COP26, also known as the United Nations Climate Change Conference UK 2021, kicks off Sunday October 31, and officially runs until Friday, November 12. It’s being held in Glasgow at the Scottish Event Campus (pictured). Here are five things everyone needs to know about this crucial summit.
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The Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) and more than 35 other industry and environmental organizations, including the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April to set national targets to curb the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in refrigerators, air conditioners, and other appliances.
The EPA delivered today. It’s the first time the federal government has set national limits on HFCs. It’s also the Biden administration’s first concrete regulatory step to tackle emissions since the US’s announcement that it would slash emissions 50% by 2030.
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In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
The world’s largest-ever report about climate change was published today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations group of nearly 200 leading climate scientists that looked at more than 14,000 scientific papers. It’s pretty grim – but far from hopeless. There are things we all can and must all do. As US Senator Ed Markey says, “We can’t agonize – we must organize.”
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The Edward Hyatt hydroelectric power plant at Lake Oroville, California, was shut down yesterday for the first time since it opened in 1967 because of low water levels due to drought. Lake Oroville is California’s second-largest reservoir.
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In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
Two powerful corporate networks that represent more than 80 companies with a combined $1.3 trillion in annual revenue have today written to the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The pair of letters calls for interim strong fuel economy and emission standards and 100% zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales of light-duty vehicles by 2035 at the latest.
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Systemic tax abuse, corruption, and money laundering slow down climate action, says the United Nations’ High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda (FACTI Panel).
The FACTI Panel, which includes former world leaders and central bank governors, business and civil society heads and academics, says bankers, lawyers, and accountants who enable financial crime must face punitive sanctions.
The panel has today released its final report, “Financial Integrity for Sustainable Development,” in which it says stronger laws and institutions are needed to prevent cross-border corruption and money laundering. As much as 2.7% of the global GDP is laundered by criminals annually.
Electrek spoke with Dalia Grybauskaitė, FACTI co-chair and the former president of Lithuania, about how governments can tackle climate change with global finance reform.
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Newly inaugurated US President Joe Biden wasted no time in rejoining the Paris Agreement to fight climate change on January 20. After 30 days, the US has today officially once again become part of the 189-country agreement.
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Microsoft cofounder, philanthropist, and innovator Bill Gates just released his much anticipated book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need. He describes it, simply, as “a plan for eliminating greenhouse gas emissions.” And as usual, the internet is responding with polarized excitement and conspiracy theories.
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John Kerry has been named special presidential envoy for climate change on the National Security Council — aka “climate czar” — by US president-elect Joe Biden. It’s a brand-new position.
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The Federal Reserve’s November 2020 “Financial Stability Report,” which usually examines how economic and market forces could impact banks, insurance companies, and other firms, has addressed the implications of climate change for financial stability for the very first time.
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President-elect Joe Biden and Vice president-elect Kamala Harris were declared the winners of the US election on Saturday, and their climate change priorities have already been published on the Biden-Harris Transition website.
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Key Biscayne, an island town in Miami-Dade County and one of Florida’s wealthiest towns, is also very vulnerable to rising seas. And last night, in the 2020 election, it soundly voted to approve a $100 million bond to protect itself from sea-level rise. Its decision driver? Staving off dropping property values.
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As of midnight Eastern, the US leaves the Paris Agreement, the 2015 pact between 197 countries to stop global warming “well below” 2C, and work to hold it at 1.5C. Donald Trump formally withdrew the US from the global climate pact on November 4, 2019. The timing in relation to the US election is coincidental, but the outcome of the election will impact what comes next.
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Just in case you didn’t notice, the US election is next week, on Tuesday, November 3. We at Electrek ran a Climate Crisis Weekly roundup on October 10 with the headline, “Humanity’s future rests on American voters.” Someone on the subreddit r/JoeBiden declared, “Tech website Electrek backs Biden for president.” Our reaction to that? We’ll take it.
And here’s why. Electrek is for electric vehicles, green energy, slowing and eventually reversing climate change, and protecting and renewing the environment. And we’ll hop on whatever e-bus we have to ride in order to get closest to the goal of progressing those things.
So instead of rounding up the week’s climate change stories, we’ve done something different this week. Some of us in the 9to5 network explain — each with a unique perspective, from all over the US (and world) — why we back Joe Biden in the 2020 US presidential election. In short, it’s because he’s the e-bus that gets us closest to our destination. Because we believe, with a passion, in what we write about.
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