest tropical wetlands (AP)
• New Jersey banning sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 (AP)
• Electric heat costs way less than reports say, new data suggests (Guardian)
• Success of Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV raises fears for Dutch climate policies (Guardian)
• TV Forecasters Talk About Climate Change, But Face Pushback And Threats (KCUR)
• US Oil And Gas Production Set To Break Record In 2023 Despite UN Treaty (Guardian)
• Colorado River Deal Opens Cash Spigot For Big Farms (Politico)
• US Prepares Wave Of Methane Rules On Oil And Gas Industry (E&E News)
• Former Coal Towns Get Money for Clean-Energy Factories (NY Times)
• Sea Turtle Nests Break Records On US Beaches, But Warming Threatens Survival (AP)
• BLM Ends Use of M-44 ‘Cyanide Bombs’ On Public Lands (Idaho State Journal)
• As Groundwater Dwindles, Powerful Players Block Change (NY Times)
• Highway Agency Finalizes Contentious Climate Rule (E&E News)
• How Long Will Taxpayers Subsidize Growth in Climate Risk Areas? (Climate Crocks)
• How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)
• The trillion-dollar quest to make green steel (Canary Media)
• Rising Temperatures Are Wreaking Havoc Year-Round (gift link, Bloomberg)
• Rough years ahead [as new El Nino arrives] (Nature)
• Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (Climate Crocks)
• These are the places most at risk from record-breaking heat waves as the planet warms (CNN)
• Building Steam in Lithium Valley (The American Prospect)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: See what three degrees of global warming looks like (The Economist/YouTube)
• The 7 climate tipping points that could change the world forever (Grist)
• The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world (Guardian UK)
• Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC (Dr. Michael Mann, Penn Today)
• Environmental Sacrifice Zones: 8 Places We’ve Given Up-Probably Forever (Environmental Health Network)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• Climate Fund Choices for Investors Are Multiplying (Bloomberg/Yahoo)
• How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
• A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
• An Optimist’s Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
• The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
• The world’s bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
• The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
  To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate – so every reduction in emissions helps.
• The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak – sooner than you think.
• A beginner’s guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
  Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it’s possible for the whole world to run on renewables – we merely lack the “political will.” So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.