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Here’s your weekly update with what you need to know about the global and ecological crises and the steps B.C. is taking for the week of Oct. 10 to Oct. 16, 2022.
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This week in climate news:
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• Climate change fears high across Canada but vary by region, new poll suggests
• UN tells world to speed up response for flood-hit Pakistan
• B.C. communities on edge of catastrophe face choice of fight or flight
• Debt costs overshadow climate finance in small island states
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned for a decade that wildfires, drought, severe weather, such as B.C.’s deadly heat dome last June, and flooding would become more frequent and more intense because of the climate crisis.
Last August, it issued a “code red” for humanity and earlier this year the panel, made up of hundreds of scientists from around the world, said the window to stop global warming from exceeding 1.5 C was closing. Last month, it released a report with solutions for how to drive down greenhouse gas emissions, mainly by transitioning away from fossil fuels.
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There is a scientific consensus on climate change (NASA reports that 97 per cent of climate scientists agree that the climate is warming and that human activity is the cause.) Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of global warming.
Check back here every Saturday for a roundup of the latest climate and environmental stories. You can also get up to date B.C.-focussed news delivered to your inbox by 7 a.m. by subscribing to our newsletter here.
A glance at B.C.’s carbon numbers:
- B.C.’s gross greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020 (latest available data) were 64.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e). This is a decrease of 0.9 MtCO2e (one per cent) from 65.5 MtCO2e in 2007, the baseline year for emissions reduction targets.
- B.C.’s net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020 were 63.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e.) This is a net decrease of 2.0 MtCO2e, or three per cent, since 2007.
- B.C.’s net emissions in 2019: 67.2 MtCO2e, an increase of 1.5 MtCO2e, or two per cent, since 2007.
- B.C.’s 2030 target: 40 per cent reduction in net emissions below 2007 levels.
- B.C.’s 2040 target: 60 per cent reduction.
- B.C.’s 2050 target: 80 per cent reduction.
- Canada’s 2030 emissions target: Between 40 and 45 per cent reduction.
- Canada’s 2050 emissions target: Net-zero.
(source: B.C. and Canadian governments)
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Climate change quick facts:
- The Earth is now about 1.1 C warmer than it was in the 1800s.
- Globally, 2021 was the fifth warmest year on record.
- Human activities have raised atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by nearly 49 per cent above pre-industrial levels starting in 1850.
- The world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target to keep global temperature from exceeding 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change.
- 2015-2019 were the five warmest years on record while 2010-2019 was the warmest decade on record.
- On the current path of carbon dioxide emissions, the temperature could increase by as much as 4.4 C by the end of the century.
- In April, 2022 greenhouse gas concentrations reached record new highs and show no sign of slowing.
- Emissions must drop 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 to keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5 C and 2.7 per cent per year to stay below 2 C.
- 97% of climate scientists agree that the climate is warming and that human beings are the cause.
(Source: United Nations IPCC, World Meteorological Organization,UNEP, Nasa, climatedata.ca)
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LATEST CLIMATE NEWS
Climate change fears high across Canada but vary by region, new poll suggests
Most Canadians are worried about climate change and believe it is caused by humans, but the regional differences in how people responded to that question show the political battles over the environment are still going strong, a new poll suggests.
An online survey conducted by Leger Marketing and the Association of Canadian Studies for The Canadian Press over the Thanksgiving weekend suggests 70 per cent of Canadians are worried or very worried about climate change.
That includes 28 per cent who said they were very worried. Less than 10 per cent of those surveyed said they weren’t worried about it all.
More than 1,500 people responded to the survey but it cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered truly random samples.
The survey suggested 68 per cent of Canadians believe climate change is caused by human activity, while 21 per cent of respondents said climate change is just part of a natural cycle and is not caused by humans.
— The Canadian Press
Canada leading, not lagging, global green energy transition, but more to do: Freeland
Canada is leading, not lagging, the global energy shift in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday, dismissing the notion that her recent call to arms was aimed in part at her own government.
Freeland raised eyebrows this week with a sweeping state-of-affairs speech in D.C. that urged democracies to spend more “domestic political capital” to ease a growing energy crisis — a message some observers say Ottawa itself should take to heart.
To the contrary, Canada is in high gear when it comes to kick-starting green energy projects, Freeland insisted, citing federal investments in the country’s critical-minerals sector and the net-zero components of the Strategic Innovation Fund as examples.
The effort, she said, dates back to 2015, when the Liberals introduced a price on carbon, runs through the renegotiated North American trade deal and touches on the Biden administration’s newly passed Inflation Reduction Act.
“What I wanted to do first and foremost is say to the world, ‘Look, Canada gets it. This is what we are doing,”‘ Freeland told a news conference as she wrapped up a week at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings.
Key to that effort, she said, is putting government policies and investment in place and attracting more private capital into those projects — and if her speech Tuesday has that effect, so much the better.
“I don’t want in any way to suggest Canada’s behind — if anything, I think Canada is really in the lead on so many issues here. But we have to do even more,” Freeland continued.
— The Canadian Press
Invasion of the stink bugs: Pest thrives in British Columbia’s warm October
An aromatic insect shaped like a shield is lurking around homes and feasting on stone fruits in parts of southern British Columbia.
The brown marmorated stink bug, an invasive species in Canada, is thriving in the province this season thanks to summer-like weather extending into the fall months, experts say.
“We’ve had a particularly warm, dry fall, which are perfect conditions for this stink bug,” said Gail Wallin, executive director of the Invasive Species Council of B.C.
Although population counts aren’t readily available, the unwelcome intruder is earning notice across the Fraser Valley, Metro Vancouver and parts of the Okanagan, particularly Kelowna.
Climate change has also eased the adaptation of many new species, Wallin said. The trouble, once they’re introduced, is the way they compete with native species and devastate crops without natural controls on their populations, she said.
Read the full story here.
—The Canadian Press
UK climate change protesters throw soup at van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’
Climate change protesters threw soup over Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery on Friday, causing minor damage to the frame.
A video posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group, which has been holding protests for the last two weeks in the British capital, showed two women throwing two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the painting, one of five versions on display in museums and galleries around the world.
“There is some minor damage to the frame but the painting is unharmed,” the gallery said in a statement.
Police said both women had been arrested for criminal damage and aggravated trespass.
The National Gallery, which says it houses one of the greatest collections of paintings in the world, said the ‘Sunflowers’, which dates to 1888, was one of its most popular.
Just Stop Oil said the painting has an estimated value of more than $84 million.
The protest is the latest by the group’s activists and comes after days in which they blocked roads around parliament and government departments to Britain halts all new oil and gas projects.
— Reuters
UN tells world to speed up response for flood-hit Pakistan
The United Nations on Wednesday appealed to the world to speed up its response to help 33 million people in flood-ravaged Pakistan, saying just 20% of a fundraising target has been met since its launch last week.
Monsoon deluges likely worsened by climate change battered the country for months, killing at least 1,700 people and wiping out infrastructure. The U.N. last week revised its flash appeal fivefold, from $160 million to $816 million, to reflect the magnitude of the disaster.
U.N. officials are concerned about health, nutrition, drinking water, shelter and food security for the vast swaths of the population who have lost their crops, homes and livestock.
U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Julien Harnies said pledges of more than $180 million have been received, but only $90 million has been confirmed with the U.N.
Harnies said the world body was responding with what it has but it is not enough and the world must speed up its response. The disaster displaced 7.9 million people and half a million are still living in tents and makeshift homes.
—The Associated Press
Amid rising seas, Atlantic City has no plans for retreat
Some cities around the world are pulling back from shorelines, as rising seas from climate change increase flooding. But so far, retreat appears out of the question for Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The breezy getaway town is on the water on a barrier, which was once reachable only by boat but in modern times via a causeway. The city fully occupies a small piece of land, water on either side, just above sea level.
“We love our residents,” said Barbara Woolley-Dillon, former Atlantic City Planning and Development Director. “We have one of the most diverse populations, it’s a great place to be, and we have such a thriving community that we want to do everything we can to keep it intact.”
There is no obvious place for 38,500 residents, about 33% Black, to go. The city, popular with vacation goers in the Eastern U.S., particularly in the summer, brings in billions of dollars in revenue, another incentive to keep it intact as long as possible.
—The Associated Press
B.C. communities on edge of catastrophe face choice of fight or flight
The idea of relocating his community isn’t one that Arnie Lampreau of the Shackan Indian Band in B.C.’s Nicola Valley thought he’d be considering when he was elected chief early last year.
After wildfires torched the forests surrounding the band’s reserves and flooding swept away homes and the only highway access just months later, however, he said he now wants to see members living in a safer place.
Lampreau was among the evacuees of both extreme weather events and said he knows it won’t be easy.
“Even myself, I look at starting over, you know. I took a better part of my lifetime to build where I’m at, and now, I’m basically going to be uprooted and leaving my home,” he said in an interview.
The Shackan First Nation isn’t alone in being confronted with a fight-or-flight decision in the face of climate change and increasingly extreme weather. Communities across Canada are weighing whether to invest in costly infrastructure upgrades to protect against the threats or spend on property buyouts and land acquisition.
Read the full story here.
—The Canadian Press
Debt costs overshadow climate finance in small island states-report
Small developing island states heavily exposed to the effects of climate change and often in critical debt situations spend at least 18 times more on debt servicing than they receive in climate finance, a report showed.
The report by the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) said 37 island and coastal countries that are home to some 65 million people, received just $1.5 billion in climate finance between 2016 and 2020.
The states, from the Dominican Republic to Samoa, “urgently need to increase their fiscal space to tackle the multiple challenges and crises facing them,” wrote Iolanda Fresnillo, one of the authors of the report.
Over the same period, 22 of the nations paid more than $26.6 billion to their external creditors, said the report from Eurodad, which comprises more than 50 non-governmental organizations.
—Reuters