COP26 Ends: The 26th meeting of the UN climate talks was finally gavelled on Saturday evening in Glasgow, after more than two weeks of intense negotiations. The Glasgow Climate Pact secured a 2023 timeline for countries to resubmit their national emissions-reduction targets to be more aligned with 1.5°C (2.7°F) of warming, and made an unprecedented mention of fossil fuels and recognition of the need for Just Transition. Agreement was also reached on carbon markets, with major loopholes closed but still susceptible to bad-faith actors. The U.S., EU, Australia, and other wealthy nations blocked the creation of a fund to compensate vulnerable nations for irreparable loss and damage caused by climate change, tabling it for more discussion next year at COP27, but the issue — long a priority for developing low-emitting nations, some literally disappearing beneath rising seas, least culpable for the climate crisis — got more attention at COP26 than at previous UN talks. (Final agreement: Washington Post $, AP, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, Reuters Factbox, Climate Home, Washington Post $, Wall Street Journal $, Bloomberg $, Reuters, Axios, CNN, TIME, Grist, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg $, FT $, FT $, Politico EU, The Hill, NPR, CNBC, New York Times $, InsideClimate News, AP, Reuters, Yale Environment 360, Vox, The Guardian, New York Times $; Fossil Fuels: NPR; Loopholes and Carbon Markets: Gizmodo, Bloomberg $, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Gizmodo, Reuters, S&P Global; Loss and damage: Thomson Reuters Foundation, E&E News, Climate Home, Reuters, Politico EU)
Last-Minute Demands Water-Down Coal Provision: A last-minute demand from China and India weakened the agreement by changing the "phase out" of coal to the "phase down" of coal. The demand came as a shock to many negotiators. “The coal thing? No, not all. That was unexpected,” Costa Rica’s environment minister Andrew Meza told Politico. The underlying tensions brewed throughout the conference, however, Bloomberg reports. Top negotiators from China, India, the U.S. and EU (all men, with ages ranging from 52 to 77), sat in a room off the main plenary hall where China reportedly threatened to tear apart the entire negotiations over the change; U.S. climate envoy John Kerry was silent, Politico reported. The U.S. and China employed "phase down" language in the bilateral agreement earlier in the week. Numerous countries objected to the eleventh-hour changes, including the Marshall Islands, Mexico, and Switzerland, on both its substance and the manner in which they were made. "We have been sidelined in a nontransparent and noninclusive process,” said Camila Isabel Zepeda Lizama, Director General for Global Issues for Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Coal and the phase-down of coal is on the books. It’s part of the decision. And you have to phase down coal before you can end coal. So this is the beginning of something,” Kerry said at a news conference Saturday evening. Speaking generally about the summit, Aminath Shauna, the Maldives’ Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology, reminded the delegates, “What is balanced and pragmatic to other parties will not help the Maldives adapt in time. It will be too late.” Mohamed Adow, Director of Power Shift Africa, also warned the narrow language creates a "loophole that will now allow ongoing subsidization and massive expansion of oil and gas extraction in the U.S." (Politico, Bloomberg $, The Guardian, Reuters, FT $, The Guardian, S&P Global, Wall Street Journal $, Reuters, CNN)
World's Most-Premature Surviving Baby Reflects Trend Worsened By Climate Change. Curtis Means, 16 months, lived his first 275 days in the neonatal ICU and is now officially the world's most premature infant to survive to its first birthday, Guinness World Records certified last Wednesday. While Curtis's survival is an extraordinary testament to medical science (and his resilience) it also reflects an increasing trend that may be linked to climate change, the New York Times reports. Pregnant people exposed to high temperatures or air pollution, a 2020 study found, were more likely to have children who were premature, underweight or stillborn — and racism is a risk factor as well. “It’s going to get worse,” Dr. Bruce Bekkar, one of the authors of the 2020 study, told the Times. Climate change “is going to continue to put increasing pressure on premature birthrates.” (New York Times $) |
RECAPS & EXPLAINERS: What did vulnerable countries fight for at the COP26 climate summit? (Thomson Reuters Foundation explainer), COP26 reactions: ‘rich nations have kicked the can down the road’ (The Guardian), what does COP stand for? (New York Times $), after the failure of COP26, there’s only one last hope for our survival (The Guardian, George Monbiot column)
OUTCOMES & FINAL AGREEMENTS: ‘Watered-down hope’: Experts wanted more from climate pact (AP), ‘it is not enough’: world leaders react to COP26 climate agreement (Washington Post $), here's what world leaders agreed to — and what they didn't — at the U.N. climate summit (NPR), good COP, bad COP? Takeaways from the new UN climate deal (AP), COP26 ended with the Glasgow Climate Pact. Here's where it succeeded and failed (CNN analysis), COP26 clinches a deal. Why the summit matters. (Wall Street Journal $), ‘we can't ignore their inaction' (Gizmodo), what they are saying about the UN climate deal (Reuters), world leaders reach COP26 agreement to fight climate change (CNN), a COP26 deal was always going to be messy – just look at world trade talks (The Guardian, Larry Elliott column), COP26 has achieved more than expected but less than hoped (FT, Editorial Board $), was Glasgow pact a win for climate? Time will tell (Reuters analysis), countries strike a climate deal that’s ‘too late’ for some, too much for others (Politico), five vital lines in the COP26 climate agreement (Quartz), what are the key points of the Glasgow climate pact? (The Guardian), 6 takeaways from the UN climate conference. (New York Times $), five big takeaways from COP26 (Washington Post $)
- FOSSIL FUELS: COP26 opens the door to a managed decline of fossil fuels (Energy Monitor), why quitting coal is so hard (AP explainer), China’s coal addiction runs deeper than economics (Wall Street Journal $), India criticised over coal at COP26 – but real villain was climate injustice (The Guardian), despite COP26 rhetoric, China’s coal production is hitting all time highs (Washington Post $)
- SHARMA: Strong emotions as Sharma brings down the gavel on Glasgow pact after last minute coal shift (FT $), 'deeply sorry': UK's Sharma offers apology for last-minute changes to climate deal (Reuters), I wish we had managed to preserve original language on coal, says UK COP26 President Sharma (Reuters)
- LOSS AND DAMAGE: What is ‘loss and damage’ and why is it critical for success at COP26? (The Guardian), ‘deep regret’: global climate summit fails developing nations once again (The Verge)
- CARBON MARKETS: Big business and COP26: are the ‘net zero’ plans credible? (FT $)
- CIRCLING BACK WITH NEXT STEPS: Climate promises made in Glasgow now rest with a handful of powerful leaders (New York Times $), as countries wrangle over climate pledges, how enforceable are they? (Reuters analysis)
WALKOUT: Walkout: outraged by new COP26 pact, civil society holds people’s plenary & leaves climate summit (Democracy Now)
FINANCE: Forget the words of this COP26 deal. Follow the money (Bloomberg, David Fickling column $)
TRANSPARENCY: The future of the big new climate coalitions (Axios)
AGRICULTURE: Food and agriculture takeaways From the COP26 Climate Conference (Modern Farmer)
EXTREME WEATHER: During climate negotiations at COP26, extreme weather was rampant around the world (Washington Post $)
US: Claims of leadership crumble as US targets COP provisions (E&E News), the US is back at climate talks—and nothing has changed (Gizmodo), a new US face at the climate talks, but a familiar result (Politico Pro $), John Kerry says fossil fuel subsidies are the ‘definition of insanity.’ (New York Times $), John Kerry: ‘You can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good’ (FT $), John Kerry: COP26 puts us closer than ever to avoiding climate chaos (The Guardian), Kerry: Glasgow climate agreement "is not the finish line" (Politico Pro $), Kerry: Glasgow deal puts us closer to 'avoiding climate chaos' (The Hill), US envoy john Kerry points to some progress at UN climate summit (NPR)
UK: Britain drafts COP26 plan to make sure promised climate cash arrives (Reuters), cash, coal, cars, trees… and choreography: how Britain kept COP26 alive (The Guardian), Scotland’s whisky makers admit net zero targets will be hard to hit (FT $), UK's Johnson says climate deal is a big step forward (Reuters), with Irn-Bru and climate-funding pledges, scotland’s leader made a role for herself at COP26 (Washington Post $)
CHINA: China’s Glasgow gambit (Axios), How China’s deal with the US helped avert COP26’s collapse (Bloomberg $), why China's COP26 surprise matters (Axios)
AUSTRALIA: Australia named ‘colossal fossil’ of COP26 for ‘appalling performance’ (The Guardian), COP26: Australia accused of ‘hiding’ while opposing deal needed to limit catastrophic climate breakdown (The Guardian)
BARBADOS: Our people are watching': Barbados PM's warning about climate change among memorable COP26 speeches (WBUR)
FUTURE HOST COUNTRIES: Dubai ruler says UAE to host COP28 climate conference in 2023 (Reuters), Egypt to host next climate summit, putting a spotlight on resilience (Climate Home)
PARIS AMBITIONS AND PROGRESS: COP negotiators demand nations do more to curb climate change, but required emissions cuts remain elusive (InsideClimate News)
YOUNG ACTIVISTS: Climate activist challenges COP26 policymakers to 'prove us wrong' (Axios), the young climate diplomats fighting to save their countries (InsideClimate News), young activists at UN climate summit: 'we are not drowning. we are fighting' (NPR)
GRETA: Greta Thunberg dismisses COP26 pact: 'the real work continues outside these halls' (The Hill)
DEFORESTATION: Deforestation up in Brazil Amazon amid COP26 climate debate (AP)
FOSSILS IN GLASGOW: Big oil and coal producers feel the heat as COP26 targets fossil fuels (FT $), China and India will need to explain coal move, Sharma says (Reuters), in a stark letter, and in person, researchers urge world leaders at COP26 to finally act on science (InsideClimate News), the fossil fuel industry turned out in force at COP26. So did climate activists (NPR)
HYDROELECTRIC: Bringing the fight against dams to COP26 (High Country News)
BUSINESS: COP26 message to business: clean up to cash in (Reuters analysis), why has it been so hard to get fossil fuels mentioned in UN climate deals? (Washington Post $)
OUTSIDE THE CENTER: ‘It’s been a rollercoaster’: Glasgow reflects on COP26 fortnight of change (The Guardian), murals, street and protest art at COP26 – in pictures (The Guardian)
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SHELL NAMES: Shell proposes a shift to Britain, dropping ‘Royal Dutch’ from its name. (New York Times $, AP)
DENIAL: These researchers are trying to stop misinformation from derailing climate progress (NPR), the Denial Files - 4. from COVID conspiracy to climate change denial (BBC, BBC Sounds podcast)
FOSSIL VOLATILITY: Natural gas customers in Texas get stuck with $3.4 billion cold-snap surcharge (Ars Technica)
IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT: As climate worsens, environmentalists also grapple with the mental toll of activism (NPR)
PUBLIC OPINION: Americans' climate change views largely unchanged over last few years: poll (The Hill), chart: the vast majority of Americans love solar and wind power (Canary Media)
PINKWASHING: Pink ribbon banking claims to fight cancer but boosts carcinogenic fossil fuels (Truthout)
BIRDS: These Amazonian birds are shrinking because of climate change (Gizmodo, The Guardian, HuffPost, NPR, CNN)
AGENCIES: DOE official on energy justice, Biden, and Trump's lightbulbs (E&E $), days after climate summit, Biden to hold ‘carbon bomb’ gulf oil sale (HuffPost, Truthout)
LAWSUITS: Court tosses Obama-era truck trailer emissions rules (E&E $)
THE HILL: Manchin throws cold water on union-built electric vehicle credit in Democratic bill (Washington Examiner), Schumer shakes up schedule as reconciliation bill slog continues (Politico)
WHITE HOUSE: Biden and Xi will meet (virtually) on monday. Here's what's at stake (NPR, Reuters, Wall Street Journal $, AP, New York Times $), gasoline prices are surging. Can Biden actually do something about it? (NPR), Biden names Mitch Landrieu to oversee infrastructure spending (New York Times $)
INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): Biden plans big infrastructure bill signing; GOP backers face death threats (Reuters), US Chamber warns of budget gimmicks in 'Build Back Better' (E&E $), Biden’s $1T infrastructure bill historic, not transformative (AP), Democrats push for paid family leave ahead of critical votes (AP), 10 ways the Build Back Better agenda tackles climate change (Politico Pro $)
POLITICS: Polls: Biden approval sinks, but his climate policy's afloat (E&E $)
CITIES AND STATES: A bridge to composting and clean air in South Baltimore (InsideClimate News), Michigan group lays out vision for 100% clean energy in Highland Park (Energy News Network), shift to renewables could slash [Texas] school funding, study finds (Houston Chronicle)
CLIMATE COMMUNICATIONS: 'Architects of desire': Can advertising agencies glamorise climate solutions? (Thomson Reuters Foundation), bridging faith and science in the existential struggle against climate change (WBUR)
IMPACTS: Damp Jersey Shore town ponders a fix for ‘sunny day’ floods (AP), historians found a WWI bunker ‘frozen in time’ in the alps. Climate change makes it a bittersweet discovery. (Washington Post $), natural beauty of Antarctica disappearing due to climate change (ABC), the financial impact of climate change (NPR), their lands are oceans apart but are linked by rising, warming seas of climate change (NPR), what is the human cost of climate crisis? The Weight of Water answers (Indian Express)
DISPLACEMENT: No one likes ‘managed retreat.’ So it’s getting rebranded (E&E News)
HEALTH: Here’s why your doctor might start asking you about air pollution (Grist), climate crisis = health emergency: air pollution, pandemics & displacement make the world sick (Democracy Now)
DROUGHT: ‘If the fish die, the people die’: water wars in America’s West (Al Jazeera)
FLOODING: As warming worsens floods, snake-like mobile dams could protect Africans (Thomson Reuters Foundation), flood control lessons from the Dutch as we enter a wetter future (WBUR)
WILDFIRES: Frequency of wildfires in Alaska concerns scientists (WBUR)
DESERTIFICATION: Africa's 'Great Green Wall' shifts focus to hold off desert (AP)
DEFORESTATION: Indigenous and faith leaders urge Procter & Gamble to end logging of old-growth forests (Religion News Service)
RENEWABLES: Africa-focused Lekela plans to spend $2 bln to double renewables capacity (Reuters), Colorado program gives new life to old solar panels (Yale Climate Connections), these companies are using oceans and rivers to generate electricity (CNN), this Colorado 'solar garden' is literally a farm under solar panels (NPR)
BATTERIES: Company maps minerals from the sky for electric vehicle batteries (NBC)
EFFICIENCY: How to cut your home’s carbon footprint and make it more climate-friendly (Wall Street Journal $)
LNG: US consumers to foot the bill for surge in natural gas exports (OilPrice), the world's largest lng exporter (OilPrice)
OIL & GAS: Africa has sights set on hydrocarbon haul despite global shift (Reuters), Chevron to use offsets after Australian carbon capture struggles (E&E $), once on the brink of bankruptcy, Oxy appears to have turned a corner (Houston Chronicle)
PIPELINES: Natural gas company goes to great lengths to avoid saying the word ‘pipeline’ (Grist), a pipeline shutdown? Midwest war heats up over FERC permit (E&E News), confusion over line 5 shutdown highlights Biden’s tightrope walk on climate and environmental justice (InsideClimate News)
NUKES: Congress feeds nuclear industry billions to support new reactors and existing fleet (Washington Examiner)
HYDROGEN: Helping to fuel a green revolution (New York Times $)
STEEL: 9 red-hot facts to know about steel, the world's hidden mega-polluter (Gizmodo)
UTILITIES: [Entergy Mississippi] announces massive renewable build-out (E&E $)
GRID: $1B transmission smack down may upend Northeast renewables (E&E News)
EVs: Global EV sales rise 80% in 2021, as automakers including Ford, GM commit to zero emissions: BNEF (Utility Dive), Amazon’s $21 billion Rivian stake is a bet that innovation can help solve climate change (CNBC), Goldman and VW-backed Northvolt produces battery cell with recycled nickel, manganese and cobalt (CNBC), Subaru unveils first all-electric SUV, developed with Toyota (E&E $)
CARS & TRUCKS: Car industry divided on road to zero emissions after climate deal snubbed (FT $), ‘too risky’ to not use both battery electric and hydrogen tech, Daimler truck CEO says (CNBC)
RELIGION: Pope to politicians: be courageous, show vision on climate (AP), Pope: the poor are often victims of injustice (Politico)
AVIATION: Can hydrogen save aviation’s fuel challenges? it’s got a way to go. (New York Times $), greener airplane fuel is here, and we’re going to need lots more (Bloomberg $)
AGRICULTURE: Another reason to fight climate change: some of our favorite foods will go extinct (NPR)
SHIPPING: Shipping companies feel the heat as investors shun coal (Reuters)
BUSINESS: Executive pay and climate: can bonuses be used to reduce emissions? (FT $), Google and others have committed to 24/7 carbon-free energy. What does that mean? (Canary Media)
CARBON REMOVAL: We’re going to need a bigger planet: the problem with fixing the climate with trees (The Guardian)
FINANCE: Business schools respond to a flood of interest in ESG (New York Times $), investment trusts with a greener conscience (FT $)
WILDLIFE: Animals need infrastructure, too (Vox)
INTERNATIONAL: Five questions the [Australian] Morrison government must answer now it has agreed to the COP26 pact (The Guardian), Australian ministers say 2030 emission target fixed, will be beaten (Reuters)
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CFACT Scored Trip To COP26, Pulled One Stunt Then Went On Vacation Because They Obviously Weren’t Doing Anything Important
On Friday we talked about how the big new thing in climate disinformation is would-be policy advisors who tout lefty-ish credentials but offer up red meat to their far-right denial audiences, and while we stand by their beclowning, it would be unfair not to talk a little time to talk about the original clowns they’re displacing.
Because while some people might try and make it look like they’re actually working when sent on a work trip, the fine folks at the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) instead thought it made sense to rub in their donors’ faces that they’ve essentially used the funding to do something about COP26 to instead play dress up and then enjoy a vacation in Scotland.
The one big thing they did, their grand plan to scuttle the international negotiations, was something they actually described as a “stunt,” which was surprisingly honest for them. But even calling it a stunt is generous, as it was just Marc Morano and Craig Rucker in kilts and big furry hats really going for it on the dumb Americans in mediocre Scottish halloween costumes bit, and a third person in a Loch Ness Monster outfit. The stunt? They walked down the street by the entrance to COP26 with a banner saying Greta was right that COP26 is “blah blah blah.”
So not only did the stunt involve nothing even remotely exciting, therefore generating zero real news coverage, but it wasn’t even actually anything different than what people were already hearing! From Greta Thunberg!! They had a chance to offer their own intelligent counter-argument, but instead they made a banner celebrating Greta Thunberg’s calls for climate action.
In the lead up to COP26, CFACT sent out multiple fundraising emails to their followers asking for “the strongest gift you can give right now” and then continued during COP, as their “team of policy experts is laying out the hard facts at the UN climate conference,” and the donation would allow them “counter and expose” the “dangerous plans” at COP, and “help our crack team of activists confront them head on -- right on their own turf!”
Once there, they didn’t slow down, including “P.S.” donation requests, noting that their work was “a big success” because “someone needs to hit back with facts and good sense” but still needed them to “donate right now” to “beat the Left with hard work and devastating facts.”
CFACT promised donors hard work, devastating facts, good sense, and a crack team of experts confronting the UN “right on their own turf.” Instead, it threw the world’s saddest 3-loser parade outside the entrance to COP, amplifying the exact sentiments of the world’s most famous climate activist, and then turned tail and took a three hour drive to Loch Ness lake. (ALSO, not only did they just amplify Greta's message, they didn't even have anywhere close to the best Loch Ness Monster protest at COP.)
There, an email Friday described, “CFACT leadership, dressed in Scottish kilt, hit pay dirt. It not only located the Loch Ness monster, but befriended this beast and its new friend, the visiting Sasquatch!!”
If you’re dubious, it came with a picture of the four of them together in Scotland, with the anonymous monsters between the monsters whose names we know. But one could speculate that since the only other paid employee at CFACT besides Marc Morano and Craig Rucker is Rucker’s wife Lori, and judging by the relative heights and position of those involved, this may well be the combined Morano-Rucker Family Christmas photo. Which is sweet, but at the same time, if your spouses need full cryptid costumes to be photographed in public with you, and you’re still the stupid-looking one, you might want to do some stock-taking.
As might whoever’s funding CFACT, since apparently this is the kind of great work Marc Morano is getting something like $200,000 a year for — no wonder they’ve lost most of their industry backers, and at least as of 2019 subsist mainly on direct-mail contributions. (Believe it or not, however, this isn't even close to the grossest fundraising email tactic used by a conservative group recently.)
Having exposed themselves as little more than giddy tourists making tenuous connections to the work they’re funded to do there (“the climate change issue is the Loch Ness legend on a far grander scale” is the flimsy justification given) they nonetheless hit up followers to “make the strongest gift you can right now.”
Now maybe we’re just mentally resilient enough to resist the challenge to prove how strongly we can gift, but who sees four people in costumes three hours away from where the real action’s happening, and thinks “yep, these guys are doing important work!”
Seriously, anyone have any leads? We could use a vacation too, y’know… |
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