[Jul 24-30’23] The hot issue #3 🥵

2023 likely hottest year ever, EVs can help the grid, how EU cities can fight the heat and why greenwashing works (and what to do about it).

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Climate 🎉

References: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] and [6].

Continuing the heat focus this week with plenty of new data and news…

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‼️News you can’t miss

Here’s one important scary/bad (🙀), good (😻), interesting (😼) and fossil (💩) news item.

🙀 2023 likely to be hottest year ever

😻 EVs not a problem for the grid, but they can help

😼 How cities in Europe can fight the extreme heat

💩 Why greenwashing works

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👩‍⚕️ Status: Climate & Science

Let’s look at how we’re doing this week!

[#gulfstream] — A new study suggests that the Gulf Stream, which carries warm ocean water northwards towards the Arctic, could collapse as early as 2025 or as late as 2095 due to climate change. The collapse would severely disrupt the rains that billions of people depend on for food in India, South America, and West Africa, increase storms and lower temperatures in Europe, and lead to rising sea levels on the east coast of North America. The study's authors warn that the AMOC has not been shut off for 12,000 years and that changes in the Earth's environment are coming that will threaten the existence of the human race and most of the species that currently exist on our planet.

[#amoc] — New research warns that a vital Atlantic Ocean (known as the AMOC) system could collapse by 2060, setting off one of the planet’s tipping points, or potential points of no return. The collapse could eventually spell catastrophe for the people who live in countries that border the Atlantic Ocean, leading to increased sea-level rise in the United States, decreased temperatures and altered storm patterns over Western Europe, rejiggered climate and agricultural zones, and hotter ocean temperatures in the Caribbean.

[#2023] — Global temperatures in 2023 are on track to be the hottest on record, with June setting a new record by a large margin. The extreme heat has led to record-setting heatwaves and contributed to wildfires and flooding. The El Niño event is expected to strengthen in the latter half of the year, further increasing temperatures. The data shows that temperatures are tracking climate model projections, and Antarctic sea ice extent has set new all-time low records for most of 2023.

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📰 The 7 Grand Challenges

⚡️Decarbonize Electricity

Clean electricity is the one do-or-die challenge we must solve.

[#solarpioneer] — Augustin Mouchot, a French maths teacher, invented ways of using solar power in the 1860s, including a solar water heater, a solar oven, and a solar-powered steam engine. His largest solar engine was showcased at the World's Fair in Paris in 1878, but interest in solar energy faded with the rise of the internal combustion engine and cheaper coal and oil prices. It took over 100 years for the modern renaissance of solar power.

[#evgrid] — Electric vehicles (EVs) will bring unprecedented growth in demand for electricity, but utilities say the grid will not be overloaded or unstable. EVs can improve grid resilience, and utilities are developing new system planning and load management tools to meet demand efficiently. New renewable and zero-emitting generation resources will be needed, along with strategies to manage load and streamline regulatory processes to interconnect resources. To continue advancing the transition, utilities say they need greater certainty around the government's commitment to EVs and persistent supply chain issues must be addressed.

🏘 Reduce impact of urban and rural areas

Lowering the impact of urban and rural areas.