Chicago Tribune (June 29)
“As Canadian wildfire smoke blanketed Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Windy City earned the unwelcome distinction of having the ‘worst air quality of any major city in the world.’” North American wildfires are proliferating and “today consume twice as much land… than they did in the 1990s.” This is clearly “a climate issue. But if we fail to take action on forest management, the impacts of climate change—drier, hotter, longer fire seasons—will only further contribute to the flammability of our overly dense forests.”
Tags: Air quality, Canada, Chicago, Climate change, Drier, Fire seasons, Flammability, Forest management, Hotter, Impacts, Smoke, Wildfires
Investments & Pensions Europe (January Issue)
“Biodiversity is fast catching up with climate change as a priority for investors and supervisors, and developments last year have set the stage for a productive 2023…. Barely a topic of conversation in financial markets two years ago,” biodiversity now “has an investment ecosystem all of its own, which is being built on the back of a decade of lessons learnt in the climate finance space. From global agreements, supervisory interventions and standardised reporting guidelines through to data, investment products and a collaborative engagement initiative, the pieces are quickly falling into place to ensure the private sector knows what it’s meant to do to manage nature-related risks in 2023 and beyond.”
Tags: 2023, Biodiversity, Climate change, Collaborative engagement, Financial markets, Investment ecosystem, Investors, Nature-related risks, Priority, Private-sector, Reporting guidelines
The Times of India (October 30)
“The developed world’s depletion of global atmospheric commons has led to extreme climatic events across the planet. Climate change is already upon us due to industrialisation in Europe and North America in the past, and in China more recently. Countries that have contributed the least towards historical global emissions — countries that are still developing and poor — are left to fend for themselves. Global poverty has underwritten the riches of the developed world.” India cannot “be expected to pay for climate sins of the West.”
Tags: China, Climate change, Depletion, Developed, Developing, Emissions, Europe, Extreme climatic events, Global atmospheric commons, India, Industrialisation, North America, Poor, Riches
Atlantic (October 5)
“The fight against climate change is going to change more in the next four years than it has in the past 40.” One reason is America’s $374 billion Inflation Reduction Act that may ultimately result in spending of $800 billion to spur green energy and other adaptations. The act makes “betting on clean energy one of the most certain economic trends of the next few years. Clean energy is now the safe, smart, government-backed bet for conservative investors.” This “shocking reversal” still hasn’t fully “been metabolized by the world of people involved in the issue.”
Tags: Bet, Climate change, Conservative investors, Economic trends, Fight, Government-backed, Green energy, Inflation Reduction Act, Safe, Smart
Washington Post (September 29)
“Climate change is rapidly fueling super hurricanes. An unprecedented number of storms rated Category 4 or stronger have lashed the U.S. shoreline in recent years.” Factors include “the warming waters…that give hurricanes more energy to release through crushing winds and pounding waves.” Moreover, climate change may be slowing the movement of storms, giving them “a greater opportunity to strengthen and destroy as long as day-to-day conditions remain ripe.”
Tags: Category 4, Climate change, Energy, Factors, Fueling, Hurricanes, Shoreline, Storms, Super hurricanes, U.S., Unprecedented, Warming, Waters, Waves, Winds
Washington Post (July 16)
The extreme heat events “should not be viewed in isolation.” They are “virtually impossible” to explain except for human-caused climate change. “Slashing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to a greener economy at the scale and pace needed would require creativity, innovation and political courage. But the cost if we fail is far more daunting: a future in which climate disasters, and all the damage and instability that come with them, become the new normal everywhere.”
Tags: Climate change, Climate disasters, Cost, Creativity, Daunting, Extreme heat, Fail, GHG emissions, Greener economy, Innovation, Isolation, Pace, Political courage, Scale, Transitioning
Washington Post (June 25)
“In a blistering hot June around the Northern Hemisphere, in which heat records have fallen on every continent, Japan is the latest to swelter. On Saturday, temperatures there shot above 104 degrees (40 Celsius) for the first time on record during the month, another clear sign of the sweeping effects of human-caused climate change.”
Tags: 40 degrees, Blistering, Climate change, Effects, Hot, Human-caused, Japan, June, Records, Sign, Swelter, Temperatures
Wall Street Journal (May 24)
A “candid presentation” last week on “Why investors need not worry about climate risk” created an uproar, for which Stuart Kirk has been suspended as HSBC’s global head of responsible investing. At the WSJ, “we understand why banking regulators and businesses that hope to make money off the coming tidal wave of climate regulation might be offended by his truth-telling. But he merely said what many in his industry believe but are too timid to say: Climate change poses a negligible risk to the global economy and bank balance sheets.”
Tags: Banking regulators, Banks, Businesses, Candid, Climate change, Climate regulation, Climate risk, Global economy, HSBC, Investors, Kirk, Money, Negligible risk, Offended, Presentation, Responsible investing, Suspended, Tidal wave, Timid, Truth-telling, Uproar
Scientific American (May 20)
“When California suffers a heat wave, it leans heavily on hydropower from the Pacific Northwest to keep the lights on. But that hydropower may not always be available when it’s most needed” due to climate change. “Higher temperatures means snowmelt occurs earlier in the year and leaves less water available for power generation during the depths of summer. The result is a heightened risk of blackouts during extreme heat waves as a result of less hydro availability.”
Tags: Availability, Blackouts, California, Climate change, Heat wave, Hydropower, Pacific Northwest, Power generation, Risk, Snowmelt, Summer, Temperatures, Water
New York Times (April 20)
“The World Health Organization concluded last year that air pollution is ‘the single largest environmental threat to human health and well-being.’” Recognizing “the low quality of the air that we breathe” is a crisis would help bring greater immediacy to “the existential threat of climate change…. The solution to both threats is the same: We need to stop burning fossil fuels, preferably yesterday.”
Tags: Air pollution, Climate change, Crisis, Environmental threat, Existential, Human health, Immediacy, Solution, Well-being, WHO
