This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including reactions to Biden’s u-turn on LNG exports and the delay of new, highly controversial EU agricultural policies.
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1. EU Delays Key Agricultural Policies Amid Mounting Pressure from European Farmers
In a major win for European farmers, the European Union (EU) announced Wednesday it would delay green rules that would have required them to set aside land to promote biodiversity and healthy soil.
Among the nine new rules the EU is set to introduce are requirements for farmers to implement crop rotations, cut fertiliser use by at least 20%, and leave at least 4% of arable land fallow or unused.
In Wednesday’s press release, the European Commission announced all EU farmers would be exempted from the latter requirement for one year, adding that farmers growing certain environmentally friendly crops on at least 7% of their arable land will be regarded as fulfilling the requirement. These include crops that contribute to nitrogen fixation – such as lentils, peas, and favas – as well as catch crops – quick-growing crops planted between between the main crops that maximise land use while preventing soil erosion.
Farmers are facing unprecedented challenges as a result of geopolitical tensions and climate change. In particular, back-to-back extreme weather events including droughts, wildfires, and floodings in various European countries have impacted output and revenue, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 contributed to a spike in energy and input prices and affected trade flows. The price of cereals is currently about 30% lower than pre-invasion, from €80.6 billion (US$87.1 billion) in 2022 to €58.8 billion (US$63.5 billion) in 2023.
Read more here.
2. Avian Flu Detected in Antarctic Penguins for the First Time, Raising Concerns Over Major Outbreak
A deadly type of avian flu has begun spreading among Antarctic penguins for the first time, just four months after the virus was first detected on the continent.
According to Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s (SCAR) data, 14 out of 35 cases of H5N1 avian influenza virus among gentoo penguins have so far been confirmed via PCR test, though Reuters on Wednesday reported that the government of the Falkland Islands, a subantarctic region off the southern tip of Argentina, has identified “over 200 dead chicks alongside a handful of adults” and was awaiting test results from rockhopper penguins as it prepared “for a large-scale outbreak.”
Migratory birds are believed to be the main vector of the deadly strain of avian influenza – or bird flu – that has spread out rapidly across the northern hemisphere in the past two years.
Since January 2022, over 11,400 bird outbreaks – defined as “an occurrence of one or more cases in a group of animals with a defined epidemiologic relationship” – were identified across 84 member countries of the World Organisation for Animal Health, with France reporting the highest number. In the US alone between January 2022 and December 27, 2023, the virus was detected in more than 8,500 wild birds in 50 states or territories and more than 1,000 commercial and backyard flocks, affecting nearly 80 million birds.
Read more here.
3. US Freezes LNG Export Permits to Review Projects’ Climate Impacts Amid Rising Pressure From Environmental Groups
The Biden administration announced on Friday a “temporary” pause on pending liquified natural gas (LNG) export permits to allow the Department of Energy (DOE) to review their economic and environmental impacts.
The pause will allow officials to update the way the DOE analyzes LNG proposals to avoid authorizing projects that diminish the country’s energy availability, weaken security, or undermine the US economy and environment, according to a statement by the White House.
The decision, which impacts a dozen planned gas export terminals, follows a months-long campaign by climate activists and local residents to curb LNG exports, which contribute to global warming and air pollution. In October 2023, former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Jeremy Symons told the Guardian that current planned terminals could result in an additional yearly 3.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHG) – approximately the equivalent of the European Union’s annual emissions.
Read more here.
4. Low-Emissions Energy Sources Will Account for Almost Half of Global Electricity Generation by 2026, IEA Says
Between now and 2026, global electricity demand is expected to grow at an accelerated rate, with an average annual increase of 3.4% and about 85% of this demand coming from emerging economies in Southeast Asia as well as China and India, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) annual report on the developments in the electricity market released last week. Energy-intensive data centres will also contribute to new demand and are forecast to consume as much electricity as Japan – the world’s fifth-largest emitter – by 2026.
Contrarily, in 2023, advanced economies such as the US and Europe experienced a 1.6% and 3.2% drop in electricity demand, respectively, owing to milder weather conditions and “permanent demand destruction” in energy-intensive industries such as chemicals and metals.
The report also found that the surge in electricity generation will be met by record-setting electricity generation from low-emission sources – including renewables such as solar and wind as well as nuclear energy. Together, they are expected to account for nearly half of the world’s electricity generation by as early as 2026, up from 40% in 2023, and they are forecast to surpass coal as the largest contributor to global electricity. When this happens, it will be the first time in more than five decades that the share of fossil fuels in global generation falls below 60%, marking a crucial moment in the fight against climate change. These rapid developments will also bring the world closer to the goal of tripling renewable capacity by 2030 agreed upon at the recent UN climate summit (COP28) in Dubai.
Read more here.
5. Global Coral Reef Monitor Adds New Heat Stress Alerts Amid Climate Change-Driven Mass Bleaching Events
The world’s main coral reef heat warning monitor has added three new bleaching alert categories to reflect the new threats that rising marine temperatures are posing to these ecosystems.
Scientists, conservationists, and marine park managers have long relied on the alert system set up by the Coral Reef Watch (CRW) – a monitoring system of global coral reef environments hosted by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – to monitor the conditions of corals around the world. Until last year, the warning system comprised four stages, with the highest (level 2) indicating likeliness of “reef-wide bleaching with mortality of heath-sensitive corals.” The three new alert levels were added in December 2023 to reflect new developments in global temperatures and climate systems.
The move followed last year’s “extreme accumulation” of coral bleaching heat stress in several regions across the world and particularly in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and Greater Caribbean, where reefs experienced historically high heat stress much earlier than usual and for much longer.
Read more here.
