Veille 2.1

Humanity is not on track to avoid the deadliest effects of climate change, according to University at Buffalo researcher Holly Jean Buck. "Our plans are not adequate to meet the goal of limiting the Earth's temperature increase to no more than 1.5℃ by 2050," said Buck, Ph.D., assistant professor of environment and sustainability....

UK tops all league tables for highly polluting form of travel, with a flight taking off every six minutes last year

Carbon credits and offsets do not have a great record but the funds they raise are a vital part in fight against deforestation

Carbon offsets can help achieve emissions goals, some experts argue, while others say they are actively dangerous

Investigation into Verra carbon standard finds most are ‘phantom credits’ and may worsen global heating

If 15 planned coal mining projects in Australia enter operation they would boost the country’s methane emissions from the dirtiest fossil fuel by nearly a fifth, according to an analysis from energy think tank Ember.

Les émissions de ce gaz, responsable de 25 % de la hausse des températures depuis l’ère préindustrielle, atteignent des records. Mais leur réduction partielle, et rapide, est à portée de main.

From the seemingly inexorable increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to the rapid growth in green energy

Le récent ouvrage du climatologue de renom Michael E. Mann, ( The New Climate War : the fight to take back our planet), souligne avec force que les puissants groupes d’intérêt de l’industrie des combustibles fossiles continuent de verser des centaines de millions de dollars par an pour influencer secrètement les débats sur les émissions de gaz à effet de serre, la conservation et l’action climatique. Seules les stratégies ont changé : les mensonges et le déni de réalité ont fait place à des formes plus subtiles de désinformation et de tromperie. Et nous tombons tous dans le panneau, encore et encore.

Failure to cut carbon emissions means ‘rapid transformation of societies’ is only option to limit impacts, report says

The EU is on track to break a promise to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 made due to a “policy vacuum” on livestock emissions, a report has warned.Most of Europe’s methane emissions come from agriculture – particularly livestock – but the EU has avoided using policy levers such as its €387bn common agricultural policy to directly tackle the problem

Scientists warn world ‘is heading in wrong direction’ amid rise in nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane.Atmospheric levels of all three greenhouse gases have reached record highs, according to a study by the World Meteorological Organization, which scientists say means the world is “heading in the wrong direction”.

Un quota de pets. Mardi, la Nouvelle-Zélande a confirmé son projet de taxer les émissions de gaz à effet de serre des animaux d’élevage. Son plan prévoit que les agriculteur·rices paient pour les émissions de leurs troupeaux, dont le méthane relâché par les rots de vaches et le protoxyde d’azote issu de l’urine du bétail.

Des dizaines de milliers de tonnes de méthane se sont échappées des gazoducs Nord Stream 1 et 2. Mais pour les spécialistes, cet événement n'est qu'un incident parmi des milliers d'autres qui se produisent chaque année à travers le monde.

The European Union is embarking on an experiment that will expand its climate policies to imports for the first time. It’s called a carbon border adjustment, and it aims to level the playing field for the EU’s domestic producers by taxing energy-intensive imports like steel and cement that are high in greenhouse gas emissions but aren’t already covered by climate policies in their home countries.

Group says ‘climate disaster’ vehicles targeted in nine countries including the UK, France and Canada

Levels of the gas are growing at a record rate and natural sources like wetlands are the cause, but scientists don’t know how to curb it.

Shallow deposits of frozen methane beneath oceans may be more vulnerable to thawing than previously known.

Methane has a mixture of both natural and anthropogenic sources. Around 40% of methane emissions comes from natural sources, while 60% comes from anthropogenic sources such as agriculture, fossil fuel exploitation and landfills.In situ methane measurements from 2020 showed the largest annual increase of methane concentrations since the 1980s, with this record surpassed in 2021. The year of 2020 was unique owing to the global pandemic, yet methane concentrations continued to rise despite a reduction in economic activity.

A new Imperial analysis has found that biogas and biomethane, while more climate friendly, leak up to twice as much methane as previously thought. Although biogas and biomethane remain climate-friendlier than non-renewable alternatives, the researchers call for better monitoring and fixing of leaks to ensure biogas and biomethane continue to live up to their green credentials.

More climate scientists say emissions cuts are not enough and we face imminent catastrophe unless deliberately altering the climate. What are the options and challenges? Jem Bendell interviewed Dr Ye Tao who is proposing we use massive amounts of mirrors to reduce harm in the short term.

Net zero is popular among polluters for good reason – it’s toothless compared to emissions restrictions and a carbon tax

“blue carbon” (the sequestration and storage of carbon by ocean ecosystems) is gaining attention in the race towards net zero. And the “big three” stores of blue carbon – mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass – are suddenly urgent new areas of conservation.

The case for cutting meat consumption is so compelling that you would think politicians would be less shy about making it. Yet while campaigners warn with increasing urgency that global livestock production is accelerating climate breakdown and causing devastating damage to nature and human health, governments remain reluctant to tackle meat-eating.

California has taken on a major source of climate change pollution: the carbon emitted from cement used in the construction of buildings and highways. Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed SB 596, which will require carbon emissions per ton of cement produced to be cut by 40 percent below 2019 levels by 2035.

The report’s conclusion that staying below 2°C this century will only happen if emissions reach net zero by 2050 is well publicised. But there is one, rather more urgent addendum to that: global emissions must peak some time in the middle of this decade. In other words, within the next few years.

A group of leading international researchers have issued a stark new warning to governments that relying on technology alone will not be enough to address the growing climate emergency, saying that presumptions that economic growth can continue unchecked should be challenged.

The lifestyles of around three average Americans will create enough planet-heating emissions to kill one person, and the emissions from a single coal-fired power plant are likely to result in more than 900 deaths, according to the first analysis to calculate the mortal cost of carbon emissions.

One rocket launch produces up to 300 tons of carbon dioxide into the upper atmosphere where it can remain for years

Scientists know that global warming is changing clouds, but they haven’t been sure whether those changes would heat or cool the planet overall. It’s an important question, because clouds have been the main source of uncertainty in projecting just how sensitive the climate is to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, and because clouds have a huge effect on the climate system.

It’s Beginning to Feel Like We’ve Finally Pushed the Planet Past its Final Tipping Point. We have “extreme events” the kind scientists have long feared. But they’ve even shocked scientists with how suddenly extreme and frequent they are. And “This is not a localised freak event, it is definitely part of a coherent global pattern.”

Ranked by carbon intensity of electricity consumed (gCO₂eq/kWh) Cartographie de l’impact de l’électricité sur le climat

the sediments below oxygen-depleted waters are a significant source of nitrous oxide (N2O). This gas is released into the atmosphere when deep water rises to the surface in a process known as upwelling. Nitrous oxide, more commonly known as “laughing gas,” is a potent greenhouse gas, 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Global emissions of N2O are increasing as a result of human activities that stimulate its production.

Fossil fuel companies lied for decades about climate change, and humanity is paying the price. Shouldn’t those lies be central to the public narrative?

There's likely to be a significant increase in the number of lawsuits brought against fossil fuel companies in the coming years, say researchers. Their new study finds that to date, lawyers have failed to use the most up-to-date scientific evidence on the cause of rising temperatures. As a result, there have been few successful claims for compensation. That could change, as evidence linking specific weather events to carbon emissions increases.

The potent greenhouse gas methane is spewing out of natural gas infrastructure across the European Union because of leaks and venting. Using an infrared camera, non-profit Clean Air Task Force (CATF) found methane seeping into the atmosphere at 123 oil and gas sites in several countries this year. Methane, the biggest cause of climate change after carbon dioxide (CO2), is the main component of natural gas and over 80 times more potent than CO2 in its first 20 years in the air.

Companies with high greenhouse gas emissions should be subject to a carbon price of $75 a tonne of carbon dioxide, the International Monetary Fund has said, as a way of reaching the goals of the Paris climate agreement. A carbon floor price would mean that companies, including energy generators and heavy industries, would have to pay for the carbon they produce. At present, many countries and regions have their own carbon pricing systems, but there is no globally agreed carbon price.

Proposals for coordinated climate action at the global level all too easily run into free-rider and fairness problems, leaving many of the most popular policy proposals dead on arrival. But a simple framework that gives all countries similar incentives would overcome these problems.

Governments must close gap between net zero rhetoric and reality, says International Energy Agency head

Natural gas, marketed for years as a “bridge fuel” to cleaner energy sources, cannot be part of any climate solution, according to a new report from Oil Change International.