Shell ‘short sighted’ on climate risk – CTI

Last updated on 9 July 2014, 7:29 am

Oil company Shell is failing to account for long term climate risks, according to the Carbon Tracker Initiative
Shell expects fossil fuel demand to rise despite climate dangers

Shell expects fossil fuel demand to rise despite climate dangers

By Megan Darby

Shell was accused of “Orwellian doublethink” in its attitude to climate change on Wednesday, as an influential think-tank published new analysis.

In the latest instalment of the “carbon bubble” debate, the Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI) highlighted flaws in the oil major’s optimistic assessment of its future profitability.

In a letter to shareholders in May, Shell dismissed as “alarmist” warnings that global action to mitigate climate change could destroy the value of its assets.

Executive vice president JJ Traynor played down the likelihood of effective action to limit global temperature rise to 2C. The company predicts fossil fuel demand will grow 40% to 60% by 2050.

Anthony Hobley, CEO of CTI, said: “With this combative stance, Shell has missed an opportunity to explain to its shareholders how its capital expenditure plans are resilient to the impending energy transition.

“Acknowledging the seriousness of the climate challenge whilst at the same time asserting no effective action will be taken until the end of the century is as classic a case of Orwellian double think as you are likely to find.”

…(read more).

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Pakistan faces ‘environmental cataclysm’ warn officials

Last updated on 7 July 2014, 9:03 am

Governments in Islamabad and Delhi are not preparing for potential climate impacts, says new research
A view of heavy flooding caused by 2010 monsoon rains in Punjab Province, near the city of Multan, Pakistan. (Pic: UN Photo/Evan Schneider)

Heavy flooding caused by 2010 monsoon rains in Punjab Province, near the city of Multan, Pakistan. (Pic: UN Photo/Evan Schneider)

By Nivedita Khandekar in New Delhi

A study of the five countries sharing and relying on the Indian sub-continent’s great rivers shows that Bangladesh is the only one that is taking climate change seriously.

Even before this year’s delayed and inadequate monsoon recently brought some relief to the Indian sub-continent, researchers discovered widespread concern by local experts that their governments are mismanaging the water supplies on which a billion people depend for survival, and giving insufficient attention to climate change.

A new report, Attitudes to Water in South Asia, explores domestic water management and transboundary water issues in five countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. It focuses on two river systems, the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and the Indus-Kabul basins, which are vital to the lives of a vast population.

Chatham House – the home of the Royal Institute of International Affairs − worked on the report with India’s Observer Research Foundation, and similar partner organisations in the other four countries.

Their findings are based on evidence from almost 500 interviews conducted in the five countries in 2013 with a range of water experts, government officials, policy-makers and decision-makers from NGOs and the private sector.

Observing that water is “highly politicised in the region, with strong links to food security and the livelihoods of the large proportion of the population dependent on agriculture”, the report underscores the relation between the domestic mismanagement of water in each country and the failure to address transboundary water relations.

…(read more).

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World Council of Churches divests from fossil fuels

Last updated on 11 July 2014, 12:30 pm

A group representing half a billion Christians has said it will no longer invest in coal, oil and gas
Pic: Riccardo Cuppini/Flickr

Pic: Riccardo Cuppini/Flickr

By Sophie Yeo

A decision by a global coalition of 345 churches to stop investing in fossil fuels has been hailed by divestment campaigners as the most important commitment yet.

The World Council of Churches, which represents over half a billion Christians from 150 countries, said that they would no longer fund oil, coal and gas, and recommended that their members follow suit.

Churches represented by the WCC include the Church of England, which has 25 million members, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church with 48 million members.

“The World Council of Churches may be the most important commitment we’ve received yet,” said 350.org’s European Divestment Coordinator, Tim Ratcliffe.

The churches are not forced to divest by the motion, but it sends a strong signal of intent as it had to be approved by representatives from each institution.

The report of the financial policy committee said: “The committee discussed the ethical investment criteria, and considered that the list of sectors in which the WCC does not invest should be extended to include fossil fuels.”

While the WCC has relatively small financial assets, the move could be significant if it spreads to member churches. At the end of 2012, the Church of England held investments worth £5.5 billion.

Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, the campaign group spearheading the divestment movement, said: “This is a remarkable moment for the 590 million Christians in its member denominations: a huge percentage of humanity says today ‘this far and no further.’”

…(read more).

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UN handed masterplan to tackle climate change

Last updated on 9 July 2014, 7:29 am

New study says 15 countries could hold key to ensuring world avoids dangerous levels of warming
(Pic: APEC 2013/Flickr)

(Pic: APEC 2013/Flickr)

By Sophie Yeo

Climate experts have presented the UN with a report on how countries can club together to avoid world temperatures soaring to dangerous levels.

The report, delivered to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today in New York, lays out technical pathways on how the world’s 15 major emitters can make the deep decarbonisation needed to keep the planet below 2C.

The 281-page document calls for scaled up research and development into cleaner sources of energy and greater efficiency, which together will create the deep cuts to emissions needed to stem climate change.

The potential for deep decarbonisation is “heartening” but also “concerning” as “we are way off track”, said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which convened the study.

The solutions, he said, are “not as complex as finding the Higgs particle, it is not as complex the human genome project, it is not as complex as an eight year moon shot and returning Neil Armstrong safely back to earth.

“What we have to do is important, it is real, but it is not of that complexity … It is within reach, buut we’re just not making that investment yet.”

…(read more).

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Climate Bonds Initiative | Mobilizing debt capital markets for climate change solutions

http://www.climatebonds.net/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCalJDevEPqKTGGdiymH8bNQ

The Climate Bonds Initiative is an international, investor-focused not-for-profit. It’s the only organisation in the world focusing on mobilizing the $80 trillion bond market for climate change solutions.

A large and liquid Green and Climate Bonds Market will help to drive down the cost of capital for climate projects and improve access to lower-cost debt in emerging markets.

China report

New ClimateBonds report for China’s State Council on ‘How to Grow Green Bonds in China’

Download report (link is external)

The report was prepared for the Development Research Centre (DRC) of the State Council of China (link is external) as part of a joint project with IISD (link is external).

The report makes proposals to implement the Chinese Government’s already strong commitment to develop green financial products – and green bonds – to help meet their “challenging” environmental objectives: clean air (link is external) and water as well as their 5 Year Plan’s green growth objectives (link is external).

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