Welcome to Planet Days, 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, India started ramping up coal imports, Biden scrapped three offshore oil leases, and China’s sea levels hit an all-time high.
In case you missed it, here’s what else happened around the Planet.
Monday, May 9
1.5 degrees is a coin flip
Over the next five years, the Planet has a 50:50 chance to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, the targeted limit set by the Paris Agreement. The report by the World Meteorological Organization also found that it’s almost certain the Planet will reach the hottest year on record by 2026.
The odds of this scenario has increased over the last several years, as we’ve failed to keep climate in check. But exceeding 1.5 degrees for a year doesn’t mean we Paris Agreement goals are unattainable — instead, it gives us another reason to quickly get off fossil fuels.
“For as long as we continue to emit greenhouse gases, temperatures will continue to rise,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement. “And alongside that, our oceans will continue to become warmer and more acidic, sea ice and glaciers will continue to melt, sea level will continue to rise and our weather will become more extreme.”
The Associated Press has more.
Tuesday, May 10
Unloading Big Oil’s books
Big Oil has found a loophole to get emissions off its books. A new analysis by the Environmental Defense fund found that oil giants are selling off assets to smaller companies that have no net-zero commitments.
Because they rarely face the same public scrutiny, these small companies can boost production in ways that are environmentally damaging. Such sales, for example, can lead to an increase in flaring and therefore methane emissions.
“You can move your assets to another company, and move the emissions off your own books, but that doesn’t equal any positive impact on the planet if it’s done without any safeguards in place,” EDF’s Andrew Baxter told The New York Times.
Wednesday, May 11
Great Bleaching Reef
The sixth mass bleaching event on record happened in the Great Barrier Reef this March, affecting 91% (or 654) of reefs surveyed, a report said Wednesday.
Coral bleaching typically happens when water temperatures are much higher than normal, a phenomenon made more likely by climate change. But this is the first time a mass event has happened despite La Niña, which brings cooler-than-normal temperatures to the Pacific ocean. Axios has the full story.
Droughts longer, more frequent
Water isn’t the only thing that’s hotter with climate change. The United Nations found the frequency and duration of droughts will continue to increase with human-caused warming, too.
The report declared that 2.3 billion people, roughly one-third of the world’s population, are already facing water scarcity due to droughts. And that number will likely double by 2050, with no region spared. Read more from The Associated Press.
This isn’t a problem for the future, though. Record heat baked the American mid- and southwest this week, sparking wildfires and electricity surges, The Washington Post reports.
Fracking boom could spell climate disaster
The fate of the world may come down to the oil-addicted United States. Planned drilling projects on land and in our waters will release 140 billion metric tons of planet-heating gases if realized, a report shared with The Guardian found.
The study, to be published in the journal Energy Policy this month, found emissions from these projects were four times larger than all the greenhouse gases released by the entire world each year.
The intersection of smog and hurricanes
A new study shows just how connected everything is. Over the last several decades, a decrease in air pollution in the U.S. and Europe has led to an increase in the number of hurricanes in those regions. Meanwhile, in India and China, where air pollution has grown, storms have slightly decreased.
The study focuses on aerosols, a type of air pollution that reflects sunlight back into space. So, as aerosols have declined, the ocean has absorbed more heat, giving fuel to tropical storms. CNN has more.
Thursday, May 12
Where Russian sanctions stand
That Russian oil ban we wrote about last week? It’s in danger of being scrapped, reports POLITICO. Hungary, which relies heavily on Russian oil, is delaying the European Union’s proposed ban, saying it would be too damaging for its economy.
Diplomats are now scrambling to find another way to ban Russian oil, a move that would cut off revenue that is funding Russia’s war in Ukraine. Such moves include splitting up the package or phasing in bans.
But with or without the package, Western countries are still leaving a mark on Russia. A new International Agency report finds that Russia’s crude oil output in April declined by 9%, or 900,000 barrels/day. A full E.U. embargo would push losses to 3 million barrels/day. The Wall Street Journal has more on that.
Bonus
The NBA dunks on climate
Let’s talk about Brandon’s other main interest (besides climate): professional basketball. The carbon footprint for basketball teams can be huge (think cooling down and heating up 40,000-seat arenas), and the NBA knows it.
That’s why NBA commissioner Adam Silver attended a climate conference in Miami Beach last week. There he outlined how the NBA is aiming to tackle (or block) global warming, from sustainable materials to more climate-conscious game scheduling. That’s on top of NBA Green, a portal to generate awareness for environmental issues. E&E News has more.
See you next week,
Brandon and Sam