Climate crisis

If global energy consumption returns to its pre-pandemic growth rate, it will be almost impossible to transition to a zero-emission or net-zero-emission energy system by 2050 in the absence of large-scale CO2 removal. Since relying on unproven technologies for CO2 removal is speculative and risky, this paper considers an energy descent scenario for reaching zero greenhouse gas emissions from energy by 2050. To drive the rapid transition from fossil fuels to carbon-free energy sources and ensure demand reduction, funding is needed urgently in order to implement four strategies: (i) technology change, i.e., implementing the growth of zero-carbon energy production, end-use energy efficiency and ‘green’ energy carriers, together with ongoing R&D on CO2 removal; (ii) reducing climate impacts; (iii) reducing energy consumption by social and behavioural changes; and (iv) improving human wellbeing while increasing social justice. Modern monetary theory explains how monetary sovereign governments, with their own fiat currencies, can create the necessary funding without financial constraints, although constraints do result from the productive capacities of their economies. The energy transition could be part-funded by a significant transfer of resources from monetary sovereign countries of the global North to the global South, financed by currency issuance.

•    2023 is confirmed as the warmest calendar year in global temperature data records going back to 1850
•    2023 had a global-average temperature of 14.98°C, 0.17°C higher than the previous highest annual value in 2016
•    2023 was 0.60°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average and 1.48°C warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level
•    It is likely that a 12-month period ending in January or February 2024 will exceed 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level
•    Each month from June to December in 2023 was warmer than the corresponding month in any previous year
•    July and August 2023 were the warmest two months on record. Boreal summer (June-August) was also the warmest season on record 
•    In September 2023, the temperature deviation above the 1991–2020 average was larger than in any month in any year in the ERA5 dataset (0.93°C higher than the 1991-2020 average)
•    October, November and December 2023, each with a temperature of 0.85°C above average, ranked all joint second-largest in terms of temperature deviation above the 1991–2020 average 
   

2023 “smashed” the record for the hottest year by a huge margin, providing “dramatic testimony” of how much warmer and more dangerous today’s climate is from the cooler one in which human civilisation developed.

The planet was 1.48C hotter in 2023 compared with the period before the mass burning of fossil fuels ignited the climate crisis. The figure is very close to the 1.5C temperature target set by countries in Paris in 2015, although the global temperature would need to be consistently above 1.5C for the target to be considered broken.

Scientists at the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (CCCS) said it was likely the 1.5C mark will be passed for the first time in the next 12 months.

This report provides an assessment of how well public transport is accounted for in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

We can reduce urban emissions and decarbonise people’s daily mobility faster, more reliably and affordably with public transport and active mobility.

Society will benefit from every increase in modal share to public transport, through fewer road fatalities and injuries, more inclusive access to opportunities, reduced congestion, improved air quality and freeing up space in our cities.

The first Global Stocktake (GST) shows we are off track, but what national policies and measures are already in place in NDCs and what are the opportunities for more climate action with public transport over this critical decade?

This report identifies a range of options for more ambitious NDCs, which can form the basis of an outline policy template for public transport and active mobility. Building capacity to support its adoption and implementation can provide the strong foundation necessary to progressively and effectively enhance climate ambition.

We already have the financial wherewithal needed to afford whatever is technologically possible. We do not need to go hat-in-hand to rich folks to get them to pay for it. We do not have to beggar our grandkids to pay for it. We do not have to borrow from China to pay for it. We do not have to get the Fed to “print money” to pay for it. All we need to do is to remove the self-imposed constraints, the myths, and the misplaced morality; then budget for it, approve the budget, and spend. No new spending process is required. Follow the normal procedures that the Fed and Treasury have developed. That is how you pay for it.

As the great J. Fagg Foster (1981) said, “Whatever is technologically possible is financially feasible.” There is really no other reason to have a financial system. If you know how to build houses but your financial system cannot find a way to make them affordable, then you must replace that system with one that will.

It is possible that we will need to constrain domestic consumption in order to release resources for the GND effort in a noninflationary manner. The problem is not that we cannot financially afford the GND—government can always bid resources away from private use by paying higher prices—but spending on the GND will generate private income that can support higher bids in competition with the government for scarce resources. This is the real reason that tax hikes might be desirable: to reduce private income and thereby remove competition for resources.

Al Jaber spoke with [Mary] Robinson at a She Changes Climate event. Robinson said: “We’re in an absolute crisis that is hurting women and children more than anyone … and it’s because we have not yet committed to phasing out fossil fuel. That is the one decision that Cop28 can take and in many ways, because you’re head of Adnoc, you could actually take it with more credibility.”

Al Jaber said: “I accepted to come to this meeting to have a sober and mature conversation. I’m not in any way signing up to any discussion that is alarmist. There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C.”

Robinson challenged him further, saying: “I read that your company is investing in a lot more fossil fuel in the future.” Al Jaber responded: “You’re reading your own media, which is biased and wrong. I am telling you I am the man in charge.”

Al Jaber then said: “Please help me, show me the roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves.”

Many offices are sitting empty following the rise of working from home, while cities around the world face housing crises. Building new housing is extremely carbon intensive. Could converting unused offices into housing help solve both problems?

Recent coverage of insurance markets has highlighted the industry’s involvement in the so-called “climate risk doom loop”: looming climate risks and worse disasters are raising the price of insurance for real estate and infrastructure assets, exacerbating their owners’ vulnerability to future disasters and feeding into higher insurance prices in the future―or the withdrawal of insurance coverage altogether.

Rising insurance prices and the credible threat of insurer divestment from higher-risk areas will constrain investment in both homes and businesses across vulnerable communities. Yet more people are moving into higher-risk areas, and some politicians fear backlash if they let insurance companies deny these communities coverage. In response, state leaders in California and Florida have sought to prevent divestment by directing their insurance commissioners to adjust pricing regulations, invite competition in insurance markets, or derisk insurers by imposing disaster-risk fees on all insurance purchasers regardless of risk.

Private investors, meanwhile, believe the insurance industry should follow price signals: if firms can identify the climate risks an assets could face, and investors price those risks into building and maintaining costs, then market actors will invest prudently.

I argue that insurance is a woefully inadequate financial tool for coping with the impacts of climate change. Improving insurance markets does little to address the fact that the core drivers of the “climate risk doom loop” rest in the design of capital markets, which are structured to direct investment away from vulnerable communities when they most need it.

Come with me on a magical journey between Sydney and Melbourne. No, not via the airport… but starting at Sydney’s Central Station, aboard a newly refurbished all-sleeper night train.

[…] 

So my perfect journey is a dream – but why can’t Australians enjoy such a pleasant way to travel, given sleeper trains are going through a major resurgence in Europe, partly in response to climate change? It’s a good question, and there’s a simple answer: because the New South Wales government doesn’t want you to.

Every day, you have to hold two contradictory ideas in your head. On the one hand, you have to accept that you're living through the collapse of industrial civilization. You have to deal with the moral injury that comes from realizing that many of your friends and family don't care enough about you to do a few simple things. You have to deal with a government that isn't just funding genocide but is actively participating it in it, while lying to you when it comes to... just about everything that pertains to your survival.

On the other hand...

This collapsing civilization isn't going to give you a break. It requires your participation. You still have to go to work. You still have to smile at customers, even through a mask, if you're allowed to wear one. You still have to go through the motions. You have to observe superficial politeness. You have to pay for rent and groceries. You have to pay taxes.

It's a lot.