Satire: Worldwide temperatures offers incredibly ‘hot’ travel deals | while Aviation promotes 'Sustainable' Aviation Fuels

Satirist Mark Humphries does some marketing for the aviation and international travel industry, taking into account current climate conditions in this new Age of Global Boiling. It reflects the amount of travel advertising reliant on boosting aviation, which exacerbates the climate crisis.

Voiceover: "Ironically emissions from air travel are part of the problem".

Meanwhile the Tourism and aviation industry pin their hopes for growth on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). But these fuels are problematic, not a silver bullet.

"The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived." says Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General

Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General made a blistering speech launching an analysis by the World Meteorological organisation confirming July 2023 as the hottest month ever recorded by a large margin. 

He called for "Leaders must lead, No more hesitancy. No more excuses. No more waiting for others to move first. There is simply no more time for that." He called in particular for "stop oil and gas expansion, and funding and licensing for new coal, oil and gas.".

Will Australia's Labor Government listen to this call? They have already approved new coal and gas, and Scarborough Gas and Beetaloo Gas and pending.

July temperatures have brought climate disasters to the northern hemisphere. Global Sea Surface temperatures are off the charts, particularly North Atlantic sea surface temperatures.

Antarctic sea Ice formation is 6 deviations from the mean trend, with a risk of tipping points.

Climate Signals: Record global daily temperatures, Sea Surface temperatures, and Antarctic sea ice extent decline

Across the globe we are seeing incredible anomalies in global temperatures, sea surface temperatures and Antarctic sea ice extent decline.

Record global daily temperatures in July

"23rd day of record global temperatures, likely the hottest 23 days in the last 100,000+ years, making much of the planet unsafe for children and other living things." Professor Eliot Jacobson

Open Letter to the Commonwealth Bank Board to stop financing fossil fuels

Commonwealth Bank are preparing a new Environment, Sustainability and Governance (ESG) policy framework which the Board of the Bank will consider on August 9, 2023. I sent the board members the following email raising my concerns and asking them to take action.

High Ambition Coalition calls for End to Fossil Fuels and Move Towards a Clean Energy World in leadup to COP28

While Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese lauded joining the Climate Club as Australia stepping up in climate policy ambition, the real ambition was outlined in a statement by the High Ambition Coalition last Friday, 14 July 2023, calling for Ending the Fossil Fuel Era & Move Towards a Clean Energy World.

If Australia has true climate ambition it should join the High Ambition Coalition and implement policies that reflect actual high climate ambition, not just rhetoric.

For a brief period at COP21 in Paris in 2015 Foreign Minister Julie Bishop for Australia did endorse the High Ambition Coalition 1.5C target that formed the basis of the Paris Agreement. But we didn't carry through with any  follow up climate policy commitments to justify membership of the Coalition.

Australia joins the Climate Club but PM evades question of Fossil fuel expansion and export

Guardian Cartoon by Fiona Katsaukas

On Tuesday 11 July Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed Australia to joining the 'Climate Club' while visiting Germany. 

While this sounds like a positive action there are no detailed commitments or changes required in Australia's climate policy direction, according to Prime Minister Albanese. 

Many people think this is more rhetoric rather than climate action.

The club is an initiative in 2022 of German Chancellor Olav Scholz, from the Social Democratic Party, whose ruling coalition is made up of parties from the centre-right to the Greens.

The ABC analysis article talks about the central tenets of the club: 

• Designed to help lower emissions by pressing governments to put a minimum price on carbon.
• That countries with a carbon price should tax imports from countries without one, via a Carbon Border Adjustment mechanism (CBAM).
• The idea is that these twin policies will foster a world in which economic growth can continue, but be decoupled from carbon emissions almost completely by 2050. 

Over 61,000 heat related deaths during 2022 European summer

New research estimates over 61,000 heat related deaths in Europe in 2022. And that comes after heat alerts and other climate adaptation measures implemented after the massive death toll of 73,000 from the 2003 heatwave. 

What will the summer bring for Australia? With record temperatures being set around the world (see June climate signals and records), and ElNino formation boosting temperatures.

Meanwhile Australia is approving new thermal coal and gas, and continues fossil fuel subsidiaries to the tune of $11billion per year with no public plan to phase these subsidies out.

Will heat related deaths be at a similar level in 2023 in Europe? 

Will we see a similar number of heat related deaths in the southern hemisphere summer?

What should also be noted is that climate impacts are not gender neutral. Research has found that older women died at higher rates than men.

Ozone layer in Recovery, Montreal Protocol reducing Greenhouse gases set to avoid global warming by about 0.5–1°C by 2050

Photo: IISD/ENB OEWG contact group meeting

The Montreal Protocol, the little international treaty that reduces ozone depleting substances but also assists greatly with reducing greenhouse gases causing global warming.

The 45th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol met in Thailand between 2 to 7 July 2023.

The IISD/ENB summary report of the meeting notes:

"The success of the Montreal Protocol was again highlighted and further specified by the Scientific Assessment Panel (SAP): stratospheric ozone is on the way to full recovery, expected by around 2040 for the near-global average, around 2045 in the Arctic, and around 2066 in the Antarctic. At the same time, the decline in ozone depleting substance (ODS) emissions due to compliance with the Protocol is set to avoid global warming by about 0.5–1°C by 2050, compared to an uncontrolled increase in ODS. Another 0.3–0.5°C of avoided warming by 2100 is estimated due to the phase-down of HFCs, the ozone-friendly but climate-warming greenhouse gases controlled under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol."

Shipping levy on maritime emissions opposed by Australia at IMO conference

Shipping, in transporting around 90% of world trade, creates about 1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gasses, or nearly 3 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. It is about the same amount as Germany or Japan. 

Pacific Island nations including Solomon Islands and Marshall Islands, proposed the introduction of a $100 per tonne levy on maritime emissions in order to make cleaner fuels cost-competitive with the dirtier heavy fuel oil that is the industry standard. 

But Australia appears to have joined Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, Brazil and other major states, to oppose this Pacific initiative for a levy on maritime emissions. Climate Home report identifies Latin American countries were also most vocal against the measure.

Fiji had proposed for the IMO, supported by a broad coalition of other Pacific nations, small island states and Least Developed countries:

• 37% GHG emissions reductions by 2030
• 96% by 2040 
• full decarbonization of shipping industry by 2050. 

A carbon levy and global fuel standards was also proposed as part of the basket of measures. 

Conference outcomes:

• failure to agree on absolute emission reduction targets for 2030 and 2040, 
• identified “indicative checkpoints” of at least 20%, striving for 30% emission reduction by 2030, 
• at least 70%, striving for 80% reduction by 2040. 
• aim to reach only net-zero “by or around, i.e., close to 2050”, depending on “national circumstances”.
• Green fuel mandates deferred.
• “pricing of greenhouse gas emissions” (a levy), deferred, earliest would be in 2027.

John Maggs, from the Clean Shipping Coalition, said:

 “There is no excuse for this wish and a prayer agreement. They knew what the science required, and that a 50% cut in emissions by 2030 was both possible and affordable. Instead the level of ambition agreed is far short of what is needed to be sure of keeping global heating below 1.5ºC and the language seemingly contrived to be vague and non-committal. The most vulnerable put up an admirable fight for high ambition and significantly improved the agreement but we are still a long way from the IMO treating the climate crisis with the urgency that it deserves and that the public demands.” Read more by Clean Shipping, 7 July, 2023, UN agrees on a new climate plan for global shipping, but not 1.5°C aligned.

Climate signals: June 2023 heat records. We have a climate emergency

Have you been watching earth's vital signs recently. I have. They are very concerning. But minimal mainstream reporting of all the signals and temperature records being broken.

Jeff Berardelli, Florida based WFLA News Channel 8’s Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist described the situation:

"In my 3 decade-long career being a weather forecaster, and now Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist, I have never observed so many of Earth’s vital signs blinking red. Meteorologists and climate scientists all around the world are in awe by the simultaneous literal “off the charts” records being broken. Yes, it’s climate change."

Let us start with this twitter thread by Assaad Razzouk (@AssaadRazzouk)