By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital |
Hello! Extreme weather events are wreaking havoc across Latin America and China this week, causing challenges to power grids and water security, while floods ruin crops and threaten urban populations. Scroll on for today's ESG Spotlight on how local researchers in Sudan aim to protect the nation's cultural heritage from rainfall and conflict. Temperatures across Latin America have warmed by an average 0.2 Celsius (32.4 Fahrenheit) per decade over the past 30 years – the highest rate since records began, according to the State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2022 report. As temperatures rise, extreme weather events become more common, with often unexpected consequences that stoke climate change, the report said. |
|
|
Rescue workers evacuate stranded residents on a flooded street after heavy rainfall in Wanzhou district of Chongqing, China July 4, 2023. |
|
|
$9 billion worth of economic damages |
"Prolonged drought led to a drop in hydroelectricity production in large parts of South America, prompting an upsurge in demand for fossil fuels in a region with major untapped potential for renewable energy," the report said. Wildfires across swaths of Latin America in 2022, fueled by dry soils and extreme heat, led carbon dioxide emissions to spike to their highest level in 20 years, driving temperatures up and further raising the risk for disaster, the report noted. "The newly arrived El Nino will turn up the heat and bring with it more extreme weather," said World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. Drought and storms made up the bulk of $9 billion worth of economic damages reported in 2022 to Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters Emergency Events Database. |
|
|
Balancing climate goals and power surges |
Meanwhile, dramatic swings between extreme heat and intense rainfall are testing China's ability to cope with increasingly wild weather, as high temperatures challenge power grids and water security while floods ruin crops and threaten urban populations. Torrential rain killed 15 people in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing, Chinese media reported on Wednesday, as President Xi Jinping called for greater efforts to protect the public from extreme weather. The average number of high-temperature days stood at 4.1 in January-June, already higher than the full-year average of 2.2 days. Temperatures are expected to climb further in July and August. Heatwaves spur demand for electricity to cool homes, malls and offices, taxing power supply and even triggering blackouts. In June, a first-ever emergency drill was conducted in eastern China to cope with large-scale outages. To support base load power demand during spikes and ease the grid's reliance on hydro, China has accelerated approval of new coal mines and coal-fired power plants, which could make it harder for Beijing to achieve its carbon-reduction goals. |
EU-China climate cooperation |
Speaking of China's climate ambitions, the European Union's climate chief Frans Timmermans called for faster and more decisive joint action with China to tackle the "accelerating" climate crisis, as China gears up to ensure power supplies amid extreme heat this summer. Timmermans said China should peak its carbon emissions faster as the global carbon budget rapidly shrinks. "China is still building additional coal power capacities, substantial ones, which are, I think we can agree on that, the dirtiest way to generate electricity," he said in a speech at Beijing's Tsinghua University, according to a statement from the EU. China has pledged to reduce its coal consumption, but not until 2026. Chinese officials asked power plants and coal suppliers to do "everything possible" to ensure electricity supply this summer, as more cities sweltered under scorching temperatures. |
|
|
Officials stick an "Interdict" sign on a property of Brazilian soccer star Neymar in Mangaratiba, Brazil June 22, 2023. Mangarativa Environment Department/Handout via REUTERS |
|
|
- Brazilian authorities said that soccer star Neymar was fined 16 million reais ($3.33 million) for breaching environmental rules during the construction of his coastal mansion in southeastern Brazil.
- International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, after surveying the site of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and meeting with locals, vouched for the safety of Japan's plan to release treated radioactive water from the power plant into the ocean.
- The remaining insurers in a United Nations-backed coalition aimed at tackling climate change are poised to loosen the alliance's membership requirements, after a recent exodus of members, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
- London's expansion of a fiercely debated scheme that charges the most polluting vehicles in the city should be blocked, says local authorities bringing a legal challenge over the plan.
- India has hosted talks on a possible deal to supply 10 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen to the European Union, which in turn would invest in one such clean energy project in India, two government and one industry source told Reuters.
- Breakingviews:The U.S. Supreme Court just made the Federal Reserve's plans more difficult when it struck down colleges' affirmative action policies last week. The ruling could make future workforces more homogeneous and, in turn, throws a new obstacle in the way of the Fed's goal for diverse employment.
|
|
|
Dr Susann Rossbach, manager in marine planning and monitoring at Red Sea Global shares her thoughts on what makes a successful marine conservation project amid extreme weather: "UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 on marine conservation receives the least funding of any of the SDGs. "Our oceans are vital in absorbing the excess heat caused by climate change but are becoming more acidic and polluted. This threatens critical ecosystems, such as coral reefs, and jeopardizes coastal communities dependent on our waters. "Part of the problem is that best practices haven't been clearly established. For the first time, ten marine scientists and I set out to comprehensively review ocean conservation projects and identify key traits that deliver success. "What we uncovered should energize governments, NGOs, industry and communities. "Four out of five (80%) of documented conservation successes were driven by human intervention, highlighting that withdrawing from environments we want to protect is not always the answer. We can deliver greater impact by playing an active role. "We also found that actively engaging with coastal communities is essential. "They are the primary beneficiaries of effective programs, but also bear the brunt of the deterioration of blue ecosystems. "Any ocean sustainability strategy should champion the role of local populations – recognizing this is crucial for their own well-being and instrumental in broader ecological sustainability." |
|
|
Equity funds with an environmental, social and governance (ESG) tilt suffered a large loss of investors in the three months to end-June, dragging the sector into a rare net outflow for a first half of the year, data showed. Outflows were driven by economic and regulatory worries in Europe, analysts said, and by concerns connected to an anti-ESG backlash in the United States, where funds saw their fifth consecutive quarter of net outflows, according to Refinitiv data on the sustainable investment industry so far in 2023. |
|
|
Creeping desert sands surround the Royal Cemeteries of Meroe Pyramids at Begrawiya in River Nile State, Sudan, November 10, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah |
|
|
Today's spotlight takes us from Sudan where local researchers and archaeologists are trying to save the nation's cultural heritage from being destroyed by conflict and rainfall, to Germany where engineers are turning human waste into energy. In Sudan's capital, Khartoum, precious books in a major library have been burned and the national museum has been cut off for weeks by fighting. In Darfur, another museum is at risk from seasonal rains after its roof was punctured. The conflict that has been raging between rival military factions in Sudan since mid-April has taken a toll on the country's rich cultural heritage, which includes the ancient Kingdom of Kush that controlled trade between southern Africa and Egypt at the time of the pharaohs. Sudan's National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) are trying to plan steps for preserving culture during the war, including the possible evacuation of artifacts. "While there is a lot of awareness about cultural heritage and the need to protect it in times of crisis, one of our biggest challenges is that culture is still not mainstream in the language of humanitarian aid," said ICCROM's Aparna Tandon. |
|
|
Video on tunnel workers walking in sewage tunnel, Mathias Kersten, explaining how the heat exchangers work. Berlin, Germany, May 17, 2023/Reuters |
|
|
A dark and damp sewage channel under Germany's capital city, Berlin, is more than it seems, it is not just carrying away the city's human waste, it is also a heat plant. "We turn feces into heat for a sustainable heat supply," said Mathias Kersten, engineer at Berliner Stadtwerke. Human waste is being turned into energy in Berlin sewers and will be used to heat part of the city center more sustainably. How does it work? "Well, these silver plates are so-called heat exchanger modules. The wastewater flows over them, and the water that flows within the modules will then be distributed in the neighborhood. And through a temperature difference, it can absorb heat from the wastewater or also release it in the summer for cooling purposes," said Kersten. The project is scheduled for completion in April 2024. |
|
|
"The weather and the effects of climate change are affecting the community. In the rainy season, people started farming and growing vegetables, but the rain does not regularly fall as it would be. It would have steady rain, but it dries up, so farmers can't rely on farming and crops anymore." Mon Samien, Ork 4 Village, Koh Nhek District, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia |
|
|
- July 7, England: Teachers in England hold the second of two days of strike action this week in a long-running dispute over pay.
- July 7, Colombia will host a meeting of environment ministers from Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela and non-governmental groups like the United Nations, USAID and the Inter-American Development Bank to discuss efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest.
- July 7, Leticia, Colombia: The nation will host a meeting of environment ministers from Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela and non-governmental groups like the United Nations, USAID and the Inter-American Development Bank to discuss efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest.
- July 7, Seoul, South Korea: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to visit South Korea July 7 and 9 to explain the findings from the organization's report on Japan's planned discharge of water from the Fukushima plan, the South Korean government says.
|
- Correction on Sustainable Switch 29/06/2023 - David Greene, Committee Member of the London Solicitors Litigation Association (LSLA), does not represent anyone in the Surrey oil drilling case.
|
|
|
Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. |
Sustainable Switch is sent three times a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this newsletter? Unsubscribe here.
To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. |
|
|
|
