“The state of the climate in 2023 gave ominous new significance to the phrase
‘off the charts.'”
That quote introduced the World Meteorological Organization’s latest annual report. It confirms that 2023 was the hottest year on record by a clear margin. Records were broken for ocean heat, sea level rise, Antarctic sea ice loss and glacier retreat. The report adds that the cost of climate inaction is higher than the cost of climate action. “Sirens are blaring across all major indicators… Some records aren’t just chart-topping, they’re chart-busting. And changes are speeding-up,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says in the WMO press release. When are we going to consider this a crisis? From our collective actions, certainly not yet.
Two headlines in the press this week truly show that climate is not being treated as a crisis. Pilita Clark writes in the Financial Times (behind a paywall): “Wall Street is letting Orwellian doublethink kill climate action.” And in the Guardian, Dharna Noor writes: “World’s largest oil companies ‘way off track’ on emissions goals, report finds.” This report from Carbon Tracker says that despite splashy climate pledges, firms including BP and Saudi Aramco have plans to expand fossil fuel production.
Crisis? What crisis?
In upcoming weeks there are two events not to miss. In May there is Australia’s 2024 Energy Efficiency National Conference. In June, eceee holds its bi-annual summer study. Check out details on the two events here. For the recent World Sustainable Energy Days, here is a good review of the event.
In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here is some useful news to help you along:
- The inews website provides Europe’s most exciting new rail routes for 2024.
- For the best hikes in Europe in 2024, there are many good suggestions on the 57 hours website. For those who want to combine hiking with food and wine, check out the Hedonistic Hiking website.
- 5 stunning spring cycling destinations in Europe are recommended on the Get Your Guide website.
- There is always the option of virtual tourism at the Xplore Nature Channel that EiD first promoted back in September. There are now 130 videos. Find out more about the channel here.
Derek Bok (b. 1930), an American lawyer and educator, and the former president of Harvard University discusses the cost of education: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- New EEA report on the circular economy in Europe
- New report shows transport is the “problem child” of Europe’s climate efforts
- The road to COP29: EU foreign affairs ministers want fossil fuel industry to pay for fighting climate change in poorer countries
- New atlas of unburnable oil for supply-side climate policies
- The Dutch airline KLM accused of greenwashing
- New BPIE report calls on multilateral donors and policymakers to apply investment criteria for a sustainable reconstruction of Ukraine
- Polish court overturns approval for controversial open-cast coal mine that had negative impact on Czech neighbours
- Sufficiency concerns: Aussie homes are getting bigger, wiping out energy efficiency gains
Please send your comments on any of the posts. Please follow us on X at @EnergyDemand and @rodjanssen. Please recommend EiD to your friends and colleagues.
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Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 