|
Agence France-Presse
Oil companies are treating the atmosphere like an "open sewer," outgoing UN secretary general António Guterres announced in his UN general assembly speech, according to Agence France-Presse. The newswire says he told the audience that “fossil-fuel interests won't step aside on their own” and that major polluters must help “repair damage they caused”. Climate Home News notes that, for the first time, Guterres also urged "every government to adopt a national plan to transition away from fossil fuels", including clear timelines, protection for workers and alignment with limiting warming to 1.5C. The Associated Press reports that Guterres said the future will be shaped by how the world addresses “four great tests of power”, including the power driving climate change.
The Guardian says that over Guterres’ decade in office, the secretary general noted that “the climate crisis went from distant warning to daily reality”. The Kathmandu Post notes that Guterres recalled his own warning from three years ago about rapidly melting glaciers in Nepal, noting recent “tragic events” that show impacts “arriving sooner, hitting harder and spreading further than many anticipated”.
MORE ON UN
Angolan president João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço told the assembly that "the voices of Africans must be heard” including on “climate issues”, reports the Associated Press. Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, “pitched her country as a force for stability and strength”, ready to tackle climate change, says the New York Times. French president Emmanual Macron called for a moratorium on strikes against energy targets in the Ukraine-Russia war, according to France 24. Canadian prime minister Mark Carney held a news conference, in which he said “the need for multilateral cooperation is very much alive”, citing climate change as a threat, according to BBC News. The Guardian covers two studies, including one from the UN’s refugee agency, showing how climate change is “increasing the risk of people becoming stateless” and another about the “climate inequality” that will persist even as emissions are cut. Bloomberg: “The UN says carbon removal Is necessary. Who will cover the cost?”
Adam Kovac, Scientific American
US president Donald Trump used his speech at the UN general assembly to dismiss efforts to regulate AI, reports Scientific American. It adds that the president “compared the apparent risks of AI to climate change and falsely claimed that the latter has been a hoax that hasn’t lived up to warnings of its dangers”. PBS News says Trump told assembled world leaders that the people who warn that AI is going to "kill us" are the same ones who warned about global warming. A CNN factcheck identifies “at least four things wrong” with Trump’s climate remarks, including the claim that “the planet was cooling, not warming, and nobody was dead [due to climate change]”. An Associated Press factcheck notes that Trump also falsely claimed that the US and Venezuela “have more than 60% of the oil”, but the real figure is “about 22%”.
Inside Climate News notes that Trump also claimed his administration had stopped what he called a “global carbon tax” on shipping, referring to efforts at the International Maritime Organization to block a “net-zero framework”. [In fact, while the US helped to delay the framework, it may still be adopted at a meeting later this year.] The news outlet notes that there were “competing climate visions” at the UN assembly, with Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stressing the importance of combining “economic value with reduced emissions” and regulating big tech.
MORE ON US
US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent is examining the feasibility of Trump’s call for diesel-export restrictions, according to Axios. Scientists that were working on the national climate assessment scrapped by Trump have published a “special collection of climate-change findings designed to fill the perceived gap left behind”, reports NBC News. Reuters: “US judge dismisses Michigan climate lawsuit against oil companies.” A group of lawyers say the $345m verdict against Greenpeace US should be overturned due “staggering” missteps, says the New York Times. The New York Times reports that Texas is “effectively halting” new data centres as governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, confronts “growing opposition”. PBS News: “New York and California sue to block Trump's plans to cancel offshore wind projects.”
Sibi Arasu, The Associated Press
This year’s El Niño climate event and the record global heat it is driving could lead to as many as 451,000 more heat-related deaths worldwide by the end of February, according to new research covered by the Associated Press. The news outlet says the University of Chicago-based Climate Impact Lab concluded that “the heaviest toll…is expected in poorer countries, already struggling with food insecurity and high energy costs, partly due to climate change and the fallout of the war in Iran”. The Guardian covers the findings on its frontpage.
The Press Association reports on a UK Met Office warning that “global weather patterns are set to experience ‘far-reaching’ consequences after the ongoing El Niño climate event surpassed all historical records several weeks before reaching its expected peak”. The Independent reports that the event is “on course to shatter an all-time record” as the world’s oceans log 100 consecutive days of unprecedented heat. Carbon Brief has an explainer outlining why this El Niño event is projected to be the most intense since records began.
MORE ON EXTREME WEATHER
Climate Home News reports that Nepal is “crowdfunding flood relief”, as efforts to secure support from a UN “loss and damage” fund face delays. The Guardian reports on “the Patagonia town where Nepal’s deadly glacier flood could be repeated”. The Associated Press: “Climate disasters are growing. So are cuts to programmes that prepare for them.” BBC News reports that Hurricane Polo has “rapidly intensified off the coast of Mexico to become one of the most powerful storms of the season in the Pacific Ocean”.
Matteo Civillini, Climate Home News
A “flagship initiative” from the Turkish COP31 presidency to accelerate the electrification of the world’s economy “has been criticised for failing to include a commitment to produce the power from clean energy”, according to Climate Home News. The article explains that the voluntary pledge, which countries can sign up to at this year’s UN climate summit, will commit to increasing electricity’s share of total energy consumption to 35% globally by 2035. However, the outlet notes that, in the draft text unveiled by Turkey, “governments are not explicitly asked to commit to producing the extra power with clean sources”.
MORE ON ENERGY TRANSITION
Reuters: “South Korea plans to cut its reliance on Middle East crude oil imports to 50% by 2035.” Gulf News reports that “millions of households and businesses in the Philippines and Pakistan are turning their rooftops into small power stations”. Reuters: “Global biofuel output to jump nearly 70% by 2030 due to Gulf energy crisis, study finds.” The Financial Times reports that “Europeans are spending an extra €30 on diesel each time they fill up” due to high global prices. The Guardian reports that electric vehicles in the UK “with 90,000 to 120,000 miles on the clock are more likely to pass MOTs than petrol models of the same age”. The Times leads its coverage of the same report with a negative angle on EVs.
Jake Evans, ABC News
The right-wing Coalition, which is currently the main opposition in Australian politics, has pledged to repeal the nation’s net-zero target if it gains power, according to ABC News. The news outlet says the group has also pledged to abolish most of Australia's "offshore wind zones", remove laws requiring polluters to cut their emissions and remove regulations requiring carmakers to provide more efficient vehicles to Australia. It quotes the shadow energy minister, Dan Tehan, saying: "We will take a chainsaw to Labor's ideologically driven, energy-restrictive approach to energy.” The Australian says the “eight-point plan to end Labor’s green revolution” was announced at the newspaper’s Energy Nation summit.
Meanwhile, the Independent reports that “solar and wind power set a new renewable energy record on two consecutive days last week in Australia, meeting 80% of the demand on the main electricity grid”.
|
