Climate

• [New] While the brutal winter storms across the U.S. are difficult for humans, they put wildlife at risk, particularly cold-blooded reptiles, like sea turtles.
• [New] Houston has issued a boil water notice because of the risks of untreated bacteria, while the Salvation Army has opened community heating centers across North Texas.
• [New] In the United States, many state and local climate change plans are built around targets based on outdated climate science, such as 80% emissions reductions by 2050.
• [New] Los Angeles has billed its climate plan as a Green New Deal, an approach that's meant to tie decarbonization to economic justice, by creating jobs for people in communities that are harmed by pollution and threatened by climate change.
• [New] With the world population expected to grow to over 10 billion people by 2050, coupled with climate change, competition for water resources is rapidly increasing, having a particular impact on agriculture.
• [New] The world must reach net zero emissions by 2050 to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial times and avert the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.
• [New] Russia's efforts to implement its Nord Stream 2 gas pipe, which is the Kremlin's political project, threatens the energy security of European countries, as well as draws worrying prospects for maintaining balance in the Baltic Sea ecosystem.
• [New] Extreme weather patterns will continue to emerge as the threat of climate change grows, even in places like Texas where serious winter storms are rare.
• [New] The capability, scheduled to become operational in 2022, will allow the WGS constellation of satellites to pinpoint and mitigate any attempt to jam its signal.
• [New] The United States on Friday warned China against the use of force in disputed waters as it reaffirmed its view that Beijing's assertive campaign in the South China Sea is illegal.
• [New] The world faces existential challenges such as climate change, ecosystem collapse, and nuclear proliferation that will only worsen if the United States, China, and others fail to collaborate.
• [New] China and Russia are not willing to participate in an ideological confrontation with the West, and both of them are deeply intertwined with the West in fields like trade, energy, climate change and so on, so European countries will not fully obey the US' demands.
• [New] A new U.S. administration and increased public support to help aviation survive the COVID-19 crisis and tackle climate change could spur a deal.
• [New] The US Coast Guard contracted the telecommunications company Orbcomm to launch satellites that could pick up on AIS signals from space.
• [New] Cities are vulnerable to climate change, with a projected 800m urban inhabitants at risk from the impacts of rising seas and storm surges by 2050.
• [New] Data is drawn from over 8,000+ companies at all stages of the value chain who disclosed through CDP in 2020 and finds a combined US$ 120 billion of increased costs within the next five years from environmental risks caused by climate change, deforestation and water related impacts.
• [New] Climate change - specifically the rapid warming of the Arctic - could be a factor in this week's chill in Texas, though more scientific research would be needed to confirm any link.
• [New] Given that the SEC will likely focus on climate risk disclosures as part of its ESG platform, oil and gas companies should be prepared to disclose and discuss the impact of climate change on its business.
• [New] If adopted by every country around the world, a global coalition for carbon neutrality by 2050 can still prevent the worst impacts of climate change.
• [New] Customized solutions will be needed to address the industrial legacy pollution in eastern Ukraine's Donbas, damaged oil facilities in Syria, and widescale water problems driven by climate and conflict in Yemen.
• [New] In October last year, US Dairy announced an initiative to achieve net neutrality and improve how it uses water by 2050.
• [New] In 2021 CDC will invest over $1.5bn in companies in Africa and Asia with a focus on fighting climate change, empowering women and creating new jobs and opportunities for millions of people.
• [New] Climate change risks and opportunities have come into sharp focus over the last year or so and corporates play a key role in responding to the challenge, including working to achieve alignment with the Paris Agreement.

Last updated: 22 February 2021