A decade ago, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) was launched with the goal of mobilising the private sector for climate action.

Today, it stands as the largest and most influential validator of corporate climate targets, having confirmed the 2030 goals of around 5,000 companies.

Yet new analysis reveals a leniency within the initiative. According to the 2024 Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor (CCRM), the emissions reduction commitments of 51 major global corporates are falling short of what’s needed at the global level.

Surprisingly, most of these companies received SBTi validation for their targets to be aligned with the 1.5ºC warming limit backed by governments in the Paris climate agreement. 

What explains this discrepancy?  

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Currently, the SBTi’s 2030 target validations often overlook substantial shares of companies’ full value chain emissions by excluding upstream and downstream value chain emissions, known as “scope 3”. Scope 3 emissions account for the majority of corporate greenhouse gas footprints, sometimes exceeding 95%.  

The SBTi requires companies to set a near-term target for scope 3 emissions, but only when those emissions account for more than 40% of their greenhouse gas footprint. However, these targets do not have to cover all scope 3 emissions and only need to be aligned with global warming of 2ºC or well below 2ºC, not 1.5ºC.  

While the SBTi checks whether companies have set a scope 3 target, the initiative does not provide a temperature classification for these scope 3 targets – only for companies’ scope 1 and 2 targets, which apply to direct operations and their energy use.

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This important nuance is often missed by the public, as many companies nonetheless prominently advertise their scope 3 climate targets as science-based.  

Take Fast Retailing, owner of clothing chain Uniqlo, for example. The company pledges to reduce its operational emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 90% by 2030, which represent just 5% of its total emissions.

It also commits to reduce its emissions from procured goods and materials (scope 3) by 20% by the end of this decade. However, upstream emissions in the fashion sector need to be reduced by around 40% to be aligned with global warming of 1.5ºC.

Whereas the SBTi validated the target for operational emissions as “1.5ºC temperature aligned”, the initiative did not provide a temperature classification for the scope 3 target.

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Yet Fast Retailing also describes this target as “science-based”. This pattern is not unique to Fast Retailing but common across companies validated by the SBTi. 

As a voluntary organisation primarily funded by third parties, the SBTi relies on the voluntary participation of companies. Its methodologies need to accommodate the perspectives of various stakeholders.

This may explain why the SBTi’s methodologies for 2030 targets are not necessarily always aligned with the scientific consensus on limiting global warming to 1.5ºC.

However, addressing the lack of stringency in scope 3 targets is key to ensuring that the SBTi can effectively drive corporate climate ambition. 

Offsetting controversy 

Despite the large degree of leniency that already exists in scope 3 standards today, there is a significant risk that the rules will be loosened even further.

Just this week, the SBTi Board of Trustees issued a unilateral and possibly illegitimate decision to revise scope 3 standards to allow for carbon offsetting.

This decision is not based on scientific insights but comes after a lot of pressure on the SBTi from supporters of carbon markets. SBTi staff have already reacted strongly to voice their discontent with the decision and the process. 

Introducing offsetting in the SBTi scope 3 standards could effectively nullify already insufficient targets, reversing years of incremental progress that SBTi and its member companies have fought so hard to achieve. 

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Allowing companies to offset their emissions could also deprive their suppliers – who are often located in the Global South – of much needed financial and technical support for their own emissions reduction efforts. 

Climate target-setting has become standard practice in the corporate world – progress the SBTi helped foster over the past decade. But the recent decision by the SBTi Board of Trustees on offsetting could bring any further advances to a halt.

Reversing this decision and tightening the rules for scope 3 targets would be the next step to propel corporate climate ambition forward. 

This article argues that the SBTI’s rules are too lax. We have also published a comment piece arguing they are too stringent.

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The news agency reported on Wednesday that the new target would be a 40% cut from 2013 levels, then on Thursday that it would be 45%, citing government officials. The current target is 26%.

Prime minister Yoshihide Suga will have the final say, after negotiations between the environment and economics ministries.

Environmentalists and sustainable business leaders are lobbying for a target of up to 60%, with resistance coming from some industry associations.

Climate Action Tracker says a 60% cut would be “challenging” but necessary to align with the strongest target in the Paris Agreement to hold global warming to 1.5C.

Under previous prime minister Shinzo Abe, the Japanese government resisted international pressure to increase its 2030 target.

Since taking over from Abe, Suga has placed a greater emphasis on the need for climate action, pledging to reach net zero by 2050.

Suga will meet US president Joe Biden next Friday and attend the US climate leaders’ summit on 22 April.

Biden is reportedly planning a 50% emissions reduction by 2030 target, based on 2005 levels.

The country’s target start date of 2013 was one of the peaks of Japanese emissions as fossil fuels replaced nuclear energy following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Most countries use 1990 or 2005 as the start dates for their emissions targets.

According to data from the International Energy Agency, Japan’s use of coal has steadily increased over the last few decades and the country’s use of fossil fuels grew sharply after the Fukushima disaster led to a clampdown on nuclear power. On the other hand, Japan’s use of solar power increased over the last decade as the costs fell.

Under the current energy plan, coal, oil and gas still account for 56% of the electricity generation mix in 2030. Renewables are expected to provide 22-24% of power.

Critics have said this plan phases out coal too slowly and is over-reliant on carbon capture and storage. METI is due to publish a revised energy plan in June.

In order to reduce emissions rapidly, Climate Action Tracker says Japan will have to phase out coal from electricity production by 2030 while electrifying end-use sectors and reducing electricity demand through  efficiency measures. Green hydrogen is likely to be needed for heavy industries like steel, it added.

UN chief António Guterres has called on G7 countries like Japan to phase out coal by 2030.

When announcing the net zero goal in October, Suga promised to “fundamentally shift” Japan’s coal policy.

Kyodo reports that Japan’s 2030 target will be officially announced by the G7 summit in June.

This article was updated on 9/04 to reflect new information on the proposed level of ambition.

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Raj Kumar Singh described net zero goals as “pie in the sky” during a global summit hosted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) designed to create global momentum for achieving net zero emissions by the middle of the century.

The virtual ministerial dialogue was attended by more than 40 ministers from large emitting nations.

“You have countries whose per capita emissions are four times, five times, six times, 12 times the world average,” Singh said during a panel discussion with China’s energy minister Zhang Jianhua, US climate envoy John Kerry and the EU’s Frans Timmermans, which have all backed net zero goals. 

“Now the question is when are [emissions] going to come down. What we hear is that ‘by 2050 or by 2060 we will become carbon neutral’.” But “2060 is far away,” Singh said in reference to China’s own net zero goal.

“If by that time people continue to emit at the rate at which they are emitting, the world won’t survive. So what are you going to do in the next five years, we want to know that, the world wants to know that. What are you going to do in the next 10 years?” he asked.

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Singh’s comments come as India is facing mounting diplomatic pressure to set its own net zero goal ahead of the Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow, UK, in November.

Opening the meeting, Cop26 president designate Alok Sharma called “on all countries to commit to a net zero world”. “Not enough is being done to meet that net zero target,” he told ministers. “We must do much more now to turn remote targets into immediate action. We simply cannot afford another decade of deliberation,” he added, insisting on the need for short-term ambition.

Speculation on Indian plans for net zero has been rife. Recent reports suggested government officials close to Modi were considering setting a net zero goal for 2050 or 2047. But earlier this week, government sources told Reuters that India is unlikely to bind itself to a net zero target by 2050. 

“That speech by RK Singh Power Minister at the IEA #NetZeroSummit should put all speculations on India and net zero to rest,” tweeted Swati Dsouza, a Delhi-based energy consultant.

Net zero targets have come under growing scrutiny from experts and campaigners, who have denounced commitments made 30 years into the future that don’t include transformative action to cut emissions in the short term.

Isn’t it funny that the same people who are calling us naive for believing change is possible are the ones who believe fossil fuel companies, big polluters and oil producing nations will ”fix” the climate- and ecological crisis with their vague, distant ”net zero” commitments…?

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) March 24, 2021

Sunil Dahiya, analyst at the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, told Climate Home News that it was important that countries’ net zero strategies included interim targets for the next five and 10 years. 

“Without that it’s difficult to gauge the progress towards net zero and hold countries accountable towards these ambitious targets,” he said. 

Writing in Nature, Joeri Rogelj, one of lead authors of the 1.5C IPCC report, warned against setting “vague” net zero targets. “The stakes are too high to take comfort in mere announcements. Without more clarity, strategies behind net-zero targets cannot be understood; nor can their impact be evaluated,” he wrote.

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Minister Singh argued that developing countries could not be expected to commit to net zero when they have contributed very little to historic emissions and are heavily reliant on carbon-intensive sectors such as steel and cement to grow their economies. 

“The developed world has occupied almost 80% of the carbon space already. You can’t say that [developing countries] have to come to net zero. No, sorry – they have to develop,” he said. 

In response, Timmermans said that there is huge potential for developing nations such as India to leapfrog polluting technologies and meet their energy needs, without increasing their carbon emissions. 

“Some countries are resisting [decarbonisation] despite the fact that we’re looking at the biggest job market the world has ever known,” Kerry said. “This is the greatest economic opportunity we’ve ever had to build our countries.”

The world’s third largest emitting country after China and the US, India has so far resisted setting a more ambitious 2030 climate goal despite pressure from the UN and UK Cop26 host for every nation to improve its climate plan ahead of Glasgow. 

Kerry said the US would announce a “strong” 2030 target on 22 April, when president Joe Biden is hosting a leaders’ climate summit. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is among 40 world leaders invited. The US said it had urged participants to use the summit as an opportunity to outline how they will contribute to stronger climate ambition.

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“As far as we are concerned, we have one of the fastest growing renewable capacity in the world. We are well on the way to achieving what we have set out to do,” Singh said.

India is on track to exceed its target of delivering 450GW of renewable energy by the end of the decade but it continues to expand its coal capacity, recently holding an auction for new coal blocks. 

For its climate plans to be compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5C, India would need to abandon plans to build new coal power plants and phase out all coal generation by 2040, according to Climate Action Tracker.

Dsouza told Climate Home News India requires “substantial financial and technological aid” if it is to decarbonise rapidly. 

“We will need global finance to mitigate the negative impacts of the transition on livelihoods and to bring costs of new technology lower. This is true for India and for all developing countries,” she said. 

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Jayant Sinha, a lawmaker representing the coal producing Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand, north east India, submitted the bill to the Lok Sabha, parliament’s lower house earlier this week.

The bill, obtained by Climate Home News, aims to provide a framework “by which India can develop and implement clear and stable climate change policies” under the Paris Agreement.

Modelled on New Zealand’s climate law, it would require the government to establish emissions budgets every five years, starting in 2022.  An independent climate change commission would be created to drive policy recommendations and monitor progress towards achieving the net zero target.

“My objective was to start the discussion in India about a net zero target. And what would be the means and mechanisms to achieve it and start fostering a dialogue on this topic,” Sinha told Climate Home News.

My view: India can create crores of high-paying jobs and save the world by declaring Net Zero by 2050 target. (1/2) https://t.co/4fvvlKgkJZ pic.twitter.com/agFvL9R7s5

— Jayant Sinha (@jayantsinha) March 12, 2021

In practice, it is “very rare” for a private member’s bill to become law in India as the government is unlikely to support legislation that it hasn’t proposed, he said.

But Sinha, who chairs the parliament’s standing committee on finance, hopes the bill will drive the issue to the top of India’s political agenda.

“We are not going to get to 2C or 1.5C unless India completely changes its trajectory and gets to net zero as soon as possible,” he said.

In recent months, prime minister Narendra Modi has come under growing diplomatic pressure to set a net zero goal after some of the world’s biggest polluters announced carbon neutrality commitments, including China.

Government officials close to Modi are reportedly working with senior bureaucrats and foreign advisors to consider setting a net zero goal for 2050 or 2047, the centenary of the country’s independence from the UK.

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Under the bill, the climate change commission would be tasked with helping to prepare emissions budgets and report on progress in meeting them. Should the government fail to meet its goals, the commission would have the power to levy penalty fines.

Navroz Dubash, professor at the Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research, who is working on proposals to develop robust climate institutions in India, welcomed the prospect of an Indian climate law.

But Sinha’s commission proposal does not reflect India’s approach to cutting emissions, which is focused on transforming key sectors in line with a low-carbon development pathway, Dubash told Climate Home News.

“A climate change commission is useful, but not one articulated solely or even mostly around carbon budgets. Meeting carbon budgets does not animate Indian politics and policy, transformational sectoral change does,” he said in an email.

“The proposed bill copies a little too readily from international experience, without making the effort to design institutions that will work most effectively within India. India deserves more than cut and paste.”

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Despite growing chatter over the possibility of India setting a net zero goal, analysts have previously told Climate Home News that while some modelling work and sectoral analysis was being carried out by researchers, this was not part of a detailed cross-ministerial process.

One coal analyst described the net zero discourse in India as “vague and aspirational”.

Swati D’souza, a Delhi-based energy consultant, said that “going straight to net zero will be a major shift in policy, particularly since we have just auctioned new coal blocks”.

In June 2020, Modi launched an auction of 41 coal mining blocks to private companies. Adani Enterprises won the bid for the Gondulpara coal mine in Sinha’s constituency of Hazaribagh.

For its climate action to be compatible with limiting temperature rise to 1.5C, India would need to abandon plans to build new coal power plants and phase out all coal power generation by 2040, according to Climate Action Tracker.

Sinha defended recent coal auctions as part of Modi’s strategy to build a self-reliant India. “Ultimately,” he wrote in an opinion piece last year, it “is about making India truly globally competitive, so that we build up our economic strength and can control our own destiny”.

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Speaking to Climate Home News, Sinha said there were “a range of technological solutions” to cut emissions from coal, including through carbon capture, that would allow some coal production to continue under a 2050 net zero pathway.

While achieving carbon neutrality would require significant investments, Sinha said setting the target would make funding opportunities flow.

“If India takes a proactive position on net zero, we will get so much support from the world. It would be a tremendous boost for the economy,” he said.

As long as India continues to expand its renewable and coal capacity in parallel, D’souza said it remained to be seen how the country could mobilise the resources to achieve net zero by 2050.

“It is possible with political backing, but it will mean that the government needs to start looking at issues related to ‘just transitions’ now, rather than 10 years in the future,” she said.

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“Together with the international community, we will actively respond to climate change and aim for carbon neutrality by 2050,” he said in a speech to parliament on Wednesday — reaffirming plans for a Green New Deal that voters overwhelmingly backed in April. 

“By replacing coal power generation with renewable energy, we will create new markets and industries and create jobs,” he said. 

Moon’s announcement came two days after Japan committed to the 2050 net zero target and said it would rethink its reliance on coal. Last month, China stunned the world when it pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. 

“The recent announcements from Japan and China have definitely put pressure on Korea to announce a target year for carbon neutrality,” Joojin Kim, managing director of South Korean campaign group Solutions For Our Climate, told Climate Home News. 

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In July, Moon presented plans for a $37 billion Green New Deal aimed at boosting green infrastructure, clean energy and electric vehicles by 2025. On Wednesday, he announced a further $7 billion spending on carbon-cutting measures. 

“We are replacing old buildings and public rental housing with eco-friendly facilities and investing 2.4 trillion [korean won] in the green transition for urban spaces and daily infrastructure,” Moon said.

As part of its Green New Deal, South Korea aims to have 1.13 million electric and 200,000 hydrogen vehicles on the roads by 2025. 

Moon’s announcement coincided with a visit from Cop26 president-designate and UK business and energy minister Alok Sharma. Sharma said in a tweet President Moon’s announcement followed a “very productive 72 hours of meetings with govt ministers, parliamentarians, businesses & international organisations”.

As figurehead for the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow, UK next November, Sharma is seeking to mobilise higher climate ambition from other governments.

At the end of a very productive 72 hours of meetings with govt ministers, parliamentarians, businesses & international organisations, I’m delighted with the announcement by President Moon that South Korea has today committed to #NetZero by 2050! #COP26#TacklingClimateChange

— Rt Hon Lord Alok Sharma (@AlokSharma_RDG) October 28, 2020

Campaigners welcomed South Korea’s net zero pledge but warned it will take a complete coal phase-out to meet its goal. 

South Korea has 36 GW of coal power capacity, which provides over 40% of the country’s electricity generation, and a further 7.2 GW is under construction, according to Global Energy Monitor data. Renewables currently make up less than 6% of the country’s energy mix. 

Analysis by Climate Analytics found South Korea must increase its 2030 emissions reduction target from 37% to at least 74%, and half its emissions in the next decade if it is to meet its Paris commitments. 

Kim told Climate Home the government would need to overhaul its coal policy to meet the 2050 goal.  “The most urgent tasks are enhancing its 2030 emissions reduction target, presenting a clear roadmap to phase out coal by 2030, and putting a complete stop to coal financing,” he said. 

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South Korea is one of the three biggest public financiers of overseas coal projects globally, according to Solutions For Our Climate. In July, South Korean lawmakers proposed a bill that would end financing for overseas coal projects but campaigners say it remains unclear whether the proposal has a majority support in parliament. 

“We are waiting for the government to announce a total moratorium on overseas coal project financing and exit from freshly greenlit projects in Indonesia (Jawa 9, 10) and Vietnam (Vung Ang 2),” Kim said. 

The announcement puts pressure on other major emitters such as Australia and the US to ramp up their climate ambition. Four of Australia’s top ten trading partners, the UK, Japan, China and South Korea, have all set net zero targets, potentially dampening demand for its coal exports.

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said he would not change Australia’s climate policy in response to the news. “I am not concerned about our future exports. Australia will set our policies here. Our policies won’t be set in the United Kingdom, they won’t be set in Brussels, they won’t be set in any part of the world other than here,” he told reporters on Wednesday. 

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Yoshihide Suga indicated his government would rethink its reliance on coal, instead backing solar power and “carbon recycling” – capturing carbon dioxide emissions for various industrial applications.

“I declare we will aim to realise a decarbonised society,” Suga said in his first policy address to parliament since taking office. 

“Responding to climate change is no longer a constraint on economic growth. We need to change our thinking to the view that taking assertive measures against climate change will lead to changes in industrial structure and the economy that will bring about great growth.”

Japan has faced mounting international pressure to strengthen its climate commitments. The previous administration would only aim for an 80% emissions reduction by 2050, compared to 2010 levels, and carbon neutrality “at the earliest possible time in the latter half of this century.”

I warmly welcome to the goal that all developed nations should set for themselves to stop climate change.

is a good friend and ally and we look forward to working with them towards net zero emissions in 2050. The world is coming together for the climate.

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) October 26, 2020

Suga’s announcement follows China’s 2060 carbon neutrality pledge last month.

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Japan is the world’s fifth biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and has 48 GW of coal power capacity, which provide almost a third of its electricity generation. Another 7.4 GW are under construction and 2.5 GW in planning, according Global Energy Monitor data. The country’s coal use increased after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster stoked fears around atomic energy – its other major source.

Under the current energy plan, coal, oil and gas still account for 56% of the energy mix in 2030. Renewables are only expected to provide 22-24% of power generation. The ministry for economy, trade, and industry (Meti) is due to publish a revised energy plan next June.

Without going into detail, Suga hinted his government would address the country’s dependence on coal. “We will fundamentally shift our long-standing policy on coal-fired power generation,” he said during his speech.

“This is a fundamental change. Japan has always seen coal as an important export product and also domestically as an important source for energy security,” Takeshi Kuramochi, climate policy researcher at NewClimate Institute, told Climate Home News.

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Climate campaigners are calling for clarity on Japan’s emissions reduction and renewables targets for 2030 and a commitment to phasing out coal by this date. 

According to Japan’s Renewable Energy Institute (REI), Japan’s net zero target requires a full phaseout of coal by 2030, increasing the renewable energy target to 45% and raising the emissions reduction target for 2030 to 45% compared to 2010 levels. The current target is 26% compared to 2013 levels.

“It is necessary to significantly strengthen the GHG reduction target for 2030, and to completely phase out coal-fired power generation, including those [plants] which have been called ‘high efficiency’”, said Teruyuki Ohno, REI’s executive director. 

Japan’s climate strategy has focused heavily on technological innovations to curb emissions, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and high-efficiency coal power generation, sometimes called ‘clean coal’.

In June, the minister for economy, trade, and industry (Meti) Hiroshi Kajiyama said Japan would phase out 90% of old and inefficient coal generators by 2030 and focus on cleaner, high efficiency coal.

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Campaigners say both technologies are inadequate solutions to get to net zero emissions.

“’Clean coal’ is not clean. It only achieves a 10% reduction in CO2 emissions. It is time to review this approach and invest in renewables. Those need to be supported fully so that we can expect a deep [emissions] reduction before 2030,” Kimiko Hirata, international director of the Kiko network, a Japanese environmental NGO, told Climate Home News. 

“Clean coal will have to be set to the side,” Kuramochi agreed. “There is simply no room for new power plants, in whatever format.”

There is no clear evidence that CCS technology can be commercialised in a cost effective way, Hirata said. “In Japan there is no location to store that [carbon dioxide].”

Hirata said Meti had promoted technologies such as CCS to protect the interests of fossil fuel companies who have strong ties with the government. “CCS provides subsidies to heavy industries, including the power and steel sectors,” she said. 

The roadmap to achieving net zero by 2050 “will be very controversial” as Meti and the ministry of environment are likely to adopt different approaches, according to Hirata.

Japan’s popular environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi has been pushing for the country to change its coal policy and has called on the government to end overseas coal finance. But Meti has almost 100% control over coal policy and “will have supreme power” when it comes to how to achieve the net zero target, Hirata said. 

According to Kuramochi, the government’s 2050 pledge was partly driven by a private sector eager to move away from coal and see more investment in renewable, climate-friendly technologies. “Meti are picking up on this trend emerging in the business sector and their stance is shifting,” he said.

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Japan, China, South Korea, Norway and several EU member states are among 14 countries to agree on a package of energy efficiency measures for existing ships, ahead of next week’s IMO environmental committee meeting. The International Chamber of Shipping also backs the submission.

In the proposal, seen by Climate Home, they suggest imposing a combination of mandatory short-term technical and operational measures on the world’s 60,000 vessels, from reducing engine power to introducing ship-level carbon intensity targets. These measures would not be enforced until 2030 – a decade too late, green groups say.

Bryan Comer, a senior researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation, told Climate Home that the proposal ignores scientific and technical recommendations made by climate campaigners. “What’s on the table now may not even be enough to achieve the IMO’s minimum 2030 target. It’s certainly not Paris-aligned,” said Comer. 

“Every year that we allow shipping emissions to go up, it is eating up more of the carbon budget. More drastic actions will need to be taken later,” Comer said.

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The proposal is modelled on Japan’s Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) which would impose energy efficiency targets on existing ships based on their type and size, and is supported by Norway, Greece and Panama. 

Limiting engine power to reduce emissions is the easiest way for ships to comply with EEXI, according to a report by the ICCT. EEXI would only make ‘a small contribution’ to the IMO’s climate goals and reduce CO2 emissions from the existing fleet by just 0.8-1.6% by 2030, the ICCT concluded. 

In the new IMO proposal, the countries suggest combining EEXI with other operational measures, including a carbon intensity indicator, proposed by Denmark, Germany and France, which would set individual targets for every ship. 

Campaigners describe it as a compromise, which lacks urgency and commitment to address the scale of the problem. International shipping produces around one billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year, accounting for 3% of annual global emissions. Without further action, ship emissions in 2050 are expected to reach 90-130% of 2008 levels. 

Faig Abbasov, shipping programme director at Brussels-based think-tank Transport & Environment, told Climate Home that many of the measures, including limiting engine power, are “empty shell” pledges. “Ships aren’t using their engine power to the maximum anyway,” he said. 

“The measures are voluntary for the next decade. There is no reason for member states to go beyond what the regulation says. They will just wait until then,” Abbasov said.

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The IMO has set the target of cutting CO2 emissions from international shipping by at least 50% by 2050, compared to 2008 levels, with carbon intensity reduced 40% by 2030. When the IMO announced these targets in 2018, it said it was  pursuing “a pathway of CO2 emissions reduction consistent with the Paris Agreement temperature goals.” But experts say the IMO targets are not in line with the strongest Paris Agreement goal to limit global warming to 1.5C. “This requires full decarbonisation by 2050,” said Abbasov.

“Leaving the efficiency of ships unregulated for another decade, the clear and intended result of this proposal, is certain to allow shipping’s huge 1 billion tonnes of annual GHG emissions to keep rising for the next 10 years and beyond,” said Kate Young, a campaigner for Generation Climate Europe, the largest coalition of youth-led NGOs in Europe.

The IMO’s 2018 strategy said it would prioritise short-term measures that achieved emissions reductions before 2023.

“The countries trying to push enforcement back until 2030, and for some ships only, are simply hoping no-one will notice they are removing all the ambitious bits of a major international climate agreement reached by over 100 countries just two years ago,” Young said. 

The proposal came a few days after the EU Parliament voted to include maritime CO2 emissions in the EU carbon market from 2022, following criticism that shipping is the only sector to not face emissions reduction targets. The decision will force shipowners to buy carbon permits to cover emissions during voyages in Europe or international voyages which start or finish at a European port. 

The EU decision could force the IMO to ramp up its climate ambition, campaigners say. “By going first, the EU is putting pressure on the IMO to act,” Abbasov said.

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(Pic: Hurricane Irene/Flickr)

By Ed King

Senior officials at the UN’s climate body have welcomed news that emissions of carbon dioxide stalled in 2014 despite continued global economic growth.

The claim was made by the International Energy Agency’s chief economist Fatih Birol in an interview with the Financial Times.

“This is a real surprise. We have never seen this before,” said Birol, who suggested it proved efforts to clean up the world’s energy system had started to pay dividends.

Halldór Thorgeirsson, director of strategy at the UNFCCC, UN’s climate body, said the world was “starting to turn the corner on global energy emissions”.

He added the news was positive ahead of talks on a global climate pact, due to be signed off in Paris this December.

Over 190 countries are working on a deal that would radically cut emissions growth and limit warming to below 2C, a above which scientists say floods, droughts and other extreme weather events could be more common.

Unusual trend

The stall is surprising as previously carbon emissions have only fallen as a result of economic downturns, notably after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1992 and the 2008 financial crisis.

In 2013, GHG emissions increased at their fastest rate for 30 years, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.

But the IEA, which will publish its findings in full on June 15, said in 2014 levels of CO2 stayed at 32.3 billion tonnes – 2013 levels – while the world’s economy grew 3%.

CO2 is the most durable greenhouse gas, with a lifetime of up to 200 years. Since 1990, CO2 levels have soared over 60%, driven in part by China’s rapid growth.

Birol told the FT that new efficiency standards in China and a move away from energy intensive industry could have contributed to the stalling emissions. Last year the country’s demand for coal fell 2.9%.

Beijing has promised to peak emissions by 2030. An official at the China Academy of Sciences has urged the administration to go further and set an absolute cap on emissions in its next five-year plan, reported Carbon Pulse.

Richer OECD countries gave also managed to achieve growth without pushing their emissions higher. The IEA said these economies grew by up to 7% while GHG releases fell 4%.

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Apple discovered it was under-reporting emissions from manufacturing aluminium used in its products
(Pic: Flickr/Yutaka Tsutano)

By Megan Darby

Apple reduced its carbon footprint by 3% between 2012 and 2013 to 33.8 million tonnes, according to its latest environmental responsibility report.

The consumer electronics giant has won plaudits for its investments in renewable energy at corporate offices, retail stores and data centres.

CEO Tim Cook told investors in April climate change is a “real problem” as he outlined the company’s commitment to environmental improvements.

The modest decrease in Apple’s overall carbon footprint shows those efforts are dwarfed by the impact of its manufacturing, which accounts for nearly three quarters of emissions.

The report says: “We’re striving to reduce that footprint, and we’re making great progress. But there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Reporting errors

Apple also admitted emissions from manufacturing aluminium to use in its products were nearly four times higher than previously thought. It claimed the earlier assessments were made using “industry-standard methods” but an “extensive survey” of Apple’s suppliers revealed the figures to be inaccurate.

As a result, the reported emissions for 2013 were 9% higher than in 2012. When the 2012 figures were recalculated to correct for under-reporting of aluminium manufacturing emissions, it showed a 3% drop.

Using renewable energy sources, driving energy efficiency, using greener materials and conserving precious resources are identified as Apple’s environmental priorities.

The report cites carbon savings from reduced power consumption of its products, lighter packaging for transport, and greener corporate offices, retail stores and data centres.

It does not provide evidence of any such carbon cutting activity on the energy-intensive manufacturing side, however, much of which takes place in China.

The post Apple cuts carbon footprint by 3% appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: ojbyrne)

By Nilima Choudhury

Energy related CO2 emissions are projected to rise by 20% to 2035, leaving the world on track for a long-term average temperature increase of 3.6°C.

The IEA’s assessment took into account carbon abatement schemes that are already in place despite which the world is still on a trajectory to miss the internationally agreed 2°C limit of warming.

Non-Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries account for a rising share of emissions. The report warns that the 2°C carbon budget is being spent much too quickly.

Carbon budget for 2C. (Graph: IEA)

Executive director of the IEA Maria van der Hoeven said at the launch of the report that countries that can anticipate global energy developments successfully will have an economic advantage over their peers.

“Major changes are emerging in the energy world in response to shifts in economic growth, efforts at decarbonisation and technological breakthroughs. We have the tools to deal with such profound market change,” van der Hoeven said.

Cumulative energy use related to CO2. (Graph: IEA)

In its report, the IEA calls for urgent action to break down barriers to implementing successful CO2 reduction measures.

In June, the watchdog identified four measures to halt the increase in emissions by 2020 without harming economic growth.

These included improving efficiency, limiting the construction and use of the least-efficient coal-fired power plants, minimising methane emissions in upstream oil and gas, and reforming fossil-fuel subsidies

Now in November, the IEA remains strong on these points.

Van der Hoeven said: “There are pragmatic strategies that governments and industry can pursue to reduce energy use and emissions that are either GDP-neutral or positive for economic growth.”

The report said two-thirds of the economic potential for energy efficiency is set to remain untapped in 2035. The main market barrier is fossil fuel subsidies.

Today’s share of fossil fuels in the global mix, at 82%, is the same as it was 25 years ago; the strong rise of renewables only reduces this to around 75% in 2035.

Last year fossil fuel subsidies totalled $544 billion while investment in renewables was $101 billion of which hydro power will be the most popular in non-OECD countries.

Growth in renewable electricity generation for 2011-2035. (Graph: IEA)

Renewables will account for nearly half of the increase in global power generation to 2035, from various sources with wind and solar photovoltaics making up 45% of the expansion in renewables.

The increase in generation from renewables takes its share in the global power mix above 30%, drawing ahead of natural gas in the next few years and all but reaching coal as the leading fuel for power generation in 2035.

China sees the biggest absolute increase in generation from renewable sources, more than the increase in the European Union, the United States and Japan combined.

Emissions reduction policies in China also include capping its share of coal in total energy use. The currently currently uses as much coal as the rest of the world combined.

The IEA’s report said global coal demand increases by 17% to 2035, with two-thirds of the increase occurring by 2020, but coal use experiences a decline in OECD countries.

Energy

Rising energy prices are adding pressure on policy makers to stop investing in renewables which they believe to be too costly.

In the UK last month, Prime Minister David Cameron told members of Parliament that green levies were responsible for putting up bills.

The report said increases in the cost of energy are a result of high oil prices, differences in gas and electricity prices between regions and rising energy import bills in many countries.

Oil prices have averaged over $110/barrel since 2011. Such a sustained period of high oil prices is without parallel.

“The key to adapting to higher energy prices over the longer term,” said van de Hoeven, “will be efficiency – what we have called the hidden fuel and, more recently, the first fuel.”

The report predicts that two-thirds of the economic potential for energy efficiency is set to remain untapped in 2035.

Notable policies introduced over the past year include measures targeting efficiency improvements in buildings in Europe and Japan, in motor vehicles in North America and in air conditioners in parts of the Middle East, and energy pricing reforms in China and India.

But WWF believes the IEA report is too optimistic about the future energy mix.

Dr Stephan Singer, director of global energy policy at WWF, said: “WWF strongly supports the IEA view that changing the energy sector – which is responsible for the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions – is the most important action to take. But we can’t have our cake and eat it and the IEA is being too positive about new energy sources like shale gas.

“As the IEA themselves recognise, we need to leave more than two thirds of all existing fossil fuels underground to have a decent chance to avoid overstepping the threshold to dangerous levels of climate change. We need vision and leadership from world leaders on this issue – starting now in Warsaw.”

The post IEA: World on track to miss 2°C warming limit appeared first on Climate Home News.

All is not well with the EU’s flagship climate policy instrument.

Last week the European Parliament (EP) rejected a proposal from the European Commission to temporarily bandage up the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

A cosmetic proposal known as “backloading” would have done nothing more than temporarily delayed the release of auctioned allowances into the market.

So what’s gone wrong? After a peak in May 2008, the price of an ETS carbon allowances has collapsed – trading today at under €3. This is well below the price necessary to convince companies to invest in low carbon technologies.

Rejection of “backloading” has given rise to much hyperbole about an existential crisis – according to George Monbiot the ETS is apparently already dead!

While the challenges are real, it is often forgotten that the cap will still have effect. Emissions from companies covered by the scheme (45% of emissions from the EU 27, Croatia, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, and Australia from 2018) will be 21% below 2005 levels by 2020 (including use of offsets).

The amendment to block reforms to the EU carbon market was backed by 334 MEPs with 315 against (Pic: EU/Flickr)

Other regions, states and countries have already, or are in the process of establishing trading schemes. Even China is experimenting with emissions trading. In one plausible future scenario, up to half of global emissions could be covered by a global ETS in 2020.

Prices are depressed because of an interplay of fundamental factors, and perhaps also because of a lack of confidence in the system.

Demand for allowances has been deflated by the economic crisis (which has reduced emissions), and the successes of other EU policies (in areas of energy efficiency and renewables). Oversupply of international credits, and unused credits carried over from the 2008–2012 period, are also factors.

According to the European Commission, the number of available allowances will exceed the number of required allowances until about 2023. Whereas an EU-wide carbon tax would continue to work away quietly against the headwinds of economic crisis, the EU ETS seems rigid and exposed.

Backloading the auctioning of allowances until 2019/2020 would have had a negligible real impact. The big problem faced by the EU ETS is that structural reforms are required to reduce covered emissions 80-95% by 2050. The ETS Directive prescribes a linear reduction of 1.74%, which amounts to only a 68% reduction.

As part of the next wave of climate policy the Commission is therefore exploring options for capping further the numbers of allowances. Perhaps the most elegantly, environmentally effective and politically challenging of these is revising the 1.74% annual reduction downwards.

Reform of the ETS is only part of the next wave of EU climate policy, which includes agreeing a target for 2030, with a view to galvanizing movement towards an international agreement by 2015.

EU tipping point?

The rejection of the superficial “backloading” proposal is therefore not in itself important. But does it have implications for the more radical reforms required in the not so distant future?

Arguments against “backloading” in the EP’s plenary debate circled on the supposedly disastrous economic consequences: the increase in the price of energy; the backdrop of the economic crisis; increasing costs for industry and consumers; and “carbon leakage” of industry.

Others seemed to argue against the principle of market intervention, which they termed “manipulation” and “tinkering” (as if the EU ETS itself is not an example par excellence of market intervention).

These arguments are not new, and have previously fallen on a less sympathetic ear in the EP. Have citizens, increasingly squeezed by the economic downturn, reached a tipping point?

For example, German citizens are very positively disposed to responding to climate change, even if it means paying more. But with direct charges alone for renewables adding about 18% to German household electric bills, how far can they be stretched?

EU industry is also feeling the pinch. EU energy policy, combined with the dramatic decline of energy prices in the US (resulting from cheap shale gas) is putting increasing pressure on some.

On the future of the backloading proposal itself, the plenary of the EP decided to send the matter back to committee. The rapporteur and ENVI committee Chair, Matthias Groote, is hopeful that a compromise can be found.

Even if he is right, this proposal was to pave the way for further structural reforms of the ETS, and test the appetite for the next wave of EU climate policy. Rejection is a shot across the bow.

Minds need to be increasingly focused on delivering a far more cost-effective policy mix. That means more Europe, more interconnection, a single energy market, and deploying renewables where they are most cost effective.

Oh, and let’s not forget about energy efficiency!

Joseph Curtin is Senior Research Associate with the Institute of International and European Affairs. He has worked for the OECD, NESC (an advisory body to the Irish Prime Minister), and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, on climate and energy policy-related issues. This article is based on a blog for the IIEA Environment Nexus project.

The post Comment: EU climate policy at a crossroads appeared first on Climate Home News.

January

The year started with a controversial decision from the EU to include aviation in its ETS (Source: chris.loxton/Flickr)

01/01: The New Year sees aviation included in the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme. The decision, which aims to charge all flights in and out of the EU for the carbon emitted for their entire journey, begins a year long battle pitching the EU against other countries and the airline industry.

08/01: Stephen Hawking celebrates his 70^th birthday with a warning that climate change will be one of the greatest threats posed to the future of human-kind and the world. Speaking to the BBC he says: “It is possible that the human race could become extinct but it is not inevitable. I think it is almost certain that a disaster, such as nuclear war or global warming will befall the earth within a thousand years.”

15/01: Philips tell RTCC their LED lighting could replace 88 billion litres of kerosene a year. “We are at a tipping point in the LED revolution,” Harry Verhaar, senior director energy & climate change tells us.

23/01: US climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe tells us her profession is feeling under threat after a series of attacks from sceptics. “The abuse, the virulence, the hatred is astonishing. And much of it is coming from people who share much of the same values as I do, and that’s what is so hurtful about it. It’s a wholestyle rejection – you can be right for 99/100, but if you differ on point 100 you deserve anything that people give you.”

February

07/02: Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, a leading voice for climate vulnerable states, resigns after a coup. He had brought the plight of climate vulnerable nations – particularly the small island states – to international attention.

16/02: The US launches a voluntary emissions reduction scheme aimed at tackling short-lived climate pollutants, including methane, soot and hydroflourocarbons (HFCs). The Climate and Clean Air Coalition targets pollutants that have a greater effect than CO2 but a shorter lifecycle.

21/02: Research from NASA provides further proof that human activity is behind climate change, showing that despite low solar activity from 2005-2010, the planet had absorbed more heat than it returned to outer space.

March

The EU agrees to set 2030 renewable targets (Source: Mattburns.co.uk)

15/03: The European Parliament votes in favour of setting a binding renewable energy target for 2030, but fails to decide what that target should be.

20/03: Australia passes a controversial tax on coal and iron ore mining companies, ending a two-year long dispute between the industry and the government.

26/03: A study published in Nature Geosciences finds temperatures could rise by as much as 3°C by 2050. The research uses almost 10,000 simulations and warns even moderate emissions could see the world cross the 2°C barrier at some point this century.

28/03: The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change releases a special report that finds extreme weather events could become more likely, more frequent and more extreme with worsening climate change.

April

23/04: Mexico becomes the second country in the world to begin legislating against climate change, when its House of Representatives passes a climate law requiring the whole country to reduce its carbon by 50% by 2050.

24/04: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls for the Rio+20 Earth Summit to create a sustainable development index that would replace GDP as the main measure of a country’s advancement.

30/04: The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approves controversial legislation on forests which would ease rules on the amount of forest farmers have to keep on their land. The move sparks a month of protests across the country and the world calling on the country’s President Dilma Rousseff to veto the law, and ends with her vetoing some parts of the Bill.

May

Report warns that companies rushing into the Arctic could impact on the ecosystems that exist there (Source: USFWS/Flickr)

03/05: A report from leading insurers Lloyd’s of London warns that rushing too fast into exploration of the Arctic could lead to ruined ecosystems.

07/05: South Korea became the latest country to establish a carbon trading platform.

25/05: Research from the Climate Action Tracker project warns that governments are extending rather than shrinking the gap between their climate change policies and what they need to do to limit warming to less than 2°C.

25/05: An intersessional meeting of the UNFCCC in Bonn leaves delegates feeling “sad” after it exposes the weaknesses of the Durban Platform deal. A central issue discussed is equity – here’s our take on those discussions.

June

11/06: A new study examining the rising ocean temperatures over the past 50 years finds that man-made emissions have been largely responsible.

19/06: The leaders of the G20 group of countries meet and agree to the full implementation of the UNFCCC COP16 and COP17 agreements.

21/06: Greenpeace launchetheir Save the Arctic campaign which aims to get a UN resolution passed demanding a global sanctuary around the North Pole and a ban on oil drilling and unsustainable fishing in the wider Arctic zone.

22/06: The Rio+20 Earth Summit concludes in Brazil with little to show for the year of preparation and fortnight of discussions. While there are some successes of the conference, including a greater focus on oceans, and an agreement to move forward with the Sustainable Development Goals, civil society show their frustration over the weak text with a mass walkout.

July

Coral reefs face total collapse because of climate change, according to research in Science (Source: USFWS Pacific/Flickr)

06/07: New research in Science shows that climate change once caused the total collapse of reef systems in the Eastern Pacific lasting 2500 years, and could be on the verge of doing so again.

10/07: Researchers from the UK’s Met Office and USA’s National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration find that climate change is increasing the chance of extreme weather events.

24/07: Data from NASA shows that an extreme melt event in Greenland in mid-July caused 97% of the ice sheet’s surface to disappear. Such events occur around every 150 years according to NASA.

31/07: Research from Berkley Earth finds that the average global temperature of the Earth’s land has warmed 1.5°C over the past 250 years and that the warming was due to humans.

The temperature of the Earth’s land surface, as determined from over 36,000 temperature stations around the globe. (Berkley Earth)

August

03/08: US Special Envoy for Climate Change, Todd Stern suggests that the 2°C target should be dropped from future climate change negotiations.

17/08: The US drought monitor reports that 30% of the country is in extreme to exceptional drought, amidst fears over agriculture production and rising food prices.

22-23/08: The Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Maria van der Hoeven says that limiting global temperature rises to 2°C is still possible despite the world’s current trajectory. But the UK government’s scientific advisor and former IPCC chief Bob Watson disagrees, saying the target is “out of the window.”

28/08: Australia announces it will join the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Having already established plans for its own domestic system, the Australian government says this will be fully integrated into the EU scheme by 2018.

28/08: Data from the European Space Agency warns that the Arctic could be ice free in summer by the end of the decade.

September

12/09: The UN climate talks in Bangkok end with a “draft” document on the 2^nd commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

The IEA’s chief economist warns world is heading to ‘doomsday’ scenario (Source: *~Dawn~*)

12/09: Fatih Birol, the Chief Economist for the International Energy Agency warns of a doomsday scenario for climate change unless investment in low carbon technology is not ramped up in the next five years. He says the world is on a pathway to 6°C in temperature rise.

19/09: Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and NASA shows that the summer sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk to its lowest seasonal minimum since satellite records begun.

20/09: The EU and China announce details of a deal that will see the two countries work together on a series of environmental and climate projects including the design of a Chinese carbon market.

October

01/10: The 2012 edition of DARA’s Climate Vulnerability Monitor finds that the carbon economy and the impacts of climate change could be responsible for five million deaths a year. This figure combines 700,000 deaths as a result of climate change impacts and over four million from the health impacts of the world’s carbon intensive economy.

24/10: Songdo, Incheon City in the Republic of Korea is selected to host the Green Climate Fund.

31/10: Hurricane Sandy hits the US’s East Coast, devastating communities in New Jersey and New York. Just a week before the US elections the storm helps to put climate change back on the election agenda as Mayor Bloomberg of New York gives his support to President Obama in its wake.

November

President Obama re-affirmed his commitment to climate change as he was re-elected (Source: White House)

08/11: President Obama is re-elected in the US and uses his election speech to re-affirm his commitment to climate change.

10/11: The Arab Youth Climate Movement launches ahead of the UN climate talks in Qatar – and is widely hailed as offering ‘new hope’ in the fight against climate change in the Middle East.

12/11: Australia announces it will sign up for a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, but New Zealand becomes the latest country to walk away from the scheme.

13/11: The EU announces a freeze on airlines’ inclusion in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme while the International Civil Aviation Organisation works on a new agreement on aviation emissions.

14/11: The Californian carbon market holds its first auction.

20/11: The World Meteorological Organisation’s latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin finds the volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2011.

20/11: A report from the World Bank warns the world is on a pathway to a 4°C temperature rise by 2100 unless urgent action is taken on climate change.

22/11: The United Nations Environment Programme warns that the emissions gap (the gap between current pledges and the action needed to stay below 2°C) is widening and says efforts to reduce carbon emissions must be accelerated.

28/11: Poland is announced as the hosts for the COP19 climate conference next December.

December

Figueres show carbon emissions expected to reach a record high in 2012 (Source: foto43/Flickr)

03/12: Figures from the Global Carbon Project reveal that global carbon dioxide emissions are set to reach a record high in 2012.

04/12: Typhoon Bopha hits the Philippines and offers a timely reminder to the delegates at the UN climate conference in Doha about the potential impacts of climate change. The head of the Philippines delegation tells the conference that the world is at a “critical juncture” on climate change.

10/12: The COP18 climate summit ends with the Doha Gateway, including a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. The final hours of the talk leave many confused, as the COP18 President passes all texts in minutes.

Russia expresses anger at being ignored in the final moments, while NGOs criticise a ‘weak deal’.

VIDEO: COP18 President Al Attiyah gavels through the ‘Doha Climate Gateway’

15/12: A fierce Cyclone smashes through the Pacific state of Samoa, and then sets course for Fiji. The storm leaves at least four people dead, with eight missing, and an estimated 200 injured.

18/12: Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows November 2012 to be the 333^rd consecutive month where global temperatures were above the 20^th century average.

Source: NOAA – Click to enlarge

The post RTCC’s 2012 review – a year in climate change appeared first on Climate Home News.

Japan could replace 25 of its nuclear power stations with geothermal energy, according to Stefan Larus Stefansson, Iceland’s ambassador to Japan.

“The potential for geothermal energy is only limited by people’s imaginations,” he said.

Speaking at a lecture at the United Nations University Headquarters in Tokyo, Stefansson called on Japan to harness its untapped geothermal potential by using Iceland’s success in this area as a model.

Despite having the third largest potential for geothermal energy in the world, after Indonesia and the US, Japan is currently only eighth in terms of global output.

Iceland’s ambassador for Japan has called on the country to learn from their example and harness geothermal energy

The last geothermal plant to be built in Japan was in 1999 and government research funding for geothermal projects ended in 2003.

In contrast, geothermal energy provides 66% of Iceland’s primary energy, with many of the turbines for such plants being made in Japan.

Pressures have grown in Japan to tap into their thermal energy potential as it struggles to find alternatives to nuclear in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in March 2010.

Nuclear power had previously supplied 30% of the country’s energy but as a result of Fukushima the government decided to shut down the country’s 54 nuclear reactors.

Since then only two have resumed operation and the Japanese government announced it would abandon nuclear power by 2040.

The Japanese government recently announced plans to triple renewable energy output by 2030, and there have also been concerns that the country’s carbon dioxide emissions could raise as they once again rely heavily on fossil fuel energy sources.

The post Geothermal potential could fill Japan’s nuclear gap appeared first on Climate Home News.

Climate change was not on the agenda at the first US Presidential Debate, but ‘clean coal’ was.

“By the way,” Republican Candidate Mitt Romney told President Barack Obama, and the millions watching at home: “I like coal. I’m going to make sure we can continue to burn clean coal. People in the coal industry feel like it’s getting crushed by your policies.”

Romney was referring to what many in the industry are calling the “war on coal”. They claim the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is blocking mining operations by imposing ever more stringent regulations.

The argument goes back to 2009, when the EPA’s Clean Air Act determined that greenhouse gases were a pollutant. But this is an aside, because the real question here is does clean coal really exist?

Coal is currently responsible for 40% of global energy supply, but is clean coal really the answer?

A brief history of coal

Since the beginning of the 21^st century coal has been the world’s dominant source of energy, and it continues to play a strong role worldwide. It currently provides 40% of the world’s energy needs. It is the second source of primary energy globally after oil and the major fuel for electricity generation.

Even with a 19% drop in generation, coal still accounted for 36% of electricity in the US in the first quarter of 2012, according to the US Energy Information Administration. It is still responsible for 80% of energy production in China, and around 30% in the EU.

But let’s not kid ourselves, coal is dirty. Smoke from power stations and house fires used to choke cities around the world (and still does in the developing world). In 1952, over 4000 people died in what became known as London’s ‘Killer Fog’, a smog so thick that the ships on the river Thames came to a standstill, planes stopped flying and guides carrying lights walked ahead of buses

It is the dirtiest fossil fuel used in power generation. As well as emitting carbon dioxide, it emits sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which contribute to acid rain, pollute water and cause other health complaints in humans.

The good news is that the International Energy Agency (IEA) says demand for coal will decline over the next five years. But the IEA have got it wrong before, and if coal use does increase, this places pressure on governments and countries to limit its harmful impacts.

What is clean coal?

The term ‘clean coal’ is fundamentally misleading. It’s like saying you’ve invented clean mud. What we are talking about are the technologies that limit coal’s environmental impact.

Acid rain and other damage caused by coal accelerated the development of inventions designed to extract the really harmful elements of coal. Five in particular stand out:

– Coal Washing removes unwanted minerals by grinding the chunks into smaller piece and mixing it with a liquid which causes the coal to float, and unwanted minerals to sink – removing them from the fuel mix.

– Wet Scrubbers (flue gas desulfurization systems) remove sulphur dioxide by spraying the gases emitted with crushed limestone and water. Low NOx (nitrogen oxide burners) reduce the creation of nitrogen oxides by restricting oxygen.

– Electrostatic precipitators remove emission particulates which aggravate asthma and other breathing problems. They use an electric field to charge and capture the particulates.

– Gasification avoids burning coal altogether. In Integrated Gasification Combine Cycle systems, coal reacts with oxygen and steam to form a “syngas” (mainly hydrogen). After cleaning it is then burns in a gas turbine to generate electricity. This remains unproven on a commercial scale.

The US based Union of Concerned Scientists say switching to low-sulphur coal reduced SO2 emissions in the US by 22% between 1975 and 1990. They say by using scrubbers, sulphur emissions could potentially be reduced by 90%. Technologies aimed at removing the nitrogen oxide emissions from coal are estimated to have reduced its content by between 30 and 90%.

– Carbon, Capture and Storage is the holy grail of attempts to curb carbon dixoide emissions from burning coal. This involves capturing the carbon dioxide and storing it in underground deposits, therefore preventing the greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere.

The technology can capture the carbon emissions directly from the source, but as yet this has not been developed on a large scale. UK Coal spokesman Andrew Mackinstosh told me it was vital for the future of the industry that CCS is developed – but admitted the technology simply isn’t ready.

“Coal from the UK will help secure our energy supply but we do need CCS so that we can see coal generation continuing in the long term,” he said.

The International Energy Agency believes CCS could provide 20% of the carbon cuts needed by 2050. It also estimates that 70% of energy used between now and then will come from fossil fuels, so finding a way to limit the carbon released into the atmosphere will be vital.

But the costs of CCS have held back development. A special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that CCS would add between 50-100% to coal energy costs. Estimates put technology costs in the region of $50-100 per tonne of CO2 stored.

In 2011 the Global Institute for CCS, a lobby group that backs the technology, recorded 74 large-scale integrated CCS projects around the world, 14 of which were either in operation or construction.

Was Romney wrong?

It’s possible he didn’t know better. He may have confused it with kryptonite. The phrase ‘clean coal’ has been so misused there may be some people heading to a bath right now, clutching a lump of lignite.

The results will open their eyes – unless you’re a love of grime. We have not even mentioned the emissions and pollution caused by mining, or the devastation mountaintop removal mining can cause.

Technological advances have helped limit the impacts of burning coal – but the environmental costs still appear high.

C02 emissions are the major concern. According to the IEA, fossil fuel combustion reached a record high in 2011 – at 31.6 gigatonnes. 45% of this was still from coal. CCS is still in its formative stages, many years away from large scale implementation.

Where Romney is also wrong is on the ‘war on coal’. Not that the industry is under pressure in the US – it is. But its real enemy is shale gas.  At least 50 gigawatts of the coal power station capacity expected to be lost will be down to the abundance of cheap natural gas in the US.

If Romney is really set on protecting coal, he should declare war on fracking. There’s no time to lose.

The post Clean coal, kryptonite and Mitt Romney appeared first on Climate Home News.

Multidisciplinary Landscape Assessment survey in Khe Tran village, Hue Province – Vietnam (Source: Douglas Sheil/CIFOR)

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), an incentive-based scheme that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by protecting tropical forests, was initially proposed as a ‘Payments for Environmental Services’ system that would make payments from the international level to forest users.

But as REDD+ has moved from an idea into the real world, the challenges have mounted.

“REDD+ as an idea is a success story,” says Arild Angelsen, an environmental economist with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and a professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

Angelsen is the lead author of Analysing REDD+:Challenges and Choices, compiling three years of research on REDD+ conducted by CIFOR scientists.

“It was something genuinely new, and the new key element was that it was based on payments for performance or results. And it was also accompanied by big money.

“We compare it to sustainable development – a nice catchphrase and promising to do a lot. Both ideas have been inspirational for policy-makers and practitioners, but the results so far are not what many hoped for.”

The initial idea was simple: REDD+ would financially reward developing nations for protecting, restoring and sustainably managing forests.

With healthy forests absorbing up to a third of all greenhouse gases (GHGs), and deforestation causing about a fifth of all emissions, proponents saw REDD+ as one of the quickest ways to slow the pace of climate change.

The challenges that have mounted in implementing REDD+ are both practical and political – from how to measure and monitor the carbon emissions that have been avoided by leaving a forest standing, to deciding who should get the money generated by REDD+, to achieving coordination between local, regional, national and international levels of governance.

Measuring and monitoring carbon emissions

A recent CIFOR study, published in Environmental Science and Policy, found that 89 out of 99 tropical countries had “very large to medium” gaps between what is required for REDD+ monitoring and the countries’ current capacities.

This means these countries have been providing incomplete and inaccurate estimates of forest loss and GHG emissions.

Responsibility for building robust systems for measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of GHG emissions is expected to lie with the developing countries themselves – however, most do not have the capacity for this highly technical task, the study found.

“REDD+ is assumed to be a performance-based mechanism and its supporters need to be realistic about what developing countries can do in terms of MRV, at least at this point in time,” said Verchot, who co-authored the study. “The international community needs to commit the human and financial resources to address the gaps in MRV capacity if they want REDD+ to work.”

Where should the money come and go?

However, creating a REDD+ design that benefits every actor and which allows for easy implementation has proven difficult, says Angelsen.

“If you have a system of payments, you could in theory make everybody winners – but in practice, there are two challenges: firstly, we don’t have enough financing to change the fundamental equation and thereby make everyone winners, and secondly it’s very difficult to design a system that will make sure everyone wins.”

A USAID report on Asia’s forests estimates around $130 million is needed per year to effectively manageIndonesia’s protected forests, which are the largest forest areas inAsia. This represents a $30 million-$100 million gap in available resources.

And while pledges for REDD+ have been large – pledges are expected to approach $30 billion during 2010-2012 – funding has been slow to develop for several reasons, says Anglesen.

First, funding has come mainly from international aid budgets rather than a carbon market, which has many implications.

“It means the scheme will need to satisfy more objectives, such as economic development and poverty alleviation. These are, of course, very nice objectives, but it is part of this dilution of the original REDD+ objective, which is to reduce carbon emissions,” he says.

Second, the development of a global carbon market that would pay for all the carbon sequestered in REDD+ projects has been slow to materialise. Three years on from the UN Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, where it was expected that an internationally binding post-Kyoto Protocol climate agreement would prompt major sources of funding through carbon markets, expectations still have not been met, an agreement has not been reached, and the outlook is quite different.

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This might have something to do with the commodity price boom since the mid-2000s which led to increased competition for forestland, making REDD+ more expensive. And the global financial crisis in 2008, which distracted attention away from climate change and put pressure on national budgets, probably didn’t help REDD+ funding progress either.

The need to increase coordination

A key premise of REDD+ was a strong national focus, whereby country governments would be the leading actors in forest conservation. But, so far, most REDD+ funding has been awarded to local and subnational project-based initiatives.

“Many of them can be successful projects, but if they become conservation islands in the midst of a jungle of deforestation – that will not make much of a difference,” says Angelsen.

He believes that broad reforms on the national level – including establishing protected areas, the reform of forest concession policies, integrating environmental concerns into road and infrastructure planning, and removing perverse incentives – are important for REDD+, but have been difficult to achieve due to strong opposition from powerful actors who stand to lose.

Some REDD+ countries have begun forging connections between local, national and global actors to counteract the lack of coordination.

Under a bilateral agreement with the Government of Norway, the Indonesian government has identified eight forested provinces – Aceh, Jambi, Riau, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Papua andWest Papua–   to receive financial and political assistance for implementing REDD+ projects.

The agreement stipulates that the Indonesian government has to draft a national strategy as well as a provincial strategy for the selected provinces.

“One of the major cross-scale links [for REDD+ projects] is between the province and Jakarta,” says Caleb Gallemore, a researcher working with CIFOR in Central Kalimantan.

Central Kalimantan’s government works closely in implementing REDD+ arrangements with the national government via the President’s Unit for Development Control and Monitoring (UKP4), he says.

“This relationship is absolutely crucial, because UKP4 in some ways sees Central Kalimantan as blazing the trail on REDD+, while actors inCentral Kalimantanare careful not to overstep their bounds.”

And while there are still few direct connections between the forest villages and the provincial organisations involved in policy discussions, some steps are being taken to build these links. For example, an sms initiative, www.borneoclimate.info, takes advantage of the Indonesian penchant for text messaging, allowing people to send in reports related to REDD+ via mobile phone.

“The idea is to give people who don’t have computer-based internet access to a platform to make comments about REDD+ issues and, in theory, to monitor abuses,” says Gallemore.

“It’s an interesting effort to use technology to help bridge the village and other scales and help local people become more active agents in the discussion about REDD+.”

Essentially, the complexity of REDD+ requires a multi-level governance system – a concept still in its early stages in environmental policy arenas.

Despite the birthing hiccups, analysts say the scheme has generated interest and excitement about the possibility for getting measures on climate change mitigation moving quickly and cheaply.

Also, the scheme has been developed in such a way that a wide range of actors can find it in their interest to participate.

REDD+ has been through an intensive process of conceptualisation, design and piloting.

Even if it is still far from realising its fundamental goal of large-scale emissions reductions, no idea for saving the world’s tropical forests has generated anywhere near the same excitement and commitment of funds as had REDD+, says Verchot.

Fawziah Selamat is a writer for the Forests News blog at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

CIFOR is a nonprofit, global facility dedicated to advancing human wellbeing, environmental conservation and equity. Their research and expert analysis helps policy makers and practitioners shape effective policy, improve the management of tropical forests and address the needs and perspectives of people who depend on forests for their livelihoods.

Other Forest Week Articles:

The role of forests in combating climate change

Five facts you may have forgotten about forests

The post Challenges mount for REDD+ as scheme prepares for implementation appeared first on Climate Home News.

Oceans, forests and other ecosystems continue to soak up 50% of the carbon emitted by human activities, despite those emissions increasing, according to new research. 

The new study, published in Nature, analysed 50 years of global carbon dioxide.

“Earth is taking up twice as much CO2 today as it was 50 years ago,” said Ashley Ballantyne, lead author of the report from Colorado University.

Scientists try to better understand how the earth's forests, oceans and ecosystems absorb carbon emitted by human activities

The researchers found that the processes by which the planet’s ecosystems and oceans absorb greenhouse gases are not yet at capacity, despite recent studies predicting the earth’s ‘natural sinks’ were no longer keeping pace with the rate of emissions.

“Globally these carbon sinks have roughly kept pace with emissions from human activities, continuing to draw about half of the emitted CO2 back out of the atmosphere,” said Pieter Tans, co-author of the study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“However we do not expect this to continue indefinitely,” he added.

Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere mainly by fossil fuel combustion but also forest fires and some other natural processes.

Some of this is then pulled back out of atmosphere into the tissues of growing plants or absorbed in ocean waters.

If these ecosystems were unable to keep up with the amount of carbon being released by human activity and more were to remain in the atmosphere the faster-than-expected rise could see climate change accelerate.

The researchers say this new study highlights how much there is still to know about how the process of carbon absorption takes place.

A recent study, for example, predicted that as much as 40% of emissions absorbed into the oceans could happen in the Southern Ocean. Similar disparities could potentially be found amongst different tree species growing in different regions of the world.

“Since we do not know why or where this process is happening, we cannot count on it,” Tans said. “We need to identify what’s going on here, so that we can improve our projections of future CO2 levels and how climate change will progress in the future.”

In the oceans, for example, Tans says scientists predict that rising acidity levels – a negative impact of their role absorbing carbon – will make it increasingly difficult for them to absorb more CO2.

“The uptake of carbon dioxide by the oceans and by ecosystems is expected to slow down gradually,” he says. “We just don’t see a let-up, globally, yet.”

The post Oceans, forests and ecosystems continue to soak up rising man-made carbon emissions, for now, say scientists appeared first on Climate Home News.

– The day’s top climate change stories as chosen by RTCC
– Tweet @RTCCnewswire and use #RTCCLive hashtag
– Send your thoughts to ts@rtcc.org
– Updated from 0900-1700 BST (GMT+1) 

Latest news – Thursday 26 July

1735 Olympic Torch passes the RTCC offices on Regent Street in the centre of London. Cue pandamonium as hundreds people sprint from their offices to catch a glimpse of the Olympic flame

Here’s the lucky torchbearer – a man called Mario – waiting to have his moment of glory. We won’t even mention all the emissions from that torch, the six buses and legion of police outriders that this procession must have emitted!

1700 Coal production increased by 6.6% globally in 2011, reported the IEA. That is the twelfth consecutive year of growth.

1600 A study reveals less than a fifth of US companies have strategies to address climate change

Peru is set to get its first validated project under the REDD carbon offset project. The project will use revenue generated from the sale of carbon credits to prevent illegal deforestation on over 290,000 hectares of Peruvian rainforest.

1500 The USA has opened its first commercial, grid-connected tidal energy project off the coast of the north-eastern state of Maine.

1400 An art installation running all this week at London’s Russell square – ahead of the London 2012 Olympics – aims to highlight the importance of urban forests, both for a city’s environment and its residents social well-being.

1300 The UK Department for Energy and Climate have released their energy stats. Onshore wind and solar PV are both on the up and there has been little change on the country’s coal use.

1230 US Congressman Randy Forbes has said Barack Obama has let the Chinese “get their body in the door” of the North American energy market by blocking the KeystoneXL pipeline. The project will connect Canadian tar sands oil to refineries in Texas, but Forbes says delays have left Canada looking to the east for customers.

1030 Climate change is viewed as an increasingly real and serious risk by global business, according to a new report. The ‘Global Investor Survey on Climate Change’, conducted by the consultancy firm Mercer, interviewed 42 asset owners and 51 asset managers who were involved with funds with a combined value of over $12 Trillion. Over half of the owners interviewed had embarked on climate change risk assessmens, while a quarter had changed their investment strategy based on those findings.

1000 The carbon footprint of the entire London Olympic Games could be wiped out if steelmaker ArcelorMittal – an official supporter of the event – cancelled just 3% of its excess carbon emission permits, according to green groups.

Ask @ArcelorMittal to make #London2012 carbon neutral by cancelling <3% of spare 123M carbon credits,received for free! bit.ly/MI85lu

— sandbag.org.uk (@sandbagorguk) July 26, 2012

0900 At least 70% of the decline in sea ice around the Arctic could be due to human-induced climate change, according to a new study.

The research used several computer based simulations on how the climate around the Arctic may have fluctuated without the input of greenhouse gas emissions, found the human impact could even be as high as 95%.

A dramatic gash that has been compared in size to the Grand Canyon has been discovered hidden beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet. Named the Ferrigno Rift – after the glacier that fills it – its existence could ‘profoundly affect ice loss’ warn the researchers who found it.

Strong expansion of nuclear power as a carbon-free energy is expected to continue in Asia despite the Fukushima accident in Japan, according to a report from the UN nuclear body and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Shell’s plans to drill exploratory wells in remote Arctic water off Alaska are being further hampered by its failure to secure the regulatory approvals needed.

The company, which had hoped to use this year’s brief, ice-free season to drill the wells, had already faced three-week delays to their work because of lingering sea ice.

Top Tweets

Reaction from new that Centrica – owners of British Gas – saw a 15% rise in profits in the first half of the year…

Less than day after Osborne hands half a billion quid of our money to Centrica and gas lobby, Centrica announce they’re making record profit

— Joss Garman (@jossgarman) July 26, 2012

More on yesterday’s story on the “extreme melt” in Greenland…

Piece by me on the Greenland melt. Scientist says last time CO2 reached this level, there was no ice sheet. bit.ly/OYJPtu #climate

— Ben Cubby (@bencubby) July 25, 2012

This is what climate change looks like. #SaveTheArcticj.mp/ARCT1Ctwitter.com/ecotist/status…

— Lisa Vickers (@ecotist) July 26, 2012

Photo of the day

Loss of Arctic sea ice ‘70% man-made’ bit.ly/QHl23l Just Because You Cant See It… twitter.com/_CatInAHat/sta…

— JLW (@_CatInAHat) July 26, 2012

The post Climate Live: Research finds 70% of Arctic ice loss is due to man-made climate change and OECD report says nuclear expansion to continue in Asia appeared first on Climate Home News.

UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey says he is planning to embark on a new diplomatic push to encourage Poland to adopt the EU’s proposed 30% carbon emissions target.

Davey said the move would make economic sense for the EU, and would also ensure Europe maintained its position of ‘leadership’ ahead of the UN climate talks in Qatar later this year.

“We believe our analysis shows that it is in Poland’s national interests – we want to work with the Poles and assist them and get Europe back on a more ambitious trajectory,” the Cabinet minister said in a speech at Chatham House, London.

Poland is resisting calls for a new EU ETS carbon price and 30% emission targets

Poland, which relies on coal for over 90% of its electricity production, has been resisting EU plans for deeper emission cuts throughout the year – with Environment Minister Marcin Korolec quoted as saying it was ‘gambling’ with their economic future.

Davey says he will use a meeting with Korolec in London this week to try and address Polish concerns – before the pair meet again at the EU environment ministers summit in Berlin at the weekend.

There the focus will be on the huge surplus of European Emission Trading scheme credits – which have seen the price for carbon plummet to around 8 euros per tonne of CO2 – and new emissions targets.

Poland is currently isolated on this issue within the EU, but it’s a stance that plays well with voters at home – concerned about rising energy prices and a sagging economy – and Davey insisted that the EU will not drag Poland into the consensus over emissions targets kicking and screaming.

“My German counterpart and I are working particularly hard to find a way to help bring Poland into that coalition,” he said.

“Their support mustn’t be at any price, but looking a little further ahead, it’s better if Europe moves together.

“In the next few years we need to start discussing 2030 emissions targets, and longer term reform of the ETS. If Poland remain where they are it will be a struggle.”

Road to Doha

The EU played a major role in securing the Durban Platform agreement at the last round of UN climate talks – with Davey’s predecessor Chris Huhne at the heart of negotiations.

With Doha looming, EU ministers are aware they need some new gifts to bring to the table – or risk losing their hard fought influence and leverage that saw them face down India and China in a stormy final session at COP17.

Ironically, given Poland’s EU Presidency in the second half of 2011, Korolec was one of the architects of Europe’s ‘diplomatic triumph‘ in Durban.

Praise was heaped on him and lead climate negotiator Connie Hedegaard for the coalition building skills that saw the EU form a formidable alliance with the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

Those links may have faded, but Davey is keen to build momentum again ahead of COP18.

“Moving to 30% will be an act of climate statesmanship, one that speaks to Europe’s reason for being: collective action for the betterment of our citizens,” Davey said.

“And – by ensuring we enter the negotiating room from a position of strength, commitment and leadership – it can help secure a better future for all the world’s citizens, too.”

Go green or lose competitiveness

The Climate Change and Energy Secretary also echoed comments from the leading voice of British industry – the CBI – who last week said choosing between green or growth is a mistake, revealing that the green business sector was worth 8% of GDP.

“The UK’s green economy grew by £5.4 billion last year – that’s 4.7% growth, even as the rest of the economy was struggling. It created more than 25,000 jobs last year, and now employs nearly one million people,” he said.

“Globally, the clean energy market is increasingly competitive and fizzing with opportunities. Not just for our companies, who are competing in a £3.3 trillion global market, growing at 3.7% per year, but for our economies, too.

“The UK is 6th in the world in the low-carbon sector, with an industry worth £122 billion. I want us to secure a greater share of this vibrant and growing sector. Not because I’m a hair-shirted hippy, or bound by ideology; but because I believe in following the evidence.”

RELATED VIDEO:  Polish climate chief Tomas Chruszczow explains why accepting new emissions targets is not an easy decision for his country.

The post Ed Davey: Vital EU gets Poland to accept new emissions target with Doha climate talks looming appeared first on Climate Home News.

Clearing land for farming was a major cause of pre-industrial revolution emissions, say researchers (Source: Kevin Dooley/Creative Commons)

Carbon dioxide emitted today could have impacts on the climate for centuries to come, according to a new report.

Published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the study models the impact of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere before the industrial revolution.

It found that relatively small amounts of carbon dioxide emitted centuries ago still have a small impact on the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere and the climate today.

Julia Pongratz from the Carnegie Institution for Science, and co-author of the report, warns this would mean the large amounts of emissions released today could have a large impact for the same period of time.

“Looking into the past illustrates that the relatively large amount of carbon dioxide that we are emitting today will continue to have relatively large impacts on the atmosphere and climate for many centuries to come,” she said.

Having modelled pre-industrial emissions from around the world, the researchers calculated the effect of the five-fold population growth – between 850 and 1850 AD – which led to the globe’s first billion in population.

This growth was dominated by South and East Asia – with China and India alone accounting for half of the growth.

The model suggests that between 20-40% of China and India’s entire history of CO2 emissions could come from these pre-industrial emissions.

The study says land use changes – turning land over to farming – was a main cause of the emissions pre-1850, and still have an effect on temperatures today.

These changes in land had the double effects of releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through burning as the land was cleared, and the slow release as roots and wood decayed over centuries.

The researchers acknowledged the impact this could have a countries continue working to distribute the burden-sharing of emissions reductions but say they never intended the study to be part of a blame-game – particularly considering the large climate impact made by modern industrialised nations on a daily basis.

Related stories:

RTCC Guide: What is climate change and why does it matter?

Climate science: Is it being communicated effectively?

Rio+20 focus: What does failed summit mean for climate change?

VIDEO: World Meteorological Organisation chief Michael Jarraud explains how accurate climate science is.

Rio+20: Michel Jarraud, Head of the WMO from Responding to Climate Change on Vimeo.

The post CO2 emissions will impact climate for centuries to come, Carnegie Institution for Science report predicts appeared first on Climate Home News.

The aim is to demonstrate how Sustainable Development is becoming a reality on every continent, country and city.

In this article Deutsche Post DHL explains how it was able to cut 10% from its carbon footprint since 2008 and weave sustainable practices into its everyday operations.

With a company history stretching back to 1490, Deutsche Post DHL has successfully overcome many economic and political challenges over the past 500 years.

At the start of the new millennium, the Group acknowledged that the planet, its inhabitants and businesses face an altogether different challenge: climate change.

As the world’s leading mail and logistics company, we depend on fuel and energy to transport our customers’ letters and parcels, and to deliver a wide range of logistics services in over 220 countries and territories.

In 2007, the year in which we generated over 30 million tonnes of CO2, we developed plans to tackle our contribution to the causes of climate change.

In 2007, DHL generated 30 million tonnes of CO2 (© Deutsche Post DHL)

The GoGreen program, launched in 2008, sets the targets for our journey towards sustainable logistics.

The GoGreen targets

Deutsche Post DHL was the first global logistics company to set itself a quantifiable climate change target.

This target sits at the heart of our GoGreen program. Our goal is to improve our CO2 efficiency, including that of our transportation subcontractors, by 30% by the year 2020, compared to 2007 levels.

This means that by 2020 we aim to generate 30% less CO2 for every letter and parcel sent, every container shipped and every square metre of warehouse space used.

A 2012 interim target to increase CO2 efficiency for Deutsche Post DHL’s own operations by 10%, compared to 2007 levels, has already been reached.

Achievements so far

GoGreen is changing the way we do business. Here are some examples of what we have already done:

The company has worked on upgrading both their road vehicles and their aircraft (© Deutsche Post DHL)

Road and air fleet: We have spent hundreds of millions of Euros since 2008 to upgrade our fleet of road vehicles and aircraft. We operate over 4,000 environmentally-friendly vehicles worldwide including an all “green” fleet of 80 electric vans and 50 hybrid trucks in Manhattan, New York. Our fleet of owned and dedicated aircraft includes the Boeing 767 and 777 Freighters.

Products: Recognizing that logistics and transportation are often a large part of a customer’s environmental footprint, we were the first global logistics company to offer a carbon-neutral shipping service. We also offer customers the option of sea or rail freight.

Subcontractors: Third party providers of road and air transportation services are a special focus as subcontractors currently account for 80% of our total CO2 emissions. We are working closely with airlines and our road transport subcontractors to improve efficiency.

Employees: We have many programs in place to raise environmental awareness, increase knowledge of the GoGreen program and levers, and to encourage our employees to put that knowledge into action on the job and at home. One example is the “Save Fuel” campaign, started in Germany in 2008, through which van and truck drivers adopt fuel-efficient driving practices: Around 4.8 million litres of diesel had been saved by the end of 2010.

Making GoGreen work

Here are some of the reasons why the GoGreen program has been successful:

Strong link to the business: As our CO2 emissions result from fuel and energy use, improving efficiency directly benefits the bottom line. The fact that customers are increasingly looking to logistics providers to help them improve their environmental footprint guarantees management’s attention.

GoGreen criteria recognized as important: GoGreen and CO2 efficiency criteria are regularly reviewed, along with other business criteria, by managers and employees.

Top management commitment: The GoGreen Sponsors Board, the committee that oversees the global GoGreen program, is made up of senior executives and is chaired by the Group’s CEO.

Employees are encouraged to attend environmental awareness programmes (© Deutsche Post DHL)

Employees’ contributions recognized: Employees are, quite literally, the driving force behind our efforts to bring about change. We have invested in increasing our employees’ environmental knowledge, asking for their ideas, and we rely on their efforts to help make our company more sustainable.

Data transparency: The Group’s Carbon Accounting and Controlling program is fully integrated into our Finance organization. CO2 data are collected via the Group’s financial reporting systems, and afforded the same level of importance as financial data.

Integration into corporate strategy, policies and guidelines: Environmental protection and the goals of the GoGreen program are anchored in the Group’s Strategy 2015, as well as in the Corporate Investment Policy and the Supplier Code of Conduct.

This article is part of a series commissioned by the Rio Conventions for their RioPlus Business project.

The post Rio+20 Business Focus: DHL eyes up carbon savings through sustainable logistics appeared first on Climate Home News.

Warming oceans will become less efficient at absorbing CO2 (Source: ani carrington/flickr)

The world’s oceans will absorb lower amounts of carbon dioxide as they warm, an expert has told RTCC.

Currently the oceans absorb between 35-42% of all CO2 emitted into the atmosphere.

They also absorb around 90% of the excess heat energy caused from rising greenhouse gases, which cause surface temperatures to rise.

But Professor Nathan Bindoff, project leader of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC) oceans programme Australia has told RTCC that as temperatures of oceans rise, they will become less able to absorb the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities.

“The oceans are providing a service to mankind by actually actively storing the carbon dioxide in the ocean itself,” Professor Bindoff said.

“Now one of the concerns is that as we warm the planet the surface waters will tend to warm preferentially and will tend to become light compared to the water’s depth”

“The consequence of this is that it makes it harder for the oceans to take up carbon dioxide as efficiently as it has done in the past. What this means is the capacity of the ocean to take up the carbon dioxide will reduce into the future.”

While Bindoff says he cannot see a point when the oceans would stop absorbing CO2 entirely, the growing inability of the oceans to absorb as much carbon as they currently do will have adverse effects.

Those gases will remain in the atmosphere, further warming the planet.

“If you look into models of the earth’s system – oceans and atmosphere together – they all project that the efficiency of the carbon uptake by the oceans will decline as we go into the future,” he said. “So the fraction, which sits at roughly a third of atmospheric emissions, will go down.”

“That’s a concern because it means as we continue to emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere those emissions will tend to be held more strongly in the atmosphere or in other sinks of carbon but the oceans will play a lesser role.”

RTCC Q&A: Full interview with Professor Nathan Bindoff

Contact the author at ts@rtcc.org or @rtcc_tierney.

The post Warming oceans face CO2 tipping point appeared first on Climate Home News.

UNEP report says the two degree target is still in reach (Source: UN Photo/David Ohana/OCHA)

By RTCC staff

The target of limiting warming to two degrees by 2020 is still achievable if governments accelerate their climate action, according to a report released by UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today.

The study says that the roll-out of renewables and heightened energy efficiency programmes are required to ensure the gap between current emissions and these required to limit warming to two degrees can be achieved.

The Bridging the Emissions Gap report also warns of the consequences if further action is not taken. Under its business as usual scenario, annual emissions would be 12 Gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e). The most optimistic estimate now puts the emissions gap at six GtCO2e.

According to a report in the Guardian Achim Steiner, the head of UNEP, criticised countries planning to defer a binding global deal until 2020.

It quoted him as saying: “Those countries that are currently talking about deferring an agreement [to come into force] in 2020 are essentially saying we are taking you from high risk to very high risk in terms of the effects of global warming.

“This is a choice – a political choice. Our role, working with the scientific community, is to bring to the attention of the global public that this is the risk that policymakers and governments will expose us to.”

His views were echoed by UNFCCC exective secretary Christiana Figueres, who said the report should focus the mind of delegates heading to Durban.

“This study, again, reminds us that efforts to address climate change are currently still insufficient,” she said.

“But it also shows that it is possible for governments to bridge the gap between what they have promised and what needs to be done to stay below a two-degrees Celsius average global temperature rise.”

A recent IEA report claimed that the two degree target would be unachievable by 2017 without drastic action.

As the UNFCCC climate change talks in Durban approach it is the funding gap rather than the emissions gap that is likely to dominate with the proposed $100 billion Green Climate Fund up for debate.

“In Durban, governments need to resolve the immediate future of the Kyoto Protocol, define the longer path towards a global, binding climate agreement, launch the agreed institutional network to support developing countries in their response to the climate challenge, and set out a path to deliver the long-term funding that will pay for that,” added Figueres.

The post UPDATED: UNEP report says 2 degrees warming limit possible appeared first on Climate Home News.

A nuclear power plant under construction in India (Source: Petr Pavlicek/IAEA)

By RTCC Staff

A diminished nuclear future would lead to less energy security, higher import costs and increased carbon dioxide emissions, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Outlook Report.

The IEA explored a scenario whereby no further OECD nuclear power plants are built, only half of the predicted reactors in developing countries go ahead and the lifetime of existing reactors are shorter than expected. It found that despite a boost in renewable sources, emissions would rise.

“We have looked at the implications of Fukishima,” said Fatih Birol, chief economist, IEA. “We know that many countries, including some that rely on nuclear power, are discussing the future of the technology. We have calculated what the consequences of a low nuclear future would be. The implications of this are alarming.

“On one hand renewables will receive a boost but the bad news is threefold. It will be bad for the economics of energy production, bad for energy security and bad for climate change. Coal demand would jump by twice the current level of Australian exports. Gas demand would increase by two-thirds of Russia’s exports and CO2 emissions would swell by the equivalent of France and Germany’s combined output.”

The group also called for countries to consider their post-nuclear future carefully before committing to nuclear shutdowns.

“Phasing out gives you less eggs in your basket,” said Birol. “If you are not going to proceed with nuclear you must think about what will it cost to replace this generation, what will be the consequences for your energy security how will it affect your renewable plans and obligations.

Germany announced its intentions to phase out its own nuclear power capacity by 2022 with eight reactors already switched off. The short term response was to increase production at its own fossil fuel plants and to import electricity, largely from Polish coal powered generation. In the long-term, it will build 12 additional coal plants of its own.

The post IEA report questions wisdom of nuclear shutdowns appeared first on Climate Home News.

Source: Drax

By RTCC Staff

The opportunity to limit global warming to two degrees will pass by 2017 unless major investment and policy changes are made, according to International Energy Agency (IEA).

Under current conditions, 95% of the permissible emissions to stay on target for two degrees of warming will have been made by 2015.

“If by 2017 there has not been major investment then the door for two degrees [sic] will close,” said Fatih Birol, chief economist with the IEA speaking at the launch of its World Energy Outlook report.

“We looked at the current infrastructure in terms of power generation and vehicles. Under current policy we are looking at a potential warming of six degrees,” said Birol.

The IEA also called for progress at the COP17 talks in Durban to avoid such severe warming.

UNFCCC chief Christiana Figueres told RTCC in September that the world needed a binding agreement to limit warming to just 1.5 degrees.

“We need a legally binding agreement soon, we must act. It will be difficult to achieve two degree warming without an international agreement,” said Birol.

IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven highlighted the role that energy efficiency will play in achieving the two degree target.

“It must play a key role but as each year passes, it gets tougher and more expensive to put these measures in place. We can’t afford to wait any longer,” she said.

The report also states that nuclear will form an important backbone of future energy generation with so-called “low nuclear” projection leading to an increase in coal and gas use, a boost to renewables but overall a rise in carbon dioxide levels of 6.2%.

The post IEA: Time running out to cap warming at two degrees appeared first on Climate Home News.