Climate Change News & Discussions

[caltrek]

Global Net Zero Commitments Rise, Even as U.S. Federal Government Retreats
September 23, 2025

Introduction:

( Eurekalert) The annual assessment by the Net Zero Tracker (NZT) — which reviews both the quantity and quality of global climate commitments — finds that 77% of global GDP is still covered by national net zero commitments.

Corporate net zero is maturing:

Net zero targets remain a defining feature of the global economy, with a clear majority of the largest listed companies within the Global Forbes 2000 having set targets and most backing them up with plans.

● By revenue, $36.6 trillion, representing 70% of the revenue in the Forbes Global 2000 list, is covered by listed companies’ net zero targets.
● Target-setting continues to increase in Asia, notably in China (48 to 60), India (29 to 34), Japan (from 184 to 199), South Korea (41 to 48), Taiwan (26 to 35) and Thailand (11 to 15).
● Worldwide, over two thirds of Forbes Global 2000 companies with net zero targets (860/1,245) back these up with plans.

The Stocktake indicates that clearer standards, a steady rise in national climate regulation, and companies’ determination to protect their investments are together driving the continued rise in net zero targets.

John Lang, Lead, Net Zero Tracker, said: “From the devastating LA fires to floods in Pakistan, 2025 has shown why reaching net zero, the only way to halt rising temperatures, is so urgent.

“Talk of a ‘net zero recession’ is overblown. Backtracking is confined to fossil fuels and their financiers, while more companies are moving from box-ticking to real emission cuts — a long-overdue reset.”

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1099436

[wjfox]

Utterly insane.

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‘Mine, Baby, Mine’: Trump Officials Offer $625 Million to Rescue Coal

The new effort, which includes opening 13.1 million acres of federal land for mining and eliminating pollution limits, aims to save an industry that has been declining for decades.

Sept. 29, 2025

The Trump administration on Monday outlined a coordinated plan to revive the mining and burning of coal, the largest contributor to climate change worldwide.

Coal use has been declining sharply in the United States since 2005, displaced in many cases by cheaper and cleaner natural gas, wind and solar power.

But in a series of steps aimed at improving the economics of coal, the Interior Department said it would open 13.1 million acres of federal land for coal mining and reduce the royalty rates that companies would need to pay to extract coal. The Energy Department said it would offer $625 million to upgrade existing coal plants around the country, which have been closing at a fast clip, to extend their life spans.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it would repeal dozens of regulations set by the Biden administration to curb carbon dioxide, mercury and other pollutants from coal plants. The agency would also revise a regulation limiting wastewater pollution from power plants that the industry considers costly.

In what has become a familiar tableau, miners in hard hats stood as a backdrop as administration officials gathered at the Interior Department and repeated a phrase that President Trump said he now expects of any employee who discusses the black, combustible rock: “Clean, beautiful coal.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/clim ... 5nZu_dhCj6

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[firestar464]

[weatheriscool]

United States downgraded to 'critically insufficient' in major international rating: 'The US is being left behind'

An initiative that tracks progress in the fight against rising global temperatures has downgraded the United States from "insufficient" to "critically insufficient" based on a new report.

What's happening?

The Climate Action Tracker, which analyzes countries' efforts to reduce the amount of planet-heating pollution in the atmosphere, announced in late September that it had downgraded the U.S. in light of the current administration's drastic U-turn on climate policy.

"The Trump administration's massive support for expanding fossil fuels and unwinding clean energy rollout means the U.S. is being left behind, particularly as China ramps up production of renewable energy, electric vehicles and other clean technology," Bill Hare, the chief executive officer of Climate Analytics, a nonprofit partnering on the Climate Action Tracker, said in a CAT press release.

"This could become a fossil fuel industry-inspired debacle for the U.S. economy."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... r-AA1NLWHU

[weatheriscool]

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[firestar464]

I'm wondering if we should just slow down AI development just so that we can wait for all that projected demand to be filled by renewables.

[weatheriscool]

I'm wondering if we should just slow down AI development just so that we can wait for all that projected demand to be filled by renewables.

No, the corporate elite aint stopping. We have two choices, 1. Fusion or 2. Bullet or rope for ourselves in mass.

A.i can and probably will make fusion possible much faster as it is developed. Sometimes you just have to go right through the heart.

[firestar464]

Worth noting that we're currently in an absolutely massive bubble, and that it's going to pop (probably next year) before AGI anyway, so may as well scale down data centers anyway

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

South Africa court halts natural gas power plant project, cites climate commitments

20 Oct 2025

A South African court has nullified the environmental authorization for state-owned electricity utility Eskom’s proposed 3,000-megawatt gas-fired power plant. The court cited multiple reasons for its decision, including the failure to adequately consult local residents and consider the full impacts of the power plant’s entire life cycle on climate change.

“This ruling shows that environmental authorities must protect people and future generations, not fossil fuel interests,” Yegeshni Moodley of local NGO Groundwork, one of the applicant civil society organizations, told Mongabay.

Eskom aimed to build the natural gas power plant in the state-owned Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ) in the country’s KwaZulu-Natal province. Groundwork and the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance challenged the project at the Pretoria High Court in 2022, arguing, among other points, that the project’s greenhouse gas emissions were inconsistent with South Africa’s commitment to decarbonization. However, the judge ruled in Eskom’s favor. Both nonprofits then challenged the High Court ruling at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

The SCA agreed with them, finding that the environmental impact assessment had failed to consider renewable energy alternatives and cumulative impacts associated with gas extraction and transportation, besides inadequate community consultation.

The ruling passed in September also found that the environment minister, Dion George, had acted unlawfully in granting approval for the project, as his decision failed to comply with key principles of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA). The court further noted that the country’s obligations under the Paris Agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change are legally relevant commitments that should inform environmental decision-making.

https://news.mongabay.com/short-article ... mmitments/



Credit: An Eskom power station in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. Image courtesy of Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp (CCBY-ND4.0).

[firestar464]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

Mosquitoes found in Iceland

https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news ... n_iceland/

[wjfox]

STATEMENT: Commitment Without Clarity Risks Europe’s Climate Ambitions and Leadership

October 24, 2025

Brussels (October 24, 2025) – The European Council yesterday reaffirmed its support for the EU’s goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040. However, it stopped short of setting a clear and ambitious target for its upcoming Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which is due by COP30.

In September, the European Commission put forward a “statement of intent” to cut emissions by 66.25 – 72.5% by 2035 from 1990 levels.

Following is a statement by Stientje van Veldhoven, Vice President and Regional Director for Europe, World Resources Institute:

“Europe stands behind the 90% emission cut goal by 2040 ‒ a strong signal of continued intent. But without formalizing its 2035 climate plan (NDC), the pathway to climate neutrality remains unclear.

"EU leaders have now put the ball in the court of environment ministers, who must deliver a science-based and credible NDC by early November, ahead of COP30 in Belém. A clear, high-ambition pathway is the most credible way to turn the EU's climate goals into real action: cleaner air, stronger energy security, resilient communities and lasting competitiveness."

https://www.wri.org/news/statement-comm ... leadership

[firestar464]

Bill, wtf?

[firestar464]