[TheClimate.Vote] May 28, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*May 28, 2020*/

[Follow the money]
*BlackRock to flag climate concerns at ExxonMobil AGM*
Fund manager will vote against re-election of two directors and for 
splitting chair and CEO role
BlackRock, the world's largest fund manager, will lodge multiple votes 
against ExxonMobil at its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday as it 
flags concern over the oil company's failure to make progress on its 
climate change targets.

BlackRock will vote against the re-election of two directors and in 
favour of a shareholder motion that proposes splitting the role of chief 
executive and chairman.

The US investment firm is ExxonMobil's second largest shareholder, with 
a stake of almost 5% in the company...
- --
The oil firm said it had been expanding its shareholder engagement, and 
it directed investors to a report on "how we are working to reduce 
emissions in our operations through efficiency gains and new technologies".

ExxonMobil, like other oil firms, has had a tumultuous few months, 
seeing a slump in its share price and recording a $610m (£495m) loss in 
the first quarter of the year after demand for oil slid to the lowest 
level in 25 years.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/27/blackrock-to-flag-climate-concerns-at-exxonmobil-agm



[flying electrics - today Seattle]
*World's largest all-electric aircraft set for first flight*
Nine-seater plane should take to skies on Thursday and produce no carbon 
emissions

The world's largest all-electric aircraft is about to take to the skies 
for the first time.

The Cessna Caravan, retrofitted with an electric engine, is expected to 
fly for 20-30 minutes over Washington state in the US on Thursday.

The plane can carry nine passengers but a test pilot will undertake the 
inaugural flight alone, cruising at a speed of 114mph (183km/h). The 
engine maker, magniX, hopes the aircraft could enter commercial service 
by the end of 2021 and have a range of 100 miles.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, aviation was one of the fastest growing 
sources of the carbon emissions that are driving the climate emergency. 
Scores of companies are working on electric planes, although major 
breakthroughs in reducing the weight of batteries will be needed before 
large planes can fly significant distances on electric power alone. 
Other power sources being tested include hydrogen fuel cells and biofuels...
- -
The Cessna Caravan being used by magniX is one of the world's most used 
medium-range planes, with more than 2,600 operating in 100 countries. 
The first flight is set for 8am Pacific time (1500 GMT) on Thursday, 
weather permitting.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/27/worlds-largest-all-electric-aircraft-set-for-first-flight
- -
[Related]
*Airlines could get free pass on climate for five years under industry 
proposal*
Published on 26/05/2020
The industry is lobbying to rewrite the rules of a UN aviation pact, in 
a move researchers say would remove pressure to invest in clean flying 
technology
Airlines could defer paying for their climate impact by up to five 
years, according to researchers, under an industry proposal to soften 
the impact of coronavirus lockdowns.

The International Air Transport Association (Iata), which represents the 
world's airlines, has called on the UN body responsible for aviation to 
rewrite the rules for offsetting the sector's emissions growth.

To curb the aviation sector's growing emissions, member states of the 
International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao) have agreed to make all 
growth in international flights carbon neutral after 2020.

With limited technical solutions available to make planes less 
polluting, airlines will rely on a carbon market known as Corsia. The 
scheme allows them to offset their emissions growth by funding 
carbon-cutting projects in other sectors.

The agreed baseline for measuring emissions was to be the two-year 
average across 2019 and 2020. However 2020 is turning into a year of 
anomalously low air travel, with planes grounded by travel restrictions 
to prevent the spread of Covid-19. That means airlines would have a 
bigger offsetting obligation than they anticipated if traffic rebounds 
quickly.

Iata is urging Icao to change the baseline to pre-pandemic levels in 
2019 - a move it says could save airlines an estimated $15 billion in 
carbon offsetting costs.
- -
graph figure 2 - 
https://cdn.climatechangenews.com/files/2020/05/26170000/Oko-institut-scenarios-cropped.jpg
graph figure 3 - 
https://cdn.climatechangenews.com/files/2020/05/26170407/Oko-institut-scenarios-3-cropped.jpg
https://cdn.climatechangenews.com/files/2020/05/26170407/Oko-institut-scenarios-3-cropped.jpg
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/05/26/airlines-get-free-pass-climate-five-years-industry-proposal/



[Dave Roberts long analysis part one]
*At last, a climate policy platform that can unite the left*
The factions of the Democratic coalition have come into alignment on 
climate change.
By David Roberts - david at vox.com  May 27, 2020..
In all, the decade of climate politics from 2008 to 2018 netted 
frustratingly little progress at the federal level or consensus about 
the path ahead. No one was happy, and no one agreed on what to do next. 
Robinson Meyer captured it well in a 2017 piece in the Atlantic: 
"Democrats Are Shockingly Unprepared to Fight Climate Change."

But something different has been happening lately, as groups across the 
left come together to hash out their differences on climate policy. It 
turns out they agree on quite a bit. In fact, for the first time in 
memory, there's a broad alignment forming around a climate policy 
platform that is both ambitious enough to address the problem and 
politically potent enough to unite all the left's various interest groups...
- - -
In this post, I'll offer an account of the new climate alignment: how it 
came to be, what kinds of climate policies it contains, what it leaves 
out, and its prospects moving forward. In a post coming soon, I'll cover 
Biden's climate strategy.
*The coming together of the climate left*
After a decade of dissolution, work on climate policy development 
cranked back up in earnest around 2018. States where Democrats took 
control passed climate and clean energy bills. Every Democratic 
candidate for president produced ambitious climate plans. "All of those 
people who ran for president, who are currently sitting electeds, had a 
much more expanded vision on climate by the end of their campaigns than 
when they started," said Maggie Thomas, who served as deputy climate 
director of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's campaign and then policy 
advisor to Sen. Elizabeth Warren's campaign.
- -
*Accountability for fossil fuel companies*
This one is extremely popular across the left. Every Democratic 
candidate supports it, along with almost every nonprofit climate platform.

The idea is that fossil fuel companies have known for a long time that 
their products are harming public health and have done everything in 
their power to cover it up, including funneling untold amounts of money 
into the political system and running some extremely deceptive public 
campaigns. Still, today, they are heavily subsidized and financed by 
public and private institutions that ignore their growing risks.

There are three policy avenues that fall under the broad rubric of 
accountability.
The first is supporting the growing number of lawsuits against fossil 
fuel companies. Sen. Kamala Harris especially emphasized this in her 
plan, playing on her history as a prosecutor, as did Sanders, playing on 
his history as an anti-corporate crusader, but virtually all the 
Democratic candidates (including Biden) agreed.

The second is taking steps to reform the financial system to force 
financial institutions to better account for the growing risks of fossil 
fuels in their investment decisions. (This post has the policy details.)

The third is ending fossil fuel subsidies, something practically 
everyone says they want to do, and has said they want to do for decades, 
but never manages to actually do. (See this post for more on the breadth 
of those subsidies.)

The only reason I didn't include accountability in the alignment above 
is that direct confrontation with fossil fuel companies still makes some 
quarters of the left uncomfortable, especially more conservative 
Democrats and some parts of labor...
- -
*Climate unity is at hand, if Democrats can grasp it*
There are plenty of climate policies that don't appear on either of my 
lists: regenerative agriculture, adaptation and resilience, 
international climate justice, decarbonization for heavy industry, and 
much more. They deserve consideration in comprehensive climate policy. 
This is not meant to be a comprehensive accounting.

The point is simply that, through many different paths, the factions of 
the left-of-center coalition have aligned around a fairly robust climate 
policy platform centered on standards, investments, and justice. They 
have done so through an inclusive process that has helped build trust 
and capacity across longstanding lines of division. And the issues that 
remain outstanding are difficult but not intractable, given a little 
solidarity. They needn't stand in the way of progress.

It's not an alignment many people saw coming. "This is a literally 
unprecedented group of people to work together," Prakash said. The fact 
that such diverse participants have agreed on a set of policies, she 
said, "is mind-blowing."

What began as an aspirational vision has become a full-fledged, 
crowdsourced policy platform -- the "Green New Details," as Thomas joked 
-- and it is ready for the national stage.
It remains to be seen whether this nascent alliance can hold together 
under the inevitable political rigors of the coming years. It will face 
stresses from within and without the Democratic coalition.

In many ways, its fate lies in the hands of a man many in the climate 
movement have spent the past year bashing: Joe Biden. Does Biden's 
campaign have the agility and acumen to embrace the new alignment and 
serve as its champion? Could Biden, of all people, unify the climate left?

As fanciful as that idea may sound, there are, it turns out, reasons for 
hope. In my next post, I'll take a closer look at the political road ahead.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/21252892/climate-change-democrats-joe-biden-renewable-energy-unions-environmental-justice



[let loose the courts $]
*SF, other California cities permitted to sue oil industry over climate 
change, judges rule*
Several California communities suing the oil industry over climate 
change got welcome news Tuesday when a panel of federal judges said 
their cases could move forward in state court.

The five cities and three counties, which include San Francisco, are 
seeking billions of dollars from fossil fuel producers in 
first-of-its-kind litigation that alleges the companies caused pricey 
climate problems, including rising seas and extreme weather. But the 
lawsuits, originally filed separately in state court, have been clouded 
by the question of whether the subject matter is more appropriate for 
federal court, where the cases may also be harder to win...
https://www.sfchronicle.com/environment/article/SF-other-California-cities-permitted-to-sue-oil-15295592.php



[opinionated news]
*Michael Moore's Garbage Planet of the Humans Has Been Removed From YouTube*
Michael Moore's Planet of the Humans is a trash film that contains 
massive amounts of disinformation and dabbles in ecofascism. Turns out 
it also contained copyrighted material.

The film racked up 8 million views and gained major traction with 
climate deniers and right wing groups thanks to YouTube hosting it and 
featuring it on Earth Day. But now the platform has pulled the video 
over copyright infringement. Good riddance.

Planet of the Humans is full of problematic themes. The so-called 
documentary ignores the promise of solar and wind energy, relying on an 
outmoded view of the industry. It then offers population control as the 
solution to the climate crisis. This line of thinking is dangerous. It 
borders on eco-fascism, which props up white supremacy for the sake of 
saving the planet. No thanks, dude.

Toby Smith, an environmental photographer, found another issue with the 
film: It contains some of his work without his permission. He was not 
happy to see, and he didn't waste time trying to work with Gibbs and 
Moore. He went straight to YouTube, filing a complaint over the weekend.
"I went directly to YouTube rather than approaching the filmmakers 
because I wasn't interested in negotiation," Smith said to the Guardian. 
"I don't support the documentary. I don't agree with its message, and I 
don't like the misleading use of facts in its narrative."

YouTube is notoriously bad at taking down content. But the streaming 
video service listened in this case and took the film down to due to 
Smith's complaint. It's something environmental groups and climate 
scientists have been pushing for since the film's Earth Day release, 
though for different reasons.

The company has a record of profiting off undeniably awful shit like 
pedophilia, misinformation, and hate speech. Every click, every 
view--even those supporting conspiracy theories or lies--sends money the 
company's way. Climate denial, in particular, is big on the video 
streamer's platform and another source of the company's profits. A study 
last year found that conspiracy theorists and misinformation dominate 
the platform's climate science content, and Planet of the Humans is the 
most high profile addition. Most recently, the company has come under 
fire for making money off videos promoting dangerous and unproven 
coronavirus cures, including "videos pushing herbs."

The film's director, Jeff Gibbs, is trying to bring the film back 
online. He sees its removal as "another attempt by the film's opponents 
to subvert the right to free speech," per a statement to Deadline. 
There's a good chance that climate deniers will rally around this, 
adding fuel to the fire. It could also add fuel to the fire of untrue 
claims of conservatives griping about liberal bias online, including the 
president himself.

Will YouTube bring this dumb-ass movie back? I sure hope not. People 
need facts these days. One fewer terrible YouTube video alone won't fix 
the climate misinformation crisis, but at least the company won't keep 
making money off it.
Yessenia Funes
https://earther.gizmodo.com/michael-moore-s-garbage-planet-of-the-humans-has-been-r-1843676676



[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - May 28, 2007 *

In a Washington Post op-ed, Bill McKibben, citing a recent speech by 
NASA scientist James Hansen, states that the worldwide CO2 level must 
remain below 350 parts per million to avoid catastrophic global warming.
Further, McKibben writes:

    "Hansen [has] called for an immediate ban on new coal-fired power
    plants that don't capture carbon, the phaseout of old coal-fired
    generators, and a tax on carbon high enough to make sure that we
    leave tar sands and oil shale in the ground. To use the medical
    analogy, we're not talking statins to drop your cholesterol; we're
    talking huge changes in every aspect of your daily life."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/27/AR2007122701942.html


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