Only five proposals for coal plants remain across OECD’s 38 countries

The number of new coal plants being proposed in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) region has decreased by 96% since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, according to data from the Global Coal Plant Tracker. The fall in proposals aligns with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's 2019 call for "no new coal". Every country except Turkey of the 13 OECD countries that had coal plant proposals in 2015 have since pledged to stop building new coal plants.

The remaining proposals are located in Australia, Japan, the US, and Turkey. Each of these countries faces challenges and opposition to coal plant development, from public opposition to the decreasing costs of competing power sources like solar and wind power. In Turkey, more than 70GW of planned coal plant capacity has been called off since 2015, translating to a 92% cancellation rate, one of the highest in the world.

Even though Australia, Japan, and the US have pledged to the international Powering Past Coal Alliance or through a domestic moratorium on new coal plant permits, they support the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to abate carbon emissions. Critics argue that coal CCS proposals are more expensive and polluting than cleaner electricity alternatives, often relying heavily on government subsidies in order to be economically viable. Only a handful of CCS coal plants have reached commercial operation.

Source: Carbon Brief

Whaling activist Paul Watson celebrates release from jail after Denmark refuses extradition to Japan

Paul Watson, the anti-whaling campaigner, has spoken of delight that Denmark rejected Japan’s extradition request and released him from prison in Greenland, after 150 days in jail.

“I am certainly relieved as this means I get to see my two little boys. That’s really been my only concern this entire time. I understand the risks of what we do and sometimes you get arrested – although I am proud of the fact that I have never been convicted of a crime.” Watson said earlier in December. Tokyo was seeking his extradition on charges relating to the alleged boarding of the Japanese whaling ship Shōnan Maru 2 in the Southern Ocean in February 2010. The charges, including one of assault, carried a sentence of up to 15 years in jail.

Watson said “My time in jail has at least served the purpose of focusing attention on Japan’s illegal whaling operations and killing of dolphins on the Danish Faroe islands. So in that sense it was a successful campaign.”

Sources: The Guardian, RTS

The EPR reactor at Flamanville connected to the grid after seventeen years of construction

After seventeen years of construction, the EPR nuclear reactor at Flamanville, the most powerful in France, was connected on Saturday, December 21, to the national electricity grid, announced the EDF group.

"Great moment for the country. One of the most powerful nuclear reactors in the world, the EPR at Flamanville, has just been connected to the electricity grid", Emmanuel Macron said on LinkedIn. He then estimated that this is an example of "reindustrializing to produce low carbon energy", and that the commissioning of this latest generation EPR "strengthens our competitiveness and protects the climate".

After the fuel loading carried out in May and the first nuclear reaction within the reactor in early September, the coupling to the grid is the third stage of Flamanville 3's commissioning, a new generation pressurized water reactor, which is expected to supply electricity to about two million households. A first eighteen-month cycle of industrial activity is announced, involving production, but with still many tests, particularly during power ramp-up.

Sources: Le Monde, Reuters

IPBES nexus report: key takeaways for biodiversity, food, water, health and climate

“Fragmented governance” between biodiversity, climate change, food, water and health is putting all of those systems at risk, according to a major new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The report, known as the “nexus assessment”, explores the interlinkages between the themes above. IPBES is an independent body that provides scientific advice around biodiversity and its loss to policymakers, including through the Convention on Biological Diversity. It was modelled after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and functions in much the same way.

Focusing on a single element of the nexus at the expense of the others will have negative impacts for both humans and the planet. At the same time, many of the actions that can be taken to address nature loss will have co-benefits for the climate. The report also finds that funding for nature is dwarfed by both public and private finance that goes towards nature-harming activities. However, it says, reforming global financial systems could help address the “funding gap” needed to effectively protect nature.

Among IPBES key findings, Carbon Brief lists:

• Biodiversity loss puts food and water systems, human health and the climate at risk
• Focusing solely on food security leads to ‘severe trade-offs’ with climate, water and biodiversity
• Shifting to sustainable healthy diets will benefit people and the planet
• All available options for restoring nature would also help to tackle and to adapt to climate change
• Reforming global financial systems can help close the biodiversity funding gap

Source: Carbon Brief

Scientists just confirmed the largest bird-killing event in modern history

A marine heat wave in the Pacific Ocean that began a decade ago killed some 4 million common murres in Alaska, researchers say. Back then, the waters of the northern Pacific Ocean where these seabirds spend much of their time were unusually warm, the start of what would become the largest marine heat wave on record. The murres that made landfall were emaciated, showing they had starved to death. The scientists knew then that the die-off was one of the most visible and extreme examples of how climate anomalies in the warming world can throw wildlife populations into turmoil.

“We’ve had lots of long-term declines that have been observed in wildlife,” Heather Renner from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. “But what’s really different here — that we haven’t seen before — is this really swift catastrophe where in one year we have half the population of this really abundant seabird just wiped out.”         

Before the two-year marine heat wave that ended in 2016, Alaska had an estimated 8 million common murres — a quarter of the world’s population — spread across abundant colonies in the Gulf of Alaska and the Eastern Bering Sea. These black-and-white seabirds nest in dense clusters among shoreline cliffs during the summer months and then head to the ocean the rest of the year to feast on schools of small fish. Some populations of such forage fish collapsed during the heat wave as temperatures in the north Pacific spiked by 2.5 to 3 degrees Celsius above normal. Many predators that rely on them suffered. The number of Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska crashed by 80 percent between 2013 and 2017, the study noted, leading to the closure of the commercial fishery in the Gulf of Alaska.

Sources: The Washington Post, Courrier International

Edisun Power aims to power artificial intelligence (AI) with renewable energy

-          Company: Edisun Power

-          Sector: Utilities

-          Clover rating: Not rated

The board of directors of Edisun Power has decided to direct the large "Fuencarral" installation in the Madrid area, with a capacity of 941 MW, towards providing additional solar power to data centers. Edisun thus aims to take advantage of the additional demand for electricity resulting from the use of artificial intelligence applications and the strengthening of regulations in Europe aimed at operating data centers with as few emissions as possible (European Energy Efficiency Directive EED).

Edisun has also launched a process aimed at convincing infrastructure funds, private equity funds or owners and operators of data centers to invest in this large installation. Discussions are underway with a consortium of banks to finance the construction of the project.

Sources: Zonebourse, Agefi

SAP launches solution enabling companies to track, report carbon footprint of products and services

-          Company: SAP

-          Sector: Internet & Softwares

-          Clover rating: 6/10

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software company SAP announced in December the general availability of SAP Green Ledger, a new carbon accounting solution enabling companies to track and report the carbon footprint of their products, services and business units. The new solution integrates a company’s financial data, according to SAP, by allocating emissions to economic activities and transactions captured by SAP’s ERP solutions.

According to SAP, the new carbon accounting solution comes “as decarbonization becomes a legal and market imperative,” with the solution aimed at helping companies to address regulatory requirements, including regulations and sustainability reporting frameworks such as the EU CSRD and the ISSB standards, as well as the EU Taxonomy and CBAM. Key features of the SAP Green Ledger include the ability to forecast, budget, and contextualize carbon and financial data at a transactional level, analyze Scope 1, 2 and 3 aligned with financial data, trace and audit carbon footprints along the value chain, and apply standardized accounting practices to carbon accounting.

Sources: ESG Today, Illuminem

How Honda is approaching resource circulation

-          Company: Honda

-          Sector: Automobiles

-          Clover rating: 4/10

Honda is pursuing resource circulation as part of its goal to achieve zero environmental impact of its products and operations by 2050. The carmaker aims to recapture products at the end of their life and recycle or reuse 100% of the materials to create new products. This approach supports Honda's goals of 100% clean energy use and 100% resource circulation.

A significant part of Honda's resource circulation efforts is in product design. The company selects materials and creates design elements that prioritize longevity and recyclability. "By designing for disassembly and maintainability, we envision everything we purchase, from parts for our vehicles to forklifts used in our factories, being reused or recycled, reducing our environmental footprint and generating new business value,” says Mathew Daniel, indirect procurement department lead at Honda.

Honda also aims to maximize the useful life of the goods it buys while avoiding unnecessary purchases. The company has collaborated with GEP, a global provider of supply chain solutions, to implement and accelerate its sustainability goals. Honda is not only focusing on the sustainability of its direct materials but is also looking at resource circulation for indirect goods and services. By minimizing the extraction of virgin resources, Honda is helping preserve natural ecosystems and biodiversity.

Sources: Harvard Business Review, Honda

2024’s most costly climate disasters caused $229bn in damages, data shows

The world’s 10 most costly climate disasters of 2024 resulted in $229bn in damages, according to an annual analysis of insurance payouts. Three-quarters of the financial destruction occurred in the US. For the first time since the ranking was first compiled in 2018, there were two storms in a single year responsible for more than $50bn of losses: the hurricanes Helene and Milton that hit the US in September and October.

The top 10 also included Typhoon Yagi in south-east Asia, which caused $12.6bn of economic damage; Storm Boris in Europe, which resulted in $5bn of losses; and the devastating floods in southern China, Bavaria, Valencia and Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. The rising financial impact of climate disruption was apparent as all of the top 10 disasters racked up bills of more than $4bn.

The ranking is compiled at the end of each year by Christian Aid, using data from insurance payouts. The charity said the true cost of disasters is likely to be much higher because many people are uninsured, particularly in poorer countries. Christian Aid’s CEO, Patrick Watt, urged global policymakers to cut emissions and increase compensation payments to poor countries.

Sources: The Guardian, Yahoo