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New EWS-WWF and Acclimatise report identifies climate change risks and opportunities for UAE

A report produced by the Emirates Wildlife Society in association with WWF (EWS-WWF), co-authored by Acclimatise and sponsored by Farnek Services, has revealed a comprehensive summary detailing the projected risks and impacts of climate change in the UAE. The report titled, ‘UAE Climate Change Risks & Resilience: An overview of climate change risks to 12 key sectors,’ is available online today and demonstrates how climate change can affect various sectors such as food, energy and water.
The report aims to improve awareness and understanding of the risks posed by climate change among public and private sector decision makers and policymakers. It is hoped that the findings and recommendations will act as a catalyst for action, increasing the prioritisation of climate change in the UAE, and encourage greater implementation of evidence-based adaptation measures.
The report incorporates feedback from over 30 UAE and regional entities, and outlines the key risks to 12 essential sectors in the country, including: energy & water, transport & logistics, marine and terrestrial ecosystems & biodiversity, health & well-being, oil & gas, industry, buildings, construction & real estate, financial services, cultural heritage, hospitality & tourism, and food security (domestic production and international imports.
Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF’s global Climate and Energy Practice leader, said: “The well-being of societies, the growth and diversification of economies, and the preservation of the natural world, are at great risk from climate change. The latest findings in this report confirm that unconstrained carbon emissions have wide-reaching ramifications, and pose a sobering risk to nearly every sector of economy, business and society.”
Key highlights from the report include:

  • Food Imports, Production & Security: 87% of the UAE’s food supply is reliant on agricultural production abroad, and thus prone to climate change impacts. This will affect the reliability of international food markets and could contribute to a rise in food prices, with consequences for lower-income households making them more vulnerable to price shocks as a larger share of their budgets will be spent on food. Climate change will also impact the nation’s domestic agriculture, leading to an overall decline in agricultural output.
  • Energy Sector: By 2050, average temperatures in the UAE are projected to increase by 2oC, along with humidity, which is likely to increase by up to 10%. The resulting increased demand for cooling from buildings and industry are likely to create an energy demand-supply gap over time, hamper energy security, increase costs to end-users and produce additional greenhouse gas emissions. For example, air conditioning demand (for cooling and fans) in typical UAE residential villas could increase by between 10% – 35% by 2050, depending on the future CO2 emissions scenario.
  • Health & Well-being: Higher temperatures and humidity will decrease the productivity of outdoor workers and increase their overall risk, which is projected to cause losses of up to USD2trillion globally due to health-related impacts. Outdoor employees will likely slow their pace, take longer breaks and shift their work to cooler dusk and dawn hours.
  • Economy: Climate change trends can also affect private equity investments. Due to their longer-term nature, some investments could be more exposed to climate change-induced business risks, making projections of returns and exit strategies more uncertain if climate change consideration are not properly taken into account from the outset.

Laila Mostafa Abdullatif, Deputy Director General at EWS-WWF, explained: “The UAE is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as are all countries around the world; its effects are already being felt, and are set to increase if we don’t act further. If these impacts and risks are left unmanaged, it could be more challenging and costly to achieve the UAE’s national strategies and plans. We encourage all private sector champions, public sector policymakers and civil society leaders to share the responsibility, and play a part in developing and implementing adaptation strategies to boost resiliency and safeguard the economy, society and environment— as outlined in the report.”
The final report, which summarises findings from an extensive literature review of over 100 scientific reports and data, was developed over the course of 2016, during which EWS-WWF conducted roundtable sessions to present findings, and engage on content with 60+ stakeholders in the public and private sector, academia and civil-society.
Highlights of the findings will also be shared through a webinar on April 10th, 2017. To sign up for the webinar, register online at this link.
Download the report from our resources library and make sure you visit the EWS-WWF report website.
Click on the image below to see the report’s infographic in full size.

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The impact of floods in Southeast Asia means new insurance strategies are needed

Southeast Asia is perpetually and increasingly at risk of flooding, with serious consequences for human life and health – not to mention economies and the environment. So now is the time to look for new strategies and solutions in a bid to save lives and avoid spiralling costs.
Statistics show a clear increase in the frequency and severity of flooding in Southeast Asia over the past few decades. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 9.6 million people in the region were affected by flooding in 2011, with 5.3 million in Thailand alone. That year, the Thai floods were labelled the worst in 50 years by the National Committee for Disaster Management and the Department of Hydrology.
Then a 2013 report by the Asian Development Bank revealed that in the period from 2000 to 2009, floods and storms caused 1,215 disasters in Asia compared with just 502 in the 1980s. Importantly, figures for geophysical disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions over the same period stayed roughly the same. So what’s going on? Is this a climate change issue or one of urban development? And most importantly, what can be done by those who are concerned about the situation in Southeast Asia? 
Reassessing our strategies
Anything that costs human life and health costs society. A report by the think tank World Resources Institute revealed that the poorest Southeast Asian countries are particularly at financial risk as a result of flooding. Vietnam has 2.29% of its total GDP exposed to river flooding alone, Cambodia 3.42% and Laos 2.22%.
Vietnam has 2.29% of its total GDP exposed to
river flooding alone, Cambodia 3.42% and
Laos 2.22%.
Across in Indonesia, floods are the most common natural disaster – 97% of disaster events between 2012 and 2014 were hydrometeorological, with floods the most frequent. They are also the most deadly: During the same period floods claimed more lives than any other natural event.
Then there’s the economic impact: The country is hit by flooding to some degree during every rainy season (just last month Indonesia had to contend with more rainfall in a day than it usually sees in a month), and these events hit the economy to the tune of more than USD 2 billion a year.
It’s a similar tale in Thailand where according to a report by the Geneva Association (International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics), the 2011 Thai flood disaster caused losses equivalent to 12% of its GDP – or USD 43bn. Without additional investment, climate change-related floods alone are predicted to lead to average annual economic losses across Asia of USD 500bn or more by 2050 – compared to average annual global flood losses of around USD 30bn between 2004 and 2013.
Insurance against these types of losses is particularly low in Asia. A report by German reinsurer Munich Re found that for every euro loss caused by a natural catastrophe in Asia, only eight cents were covered by insurance between 1980 and 2012 (compared with 40 cents for the US).
If we want to help Southeast Asia stay in control of the health and economic consequences of its current and future flood risk, we need to invest and rethink some of our strategies.
Here are some initial suggestions:
1. Invest in intervention and early warning: Early warning systems can save lives by giving people time to leave potential disaster zones. Investing in them should be a priority. In Vietnam, the Pacific Disaster Center has created VinAWARE. This integrates map data, impact models, rain- and stream-gauge measurements, and meteorological forecasts to provide early warnings and to give the government more time to make important decisions.
2. Invest in community knowledge and health: Many of the disease-related costs during and after a flood can be better managed by educating people on their own personal responsibility (to themselves and others) before and during flood events. Research by the University of Alberta, Canada, shows that such programmes are currently grossly underfunded.
As an example of what can be achieved, the Intermediate Technology Development Group in Bangladesh has concentrated efforts on helping local communities improve housing. Education on raising the foundations of homes, promoting durability by treating building materials, and improving ventilation has all been provided.
Educating local people on the need to maintain sanitation during a flood can also help to reduce the transmission of common post-flood diseases. The most frequently documented disease in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster is diarrhoea – responsible for 40% of deaths in disaster and refugee camp environments. In most cases, its spread can be greatly limited simply through basic hygiene practices – regular hand-washing and ensuring the cleanliness of cooking and eating utensils, for example.
Educating local people on the need to
maintain sanitation during a flood can also
help to reduce the transmission of
communicable disease and outbreaks such as
diarrhoea.
Leptospirosis – a bacterial infection which elicits flu-like symptoms – is another disease which commonly spreads after heavy floods. Again, the spread of this disease can be greatly controlled if those in disaster-affected areas know what precautions to take. For example, adequate wound dressing and cleaning can go a long way in preventing an outbreak.
The WHO has already put initiatives in place to educate flood-affected communities on such measures – including teaching basic first aid to limit the number of exposed wounds and making sure the poor are properly vaccinated. This can also reduce infection rates and therefore the impact and cost on healthcare systems.
3. Close insurance gaps: The risk of flooding is a difficult thing to insure against and something many cannot afford. As the Economist has pointed out, tsunamis and cyclones do not seem a close enough threat to acknowledge on a day-to-day basis, even if the poor could afford the premiums. However, Southeast Asian governments could take note of what is happening around the rest of the world. Risk-pooling, whereby governments set up a multi-country, disaster-relief insurance, is a growing phenomenon, with the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility a prime example. Started by the region’s governments, donors and experts from the World Bank, it provides rapid, short-term liquidity to a government affected by an earthquake or hurricane to provide relief to healthcare systems and local communities. This is contrary to traditional indemnity insurance, which takes far longer to pay out because payments are based on confirmation of a loss. 

4. Be proactive during each flood stage: By understanding the three key stages – before, during, and after the flood – we can reassess our risk and disease-management strategies. Before the flood, in the panic of moving to safer ground, there can be minor injuries which later become infected by contaminated floodwater. During the flood there is an immediate increase in physical injury and mortality. From this point on, communicable disease becomes a much greater problem. After the flood, many people are left homeless and malnourished. There is also of course the impact on mental health for those surviving such traumatic experiences. 
A time for new ideas
A recent study in the journal Nature noted that, on a global scale, we can blame climate change many of the flooding problems we are seeing, but hone in on Southeast Asia and the story is more complex. A much bigger contributor to flooding here is caused by rapid socio-economic growth. Simply put, uncontrolled and unplanned urban development is raising the risk of floods, and the impact could be devastating. Estimates for Thailand alone suggest the annual costs of flooding may reach USD 22.5bn by 2030.
“Estimates for Thailand alone suggest
the annual costs of flooding may reach
USD 22.5bn by 2030.”
Given what we know about the growing prevalence and health risks of floods, governments, communities and insurance companies in Southeast Asia appear to be in sleepwalk mode.
The reality is that our knowledge of what can be done is high but ideas about how to afford and implement them are low. However, given predictions for climate change and other factors that will increase flood risk in vulnerable communities, no time should be wasted in devising innovative new strategies and solutions that will help to save lives, avoid health disasters and ultimately save millions of dollars.
author.jpg
About the author
John Le Boeuf, Founder and CEO of Cynergy Care
John Le Boeuf is the founder of Cynergy Corporation and has served as President & CEO of the various Cynergy companies since 2002. With a solid two decade senior management experience with key international and US managed health care companies, John has worked with market-leading companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Mutual of Omaha Companies, and Cigna Health Care.

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Zurich published 2016 Global Risks Report

This 12th edition of The Global Risks Report is published at a time of heightened political uncertainty, following a year of unexpected electoral results, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. Polarized societies and political landscapes are taking centre stage in many countries, with deepening generational and cultural divisions amplifying the risks associated with sluggish economic recovery and accelerating technological change.
These tensions have been building for some time, and over the past 10 years a nexus of social, political and economic fragilities has been a consistent focus of The Global Risks Report. The events of 2016 should serve as a wake-up call and prompt us to reassess our preparedness in the face of an evolving risk landscape.
While we should be wary of attributing too much influence to a series of very recent electoral results, the consequences of which are still unknown, major unexpected events can serve as inflection points. Long-term trends – such as persistent inequality and deepening polarization, which ranked first and third in perceived importance in the Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) this year – can build to a point at which they become triggers for change. This kind of change might involve risks intensifying or crystallizing, but it is important to recognize that shocks and releases of tension might also lead to a brightening of the risk outlook. We are in a period of flux; paradoxically this is therefore a time when things could improve.
The world is undergoing multiple complex transitions: towards a lower-carbon future; towards technological change of unprecedented depth and speed; towards new global economic and geopolitical balances. Managing these transitions and the deeply interconnected risks they entail will require long-term thinking, investment and international cooperation. It will also require policy-makers to bring voters with them – one of the lessons of 2016 is that we are very far from consensus on how to proceed.
This year’s Global Risks Report takes as its starting point the societal and political polarization that besets an increasing number of countries and that looks set to be a determining feature of the political landscape not just for the next few years but for the next few electoral cycles. In Part 1, the Report draws on the trends and risks highlighted in the latest GRPS to outline the key challenges that the world now faces: reviving economic growth; reforming market capitalism; facing up to the importance of identity and community; managing technological change; protecting and strengthening our systems of global cooperation; and deepening our efforts to protect the environment.
Part 2 explores three social and political risks in greater depth. The first chapter considers whether recent political trends amount to a crisis of Western democracy. It looks at underlying patterns that have led to a weakening of democratic legitimacy and points to three strategies that might help to restore it. The second piece highlights the importance of civil society in mitigating risks and assesses trends towards the curtailment of civil society organizations’ freedom to operate. The final chapter in this part of the Report looks at one of the gravest long-term challenges facing the world: how to build systems of social protection that can cope with the seismic demographic, economic and other changes that have transfigured social structures and individual lives over the last three decades.
Part 3 turns towards technology, which is at once a source of disruption and polarization and an inevitable part of whatever responses to these trends we choose to pursue. Informed by the results of a special GRPS module on emerging technologies, the urgency of the governance challenge in this area is stressed. This is followed by two in-depth assessments of specific technological risks: first, in relation to artificial intelligence, and second, in relation to our rapidly changing physical infrastructure needs and vulnerabilities.

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Stark warning on Atlantic cooling

Climatologists say there is an almost 50% chance that the Labrador Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean will cool rapidly within the next decade.
LONDON, 24 February, 2017 – For thousands of years, parts of north-west Europe have enjoyed a climate around 5°C warmer than many other regions on the same latitude. But new scientific analysis suggests that that could change much sooner and much faster than thought possible.
Climatologists who have looked again at the possibility of major climate change in and around the Atlantic Ocean, a persistent puzzle to researchers, now say there is an almost 50% chance that a key area of the North Atlantic could cool suddenly and rapidly, within the space of a decade, before the end of this century.
That is a much starker prospect than even the worst-case scientific scenario proposed so far, which does not see the Atlantic ocean current shutdown happening for several hundred years at least.

Extreme climate change

A scenario even more drastic (but fortunately fictional) was the subject of the 2004 US movie The Day After Tomorrow, which portrayed the disruption of the North Atlantic’s circulation leading to global cooling and a new Ice Age.
To evaluate the risk of extreme climate change, researchers from the Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux laboratory (CNRS/University of Bordeaux, France), and the University of Southampton, UK, developed an algorithm to analyse the 40 climate models considered by the Fifth Assessment Report.
The findings by the British and French team, published in the Nature Communications journal, in sharp contrast to the IPCC, put the probability of rapid North Atlantic cooling during this century at almost an even chance – nearly 50%.
Current climate models foresee a slowing of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC), sometimes known also as the thermohaline circulation, which is the phenomenon behind the more familiar Gulf Stream that carries warmth from Florida to European shores. If it did slow, that could lead to a dramatic, unprecedented disruption of the climate system.

“If the North Atlantic waters do cool rapidly over
the coming years, climate change adaptation policies
for regions bordering the North Atlantic will
have to take account of this phenomenon”

In 2013, drawing on 40 climate change projections, the IPCC judged that this slowdown would occur gradually, over a long period. Its findings suggested that fast cooling of the North Atlantic during this century was unlikely.
But oceanographers from EU emBRACE had also re-examined the 40 projections by focusing on a critical spot in the north-west North Atlantic: the Labrador Sea.
The Labrador Sea is host to a convection system ultimately feeding into the ocean-wide MOC. The temperatures of its surface waters plummet in the winter, increasing their density and causing them to sink. This displaces deep waters, which bring their heat with them as they rise to the surface, preventing the formation of ice caps.
The algorithm developed by the Anglo-French researchers was able to detect quick sea surface temperature variations. With it they found that seven of the 40 climate models they were studying predicted a total shutdown of convection, leading to abrupt cooling of the Labrador Sea by 2°C to 3°C over less than 10 years. This in turn would drastically lower North Atlantic coastal temperatures.

North Atlantic drop

But because only a handful of the models supported this projection, the researchers focused on the critical parameter triggering winter convection: ocean stratification. Five of the models that included stratification predicted a rapid drop in North Atlantic temperatures.
The researchers say these projections can one day be tested against real data from the international OSNAP project, Overturning in the Sub-polar North Atlantic Program, whose teams will be anchoring scientific instruments within the sub-polar gyre (a gyre is any large system of circulating ocean currents).
If the predictions are borne out and the North Atlantic waters do cool rapidly over the coming years, the team says, with considerable understatement, climate change adaptation policies for regions bordering the North Atlantic will have to take account of this phenomenon.
Source: Climate News Network
About the Author:Alex Kirby is a former BBC journalist and environment correspondent. He now works with universities, charities and international agencies to improve their media skills, and with journalists in the developing world keen to specialise in environmental reporting.

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New report on stranded assets

Stranded assets are defined as assets that have suffered from unanticipated or premature write-downs, devaluation or conversion to liabilities. In recent years, the issue of stranded assets caused by environmental factors, such as climate change and society’s attitudes towards it, has become increasingly high profile.
Changes to the physical environment driven by climate change, and society’s response to these changes, could potentially strand entire regions and global industries within a short timeframe, leading to direct and indirect impacts on investment strategies and liabilities.
The report, part of Lloyd’s emerging risk report series, looks at actual and potential examples of how stranded assets caused by societal and technological responses to climate change could affect assets and liabilities in the insurance and reinsurance sector. The study aims to increase the understanding and awareness of these issues in the industry.
To do so, it analyses the following eight asset-stranding scenarios in various business sectors:

  • Upstream energy assets: oil and coal reserves become stranded due to international, top-down carbon budget constraints (i.e. “unburnable carbon”)
  • Upstream energy liabilities: third-party liability claims against companies (and their D&Os) responsible for climate change
  • Downstream energy assets: premature closure of coal power stations due to concerns about climate change and the fossil-fuel divestment campaign
  • Downstream energy liabilities: an increase in political risk events due to government energy policies induced by climate-change concerns
  • Downstream energy assets: residential solar PV and electricity storage (in part connected to electric vehicles) impairs centralised electricity generation market
  • Residential property assets: mandatory energy efficiency improvements reduce the value of the least efficient housing stock and increase the value of the most efficient housing stocks
  • Commercial property liabilities: property industry professionals and governments are sued for negligence for not disclosing, reporting or for being misleading on the climate change impacts for property investors
  • Shipping assets: pressure to reduce carbon emissions increases the value of newer, larger, more efficient ships and reduces the value of older, smaller, less efficient ships

The report sets out a number of key actions that companies including insurers, could take in their role as investors to identify and mitigate stranded asset risks.
Download the report: Stranded Assets: the transition to a low carbon economy: Overview for the insurance industry here

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Cranking Up The Intensity: Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events

Climate change is now influencing all extreme weather events – with some of the most severe climate impacts occurring in 2016, our latest report has found.
Cranking Up The Intensity: Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events finds that while the links between climate change and some extreme weather events such as bushfires and heatwaves are well-established, the evidence linking climate change to storms and heavy rainfall is also growing.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

DOWNLOAD THE INFOGRAPHICS

KEY FINDINGS

1. Climate change is influencing all extreme weather events in Australia.

  • All extreme weather events are now occurring in an atmosphere that is warmer and wetter than it was in the 1950s.
  • Heatwaves are becoming hotter, lasting longer and occurring more often.
  • Marine heatwaves that cause severe coral bleaching and mortality are becoming more intense and occurring more often.
  • Extreme fire weather and the length of the fire season is increasing, leading to an increase in bushfire risk.
  • Sea level has already risen and continues to rise, driving more devastating coastal flooding during storm surges.

2. Some of the most severe climate impacts the world has experienced have occurred in 2016.

  • Arctic sea ice reached its lowest annual extent on record while record sea surface temperatures drove the worst coral bleaching event in the Great Barrier Reef’s history.
  • Tropical Cyclone Winston was the most intense cyclone to hit Fiji on record, while Hurricane Otto was the southernmost hurricane to hit Central America on record.
  • Canada experienced its costliest wildfire in history in Fort McMurray, forcing the evacuation of almost 90,000 people.
  • The US state of Louisiana experienced 1-in-500 year rains that brought severe flooding leading to 30,000 rescues and 13 deaths.

3. Across Australia, extreme weather events are projected to worsen as the climate warms further.

  • Extreme heat is projected to increase across the entire continent, with significant increases in the length, intensity and frequency of heatwaves in many regions.
  • The time spent in drought is projected to increase across Australia, especially in southern Australia. Extreme drought is expected to increase in both frequency and duration.
  • Southern and eastern Australia are projected to experience harsher fire weather.
  • The intensity of extreme rainfall events is projected to increase across most of Australia.
  • The increase in coastal flooding from high sea level events will become more frequent and more severe as sea levels continue to rise.

4. The impacts of extreme weather events will likely become much worse unless global greenhouse gas emissions are reduced rapidly and deeply.

  • Burning of coal, oil and gas is causing temperatures to rise at unprecedented rates and is making extreme weather events more intense, damaging and costly.
  • Major emitters including China and the European Union are leading action on climate change, but Australia is lagging well behind and is on track to even miss its very weak target of a 26-28% reduction in emissions by 2030.
  • Australia is expected to do its fair share to meet the global emissions reduction challenge by cutting its emissions rapidly and deeply.
  • Phasing out ageing, polluting coal plants and replacing them with clean, efficient renewable energy sources such as wind and solar is imperative for stabilising the climate and reducing the risk of even worse extreme weather events.

Source: The Climate Council

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Shale giant looms over National Trust parkland

By Jon Ungoed-Thomas, February 5 2017: One of the world’s biggest manufacturers of chemical and oil products has threatened the National Trust with legal action to force it to allow exploration for shale gas on its land.
Ineos Shale, part of the Ineos Group, which is headed by the billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, is the country’s leading shale gas company. It has government licences that give it access to about 1m acres of potential shale gas reserves.
These includes National Trust land at Clumber Park, near Worksop in Nottinghamshire.
However, the trust has refused access to the historic country park for seismic surveys, arguing that it has “a presumption against fracking on our land” and will not allow access for exploration.
An investigation by Greenpeace into fracking has established that Ineos Shale has threatened the trust with compulsory access to the land under the Mines (Working Facilities and Support) Act 1966.
Tom Pickering, operations director of Ineos Shale, which is based in London, confirmed last week that the company had warned the trust that it could use the act, but said he hoped negotiations would continue.
He said: “If we cannot achieve access by negotiation, then the provisions under this act are available to us and we would pursue them.”
Ineos would require ministerial approval as well as a court order to gain access to the popular park, which consists of 3,800 acres of scenic woodland heath and pasture and boasts a walled garden and the longest double avenue of lime trees in Europe.
The potential legal battle could prove an important test case for the trust’s position on fracking.
Richard Hebditch, the trust’s external affairs director, said the Ineos request for a seismic survey for shale gas was the first on trust land. He said the trust was standing by its decision to turn down the application. He said: “The trust is opposed to fracking on its land and will reject any fracking requests or inquiries.”
One of the main reasons the trust opposes fracking is the fact that it contributes to carbon emissions. However, Ineos argues that gas releases about half the carbon emissions of coal when burnt and claims it can play a key role in helping Britain move towards a greener energy policy.
Ineos has been accused of using “bullying” tactics to gain access to land for surveys. Documents obtained by Greenpeace under freedom of information legislation reveal that the British Geological Society claimed Ineos was using the society’s name without authorisation to persuade landowners to allow it onto their properties.
Ineos said it had investigated and there was no evidence of any bullying tactics or misleading information being given.
Source: Sun Times * http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/shale-giant-looms-over-national-trust-parkland-3pf6j795g

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An Indian chemical plant has figured out how to turn its carbon emissions into baking soda

A chemical plant in India is the first in the world to run a new system for capturing carbon emissions and converting them into baking soda.
The Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals plant, in the industrial port city of Tuticorin, is expecting to convert some 60,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually into baking soda and other chemicals – and the scientists behind the process say the technique could be used to ultimately capture and transform up to 10 percent of global emissions from coal.
While carbon capture technology is not a new thing, what’s remarkable about the Tuticorin installation is that it’s running without subsidies from the government – suggesting the researchers have developed a profitable, practical system that could have the commercial potential to expand to other plants and industries.
“I am a businessman. I never thought about saving the planet,” the managing director of the plant, Ramachadran Gopalan, told the BBC.
“I needed a reliable stream of CO2, and this was the best way of getting it.”
The inventors of the new technique, London-based Carbon Clean Solutions, developed the system in the UK after receiving finance from a British entrepreneur support scheme. Their process uses a patented chemical to filter out CO2 molecules.
In the Tuticorin setup, the plant runs a coal-fired burner to make steam that powers its various chemical-manufacturing processes. A mist containing Carbon Clean’s chemical separates the CO2 emissions in the burner’s chimney, which are then fed into a mixing chamber with salt and ammonia.
The end product can then be used to produce baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or a range of other compounds, for use in things such as glass manufacture, detergents, disinfectants, and sweeteners.
The overall idea of separating CO2 molecules from flue gas may not be new, but the team behind the system say that their filtering chemical is more efficient than the amine compounds that scientists have previously used, and requires less energy to run.
According to CEO Aniruddha Sharma, the company’s approach is to think realistically, partnering with modest, low-risk enterprises as it builds itself up – and he says the same strategy should be implemented by the carbon capture industry as a whole.
“So far the ideas for carbon capture have mostly looked at big projects, and the risk is so high they are very expensive to finance,” Sharma told Roger Harrabin at The Guardian.
“We want to set up small-scale plants that de-risk the technology by making it a completely normal commercial option.”
The other compelling aspect of the system is that it actually does something positive with the carbon – making new chemicals and products – rather than simply storing it somewhere in a useless, dormant state (such as burying it underground).
That distinction is the difference between carbon capture and storage (CCS) and what’s called carbon capture and utilisation (CCU).
And given the expense involved with building carbon capture systems, the ability to on-sell a byproduct could be incredibly important in making this technology financially viable in the bigger picture.
“We have to do everything we can to reduce the harmful effects of burning fossil fuels,” Lord Ronald Oxburgh, the head of the UK government’s carbon capture advisory group, told the BBC, “and it is great news that more ways are being found of turning at least some of the CO2 into useful products.”
Source: http://www.sciencealert.com
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Extreme weather linked to climate change is damaging Britain’s favourite places

Lord’s has become the first cricket ground in the country to run on 100% renewable energy, as new figures reveal the increasing disruption to cricket caused by extreme weather patterns linked to climate change.
New statistics released by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), owners of Lord’s, illustrate that extreme weather in December 2015, which has been linked to climate change, caused more than £3.5 million worth of damage across 57 cricket clubs. Increased rainfall is also causing significant loss of fixtures in recreational cricket and impacting on the professional game.
The announcement launches the annual “Show The Love” campaign from The Climate Coalition and accompanies the publication of a “Weather Warning” report analysed by the Priestley International Centre for Climate. The report highlights how extreme weather conditions are affecting some of Britain’s favourite places, from gardens and pubs to cliffs and woodlands and churches to cricket pitches.
Professor Piers Forster, Director of the Priestley Centre for Climate, said: “UK weather will always bowl us the odd googly but climate change is making them harder to defend against. The science has now developed to the point where we can say whether the likelihood of a particular bout of weather has been increased by climate change. We know that climate change made the record wet weather in December 2015 considerably more likely. The trend towards more intense rainfall is clear and it’s great to see MCC, ECB and The Climate Coalition raising awareness of these challenges that aren’t just affecting people in other countries but are having impacts right here in the UK.’
Two extreme weather events linked to climate change in the past eight years have caused extensive damage to Wordsworth’s childhood home whilst the iconic chalk cliffs at Birling Gap have seen increased rates of erosion due to heavy rainfall, sea-level rise and an increase in the regularity of storm events. The report also found that Slimbridge Wetlands Centre in Gloucestershire, founded by Sir Peter Scott, has recorded changes in bird species at the centre which have been linked to changes in temperature.
Read The Climate Coalition’s press release: ShowTheLoveLordsLaunchPR
Read the Weather Warning report: Weather warning report

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Renewables: Europe on track to reach its 20% target by 2020

Brussels, 1 February 2017: EU Renewable energy progress report just published

How is Europe performing in renewable energy?
Having achieved a share of 16% renewables in its final energy consumption in 2014 and an estimated share of close to 16.4% in 2015, the EU as a whole is well on track to reach its 20% target by 2020. However, Member States will have to keep up their efforts in order to reach their national goals.
Europe as a whole is performing well in its deployment of renewables. In 2011, renewables generated 21.7% of the EU’s electricity; three years later, this figure has reached 27.5%, and it is expected to climb to 50% by 2030. The EU’s initial efforts in promoting the use of renewables facilitated this continued growth which resulted in lowered renewable costs: the prices of photovoltaic modules fell by 80% between the end of 2009 and the end of 2015. Renewables have now become cost-competitive, and sometimes even cheaper than fossil fuels.
The renewable energy sector plays a key role for the EU economy with a turnover of around €144bn in 2014 and more than one million people employed.
European investments have dropped by more than half since 2011 to €44bn last year, while global investments in renewable energy continue to increase to above €260bn.

Why are renewables a key component of the Energy Union strategy and of EU leadership?
The Renewable Energy Directive[1] has been and will continue to be a central element of the Energy Union policy and a key driver for providing clean energy for all Europeans, with the aim of making the EU world number one in renewables – and it is relevant to all five dimensions of the Energy Union.

  1. Renewables have played a major role in energy security. Their estimated contribution to fossil fuel import savings in 2015 was €16bn and it is projected to be €58bn in 2030.[2]
  2. Thanks to fast decreasing costs, renewables can gradually be integrated into the market. The recast of the Renewables Directive together with the Market Design proposals[3] will further enable the participation of renewables on an equal footing to other energy sources.
  3. Renewables go hand in hand with energy efficiency. In the electricity sector, fuel switching from combustible fossil fuels to non-combustible renewables could reduce primary energy consumption.[4] In the building sector, renewables solutions can improve the energy performance of buildings in a cost-effective way.
  4. Renewables are one of the pillars of decarbonisation. In 2015, renewables contributed to reducing EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 436 MtCO2eq, the equivalent of the emissions of Italy.[5]
  5. Renewables play a major role in making the EU a global leader in innovation. With EU countries holding 30% of patents in renewables globally, the EU has been a pioneer in this field and is committed to prioritising research and innovation to further drive the energy transition.

What is the role of renewables in reaching the Paris climate goals?
At the 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris, Europe committed itself to contributing to limiting the global rise in temperature to only 1.5°. Renewables, together with energy efficiency, are key to reaching this goal.

Will Europe reach its binding target of at least 27% renewables by 2030?
The Clean Energy for All Europeans package, presented by the Commission last November, contains the main provisions to enable Member States to collectively reach the target of at least 27% renewable energy by 2030. This will be made possible through coordinated action in renewables, energy efficiency, and market design, and ensured through a strong governance process.

Do Member States’ performances differ significantly?
In 2009, the Renewable energy directive (2009/28/EU) defined renewable energy and renewable transport targets, as well the pathway that each Member State should follow to reach them.[6]
In 2014 all EU countries except one[7] showed a renewable energy share which was equal to or higher than their indicative pathway. In 2015, 25 Member States exceeded their indicative pathways, with some even surpassing their 2020 targets.

Can interconnections bridge these differences?
Interconnections can facilitate power exchange between Member States, thus reducing congestion and making renewables more profitable in certain areas. With targets of 10% of installed electricity production capacity by 2020 and 15% by 2030, interconnections will not only facilitate power exchange and improve price signals but also reinforce security of supply and guarantee a European approach to renewable power.

Can we say that the European economy is growing thanks to renewables?
With a turnover of around €144bn in 2014, the renewables industry is indeed a major contributor to the EU economy.
In terms of job creation, renewables also have an added value since renewable energy creates more jobs per unit of energy generated than, for example, fossil fuels.
Moreover, renewables are local: the renewable economy depends very little on imported fuels and material, and therefore the added value is kept at EU level and results in contributions to economic growth.

Is Europe spending or saving thanks to renewables deployment?
Renewable energy should be seen as an investment, rather than an expense.
At a micro level, renewables reimburse the upfront costs of installation with operation and maintenance expenditure that is usually substantially lower than that of fossil alternatives. Moreover, once the technology has been installed, renewables such as wind and solar remain available virtually free of charge.
At a macro, EU level, renewables reduced the EU’s energy import bill by around €16bn in 2015: this could grow to around €58bn by 2030. As in the area of energy efficiency, renewables are therefore a profitable long-term investment that will bring future benefits and independence.

Have renewables made a difference to consumers’ bills?
Renewables have lowered European costs at a wholesale level, but benefits for consumersare yet to come:

  • At a wholesale level, the more we use renewables, the cheaper electricity will become. Every percentage increase in renewables’ share of the market will decrease the market price by €0.4 per megawatt-hour[8].
  • At a domestic level, the share of EU taxes and levies used to support renewable energy and combined heat and power has steadily increased. The share of renewables and combined heat and power support costs ranged from 0% to 23% of the retail electricity price in 2015, depending on the Member State.

How do renewables empower consumers to become active market participants?
Consumers are the drivers of energy transition. The distributed nature of renewables, the increasingly competitive costs of renewable technologies, and new developments in smart grids, smart homes, and battery storage solutions make it possible for energy consumers – both at a domestic and an industrial level – to become active players on the market:

  • In Germany, a typical four-person family household can save almost €680 each year on its annual electricity costs by installing a 4 kWp PV system;
  • In Italy, an average household can save about €720 per year on its electricity bill, with a pay-back period of about 7-9 years, depending on the region;[9]
  • Small- and medium-sized enterprises can also benefit from renewables. For example, an Italian food-processing company installed a rooftop solar panel on its production facility and used 89% of the solar panel electricity produced on site (this is known as the self-consumption rate). This resulted in an annual electricity bill saving of about 35% and an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of over 200 tons.[10]

How will further clean energy transition take place?
The “Clean Energy for All Europeans” package includes provisions to support the energy transition towards higher shares of renewables, especially in the buildings, transport and industry sectors. To this extent, it identifies several key areas for action:

  1. Strengthening the regulatory certainty for investments by further “Europeanising” renewables policy. This will further encourage deployment of renewables in particular in the Electricity sector;
  2. Mainstreaming renewables in the Heating and Cooling sector;
  3. Decarbonising and diversifying the Transport sector;
  4. Empowering and informing consumers;
  5. Strengthening the EU sustainability criteria for bioenergy;
  6. Making sure that the EU level binding target is achieved on time and in a cost-effective way.

Who will pay for it?
While global investments in renewable energy continue to increase to above €260bn, European investments have dropped by more than half since 2011 to €44bn last year. Today, the EU accounts for only 18%[11] of total global investment in renewables, down from close to 50% only six years ago.
New sources of investments need to be unlocked to reach the €379bn of investment needed on an annual basis to achieve the EU’s climate and energy targets:

  • Currently, 25% of the €154bn allocated under the European Fund for Strategic Investments is linked to energy where renewable energy is among the priorities; furthermore, €27bn per year is devoted to public and private research and development and innovation in Energy Union-related areas, to support concrete industrial and economic opportunities.
  • The European Fund for Strategic Investments will be strengthened and expanded to the end of 2020, thereby increasing the total investment target from €314bn to at least €500bn. New, innovative funding mechanisms under the EFSI and the Connecting Europe Facility will help to achieve this.

What’s the link between the Energy Union strategy and the recently adopted ‘Clean Energy Package’?
In the Energy Union Strategic Framework[12], the European Union commits itself to become the world leader in renewable energy, and the global hub for developing the next generation of technically advanced and competitive renewable energies. The EU has also set a target that at least 27% of the energy consumed in the EU in 2030 should be from renewable sources.
The ‘Clean Energy Package’ presents regulatory proposals and facilitating measures that aim to achieve these objectives, and at the same time accelerate, transform and consolidate the EU economy’s clean energy transition, thereby creating jobs and growth in new economic sectors and business models.
In addition to the legislative proposal on renewable energy, the package also includes proposals on energy efficiency, the design of the electricity market, security of supply and governance rules for the Energy Union that will help facilitate the Energy Union strategic framework.
The facilitating actions include initiatives to accelerate clean energy innovation and to renovate Europe’s buildings, as well as measures to encourage public and private investment and make the most of the available EU budget; to promote industry-led initiatives to foster competitiveness; to mitigate the social impact of the clean energy transition; to involve multiple players including Member State authorities and local and city authorities as well as businesses, social partners and investors; and to maximise Europe’s leadership in clean energy technology and services to help third countries achieve their policy goals.
What benefits can increased use of renewables bring to

…consumers? Solar and wind technology prices have declined by 80% and 30-40% respectively between 2009 and 2015.[13] This cost reduction is increasingly enabling consumers to produce their own renewable energy. With the revised directive, consumers will benefit from greater rights to:

  1. produce their own electricity, and feed any excess back to the grid;
  2. organise themselves into renewable energy communities to generate, consume, store and sell renewable energy;
  3. stop buying heat/cold from a district heating/cooling system if they can achieve significantly better energy performances themselves.

…the environment? The revised renewable energy directive will help fight climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reaching at least 27% renewables will help reduce GHG emissions to meet our target of at least 40% GHG reduction by 2030. Together with energy efficiency, the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and other climate change mitigation policies, renewables could help the EU reduce its carbon intensity by up to one third between 2020 and 2030.[14]
Furthermore, the revised directive contains a set of reinforced sustainability criteria for bioenergy, with the view to maximising climate and environmental benefits and avoiding the risk of biomass production resulting in deforestation or forest degradation.
…industry? The clearer legal framework provided by the new directive willremove uncertainties for investors, reduce administrative burdens, and decrease costs. This will bring benefits for both producers and investors: renewable energy technology suppliers will keep a leadership role, and the costs of renewables supply chains will be lowered.

…jobs? The new directive focuses on creating the right conditions for renewables to thrive and make the EU a flourishing market for clean energy. The sector already employs more than one million people and accounts for €144bn revenue every year.
Implementing our Energy Union policies could bring up to 900 000 net additional jobs in the EU economy by 2030 compared to the reference scenario.[15]

…energy security? In 2014, the deployment of renewable energy cut around €20bn worth of fossil fuel imports. Thanks to renewables, Europe could save around €58bn per year by 2030 in terms of avoided fossil fuel imports.[16] This is the equivalent to the current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Luxembourg.

What’s coming next?
Until 2020, EU Member States will have to continue to maintain or increase their renewable energy shares to ensure that they achieve their national renewable energy targets for 2020.
In line with the Joint Declaration setting out the EU’s objectives and priorities for the legislative process in 2017, the Energy Union-related legislative proposals presented by the Commission such as those included in the Clean Energy for All Europeans package should be addressed this year as a priority by the European Parliament and Council.
 
Overview of Member States’ progress towards 2020 targets in renewable energy (%)

Member State RES Share
2013		 Average RES Share 2013/2014 RED indicative trajectory (2013/2014) RES Share 2014 RES Share 2015 (proxy) RED indicative trajectory (2015/2016)
  %
AT 32,3% 32,7% 26,5% 33,1% 33,6% 28,1%
BE 7,5% 7,8% 5,4% 8,0% 7,3% 7,1%
BG 19,0% 18,5% 11,4% 18,0% 18,4% 12,4%
CY 8,1% 8,5% 5,9% 9,0% 9,1% 7,4%
CZ 12,4% 12,9% 8,2% 13,4% 13,6% 9,2%
DE 12,4% 13,1% 9,5% 13,8% 14,5% 11,3%
DK 27,3% 28,2% 20,9% 29,2% 30,6% 22,9%
EE 25,6% 26,0% 20,1% 26,5% 27,9% 21,2%
EL 15,0% 15,2% 10,2% 15,3% 15,5% 11,9%
ES 15,3% 15,8% 12,1% 16,2% 15,6% 13,8%
FR 14,0% 14,2% 14,1% 14,3% 14,5% 16,0%
FI 36,7% 37,7% 31,4% 38,7% 39,5% 32,8%
HR 28,1% 28,0% 14,8% 27,9% 27,5% 15,9%
HU 9,5% 9,5% 6,9% 9,5% 9,4% 8,2%
IE 7,7% 8,2% 7,0% 8,6% 9,0% 8,9%
IT 16,7% 16,9% 8,7% 17,1% 17,1% 10,5%
LT 23,0% 23,4% 17,4% 23,9% 24,3% 18,6%
LU 3,6% 4,1% 3,9% 4,5% 5,0% 5,4%
LV 37,1% 37,9% 34,8% 38,7% 39,2% 35,9%
MT 3,7% 4,2% 3,0% 4,7% 5,3% 4,5%
NL 4,8% 5,2% 5,9% 5,5% 6,0% 7,6%
PL 11,3% 11,4% 9,5% 11,4% 11,8% 10,7%
PT 25,7% 26,3% 23,7% 27,0% 27,8% 25,2%
RO 23,9% 24,4% 19,7% 24,9% 24,7% 20,6%
SE 52,0% 52,3% 42,6% 52,6% 54,1% 43,9%
SI 22,5% 22,2% 18,7% 21,9% 21,8% 20,1%
SK 10,1% 10,9% 8,9% 11,6% 11,9% 10,0%
UK 5,6% 6,3% 5,4% 7,0% 8,2% 7,5%
EU-28 15,0% 15,5% 12,1% 16,0% 16,4% 13,8%

Source: Directive 2009/28/EC; Eurostat SHARES 2014; EEA RES proxy (2015); PRIMES (2020, 2025, 2030)
 
For further information:
IP/17/161
MEMO/17/162 on Progress Energy Efficiency
 
 
[1]Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, OJ L 140, 5.6.2009.
[2] Compared with 2005 baseline, EC Renewable Energy Progress Report
[3] As part of the “Clean Energy for All Europeans” package, issued on 30 November 2016.
[4] Assuming a Primary Energy Factor of 2.5, 1 unit of renewable could replace 2.5 units of fossil electricity.
[5] Compared with 2005 baseline. Source:EEA
[6] Under its Annex I
[7]The Netherlands – it has informed the Commission on the adoption of new measures to regain its trajectory and ensure compliance with its target.
[8] SWD (2016) 420. Energy prices and costs in Europe.
[9] SWD (2015) 141. Best practices on renewable energy self-consumption.
[10] SWD (2015) 141. Best practices on renewable energy self-consumption.
[11] Frankfurter School-UNEP Centre/BNEF, 2016. Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investments 2016, http://www.fs-unep-centre.org.
[12] COM (2015) 80. Energy Union Package.
[13] IRENA (2016). The Power to Change: Solar and Wind Cost Reduction Potential to 2025.
[14] Based on PRIMES EUCO30 scenario, carbon intensity of GDP (t of CO2/M€13).
[15] Where 2030 targets would not be met
[16]Compared with 2005 baseline, interim renewable energy progress report, [to be published]

MEMO/17/163

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