2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #49
2020A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 29, 2020 through Sat, Dec 5, 2020
Editor's Choice
UN secretary general: humanity faces climate 'suicide' without US rejoining Paris agreement
Joining China and other big polluters, Biden’s pledge of ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 brings the Paris agreement goals ‘within reach’
UN Secretary General António Guterres
“The way we are moving is a suicide,” the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, said in an interview on Monday, and humanity’s survival will be “impossible” without the United States rejoining the Paris agreement and achieving “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050, as the incoming Biden administration has pledged.
The secretary general said that “of course” he had been in touch with President-elect Biden and looked forward to welcoming the US into a “global coalition for net zero by 2050” that the UN has organized. The US is the world’s largest cumulative source of heat-trapping emissions and its biggest military and economic power, Guterres noted, so “there is no way we can solve the [climate] problem … without strong American leadership.”
In an extraordinary if largely unheralded diplomatic achievement, most of the world’s leading emitters have already joined the UN’s “net zero by 2050” coalition, including the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom and China (which is the world’s largest source of annual emissions and has committed to achieving carbon neutrality “before 2060”). India, meanwhile, the world’s third largest annual emitter, is the only Group of 20 country on track to limit temperature rise to 2C by 2100, despite needing to lift many of its people out of poverty, an achievement Guterres called “remarkable”. Along with Russia, the US has been the only major holdout, after Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing the US from the Paris agreement soon after becoming president four years ago.
Click here to access the entire article as originally published on The Guardian's website.
UN secretary general: humanity faces climate 'suicide' without US rejoining Paris agreement by Mark Hertsgaard, Environment, The Guardian, Dec 2, 2020
Articles Linked to on Facebook
Sun, Nov 29, 2020
- Sea Angels and Sea Butterflies Reveal Climate Change Consequences by Doris Elin Urrutia, Climate, Scientific American, Nov 27, 2020
- Black Friday: How can the ad industry help tackle climate change? by Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Nov 27, 2020
- In Georgia, 16 Superfund Sites Are Threatened by Extreme Weather Linked to Climate Change by David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News, Nov 29, 2020
- Saudis and Europeans reach compromise on climate as G20 projects unity by Joe Lo, Climate Home News, Nov 23, 2020
Mon, Nov 30, 2020
- Major oil and gas companies join program to cut methane emissions by Hannah Seo & Brian Bienkowski, Environmental Health News, Nov 24, 2020
- Climate change is often hidden in the way we are shown temperature data by David Policansky, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Nov 29, 2020
- In-depth Q&A: Does the world need hydrogen to solve climate change? by Simon Evans & Josh Gabbatiss, Energy, Carbon Brief, Nov 30, 2020
- Fighting climate change: Cheaper than 'business as usual' and better for the economy by Dana Nuccitelli, Article, Yale Climate Connections, Nov 30, 2020
Tue, Dec 1, 2020
- The most important book I’ve read this year by Ezra Klein, Vox, Nov 30, 2020
- Pollinator-Friendly Solar Could be a Win-Win for Climate and Landowners, but Greenwashing is a Worry by Ilhana Cohen, InsideClimate News, Nov 26, 2020
- An offshore wind farm with the ability to ‘power one million households’ is fully up and running by Anmar Frangoul, CNBC, Nov 30, 2020
- Climate crisis to triple flooding threat for low-income US homes by 2050 by Oliver Milman, Environment, The Guardian, Dec 1, 2020
Wed, Dec 2, 2020
- How climate change could spark the next home mortgage disaster by Zach Colman, Special Report, Politico, Nov 30, 2020
- Why Climate Change Hits Asia Hardest by James Conca, Forbes, Nov 30, 2020
- Record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season ends, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Press Release, Dec 1, 2020
- UN Report: Despite Falling Energy Demand, Governments Set on Increasing Fossil Fuel Production by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, Dec 2, 2020
Thu, Dec 3, 2020
- 2020 on track to be one of three warmest years on record, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Press Release, Dec 2, 2020
- Humanity is waging war on nature, says UN secretary general by Fiona Harvey, Environment, The Guardian, Dec 2, 2020
- Some Republican states would fight forced utility emissions cuts under Biden climate agenda by Nichola Groom, Environment, Reuters, Dec 2, 2020
- Hotter Planet Already Poses Fatal Risks, Health Experts Warn by Somini Sengupta, Climate Change, New York Times, Dec 2, 2020
Fri, Dec 4, 2020
- Meet Biden’s Energy and Climate Cabinet Contenders by Coral Davenport & Lisa Friedman, Climate & Energy, New York Times, Dec 3, 2020
- Bond fire rapidly jumps through Orange County canyons, forcing evacuations by Haley Smith & Stephani Lai, California, Los Angeles Times, Dec 3, 2020
- Hurricanes are becoming more dangerous. Here’s why by Brandon Miller, Drew Kann, Judson Jones, Renée Rigdon & Curt Merrill, Illustrations by Leanza Abucayan, CNN, Dec 3, 2020
- The Energy 202: Biden calls climate change an 'emergency.' Now he's under pressure to officially declare it one. by Dino Grandoni & Alexandra Ellerbeck, PowerPost, Washington Post, Dec 4, 2020
Sat, Dec 5, 2020
- How Biden Can Put the U.S. on a Path to Carbon-Free Electricity, Opinion by Michael Gerrard, Yale Environment 360, Dec 3, 2020
- Confronting the 'isolated, lonely, painful deaths' from heat waves by Bob Henson, Article, Yale Climate Connections, Dec 2, 2020
- UN secretary general: humanity faces climate 'suicide' without US rejoining Paris agreement by Mark Hertsgaard, [Video Embedded] Environment, The Guardian, Dec 2, 2020
- Bill Gates says we need a new federal organization and five-fold spending increase to fight climate change by Jordan Novet, CNBC, Dec 3, 2020
Posted by John Hartz on Saturday, 5 December, 2020
