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US makes climate pledge to
UN
The US has pledged to tackle climate change by cutting its
carbon emissions 26-28% by 2025. It made the formal offer to the UN
as a step towards a global deal in Paris in December. The measures
outlined by the US "will roughly double the pace of carbon
pollution reduction in the United States," reports Reuters. The climate commitments would
be "locked in" by the time President Obama leaves office, and could
not easily be reversed by a Republican president or Republicans in
Congress, says The Guardian. Yesterday was the deadline
for wealthy nations to make their offers, with some - including
Japan, Canada and Australia - failing to meet the March 31
deadline, says The Financial Times. The European
Union's 28 member states, Mexico, Norway and Switzerland have all
submitted their plans, meaning 24% of global emissions are now
covered, says RTCC, who also live-blogged the
various countries' announcements. BusinessGreen, Bloomberg New Energy
Finance and Climate Progress also have the
story, and you can read Carbon Brief's take here.
BBC News
Climate and energy news
UN: New renewables broke through 100GW barrier in
2014
In 2014, more than 100GW of renewable generating capacity
was added across the world for the first time, says a new report
from the UN environment Programme. Global investment in renewable
energy during 2014 increased by 17% from 2013 levels to $270
billion. China was biggest investor, pumping a record $83.3 billion
into the sector, the US was second and Japan a close third. Solar
power accounted for $149.6 billion of total investment, while wind
power accounted for $99.5 billion, reports Reuters. This shows just how much wind
and solar are leaving all other renewables in the dust,
says The Washington Post. While
RTCC highlights that renewable
energy investments in developing countries are close to overtaking
those in the developed world for the first time. BusinessGreen takes you through the
report in numbers, and there's more coverage in Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
BBC News
Barack Obama gives Shell go-ahead to drill for oil
in Alaskan Arctic
Royal Dutch Shell has received the go-ahead from the US
government to restart a controversial oil exploration campaign in
the Alaskan Arctic, despite fears over the risk to the environment.
The Department of the Interior approved the request to return to
the Chukchi Sea within the Arctic circle. The decision to permit
Shell back into Alaska could also trigger a rush by other nations
to tap their Arctic resources, says The Telegraph. "It's an
indefensible decision," says Greenpeace Arctic campaigner Ian
Duff. Reuters also has the story.
The Telegraph
Polar bears are forced to raid seabird nests as
Arctic sea ice melts
Polar bears are raiding the nests of seabirds for eggs as
the melting of the Arctic sea ice is forcing them to spend more
time on land, according to a new study. Biologists have found that
polar bears are spending an increasing amount of time in bird
colonies each year as they search for alternative source of food
during the breeding season. The date the bears begin arriving to
raid the bird nests is now almost a month earlier than it was 10
years ago, the researchers say.
Mail Online
British coal imports to jump ahead of April 1
carbon tax hike
Britain's coal imports should show a spike for the first
quarter of 2015 as utilities hoard ahead of a tax rise designed to
encourage them to move away from coal-fired power generation. From
April, the carbon tax, which charges power producers for each tonne
of carbon dioxide they emit, almost doubles to £18.08 per tonne.
The impending tax rise has stimulated short-term imports, but this
is expected to end abruptly on April 1, Reuters says.
Reuters
Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben call on Paris to
divest in Le Monde letter
Author Naomi Klein and environmental activist Bill McKibben
have written a joint letter in Le Monde to the mayor of Paris,
asking her to pull the city's investments out of fossil fuels. It
calls upon the mayor to divest the pension fund of the city's
councillors and employees from fossil fuel companies, as well as
keeping its new endowment fund away from the same companies. If the
mayor backs the campaign, Paris would become the first capital city
in the world to divest from fossil fuels. Emma
Howard, The Guardian
Jeremy Clarkson joins Guardian drive for fossil
fuel divestment
The disgraced former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has
become the latest celebrity to support the Guardian's campaign for
fossil fuel divestment. Clarkson says he hoped to "regain the trust
of the British public" by dedicating his time and finances to
sustainable energy, road safety and forging mutual understanding
and tolerance between people of different cultures and religions.
The story is by The Guardian's new reporter, Daisy Pofallor, which
is definitely not an anagram.
Daisy Pofallor
Climate and energy comment
US submits climate target to UN while Australia
looks for excuses
As the US submits its formal target for a post-2020 climate
deal, Australia is looking for excuses to free-ride on the efforts
of other nations, says Alan Pears. A new discussion paper,
published by the Prime Minister's department on Saturday, argues
that Australia is "different", and so needs more generous emission
targets than other countries. The paper attempts to justify weak
ambitions instead of recognising the benefits of stronger action
for Australia, says Pears. Alan
Pears, The Conversation
Election 2015: How could energy policy shape a new
coalition?
With election polling giving no party a clear lead,
BusinessGreen takes a look at what another hung parliament would
mean for energy policy. Whether formal coalition or a looser, more
informal agreement, every party will have its priorities on which
it will attempt to hold firm, the article says, as it takes you
through what each party would be pushing for.
Ewan Livingston,
BusinessGreen
The Other Cost of Climate
Change
Jonathan Franzen asks whether the threat of climate change
means we are becoming less concerned about other environmental
issues. He says his own concerns around habitat loss for birds made
him feel selfish. "I came to feel miserably conflicted about
climate change.," he says. "I accepted its supremacy as the
environmental issue of our time, but I felt bullied by its
dominance." Jonathan
Franzen, The New Yorker
New climate science
Marine sequestration of carbon in bacterial
metabolites
The role that marine bacteria play in the capture and
long-term storage of carbon in the ocean has been difficult to pin
down until now because of the chemical complexity of the storage
products, known collectively as dissolved organic matter. A new
study sheds light on the topic and finds that a large part of
marine carbon sequestration by complex molecules is driven by
bacteria. Nature
Communications
Large Carbon Release Legacy from Bark Beetle
Outbreaks across Western United
States
A new study quantifies the regional carbon impact of bark
beetle outbreaks taking place across western US forests. During the
2000 to 2009 outbreaks, the beetles killed between 5 to 15 Tg C
worth of biomass per year, say the researchers. But the carbon
legacy of the beetle will continue for decades as decomposition of
the dead tree matter releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Global Change
Biology
Local cooling and warming effects of forests based
on satellite observations
A group of scientists present new satellite evidence on the
effects of forests on local climate. They find tropical forests
have a strong cooling effect throughout the year; temperate forests
show moderate cooling in summer and moderate warming in winter with
net cooling annually. Boreal forests show strong warming in winter
and moderate cooling in summer with net warming annually.
Nature
Communications
Other stories
Oil majors over a barrel due to falling
reserves
The Financial Times
Network of fungus could help fight climate change
and pandemics, experts claim
Mail Online
Germany's green energy drive forces down
emissions
BusinessGreen
UK election: Nature polls its readers on the
science vote
Nature News
Coal India: At the
coalface
The Financial Times
Oil reserves: no thaw
yet
The Financial Times