Climate Point: UN official decries 'morally indefensible' inaction before Glasgow climate talks

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I'm Janet Wilson in Palm Springs. Starting on Nov. 4, Erin Rode, environment reporter at The Desert Sun, will alternate with me on writing the newsletter. Erin studied journalism and environmental science at the University of Southern California and grew up in Los Angeles County, where wildfires, air pollution and her close proximity to the San Gabriel Mountains sparked her interest in environmental issues.

And what a week next week will  — or won't —  be. Every major world leader, with the likely exception of China's prime minister, will gather in Glasgow, Scotland, for urgent United Nations talks on how to drive down greenhouse gas emissions to slow climate change, and to help countries hardest hit. While there's been some progress, emissions cuts pledged in the 2015 Paris agreement are nowhere near achieved, and disastrous impacts predicted for decades are now evident. No new treaty is expected — the Scotland gathering is an attempt to nail down newly identified gaps and unresolved issues from six years ago, and to hit the accelerator on real reductions.

In a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, Selwin Hart, special advisor on climate action to the UN Secretary General, said governments and private investors alike are failing take urgent action to halve greenhouse gas emissions within eight years, which the world's scientists have said is crucial to avoid disastrous 2.7 degree warming. While praising lofty "net zero" goals by 2050, he chided them for putting off serious reductions until the 2030s or 2040s, and in some cases pinning cuts to technology that still hasn't been invented.

Noting renewable energy costs alone have come down as much as 70%, Hart said, "We need immediate actions. We need countries to cut emissions drastically."

He also politely tongue-lashed wealthy industrial countries, who are responsible for climate change, for failing to fully fund their pledges to help poorer countries, which are experiencing the brunt of rising seas, fiercer storms, heat waves and other impacts they didn't cause.

"It's really morally indefensible for us to not be very focused on scaling up, significantly, adaptation support," said Hart, previously a negotiator for Barbados, one of many small island nations suffering climate catastrophes not of their own making.

The actual title of the summit is a classic UN tongue twister, the 26th Conference of the Parties, or COP26 for short. USA Today's Elizabeth Weise has a good round-up on the event, the rapid rate of climate change, and what it means in this country. And here's a helpful glossary from the UN: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/10/1104022

Here are some other stories that may be of interest.

Must-read stories

Loud and clear. Native Americans and indigenous people around the world struggled to be heard at previous global climate summits, and they're pushing hard to be fully included this time. Pascua Yaqui tribal member Andrea Carmen said no Indigenous person was even in the rooms where final Paris Agreement language on their rights was negotiated. This time, they're speaking up about "30 by 30" land preservation policies and other measures they say could hurt their traditional ways of life, Debra Utacia Krol with the Arizona Republic reports.

Trash and burn. Consumer giants, including Coca-Cola Company, Unilever, Nestle S.A. and Colgate-Palmolive Company are funding projects to send package bubble wrap, discarded water bottles and other plastic trash to cement plants across the globe, where it is burned as cheap energy. They’re touting it as a way to keep plastic out of dumps and use less fossil fuel. Critics say it undercuts recycling efforts and worsens air quality. One said it was “like moving the landfill from the ground to the sky.” Reuters investigates. 

Tree people. Minnesota scientists are aiming to help the great north woods adapt to climate change by transplanting seedlings there from slightly warmer southern climes. It's not a universally popular choice, as Nora Hertel explains in her story for the St. Cloud Times. It's one of a three-part series she reported on how this rural state is gearing up to cope with warming temperatures.

Other strategies include using artificial intelligence and satellites to map and better preserve moose habitat, and having major emitters pay farmers to cultivate and store carbon in row crops and other landscapes. Carbon markets have a mixed track record — one state agronomist calls them a modern day Wild West — but a leading researcher says Minnesota's efforts appear to be aimed at "storing" additional carbon in new forests and crops, not just issuing credits for land that was already preserved.

Political Climate 

In or out? Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia may or may not have won another major concession as President Joe Biden and Congress push to finalize a sweeping social policy and environmental spending bill before Biden heads to the international climate summit. Manchin, from one of the country’s top coal- and gas-producing states, wants to cut or modify a proposed fee on emissions of methane, a powerful planet-warming pollutant that leaks from oil and gas wells, The New York Times' Coral Davenport reports. But other Democratic leaders told The Hill's Alexander Bolton they have a "robust climate package " nearing passage with a methane fee.

Manchin has succeeded in stripping the bill of a program that would have shut down coal and gas-fired power plants and replaced them with wind and solar power. The package still includes about $300 billion in tax credits for wind and solar energy, which analysts say could get the United States about halfway to Biden’s target. But removing the methane fee legislation could further weaken his case in Glasgow.

Hot seat. Oil executives were grilled in a Congressional hearing Thursday about disinformation practices, part of what could be a broad probe of how American industries, from advertising firms and fossil fuel producers to social media giants, misled the public about climate change, Timothy Gardner and Valerie Volcovici report for Reuters. 

Hot take

Phthalates on the menu.Chemicals linked to health problems found in McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, other fast food. USA Today

Conked out. AES, a major power company, wants customers to pay more for a power plant that hasn't worked in months. IndyStar

Cold comfort.Higher heating bills likely this winter as natural gas prices skyrocket. IndyStar

And another thing 

Green Halloween. Want to ensure celebrating with little ghosts and goblins this Sunday doesn't "spook" the environment by crowding landfills with tons of holiday waste? Say boo to plastic costumes and buy recycled (and often cheaper) outfits from thrift stores that may even be real hippie or disco fever outfits. Buy organic candy in recyclable wrappers for trick-or-treaters. And don't just toss that jack 'o lantern; cut it up and roast the seeds for a tasty snack, then compost it. Bailey Poe with the Rider News has all the tricks.

That's all for this week. Here's to Scotland, and for more climate, energy and environment news, follow me @janetwilson66. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox for free here.