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Here’s your weekly update with what you need to know about global climate change and the steps B.C. The week of April 4-10, 2022 is the week that B.C. is taking to address climate and ecological crises.
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This week’s climate news:
- IPCC report released Monday offers ways to limit warming to 1.5 C —hint: It all has to do with rapid decarbonization
- B.C. Old growth forest activists stage a hunger strike
- In 2021, another record was set for atmospheric methane.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned for years that wildfires, drought, severe weather, such as B.C.’s deadly heat dome in June, and flooding would become more frequent and more intense because of the climate crisis.
Last August, it issued a “code red” for humanity and earlier this year the panel, made up of hundreds of scientists from around the world, said the window to stop global warming from exceeding 1.5 C was closing. It released Monday’s report, which included solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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For the most recent news on climate and environment, check back here every Saturday. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the most recent B.C. news delivered to you by 7 a.m. here.
A glance at B.C.’s carbon numbers:
- B.C.’s gross greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2019 (latest available data:) 68.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e.) This is an increase in 3.0 MtCO2e or 5% since 2007, the baseline year.
- B.C.’s net emissions in 2019: 67.2 MtCO2e, an increase of 1.5 MtCO2e, or two per cent, since 2007.
- B.C.’s 2030 target: 40 per cent reduction in net emissions below 2007 levels.
- B.C.’s 2040 target: 60 per cent reduction.
- B.C.’s 2050 target: 80 per cent reduction.
- Canada’s 2030 emissions target: Between 40 and 45 per cent reduction.
- Canada’s 2050 emissions target: Net-zero.
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Climate change quick facts:
- The Earth is now 1.1 degrees warmer than it was during the 1800s.
- Globally, 2021 was fifth warmest year ever.
- The atmospheric CO concentrations have risen due to human activities2 Nearly 49 percent more than the pre-industrial levels in 1850.
- The world is not on the right track to meet the Paris Agreement goal to keep global temperatures below 1.5 C above preindustrial levels. This is to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
- 2015-2019 were five of the warmest years ever recorded, while 2010-2019 was our warmest decade.
- The current trajectory of carbon dioxide emissions could lead to a temperature increase of up to 4.4 C by the middle of the century.
- In 2019, greenhouse gas concentrations reached new heights. The levels of carbon dioxide were only 148 percent of their preindustrial levels.
- To keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5 C and to maintain below 2 C, emissions must decrease by 7.6 percent each year from 2020 to 2030.
- 97% of climate scientists agree the climate is warming and believe that humans are to blame.
(Source: United Nations IPCC, World Meteorological Organization,UNEP, Nasa, climatedata.ca)
LATEST CLIMATE NEWS
Vancouver protesters and Indigenous leaders gather to oppose Trans Mountain Pipeline
Protesters against the federally-owned Trans Mountain pipeline gathered outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on Saturday to show the government and investors that opposition to the project is still strong and they believe funding it would be a “risky investment.”
Signs that read “Don’t fund the Trans Mountain,” “Protect the Ocean” and “Protect the Land” littered the square in front of the gallery where a few hundred people gathered.
Rally planners from the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation’s Sacred Trust Initiative say this marked the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began that Indigenous leaders have come together to publicly oppose the pipeline.
Rueben George, the manager of the Sacred Trust Initiative, said that the pandemic had restricted gatherings and hindered their outreach. However, he believes the rally will lift spirits, signal the beginning of more events, and public outreach.
—The Canadian Press
Canada must stop fossil fuels ‘as soon as we can,’ says SFU climate policy expert and author of latest UN climate report
Christopher Bataille, an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, said that Canada must have a national plan to eliminate fossil fuels from all new buildings. He was speaking out in response to Monday’s UN climate change report.
Bataille is a climate expert and a researcher at Paris’s Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations. He was one of the lead authors on climate and industry for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth set of reports.
The IPCC report was his conclusion. He believes that we need renewable energy, and we should do it now.
“The next generation of everything that uses energy should be as close to zero emissions as possible,” Bataille said Wednesday.
He stated that new homes can be built without the use natural gas. Bataille stated that while building codes are usually left to the provinces, municipalities enforce them. However, federal guidelines could be developed to ensure that building codes comply with zero emission targets.
You can read the entire story here.
—Tiffany Crawford
According to the IPCC, removing carbon from the air is vital for climate goals.
A U.N. report on Monday stated that carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere will be crucial to meet global climate change goals.
The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the world could, in theory, halve emissions by 2030.
However, it stated that radical reductions of greenhouse gasses would not be enough to meet the Paris Agreement targets to reduce global warming.
In addition, it said, the world will need “carbon dioxide removal” (CDR) technologies – ranging from planting trees that soak up carbon to grow, to costly and energy-intensive technologies to suck carbon dioxide directly from the air.
“The deployment of CDR to counterbalance hard-to-abate residual emissions is unavoidable if net zero carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions are to be achieved,” the IPCC said in a report on solutions to global warming, compiled by 278 authors.
The IPCC report also said CDR was an “essential element” in scenarios to limit warming to the Paris pact goals of well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, while pursuing efforts to limit the rise to 1.5 C.
You can read the entire story here.
—Reuters
B.C. Old growth forest activists Another hunger strike
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Two members from the activist group Save Old Growth held a hunger strike to call for a public meeting with Katrine Conroy, Forests Minister, on the protection and preservation of the last remaining old-growth forests in B.C.
Brent Eichler in Vancouver claims he hasn’t eaten in 16 days. Howard Breen is on Day 9. They have not heard anything from the ministry about their request for meeting.
Eichler, aged 57, stated that he is doing well and plans to continue to exercise for as long time as possible, without causing irreparable injury to his health.
His previous hunger strikesHowever, he was not able to arrange a meeting with ministry officials. However, he is now doing another because he is currently on probation after being arrested at demonstrations and cannot be involved with blockades.
“I read a study that young people are all around the world or are feeling tremendous climate anxiety. And so I’m feeling for them a lot and I know I just have to do something,” he said.
“It’s just meant to raise more awareness and to support those young people.”
Nigel McInnis, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Forests, stated in an email to Postmedia that the minister would not comment on the hunger strike at the moment.
Eichler said if he could speak to the minister he would ask the government to stop spending billions on fossil fuels like natural gas and put more money into saving the last of B.C.’s old growth forests.
“We have to reallocate priorities, and I would say the first priority is to not give fossil fuel companies billions and billions in subsidies when we have climate plans and B.C.’s emissions are still going up to this day,” he said.
—Tiffany Crawford
In 2021, another record was set for atmospheric methane.
For the second year in a row, scientists observed a record annual increase in atmospheric levels of methane, a powerful, heat-trapping greenhouse gas that’s the second biggest contributor to human-caused global warming after carbon dioxide, According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA’s data show the annual increase in atmospheric methane during 2021 was 17 parts per billion (ppb), the largest annual increase recorded since systematic measurements began in 1983, according to an NOAA report posted Thursday.
The 2020 increase was 15.3 ppb. The NOAA stated that atmospheric methane levels reached an average of 1,895.7ppb in 2021. This is 162 per cent more than preindustrial levels.
According to the NOAA, scientists estimate that global methane emissions will rise by 15% in 2021 compared with the period 1984-2006.
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Environmentalists claim the federal Budget 2022 is a good start, but does not divest from oil-and-gas development.
This year’s federal budget offers billions of dollars in new spending to address the climate crisis, but some critics argue too much of that money is set aside for carbon-capture technology.
Others are concerned the government didn’t follow through on a pledge to divest away from fossil fuels.
Budget 2022, announced Thursday, covers 60% of the cost of direct air capture facilities. These facilities extract CO2 directly in the atmosphere and store it underground.
The West Coast Environmental Law Association lawyers argue that carbon storage is an experimental technology, which could have a negative impact on water and energy consumption and potentially increase greenhouse gases emissions.
Association lawyer Andrew Gage said the budget treats direct air capture and other technologies that suck carbon dioxide out of the air “like a silver bullet that we should throw taxpayer dollars at so that the oil and gas industry can keep expanding.”
You can read the entire story here.
—Tiffany Crawford
Campaigners look for laggards as climate disclosures become more severe
Britain’s push for tougher corporate environmental disclosures will bring attention to climate change dawdlers. Campaigners are increasingly turning to the courts in an effort to force a faster transition to a low-carbon economy.
Almost 2,000 climate change-related lawsuits have been launched around the world to date, the bulk in the last seven years, London’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment showed.
While most of the complaints have been directed against public authorities, there are increasing numbers of complaints being made against companies. These include allegations that they breached a duty of care to stop climate change or mislead consumers about efforts to address changes in weather patterns and global warming.
Vulnerable companies will be those which are meaningful contributors to climate change, or are failing to manage the risks posed by climate change to their businesses, or those presenting a green façade to consumers which is not backed up by the facts,” says Isabella Hervey-Bathurst, co-manager of the Schroder ISF Global Climate Leaders fund.
You can read the entire story here.
—Reuters
Vancouver, May 4th: International conference on protecting the environment
Experts from more then 80 countries will be meeting in person or virtually to share ideas about best practices for protecting the environment while still balancing the need of solid and sustainable growth.
The B.C. The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office and the Musqueam Squamish and TsleilWaututh Nations are hosting the International Association for Impact Assessment conference in Vancouver in May 2022. The conference registration deadline is April 13, 2022.
The IAIA, the global network that focuses on impact-assessment best-practices to guide decision-making regarding major infrastructure and resource development plans, policies, programs, and programs is the IAIA. More than 1,000 members will gather to learn from each other, share stories of successes and challenges and inspire innovation as they strive to ensure major projects meet today’s needs without compromising the opportunities of future generations.
Register now for the May 4, 7 and May 7 conference https://conferences.iaia.org/2022/registration.php
Protesters stick themselves to a building in protest against RBC’s investment in fossil fuels
Protesters from all over Canada gathered at RBC Banks on Thursday to demand the banks stop funding the Coastal GasLink Pipeline.
The protests were in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en members opposed to the pipeline over concerns about the impacts on water and food sources.
Protests were held in Canada’s cities of Vancouver, Edmonton and Victoria as well as Nanaimo, Montreal and Toronto.
Two UBC students were also included in the protests across the country. They glued and chained their bodies to the RBC branch on campus. According to a story in The Ubyssey, a student newspaper.
The report said Lukas Troni and Charles Gelman, both second-year students, blocked the branch’s two entrances from 9 a.m. Thursday until 4 p.m. in the afternoon.
B.C. is sued by an environmental group The government claims its climate plan does insufficiently address emission targets
B.C. An environmental group in B.C. is suing the B.C. The government claims it has not provided a detailed plan to meet its climate change targets.
Sierra Club B.C. was represented by Ecojustice, an environmental law charity. Supreme Court against the Minister for Environment and Climate Change Strategy. He failed to provide details on how the province plans achieve its emission targets beyond 2030.
The Climate Change Accountability Act mandates that the government publish annual reports detailing how it plans to achieve all its climate targets. B.C.’s targets are for province-wide GHG emissions to be at least 40 per cent less than 2007 levels by 2030, at least 60 per cent less by 2040, and 80 per cent less by 2050.
But Sierra Club alleges the 2021 accountability report falls woefully short by failing to include a plan for the 2025, 2040 and 2050 climate targets. It also omits the government’s plan to cut carbon pollution from the oil and gas sector, fuelled mainly by the province’s natural gas sector.
You can read the entire story here.
—Tiffany Crawford
