Summary
In today’s edition, investors, beware! Climate change could cut the value of the world’s financial assets by $2.5tn, according to the first estimate from economic modelling. Also, a taskforce led by Michael Bloomberg is recommending that climate risk information be part of companies’ routine financial filings. Finally, a warning from the White House: the threat of climate change threat to public health is worse than polio.
Quote of the day
“Every American is vulnerable to the health impacts associated with climate change. Some are more vulnerable than others.”
John Holdren, the White House science adviser, in the Guardian’s story Climate change threat to public health worse than polio, White House warns
Lead stories
China’s Carbon Emissions May Have Peaked, but It’s Hazy
By Edward Wong – The New York Times
A year and a half ago, negotiators from the United States persuaded the Chinese government to commit to a deadline for reversing the growth in greenhouse gas emissions from China.
http://jlne.ws/1V3wFTu
Climate change threat to public health worse than polio, White House warns
By Suzanne Goldenberg – The Guardian
Climate change poses a serious danger to public health – worse than polio in some respects – and will strike especially hard at pregnant women, children, low income people and communities of color, an authoritative US government report warned on Monday.
http://jlne.ws/1W6iFHX
Climate change will wipe $2.5tn off global financial assets: study
By Damian Carrington – The Guardian
Climate change could cut the value of the world’s financial assets by $2.5tn (£1.7tn), according to the first estimate from economic modelling.
http://jlne.ws/1SMoesr
Bloomberg climate taskforce targets financial filings
By Megan Darby – Climate Home (Part of the Guardian Environment Network)
Climate risk information should form part of companies’ routine financial filings, a taskforce led by Michael Bloomberg is recommending.
http://jlne.ws/1UQBvDW
Events
Navigating the American Carbon World (NACW) 2016
Climate Action Reserve
May 4-6, 2016
San Diego, California
http://goo.gl/Ah5s1I
CARBON EXPO 2016
Global Carbon Market Fair and Conference
May 25-27, 2016
Cologne
http://jlne.ws/1mg8bqR
Cleantech Innovate Scotland
June 9, 2016
http://jlne.ws/1mg6nOG
Carbon
Massive carbon capture investment ‘needed to slow global warming’
By Fiona Harvey and Kylie Noble – The Guardian
Combating climate change successfully will require massive investments in technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide, new research has found.
http://jlne.ws/1q0HIzz
EPA uncovers mysterious phosphorus pollution
By Janet Pelley – C&EN
An unknown process is dumping phosphorus into streams and lakes across the U.S., according to a new study.
http://jlne.ws/1UQyH9Y
Natural gas / coal
Fractivists’ Increase Pressure on Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in New York
By Trip Gabriel and Coral Davenport – The New York Times
A nasty row that erupted between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders over oil and gas industry donors last week is catapulting the issue of climate change into the race for the Democratic presidential nomination as it moves to New York, where an army of activists upstate is driven by opposition to drilling.
http://jlne.ws/1VqSqeX
Chevron temporarily shuts down Gorgon LNG project
By Jamie Smyth – Financial Times
Three weeks after shipping its first cargo of liquefied natural gas, Chevron’s huge Gorgon project off the north-west coast of Australia has temporarily halted production because of technical difficulties.
http://jlne.ws/1UDUHV7
Can coal companies afford to clean up coal country?
By Steven Mufson and Joby Warrick – The Washington Post
A worsening financial crisis for the nation’s biggest coal companies is sparking concerns that U.S. taxpayers could be stuck with hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in cleanup costs across a landscape of shuttered mines stretching from Appalachia to the northern Plains.
http://jlne.ws/226C2Ae
Power
Breakthrough for Scottish tidal power generation
By Mure Dickie – Financial Times
A new investment in Scotland is being hailed as a breakthrough in the attempt to attract funds into Britain’s nascent tidal power sector.
http://jlne.ws/1Rz4M38
Europe faces 253bn euro nuclear waste bill
By Arthur Neslen – The Guardian
Europe is facing a 253bn euro bill for nuclear waste management and plant decommissioning which outstrips available funds by 120bn euros, according to a major stock-take of the industry by the European commission.
http://jlne.ws/235U2R5
Clean tech
Tesla says Model 3 orders top $10 billion in first 36 hours
By Paul Lienert – Reuters
Tesla Motors Inc said orders for its new Model 3 electric sedan topped 253,000 in the first 36 hours — a fast start for the company’s first mass-market vehicle, which may not begin to reach customers for another 18 months or more.
http://jlne.ws/1SwKa84
Water
As ocean acidification threatens the West Coast, a quest to stop it
By Jason Thomson – The Christian Science Monitor
Urgent action must be taken to avoid devastating consequences to the North American West Coast as a result of global carbon dioxide emissions, a panel of scientific experts has warned.
http://jlne.ws/1V4LyVp