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	IPCC scientists confirm climate change contributing to humanitarian crises worldwide by IFRC, WFP, Unicef, agencies   28 Feb. 2022   It is past time to put children at the center of climate action. Today, 1 billion of the world’s most vulnerable children are at extreme risk.   UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR6 Report:   “Today’s landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report removes whatever shred of doubt remained: The climate crisis is not a future threat. It is here, it is accelerating, and it will continue to affect the world in increasingly devastating ways.   “Already, the climate crisis has exposed nearly every child, on every continent, to greater risk of more frequent, intense, and destructive climate hazards, from heatwaves and droughts to cyclones and flooding, from air pollution to vector-borne diseases.   “But for some children, the climate crisis is more than a heightened risk. It is a life-threatening reality.   “UNICEF’s recently released Children’s Climate Risk Index – the first comprehensive analysis of climate and environmental risk from a child’s perspective – shows that 1 billion children live in extremely high-risk countries where they are exposed to the most severe hazards, shocks, and stressors. The impact on these children, their families, and their futures – and therefore, their societies – is enormous.   “Today, 1 billion of the world’s most vulnerable children are at risk. Tomorrow, if the world fails to act, it will be all children.   “The evidence is irrefutable – the climate crisis is a children’s crisis. And yet, children are consistently overlooked in climate crisis response planning. Investing in the needs of children most impacted by climate change is not a priority. In many cases it is not even on the agenda.   “The world cannot continue to overlook children as it grapples with the existential threat of climate change and environmental degradation. It is time to put our children at the center of climate action.   “First and always, governments need to deliver on ambitious emissions reductions. This remains the only long-term solution, as climate adaptation has limits. But we need to take action -- right now -- to help the most vulnerable children, living in countries with the lowest per-capita emissions, adapt to the impacts of climate change, so they can survive and thrive in a rapidly changing world.   “Preparing countries and communities through climate resilient development with a major focus on adaptation is the most effective way to protect vulnerable children’s lives and family livelihoods. It is proven to reduce child climate risk. It builds resilience to future, expected climate shocks. It delivers real economic benefits.   “Yet many countries either entirely lack adaptation plans, or have plans that do not protect or address their specific and urgent needs. This means most children are still unprotected and unprepared for the intensifying impact of climate change.   “UNICEF is calling on every country to commit to ensuring child-centered adaptation is a centerpiece of all climate plans as a matter of highest priority.   “To be effective, child-centered adaptation plans and resilience measures need to be multi-sectoral, covering the critical sectors that support children’s survival and wellbeing: Water and sanitation; health, nutrition, and education; social policy and child protection. They also need to focus resources and attention on reaching the most marginalized and vulnerable children from the poorest communities.   Just as important, they must be developed and implemented with the engagement and participation of young people -- ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are reflected in decisions. Lastly, they must be appropriately and urgently funded and resourced.   “Young people have already waited too long for leaders to take the deep, drastic actions needed to limit the climate crisis. Let’s not keep them waiting for us to take the smart, strategic actions that will help them survive it.”   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/today-1-billion-worlds-most-vulnerable-children-are-extreme-risk-if-world-fails-act http://data.unicef.org/resources/childrens-climate-risk-index-report/ http://alliancecpha.org/en/worldchildrensday2021   28 Feb. 2022   Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientists confirm climate change contributing to humanitarian crises worldwide. (IFRC)   The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) today called for urgent action and funding, particularly for those most vulnerable, to combat the devastating humanitarian impacts of the climate crisis confirmed in today’s report by world’s climate scientists.   For the first time, the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published today notes that climate change is already contributing to humanitarian crises in vulnerable contexts.   In addition, climate and weather extremes are increasingly driving displacement in every region of the world.   IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said: “The IPCC report confirms what the IFRC and its network of 192 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have already witnessed for years: Climate change is already disrupting the lives of billions, particularly the world’s poorest who have contributed the least to it.   “The global response to Covid-19 proves that governments can act decisively and drastically in the face of imminent global threats.   “We need the same energy and action to combat climate change now, and we need it to reach the most climate-vulnerable communities across the world so that they have the tools and funding to anticipate and manage risks.”   The report, authored by more than 200 climate experts, reaffirms the key principles that the Red Cross Red Crescent network has been calling for to tackle climate change: that local action is key in tackling climate change and that responding to disasters after they happen will never be enough to save lives and combat a crisis of this magnitude.   The latest science confirms, with very high confidence, that climate impacts and risks exacerbate vulnerabilities as well as social and economic inequities.   These in turn increase acute development challenges, especially in developing regions and particularly exposed sites, such as coastal areas, small islands, deserts, mountains and polar regions.   Maarten van Aalst, coordinating lead author of the report and Director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre said: “This report is a flashing red light, a big alarm for where we are today. It tells us in unequivocal scientific language that the window for concerted global action to secure a liveable future is rapidly closing.   “It demonstrates that all the risks we were concerned about in the past are now are now coming at us much faster. But the report also shows that it is not too late yet. We can still reduce emissions to avoid the worst.   “Alongside, we’ll have to manage the changes we can no longer prevent. Many of the solutions, such as better early warning systems and social safety nets, have already proven their value.   “If we raise our ambition to adapt to the rising risks, with priority for the most vulnerable people, we can still avoid the most devastating consequences.”   Feb. 2022   Governments must start treating the climate crisis as a national security concern on a par with war as climate breakdown threatens countries’ stability and safety, the global chief of the Red Cross has warned.   Jagan Chapagain, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said: “People should be seeing the climate as a national security issue, as it is having an impact on national security. We need to see that the climate crisis is not only having an environmental impact, but a very significant security impact.”   The Red Cross has warned that at least 1.7 billion people already face serious problems, including food and water shortages, arising from or made worse by the climate crisis.   Before the outbreak of Covid-19, the organisation – which works in conflict zones and with those affected by disasters – found that 2 million people a week needed humanitarian assistance owing to the impacts of climate breakdown.   Chapagain said: “Every inhabited part of the world is affected. Through our work in responding to disasters, we can see this is clearly having an effect – you can see it now, with the naked eye, that this is happening. Unfortunately, I don’t think we are as prepared as we should be.”   More people are facing hunger, water shortages and the prospect of having to move to avoid natural disasters such as floods, droughts and extreme temperatures, he said.   “There are impacts on displacement; we did a study last year that found more displacement from the climate than from conflict,” he said in an interview with the Guardian. Most of that displacement is currently happening within national borders, but that can still have an impact on national security and the potential for conflict, he added.   Governments are not used to thinking of the climate in terms of national security, said Chapagain. National security concerns are obvious in conflicts such as that in Ukraine, but he said the problems of the climate crisis were unfolding in ways not yet widely acknowledged.   “We must take a holistic view. The climate crisis affects national security, and this must take much greater priority for governments than it has done,” he added. “If we respond in a piecemeal fashion, we will underestimate the enormity of the climate crisis.”   All government departments must be included in the response to climate breakdown, Chapagain said. “There is a complete disconnect at the moment,” he added.   http://www.climatecentre.org/7881/ipcc-scientists-confirm-climate-change-contributing-to-humanitarian-crises-worldwide/ http://www.redcross.org.uk/stories/disasters-and-emergencies/world/the-climate-crisis   25 Feb. 2022   Extreme weather and climate events heighten humanitarian needs in Madagascar and around the world. (WFP)   Tropical Cyclone Emnati that made landfall in Madagascar on Wednesday, is the fourth tropical storm in as many weeks to hit one of Africa’s most vulnerable countries, threatening food security and is an example of how weather extremes will trigger runaway humanitarian needs if we do not tackle the climate crisis, warned the United Nations World Food Programme just days ahead of the launch of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).   Crashing into vulnerable communities already at breaking point, Cyclone Emnati is bound to deepen hunger including in southern Madagascar, which has been reeling from years of severe drought – another manifestation of the country’s vulnerability to climate extremes. Given how dry the land is in these areas, there are now concerns regarding the risk of flash floods.   The storms - Emnati, Dumako, Batsirai and Ana - have wrecked the island nation, causing widespread damage to agricultural land including the rice crop that was just weeks away from harvest. Cash crops have also been severely affected. In a country where the majority of people make a living from agriculture, an estimated 90 percent of crops may be destroyed in areas of affected regions.   The back-to-back storms have impacted market supplies with the potential to send food prices soaring and food insecurity spiralling in the coming months. Forecasts predict another tropical system already forming in the south-west Indian ocean.   “What we are seeing in Madagascar is extreme climate impacts – a series of storms and prolonged drought affecting hundreds of thousands of people,” said Brian Lander, WFP’s Deputy Director of Emergencies. “While WFP is providing essential food in the aftermath of the storms, we need to be equally fast in thinking about how these communities are going to adapt to this new reality.”   The world over, the climate crisis continues to drive global hunger. In 2020, extreme weather contributed to most of the world’s food crises and was the primary cause of acute food insecurity in 15 countries.   http://www.wfp.org/news/extreme-weather-and-climate-events-heighten-humanitarian-needs-madagascar-and-around-world http://www.wfp.org/stories/cop26-climate-change-hunger-famine-wfp-united-nations http://www.wfp.org/stories/42-million-people-are-knocking-famines-door-and-us66-billion-could-save-them-now-0   http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/food-insecurity-index/ http://theconversation.com/mass-starvation-extinctions-disasters-the-new-ipcc-reports-grim-predictions-and-why-adaptation-efforts-are-falling-behind-176693 http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-ii/ Visit the related web page
	New fossil fuel production projects could trigger climate breakdown by Guardian News, agencies   Oct. 2022   ‘Reckless’ coal firms plan climate-busting expansion, new study reveals.   Hundreds of coal companies around the world are developing new mines and power stations, according to a study. The researchers said the plans were “reckless and irresponsible” in the midst of the climate emergency.   Coal is the most polluting of all fossil fuels and its use must be quickly phased out to end the climate crisis. However, almost half the 1,000 companies assessed are still developing new coal assets, and just 27 companies have announced coal exit dates consistent with international climate targets.   The new mining projects could increase the production of thermal coal, used in power stations, by more than a third, the report found. The bulk of these projects are in China, India, Australia, Russia and South Africa.   The analysis was produced by the German environmental group Urgewald, which said it was the world’s most comprehensive public database on the coal industry.   “Pursuing new coal projects in the midst of a climate emergency is reckless, irresponsible behaviour,” said Heffa Schucking, the director of Urgewald. “Investors, banks and insurers should ban these coal developers from their portfolios immediately.”   The world’s nations agreed at the UN’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last November to “accelerate efforts towards the phasedown of unabated coal”. However, the conservative International Energy Agency said in July that coal burning was set to rise in 2022, taking it back to the record level set in 2013. The rise is due in part to high gas prices as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, making coal relatively cheaper.   The IEA said in May 2021 that no new coal-fired power stations could be built if the world was to stay within safe limits of global heating and meet the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. Some progress is being made, with only 4% of new power capacity in 2021 coming from coal, down from about 30% in 2016. In contrast, 75% of new power came from renewables, which are often cheaper and increasingly challenge the economic viability of new coal plants.   Nonetheless, Coal India aims to double the amount of coal it mines to 1bn tonnes a year by 2025, according to Urgewald’s analysis, making it the biggest mining company on the list. “The coal mining rush is testament to the industry’s complete denial of climate reality. The writing is on the wall, but coal miners refuse to read it,” said Schucking.   The report found 476GW of new coal-fired power capacity is still in the pipeline worldwide, equivalent to hundreds of new power stations. If built, the projects would increase the world’s coal power capacity by 23%. China is responsible for 60% of all the planned new capacity.   Lidy Nacpil from the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development said: “The world welcomed President Xi Jinping’s 2021 announcement that China would stop building new coal power plants abroad, but China needs to adopt similar measures for its domestic energy system if it wants to become an actor for a 1.5C world.”   To reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the IEA says, all coal power plants in rich countries must be retired by 2030 at the latest and by 2040 in the rest of the world. Urgewald found just 27 companies out of 1,064 had announced such coal exit dates. Of these, most were planning to convert to gas-powered plants or sell to another owner.   “At the end of the day, we only identified five companies with coal transition plans that could be considered Paris-aligned,” said Schucking. “The vast majority of companies still have no intention of retiring their coal assets, which are propelling us towards a climate breakdown. Delaying has become a new form of climate denial.”   The US, which has the world’s third-largest number of coal plants, has not set a national end date for its coal power, unlike the UK, France and Italy. The US would need to retire 30GW of coal-fired capacity a year up to 2030 to meet the Paris climate goals, the Urgewald report said, but only 8.4GW was closed down in 2021.   Lucie Pinson, the director of Reclaim Finance, which rates the coal policies of more than 500 financial institutions, said: “Companies won’t transition unless banks, investors and insurers rapidly stop all support for the industry’s expansion and require the adoption of closure plans.” She said 190 financial institutions still have no coal policy, 272 have weak coal policies and only 28 have effective coal exit policies.   http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/06/reckless-coal-firms-plan-climate-busting-expansion-study-finds http://www.urgewald.org/en/medien/urgewalds-2022-global-coal-exit-list-no-transition-sight http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/19/vulnerable-countries-demand-global-tax-to-pay-for-climate-led-loss-and-damage   May 2022   ‘Carbon bombs’ set to trigger catastrophic climate breakdown. (Guardian News)   Oil and gas majors are planning scores of vast projects that threaten to shatter the 1.5C climate goal. If governments do not act, these firms will continue to cash in as the world burns.   The world’s biggest fossil fuel firms are quietly planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global impacts, a Guardian investigation shows.   The exclusive data shows these firms are in effect placing multibillion-dollar bets against humanity halting global heating. Their huge investments in new fossil fuel production could pay off only if countries fail to rapidly slash carbon emissions, which scientists say is vital.   The oil and gas industry is extremely volatile but extraordinarily profitable, particularly when prices are high, as they are at present. ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron have made almost $2tn in profits in the past three decades, while recent price rises led BP’s boss to describe the company as a “cash machine”.   The lure of colossal payouts in the years to come appears to be irresistible to the oil companies, despite the world’s climate scientists stating in February that further delay in cutting fossil fuel use would mean missing our last chance “to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all”. As the UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned world leaders in April: “Our addiction to fossil fuels is killing us.”   Details of the projects being planned are not easily accessible but an investigation published in the Guardian shows:   The fossil fuel industry’s short-term expansion plans involve the start of oil and gas projects that will produce greenhouse gases equivalent to a decade of CO2 emissions from China, the world’s biggest polluter.   These plans include 195 carbon bombs, gigantic oil and gas projects that would each result in at least a billion tonnes of CO2 emissions over their lifetimes, in total equivalent to about 18 years of current global CO2 emissions. About 60% of these have already started pumping.   The dozen biggest oil companies are on track to spend $103m a day for the rest of the decade exploiting new fields of oil and gas that cannot be burned if global heating is to be limited to well under 2C.   The Middle East and Russia often attract the most attention in relation to future oil and gas production but the US, Canada and Australia are among the countries with the biggest expansion plans and the highest number of carbon bombs. The US, Canada and Australia also give some of the world’s biggest subsidies for fossil fuels per capita.   At the UN’s Cop26 climate summit in November, after a quarter-century of annual negotiations that as yet have failed to deliver a fall in global emissions, countries around the world finally included the word “coal” in their concluding decision.   Even this belated mention of the dirtiest fossil fuel was fraught, leaving a “deeply sorry” Cop president, Alok Sharma, fighting back tears on the podium after India announced a last-minute softening of the need to “phase out coal” to “phase down coal”.   Nonetheless, the world agreed coal power was history – the question now was how quickly cheaper renewables could replace it, and how fair the transition would be for the small number of developing countries that still relied on it.   But there was no mention of oil and gas in the Cop26 final deal, despite these being responsible for almost 60% of fossil fuel emissions.   Furthermore, many of the rich countries, such as the US, that dominate international climate diplomacy and positioned themselves as climate leaders at the conference, are big players in new oil and gas projects. But unlike India, they avoided criticism.   That lack of scrutiny prompted the Guardian to spend the months since Cop26 piecing together the clearest picture possible of forthcoming oil and gas exploration and production.   Code red   The world’s scientists agree the planet is in deep trouble. In August, Guterres reacted strongly to a stark report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading authority on climate science. “[This report] is a code red for humanity,” he said.   The IPCC states carbon emissions must fall by half by 2030 to preserve the chance of a liveable future, yet they show no sign of declining.   Experts have been warning since at least 2011 that most of the world’s fossil fuel reserves could not be burned without causing catastrophic global heating.   In 2015, a high-profile analysis found that to limit global temperature below 2C, half of known oil reserves and a third of gas had to stay in the ground, along with 80% of coal.   “Simply put, they are lying and the results will be catastrophic,” said Guterres. “Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.”   Today, the problem is even more acute. A better understanding of the devastating impacts of the climate crisis has led to the internationally agreed limit for global heating being lowered to 1.5C, to cut the risks of extreme heatwaves, droughts, and floods.   An updated scientific analysis found the proportion of fossil fuel reserves that would need to stay in the ground for 1.5C jumped to 60% for oil and gas and 90% for coal, while the UN warned that planned fossil fuel production “vastly exceeds” the limit needed for 1.5C.   In April, shocked by the latest IPCC report that said it was “now or never” to start slashing emissions, Guterres launched an outspoken attack on companies and governments whose climate actions did not match their words.   “Simply put, they are lying, and the results will be catastrophic,” he said. “Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.   “Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.”   The reaction to Russia’s war in Ukraine has pushed oil and gas prices even higher, further incentivising bets on new fields and infrastructure that would last decades.   The failure of countries to “build back greener” after the Covid-19 pandemic or the 2008 financial crash was not a good omen, and Guterres said: “Fossil fuel interests are now cynically using the war in Ukraine to lock in a high-carbon future.”   Assessing future oil and gas developments is challenging: the sector is complex and often secretive, public information is scarce and hard to find and assess. But a global team of Guardian environment reporters has worked with leading thinktanks, analysts and academics across the world over the past five months and now we can answer a series of questions that reveal the scale of the sector’s plans.   First, how much production is due to come from the projects that are likely to start drilling before the end of this crucial decade? Next, where exactly are the biggest projects around the world, the so-called carbon bombs that would explode the climate?   We also followed the money: how much is going to be spent on oil and gas that cannot be burned safely, rather than invested in clean energy? And who benefits most from the fossil fuel subsidies that hide the true damage they cause?   The answers to these key questions lead to an inescapable conclusion: if the projects go ahead, they will blow the world’s rapidly shrinking cap on emissions that must be kept to enable a liveable future – known as the carbon budget. For all the promises made by many oil companies, the data shows they remain committed to their core business despite the consequences.   http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2022/may/11/fossil-fuel-carbon-bombs-climate-breakdown-oil-gas http://globalenergymonitor.org/report/crude-awakening-oil-industry-pursuing-massive-build-out-of-new-pipelines-led-by-projects-in-u-s-india-china-russia/ http://euobserver.com/opinion/156225 http://www.corporateeurope.org/en/DeadlyClimateGamble http://www.fossilfreepolitics.org/ http://makepolluterspay.co.uk/make-polluters-pay http://www.openglobalrights.org/topics/climate-and-environment/ http://influencemap.org/report/Big-Oil-s-Agenda-on-Climate-Change-2022-19585 http://davidsuzuki.org/story/fuelling-a-climate-of-uncertainty-in-a-time-of-war/ http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15052022/philippines-fossil-fuels-climate-liability/ http://www.hrlc.org.au/human-rights-case-summaries/philippines-commission-on-human-rights-finds-that-the-worlds-largest-emitters-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions-engaged-in-wilful-obfuscation-of-climate-science-and-breached-human-rights http://insideclimatenews.org/project/exxon-the-road-not-taken/ http://insideclimatenews.org/news/30042022/california-attorney-general-exxon-plastic-pollution/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/california-ag-investigating-big-oil-recycling-plastic-wars/   * Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios: http://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2108146119 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-021-01544-8 http://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1810141115 Visit the related web page
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