Sunny climate, stormy climate | Edition #2
Hello! Welcome to the first edition of Sunny climate, Stormy climate - your weekly dose of climate news
Hello and welcome to the second edition of ‘Sunny climate, Stormy climate’, your weekly newsletter where I bring to you five stories, three on the stormy side - concerning news that tells us the damaging effects of climate change on our every day lives and two on the sunny side - some green shoots, optimistic news that tells us all is not yet lost.
So let’s look at what we have this week!
Stormy news
Spain experiencing record breaking April temperatures in what is being called a ‘Spring heat wave’
At 38.8 deg c in Cordoba, Spain we saw a new record for land temperatures in mainland Europe in April; Image via infoclimat.fr What is happening?
Spain is currently experiencing what is expected to be its hottest April (since recorded history). Temperatures in several parts are 7-11 deg c above the average expected during this time of the year. Temperatures in the Andalusian provinces of Cordoba reached 38.8 deg c, creating a new record high for land temperatures in mainland Europe in April.
How bad is it really?
In Madrid schools were asked to shut down early to avoid the heat, in Catalonia the heat has exacerbated the existing drought resulting in irrigation canals running completely dry and in Sevilla a horse death is being investigated as a potential heat stroke. In Madrid, authorities announced that swimming pools, typically a summer fixture that opened in mid May would open a month earlier to brace the heat.
Wasn’t this expected in summer?
It’s still April (considered spring) and unusually early for such high temperatures.
Why is this happening?
The high temperatures are being most directly attributed to hot winds that are blowing in from Africa across the Iberian peninsula. More broadly, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of extremely high temperatures across Europe that has been attributed to climate change. Last year too Spain (along with other European countries) saw 2-3 intense heat waves between May and July
The Great Nicobar island development project
The Location of The Great Nicobar islands. Image via Swarajyamag.com What is the project?
The ‘Great Nicobar holistic development project’ is a 72000 crore project that aims to develop the Nicobar islands of the ‘Andaman and Nicobar’. The development project includes construction of an airport, a power plant, a township and an international port. There is also a strategic reason for the government to develop the island - to have a stronger naval presence there in order to counter growing Chinese activity and presence in the Indian Ocean.
The main concern is that the project will involve the destruction of 130 sq. km of forested land that had been declared a biosphere reserve in 1989. While the government has said that it will plant 8.5 lac trees in Haryana to compensate for the trees that will be felled, experts have said that it will not address the damage to the biodiversity in the region. Over 50% of butterflies, 40% of the birds and 60% of the mammals in the islands are endemic to the region (i.e. not found anywhere else), and so the trees planted in Haryana will do nothing to protect them. The destruction of the forests will also have a negative impact on the lives of the indigenous tribes, Shompen and Nicobarese that have lived there for centuries and depend on the forest for their food. Another concern is that the project lies along a seismic fault line and is prone to major earthquakes.
What is happening right now?
The environment ministry had given their approval for the project last year. However following complaints and appeals against the project, the NGT (National Green Tribunal) has now put a pause on the project.
‘Banking on Climate chaos’ - The biggest global banks continue to double down on the fossil fuel sector
The worlds largest banks continue to fund the fossil fuel sector; Image via ‘Banking on Climate chaos’ report 2022 The worlds largest banks have pledged to go green, but they continue to put billions of dollars into fossil fuel production. In 2022, the top 60 banks in the world gave USD 673 bn in funding to the fossil fuel sector. The top 3 contributors were RBC (USD 42 bn) , JPMC (USD 39 bn) and Wells Fargo (USD 39 bn). Cumulatively US banks still dominate contributing 28% of the total funding.
JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America are all members of the UN’s Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a group of banks committed to achieving carbon neutrality in their operations by 2050.
This was reported in the annual ‘Banking on climate chaos’ report that has been published for the last 14 years by a group of non profits.
Sunny news
Electric aviation may be closer than you think
Electric cars have of course become common place, and we can all imagine a future where all cars are electric, but what about electric planes? Seems far off? Think again. Electric taxis (also called eVTOL - Electric vertical take off and landing) or electric planes could soon be a reality.
The Swedish Infrastructure and housing minister Andreas Carlson was in India in March to discuss the future of aviation and a lot of the discussion centered on electric planes. In Carlson’s words “…they will be in the market in just five years. You can have electric flights for domestic shorter short-haul flights…They can have a range of 800 kilometres with 25 passengers.”
An IIT Madras incubated company (The e Plane company) showcased a prototype of a flying taxi i the Bangalore Aero show in Feb 2023 and said that could be in a few cities by 2025 subject to DGCA approvals.
There are several other global companies working in the space of eVTOLs including Lilium, Volocopter, and Joby aviation
EU approves the worlds first carbon tax on imports
The European Union has reached an agreement to levy a tax on imports that is based on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in manufacturing the product.
This will be the worlds first ‘carbon border tax’. It will be phased in from 2026, will cover some of the most polluting industries: steel, aluminum, cement, fertilizer and electricity, as well as hydrogen. It is expected to play an important role in achieving the EU goal of a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030.
The main objective is to ensure that costlier lower carbon EU manufactured goods are not undercut in price by goods manufactured in countries with relatively lax rules on emissions.
Major exporters to EU like China and India that have less stringent rules on emissions are expected to be adversely impacted and have already opposed the tax saying it puts developing countries at a disadvantage.
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