• Energy

DITCHED: Is 2020 the Tipping Point for Fossil Fuel Divestment?

• #Ditched
• #Fossil Gas
• #Ieefa
• #Modi
• #PoliticalClimate
• BlackRock
• clean energy
• climate change
• coal
• energy
• environment
• European Union
• fossil fuels
• Green Deal
• Green New Deal
• India
• natural gas
• oil
• politics
• renewable energy

Despite economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a growing number of countries, companies and financial institutions are committing to quit coal and are beginning to ditch oil and gas projects, too. 

In this episode of Political Climate’s special DITCHED series, host Julia Pyper speaks to Tim Buckley at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) about what’s driving the increase in fossil fuel exits around the globe, including in historically coal-dependent economies such as China and India.

• Climate Change

EU GHG Emissions Dropped 24% in 30 Years

• climate neutral
• European Union
• greenhouse gas emission
• Greta Thunberg

Since 1990, the European Union has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 24 percent. It’s all part of the bloc’s goal of making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The next big step toward that goal will be hitting a 55 percent reduction by 2030 — more than doubling the change over the last 30 years in the coming decade. The details of those goals will be hammered out in meetings next month. 

Why This Matters: Europe’s pledge to reach neutrality by 2050 is a legal commitment that guides banks, policies, and decision-making. Each of the EU’s 27 countries must now write its own plan for how to reach these targets.

• Climate Change

Portuguese Youth Climate Activists Take 33 Climate Laggard Nations to Court

• climate litigation
• European Union
• youth activism

by Julia Fine, ODP Contributing Writer In what is widely viewed as an “unprecedented climate case,” six Portuguese youth activists have “filed a complaint at the European Court of Human Rights” against 33 industrialized countries, as Holly Young reported for EcoWatch. These activists argue that these 33 countries, including the UK, Germany, and Italy, “have […]

• Politics

One Real Thing: The World Watches America Sputter

• #COVID19
• coronavirus
• European Union
• public health
• United States

Boy, are we blowing it. After the July 4th holiday weekend cases of COVID-19 surged in the United States due to a piecemeal response by governors throughout the country. Last week, the EU banned American travelers, while Canada is fining them and Mexico is working to introduce tighter restrictions on them. It seems as if […]

• Climate Change

EU COVID Recovery Plans Make Investments In Climate Change; China Remains in Neutral

• China
• climate change
• COVID-19
• European Union
• recovery
• stimulus

The European Union announced its $825 billion recovery package for the coronavirus pandemic late last week and it includes big plans to address climate change as intrinsic to its economic recovery.

Why This Matters:  Only when we shut down the economies of the developed world due to the life or death threat of the pandemic did we see global greenhouse gas emissions reductions necessary for the foreseeable future.

• Climate Change

The EU Contemplates A Carbon Tax At the Border, Spain Is Latest to Declare Climate Emergency

• border tax
• carbon border tax
• carbon tax
• European Union
• Paris Agreement

The European Union is seriously considering imposing a carbon border tax on items it imports from countries that do not meet climate goals, and the U.S. is apparently pushing back arguing that this would hurt U.S. businesses and jeopardize a purported U.S.-E.U. trade deal.

Why This Matters:  It may not matter that the U.S. is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement because the rest of the world is going to make the U.S. comply with it one way or another.