CHOGM meeting in Samoa: new report highlights Australia, Canada, UK role in fossil fuel emissions

This page discusses CHOGM 2024 and climate change and the outcomes.

A New report launched at Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa reveals the stark imbalance in fossil fuel extraction across the Commonwealth and highlights the dominance of three wealthy nations—Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom—in driving fossil fuel expansion and emissions. 

The report Uncommon Wealth: Fossil Fuel Expansion in the Commonwealth Dominated by Three Wealthy Countries - was commissioned by the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative and based on data from the Global Registry of Fossil Fuels. 

It shows that despite representing only 6% of the Commonwealth’s population, Australia, Canada, and the UK are responsible for over 60% of emissions generated from extraction across Commonwealth countries since 1990.

Outcomes: Samoa Communique | Ocean Declaration | 
King Charles on Climate Action | CANi & PICAN Briefing Note |
Australia: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese | Foreign Minister Penny Wong

Australia, Captain of the Fossil Fueled Five, wins Colossal Fossil of COP26

Australia wins Colossal Fossil Award of COP26 - Jo Dodds accepts award

Loss and damage is very real even for first world people in Australia. After the Black Summer bushfires there are still people living in tents two years later, while a bushfire recovery fund remains entirely unspent. This is the same arrogance that Australia has treated our first nation people since invasion and colonisation, and our Pacific neighbours who have pleaded for Australia to step up on climate action, phase out of coal, and fund loss and damage in our region.

Australian really is at this time the unrepentant captain of the Fossil Fueled Gang of Five and well deserves the Colossal Fossil award of COP26.

This is Australia's shame, especially disturbing given the abundant renewable energy resources, and the deep knowledge of indigenous people from 60,000 to 80,000 years of experience of land management and culture. Our First Nation peoples have already experienced climate change and sea level change on our continent, and have embedded knowledge of these changes within dreamtime stories that can provide insight to transition.

Jo Dodds, President of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, accepted the award for Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Energy Minister Angus Taylor.

#FossiloftheDay is back baby https://t.co/5WvwAouCPw

— Isabel Baudish (@IsabelBaudish) November 12, 2021

Australia the captain of the villians? The Fossil Fueled Five - Comparing Rhetoric with Reality on Fossil Fuel Production at #COP26

Launch of the Fossil Fueled Five Report at Panda Hub at COP26

A new report investigates the role of 5 western developed countries, their current climate plans and their current fossil fuel expansion plans.

The Fossil Fueled Five report comes at a critical time as there is gowing discussion at UN Climate conferences and generally in the community that fossil fuel production needs to be reigned in as demonstrated by the recent Production Gap Report, and the UN Environment Program Emissions Gap Report.

We saw the coal exit pledge gain ground at this UN climate change conference, and the launch of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance.

This report was produced by the University of Sussex and conducted in cooperation with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative and key regional partners in each of the 5 countries – Uplift (UK), Oil Change International (USA), Greenpeace (Norway), The Australia Institute (Australia) and Stand.earth (Canada).

Watch the launch (below) which features Canadian environmental activist Tzeporah Berman, Freddie Daley from the University of Sussex, Tessa Khan, Lawyer, Founder & Director, Uplift UK, Colin Rees with Oil Change International, a young FoE Norway activist, and Richie Merzian from the Australia Institute.

Fossil awards today to the UK on loss and damage finance, and to New Zealand squibbing on ambition in their NDC

Host country, the UK gets a fossil award for failing to do their homework on loss and damage finance. And they had a year extension to do it. 

The second award to New Zealand, thought that appearing green would disguise their lack of NDC ambition and they  literally said that just because a refreshing of the NDC has been asked of countries "it doesn't mean we have to.”  Come and join Australia in the (coal) sin bin neighbours.

Week 2 COP26 starts with Fossil awards to UK and Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Czech Republic

Host country the United Kingdon gets a fossil award for rushing the new Work Programme on Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE), and Saudi Arabia for blocking any mention of human rights in the ACE text. Worst of the worst. Mexico and Czech Republic bring up 2nd and 3rd place on Monday's Fossil of the Day stakes.

Fossil of the day awards to Australia and UK on first day of COP26

For the first time Australia has a country pavillion at COP to highlight the 'Australian Way'

And on the first day of the UN climate conference in Glasgow both Australia and the UK both snatched Fossil of the Day awards for their actions in being the worst of the worst.

COP26 is the 5 year anniversary of the Paris Agreement and is all about bringing along increased ambition and climate targets as part of upgraded Nationally Determined Contributions. 

Australia may have pledged net zero by 2050 but utterly failed to bring any new updated 2030 target. Sadly this is a well earned Fossil Award for Australia being a true dedicated climate laggard (in an often busy field).

Australia also featured in the first ECO-Newsletter of COP26, the Outside Looking In Issue:

Biden Climate Summit: Australia Fails to Deliver, remains a global outsider and climate laggard

Here is a quick summary in graphic and point form where the main countries line up on climate commitments at the end of the Climate leaders summit organised by USA President Joe Biden in his first 100 days of leadership:

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made:

• no change in Australia's low targets.
• no commitment to net zero by 2050 target.
• produced meaningless statistics that don't stack up
• slagged off the work of other countries
• talked up hydrogen without explaining much of this will be blue hydrogen from coal and gas
• thanked some of Australia's highest emitting companies, part of the problem
• tried to carve out emissions from our fossil fuel exports (Australia is 3rd largest carbon exporter)
• talked up the hired help: Allan Finkel and his contribution (including to the gas led recovery)

London Assembly passes climate emergency motion

The London Assembly has passed a motion by a vote of 12 votes for, 0 against, for declaring a climate emergency. The motion by UK Greens Councillor Caroline Russell urges that the Mayor should "declare a Climate Emergency, supported by specific emergency plans with the actions needed to make London carbon neutral by 2030".

This follows on from the City of Bristol declaring a climate emergency on 13 November 2018, the first UK council to declare a climate emergency. The Bristol motion was passed unanimously. Consequently, the city council set an ambitious goal of making Bristol carbon neutral by 2030.

Caroline Russel also referred to David Attenborough speech to the United Nations climate change conference COP24 meeting in Katowice, Poland, in which he warned, "If we don’t take action the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon." The IPCC 1.5C climate science report published in October was also referred to in motivating rapid social transformation needed for meeting the Paris Agreement climate targets and avoiding dangerous climate change..

Coal on the skids - China, India, USA, Great Britain, and Australia

Coal production and the seaborne coal market are all suffering as renewables ramp up and coal-fired power is reassessed due to pollution, health and greenhouse gas emission concerns.

Coal prices for Newcastle thermal coal is just above US$56 per metric ton. Major coal markets in India and China are drying up. Vietnam has just announced a review of coal power citing the need to implement all international commitments in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

There is increasing closure of coal power stations driven by health impacts from pollution as well as growing concern to reduce emissions after the historic UN climate conference Paris Agreement.

Coal is in structural decline. And it needs to be.

A study by Ekin and McGlade published January 2015 into fossil fuel resources and the 2 degree limit found that, without any Carbon Capture and Storage, 88 per cent of coal needs to stay in the ground, unburnt.

So here is a list of recent heartening news on the coal front.

• China closes mines, imposes 3 year new mines moratorium
• US puts new coal leases under 3 year review to align with climate policy
• UK pledges coal power station phaseout by 2025
• India expanding local coal but also massive renewables expansion
• Australia: new mines approved as coal export markets shrink
• Australia, Germany, Japan and the US at risk of stranded coal assets, utility death spiral

UK: Plane Stupid Climate activists convicted, face prison for Heathrow runway occupation

Guilty verdicts have been handed down against 13 climate activists protesting against the expansion of Heathrow airport in the UK. The Heathrow13 were on trial for climate change direct action civil disobedience occupying a runway of Heathrow airport in July 2015.

On the same day in France a judge of the Supreme Court in Nantes handed down an eviction notice to farmers and inhabitants of Notre-Dame-Des-Landes (NDDL) north of Nantes. These farmers and new occupants are resisting the construction of a new airport.

Civil aviation is one sector where carbon emissions are rapidly growing contributing to climate change, with little being done to constrain or reduce greenhouse gas pollution from this and the associated shipping industry. Currently 5 per cent of global emissions, more than the UK and Germany combined, come from shipping and aviation. The UN climate conference in Paris considered this sector in the draft versions of the agreement, but any mention of this sector was dropped from the final agreement.

December 2015 Christmas #Heatwave in Europe, US and Canada

December was remarkable for high temperature anomalies in Europe and North America. Many maximum temperature records and high minumum temperature records were broken in the leadup to and on Christmas day, particularly in North America.

2015 is set to be the hottest year on record, but already the UK Met Office has projected that 2016 will likely be hotter still.

In New York City shorts and T-shirts were still being worn, and tomatoes were still ripening. Many people highlighted the irony of turning on air-conditioning at Christmas. Some even pondered having a christmas barbecue or pool party.

Europe Diary: Halloween heat in UK, France on the road to #Paris2015 #Cop21 #climate talks

This article appeared originally at nofibs.com.au.

I have been travelling in England and Europe for 6 weeks now. It is supposed to be Autumn going into Winter, yet there is still plenty of warmth despite the shorter days. Other than a few days of rain, it has been remarkably fine: T-shirt and shorts weather, although a jacket is sometimes needed for chilly evenings.

Even in Switzerland I was wearing T-shirts and shorts, only pulling on a warm jacket for the journey to the top of Mount Titlis at over 3000 metres altitude in the European Alps.

I realize with my full bag I have probably brought far too many warm weather clothes expecting much cooler Autumn and Winter temperatures. Or maybe it is that bottle of Limoncello from Sorrento weighting my bag down.

Europe Diary: London Natural History Museum misses Anthropocene climate education opportunity

Original article published at nofibs.com.au
Like many visitors and tourists to London I took the opportunity to visit the London Natural History Museum. I visited this museum 19 years ago and spent a whole day there with my older step children when they were 11 and 9 years old.

So I was keen to go back and share a new experience at the museum with my 15 year old daughter. Many interactive exhibits had changed, but many case exhibits looked pretty much exactly as I remembered them.

I remember my visit to the Mammals room with the Blue Whale as the centre piece hanging from the ceiling. The blue whale was still there but surrounded by scaffolding being restored. I guess you expect some continual maintenance in a museum, but I was a little disappointed.

Europe Diary: For #Paris2015 UK and Australia compared on #climateaction

I am on a journey to the UN Paris Climate Change Conference starting on 30 November. My daughter Tarryn and I are travelling the UK and Europe in the prelude to attending the Conference. Read the original article at Nofibs.

While negotiators have managed to reduce the negotiating text from 86 pages to 20 pages (Draft agreement 5th October PDF), the pledged commitments still result in the global average temperature rise to 2.7 degrees C by the end of the century according to Climate Action Tracker.

Direct link to 1st draft of the #COP21 negotiating text (20 pages) #climate http://t.co/X7uKJomMpf

— JPascal van Ypersele (@JPvanYpersele) October 7, 2015

Europe Diary: Report from the UK on renewables

My report for Climate Action Moreland. Read the original.

John Englart reports from the UK that Shell has abandoned Arctic oil exploration for foreseeable future citing the costs involved and the regulatory environment, but this is really a win for the climate movement who have campaigned against Arctic oil as fossil fuel resources that need to remain unburnt. We must remember that BP is undertaking deep water oil exploration in the Great Australian Bight including in a marine sanctuary. All Deep Sea oil needs to remain unburnt for a safe climate.

Heatwave: hottest July day on record for Britain, Records broken in France, Red alert for Switzerland

Currently in Europe a blocking high, called an Omega Block, is situated over Western Europe due to a large bend in the jetstream causing heatwave conditions in England, Spain, Portugal, France, etc, with conditions likely to continue for at least several days.

What causes the increased waviness in the jetstream? The reduced temperature differential between the Arctic and mid latitudes. These conditions are similar to the 2003 heatwave that killed 70,000 people. People are more alert now, but there is still a high health risk, and of course an elevated fire risk. I reported on how climate change is affecting extreme weather including more intense heatwaves in Arctic amplification, the Jet stream and Extreme weather in Northern Hemisphere in March 2013.

A recent study published this year found that Seventy Five percent of heatwaves now attributed to climate change on a global level. Cities are also to get much hotter as heatwaves amplify the Urban Heat Island Effect.

Central England record warmth in 2014 attributed to climate change

In 2014 Central England recorded it's hottest year dating back to 1659, when the instrumental temperature record started.

A new study has found that the record high Central England temperatures can be attributed to anthropogenic influences with 90 per cent confidence. The syudy highlighted that the chances of record warm years in Central England has increased by at least 13-fold.

"This study points to a large influence of human activities on extreme warm years despite the small region of study and the variable climate of Central England. Our analysis shows that climate change is clearly visible on the local-scale in this case." said the study abstract.

The researchers used two methodologies: one based on climate model simulation, and another based on the observational record. They found agreement in the results between the two methodologies strong, "A substantial increase in the likelihood of warm years due to anthropogenic influences is found using both methods with very high confidence. This conclusion is robust especially when we consider that the two methods are primarily based on different datasets, one model simulations and the other observations."

The study is a growing body of scientific work in Fractional Attribution of Risk (FAR), whereby climate events are assessed as to their probability of being influenced by anthropogenic climate change.

UK: Evenly spread heat for warmest year on record in 2014

One of the longest continuous instrumental temperature records dating back to 1659, the Central England temperature record shows 2014 was the warmest year on record with a mean temperature of 10.93 °C, narrowly ahead of the previous record of 10.87 °C set in 2006.

Averaged across the UK it was also the warmest year on record with the annual mean temperature at 9.9 °C, which was 1.1 °C above the long-term (1981-2010) average and beat the previous record of 9.7 °C set in 2006. Eight of the top ten warmest years for the UK have occurred since 2002.

England experiences wettest year on record, second wettest for UK

According to provisional data by the UK Met office 2012 was the second wettest year in the UK national record dating back to 1910, and just a few millimetres short of the record set in 2000. Four of the top five wettest years have now occurred since 2000. The year was the wettest year on record for England, and third wettest for Wales.

2012 saw Britain come out of one of the severest droughts on record in 2011. March was the driest for more than half a century leading to activation of hosepipe bans across much of England. While the year started dry it then set new rainfall records for the wettest April, and the wettest June for the UK causing widespread flooding.

The persistent wet weather resulted in total 2012 rainfall for the UK of 1330.7 mm, which is just 6.6 mm short of the record set in 2000.

Climate Change Banner drop at London 2012 Games

In an open letter addressed to the international community attending the London 2012 Games, the group Climate Siren outlined why they did the action:

"The 2012 Olympics were a huge inspiration as to how we can come together to overcome challenges and achieve success – at many levels; as participants, as spectators, as competitors, even as a host nation. No doubt the Paralympics will equal or surpass this.

"But these Games can be an inspiration for us to confront the biggest challenge our species has ever faced – perhaps will ever face: The changing climate and the threat it poses to our civilisation’s very existence on this beautiful planet.