2021 – the make or break year for climate action

“This is a frightening report,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, “it needs to be read by all leaders and decision-makers in the world.”

“This report shows that 2020 was also another unprecedented year of extreme weather and climate disasters. The cause is clear. Anthropogenic climate change – climate disruption caused by human activities, human decisions and human folly,” he said.

The report is accompanied by a story map showing details of key climate indicators, including record greenhouse gas concentrations, increasing land and ocean temperatures, sea level rise, melting ice and glacier retreat and extreme weather.

It also highlights impacts on socio-economic development, migration and displacement, food security and land and marine ecosystems.

2020 was one of the three warmest years on record, despite a cooling La Niña event. The global average temperature was about 1.2° Celsius above the pre-industrial (1850–1900) level. The six years since 2015 have been the warmest on record. 2011–2020 was the warmest decade on record.

“Our challenge is clear,” said the UN Secretary-General. “To avert the worst impacts of climate change, science tells us that we must limit global temperature rise to within 1.5 degrees of the pre-industrial baseline. That means reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030 and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050,” he said.

“I count first on developed countries to deliver on climate finance and, as I mentioned, the promised 100 billion dollars a year at the G7 Summit in June. Then, I will urge the G20 countries to take on the greening of the broader financial architecture, to address debt and make climate-related financial disclosure mandatory,” said Mr Guterres.

“This is truly a pivotal year for humanity’s future. This report shows we have no time to waste,” he said.

Compiled by Reinhold Pape

https://trello.com/b/2o9b9c5w/state-of-the-global-climate-2020

http://webtv.un.org/watch/joint-press-conference-the-un-secretary-general-ant%C3%B3nio-guterres-and-the-secretary-general-of-the-world-meteorological-organization-professor-petteri-taalas-on-the-report-on-the-state-of-the-global-climate-in-2020/6249402584001/?term=

In this issue

EU industrial air pollution cost up to €433 billion per year

The cost of damage caused by pollutant emissions into the air from the largest 12,000 industrial facilities in 2017 has been estimated at €277–433 billion, and half of the total cost was caused by less than two per cent of plants.

Editorial

The World Health Organization is shortly expected to publish revised guidelines for the main hazardous air pollutants. These will be of major importance for the forthcoming revision of the EU’s Ambient Air Quality Directive – a revision proposal is scheduled to be presented by the Commission next year.

Recycled batteries reduce dependence on imported raw materials

A new study assesses the raw materials needed to make electric vehicle batteries and compares them with the materials needed to run a fossil fuel car.

CO₂ emissions from the cement industry can be reduced without CCS

Cement emissions in the EU fell more than 10 per cent in 2019–2020, demonstrating that fast, short-term cuts are possible.

Norway’s romantically named Longship CCS project

Will the Northern Light CO₂ storage ever be commercially viable?

Looking back over 40 years

Four Swedish environmentalist organisations set up a joint project for the international dissemination of information on air pollution and acidification. This leads to the establishment of the Swedish NGO Secretariat on Acid Rain in January 1982, re-named the Air Pollution & Climate Secretariat (AirClim) in 2008.

Agri-PV a useful synergy between agriculture and solar energy

The co-developing of land for both solar photovoltaic power and agriculture has gained interest. Experts state that the synergy would benefit food and energy production, as well as decreasing both water demand and carbon emissions.

Direct Air Capture: Billionaires dream of vacuuming carbon out of the atmosphere

Direct air capture of CO₂ is getting a lot of media traction, and a lot of finance from US billionaires. But the very few machines do not suck up much CO₂, so Carbon Engineering uses Photoshop to increase their numbers.

Opportunities for the Renewable Energy Directive

The current Renewable Energy Directive does not deliver the results needed to meet the Paris Agreement. The transition of the energy system in EU member states from fossil fu- els to 100% renewable energy must accelerate.