Snippets for 24 November 2022

Welcome to another fortnightly edition of SnippETS.

In this issue we open with COP27. From a climate change perspective, it was a dismal failure, undermined by the actions of Petro-States such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Russia and the fossil fuel industry itself, by the presence of 600 fossil fuel lobbyists, up from the 500 at COP26. With COP28 being hosted by the United Arab Emirates in Dubai, we think the world has finally learned that the limits of what can be achieved through the consensus-based COP has been reached.

So where to from here? With the rest of the world increasingly focussed on addressing climate change, we need to find ways of making the fossil fuel sector irrelevant. And addressing climate change is, according to Zac Goldsmith, a senior UK Conservative and former international climate minister, not ‘woke’ or trendy, but instead representative of the popular opinion and a desire for changlso at COP27, John Kerry, the US Climate Ambassador proposed creating a new carbon market for certified offset credits, derived from clean energy projects in developing countries. Mia Mottley, the Barbados Prime Minister proposed revisiting the 1944 Bretton Woods Institutions, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to start taxing oil companies and releasing $650billion from the IMF, through a mechanism called Special Drawing Rights.

We also examine how the renewable energy sector is already paying dividends, in this case by saving Asian nations a collective $34 billion that otherwise would have been spent on fossil fuels; and plans by an Alliance to expand offshore wind generation to 380GW and provide a massive boost to investment and job creation.

And it is not just changes in the renewable energy sector, change is also occurring in various industry sectors through the actions of the First Movers Coalition (FMC), where buying pledges have now reached $12 billion and counting. These pledges provide early demand signals through advance market commitments, giving investors more certainty that they will be able to scale commercially. These include the steel, aluminium, aviation, shipping, trucking, carbon dioxide removal and now concrete industries.

And just in case climate change adaptation becomes essential, our final article features the Fijian need to relocate communities, due to rising sea levels and the planning and logistics that the relocation might entail.

There was only one genuine silver lining to come out of COP27: the establishment of a loss and damage fund. The fund will be set up by wealthier nations to aid developing nations deal with climate catastrophes. Overall COP27 was a dismal failure from progressing action on climate change perspective, as all positive actions and wording were watered down by petro-states and the fossil fuel industry, leaving the world still on the brink of climate catastrophe. Read more....

From a New Zealand perspective, we did not perform much better than the others, failing to revisit and strengthen our 2030 carbon-cutting goal ahead of COP27 as promised. Furthermore, New Zealand was awarded a “Fossil of the Day” accolade by climate activists, for performing an ‘about face’ on the timeline to create the loss and damage fund. Though New Zealand has quadrupled its climate aid pot in the last year, some may argue we weren’t the climate leaders we could have been on the global stage. Read more....

And there’s one big New Zealand centric sector, that leaders at COP27 failed to consider: livestock. Responsible for at least 16.5% of global emissions, discussions on targets to reduce emissions from livestock have been notably absent among world leaders. That needs to change, the article argues, if we are to have any hope of keeping warming to 1.5C. But the industry has massive influence and food is something deeply cultural and close to people’s psyche, making this issue a difficult one to tackle. Read more....

Zac Goldsmith, a senior UK Conservative and former international climate minister, is trying to persuade people that climate change concerns are not remote, not trendy, not ‘woke’, not nice to have and not a waste of UK taxpayers’ money. He notes that voters are deeply concerned, as seen in the Democrats better than expected performance in the recent US midterm elections. He also thinks trade policies should be engineered to help developing countries move to more sustainable practices, stating they want ‘trade, not aid’. Read more....

COP27 was a disappointment barring a few positive outcomes. One of them was a proposal from John Kerry, the U.S. Climate Ambassador, to create a new carbon market for certified offset credits, derived from clean energy projects in developing countries. To deter greenwashers, Kerry’s plan also suggests limits on those entitled to buy credits and what the credits can be used for. Even though this is in the early stages, it has already generated interest in developing nations. Read more....

Mia Mottley, the Barbados Prime Minister and her envoy’s policies were another positive at COP 27. A few of the proposals included initiatives like releasing $650 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), through a mechanism called Special Drawing Rights, allowing members to borrow from each other's reserves at low-interest rates. She also called on the world to revisit the 1944 Bretton Woods Institutions - the IMF and the World Bank - and to start taxing the oil companies, which made a profit of $220 billion in the last quarter alone. Read more....

Renewable energy is once again proving that it pays dividends, in this case solar power saved US$34 billion in fossil fuel costs for seven Asian countries. The bigger the investment in solar, the bigger the saving. China, India, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand saved fossil fuel costs equivalent to 9% of the total fossil fuel costs for the first half of the year. China had the biggest savings of about US$21 billion, as solar met 5% of its total electricity demand. Read more....

Offshore windfarms are also gaining momentum with a number of countries joining an international alliance to boost offshore wind power. Wind energy currently generates 15% of Europe’s electricity, supporting 300,000 jobs. The Alliance aims to have a total installed capacity of at least 380 GW by 2030, with 1 GW being enough energy to power around 750,000 homes. Wind is more than competitive with fossil fuel generation and can also provide a massive boost to investment and job creation. Read more....

Businesses are also playing an important part in decarbonising, with the First Movers Coalition (FMC) buying pledges reaching $12 billion and counting. Collectively, the member’s represent a ‘market value’ of close to $8 trillion. The overarching mission of the FMC is to provide early demand signals through advance market commitments to climate tech firms, giving investors in those technologies more certainty that they will be able to scale commercially. These include the steel, aluminium, aviation, shipping, trucking, carbon dioxide removal and now concrete industries. Read more....

So what to do when all else fails and the sea-level rises? Fiji has developed a plan and is implementing it where needed, and modifying it as necessary. There is more to moving a small village than you might think, and involving the right people in the planning is essential. Given that NZ now has a National Adaptation Plan, this article makes you think, and consider, how implementing a larger scale move for our communities could be undertaken. Read more....