Climate Change

TIME! - Peter Schmitt & Friends Aug 7, 2019

TIME! to stand and speak up for climate&justice and a “just transition” to a sustainable future

Phasing Out Unabated Coal : Current status and three case studies https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/861dc94d-a684-4875-80fb-a1faaf914125/PhasingOutUnabatedCoal-CurrentStatusandThreeCaseStudies.pdf INTERNATIONAL ENERGY
AGENCY

The Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (NZE) envisages that by 2030 advanced economies would end all power generation by unabated coal-fired plant.

Of the 21 countries that have pledged to phase out coal, in 14 countries less than 10% of the electricity supply came from coal. In countries where coal contributes little to the power supply and there is no domestic coal industry, phasing out coal is likely to be feasible without detriment to the economy, electricity prices or security of electricity supply.

In three of the 21 countries, by contrast, coal represents more than 20% of the electricity supply. Seven countries also have a domestic mining industry that supplies coal for power generation. In such countries, phasing out coal will be longer and more complex

Based on the phase-out experiences of the Canadian province of Ontario, the United Kingdom and Germany. , we present six recommendations:
1. Allow sufficient time for consultation and implementation

2.Provide support for affected workers and communities

3. Ensure that security of electricity supply is a cornerstone of phase-out policies

4. Implement carbon pricing:

5. Improve the climate for investment in clean electricity and the necessary infrastructure.

6. Consider conversion of coal generation assets.

Global Climate Action: Where Do Indian Banks Stand? https://www.indiaspend.com/explainers/global-climate-action-where-do-indian-banks-stand-779673  By Flavia Lopes, Gokulananda Nandan|8 Oct, 2021
Indian banks need to move away from financing fossil fuels projects and prioritise lending to renewable energy and other environmentally sustainable projects

Indian banks and financial institutions, including the State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI, Axis Bank, the Trust Group and HDFC, are among the largest global financial institutions funding fossil fuel projects. Banks play an important role in financing sustainable sectors such as renewable energy and in stopping financing of fossil fuels. But in India, banks have yet to implement policies to reduce their own emissions, or ask it of the companies that they finance

The United Nations Environment Programme issued Principles for Responsible Banking in 2019  to guide banks to consider the environmental and social impacts of the projects they lend to. These are also meant to help banks align their visions with the Sustainable Development Goals of 2015 and the Paris Climate Agreement. 

Creating the future of banking: https://www.unepfi.org/banking/bankingprinciples/more-about-the-principles/ 

https://www.unepfi.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PrinciplesOverview_Infographic.pdf

The ‘net-zero’ greenwash ASHISH KOTHARI 13 JULY 2021 https://wsimag.com/economy-and-politics/66356-the-net-zero-greenwash Climate crisis and biodiversity loss are becoming impossible to ignore 

Net-zero  is part of the discussions around the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework that is being negotiated under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)...For biodiversity, the equivalent is ‘no-net-loss’, which means that the loss of an ecosystem or species somewhere is compensated by regenerating or protecting anew a similar ecosystem or that species somewhere else.

Firstly, a mindset that equates pollution emitted or forest cut in one place to pollution absorbed or afforestation done elsewhere, is ecologically and socially ignorant (or willfully negligent)

Second, as a recent civil society report exposing the net-zero scam points out, many of the proposals for achieving this target are based on unrealistic projections of land available, or technologies that are not yet viable.

Third, the common experience with all such approaches is that the targets are hardly ever met. Inefficiency, corruption, and other all-too-frequent bugbears of the governmental or corporate system play their own part in this failure of implementation.

Fourth, net-zero approaches do not take into consideration social, economic, and cultural impacts, both of the activities that are causing emissions or biodiversity loss as also of the compensatory activities.  If a forest or wetland on which a local community is dependent is cleared for a mining project, how can afforestation or regeneration of a wetlands elsewhere possibly compensate its loss of livelihoods and cultural-spiritual connections? 

Fifth, as the above mentioned civil society report points out, “the vast majority of these (climate-related) plans are centred on a “net zero” by 2050 timeline with little action taken to reduce emissions at source for decades—far too long a timeline for a credible emissions reduction plan that ensures we keep global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

It is not as if alternatives do not exist. They do, and are proven as viable in initiatives around the world. Decentralised renewable energy such as solar is now financially affordable (in many situations cheaper than fossil fuels). It needs to be accompanied with limits on luxury demand and the redistribution of existing energy to those who still don’t have enough. These are political issues, and require cultural change as well to give a sense of the injustice and unsustainability of demanding more and more energy (even if its ‘renewable’). 

What is Net Zero and why is it difficult for India to achieve it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaWR4e8ne3Y Sep 22,2021