THE BRIEF [Oct 2-8'23]

Hottest September ever, global electricity emissions may have peaked, 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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This week’s highlights

[#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.

[#carbontariff] — The European Union has launched the world's first carbon tariff, requiring companies to pay extra if the carbon footprints of their products are too high. The tax scheme aims to reduce emissions in industries that are difficult to decarbonize. While the policy has drawn criticism from countries like China and Russia, supporters argue that it levels the playing field for EU companies and incentivizes emissions reduction. The concept of a carbon tariff has also gained bipartisan support in the United States as a way to give the country an advantage over rivals like China.

[#foodwaste] — Food waste is a significant contributor to climate change, accounting for around one-third of human-caused emissions. Greenhouse gases from wasted food make up about half of these emissions. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is generated as food breaks down in landfills. In 2017, global food waste resulted in 9.3 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions. Food waste also has environmental implications, including the carbon opportunity cost of using land to grow food that goes to waste. Many countries have committed to reducing food waste, but more action is needed, such as mandatory reporting and a whole supply chain approach.

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That’s it for this week folks! 

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See you all next week 👋