Ahead of COP27 next week, I'm advising that Sierra Club President Ramon Cruz, Sierra Club International Climate and Policy Director Cherelle Blazer, Sierra Club Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Legal Leslie Fields, and Sierra Club International Climate Policy Advisor Steve Herz will be in Sharm El-Sheikh and available for interview.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Senate voted 69-27 to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, finalizing the amendment that was first agreed upon by 150 nations in 2016. The Kigali Amendment aims to phase out the use of dangerous hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potentially avoiding half a degree Celsius of warming by the end of the century. Hydrofluorocarbons have become the fastest-growing greenhouse gasses in the U.S. and are emitted annually at a rate exceeding 150 million metric tons of CO2 — the equivalent emissions of about 40 coal-fired power plants.
EUROPE -- Today, the European Union announced it will decrease its bloc-wide methane gas, sometimes referred to as “natural gas,” consumption by 15 percent between now and Spring 2023 in response to Russia’s decision to decrease gas supply to Germany. Russian gas currently accounts for 40 percent of the EU’s supply. The agreement includes some narrow exceptions, including for small island nations and the Baltic States, which currently have limited energy alternatives, as well as countries that have lower consumption rates of gas.
Cherelle Blazer, the Sierra Club’s International Climate and Policy Director, will be in attendance at the Bonn SB 56 meetings from June 6-16. She will be focusing on Loss and Damage and the Glasgow Dialogue during the meetings and will be able to speak on those issues as well as energy issues (coal, oil, and gas), climate, and fossil fuel financing.
BRUSSELS -- Today, European Union adopted its RePowerEU plan to begin eliminating Russian fossil fuel imports. RePowerEU will focus on increasing energy efficiency and demand savings, reducing bottlenecks for clean energy projects, and expanding solar energy, with the goal of cutting the EU’s fossil gas imports from Russia by two-thirds this year and the remaining one-third by 2027. At the same time, the EU also released its International Energy Strategy, which will partially focus on increasing imports of false solutions like blue hydrogen and fossil gas through deals with the US, Egypt, Israel, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Japan, Korea, and other countries.
Global coal plant capacity under development declined in 2021, according to Global Energy Monitor’s eighth annual survey of the coal plant pipeline. The report finds that after rising in 2020 for the first time since 2015, total coal power capacity under development declined 13% last year, from 525 gigawatts (GW) to 457 GW, a record low. 34 countries have new coal plants under consideration, down from 41 countries in January 2021. China, South Korea, and Japan notably pledged to stop funding new coal plants in other countries, but China continued to lead all countries in domestic development of new coal plants, commissioning more coal capacity than the rest of the world combined.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report 6 Working Group 3 (WG III) released its new report on climate mitigation methods and how to limit global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, covering everything from mitigation pathways to carbon pollution removal, with chapters dedicated to technology and innovation for the first time in IPCC history. Critically, the report also details why mitigation is both economically feasible and necessary.
Early this morning, President Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the development of plans to help the EU end its reliance on Russian gas in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The announcement lays out strategies to both expand the supply of US-produced gas to Europe and reduce Europe’s need for fossil fuels, though the latter is light on details about how this would be achieved or whether it includes investments in false solutions like blue hydrogen.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report 6 Working Group 2 (WG II) released its new report spelling out the costs and consequences of the climate crisis, including public health, displacement, food and water insecurity, as well as the potential and limits in adapting to the climate crisis and keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
NEW ORLEANS -- The Sierra Club’s International Climate and Policy Campaign is joining with the #Blairisms for a series of conversations about climate justice and the African Diaspora leading up to the 27th UN Climate Conference or Conference of Parties (COP).
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND -- After two weeks of often intense negotiations, the annual United Nations climate summit (COP26) wrapped up in Glasgow today. The summit took place in the wake of record-breaking storms and flooding in Glasgow, a reminder that the climate crisis is affecting every corner of our planet. It also occurred amid the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, which led to limited and inequitable participation.
Washington D.C.-- Today the Second Global Grassroots Leaders Climate Summit concluded after four days of virtual conversations among grassroots leaders from 44 organizations and across 20 countries in the Global South. Leaders and activists offered first-hand accounts and insight into how the climate crisis is threatening the health and safety of their communities and delivered specific demands directly to US officials ahead of the Group of Twenty (G20) Leaders’ Summit and the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow (COP26).