We're way off track to meet climate goals
Plus, Brandon's partner talks public transit (what a pair).
Welcome to Planet Days, a green newsletter for a greenwashed Planet.
If you’re new to this newsletter, every week we curate a five-minute roundup of the latest climate news and what it means for our Planet. If this was forwarded to you, smash that subscribe button:
Last week, Singapore announced a net-zero plan, the European Union agreed to ban car engines by 2035, and deadly tropical storms thrashed Mexico, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.
In case you missed it, here’s what else happened around the Planet.
Tuesday, October 25
UK’s climate U-turn?
The United Kingdom has a new prime minister, Rishi Sunak. And though Sunak is a welcomed change from former PM Liz Truss, many climate activists aren’t getting their hopes up.
To his credit, in his first week Sunak reinstated the country’s ban on fracking and doubled-down on the U.K.’s net zero ambitions. But Sunak, who previously served as the country’s finance minister, also announced he’s skipping COP27 and cutting from his cabinet COP26 president Alok Sharma.
Australia’s clean energy plan
The Australian government revealed an ambitious $25 billion clean energy agenda, paving the way for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to keep climate campaign promises of slashing emissions and lowering home energy bills.
Over the next decade, the plan allocates funds to carbon storage and capture, upgrading the country’s energy grid, and supporting project developers and electric cars. The Sydney Morning Herald has the full breakdown.
The announcement comes just days after Australia joined U.S. President Joe Biden’s pledge to cut methane emissions 30% by 2030 and a week after a World Resources Institute report found countries need to be far more ambitious with their pledges to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.
Climate change, heat increasingly threaten lives
But will these ambitious pledges come in time? A new report published in the Lancet found that heatwaves, air pollution, and other climate impacts “are increasingly affecting the foundations of human health and wellbeing,” threatening 50 years of public health gains.
For one, heat-related deaths increased nearly 70% from 2017–2021 compared to the four year period 2000–2004, with hospitalizations pushing COVID-stressed systems to the brink. And if Tuesday couldn’t get anymore grim, a separate report found “virtually every child” will face more frequent heatwaves by mid-century.
But it’s not too late. The Lancet report highlighted recent gains, such as policy measures — like the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act — and the fact that a vast majority of countries’ climate targets use health to measure success. Grist has the full story.
Wednesday, October 26
We’re way off track to meet climate goals
Last week, we wrote about how countries’ net-zero plans are falling well short of international climate goals. This week, a report by the United Nations adds a little more perspective: Current pledges put us on track to warm 2.1–2.9 degrees Celsius. That’s much higher than the Paris Agreement’s goal of 1.5 degrees.
Since last year, only 26 of 193 countries have submitted more ambitious plans to slash emissions. And though emissions need to decrease 43% by 2030, they’re currently on pace to increase 10.6% in that timeframe, reports The Guardian.
A separate U.N. report released last week finds that “only an urgent system-wide transformation can avoid climate disaster.” CarbonBrief has more on that.
Greenhouse gases on the rise
The Planet saw record increases in the three major heat-trapping gases last year, with the biggest jump coming in methane, the World Meteorological Organization said in a new report.
The atmospheric concentration of methane — the most potent of the gases — had the largest year-on-year rise since records began 40 years ago. But carbon dioxide remains the most influential warming agent, accounting for four-fifths of temperature rise over the last decade. The Associated Press has the details.
Thursday, October 27
Big Oil rakes in big profits
With surging energy prices linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine, 2022 is becoming a great year for oil and gas. Here are the numbers from the year’s third quarter:
Exxon raked in $20 billion in profit, its best quarter by 10%.
Chevron brought in over $11 billion, a slight slip from record numbers of its previous quarter.
Shell had adjusted net earnings of nearly $9.5 billion, prompting the U.K. to expand its windfall tax for the oil company.
So, what’s next? Oil companies are expected to enter 2023 with record profits, according to Deloitte’s latest outlook. Though a sliver of that extra cash will go to carbon projects, a vast majority will go back to investors and into natural gas projects — a cleaner, but still dirty, alternative to oil. The Houston Chronicle has more on that.
Is fossil fuel demand about to peak?
Despite these record numbers from Big Oil, the International Energy Agency says the celebration won’t last forever. The group’s World Energy Outlook finds that the Planet’s demand for fossil fuels could peak by 2025 — a situation sped up by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The energy world is shifting dramatically before our eyes,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol in a statement. “Government responses around the world promise to make this a historic and definitive turning point towards a cleaner, more affordable and more secure energy system.”
As countries get off Russian oil and gas, they’ll invest more in domestic renewables and green energy projects — an economic move that can also increase national security, Birol notes. The Wall Street Journal has more.
Bonus
More equitable public transit
Reliable, affordable public transit is critical as cities strive to become greener. But doing so equitably is still a problem for many local governments. This week, Sarah Brotman (who’s also Brandon’s partner) published her first paper, which points to one solution to this challenge: Means-tested transit.
Though many cities have flat rates for bus fares, a means-tested approach adjusts fares to be based on incomes. For the paper, Sarah explored how an approach would work in Montgomery County, a suburb of Washington, D.C., where 7% of residents — mostly People of Color, low-income, or non-English speaking — lack access to a car.
Such a solution could allow more cost-burdened people to ride, creating a more equitable — and greener — system that can be a model for the region.
Have a great week,
Brandon and Sam