Particularly influential & summary pieces are marked with a *
Insufficient Action on the Climate Crisis
General
Climate Action Tracker – tracking and assessing climate governance worldwide
Global Energy Monitor – tracking energy production worldwide and providing overviews
*Emissions Gap Report 2022 by the UN Environment Programme – shows that there is ‘no credible pathway in place’ for limiting global heating to 1.5°C. ‘Policies currently in place point to a 2.8°C temperature rise by the end of the century’.
World close to ‘irreversible’ climate breakdown, warn major studies: Key UN reports published in last two days warn urgent and collective action needed – as oil firms report astronomical profits (2022, article in The Guardian)
Greta Thunberg on the climate delusion: ‘We’ve been greenwashed out of our senses. It’s time to stand our ground’ (2022, article in The Guardian)
Why we should forget about the 1.5C global heating target (2022, article in The Guardian)
Climate limit of 1.5C close to being broken, scientists warn (2022, article in The Guardian based on study by the UK Met Office)
Ongoing rises in emission & energy demand
MCC Carbon Clock – shows how much CO2 can be released into the atmosphere to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C and 2°C, respectively.
Atmospheric levels of all three greenhouse gases hit record high: Scientists warn world ‘is heading in wrong direction’ amid rise in nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane (2022, article in The Guardian based on Greenhouse Gas Bulletin by the World Meteorological Organization)
EU on track to break pledge to cut methane emissions by 30%, warns report: ‘Policy vacuum’ on livestock emissions amid pressure from industry lobbyists blamed for failings (2022, article in The Guardian based on report by Changing Markets Foundation)
Surging demand makes electricity generation from coal and gas hit record levels and increases energy prices (2022, report by the International Energy Agency)
GHG emissions rebounded slightly faster than the overall economy in 2021 (2022, report by Rhodium Group)
German CO2 emissions in 2021 rose by 4,5% with respect to previous year and is, again, missing its self-set climate targets (2022, report by Agora Energiewende)
Bitcoin miners revived a dying coal plant – then CO2 emissions soared (2022, article in The Guardian)
The limits of ‘net zero’
*NOT ZERO: How ‘net zero’ targets disguise climate inaction and driving huge land grabs, particularly in the global South (2021, joint technical briefing by climate justice organizations)
Ongoing exploration for/extraction of fossil fuels
Global Coal Exist List, providing overview of current coal expansion projects worldwide
US puts Italy-sized chunk of Gulf of Mexico up for auction for oil drilling (2022, article in The Guardian)
*The ‘carbon bombs’ set to trigger catastrophic climate breakdown – these firms are placing multibillion-dollar bets against humanity halting global heating (2022, investigation by The Guardian)
Sale of oil and gas permits casts shadow over world’s second-largest rainforest: Villagers in the Congo basin rely on the forest for food, medicine and spiritual wellbeing, but an auction of exploration rights could threaten that way of life (2022, article in The Guardian)
Two-thirds of US money for fossil fuel pours into Africa despite climate goals (2022, article in The Guardian)
Stop dismantling German windfarm to expand coalmine, say authorities (2022, article in The Guardian)
UK offers new North Sea oil and gas licences despite climate concerns: Greenpeace calls process, which will run until end of June, ‘possibly unlawful’ (2022, article in The Guardian)
‘Gold rush’ for gas production threatens to lock in global heating (2022, article in The Guardian, based on report by Climate Action Tracker)
*Global reaction to energy crisis risks zero carbon transition risks zero carbon transition: Analysis of government responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (2022, report by Climate Action Tracker)
*Existing fossil fuel extraction would warm the world beyond 1.5 °C (2022, article in Environmental Research Letters)
Why is Biden boasting about drilling for oil? Our planet demands we stop now (2022, opinion article in The Guardian)
Environmentalists condemn Biden administration’s offshore drilling plan: Policy would ban new ocean drilling but allow up to 11 lease sales in Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coast (2022, article in The Guardian)
Is Biden serious about climate? His 2,000 drilling and fracking permits suggest not (2021, article in The Guardian)
*Production Gap Report 2020 – shows how the world needs to decrease fossil fuel production by 6% a year between 2020 and 2030 but is instead increasing 2% per year
World is ‘doubling down’ on fossil fuels despite climate crisis – UN report (2020, article in The Guardian)
Ongoing construction of fossil fuel infrastructures
‘Monstrous’ east African oil project will emit vast amounts of carbon, data shows: Experts say crude oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania will produce 25 times host nations’ combined annual emissions (2022, article in The Guardian)
Too many new coal-fired plants planned for 1.5C climate goal, report concludes (2022, article in The Guardian based on study by report by Global Energy Monitor)
Insufficient investments into green transition
World Bank criticised over climate crisis spending: Oxfam research suggests up to 40% of bank’s reported climate-related spending cannot be accounted for (2022, article in The Guardian)
Plans to scrap nature-friendly farm subsidies put biodiversity target ‘at risk’ (2022, article in The Guardian)
UK green economy has failed to grow since 2014, according to official data (2022, article in The Guardian)
Oil firms seem more interested in shareholders than net zero (2022, article in The Guardian)
Insufficient government action
Climate Action Tracker – independent scientific analysis that tracks government climate action and measures it against the globally agreed Paris Agreement aims
Cop27 host accuses countries of making empty public pledges (2022, article in The Guardian)
Current emissions pledges will lead to catastrophic climate breakdown, says UN: United Nations says governments need to set new goals and make deeper cuts to limit temperature rises to 1.5C (2022, article in The Guardian)
The Guardian view on Biden’s green deal: leadership after Trump’s denialism (2022, article in The Guardian)
Can Biden’s climate bill undo the fossil fuel industry’s decades of harm? (2022, article in The Guardian)
Landmark US climate bill will do more harm than good, groups say (2022, article in The Guardian)
What does the US-China row mean for climate change? (2022, article in The Guardian)
African nations expected to make case for big rise in fossil fuel output – encouraged by EU countries to cover their demand (2022, article in The Guardian)
Africa must forgo gas exploration to avert climate disaster, warn experts – Call comes after former UN climate envoy urged African countries to exploit their natural gas reserves (2022, article in The Guardian)
Germany puts coal power plant back on network after gas supply cut (2022, article in The Guardian)
Climate crisis ‘insufficient’ to halt oil and gas exploration, says New Zealand government (2022, article in The Guardian)
Chinese premier calls for more coal production as electricity demand soars (2022, article in The Guardian)
Ukraine war threatens global heating goals, warns UN chief – António Guterres says countries seeking alternatives to Russian energy may increase use of fossil fuels (2022, article in The Guardian)
*Government failure to boost energy efficiency ‘inexplicable’, says International Energy Agency (2022, article in The Guardian)
Current policies will bring ‘catastrophic’ climate breakdown, warn former UN leaders (2022, article in The Guardian)
Why the EU must strengthen its climate target, including in the Emissions Trading System (2022, briefing by Carbon Market Watch)
*The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world: Years before the climate crisis was part of national discourse, this memo to the president predicted catastrophe (2022, article in The Guardian)
Coal phase out as resolved at COP 26 not fast enough (2021, report by the Centre for Energy and Clean Air). For visualization, see also this article in The Guardian.
*Every sector of society (transport, agriculture, finance etc.) is failing to take the “transformational change” needed to avert the most disastrous consequences of the climate crisis (2021, report by the World Resource Institute)
*New national climate pledges combined with other mitigation measures put the world on track for a global temperature rise of 2.7°C by the end of the century (2021, UNEP Emissions Gap report)
*World’s governments plan to produce more than twice the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C (2021 Production Gap Report by the UNEP in collaboration with science institutes)
*Current plans to cut global carbon emissions will fall 60% short of 2050 net zero target (2021, World Energy Outlook by the International Energy Agency)
Comparative rating of climate action in different countries shows how action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions continues to lag behind what is needed – in practically all countries and sectors. (2021, report with visuals by Climate Action Tracker)
Our leaders look climate change in the eyes, and shrug (2021, article in The Guardian)
Continued subsidies for extractive & polluting industries (‘financing our own extinction’)
World Bank ‘has given nearly $15bn to fossil fuel projects since Paris deal’ (2022, article in The Guardian based on study by The Big Shift Global)
EU limits subsidies for burning trees under renewable energy directive: MEPs vote on amendment to phase down share of wood counted as renewable but reject calls for complete phaseout (2022, article in The Guardian)
UK gave airlines 4.4m free pollution permits in 2021, study finds (2022, article in The Guardian, based on analysis by Transport and Environment)
*Only 6% of G20 pandemic recovery spending ‘green’, analysis finds (2022, article in The Guardian based on article in Nature)
*Fossil fuel industries get subsidies of 11 million a minute: Globally, fossil fuel subsidies were $5.9 trillion in 2020 or about 6.8 percent of GDP, and are expected to rise to 7.4 percent of GDP in 2025 (2021, report by the International Monetary Fund)
World spends $1.8tn a year on subsidies that harm environment, study finds – Research prompts warnings humanity is ‘financing its own extinction’ through subsidies damaging to the climate and wildlife (2021, article in The Guardian based on study by The B Team and Business for Nature)
*Germany invests an annual 65,4 billion into climate-damaging subsidies (2018, report by the Umweltbundesamt)
Shell and BP paid zero tax on North Sea gas and oil for three years and paid shareholders more than £44bn in dividends in the same period (2021, article in The Guardian)
Insufficient taxation/regulation of harmful industries
There’s one big subject our leaders at Cop27 won’t touch: livestock farming (2022, opinion article in The Guardian)
EU on track to break pledge to cut methane emissions by 30%, warns report: ‘Policy vacuum’ on livestock emissions amid pressure from industry lobbyists blamed for failings (2022, article in The Guardian based on report by Changing Markets Foundation)
Shell paid zero windfall tax in UK despite record global profits (2022, article in The Guardian)
UN body reaches long-term aviation climate goal of net zero by 2050: Decision described as a compromise by several European countries who wanted a more ambitious target (2022, article in The Guardian)
Revealed: world’s biggest meat firm appears to have avoided millions in UK tax (2022, article in The Guardian)
Little of record profits going to UK taxpayers as fossil firms claim cash is needed for move to low carbon (2022, article in The Guardian)
Insufficient reparations for environmental damages
UK criticised for failing to pay $300m in promised climate funds ahead of Cop27 (2022, article in The Guardian)
African countries urge rich nations to honour $100bn climate finance pledge: Ministers rebuke ‘shameful’ failure to meet funding promises for poorer countries to cope with climate crisis ahead of Cop27 summit (2022, article in The Guardian)
Central banks financing environmental destruction
Bankrolling deforestation: Central banks accused of financing environmental destruction (2022, report by Global Witness)
Insufficient Industry Action
General
World’s biggest firms failing over net-zero claims, research suggests (2022, article in The Guardian based on study by NewClimate Institute)
Corporate Climate Responsibiity Monitor 2022 by by NewClimate Institute/Carbon Market Watch – assesses the climate strategies of 25 major global companies
Aviation
Revealed: 5,000 empty ‘ghost flights’ in UK since 2019, data shows (2022, article in The Guardian)
Just one of 50 aviation industry climate targets met, study finds (2022, article in The Guardian)
Ghost flights from UK running at 500 a month, data reveals (2022, article in The Guardian)
Airlines flying near-empty ‘ghost flights’ to retain EU airport slots (2022, article in The Guardian)
Almost 15,000 ‘ghost flights’ have left UK since pandemic began (2022, article in The Guardian)
Agriculture
Blindspot: How the lack of action on livestock methane undermines climate targets (2021, report by Changing Markets Foundation)
Finance
Banks still investing heavily in fossil fuels despite net zero pledges – study (2023, article in The Guardian based on report by Reclaim Fiance)
Food industry
Food firms’ plans for 1.5C climate target fall short, say campaigners (2022, article in The Guardian)
News media & publishing
Earth is under threat, yet you would scarcely know it (2022, article in The Guardian)
Revelaed: Leading climate research publisher [Elsevier] helps fuel oil and gas drilling (2022, article in The Guardian)
Tourism
Travel industry warned ‘tackle climate disaster before it’s too late’: ‘We won’t have a world to show our customers if we don’t act soon,’ delegates are told at tourism conference (2022, article in The Guardian)
Insufficient Action on the Ecological Crisis
General
Pressure grows for deal to save nature at crunch talks in Geneva (2022, article in The Guardian on COP15 Biodiversity Conference)
Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future (2021, article in Frontiers in Conservation Science)
Conservation
Expanding national parks not enough to protect nature, say scientists (2022, article in The Guardian)
‘A drop in the ocean’: [Australian] government’s $50m koala pledge won’t tackle root cause of decline (2022, article in The Guardian)
Deforestation
Global deforestation pledge will be missed without urgent action, say researchers (2022, article in The Guardian based on assessment by Forest Declaration Assessment)
‘Loophole’ allowing for deforestation on soya farms in Brazil’s Amazon: Satellite data shows rainforest cleared for cattle and maize on farms growing soya, undermining claims crop is deforestation-free (2022, article in The Guardian)
How we get tree planting wrong (2021, video reportage in The Guardian)
Pollution
EU regulators ‘dismissed evidence’ linking glyphosate to rodent tumours: European Chemical Agency’s positive assessment for continued sale of substance is flawed, say environmental campaigners (2022, article in The Guardian, based on report by Heal Health and Environment Alliance)
US is recycling just 5% of its plastic waste, studies show (2022, article in The Guardian based on article in Resources, Conservation & Recycling)
The dead shellfish littering our beaches tell you a lot about safety and secrecy in Britain (2022, opinion article in The Guardian)
England’s water is bad and getting worse, with regulators too poor or politically cowed to do anything about it (2022, article in The Guardian)
Insufficient reuse, recycling & upcycling
Circular Claims Fall Flat Again (2022, report by Greenpeace)
Only 5% of plastic waste generated by US last year was recycled, report says (2022, article in The Guardian)
Unsustainable fishing
Fishing industry still ‘bulldozing’ seabed in 90% of UK marine protected areas (2022, article in The Guardian)
Insufficient Adaptation
Our food system isn’t ready for the climate crisis (2022, article in The Guardian)
London flooding poses ‘significant risk’ unless immediate action taken (2022, article in The Guardian)
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