The World Bank poured 3.7 billion dollars into fossil fuels around the world last year despite repeated promises to refocus on shifting to a low-carbon economy, according to research from campaign group Ungewald.

The money went through a special form of funding known as trade finance, which is used to facilitate global transactions and is more opaque than standard project finance.
#WorldBank #IFC #FossilFuels #Environment #Ungewald #Gas #Oil #ClimateEmergency

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/12/world-bank-spent-billions-of-dollars-backing-fossil-fuels-in-2022-study-finds?CMP=firstedition_email

The US has set a record for the most natural disasters in a single year that have cost $1bn or more, as fires, floods and ferocious winds were among deadly events experts warn are being turbo-charged by the climate crisis.

There have already been 23 extreme weather events in the US this year that have cost at least $1bn.

#climateChange #climateCatastrophy #climateEmergency #climateBreakdown #tippingPoint

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/11/us-record-billion-dollar-climate-disasters

New research predicts effects of marine heat waves on top ocean predators https://phys.org/news/2023-09-effects-marine-ocean-predators.html 🐋 #Cetaceans #MarineMammals #MarineLife #ClimateEmergency #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange
{📷©Elliott Hazen/SW Fisheries Science Center}

#ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

#ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

If you look beyond the daily hubbub of party politics and culture wars, you'll find that underneath it all is a far more dangerous threat — out of control climate breakdown, the collapse of civilization, and mass extinction.

But let's not talk about that. Isn't celebrity gossip more entertaining and reassuring?

For most people, it is. For the rest of us, here's the latest bad news...
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Antarctica is warming at about double the rate of the rest of the planet and far more quickly than widely-cited models projected, according to a study published Thursday that alarmed scientists around the world.

"This is absolutely devastating news," declared climate scientist and University College London professor emeritus Bill McGuire.

"First, one has to wonder if perhaps we have already passed the West Antarctic collapse tipping point," McGuire added on social media. "Second, it begs the question, are other climate model projections underestimating the speed of climate breakdown?"
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FULL STORY -- https://www.rawstory.com/absolutely-devastating-news-antarctica-warming-quicker-than-models-projected/

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

The annual wildfire season in Canada is coming to an end. Or, anyway, it *should* be by now.

But 2023 is unlike any other year. As of yesterday, there were more than 900 fires still burning, over half of them out of control.

Look at the area burned in the second graph below. The damage to wildlife is literally incalculable. Greenhouse gas emissions from all of these fires is off the charts.

Sure, some reply guy will tell you that forest fires are normal and natural and necessary. But not like this. What we’re seeing this year is an *unnatural* catastrophe caused by human industry, by the oil companies, their financiers, and the governments that support and subsidize them.

It’s a crime. It’s ecocide. And you know what? To them, it’s just Business As Usual.

#Canada #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

It's time for another week of BUSINESS AS USUAL, sponsored this time by Toyota, Comcast, and the U.S. military-industrial complex.

🎶 "Keep driving, keep flying, keep shopping, keep buying!
We've got this, everything's fine." 🎶 😃

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

It's only a few days into spring but the fires are already burning in the Northern Territory with forecasts of a hot, dry summer to come.

Fire crews battle large fire in the Northern Territory
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-10/nt-emergency-services-battle-bushfire-in-barkly-region/102837278

Hot, dry and early fire season forecast for Western Australia
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-10/wa-at-risk-of-difficult-fire-season/102837728

#Australia #ClimateEmergency #bushfires

Welp

#ClimateChange #ClimateEmergency

https://grist.org/extreme-heat/planet-just-sizzled-through-hottest-summer-on-record/

“If Cop28 fails to deliver a clear roadmap for a rapid and equitable phase out of all fossil fuels, the advent of the renewable energy era, and adequate finance to the most vulnerable countries, it will be an utter failure.”

#climateChange #climateCatastrophy #climateEmergency #climateBreakdown #tippingPoint

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/09/phase-out-fossil-fuels-cop-28-un-summit-coal-oil-gas

More and more scientists are willing to risk arrest, and their reputations, because of alarm over the climate emergency.

“The thing that’s stopping a lot of more scientists from doing this kind of activism is that it’s scary. It’s socially scary, you risk your job, you risk your status among your colleagues, you risk criminal charges. But I know just from having beers with other scientists, that as a community, we’re pretty terrified by our own science.”

#climateChange #climateCatastrophy #climateEmergency #climateBreakdown #tippingPoint

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/08/us-climate-scientist-risks-felony-chaining-herself-pipeline-drill

I’m not exaggerating when I say if we don’t stop this rampant approval of fossil fuel projects, by 2073 we’ll be living through the large-scale destruction of ecosystems and will have breached multiple tipping points, leading to the collapse of our food systems and hellish heat and fires.

#climateChange #climateCatastrophy #climateEmergency #climateBreakdown #tippingPoint

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/09/our-environmental-laws-are-failing-us-in-the-face-of-the-climate-crisis

UN warns world will miss climate targets unless fossil fuels phased out https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/08/un-report-calls-for-phasing-out-of-fossil-fuels-as-paris-climate-goals-being-missed?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other Governments failing to cut emissions fast enough to meet Paris agreement goals and avoid disaster, major report says 🔥 #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #FossilFuels

"Everything is OK until it’s not and there are limits to what the human body can tolerate when it comes to heat. Things will keep on chugging along hunky dory until we pass those limits and then very abruptly, they will not be OK. Suddenly, you’ll see an acceleration in mortality"

Heat death, wet bulb temperatures and the unpreparedness of many countries for high humidity.
#Heatwaves #Humidity #ClimateEmergency #HeatDeath

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/08/deadly-humid-heatwaves-to-spread-rapidly-as-climate-warms-study

"Chasm between #climate action and scientific reality laid bare in #UN stocktake - Rise in global #emissions must be halted within two years to avoid the worst – and it can be done, says report"

"The chasm between the climate action being taken and the emissions cuts required is set out bluntly in the new “global stocktake” report from the UN, produced in collaboration with nations.

As it stands, nations will belch out about 22bn tonnes more carbon dioxide in 2030 than the climate can cope with if the global temperature rise is to be held to 1.5C and the worst impacts of the climate crisis are to be avoided. That 22bn tonnes that must be eliminated is equivalent to the combined emissions of the top five polluters today: #China, #US, #India, #Russia and #Japan.

Furthermore, the systemic transformation of every aspect of society that the report says is required needs to start kicking in quickly enough to halt the relentless rise of emissions seen since the Industrial Revolution within just two years."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/08/climate-action-un-global-emissions-report

#ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Klima #Klimakrise #CO2 #FossilFuels #IndustrialRevolution #ClimateDiary

Pathetic, really - "‘A critical moment’: #UN warns world will miss #climate targets unless #FossilFuels phased out - Governments failing to cut #emissions fast enough to meet #ParisAgreement goals and avoid #disaster major report says
...
There is a “rapidly narrowing window” for governments to move faster, according to the report, as global greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 at the latest, and be rapidly reduced from there, to limit temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
...
Ani Dasgupta, the head of the World Resources Institute thinktank, noted that the bland tone of the report disguised a catastrophic failure. He said: “The UN’s polite prose glosses over what is a truly damning report card for global climate efforts.

“Carbon emissions? Still climbing. Rich countries’ finance commitments? Delinquent. Adaptation support? Lagging woefully behind. This report is a wake-up call to the injustice of the climate crisis, and a pivotal opportunity to correct course.”
...
Emissions are still rising, however, and there is a gap of 20 to 23 gigatonnes of #CO2 between the cuts needed by 2030 to limit global temperatures to 1.5C and the world’s current emissions trajectory.

The report, which was expected next week but was published hurriedly in draft by the UN on Friday, will form the basis of the first “global stocktake” under the 2015 Paris agreement. That process is meant to track countries’ efforts to meet the goals of the treaty.

However, the 47-page UN report does not set out in detail which countries are falling behind, nor does it contain specific recommendations directed at particular countries or regions."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/08/un-report-calls-for-phasing-out-of-fossil-fuels-as-paris-climate-goals-being-missed

#GHG #GHGEmissions #ClimateCrisis #ClimateDisaster #ClimateEmergency #Climate #Klima #Klimakrise #ClimateDiary #GlobalWarming

Scientists are scrambling to understand why Antarctic sea ice has been at record low levels over the last two years, with some suggesting global heating could now be affecting the region.

#climateChange #climateCatastrophy #climateEmergency #climateBreakdown #tippingPoint

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/08/antarctica-warming-much-faster-than-models-predicted-in-deeply-concerning-sign-for-sea-levels

"Green Growth" will not stop climate change. It will only continue to make things worse.

And there is no such thing as "sustainable" capitalism. That is simply an impossibility.

Let's learn more...
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With global temperatures soaring to record highs, it might be worthwhile to check in on the progress of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Biden one year ago.

Passage of the act was met with accolades. Mainstream environmentalists declared it a “game changer” and a “seismic shift.”

But are we actually on track to avert climate catastrophe? How much money is being spent, and where is it being targeted? Are there trends we can identify at this early stage? To state the obvious, time is not on our side, and an assessment of where we stand in terms of benchmarks and emissions is crucial.

Arguably, the sector where the IRA has had the most immediate impact is the manufacturing of electric vehicles, identified as a primary goal towards “decarbonizing” the transportation system.

For example, Ford Motor Company, whose profit last year was more than $23 billion, was given 9 billion taxpayer dollars to build an electric vehicle factory in Tennessee. Even with the substandard wages they will pay their workers in that “right-to-work” state, Ford claimed it needed this “incentive” to compete with Chinese auto manufacturers.

Setting aside the corporate-friendly way the law encourages the build-out of this new industry, can anyone really believe it is “green”? Is there any accounting for the embedded emissions, not to mention the overall ecological impact, involved in replacing 275 million private vehicles with shiny new electric ones?

Already 52 new mining and manufacturing projects have been announced — with $56 billion in investment proposed.
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The article goes on to examine other #greenwashing initiatives, like direct air capture and so-called green hydrogen, along with the push for even more consumer-driven economic growth.

FULL STORY -- https://systemchangenotclimatechange.org/article/let-a-million-evs-bloom-the-ira-one-year-later/

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

It's official 📜. #Belgium is having the *first* ever observed #heatwave ♨️ in September.
Monday: more than 25°C
Tuesday: 30,9°C
Wednesday: 30,1°C
Thursday: 30,2°C
25°C was reached this morning 11AM, meeting the criteria of a heat wave.

Temperatures of more than 30°C are expected the next two days.

#ClimateChange #ClimateEmergency #Extremeweather #Heatwave #Brussels