Summary
In today’s edition, Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate economist, believes it is probably too late to achieve anything substantial at the long-awaited United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December. Real progress will have to come afterward, he says. Real progress could come from private initiatives, such as Facebook’s, doubling its renewable-energy target, or international ones, such as the BRICs’ first bank. Its first project should be green, says India’s prime minister Narendra Modi.
Quote of the day
“I would like to see the first major project funded by the new (BRICS) development bank to fund clean energy.”
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, at the BRICS summit’s opening, in the Responding to Climate Change’s story BRICS bank’s first project should be green – Modi
Lead stories
Fossil fuel firms risk wasting billions by ignoring climate change, says IEA
By Damian Carrington- The Guardian
The world’s fossil fuel companies risk wasting billions of dollars of investment by not taking global action to fight climate change seriously, according to the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
http://jlne.ws/1INYFUw
BRICS bank’s first project should be green – Modi
By Alex Pashley – RTCC (Responding To Climate change)
A new development bank to be signed off by emerging economies this week should make its first ever investment in the clean energy sector, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has said.
http://jlne.ws/1LVqCuL
***LB: Also in this story “Members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will “operationalise” the $50 billion fund – a counterpart to Western lending institutions – in the Ural city of Ufa, they said on Thursday.
Paris climate talks need business to move beyond greenwash and empty promises
By Angel Hsu and Amy Weinfurter – The Guardian
The success of the Paris climate talks, COP 21, this December will not be measured by whether or not countries can all agree on a new global deal.
http://jlne.ws/1HRm3BR
Stiglitz Calls Climate Talks a ‘Charade,’ Pushes Plan C
By Peter Coy – Bloomberg News
Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate economist, is trying to persuade global-warming negotiators that they’re marching up a blind alley.
http://jlne.ws/1KTMNC5
***LB: Also in this story “He says it’s probably too late to achieve anything substantial at the long-awaited United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December, so real progress will have to come afterward.”
Facebook Doubles Renewable-Energy Target to 50% by End of 2018
By Ehren Goossens – Bloomberg News
Facebook Inc. set a goal of running half its operations with clean energy by the end of 2018, and eventually expects to reach 100 percent.
http://jlne.ws/1RnCb2p
Selfridges ditches plastic water bottles to save oceans
By James Phillips – BusinessGreen
High-end department store Selfridges has announced it will no longer be selling single-use plastic bottles, as part of a drive to reduce the amount of waste surfing the ocean.
http://jlne.ws/1ScwEH3
From Pope Francis to Green Muslims, faith groups steadfast in push for clean energy
By Kari Lydersen – Midwest Energy News
Rev. Booker Steven Vance took to the pulpit in historic Old St. Patrick’s Church in downtown Chicago on June 22 to praise Pope Francis’ ground-breaking encyclical on climate change and sustainability.
http://jlne.ws/1IO18ym
Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley Sprint to Hillary Clinton’s Left on Climate
By Ben Geman – National Journal
Hillary Clinton’s rivals for the Democratic nomination are finding new ways to outflank the front-runner on the left by showing their bona fides on climate change.
http://jlne.ws/1GbeM8w
***LB: Also in this story “Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has been surging in the polls, offered full-throated support for the movement among some universities, churches, foundations, and other institutional investors to dump their holdings in coal and oil-and-gas companies.”
How Can We Make People Care About Climate Change?
By Richard Schiffman – environment 360
Per Espen Stoknes, a Norwegian psychologist and economist, has been doing a lot of thinking about a question that has bedeviled climate scientists for years: Why have humans so far failed to deal with the looming threat posed by climate change?
http://jlne.ws/1CtCIJ7
Events
EMA Annual Meeting
October 28-30, 2015
Omni Parker House Hotel
Boston, MA
http://bit.ly/192w3CR
2015 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
November 12-13, 2015, Cambridge, MA
http://jlne.ws/1Uxkext
Carbon
Carbon price, social push needed to curb emissions: economists
By Laurie Goering – Thomson Reuters Foundation
China’s climate-changing emissions from producing the energy it needs will be as large as the rest of the world’s emissions put together over the next 25 years, the incoming director of the International Energy Agency predicted on Thursday.
http://jlne.ws/1JTmz2x
Dark Cloud Lifts Over Denver, but Experts Warn of More to Come
By Julie Turnkewitz – The New York Times
An ugly and ominous dark cloud that has enveloped this city and much of eastern Colorado this week finally dissipated on Thursday, prompting public health officials to lift a warning against spending too much time outside, particularly for young children, old people and people with lung problems.
http://jlne.ws/1NXSbmb
Power
Scottish energy minister blasts end to onshore wind subsidies as ‘anti-business’
By James Phillips – BusinessGreen
The government’s decision to end onshore wind subsidies a year early has been slammed as “anti-business” by Fergus Ewing, Scottish energy minister.
http://jlne.ws/1GbdfPF
Utilities lobby top Obama officials on climate rule
By Timothy Cama – The Hill
Lobbyists representing major electric utilities met with top Obama administration officials this week, urging them to roll back provisions of the upcoming climate rule for power plants.
http://jlne.ws/1HjC2VF
***LB: Also in this story “While recent weeks have seen dozens of lobbyists opposing and supporting the regulation meet with the White House, the two utility meetings were unique in the number of high-ranking Obama administration officials attending.”
They’re all about free-market competition — unless it hurts the power companies
By John Romano – Tampa Bay Times
The attorney general and Florida’s Chamber of Commerce have both joined with mega utility companies to fight a constitutional amendment on solar power that embraces a competitive marketplace.
http://jlne.ws/1Ho6ieX
Clean tech
Buffett-Backed BYD Enters Power-Storage Market in Australia
By James Paton – Bloomberg News
BYD Co., the Warren Buffett-backed electric-car maker that began selling energy-storage units in Germany last month, has entered the Australian market.
http://jlne.ws/1LZu4oT
***LB: Also in this story “The Shenzhen, China-based company has sold more than 100 storage systems in Australia, describing it as a “strategic market” in an e-mail response to questions.”
Water
Seas could rise 6 metres even if governments curb warming – study
By Alister Doyle – Reuters
Sea levels could rise by at least six metres (20 feet) in the long term, swamping coasts from Florida to Bangladesh, even if governments achieve their goals for curbing global warming, according to a study published on Thursday.
http://jlne.ws/1dPGfpB
California Farms Are Using Drilling Wastewater to Grow Crops
By Alex Nussbaum and David Wethe – Bloomberg News
California’s epic drought is pushing Big Oil to solve a problem it’s struggled with for decades: what to do with the billions of gallons of wastewater that gush out of wells every year.
http://jlne.ws/1Ho4m6f
Iraq’s Famed Marshes Are Disappearing—Again
By Peter Schwartzstein – National Geographic
As Saddam Hussein drained Iraq’s famed marshes to punish the rebellious tribesmen who lived in them, Amjad Mohamed packed his few possessions, grabbed his fishing rod, and fled south to Basra with his extended family.
http://jlne.ws/1IO1Ewh
Miscellaneous
Bees Are Losing Their Habitat Because of Climate Change