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COP27 Update

November 2, 2022

from In numbers: The state of the climate ahead of Cop27 by Chloé Farand, Climate Change news

We’re headed for 2.4-2.8C of warming

The Emissions Gap report described progress made since the Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow as “woefully inadequate”.

The updated 2030 climate plans submitted this year reduce projected emissions in 2030 by less than 1%. Countries’ combined climate plans, including targets conditional on international finance, would reduce emissions by 10% by 2030 compared with projections based on current policies.

That’s far off track the 45% reductions scientists say are needed to keep 1.5C within reach.

Current policies would lead to 2.8C of warming by the end of the century. Countries’ unconditional commitments to 2030 would put the world on track for 2.6C of warming. If they deliver further emission cuts contingent on international finance, this would be reduced to 2.4C.

The report adds that investments worth at least $4-6 trillion are needed to decarbonise the global economy.

There have been baby steps on ambition

UN Climate Change’s assessment puts a more positive slant on the numbers but it’s conclusion is similar: “We are still nowhere near the scale and pace of emission reductions required to put us on track toward a 1.5 degrees Celsius world,” said UN Climate Change head Simon Stiell.

The 24 updated plans submitted this year have made a small difference, according to its assessment. Emissions are set to rise 10.6% by 2030 from 2010 levels. That’s slightly better the projected 13.7% increase last year. But not fast enough to keep in line with the Paris Agreement temperature goals.

The synthesis report analyses the contributions of 193 countries submitted to the UN between Cop26 and the 23 September. Together, they cover 94.9% of total global greenhouse gas.

Emissions keep rising 

As the world continues to extract and burn fossil fuels, the World Meteorological Organization finds, once again, that the three main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – reached new record highs in 2021. 

… Read more >>

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Climate

Tell the Albanese government: it’s time for a national Energy Transition Authority!

September 5, 2022

Australia has traditionally relied on coal fired power stations to meet its energy needs. This is now rapidly changing, as renewable energy and storage becomes cheaper and older coal fired power stations become ever more expensive to run and less reliable. 

Friends of the Earth has long argued for the need for a national Just Transition Authority

Now, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has issued a call for the Albanese government to establish an independent and properly resourced national Energy Transition Authority to manage an orderly and fair transition process for affected workers – including support for redeployment, skills and training, and secure job opportunities.

Friends of the Earth supports this call and encourages our members and supporters to sign the letter below, which will go to the prime minister Anthony Albanese.

You can find details on the ACTU proposal in their Secure Jobs for a Safer Climate report.

Tell the Albanese government: it’s time for a national Energy Transition Authority!
Send a letter

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Climate

Tell the Government they should Dump the dump!

September 5, 2022

Email Decision Makers to Dump the Dump

The Federal Labor Government has inherited an abusive relationship from the Morrison Government. One where the Morrison Government was trying to impose its toxic nuclear waste onto the fertile lands of the Barngarla Traditional Owners and local farming community, without their consent. When the Traditional Owners spoke up, the government tried to silence them.

Now the Labor Government is facing a legal challenge, which if they choose to fight it, would undermine the Uluru Statement of the Heart and call into question the government’s commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Instead, an inquiry should be initiated to advise on future options for radioactive waste management and to consider related matters such as the suitability of the National Radioactive Waste Management Act. The Act is viciously racist, and problematic in other ways, and needs to be repealed or heavily amended.

Urge the Labor decision makers to Dump the Dump and abandon the nuclear waste dump plans before this gets any more ugly.

Email Decision Makers here

 

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Nuclear

The Workers on the Frontline of Climate Impacts

August 17, 2022

Aug 14, 2022

The Climate Impacts at Work report details that workers are already heavily impacted by climate change – from poorly ventilated kitchens, to accessible housing in heated-surburbia. Anna Langford writes for Chain Reaction #142.

In 2022, we’re already seeing how the impacts of the climate crisis are wreaking havoc on communities. And while a new band of tech billionaires are quick to make pronouncements about broad-sweeping fixes, tackling the climate crisis in a socially just way means putting workers’ rights at the core of solutions.

To ensure this happens, workers need to be a key part of the conversation about what solutions we will embrace to rapidly lower emissions and respond to the climate change impacts that are already locked in. But to open this conversation, we first need to ask the question: What does climate change look like for workers across Victoria?

In October 2021, Friends of the Earth launched the Climate Impacts at Work project with RMIT University and six Victorian unions. Its aim is to conduct pioneering research into the ways that climate impacts are already affecting workers in different industries.

While we may not be able to speak about every aspect of the climate crisis with the detail of those who study it, what we are equipped with are our own stories. With climate change already hitting us here and now, we can speak to it from experiences in our daily lives – like in our workplaces.

With this understanding, the Climate Impacts at Work survey has sought to draw out workers’ local knowledge of climate impacts, and gather their ideas for the climate solutions they want to see. The research will give a picture of how climate change on the ground looks different for transport workers compared with health workers, or for people in Northern Victoria compared with Gippsland or Melbourne.

… Read more >>

Clean Futures, Climate, Old_Notes