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<font size="+2" face="Calibri"><i><b>November </b></i></font><font
size="+2" face="Calibri"><i><b>20, 2023</b></i></font><font
face="Calibri"><br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ Top news of Taylor Swift ]</i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Why it’s so hot in Brazil, where a Taylor
Swift concertgoer died</b><br>
By Matthew Cappucci and Jason Samenow<br>
November 19, 2023 <br>
</font><font face="Calibri">Unprecedented heat for mid-November is
roasting Brazil and other parts of South America amid a record
stretch of hot weather for the planet.<br>
<br>
The heat in Rio de Janeiro, a city of nearly 7 million people, has
proved disruptive and deadly. During sweltering temperatures
Friday night, a woman died at a Taylor Swift concert. It was so
hot Saturday that Swift postponed her concert scheduled for that
night. “The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers
and crew has to and always will come first,” read a message posted
to Swift’s Instagram story on Saturday afternoon.<br>
<br>
Even though it’s still spring in the Southern Hemisphere,
temperatures have climbed well above what’s typical even in
summer, which is more than a month away...</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">- -</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Furthermore, the frequency, intensity and
duration of extreme heat events, like this one, are increasing
because of human-caused climate change. The planet just observed
its warmest 12-month period on record and the past five months
have all been the warmest observed.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/11/19/brazil-extreme-heat-taylor-swift/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/11/19/brazil-extreme-heat-taylor-swift/</a><br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><i>- -<br>
</i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ Brazil and below ]</i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Record-breaking heat set to hit southern
hemisphere as summer begins</b></font><br>
<font face="Calibri">The northern hemisphere experienced a
sweltering summer due to climate and meteorological patters.
Scientists say the south will not escape.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Bianca Nogrady</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">The southern hemisphere is facing a summer of
extremes, say scientists, as climate change amplifies the effects
of natural climate variability. This comes in the wake of a summer
in the northern hemisphere that saw extreme heatwaves across
Europe, China and North America, setting new records for both
daytime and night-time temperatures in some areas.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">Andrew King, a climate scientist at the
University of Melbourne, Australia, says that there is “a high
chance of seeing record-high temperatures, at least on a global
average, and seeing some particularly extreme events in some parts
of the world”.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>El Niño effects</b></font><br>
<font face="Calibri">As 2023 draws to a close, meteorologists and
climate scientists are predicting weather patterns that will lead
to record-high land and sea surface temperatures. These include a
strong El Niño in the Pacific Ocean, and a positive Indian Ocean
Dipole.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">“Those kinds of big drivers can have a big
influence on drought and extremes across the southern hemisphere,”
says Ailie Gallant, a climate scientist at Monash University in
Melbourne, Australia, and chief investigator for the Australian
Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes. In
Australia, both of those phenomena tend to “cause significant
drought conditions, particularly across the east of the country”.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">During 2019 and 2020, the same combination of
climatic drivers contributed to wildfires that burned for several
months across more than 24 million hectares in eastern and
southeastern Australia.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">In eastern Africa, the combination of El Niño
and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole is associated with wetter
conditions than normal and an increased likelihood of extreme
rainfall events and flooding. Above average rainfall is forecast
for much of southern Africa in mid-to-late spring (October to
December), followed by warm and dry conditions in the summer.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">- -</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Hot oceans</b></font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Oceans are also feeling the heat. Global
average sea surface temperatures reached a record high in July
this year, and some areas were more than 3 ºC warmer than usual.
There were also record-low levels of sea ice around Antarctica
during the winter, which could lead to a feedback loop, says
Ariaan Purich, a climate scientist at Monash University. “Large
areas of the Southern Ocean that would usually still be covered by
sea ice in October aren’t,” she says. Instead of being reflected
off white ice, incoming sunlight is more likely to be absorbed by
the dark ocean surface. “Then this makes the surface warmer and
it’s going to melt back more sea ice so we can have this positive
feedback.”</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">- -</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Another meteorological element in the mix this
summer is the Southern Annular Mode, also known as the Antarctic
Oscillation, which describes the northward or southward shift of
the belt of westerly winds that circles Antarctica.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">In 2019, the Southern Annular Mode was in a
strong negative phase. “What this meant was that across eastern
Australia, there were a lot of very hot and dry winds blowing from
the desert across to eastern Australia, and so this really
exacerbated the bush-fire risk,” says Purich. A positive Southern
Annular Mode is associated with greater rainfall across most of
Australia and southern Africa but dry conditions for South
America, New Zealand and Tasmania.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">The Southern Annular Mode is currently in a
positive state, but is forecast to return to neutral in the coming
days, and “I’d say that we’re not expecting to have a very strong
negative Southern Annular Mode this spring”, Purich says.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">And, as hot as the summer could be, the worst
might be yet to come. Atmospheric scientist David Karoly at the
University of Melbourne, who was a member of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, says that the biggest impact of El Niño
is likely to be felt in the summer of 2024–25. “We know that the
impact on temperatures associated with El Niño happens the year
after the event,” says Karoly.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">doi: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03547-9">https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03547-9</a></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03547-9">https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03547-9</a></font>
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</i></font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ video news, for Saudi Arabia weather
anomaly ]<br>
</i></font><font face="Calibri"><b>Biblical hailstorm hits Saudi
Arabia! The World is in shock!</b><br>
ND News<br>
</font>Nov 19, 2023 МЕККА<br>
Severe weather has affected Saudi Arabia.<br>
The flooding is caused by heavy rains that have not stopped in the
west of the country for several days.<br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsGqnnnIF3s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsGqnnnIF3s</a><i><br>
</i></font>
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<font face="Calibri"><i>[ video reading of an important medical
report ]</i><br>
<b>Chat on new Lancet Report on the Increasing Impacts of Abrupt
Climate System Change on Human Health</b><br>
Paul Beckwith<br>
Nov 17, 2023<br>
Over the last 8 years or so, the very prestigious medical journal
Lancet has published an annual review of the effects of climate
change on human health. I chat about the 2023 report, which has
just been released in the couple weeks prior to the COP28 climate
conference in Dubai. <br>
Essentially human health around the globe is being held hostage by
fossil fuel companies and the large banks that are funding their
rapid acceleration of fossil fuel extraction. Things are worsening
rapidly, as fossil fuel companies and large banks literally shoot
humanity in the foot, and in other places as well.<br>
Please donate at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://PaulBeckwith.net">http://PaulBeckwith.net</a> to support my
research and videos as I join the dots on abrupt climate system
mayhem. <br>
I prefer to stick with volunteer donations to support my work
rather than rely on YouTube channel monetization with its annoying
ads.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gS80MxeuRg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gS80MxeuRg</a><br>
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<p><font face="Calibri">- -<br>
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<font face="Calibri"><i>[ the summary text of health alerts posted
by The Lancet ]</i><br>
<b>The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate
change: the imperative for a health-centred response in a world
facing irreversible harms</b><br>
Marina Romanello, PhD <br>
Claudia di Napoli, PhD<br>
Carole Green, MPH<br>
Harry Kennard, PhD<br>
Pete Lampard, PhD<br>
Daniel Scamman, PhD ...et al.<br>
Published:November 14,
2023DOI:<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01859-7">https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01859-7</a><br>
<b>Executive Summary</b><br>
The Lancet Countdown is an international research collaboration
that independently monitors the evolving impacts of climate change
on health, and the emerging health opportunities of climate
action. In its eighth iteration, this 2023 report draws on the
expertise of 114 scientists and health practitioners from 52
research institutions and UN agencies worldwide to provide its
most comprehensive assessment yet.<br>
In 2022, the Lancet Countdown warned that people's health is at
the mercy of fossil fuels and stressed the transformative
opportunity of jointly tackling the concurrent climate change,
energy, cost-of-living, and health crises for human health and
wellbeing. This year's report finds few signs of such progress. At
the current 10-year mean heating of 1·14°C above pre-industrial
levels, climate change is increasingly impacting the health and
survival of people worldwide, and projections show these risks
could worsen steeply with further inaction. However, with health
matters gaining prominence in climate change negotiations, this
report highlights new opportunities to deliver health-promoting
climate change action and a safe and thriving future for all.<br>
The rising health toll of a changing climate<br>
In 2023, the world saw the highest global temperatures in over
100 000 years, and heat records were broken in all continents
through 2022. Adults older than 65 years and infants younger than
1 year, for whom extreme heat can be particularly
life-threatening, are now exposed to twice as many heatwave days
as they would have experienced in 1986–2005 (indicator 1.1.2).
Harnessing the rapidly advancing science of detection and
attribution, new analysis shows that over 60% of the days that
reached health-threatening high temperatures in 2020 were made
more than twice as likely to occur due to anthropogenic climate
change (indicator 1.1.5); and heat-related deaths of people older
than 65 years increased by 85% compared with 1990–2000,
substantially higher than the 38% increase that would have been
expected had temperatures not changed (indicator 1.1.5).<br>
Simultaneously, climate change is damaging the natural and human
systems on which people rely for good health. The global land area
affected by extreme drought increased from 18% in 1951–60 to 47%
in 2013–22 (indicator 1.2.2), jeopardising water security,
sanitation, and food production. A higher frequency of heatwaves
and droughts in 2021 was associated with 127 million more people
experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity compared with
1981–2010 (indicator 1.4), putting millions of people at risk of
malnutrition and potentially irreversible health effects. The
changing climatic conditions are also putting more populations at
risk of life-threatening infectious diseases, such as dengue,
malaria, vibriosis, and West Nile virus (indicator 1.3).<br>
Compounding these direct health impacts, the economic losses
associated with global heating increasingly harm livelihoods,
limit resilience, and restrict the funds available to tackle
climate change. Economic losses from extreme weather events
increased by 23% between 2010–14 and 2018–22, amounting to US$264
billion in 2022 alone (indicator 4.1.1), whereas heat exposure led
to global potential income losses worth $863 billion (indicators
1.1.4 and 4.1.3). Labour capacity loss resulting from heat
exposure affected low and medium Human Development Index (HDI)
countries the most, exacerbating global inequities, with potential
income losses equivalent to 6·1% and 3·8% of their gross domestic
product (GDP), respectively (indicator 4.1.3).<br>
The multiple and simultaneously rising risks of climate change are
amplifying global health inequities and threatening the very
foundations of human health. Health systems are increasingly
strained, and 27% of surveyed cities declared concerns over their
health systems being overwhelmed by the impacts of climate change
(indicator 2.1.3). Often due to scarce financial resources and low
technical and human capacity, the countries most vulnerable to
climate impacts also face the most challenges in achieving
adaptation progress, reflecting the human risks of an unjust
transition. Only 44% of low HDI countries and 54% of medium HDI
countries reported high implementation of health emergency
management capacities in 2022, compared with 85% of very high HDI
countries (indicator 2.2.5). Additionally, low and medium HDI
countries had the highest proportion of cities not intending to
undertake a climate change risk assessment in 2021 (12%; indicator
2.1.3). These inequalities are aggravated by the persistent
failure of the wealthiest countries to deliver the promised modest
annual sum of $100 billion to support climate action in those
countries defined as developing within the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change. Consequently, those countries that have
historically contributed the least to climate change are bearing
the brunt of its health impacts—both a reflection and a direct
consequence of the structural inequities that lie within the root
causes of climate change.<br>
<b>The human costs of persistent inaction</b><br>
The growing threats experienced to date are early signs and
symptoms of what a rapidly changing climate could mean for the
health of the world's populations. With 1337 tonnes of CO2 emitted
each second, each moment of delay worsens the risks to people's
health and survival.<br>
In this year's report, new projections reveal the dangers of
further delays in action, with every tracked health dimension
worsening as the climate changes. If global mean temperature
continues to rise to just under 2°C, annual heat-related deaths
are projected to increase by 370% by midcentury, assuming no
substantial progress on adaptation (indicator 1.1.5). Under such a
scenario, heat-related labour loss is projected to increase by 50%
(indicator 1.1.4), and heatwaves alone could lead to 524·9 million
additional people experiencing moderate-to-severe food insecurity
by 2041–60, aggravating the global risk of malnutrition.
Life-threatening infectious diseases are also projected to spread
further, with the length of coastline suitable for Vibrio
pathogens expanding by 17–25%, and the transmission potential for
dengue increasing by 36–37% by midcentury. As risks rise, so will
the costs and challenges of adaptation. These estimates provide
some indication of what the future could hold. However, poor
accounting for non-linear responses, tipping points, and cascading
and synergistic interactions could render these projections
conservative, disproportionately increasing the threat to the
health of populations worldwide.<br>
<b>A world accelerating in the wrong direction</b><br>
The health risks of a 2°C hotter world underscore the health
imperative of accelerating climate change action. With limits to
adaptation drawing closer, ambitious mitigation is paramount to
keep the magnitude of health hazards within the limits of the
capacity of health systems to adapt. Yet years of scientific
warnings of the threat to people's lives have been met with
grossly insufficient action, and policies to date have put the
world on track to almost 3°C of heating.<br>
The 2022 Lancet Countdown report highlighted the opportunity to
accelerate the transition away from health-harming fossil fuels in
response to the global energy crisis. However, data this year show
a world that is often moving in the wrong direction.
Energy-related CO2 emissions increased by 0·9% to a record 36·8 Gt
in 2022 (indicator 3.1.1), and still only 9·5% of global
electricity comes from modern renewables (mainly solar and wind
energy), despite their costs falling below that of fossil fuels.
Concerningly, driven partly by record profits, oil and gas
companies are further reducing their compliance with the Paris
Agreement: the strategies of the world's 20 largest oil and gas
companies as of early 2023 will result in emissions surpassing
levels consistent with the Paris Agreement goals by 173% in
2040—an increase of 61% from 2022 (indicator 4.2.6). Rather than
pursuing accelerated development of renewable energy, fossil fuel
companies allocated only 4% of their capital investment to
renewables in 2022.<br>
Meanwhile, global fossil fuel investment increased by 10% in 2022,
reaching over $1 trillion (indicator 4.2.1). The expansion of oil
and gas extractive activities has been supported through both
private and public financial flows. Across 2017–21, the 40 banks
that lend most to the fossil fuel sector collectively invested
$489 billion annually in fossil fuels (annual average), with 52%
increasing their lending from 2010–16. Simultaneously, in 2020,
78% of the countries assessed, responsible for 93% of all global
CO2 emissions, still provided net direct fossil fuels subsidies
totalling $305 billion, further hindering fossil fuel phase-out
(indicator 4.2.4). Without a rapid response to course correct, the
persistent use and expansion of fossil fuels will ensure an
increasingly inequitable future that threatens the lives of
billions of people alive today.<br>
<b>The opportunity to deliver a healthy future for all</b><br>
Despite the challenges, data also expose the transformative health
benefits that could come from the transition to a zero-carbon
future, with health professionals playing a crucial role in
ensuring these gains are maximised. Globally, 775 million people
still live without electricity, and close to 1 billion people are
still served by health-care facilities without reliable energy.
With structural global inequities in the development of, access
to, and use of clean energy, only 2·3% of electricity in low HDI
countries comes from modern renewables (against 11% in very high
HDI countries), and 92% of households in low HDI countries still
rely on biomass fuels to meet their energy needs (against 7·5% in
very high HDI countries; indicators 3.1.1 and 3.1.2). In this
context, the transition to renewables can enable access to
decentralised clean energy and, coupled with interventions to
increase energy efficiency, can reduce energy poverty and power
high quality health-supportive services. By reducing the burning
of dirty fuels (including fossil fuels and biomass), such
interventions could help avoid a large proportion of the 1·9
million deaths that occur annually from dirty-fuel-derived,
outdoor, airborne, fine particulate matter pollution (PM2·5;
indicator 3.2.1), and a large proportion of the 78 deaths per
100 000 people associated with exposure to indoor air pollution
(indicator 3.2.2). Additionally, the just development of renewable
energy markets can generate net employment opportunities with
safer, more locally available jobs. Ensuring countries,
particularly those facing high levels of energy poverty, are
supported in the safe development, deployment, and adoption of
renewable energy is key to maximising health gains and preventing
unjust extractive industrial practices that can harm the health
and livelihoods of local populations and widen health inequities.<br>
With fossil fuels accounting for 95% of road transport energy
(indicator 3.1.3), interventions to enable and promote safe active
travel and zero-emission public transport can further deliver
emissions reduction, promote health through physical activity, and
avert many of the 460 000 deaths caused annually by
transport-derived PM2·5 pollution (indicator 3.2.1), and some of
the 3·2 million annual deaths related to physical inactivity.
People-centred, climate-resilient urban redesign to improve
building energy efficiency, increase green and blue spaces, and
promote sustainable cooling, can additionally prevent heat-related
health harms, avoid air-conditioning-derived emissions (indicator
2.2.2), and provide direct physical and mental health benefits.<br>
Additionally, food systems are responsible for 30% of global
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with 57% of agricultural emissions
in 2020 being derived from the production of red meat and milk
(indicator 3.3.1). Promoting and enabling equitable access to
affordable, healthy, low-carbon diets that meet local nutritional
and cultural requirements can contribute to mitigation, while
preventing many of the 12·2 million deaths attributable to
suboptimal diets (indicator 3.3.2).<br>
The health community could play a central role in securing these
benefits, by delivering public health interventions to reduce air
pollution, enabling and supporting active travel and healthier
diets, and promoting improvements in the environmental conditions
and commercial activities that define health outcomes.
Importantly, the health sector can lead by example and transition
to sustainable, resource-efficient, net-zero emission health
systems, thereby preventing its 4·6% contribution to global GHG
emissions, with cascading impacts ultimately affecting the broader
economy (indicator 3.4).<br>
Some encouraging signs of progress offer a glimpse of the enormous
human benefits that health-centred action could render. Deaths
attributable to fossil-fuel-derived air pollution have decreased
by 15·7% since 2005, with 80% of this reduction being the result
of reduced coal-derived pollution. Meanwhile the renewable energy
sector expanded to a historical high of 12·7 million employees in
2021 (indicator 4.2.2); and renewable energy accounted for 90% of
the growth in electricity capacity in 2022 (indicator 3.1.1).
Supporting this, global clean energy investment increased by 15%
in 2022, to $1·6 trillion, exceeding fossil fuel investment by 61%
(indicator 4.2.1); and lending to the green energy sector rose to
$498 billion in 2021, approaching fossil fuel lending (indicator
4.2.7).<br>
Scientific understanding of the links between health and climate
change is rapidly growing, and although coverage lags in some of
the most affected regions, over 3000 scientific articles covered
this topic in 2022 (indicators 5.3.1 and 5.3.2). Meanwhile, the
health dimensions of climate change are increasingly acknowledged
in the public discourse, with 24% of all climate change newspaper
articles in 2022 referring to health, just short of the 26% in
2020 (indicator 5.1). Importantly, international organisations are
increasingly engaging with the health co-benefits of climate
change mitigation (indicator 5.4.2), and governments increasingly
acknowledge this link, with 95% of updated Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement now referring to
health—up from 73% in 2020 (indicator 5.4.1). These trends signal
what could be the start of a life-saving transition.<br>
<b>A people-centred transformation: putting health at the heart of
climate action</b><br>
With the world currently heading towards 3°C of heating, any
further delays in climate change action will increasingly threaten
the health and survival of billions of people alive today. If
meaningful, the prioritisation of health in upcoming international
climate change negotiations could offer an unprecedented
opportunity to deliver health-promoting climate action and pave
the way to a thriving future. However, delivering such an ambition
will require confronting the economic interests of the fossil fuel
and other health-harming industries, and delivering
science-grounded, steadfast, meaningful, and sustained progress to
shift away from fossil fuels, accelerate mitigation, and deliver
adaptation for health. Unless such progress materialises, the
growing emphasis on health within climate change negotiations
risks being mere healthwashing; increasing the acceptability of
initiatives that minimally advance action, and which ultimately
undermine—rather than protect—the future of people alive today and
generations to come.<br>
Safeguarding people's health in climate policies will require the
leadership, integrity, and commitment of the health community.
With its science-driven approach, this community is uniquely
positioned to ensure that decision makers are held accountable,
and foster human-centred climate action that safeguards human
health above all else. The ambitions of the Paris Agreement are
still achievable, and a prosperous and healthy future still lies
within reach. But the concerted efforts and commitments of health
professionals, policy makers, corporations, and financial
institutions will be needed to ensure the promise of
health-centred climate action becomes a reality that delivers a
thriving future for all.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01859-7/fulltext">https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01859-7/fulltext</a><br>
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<font face="Calibri"><i>[ not surprising, but nice to validate
suspicions ]</i><br>
<b>More than Half of World’s Largest Companies’ Net Zero Pledges
Are False Promises, Study Finds</b><br>
An InfluenceMap analysis finds many corporate climate vows do not
match companies’ actual lobbying around climate-related policies.<br>
ANALYSIS<br>
By Dana Drugmand<br>
Nov 15, 2023<br>
Companies’ climate commitments are largely misaligned with their
lobbying activities, with more than half of the world’s largest
corporations at risk of “net zero greenwashing,” according to a
new report.<br>
<br>
An analysis of nearly 300 of the top companies from the Forbes
2000 list found that 58 percent did not match their climate
policy influencing actions with their public claims of being
committed to the Paris Climate Accord and achieving net zero
emissions.<br>
<br>
“Net Zero Greenwash: The Gap Between Corporate Commitments and
Their Policy Engagement,” assessed companies’ lobbying against
their net zero pledges. It determined that a company is at risk of
greenwashing if it has announced a net zero or similar target, but
is not sufficiently supportive of policies needed to achieve the
Paris Agreement objectives, based on the LobbyMap platform that
tracks corporate engagement on climate policy.<br>
<br>
InfluenceMap, a London-based climate think tank, published the
study today ahead of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai that begins
on Nov. 30. It comes one year after a report from a UN High-Level
Expert Group, issued at COP27 in Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt, warned
that climate pledges put forth by non-state actors are at risk of
losing their credibility without concerted efforts to align words
with actions. “We must have zero tolerance for net-zero
greenwashing,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said last
November during the launch of that report, called “Integrity
Matters: Net Zero Commitments by Businesses, Financial
Institutions, Cities and Regions.”<br>
<br>
While the “Integrity Matters” report laid out a roadmap with
detailed recommendations to avoid this greenwashing, many large
corporations have not heeded the advice when it comes to their
lobbying around climate-related policies, the new InfluenceMap
study suggests.<br>
<br>
Study ‘Should Be a Wake-up Call<br>
The findings of the “Net Zero Greenwash” analysis “should be a
wake-up call for businesses across the globe,” Catherine McKenna,
chair of the High-Level Expert Group, CEO of Climate and Nature
Solutions, and former Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate
Change, said in a press release accompanying the study. <br>
<br>
“It’s clear that while companies are quick to showcase their
climate commitments, too many of them are not backing that up with
support for positive government policy on climate,” she added.
“Not only are many companies choosing to undermine their own
climate commitments by lobbying against climate action, their net
zero commitments are simply not credible.”<br>
<br>
In the report, researchers examined 293 of the world’s biggest
corporations on their policy engagement, including direct lobbying
and lobbying through industry associations. They found that 36.5
percent of them were at “moderate risk” of net zero greenwashing,
while 21.5 percent were at “significant risk” of it.<br>
<br>
Chevron, ExxonMobil, Delta Airlines, Duke Energy, Glencore
International, Nippon Steel Corporation, Repsol, Stellantis,
Southern Company, and Woodside Energy Group Ltd. are among the
companies identified as being at significant risk of net zero
greenwashing as they advocate to weaken or block climate policies
or expand fossil fuels at the same time that they profess to be
committed to climate action or net zero goals. <br>
<br>
Swiss mining giant Glencore, for example, opposed the introduction
of new climate policy in the European Union last year. Australian
oil and gas producer Woodside Energy lobbied in support of new
fossil gas supply while opposing a fossil fuel phaseout in
Australia this year. And the U.S.-based gas and electric utility,
Southern Company, advocated to preserve the role of fossil gas in
transportation and buildings last year, InfluenceMap points out.
All three companies have made commitments to reach net zero
emissions by 2050.<br>
<br>
Will Aitchison, lead author of the study and a director of
communications at InfluenceMap, said this misalignment poses grave
risk to meeting global climate goals. <br>
<br>
“Unless companies match their climate commitments with ambitious
support for government-led policy action, the Paris Agreement
goals will be impossible to reach,” he said in the press release.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.desmog.com/2023/11/15/influencemap-study-greenwashing-corporate-climate-commitment-net-zero-greenwash/">https://www.desmog.com/2023/11/15/influencemap-study-greenwashing-corporate-climate-commitment-net-zero-greenwash/</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Calibri">- -</font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ Lobby Map data exploration ]</i><br>
LobbyMap is a platform operated by climate change think tank
InfluenceMap and is the world's leading system for tracking
corporate climate policy engagement<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lobbymap.org/">https://lobbymap.org/</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><i><br>
</i></font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ Beckwith reads a paper ]<br>
</i><b>New Report: Dire Sea Level Rise up to 20 meters (66 ft)
Locked-In Even if Climate Goals Met<br>
</b>Paul Beckwith<i><br>
</i>Nov 19, 2023<br>
New climate change reports are being released every single day as
we approach the start of the 28th version of the United Nations
Climate Conference (COP28 - Conference of Parties 28)<br>
<br>
In this video I chat about the new report on the vanishing
cryosphere with massive sea level rise called: “State of the
Cryosphere 2023: Two degrees is too high: We cannot negotiate with
the melting point of ice”; link is in this article:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://apple.news/AaPaaajMYT-iWfWXxc">https://apple.news/AaPaaajMYT-iWfWXxc</a>... <br>
<br>
Essentially, this report argues that Earth is facing dire sea
level rise — up to 20m — even if climate goals are met and the
global average temperature is stabilized at 2 degrees Celsius
relative to the IPCC baseline 1850-1900 average. <br>
<br>
I discuss the main findings in this report, and have a look at
what the figures tell us in specific areas of glacier melt,
permafrost thaw and emissions feedbacks, Arctic and Antarctica
polar temperature amplification and sea ice loss, polar ocean
acidification, and changes to ocean circulation patterns and
consequences.<br>
<br>
By the way, we are heading to a 2023 global average temperature of
1.54 degrees Celsius or higher, and on November 18, 2023 the daily
average temperature reached 2.0 degrees C above the IPCC baseline
for the first time.<br>
It appears that by the start of next year, we will only
legitimately and honestly be able to discuss the 1.5 C temperature
goal in the past tense. Recall that in the James Hansen video
recently, I chatted about 1.71 C by 2030 and 2 C by 2038 with
James. <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXbjccFsZIg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXbjccFsZIg</a><i><br>
</i></font>
<p><font face="Calibri">- -</font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ pdf document 62 pages]</i><br>
<b>State of the Cryosphere 2023</b><br>
Two Degrees Is Too High <br>
We cannot negotiate with the melting point of ice. <br>
1.5 C Is the Only Option<br>
This year is the year of climate disasters. Global temperatures,
including sea surface temperatures <br>
are at record high. The sea ice around Antarctica is at an
all-time low; and, in the<br>
<br>
Arctic, icecaps and Iceland’s vital glaciers continue to melt.
Chile has seen a year of brutal<br>
wildfires, intense rains, devastating floods. We are not in an era
of global warming; but as UN<br>
Secretary General Guterres says, “global boiling.” This year we
will come close to reaching<br>
1.5°C of warming, for the first time in human history.<br>
And the Cryosphere – Earth’s frozen water in ice sheets, sea ice,
permafrost, polar oceans,<br>
glaciers and snow – are at ground zero, beginning to reach the
boundary where adaptation<br>
becomes loss and damage, irreversible on any human timescale. From
the Cryosphere point<br>
of view, 1.5°C is not simply preferable to 2°C or higher, it is
the only option.<br>
<br>
We do see some positives. Iceland will not issue any licenses for
oil exploration in its exclusive <br>
economic zone, and has put into legislation that it should become
carbon-neutral no<br>
<br>
later than 2040. Chile, along with Fiji, was the first developing
country to legislate carbon<br>
neutrality by 2050, and hopefully much sooner.<br>
But we can and need to do much more, heading for a future where
non-renewable energy<br>
is no longer an option. The only way through this climate crisis
is to finally leave fossil fuels<br>
behind and resist greenwashing. After all, the melting point of
ice pays no attention to<br>
rhetoric, only to our actions.<br>
<br>
At COP28, we need a frank Global Stocktake, and fresh urgency
especially due to what we<br>
have learned about Cryosphere feedbacks, worsening for each
additional tenth of a degree<br>
in temperature rise. We need tangible results, and clear message
about the urgency to<br>
phase out fossil fuels and for more robust financial mechanisms to
finance climate action.<br>
We have time, but not much time. Past alerts are today’s shocking
facts. Present warnings<br>
will be tomorrow’s cascading disasters, both within and from the
global Cryosphere, if we do<br>
not accelerate climate action and implement systemic change.<br>
Change is hard, but change we must. Because of the Cryosphere,
climate inaction is<br>
unacceptable.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QOqYHI0ezrmMCUrmCDV03rF-1aIYE6VB/view">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QOqYHI0ezrmMCUrmCDV03rF-1aIYE6VB/view</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font> </p>
<font face="Calibri"><br>
<i>[The news archive - Criticism of political parties for
ignoring global warming ]</i><br>
<font size="+2"><i><b>November 20, 2012</b></i></font> </font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> </font> October 20, 2012: On MSNBC's "Up,"
Chris Hayes condemns President Obama, GOP presidential candidate
Mitt Romney, and CNN's Candy Crowley for remaining silent on climate
in the most recent presidential debate.<br>
Transcript <br>
<blockquote>Four years ago when Barack Obama and John McCain met for
a<br>
town hall debate they met his two men who each accepted the
scientific<br>
consensus that fossil fuels are warming our planet they met his
two candidates<br>
with competing plans to deal with this challenge though their
plans different<br>
on the details and over the course of the evening they were even
asked a<br>
direct question about the issue I want to know what you would do
within the<br>
first two years to make sure that Congress moves fast as far as<br>
environmental issues like climate change and green jobs we can
move forward and<br>
clean up our climate and develop green technologies and alternate
and<br>
alternative energies and we're not going to be able to deal with
the climate<br>
crisis if our only solution is to use more fossil fuels that
create global<br>
warming in the wake of this week's debate that moment in 2008 <b>seems
like</b><br>
<b>something excavated from the ruins of a destroyed civilization</b>
despite the fact<br>
that this passive temer was tied for the warmest in the 132 year
history a record<br>
keeping the word climate crossed neither candidate slips nor was
it mentioned by<br>
moderator Candy Crowley or the audience of undecided voters
selected to ask<br>
questions Croley explain the omission of the issue this way you
called through<br>
all of these questions that these undeclared voters brought in
this<br>
morning I know that this was such a big concern of yours how did
you decide<br>
which ones to choose we wanted to cover subjects that maybe folks
hadn't heard<br>
about but still we're interested in I think immigration control
and<br>
immigration word and women's issues were the three big ones
climate change I had<br>
that question to all you climate change people we just you know
again we knew<br>
that the economy was still the main thing climate change people is
a<br>
revealing phrase it suggests the climate is a boutique issue like
nimby<br>
opposition to an unsightly development down the block or
advocating for the<br>
metric system but I can't really break blame Crowley for the
emission because<br>
the candidates both spent much of the night talking about the
related an<br>
entirely inseparable issue of energy and had every opportunity to
at the very<br>
least mention our single greatest governing challenge instead the
entire<br>
debate about energy such as it was was a debate over who can<br>
most ruthlessly facilitate the total and utter exploitation of
every last ounce<br>
of fossilized carbon sitting beneath the continent we're actually
drilling more<br>
on public lands than in the previous administration I will fight
for all coal<br>
and natural gas go after natural gas more drilling more permits
and licenses<br>
increase oil production drilling offshore and Alaska drilling
offshore in<br>
Virginia we've built enough pipeline to wrap around the entire
Earth in fact one<br>
of the most unintentionally hilarious moments in the night this
hasn't gotten<br>
a lot of attention Mitt Romney was asked by a voter to reassure
her that his<br>
presidency wouldn't just be a reprise of the disastrous tenure of
george w bush<br>
how are you different she asked first Romney avoided the question
by<br>
attempting to litigate president Obama's previous response but
then Mitt Romney<br>
gathered himself and began to list his differences with Bush and
remarkably his<br>
number one difference with george w bush the thing he started with
the very first<br>
difference he listed was that unlike bush he mitt romney was
really<br>
enthusiastic about fossil fuel extraction but under george w bush
we<br>
hadn't succeeded in scraping every last cell of carbon from this
withering husk<br>
of an earth but under Romney we would sink a drill in mine into
every last<br>
surface across this great land what is the biggest difference
between you and<br>
george w bush and how do you differentiate yourself from George W<br>
Bush president bush and I are different people and these are
different times and<br>
that's why my five-point plan is so different than what he would
have done I<br>
mean for instance we can now by virtue of new technology actually
get all the<br>
energy we need in North America without having to go to the the
Arabs of the<br>
Venezuelans or anyone else that wasn't true in his time that's why
my policy<br>
starts with a very robust policy to get all that energy in North
America I<br>
become energy secure imagine for a moment if discussion of the
national<br>
debt and long-term deficits both candidates had taken to competing
to say<br>
who would have the biggest deficits who would increase the rate of
health care<br>
costs the fastest and push interest rates up the most this was
roughly what<br>
the energy debate was like and yet the politics of this aren't as
logic-defying<br>
as a substance right now it is looking more and more likely the
outcome of this<br>
election will come down to Ohio more specifically the voters in<br>
the southeastern portion of the state that is coal country the
people who work<br>
in that industry are understandably worried about their future and
their<br>
livelihoods coal has had a bit of a rough stretch over the last
two years as<br>
it makes up a shrinking portion of our domestic energy consumption
the<br>
inconvenient truth is that there is a war on coal but it's not
being waged by<br>
the Obama administration no the relentless assault on coal is
coming<br>
from the natural gas industry thanks to its breakthrough in hydro
fracking and<br>
extraction of shale grass it can now produce energy that's both
relatively<br>
cleaner and cheaper than coal the folks whose livelihoods depend
on the antique<br>
planet endangering technology of coal and the one-percenters who
own the mines<br>
are understandably spooked and so we have this asymmetry of
passion on one<br>
side of the ledger a concentrated set of interests and voters who
care in a near<br>
life-and-death way about the continued exploitation of dirty
energy and on the<br>
other side of public with a week nonchalant preference for us to
do<br>
something about that whole climate change thing Barack Obama isn't
going to<br>
rectify this imbalance the only way to get a same climate debate
is in our<br>
national conversation is to create a cadre of activists and
citizens and<br>
voters who will balance that ledger who care is passionately about
saving the<br>
planet from rune as those on the other side do about their
industry because<br>
they see and understand just as viscerally as the other side that
yes<br>
this really is a life-or-death issue not for one industry or one
region of one<br>
state but for the planet and every single person we love who lives
on it I<br>
want to talk to my panel about where Democrats are on this right
after this<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://youtu.be/BUBbLbMbvfc">http://youtu.be/BUBbLbMbvfc</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
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