[TheClimate.Vote] October 14, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*October 14, 2020*/

[Wildfire]
*PG&E Is Under Investigation for Starting a Deadly Wildfire--Again*
Dharna Noor
PG&E, the utility that supplies power to 16 million people in northern 
and central California, is under investigation for starting a deadly 
fire. Again.

The blaze in question is the Zogg Fire, which has killed four people and 
destroyed some 200 structures in Northern California. The wildfire broke 
out on Sept. 27 during strong Diablo winds, dry air, and triple-digit 
temperatures. Since then, it's scorched 56,338 acres, and is still burning.

In a Friday filing, PG&E announced that as part of an investigation into 
how the fire began, Cal Fire, the state's firefighting agency, took 
possession of some of the utility's equipment near where the Zogg Fire 
started in Shasta County...
- -
This week, California will once again face fire weather, so more blazes 
could be on the way. As a precaution, PG&E has announced that it may 
have to shut off power for up to three days. But blackouts are 
inconvenient and can even be dangerous, as they can limit people's 
access to food, medical equipment, and technology needed to obtain fire 
updates. It's clear that bigger shifts are needed.
https://earther.gizmodo.com/pg-e-is-under-investigation-for-starting-a-deadly-wildf-1845357205
- -
[wildfire weather conditions]
*California to face elevated wildfire danger again this week*
https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/California-fire-weather-this-week_-.jpg
https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/California-fire-weather-this-week_-2.jpg
https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/California-fire-weather-this-week_-3.jpg
https://wildfiretoday.com/2020/10/12/california-to-face-elevated-wildfire-danger-again-this-week/



[BP reaches out]
*BP's climate reinvention dodges politics*
Amy Harder

    Video press interview A
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOQdo_2dUrs&feature=emb_logo
    XIOS on HBO: Bernard Looney on BP Spending (Clip) | HBO
    Oct 12, 2020
    HBO
    CEO of BP, Bernard Looney, discusses the company's plans for future
    spending. #HBO #AxiosOnHBO
    BP CEO Bernard Looney is leading the biggest transformation in the
    oil industry's 160-year history, but he's staying quiet on the
    thorniest part: the politics.

Driving the news: In our recent interview for "Axios on HBO," Looney 
made a scripted case for BP's big plan to pivot to renewable energy and 
survive -- and even thrive -- while doing it.

Over the course of an hour, he redirected or waved off questions on the 
climate-change positions of President Trump and Joe Biden, BP's lobbying 
activities in Washington, and mistrust from the public and 
environmentalists over the oil industry's willingness to address climate 
change.

"I get the sort of suspicion. But we are serious about this. This is in 
the interests of our company. It's not like we're trying to protect our 
existing business and get by. We are pivoting BP from being an 
international oil company that we've been for 111 years to becoming an 
integrated energy company."
-- Looney to "Axios on HBO"
The big picture: The company is facing strong headwinds: BP's stock is 
tanking, investors are skeptical that the transformation can be 
profitable, and the pandemic is battering the entire industry's 
finances. There's little room for error.

How it works: BP unveiled in September what many experts consider the 
oil industry's most aggressive plan to move away from oil and gas toward 
renewable energy.

By 2030:
Cutting its oil and gas production by 40%, which would set it apart from 
other producers.
Increasing the amount of annual spending on clean-energy technologies 
from $500 million to $5 billion.

By 2050:
Reaching "net-zero" emissions from both its operations and its own oil 
and gas production, which means its entire business will not emit 
emissions (or will offset them).
Cutting by 50% the emissions intensity (emissions per unit of output) 
from the products it sells. These emissions are at least double the 
emissions of BP's operations and its own oil and gas.
The intrigue: For the CEO of an oil company that's trying to position 
itself as an industry leader on climate, he had little to say about 
either a president who encourages climate-change denial or a candidate 
who would pursue an aggressive climate plan that's roughly in line with 
BP's goal.

On Trump: "My response is what we're doing. … [Climate change is] a huge 
issue and we're in action. And, you know, I'm not going to comment on 
what other people's views are. People have a right to their views."
On Biden: "I didn't study [Biden's] plan in detail. … BP is supportive 
of any sound, sensible policy which accelerates the world on a path to 
net-zero. That's what we support."
The backstory: Looney has given conflicting messages on how central 
government policy is to BP's strategy.

"We need policymakers to incentivize lower carbon choices," Looney told 
investors at a week-long meeting on the new plan in September. In our 
interview right after that, he said, "While policy is helpful to our 
strategy, our strategy is not predicated on policy."
Close observers are blunter. "They fare much better in a world where 
climate policy is strong and universal than in a world that is more 
fragmented and weak," said Andrew Logan, who interacts with oil and gas 
companies as a senior director at the sustainable investment nonprofit 
Ceres.
Where it stands: BP said it would end its long-running corporate 
reputation campaign -- which cost the company $100 million last year -- 
and redirect at least part of that money toward supporting climate 
policies around the world.

For this year and next, the company has budgeted $6.5 million for 
campaigns advocating for climate policies throughout the country and in 
Washington, D.C., according to Geoff Morrell, a BP executive vice 
president responsible for global advocacy and spending.
"We are spending millions and would gladly spend tens of millions more 
if there were viable net-zero policies to actively advocate for," 
Morrell said.
BP is supporting the European Union's big climate policy and the United 
Kingdom's plan to ban internal combustion engine cars in 2035, Looney 
said in the interview.
Looney deflected a few questions about past actions by BP and the 
industry writ large, including the sector's mixed practice over decades 
of helping fund initiatives doubting climate science and opposing policies.

"I'm not sure it helps anybody to dwell in the past when we have an 
incredible challenge ahead of us," Looney said.
What we're watching: If Biden wins the White House, BP's new lobbying 
posture will be put to an immediate test.

Earlier this year, BP said it was leaving three trade associations, but 
it's staying in the most powerful ones: the American Petroleum Institute 
and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Neither one has climate policies anywhere 
close to what BP is pushing.
The bottom line: "The success of their climate strategy depends on 
society moving forward quickly as well," said Logan. "If they're earnest 
about what they're trying to do, that will show up in their lobbying. It 
can't be an ancillary effort -- it has to be a core part of the strategy."
https://www.axios.com/bp-ceo-climate-reinvention-axios-on-hbo-624c3a9c-9ad4-4fb1-9b38-552c558a3544.html



[DW - brief view ~5 mins]
*Climate change in Russia: Can Siberia's permafrost be saved? | Focus on 
Europe*
Oct 14, 2020
DW News
In parts of Siberia, the permafrost is thawing. That endangers not only 
roads and buildings but also underground cold-storage facilities. Cracks 
are appearing in more and more of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoIG08fDV5k



[Less ice in Arctic]
*There was no ice on the water, says captain of tall ship Sedov about 
Arctic voyage*
"We had at least expected some minor pieces," says Mikhail Novikov as 
his 100 years old sailing ship exits the Northern Sea Route.
By Atle Staalesen
October 13, 2020
It is the first time ever that a ship of the kind sails the Russian 
Arctic route between the Pacific and Atlantic seas. The Sedov on Tuesday 
passed the southern tip of archipelago Novaya Zemlya and is expected in 
Murmansk in the course of the week.

The voyage would have been unthinkable only few years ago. But this 
year's unprecedented low levels of sea-ice has made sailing on the route 
smooth and easy.

According to the expedition diary, there has hardly been minus degrees 
during the voyage and sea-ice has hardly been spotted.

"We expected that we at least would have encountered some finely-crushed 
ice in the Vilkitsky Strait and the Longa Strait," ship captain Novikov 
told newspaper Neft.

"But we have sailed across practically the whole Northern Sea in open 
waters, and we have not run into any crushed sea-ice, nor icebergs," he 
explains...
- -
The ship is expected to reach reach its home port of Kaliningrad on 15th 
November this year.

The Sedov is one of the world's biggest sailing ships in operation. It 
is almost 118 meter long and is manned by a crew of about 220 people.

The Arctic voyage takes place only few months before the ship turns 100 
years. The bark was launched in 1921 in Kiel, Germany. It sailed under 
the named "Magdalene Vinnen II" and "Kommodore Johnsen" before it in 
1945 was taken over by Soviet authorities and renamed Sedov after 
Russian Arctic explorer Georgy Sedov.
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/climate-crisis/2020/10/there-was-no-ice-water-says-captain-tall-ship-sedov-about-arctic-voyage 




[well known]
*The Arctic is in a death spiral. How much longer will it exist?*
The region is unravelling faster than anyone could once have predicted. 
But there may still be time to act

At the end of July, 40% of the 4,000-year-old Milne Ice Shelf, located 
on the north-western edge of Ellesmere Island, calved into the sea. 
Canada's last fully intact ice shelf was no more.

On the other side of the island, the most northerly in Canada, the St 
Patrick's Bay ice caps completely disappeared.

Two weeks later, scientists concluded that the Greenland Ice Sheet may 
have already passed the point of no return. Annual snowfall is no longer 
enough to replenish the snow and ice loss during summer melting of the 
territory's 234 glaciers. Last year, the ice sheet lost a record amount 
of ice, equivalent to 1 million metric tons every minute.

The Arctic is unravelling. And it's happening faster than anyone could 
have imagined just a few decades ago. Northern Siberia and the Canadian 
Arctic are now warming three times faster than the rest of the world. In 
the past decade, Arctic temperatures have increased by nearly 1C. If 
greenhouse gas emissions stay on the same trajectory, we can expect the 
north to have warmed by 4C year-round by the middle of the century...
- -
The Arctic of the past is already gone. Following our current climate 
trajectory, it will be impossible to return to the conditions we saw 
just three decades ago. Yet many experts believe there's still time to 
act, to preserve what once was, if the world comes together to prevent 
further harm and conserve what remains of this unique and fragile ecosystem.

Gloria Dickie
Tue 13 Oct 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2020/oct/13/arctic-ice-melting-climate-change-global-warming


[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - October 14, 2013 *
In an editorial, the Baltimore Sun declares:

    "The latest analysis produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on
    Climate Change (IPCC), compiled by hundreds of scientists and dozens
    of authors from around the globe, shows that climate change is real,
    it's largely caused by man, and it's the greatest environmental
    threat we face.

    "That's not alarmism, it's reality. Of course, know-nothing deniers
    will be as dismissive of the IPCC findings as they've been of
    similar reports in the past. That the IPCC is under the auspices of
    the United Nations will be used to stir up nationalistic suspicions.
    That climate change policy is highly inconvenient for the fossil
    fuel industries will cause the big coal and oil companies to
    continue their disinformation campaigns.

    "None of which changes the reality that climate change poses a
    serious threat, and as the evidence mounts, it's actually become
    easier to distinguish these basic changes in the ecosystem from the
    normal ups and downs of weather. No one super storm or drought or
    tornado is traceable to global warming, of course, but the data are
    simply too overwhelming to ignore. Each of the last three decades
    has proven successively warmer than the previous. Any recent slowing
    of that trend or plateau, as the report notes, has more to do with
    variables such as volcanic activity and the solar cycle over the
    last five years than it does the build-up of greenhouse gases in the
    atmosphere."

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-10-14/news/bs-ed-climate-20131014_1_ipcc-report-climate-change-intergovernmental-panel

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