Climate change news for the week of November 11, 2024

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Here’s the latest news concerning the climate crisis and biodiversity loss crisis, from the steps leaders are taking to address the problems to all the latest science.

In climate news this week:

• Milei’s COP29 team leaves as Trump tensions hang over summit
• Earth’s projected warming hasn’t improved for 3 years. UN climate talks are still pushing
• B.C. teachers among more than 150 groups calling for a national youth climate corps
• B.C. activist named one of Time’s 100 most influential climate leaders

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Human activities like burning fossil fuels and farming livestock are the main drivers of climate change, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This causes heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere, increasing the planet’s surface temperature.

The panel, which is made up of scientists from around the world, has warned for decades that wildfires and severe weather, such as B.C.’s deadly heat dome and catastrophic flooding in 2021, would become more frequent and more intense because of the climate emergency. It has issued a “code red” for humanity and warns the window to limit warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial times is closing.

According to NASA climate scientists, “there is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate” and that human activity is the principal cause.

Check back every Saturday for more climate and environmental news or sign up for our Climate Connected newsletter HERE.

Climate change quick facts:

• The Earth is now about 1.3 C warmer than it was in the 1800s.
• 2023 was hottest on record globally, beating the last record in 2016. However scientists say 2024 will likely beat the 2023 record.
• Human activities have raised atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by nearly 49 per cent above pre-industrial levels starting in 1850.
• The world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target to keep global temperature from exceeding 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change including sea level rise, and more intense drought, heat waves and wildfires.
• On the current path of carbon dioxide emissions, the temperature could increase by as much 3.6 C this century, according to the IPCC.
• In April, 2022 greenhouse gas concentrations reached record new highs and show no sign of slowing.
• Emissions must drop 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 to keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5 C and 2.7 per cent per year to stay below 2 C.
• 97 per cent of climate scientists agree that the climate is warming and that human beings are the cause.

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(Source: United Nations IPCC, World Meteorological Organization, UNEP, NASA, climatedata.ca)

Latest News

Earth’s projected warming hasn’t improved for three years. UN climate talks are still pushing

For the third straight year, efforts to fight climate change haven’t lowered projections for how hot the world is likely to get — even as countries gather for another round of talks to curb warming, according to an analysis Thursday.

At the United Nations climate talks, hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, nations are trying to set new targets to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases and figure out how much rich nations will pay to help the world with that task.

But Earth remains on a path to be 2.7 C warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Climate Action Tracker, a group of scientists and analysts who study government policies and translate that into projections of warming.

If emissions are still rising and temperature projections are no longer dropping, people should wonder if the United Nations climate negotiations — known as COP — are doing any good, said Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare.

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“There’s an awful lot going on that’s positive here, but on the big picture of actually getting stuff done to reduce emissions … to me it feels broken,” Hare said.

The world has already warmed 1.3 C above pre-industrial times. That’s near the 1.5-degree limit that countries agreed to at 2015 climate talks in Paris. Climate scientists say the atmospheric warming, mainly from human burning of fossil fuels, is causing ever more extreme and damaging weather including droughts, flooding and dangerous heat.

Read the full story here.

—The Associated Press

Renewed call for Canada to establish a national youth climate corps

Canada’s Climate Emergency Unit, along with more than 150 organizations, including the B.C. Federation of Teachers, have signed a letter calling for a national youth climate corps.

Signatories released the letter ahead of COP29 in Baku, saying is time to create a corps that can mobilize tens of thousands of young people to confront the climate emergency.

The letter states that “these times call for the transformational opportunities of a Youth Climate Corps. While action on the file is promising, now is the time to show that governments can act quickly and decisively in times of crisis.”

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Supporters say in order for the YCC to launch with the momentum it needs to succeed, it will need a significant announcement by the end of 2024.

“While we agree that consultations will be necessary to create the best version of the program, we should not be waiting until they are over for an announcement,” said Bushra Asghar, an organizer with the campaign.

“Rather, building excitement through a commitment now means we can prepare for the inevitable popularity of this program once it launches.”

—Tiffany Crawford

Insurance bureau estimates $110 million in damages from October storms in B.C.

Intense flooding that hammered B.C.’s coast last month has led to more than $110 million in insured damage claims.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada says insurers have been working with clients for the last few weeks since the Category 4 atmospheric river caused “significant flood damage” to Metro Vancouver properties in Coquitlam, Burnaby, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, and Surrey.

The bureau says the intense rainfall and wind resulted in overflowing rivers, sewer backups, and flooding on roads and in parking garages and basements. It prompted a local state of emergency in North Vancouver on Oct. 20.

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It says that while some residential flood insurance is available, it may be limited or inaccessible to some, forcing them to rely on government disaster financial assistance for their recovery.

About 10 per cent of Canadian households cannot access flood insurance, and the bureau is again calling on the federal government to “fully fund” the National Flood Insurance Program.

It says a national program would provide financial protection to high-risk households, and reduce disaster costs to federal and provincial government treasuries.

“Rather than responding with disaster financial assistance in the aftermath of catastrophes, this program would be a proactive, cost-effective approach to managing the financial toll when disasters strike,” the bureau says in a news release.

Read the full story here.

—The Canadian Press

Milei’s COP29 team leaves as Trump tensions hang over summit

Argentina’s President Javier Milei’s negotiating team has left Azerbaijan less than four days into the COP29 climate summit, while France’s climate minister said she wouldn’t return to the talks as political tensions rippled through the conference.

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The surprise move by Argentina — which was not explained by the country — raised concerns among negotiators at COP29 that the country may follow U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s threat to exit the landmark 2015 Paris climate deal. The absences also complicate the summit’s aim to agree on a crucial climate finance deal amounting to trillions of dollars.

The tensions kicked off on Wednesday when the French minister, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, said she wouldn’t return for the second week of talks in Baku. It followed Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev’s remarks at the summit where he accused Paris of “neo-colonialism” and “crimes” in its overseas territories, including New Caledonia, which was rocked by protests earlier this year.

“Azerbaijan is instrumentalizing the fight against climate change for an undignified personal agenda,” Pannier-Runacher said in an address to parliament. “I will not be going to Baku next week.”

A spokesman for the COP29 Presidency confirmed the Argentine team’s departure but declined to comment on the French minister’s position. Pannier-Runacher said the country’s negotiating team would stay on at the summit and the country will still be part of the EU’s decision-making process.

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Read the full story here.

—Bloomberg News

Trump re-election won’t affect Liberal government’s climate strategy: Guilbeault

Donald Trump’s re-election in the United States will not impact Canada’s commitment to fighting climate change, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Tuesday.

Guilbeault is in Azerbaijan this week for the annual United Nations climate change conference, which includes discussions about each country’s progress toward lowering their greenhouse gas emissions as committed under the Paris agreement.

Trump withdrew the United States from that agreement during his first term and while President Joe Biden returned the U.S. to the pact in 2021, Trump has promised to withdraw again after he is inaugurated in January.

In a phone call with reporters from Baku, Guilbeault said a Trump administration is familiar territory for the Liberal government.

“It’s not the first U.S. administration where we have different points of view on the issue of climate change,” Guilbeault said.

“That didn’t stop us in the past from starting to implement our ambitious climate plan.”

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Read the full story here.

—The Canadian Press

B.C. activist named one of Time’s 100 most influential climate leaders

A B.C. environmental activist has been named one of Time magazine’s most influential climate leaders.

Vancouver’s Tzeporah Berman, founder of the global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, is featured on the 2024 TIME 100 Climate List, an annual compilation of the world’s top leaders in the fight against climate change.

In a statement, Berman said she is honoured to be included on the list.

“It wasn’t that long ago that those of us calling to keep fossil fuels in the ground were considered radicals,” she said.

“This recognition is a validation of the work of many who have marched, protested and spoken out about the need to stop the relentless expansion of oil, gas and coal and the need for new international co-operation to ensure we move quickly to build cleaner and safer energy systems.”

Berman said affected communities from Canada to the Amazon have spoken out against new fossil fuel projects and she wants them to know that they are not fighting alone anymore.

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“Together, we are a force capable of ending the dirty era of fossil fuels. We encourage more countries to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and protect what we love,” she said.

Berman, who also co-founded the environmental group Stand.earth, became known for her involvement in protest over logging in Clayoquot Sound in the 1990s when she was in her 20s. Also known as the “war in the woods,” the protest resulted in the The Great Bear Rainforest agreement to protect 85 per cent of the area.

Read the full story here.

—Tiffany Crawford

Where will the COP29 money come from?

The COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, has been dubbed the “finance COP” because its primary objective is to come up with a new and ambitious agreement for climate-related transfers from rich countries to poor countries.

But that moniker could have been given to almost any of the other recent United Nations gatherings of world leaders: the COP26 confab in Glasgow in 2021 focused on enlisting institutional investors in the fight against global warming; the crowning achievement of the gathering in Sharm El-Sheikh the following year was a fund to help developing nations face the devastation of climate change; and at last year’s COP28 event, the United Arab Emirates announced a $30 billion venture to fund emissions reductions projects in partnership with BlackRock Inc., TPG Inc. and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.

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Whether it’s Azerbaijan’s manat, or dirhams, pounds or dollars, every climate conversation circles back to how much it will cost — and who’s going to pay.

In Baku, that means fighting over a so-called collective and quantified goal for climate finance. That’s the new post-2025 ambition that’s supposed to replace a target set in 2009 for developed countries to provide $100 billion annually by 2020. The earlier goal has proven controversial since it wasn’t met until 2022, and represents just a fraction of the money needed.

Read the full story here.

—Bloomberg News

Oil lobbyists outnumber delegates at COP29: report

At least 1,773 coal, oil, and gas lobbyists have been granted access to the United Nations climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, The Guardian reports, raising concerns about the planet-heating industry’s influence on the negotiations.

Those lobbyists outnumber the delegations of almost every country at the conference, an analysis from the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition shows, with the only exceptions being this year’s host country, Azerbaijan, next year’s host Brazil, and Turkey, the report says.

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The finding comes during week one of the climate summit, known as Cop29. Days before the talks kicked off, Elnur Soltanov, Azerbaijan’s deputy energy minister and chief executive of Cop29, was caught on film agreeing to facilitate oil deals at the negotiations.

—The Guardian

G-20 set to back climate goals, global trade in message to Trump

Group of 20 leaders meeting in Brazil next week are set to show unity on climate action and global trade rules, two areas threatened by US president-elect Donald Trump, as talks continue on how to characterize Russia’s war in Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East.

Leaders of the world’s biggest economies will reaffirm “a strong commitment to multilateralism, especially in the light of the progress made under the Paris Agreement” and resolve to “stay united in the pursuit of the accord’s goals,” according to an early draft statement seen by Bloomberg News. It also called for the World Trade Organization to stay as the “core” of global commerce.

“Recognizing that the whole of our efforts will be more powerful than the sum of their parts, we will co-operate and join efforts toward a global mobilization against climate change,” says the G-20 draft statement, which needs all countries to sign off to become official. It could still change — or be discarded altogether — at a summit in Rio starting on Monday.

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A section on geopolitics — the most contentious issue since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — was among the last sections to be discussed and remains to be agreed, according to people familiar with the talks, who asked not to be identified to discuss private deliberations. Russia’s Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a phone call Friday as pressure builds to start talks to end the war.

Trump’s victory in the US election last week is already reshaping global geopolitics as leaders brace for higher tariffs, skepticism of efforts to combat climate change and a shift in American foreign policy priorities. US President Joe Biden is representing the US for the final time before handing power to Trump in January.

Read the full story here.

—Bloomberg News

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