[Oct 2-8'23] Global electricity emissions may peaked

Hottest September ever, how to build a heat resilient city and current state of climate denial.

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

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

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‼️News you can’t miss

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

🙀 September hottest ever recorded by a large margin

😻 Global power sector emissions have reached a plateau

😼 How to build a heat resilient city

💩 Michael Mann discusses the current state of climate denial

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👩‍⚕️ Status: Climate & Science

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

[#flooding] — A deadly flood in India's Sikkim state highlights the dangers posed by melting glaciers. An avalanche caused a glacial lake to burst, resulting in catastrophic flooding. This disaster was predicted in an academic paper four years prior. Climate change is accelerating the risks associated with glacial lakes, as warmer temperatures cause glaciers to melt faster and rainfall patterns become more intense. The Himalayas, home to many potential glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), are particularly vulnerable. The impact of climate change on the region's permafrost is also contributing to avalanches and floods. The devastating consequences of these events underscore the urgent need for climate resilience and infrastructure protection.

[#septemberheat] — September 2023 set a new heat record, with the hottest September on record by 0.5 degrees Celsius. This record-breaking margin is unprecedented and alarming, with global temperatures 0.9 degrees C higher than the recent historical average and 1.8 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. The extreme heat is consistent with climate change predictions, but the magnitude of the increase still surprised researchers. The warming trend is attributed to climate change and was further intensified by the El Niño weather pattern. This record-breaking year highlights the urgent need for countries to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency improvements to mitigate further warming.

[#climatemodels] — Cities are facing challenges with warmer and wetter weather, and better climate models could provide valuable assistance. Existing models often lack the granularity to predict the impacts of rain, flooding, and storm surges at the street level. To address this, the Department of Energy has launched a program to create more detailed urban climate models in Baltimore, Chicago, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Tucson, and southeast Texas. These models will help develop hyperlocal solutions and inform community-based resiliency plans. The initiative aims to prioritize investments in diverse and underrepresented communities affected by climate change.

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📰 The 7 Grand Challenges

⚡️Decarbonize Electricity

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

[#peakemissions] — Global power sector emissions have reached a plateau due to the growth of wind and solar energy, according to a report by thinktank Ember. The report shows that CO2 emissions from the power sector grew just 0.2% in the first half of 2023, with wind and solar outpacing sluggish demand growth. However, droughts forced countries to increase fossil fuel use to compensate for declines in hydropower, preventing emissions from falling further. While wind and solar generation increased, it was not enough to meet the targets for limiting global warming to 1.5C. The report also highlights a significant drop in hydropower generation due to droughts, which is a warning about the vulnerability of this technology to climate change.

🏘 Reduce impact of urban and rural areas

Lowering the impact of urban and rural areas.