Exxon’s Richard Werthamer (right) and Edward Garvey (left) are aboard the company’s Esso Atlantic tanker working on a project to measure the carbon dioxide levels in the ocean and atmosphere. The project ran from 1979 to 1982. (Credit: Richard Werthamer)
Top executives were warned of possible catastrophe from greenhouse effect, then led efforts to block solutions.
By Neela Banerjee, Lisa Song and David Hasemyer
Sep 16, 2015
Exxon’s Richard Werthamer (right) and Edward Garvey (left) are aboard the company’s Esso Atlantic tanker working on a project to measure the carbon dioxide levels in the ocean and atmosphere. The project ran from 1979 to 1982. (Credit: Richard Werthamer)
At a meeting in Exxon Corporation’s headquarters, a senior company scientist named James F. Black addressed an audience of powerful oilmen. Speaking without a text as he flipped through detailed slides, Black delivered a sobering message: carbon dioxide from the world’s use of fossil fuels would warm the planet and could eventually endanger
Will Paris be a success? Will the agreement at CoP21 ensure global temperature raise stays within the 2° limit? What are the concrete consequences of Paris for my company?
As the CEO of the South Pole Group, a global sustainability solutions provider, I am debating such questions with stakeholders from both the public and private sectors on a daily basis. COP21, the next UN climate summit in Paris, is only a few months away. Therefore, we have decided to roll out our big crystal ball and present you our 10 key outcomes you should (and should not) expect from Paris.
In a nutshell:
Mitigation commitments by industrialised and developing countries won’t come as binding targets. Rather, countries will pledge so-called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), to be implemented by 2020.
These pledges per se, also due to their non-binding nature, will fall way short of keeping the climate within the 2° target.
Much more promising is concrete climate action unfolding in individual countries, as well as private sector commitments.
In addition, the conference in Paris will provide a deal on Climate Finance contributions by developed countries (e.g. through Green Climate Fund) beyond 2020, as well as an Agreement on Adaptation to climate change and loss & damage.
Paris is not the end, but only the start to get us #readyfor2020..
Top 10 outcomes of COP21 Paris:
There will be a deal in Paris, but it will be weak. Last year’s negotiations in Lima, Peru, already suggested this course: the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) were defined as new commitments under the 2020 agreement in a rather vague and lethargic, largely non-binding and non-enforceable manner.
The Paris deal is just the tip of the iceberg for the growing global climate movement. National, regional and local initiatives are strongly gaining momentum, paving the way for real change. Therefore, in spite of noise created around Paris, what really matters is what’s happening in individual countries around the world. The current climate actions are a bottom-up process. Paris is thus rather a reflection of various forces pulling towards more climate action and will serve a catalyst to reinforce what is going on below the surface. Pioneering countries will mobilise on Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions as a means to transform their economic sector. By promoting low carbon technologies and forward-looking solutions they will reduce their national GHG footprint while achieving sustainable development goals. A win-win.
Positive actions and investments will continue independent of COP21, simply because they make economic sense. Continued actions will take place at the national level (e.g. US power plant regulation, China’s emission intensity target, the EU ETS), at the local level (e.g. city commitments to reduce 1GtCO2 per 2020) and within businesses. These positive actions will continue, no matter what happens in Paris, because they have sustainable development benefits on their own (growth, jobs, clean air, energy independence).
Public climate finance is expected to increase steadily towards 2020 and beyond particularly through the launch of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The operationalisation and scale-up of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to desirable levels will still take years. However, the GCF is under immense pressure to disburse funds quickly in the short term. This offers an opportunity for active market participants to help shape how it operates. The GCF represents a great source of funding for innovative business ventures.
The vast majority of finance will still be coming from private and domestic sources, and will be mostly be invested because of reasons other than climate change. Most of the money invested in mitigation actions will be from domestic capital markets, including in emerging countries: 75% of current climate finance is invested in the country of origin. This is basic low carbon financing: It will benefit competitiveness and has co-benefits far beyond low carbon. Smart organisations will make sure not to miss opportunities such as the one we identified and capitalised for the cement sector in Vietnam.
Reporter Neela Banerjee discusses the findings of an InsideClimate News investigation into Exxon’s early research on climate change.
Former Exxon scientist Ed Garvey speaks about his early research for the company on climate change in this interview conducted in collaboration with InsideClimate News.
Former Exxon scientist Richard Werthamer discusses the company’s early research on climate change in this interview conducted in collaboration with InsideClimate News.
Meanwhile, in Canada, a group of more than 100 leading activists, writers and musicians have released a wide-ranging call for economic and environmental change to address “the deepest crisis in recent memory” – climate change. The Leap Manifesto calls for respecting the rights of indigenous communities, implementing a universal program to build energy-efficient homes, ending fossil fuel subsidies and cutting military spending. Signatories include musicians Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Tegan and Sara, and Alanis Morissette; actors Ellen Page, Rachel McAdams and Donald Sutherland, and many more. Naomi Klein, author of “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate,” unveiled the manifesto on Tuesday.
Naomi Klein: “All share the belief that it is possible for Canada to fight against climate change in a way that changes our country for the better, by delivering meaningful justice to First Nations, creating more and better jobs for the people who need them most, restoring and expanding our social safety net, and welcoming far more migrants and refugees. In short, we can and must care for one another and for the climate.”
The deadly extreme weather comes as a coalition of more than 400 organizations have called on the White House to stop issuing new fossil fuel leases on public lands and oceans. Among the call’s signatories are climate activist Tim DeChristopher, renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben, indigenous activist Winona LaDuke and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A number of labor, faith and environmental groups also joined the call, including the United Auto Workers Union, Unitarian Universalist Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Indigenous Environmental Network and 350.org. More than 67 million acres of public land and ocean are already leased to the fossil fuel industry. The coalition says that declaring unleased oil, gas and coal on public lands as “unburnable” would accomplish more in the global fight against climate change than any other single action taken by the Obama administration.
Obama Allocates Additional $250 Million to Fight Uncontrollable Fires
The Obama administration has directed an additional $250 million toward fighting drought-fueled wildfires in the Pacific Northwest as California officials say the raging Valley Fire is one of the most destructive in state history. The Valley Fire is one of three uncontrollable blazes currently threatening more than 15,000 homes in Northern California. The cost of fighting the blazes reached a record high this summer when the Forest Service spent $243 million in a single week. At least one person has died in the fires. Earlier this week, California Governor Jerry Brown connected the fires to climate change and the state’s historic drought, saying, “This is the future.”
16 Die in Flash Flooding in Utah
In other extreme weather news, at least 16 people have died after flash flooding tore through communities along the Utah-Arizona border. Twelve people were killed after the powerful floodwaters poured down a mountain and swept away two vehicles in Hildale, Utah. Another four people were found dead in Zion National Park.
Coalition Demands End to New Fossil Fuel Leases on Public Lands
The deadly extreme weather comes as a coalition of more than 400 organizations have called on the White House to stop issuing new fossil fuel leases on public lands and oceans. Among the call’s signatories are climate activist Tim DeChristopher, renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben, indigenous activist Winona LaDuke and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A number of labor, faith and environmental groups also joined the call, including the United Auto Workers Union, Unitarian Universalist Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Indigenous Environmental Network and 350.org. More than 67 million acres of public land and ocean are already leased to the fossil fuel industry. The coalition says that declaring unleased oil, gas and coal on public lands as “unburnable” would accomplish more in the global fight against climate change than any other single action taken by the Obama administration.
Canada: Intellectuals Call for Climate Action with “Leap Manifesto”
Meanwhile, in Canada, a group of more than 100 leading activists, writers and musicians have released a wide-ranging call for economic and environmental change to address “the deepest crisis in recent memory” – climate change. The Leap Manifesto calls for respecting the rights of indigenous communities, implementing a universal program to build energy-efficient homes, ending fossil fuel subsidies and cutting military spending. Signatories include musicians Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Tegan and Sara, and Alanis Morissette; actors Ellen Page, Rachel McAdams and Donald Sutherland, and many more. Naomi Klein, author of “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate,” unveiled the manifesto on Tuesday.
Naomi Klein: “All share the belief that it is possible for Canada to fight against climate change in a way that changes our country for the better, by delivering meaningful justice to First Nations, creating more and better jobs for the people who need them most, restoring and expanding our social safety net, and welcoming far more migrants and refugees. In short, we can and must care for one another and for the climate.”
Refugees Enter Croatia After Hungary Criminalizes Border Crossing
In news from Europe, about 150 refugees have crossed into Croatia after they were blocked at the Hungarian-Serbian border. Hungary has sealed its border with Serbia and enacted new laws that criminalize border crossings with up to three years’ imprisonment. Meanwhile, President Obama discussed the growing global refugee crisis during a meeting with Spain’s King Felipe VI, saying the U.S. needs to take in Syrian refugees.
President Obama: “We agreed that this is going to require cooperation with all the European countries and the United States and the international community in order to ensure that people are safe, that they are treated with shared humanity, and that we ultimately have to deal with the source of the problem, which is the ongoing crisis in Syria. And we discussed how we can continue to strengthen that cooperation, and I discussed the fact that the United States feels it is important for us to also take our share of Syrian refugees as part of this overall humanitarian effort.”
Obama Considers Meeting with Putin over Syria Crisis
President Obama’s remarks come as he is reputedly weighing a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the ongoing crisis in Syria. The United States says Russia has sent tanks and artillery to Syria this week in what U.S. officials say amounts to an attempt to set up a Russian military base in western Syria. The two countries have long been at odds in their response to the Syrian conflict, with Russia backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the U.S. calling on him to step down. Meanwhile, Australia has launched its first airstrikes inside Syria Monday targeting ISIL. France says it will also begin airstrikes inside Syria against ISIL in the coming weeks.
Beyond the steps that humanity should take collectively to address the challenges of ‘Integral Ecology’, a personal transformation is also needed. Dr. William Vendley discusses this in the context of Ecological Conversion in this video chapter, a concept discussed throughout the Pope’s encyclical.
(Please note that transcripts for this video are forthcoming)
About Dr. William Vendley
Dr. William Vendley is the Secretary General of Religions for Peace International, the world’s largest and most representative multi-religious coalition advancing common action for peace by working to advance multi-religious consensus on positive aspects of peace as well as concrete actions to stop war, help eliminate poverty, and protect the earth. He is a member of its World Council, which consists of 60 senior religious leaders from all continents.
Welcome to Transition Studies. To prosper for very much longer on the changing Earth humankind will need to move beyond its current fossil-fueled civilization toward one that is sustained on recycled materials and renewable energy. This is not a trivial shift. It will require a major transition in all aspects of our lives.
This weblog explores the transition to a sustainable future on our finite planet. It provides links to current news, key documents from government sources and non-governmental organizations, as well as video documentaries about climate change, environmental ethics and environmental justice concerns.
The links are listed here to be used in whatever manner they may be helpful in public information campaigns, course preparation, teaching, letter-writing, lectures, class presentations, policy discussions, article writing, civic or Congressional hearings and citizen action campaigns, etc. For further information on this blog see: About this weblog. and How to use this weblog.
Calendar – Click on Date for links entered on that Day
Transition Studies 