Essential Climate News : Your 5 A Day - 8 Nov 2022
Key headlines about the most important crisis of our time, part of Climate Signals, a new content project by Green Queen founder Sonalie Figueiras.
Welcome to the Essential Climate News newsletter! I am constantly hearing that when it comes to the climate, people are overwhelmed. There's too much news, disinformation is everywhere and most of us can't make sense of what's 1) important and 2) trustworthy. Given I spend most of my days immersed in climate news, I am starting this 5 A Day roundup of essential climate headlines. Like eating your greens, being informed on the most important crisis of our time is more than a nice-to-do. As a responsible, conscious human, it's a must-do. Feedback always welcome.
NOT GOING TO HAPPEN: It's now a definitive fact that no matter what we do, we will not meet the 1.5-degree Celsius warming mitigation target set out in the Paris Agreement (COP21) in 2015 by 194 countries. This is bad news for everyone on the planet, but most especially for island and coastal nations and António Guterres told. Via The Economist
8 HOTTEST YEARS ON RECORD: The UN-backed World Meteorological Organization has published a report underscoring what many can already feel: the past eight years have been the hottest ever recorded and this has resulted in a deluge of droughts, heat waves, melting glaciers, and other natural disasters dubbed by the authors as ‘climate chaos’. In his opening address, UN Secretary General António Guterres told a COP27 audience that "we are on a highway to climate hell”. Via Al Jazeera
'THIS IS GOING TO BE A DIFFICULT COP’: All eyes on what is meant to be the world's premier climate conference. If you scroll Linkedin at all, it may feel like everyone and their grandmother is at Sharm El-Sheikh except you. The headlines are aplenty, and the conference has already started on shaky ground due to arguments around how to address climate loss and damage incurred by the world's poorest nations and other infighting around the event's agenda. Via The Guardian
US NOT PAYING ITS FAIR CLIMATESHARE: A new report by Carbon Brief published underlines that rich nations such as the US, Canada, Australia and the UK are not paying their fair share when it comes to climate finance, as calculated in proportion to their total GHG emissions to date. Further, The Guardian also reports that climate economist Nicholas Stern has just presented a report at COP27 stating that developing nations are short $2 trillion a year in climate finance to fight the consequences of a crisis they bear very little responsibility for. Via Carbon Brief
TECH TO CLIMATE: Banking/tech's loss are climate startups’ gain. According to anecdotal evidence, younger folks are leaving finance and social media behind to throw their talent into the more impactful world of climate tech. Given the layoffs across Silicon Valley and the climate crisis hitting peak media attention, it is not surprising (and most heartening) that Gen Zs and millennials want to devote their time to fighting environmental collapse. Via Protocol
ABOUT: Essential Climate News: Your 5 A Day is part of Climate Signals, a new content project by Green Queen founder Sonalie Figueiras.
Why I am listing sources: 1) It's only polite to give credit to the original journalists when sharing a story- after all, they invested in the news. 2) Linking to reputable, quality journalism helps readers create their own list of factual news sources.