Our transition to clean energy is too slow
Plus, a two new tools let us see and map floods and sea level rise
Welcome to Planet Week, where we highlight the last week of environmental news and what it means for our Planet.
Last week, over 100 countries adopted a China-led biodiversity pledge, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) continued to dismantle Biden’s major climate bill, and China’s President Xi Jinping told COP26 he’d skip the international climate summit.
In case you missed it, here’s what else happened around the Planet:
Monday, October 11
Climate change affects 85% of global population
Starting off the week hot… literally. New research finds at least 85% of the global population has experienced extreme weather events driven by the warming of our Planet.
To reach this conclusion, researchers reviewed more than 100,000 studies of events that could be linked to climate change. The findings come amid the final push to get countries to commit to more ambitious climate goals ahead of COP26 next month. Read more in The Washington Post.
Corporations are gaslighting us with climate pledges
Companies are highlighting all the ways they’re going green — but it might be more talk than action. A new scorecard finds that some of America’s largest pro-climate companies are tanking efforts to pass Democrats’ reconciliation package, also known as Biden’s biggest climate legislation.
According to the scorecard, 12 companies are actively obstructing the bill through lobbying, including Nike, McDonald’s, and Google, while eight companies are only cautiously supporting it. Fast Company has more.
In other greenwashing news, Chevron announced an “aspiration” to be carbon neutral by 2050, which by the way, doesn’t mean they’re producing less oil, Grist reports. Just as insulting, the oil giant is funding a massive ad blitz to convince people it’s “green,” reports Rolling Stone.
Biden’s latest climate pushes
The United States has already had 18 billion-dollar weather disasters this year (2020 had a record-breaking 22), and California’s summer drought was just declared the worst on record.
Though his climate agenda remains stalled in Congress, President Joe Biden is doing what he can to address this climate-fueled reality:
On Monday, the administration announced that 32 nations joined the president’s initiative to cut emissions from methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas, 30 percent by 2030, The New York Times reports.
On Wednesday, the Department of the Interior outlined a plan to greatly expand offshore wind energy along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Tuesday, October 12
Seeing (and mapping) floods and sea level rise
As the Planet warms, sea levels rise. But what does that actually mean for populations around the world? To answer this question, the nonprofit Climate Central created over 180 maps that visualize sea level rise in some of the world’s largest cities.
The maps show how cities, from Houston to Hanoi, would look in a world warmed by 1.5 degrees, the target set by the Paris Agreement, compared to 3 degrees, which is what we’re on pace for, reports The Guardian.
Also on Tuesday, a new study by First Street Foundation found that 25% of all critical infrastructure (hospitals, airports, utilities) and 23% of all roads (nearly 2 million miles of road) in the U.S. is at risk of flooding. USA TODAY has more.
Flooding displaces more than million people in China
Speaking of flooding, at least 15 people are dead and hundreds of thousands more relocated after heavy rain and flooding battered China’s northern province of Shanxi.
The average rainfall in October was 13x that of a normal year — the worst since records began — deepening the already weeks-long energy crisis in China. CNN has the full story.
Unfortunately, China isn’t alone: Greece and the Philippines have also been ravaged by storms and mudslides.
Wednesday, October 13
Our transition to clean energy is too slow
Stop me if this sounds familiar: We’re not on track to meet international climate targets set by the Paris Agreement. This year’s World Energy Outlook, released by the International Energy Agency, found that our transition to clean energy is “far too slow” to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
To put the Planet on a sustainable path, we must triple investment in renewable energy, cut methane emissions, and boost clean energy innovation. Should we pull this off and hit our climate pledges, fossil fuel use will peak by 2025.
“The world’s hugely encouraging clean energy momentum is running up against the stubborn incumbency of fossil fuels in our energy systems,” Fatih Birol, IEA’s executive director, said in a statement. “The social and economic benefits of accelerating clean energy transitions are huge, and the costs of inaction are immense.” CarbonBrief dives deeper.
Thursday, October 14
Energy crisis, continued
Hitting us with a double-whammy, the IEA separately said that natural gas shortages are boosting demand for oil. With demand for oil and gas reaching multi-year highs, we could see soaring inflation, rolling blackouts, and a slowed recovery from COVID-19, Bloomberg reports.
That’s already playing out around the world. In the U.S., oil prices jumped above $80 for the first time in seven years; in the United Kingdom, power prices are surging; and in China, factories are shuttering.
Meanwhile, the global climate summit, COP26, starts at the end of the month. Whereas conference organizers are hoping participants wean off fossil fuels, many countries may be reluctant, taking energy wherever they can get it. Axios has more.
Bonus
Zebras on the run
Almost two months ago, the story of three zebras escaping from a private farm in Maryland dominated social media. And they still haven’t been caught.
The farm is legally allowed to keep zebras, of which they have 39. But after one of them died in an illegal snare trap three days ago, the ethics of the situation are now being called into question. Get the latest from The New York Times.
Have a great week,
Brandon and Sam