Year: 2021
Global CO2 emissions have been flat for a decade, new data reveals
The uses and abuses of green finance
This U.S. city just voted to decarbonize every single building
Following a city council vote, Ithaca, New York is set to be the first city in the country to electrify its buildings with the help of BlocPower.
This U.S. city just voted to decarbonize every single building
Following a city council vote, Ithaca, New York is set to be the first city in the country to electrify its buildings with the help of BlocPower.
NASA at the UN Climate Change Conference
NASA is participating in the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, through Friday, Nov. 12. The COP26 summit brings parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. All events are open to the local press and will be livestreamed on https://www.youtube.com/user/theuscenter and on https://www.state.gov/climate-crisis/cop-26/.
Hyperwall
At the U.S. Center, visitors can see the NASA Hyperwall, where NASA scientists will provide two live presentations per day showing how NASA’s global leadership in climate science and how our research helps model and predict ocean health, heat waves, wildfires, hurricanes, floods and droughts. The presentations are mapped to the conference’s daily themes: /feature/nasa-at-the-un-climate-change-conference.
NASA will be participating in the following events:
Tuesday, Nov. 2
2 p.m. EDT (18:00 UTC): "Earth Observations to build sustainable and climate resilient cities and communities: Applying the UN Earth Observations Toolkit for Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements"
- Event Description: Cities around the world face numerous environmental hazards—such as extreme heat events, landslides, pollution, and flooding— that they must monitor and address to reduce risks to, and enhance resilience of, their residents when it comes to climate change impacts. Earth observations help map, monitor and assess city, and other types of human settlement, environments in comprehensive ways and deliver up-to-date insights to decision makers.
The Earth Observations Toolkit for Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements (https://eotoolkit.unhabitat.org) shares ready-to-use Earth observation data and tools that inform the definition and monitoring of indicators, as well as national and city experiences in using spatial data and analysis for enabling successful, evidence-based decision making.
This hybrid side event shares how the Toolkit can be applied in policy areas that are important to delivering successful and sustainable cities, such as sustainable urban planning; adequate housing; access to public transport; and access to public spaces. The event brings together governments, private sector, academia, and practitioners working in the areas of human settlements, sustainability, and climate resilience.
- Organizers: EO4SDG, GEO, UN-Habitat, University of Strathclyde, Wood Plc.
- Connecting Details: Earth Observations to build sustainable and climate resilient cities and communities: Applying the UN Earth Observations Toolkit for Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements (Teams Meeting & Wood House, Glasgow, 16:00-18:00 GMT)
2:30 p.m. EDT (18:30 UTC): Screening of Disney/IMAX’s "A Beautiful Planet" (2016) at the Science Center. The film is an awe-inspiring journey around our planet through the eyes of NASA Astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Saturday, Nov. 6
12:30 p.m. EDT (16:30 UTC): "Our Climate Future is Female: Women and Girls Leading Climate Action"—Leaders will to discuss how the climate crisis impacts gender equality, and how women and girls are taking action in the fight against climate change, because around the world—from rural villages to the halls of parliament—women are leading the way in designing solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will participate virtually in this panel. The event will take place in the U.S. Pavilion at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow and will be live streamed at http://youtube.com/user/theuscenter.
Tuesday, Nov. 9
11:30 a.m. EST (16:30 UTC): "Observing Our Planet," a joint event with NASA, NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey that will outline U.S. plans to significantly enhance our ability to study the Earth from space. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will participate virtually in this panel.
Thursday, Nov. 11
8:30 a.m. EST (13:30 UTC): "Global Network to Enable Climate Change Resilience," a joint event with NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development highlighting the SERVIR program’s work to help developing countries use information provided by Earth observing satellites and geospatial technologies.
Friday, Nov. 12
5 a.m. EST (10:00 UTC): "A Changing Arctic"—Combined event on the Arctic, including "What Happens in the Arctic Doesn't Stay in the Arctic" and "U.S. Contributions to Arctic Research, Applications, and Decision Support")
COP26 on the inside: intel from the hustle of world leaders and representatives
As you’ll know if you follow 350.org, cutting off financial flows to the fossil fuel industry is our jam. It’s the most direct and effective way to end the era of fossil fuels – so let’s dive into the End Fossil Fuel Finance discourse being broadcast from Glasgow.
On November 3rd, private finance day at #COP26, The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) announced “24 major initiatives,” calling the package “revolutionary.” They are not: these commitments are voluntary, and lean heavily on the magic hand of the free markets to do the right thing. The sentiment that if the banks, fueling the climate crisis, just had the right “tools” and “information” we would all be ok, is laughably disingenuous, never mind the fact that bankers have little idea what net zero means.
The one mandatory measure announced on the 3rd was the UK’s requirements for firms to publish Net-Zero transition plans setting out how they will decarbonize through 2050. Again, this is “good first step” material, but we are at the finish line, not the starting line. The most effective way to reverse the climate crisis is to keep coal, oil and gas in the ground now, not to ask companies to disclose net zero transition plans. And these vague plans by 2050 with no improvements needed over the next 10-20 years? No politician with a 4 year term takes such things seriously. We don’t either.
As Dr. Daniela Gabor, economics professor at the University of the West of England, Bristol, wrote, “instead of public regulation, we have private catalytic initiatives to render the climate crisis profitable for private finance, under the motto: ‘new asset classes for us, new risks for the state’.”
That’s why we are calling on the referees of the banking world to step in and make the banks do precisely what is needed, which begins with ending fossil fuel finance.
On the eve of COP26, the Bank of England threatened to “come down pretty hard” on companies failing to manage climate risk starting from 2022. We need more than empty threats. Central Bank regulators have the power to penalize banks for being overly exposed to polluting industries. One of the ways they can do that is by ordering them to hold more capital to account for the risk. And, for our part, we’ll be pushing the Central Banks in the biggest financial centers around the world to do their job; regulate and manage the end of fossil fuel finance.
Activists protest fossil finance outside COP26 in Glasgow.
Later in the day on the 3rd, this announcement hit the press, “More than 20 countries and financial institutions will halt all financing for fossil fuel development overseas.” Countries involved include the US, UK, Denmark and some developing countries that would receive such finance, including Costa Rica. Our old friends at the European Investment Bank are one of the financial institutions on board. However, China and Japan, two big funders of fossil fuel development around the world, are not participating. And to be clear, this announcement has nothing to do with the fossil fuels being extracted domestically. And doesn’t implicate the big fish; private finance.
Public development investors are signaling hard. And regulators, like Central Banks, are moving to set up better information and planning structures. But for too long, regulators and governments have trusted voluntary decarbonisation, knowing well it can’t deliver for 1.5C or even 2C. If we are truly going to meet the moment, we need governments and central banks to collectively agree to penalize dirty lending. A meaningful end to fossil fuel finance.
COP26 isn’t the last chance we have to pressure the world’s richest countries into ending fossil finance — but it’s an important time for us to demand that the trillions currently poured into fossil fuels are redirected into climate justice and a Just Transition to clean energy for all. Sign the petition here.
NASA at the UN Climate Change Conference
NASA is participating in the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, through Friday, Nov. 12. The COP26 summit brings parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. All events are open to the local press and will be livestreamed on https://www.youtube.com/user/theuscenter and on https://www.state.gov/climate-crisis/cop-26/.
Hyperwall
At the U.S. Center, visitors can see the NASA Hyperwall, where NASA scientists will provide two live presentations per day showing how NASA’s global leadership in climate science and how our research helps model and predict ocean health, heat waves, wildfires, hurricanes, floods and droughts. The presentations are mapped to the conference’s daily themes: /feature/nasa-at-the-un-climate-change-conference.
NASA will be participating in the following events:
Tuesday, Nov. 2
2 p.m. EDT (18:00 UTC): "Earth Observations to build sustainable and climate resilient cities and communities: Applying the UN Earth Observations Toolkit for Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements"
- Event Description: Cities around the world face numerous environmental hazards—such as extreme heat events, landslides, pollution, and flooding— that they must monitor and address to reduce risks to, and enhance resilience of, their residents when it comes to climate change impacts. Earth observations help map, monitor and assess city, and other types of human settlement, environments in comprehensive ways and deliver up-to-date insights to decision makers.
The Earth Observations Toolkit for Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements (https://eotoolkit.unhabitat.org) shares ready-to-use Earth observation data and tools that inform the definition and monitoring of indicators, as well as national and city experiences in using spatial data and analysis for enabling successful, evidence-based decision making.
This hybrid side event shares how the Toolkit can be applied in policy areas that are important to delivering successful and sustainable cities, such as sustainable urban planning; adequate housing; access to public transport; and access to public spaces. The event brings together governments, private sector, academia, and practitioners working in the areas of human settlements, sustainability, and climate resilience.
- Organizers: EO4SDG, GEO, UN-Habitat, University of Strathclyde, Wood Plc.
- Connecting Details: Earth Observations to build sustainable and climate resilient cities and communities: Applying the UN Earth Observations Toolkit for Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements (Teams Meeting & Wood House, Glasgow, 16:00-18:00 GMT)
2:30 p.m. EDT (18:30 UTC): Screening of Disney/IMAX’s "A Beautiful Planet" (2016) at the Science Center. The film is an awe-inspiring journey around our planet through the eyes of NASA Astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Saturday, Nov. 6
12:30 p.m. EDT (16:30 UTC): "Our Climate Future is Female: Women and Girls Leading Climate Action"—Leaders will to discuss how the climate crisis impacts gender equality, and how women and girls are taking action in the fight against climate change, because around the world—from rural villages to the halls of parliament—women are leading the way in designing solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will participate virtually in this panel. The event will take place in the U.S. Pavilion at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow and will be live streamed at http://youtube.com/user/theuscenter.
Tuesday, Nov. 9
11:30 a.m. EST (16:30 UTC): "Observing Our Planet," a joint event with NASA, NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey that will outline U.S. plans to significantly enhance our ability to study the Earth from space. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will participate virtually in this panel.
Thursday, Nov. 11
8:30 a.m. EST (13:30 UTC): "Global Network to Enable Climate Change Resilience," a joint event with NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development highlighting the SERVIR program’s work to help developing countries use information provided by Earth observing satellites and geospatial technologies.
Friday, Nov. 12
5 a.m. EST (10:00 UTC): "A Changing Arctic"—Combined event on the Arctic, including "What Happens in the Arctic Doesn't Stay in the Arctic" and "U.S. Contributions to Arctic Research, Applications, and Decision Support")
Thunberg v Carney: tensions flare over net zero and carbon offsets at Cop26
Activists escalated protests against “greenwash” and the carbon market “scam” as UN envoy Mark Carney touted a private finance climate pledge
The post Thunberg v Carney: tensions flare over net zero and carbon offsets at Cop26 appeared first on Climate Home News.
