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Most recent bulletins on climate change and the environment
November 15, 2022 Africa/Global: "Daughter of Africa" Steps Up to Lead on Global Crises
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/af-221115.php
At the climate summit in Egypt last week, President Biden pledged that the United States would take the lead on the climate crisis. But his speech was eclipsed the same day by a powerful call to action by Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados.
July 20, 2022 Africa/Global: Oligarchs of All Nations
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/books2207.php
"Biden Concedes Defeat on Climate Bill as Manchin and Inflation Upend Agenda" - New York Times, July 16, 2022
June 9, 2022 Africa/Global: Ukraine, Africa, and Our Planet
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/upd2206.php
“An end to this terrible war based on dialogue must be the international community’s highest priority. Support to the
people of Ukraine must be matched by efforts to advance Russian/Ukrainian negotiations, European security dialogue,
and wider risk-reduction measures to prevent nuclear escalation.” - The Elders, May 25, 2022
April 21, 2022 Africa/Global: Climate Put on Back Burner by War
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/clim2204.php
While media attention focuses on the cost in human lives on the ground in Europe, the direct and indirect effects are also leading to many more lives lost around the world, not least in vulnerable countries on the African continent, according to a report issued on April 13 by the United Nations. The direct effects alone are projected to devastate the world economy (https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-impact-war-ukraine-food-energy-and-finance-systems).
November 23, 2021 Africa/Global: From Climate Denial to Deceit and Delay
http://www.africafocus.org/docs21/cop26-2111.php
Asad Rehman of War on Want spoke to the presidency of COP26 with words that
resonated far from Glasgow: “The rich have refused to do their fair share,
more empty words on climate finance. You have turned your backs on the poorest
who face a crisis of Covid, economic and climate apartheid because of the
actions of the richest. It is immoral for the rich to talk about the future of
their children and grandchildren when the children of the Global South are
dying now.” Less than 2 minutes.
Watch here!
November 2, 2021 Africa/Global: The Heat is On! Time to Act!
http://www.africafocus.org/docs21/clim2111.php
The warnings are consistent and devastating, across the political spectrum
from the International Monetary Fund from climate activists mobilizing at the
climate summit in Glasgow and around the world. There are only eight years to
have any chance of bending the curve of fossil fuel emissions sufficiently to
avoid mounting climate chaos. Predictions are also consistent that the
government officials gathered at the summit will continue to let promises and
belated minimal policy shifts substitute for significant action.
July 27, 2021 USA/Africa: Building Back Better? Or Not?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs21/usaf2107.php
Last week marked six months for the Biden administration and for the
narrow Democratic majority in Congress. So it seems an appropriate
time for a report card on U.S. Africa policy. And that also means a
review of U.S. policies on today's most pressing global issues, on
which the negative effects fall disproportionately on Africans on
the continent and in the diaspora.
June 14, 2021 USA/Global: Bad Days for Big Oil (except in the GOP)
http://www.africafocus.org/docs21/clim2106.php
“Fossil fuel companies are having a big reckoning with climate change this week. Shareholders for Exxon and Chevron voted for measures that could force them to take more responsibility for their emissions, while a Dutch court is forcing Shell to slash its pollution.” - The Verge, May 26, 2021
May 31, 2021 Mozambique/Global: Fossil Fuels, Debt, and Corruption
http://www.africafocus.org/docs21/moz2105b.php
“The scandal of Mozambique’s “hidden debts” has already cost the
country at least 11 billion US dollars, and has plunged an
additional two million people into poverty, according to a detailed
study of the costs and consequences of the debt published on Friday
by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP),
and its Norwegian partner, the Christian Michelsen Institute. The
term “hidden debts” refers to illicit loans of over two billion US
dollars from the banks Credit Suisse and VTB of Russia in 2013 and
2014 to three fraudulent, security–linked Mozambican companies –
Proindicus, Ematum (Mozambique Tuna Company), and MAM (Mozambique
Asset Management).” - report by Centre for Public Integrity
(Mozambique) and Christian Michelsen Institute (Norway)
November 30, 2020 USA/Global: On Climate, How Much Will Be New?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs20/clim2011.php
“One of the most powerful pieces of climate change legislation the
Biden administration will need has already been passed: the Dodd-
Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. This
legislation, known for creating the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau and other public safeguards against financial wrongdoing,
also empowers key agencies including the Treasury Department, the
Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission to limit
systemic risks to financial stability.” - Justin Guay, Sunrise
Project
October 13, 2020 Africa/Global: The Future's Not in Plastics
http://www.africafocus.org/docs20/plas2010.php
“The petrochemical industry is already facing record-low plastic
feedstock prices as a result of massive overcapacity. And yet, it
plans to expand supply for virgin plastics use by a quarter at a
cost of at least $400 billion in the next 5 years, risking huge
losses for investors. The plastics industry is a bloated behemoth,
ripe for disruption. … Meanwhile, 36% of plastic is used only
once, 40% ends up polluting the environment and less than 10% is
actually recycled.” - Carbon Tracker Initiative
June 22, 2020 Africa/Global: Fossil Fuel Viability to Decline Sharply
http://www.africafocus.org/docs20/clim2006.php
“Falling demand and rising investment risk is likely to slash the
value of oil, gas and coal reserves by nearly two thirds, sending
shock waves through the global economy by hitting companies,
financial markets and countries reliant on exports, finds a new
report from Carbon Tracker. It warns that the fossil fuel industry
is approaching terminal decline because of competition from clean
technologies and tougher government policies to achieve climate
targets and increase energy security. The COVID-19 crisis is now
accelerating this: demand for oil could fall by 9% in 2020
according to the International Energy Agency.”
January 27, 2020 USA/Global: Green New Deal Can and Must Be Global
http://www.africafocus.org/docs20/clim2001.php
July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded worldwide, as a wide swath of the continental United States sweltered with heat indexes of over 100° F. This northern hemisphere summer also saw unprecedented heat waves in Europe and in the Arctic, from Alaska to Siberia. Greenland´s glaciers were melting at a unprecedented rate.
Add in more frequent storms, flooding and wildfires, and the scale of the crisis is harder and harder to ignore, even in the United States, where climate denialism has been more prevalent than in any other major country.
December 16, 2019 Africa/Global: Editor´s Commentaries, 2019
http://www.africafocus.org/docs19/fpif2019.php
Just before this year’s global climate summit opened in Madrid
recently, researchers announced that emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels will
hit a record high in 2019. Deeper and faster cuts are needed,
beginning immediately and continuing over the next 10 years. The
primary responsibility for cutting fossil fuel emissions falls to
the developed countries that are historically the greatest
contributors to the problem, as well as to countries with large
populations such as China and India that are also now among the top in global emissions. Africa is the
continent most vulnerable to the devastating effects of climate
change, which are already being felt. But with a thriving off-grid
solar market and hundreds of millions of people waiting for
electricity, Africa also offers huge potential for contributing to
solutions.
Complete listing of
bulletins on climate change and the environment, 2003-present
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