Climate Crises: Rich Nations reluctant to help pay poor nations for their cleanup.

Sunday, loud cheers from Sharm el-Sheikh greeted the announcement of a new initiative – the global loss and damage fund – to right historical wrongs by compensating climate-hit developing countries. This breakthrough brought back memories of another, the £100bn a year agreed at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit to help poor countries mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.

That money has never fully materialised. If our 13 years’ experience of the £100bn fund that never was is anything to go by, eulogies of praise will soon turn into allegations of betrayal. The president of next year’s Cop28 will have to answer for yet another fund without funders. Far from the loss and damage fund narrowing the credibility gap on climate action, it is likely to bridge nothing if money fails to flow from rich to poor.

The last decade has been a history of promises made and broken. Before Covid, the cost of financing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) was $2.5tn a year. Now, post-Covid, and with the price of fighting floods, firestorms and droughts – and the debt burden of low-income countries – dramatically escalating, it is $4tn annually. Set against an official development assistance (ODA) budget of only $179bn a year and $130bn on offer mainly in multilateral loans, the SDGs represent yet another unanimous but unfunded pledge of the international community. To make matters worse, the British development aid budget has now been cut from 0.7% of our national income to 0.5% for years ahead, and already our overall contribution to meeting all oom loopur climate and development targets is down from the promised £16bn to just £11.5bn.

Read  more at: https://www.theguardian.com

Global population: There are now 8 billion people living on our planet, but they are not the cause of global warming

With Earth's population hitting a projected eight billion, it's easy to draw the conclusion that climate change is the result of too many people consuming energy.

But scientists say it's not that simple. Climate change, they say, is more a matter of overconsumption than overpopulation. And there isn't a neat correlation between between the two.

Read more at:https://www.cbc.com

Egypt: the world is on a highway to hell when it comes to global warming, if it does not take serious action says UN chief

World leaders and diplomats framed the fight against global warming as a battle for human survival during opening speeches at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Monday, with the head of the United Nations declaring a lack of progress so far had the world speeding down a "highway to hell".

Read more at: https://www.cbc.com

Global warming: France orders air-conditioned shops to close their doors - with fines if they leave them open

The French government is set to force all air-conditioned shops to close their doors and switch off illuminated advertising overnight, in a bid to cut energy use.

Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher says it's "absurd" that leaving doors open while the air conditioning is running can lead to 20% more energy consumption.

Businesses which break the ban, due to come into force in the next few days when Pannier-Runacher issues new decrees, will face a €750 fin

Note EU-Digest: Same should be done in other countries of Europe, and in America, where people are completely addicted to airconditioning. and In some areas even keep their car engine running with airconditioning full blast on, while they shop. We better all start taking global warming serious as the clock keeps ticking towards the final curtain,🇪🇺🇺🇸

Read more at France orders air-conditioned shops to close their doors - with fines if they leave them open | Euronews

EU Global Wrming: EU countries reach climate crisis deal after late-night talks

EU countries clinched deals on proposed laws to combat the climate crisis in the early hours of Wednesday, backing a 2035 phase-out of new fossil-fuel car sales and a multibillion-euro fund to shield poorer citizens from the costs of carbon dioxide emissions.

After more than 16 hours of negotiations, environment ministers from the 27 member states agreed their joint positions on five laws, part of a broader package of measures to slash planet-heating emissions this decade.

“The climate crisis and its consequences are clear, and so policy is unavoidable,” EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said, adding that he thought the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a major supplier of gas, was spurring countries to quit fossil fuels faster.

Read more at: EU countries reach climate crisis deal after late-night talks | European Union | The Guardian

Climate Change: Politics, science, and public attitudes: What we're learning, and why it matters

The bad news is that everybody does it. The good news is that social scientists are making progress in understanding why people ignore solid scientific evidence in deciding what they think about all manner of science-based issues—including how those topics should be taught in schools and addressed by policymakers.

The U.S. research community has long lamented how often the public disregards—or distorts—scientific findings. Many media pundits point the finger at partisan politics, although they offer contrasting explanations: Liberals often assert that Republicans are simply antiscience, whereas conservatives often insist that Democrats tout scientific findings to justify giving government a larger and more intrusive role.A leading social science journal, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, takes a deep dive into the debate by devoting its March issue (subscription required) to "The Politics of Science." The issue, edited by political scientists Elizabeth Suhay of American University in Washington, D.C., and James Druckman of Northwestern University, includes some 15 articles that explore "the production, communication, and reception of scientific knowledge." And nobody gets a free pass.

"It's an equal opportunity scold," says the journal's executive editor, Thomas Kecskemethy. "I was fascinated by how the knowledge elites are vulnerable to their own biases."

The researchers provide no simple answers. (In truth, some of the articles are nearly impenetrable, larded with jargon and political theory.) But the special issue does offer some useful take-home messages:

Read More at: Politics, science, and public attitudes: What we're learning, and why it matters | Science | AAAS

The Netherlands: Why the Dutch embrace floating homes - by Shira Rubin

When a heavy storm hit in October, residents of the floating community of Schoonschip in Amsterdam had little doubt they could ride it out. They tied up their bikes and outdoor benches, checked in with neighbours to ensure everyone had enough food and water, and hunkered down as their neighborhood slid up and down its steel foundational pillars, rising along with the water and descending to its original position after the rain subsided.

"We feel safer in a storm because we are floating," says Siti Boelen, a Dutch television producer who moved into Schoonschip two years ago. "I think it's kind of strange that building on water is not a priority worldwide."

As sea levels rise and supercharged storms cause waters to swell, floating neighbourhoods offer an experiment in flood defence that could allow coastal communities to better withstand climate change. In the land-scarce but densely populated Netherlands, demand for such homes is growing. And, as more people look to build on the water there, officials are working to update zoning laws to make the construction of floating homes easier.

Read More at: Why the Dutch embrace floating homes - BBC Future

The Netherlands: Around 90% of newly built homes erected last year in the Netherlands are gas-free – by Emiliano Bellini

Netbeheer Nederland, the Dutch association of national and regional power network operators, has revealed that approximately 90.1% of new buildings erected last year are not connected to the gas network in the service areas of grid operators Liander, Enexis Netbeheer and Stedin.

A year earlier, this percentage had reached around 87%. “The number of applications to disconnect existing homes from natural gas is also increasing,” the organization said. “For example, households are switching to all-electric as a sustainable alternative.”

Netbeheer Nederland specified that the 10% of new homes built last year that were still linked to the gas grid were granted this possibility as their environmental permit was filed before 1 July 2018. “In addition, municipalities still have the option of granting an exemption for new construction projects after 1 July 2018, for example when solutions other than natural gas are technically impossible,” it added.

Read more at: Around 90% of newly built homes erected last year in the Netherlands are gas-free – pv magazine International

The Netherlands: How the Dutch Built the Netherlands to Protect it from Flooding

Most of the Netherlands is actually below sea level which causes quite some problems for thecountry. The Dutch have spent centuries building sea defenses to push back water, successfully managing to reclaim almost 20% of their land from the sea and lakes.

To achieve this impressive goal, they used polders, low-lying areas of land that were reclaimed through the building of dikes, drainage canals, and pumping stations. Today, there are more than 3,000 polders throughout the nation. This wasn't enough though, and in 1916, they suffered from severe flooding.

That's when the Dutch decided to work on the Afsluitdijk to protect low-lying areas and the wall off the Zuiderzee from the sea. The seawall was one of the largest engineering feats of its time, spanning 20 mi (32 km) and a final height of 23 ft (7 m) above sea level. More impressive was the fact that it was topped off by sand and clay, and held together by grass.

Read more at: How the Dutch Built the Netherlands to Protect it from Flooding

Global Warming: Could a technological fix save the planet from climate change?

UN climate experts were unanimous in their latest report published in August: Unless we keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, the earth will be racked by heatwaves, cyclones and storms, entire species will be wiped out, and large swathes of humanity will have to leave their homes when coastal settlements go underwater.

As despair growths about humanity’s ability to avoid this fateful threshold, researchers are looking at geoengineering as a potential means of reversing the damage.

“Geoengineering is a way of using various technological tools to cancel out the environmental effects of human actions,” explained Sofia Kabbej, a researcher in the Climate, Energy and Security Programme at France’s Institute of International and Strategic Relations.

Read nore at: Could a technological fix save the planet from climate change?

The Netherlands - Global Warmimg: IMF says Dutch economy is recovering, but more needed in climate change fight

The strong economic recovery of the Netherlands justifies the Cabinet's decision to stop the massive coronavirus economic support packages. But the continuing direction of the coronavirus pandemic remains "uncertain" and politicians in The Hague will have to remain ready to reactivate support programs such as the NOW scheme if necessary, according to researchers from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Read more at: IMF says Dutch economy is recovering, but more needed in climate change fight | NL Times

Paris to Berlin in an hour: Welcome to the future of high-speed rail travel in Europe

Picture this: the year is 2045. You’re standing on a platform in Berlin awaiting a sleek Hyperloop pod that will glide into the station to a noiseless halt and then deposit you in Paris an hour later, ready for your morning meeting.

In the afternoon, you’ll take another southbound pod on a leisurely trip to Barcelona for the weekend, a journey that will take no more than 90 minutes.

The speed and ease is no longer a surprise to you because in the last quarter-century, almost all travel throughout Europe has shifted from the skies to the ground.

Read more at: Paris to Berlin in an hour: Welcome to the future of high-speed rail travel in Europe | Euronews

Greenland: Rain fell on Greenland’s ice sheet for the first time ever known. Alarms should ring - by Kim Heacox

Many people believed he couldn’t do it. Ski across the Greenland ice sheet, a vast, unmapped, high-elevation plateau of ice and snow? Madness.

But Fridtjof Nansen, a young Norwegian, proved them wrong. In 1888, he and his small party went light and fast, unlike two large expeditions a few years before. And unlike the others, Nansen traveled from east to west, giving himself no option of retreat to a safe base. It would be forward or die trying. He did it in seven weeks, man-hauling his supplies and ascending to 8,900ft (2,700 meters) elevation, where summertime temperatures dropped to -49F (-45C).That was then.

Last month, for the first time in recorded history, rain fell on the highest point of the Greenland ice sheet. It hardly made the news. But rain in a place historically defined by bitter cold portends a future that will alter coastlines around the world, and drown entire cities.

Read more at: Rain fell on Greenland’s ice sheet for the first time ever known. Alarms should ring | Kim Heacox | The Guardian

The Netherlands: Climate change poses serious health risk for people in the Netherlands, says expert

The Dutch medicine journal NTvG joined 200 other medical journals worldwide in their call for world leaders to intensify their effort in combating climate change, NOS reported.

Climate change poses an immediate risk for public health, the experts said. “Climate change and the decline in biodiversity is a much larger problem than the pandemic”, NTvG editor-in-chief Olde Rikkert told NOS Radio 1 Journaal. “While you do have a vaccine for the coronavirus, you don’t have that for climate change and biodiversity.”

The experts said they believe the earth is steering towards a two degrees Celsius temperature increase.

Read more at: Climate change poses serious health risk for people in the Netherlands, says expert | NL Times

China-US Relations: The US and China can't get along -- even if the planet's future is at stake

In July, the Chinese city of Zhengzhou was devastated by flooding that killed subway passengers and motorists unable to escape from underground tunnels. And just last week, flooding stretched across the United States' East Coast, drowning a family of three in their submerged apartment and sweeping two young adults into a storm drain.

And yet, despite facing the same common threat, China and the United States -- the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters -- remain at odds when it comes to climate action.

Read more at The US and China can't get along -- even if the planet's future is at stake

Global Warming: Apocalypse or co-operation? – by Jayati Ghosh

The apocalypse is now. That is the glaring message of the perfect storm of Covid-19 and climate change which has broken. The pandemic is unlikely to end for years, as the novel coronavirus mutates into increasingly transmissible, drug-resistant variants. And the climate catastrophe is no longer ‘impending’ but playing out in real time.

The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—whose assessments predate the extreme climate events of the past year—tells us that some drastic, adverse climatic changes are now irreversible. These will affect every region, as the recent heatwaves, wildfires and floods demonstrate. They will also severely damage many natural species and adversely affect the possibilities for, and conditions of, human life.

Read more at: https://socialeurope.eu/apocalypse-or-co-operation

The Netherlands: 2/3 of Dutchies want a tougher approach to climate change

Since the Netherlands is likely to be harder hit by rising sea levels, it makes sense that the Dutch are worried about climate change. In a study commissioned by RTL Nieuws, two out of three Dutchies think the cabinet needs to be doing more to combat it.

This research comes out a week after it was revealed that the Dutch government is responsible for 20% of the country’s carbon footprint. It’s not surprising that people think it could be pulling it’s weight a bit more.

Read more at: 2/3 of Dutchies want a tougher approach to climate change – DutchReview

Pollution in the Netherlands: Gov’t gives green light to Dutch Grand Prix; First Zandvoort F1 race since 1985

The Formula 1 race scheduled to be held at Circuit Zandvoort will be allowed to go ahead as planned. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge will announce final approval for the race when they update the country about coronavirus policy during a press conference on Friday, political sources told broadcaster NOS.

Capacity is expected to be allowed at a maximum of two-thirds. Those attending the race and supporting events during the first weekend in September will be expected to provide proof of being fully vaccinated against Covid-19, a recent recovery from Covid-19, or a recent negative test result for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, the broadcaster reported.

Note EU-Digest: This is a sport which causes pollution and not a great idea when we want to fight global warming

Read more at: Gov’t gives green light to Dutch Grand Prix; First Zandvoort F1 race since 1985 | NL Times

Global Warming: Venice is flooding again: Watch tourists wade through knee-deep water

St Mark's Square in Venice was underwater late on Saturday night after a rare "acqua alta" or high water event.

As a city of canals, Venice has come to expect some flooding between autumn and spring each year during ‘acqua alta’ aka the high tides. But this summer flooding is very out of character for the city.

Due to climate change and rising sea levels St Mark’s square has gone from flooding four times a year in 1900 to over 60 times a year now.

Read more at: Venice is flooding again: Watch tourists wade through knee-deep water | Euronews

The Netherlands may face higher sea level rises than global average – DutchReview

According to a newly released report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the rise of the global sea level will increase over the coming decades and centuries — this is hardly news.

However, the report also highlights that in the Netherlands, 50-90% of sea-level rise will be caused by meltwater from Antarctica. The Antarctic ice sheet is sensitive to warming ocean water and will melt at an accelerated pace if global warming is too high.

Read more at: The Netherlands may face higher sea level rises than global average – DutchReview