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Today’s top story: When we think of the wealthiest people on Earth, we think of the uber-rich billionaires but there are less than three thousand of them. If your net wealth is more than a million (US) dollars, then you are in the 1%. An Oxfam report stated that this proportion of the population was “responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the poorest half of humanity”.
In other news:
- Calls for more finance to developing countries for climate adaptation at the UN Climate Adaptation Summit;
- Research shows accelerating sea level increases in the USA (52 years of data) and ice losses across the world (satellite data);
- Microbiologists say soil health as important as clean air and water, calling for more research and collaboration with farmers;
- Scientists share 10 rules for planting trees;
- Climate footprints are locked into the economy now – Black Rock is asking businesses to reveal their net zero plans, threatening to divest if they don’t improve;
- A CSIRO report recommends a shift to a circular economy as a financially prudent option;
- The EU drafts laws to mandate less waste and more circularity; and
- Biden is to announce more climate plans today with sources saying that will include a suspension on oil and gas leasing and protecting one third of government lands.
Top Story
We are the 1%: the wealth of many Australians puts them in an elite club wrecking the planet | The Conversation
In 2011, Occupy Wall Street protesters called out growing economic inequality by proclaiming: “We are the 99%!”. And an Oxfam report in September last year lamented how the richest 1% of the world’s population are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the poorest half of humanity… When you hear references to the 1%, you might think of billionaires such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos or Tesla founder Elon Musk. However, as of October last year there were 2,189 billionaires worldwide — a minuscule proportion of the 7.8 billion people on Earth. So obviously, you don’t have to be a billionaire to join this global elite. So how rich do you have to be? Well, Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report in October last year showed an individual net worth of US$1 million (A$1,295,825) - combined income, investments and personal assets — will make you among the world’s 1% richest people.
Many everyday Australians have a net worth that puts them in the world’s richest 1%. Shutterstock
Climate Crisis and Emissions
World leaders shine spotlight on ‘neglected’ topic of climate adaptation at summit | The Independent
World leaders met at a virtual summit on Monday to discuss the need for rich nations to spend more on helping developing countries to adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis. Speaking at the opening of the Climate Adaptation Summit, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said that “huge gaps” in financing adaptation projects in developing nations remain and that donor countries and development banks must significantly increase their spending.
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U.S. sea-level report cards: 2020 again trends toward acceleration | Phys.org
USA - The annual update of their sea level "report cards" by researchers at William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science adds further evidence of an accelerating rate of sea-level rise at nearly all tidal stations along the U.S. coastline. The team's web-based report cards project sea level to the year 2050 based on an ongoing analysis of tide-gauge records for 32 localities along the U.S. coast from Maine to Alaska. The analysis now includes 52 years of water-level observations, from January 1969 through December 2020. The interactive charts are available online at www.vims.edu/sealevelreportcards.
Global ice loss increases at record rate | Phys.org
The rate at which ice is disappearing across the planet is speeding up, according to new research. And the findings also reveal that the Earth lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice between 1994 and 2017—equivalent to a sheet of ice 100 metres thick covering the whole of the UK… The team, led by the University of Leeds, found that the rate of ice loss from the Earth has increased markedly within the past three decades, from 0.8 trillion tons per year in the 1990s to 1.3 trillion tons per year by 2017.
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Environment and Biodiversity
Soil health is as environmentally important as air and water quality, say microbiologists | Phys.org
There are an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 species of micro-organism per gram of soil. Addition of certain microbes can tailor soil characteristics: removing contaminants, improving fertility and even making barren land available for farming… Tilling and excessive use of fertilizers have major effects on soil health. Microbiology can be used to help understand the impact of intensive farming and design feasible mitigation practices. The report highlights collaboration with farmers as key for improving soil health, and sustainable soil management practices should be designed with agricultural requirements and practices in mind. Sustainable soil management should be incentivised, the report says, and research outcomes should be affordable and ready for use on farms.
Scientists address myths over large-scale tree planting | BBC News
Scientists have proposed 10 golden rules for tree-planting, which they say must be a top priority for all nations this decade. Tree planting is a brilliant solution to tackle climate change and protect biodiversity, but the wrong tree in the wrong place can do more harm than good, say experts at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The rules include protecting existing forests first and involving locals… All too often natural forests teeming with plants, animals and fungi are replaced by commercial plantations with row upon row of timber trees, which will be harvested after a few decades, she told BBC News. "What we're trying to do is to encourage people, wherever possible, to try and recreate forests which are similar to the natural forests and which provide multiple benefits to people, the environment and to nature as well as capturing carbon."
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It takes at least a century to restore damaged forests. Credit: RBGKEW
An unexpected consequence of climate change: heatwaves kill plant pests and save our favourite giant trees | The Conversation
AUSTRALIA - Australia is sweltering through another heatwave, and there will be more in the near future as climate change brings hotter, drier weather. In some parts of Australia, the number of days above 40℃ will double by 2090, and with it the tragedy of more heat-related deaths. In the complex world of plant ecology, however, heatwaves aren’t always a bad thing. Rolling days of scorching temperatures can kill off plant pests, such as elm beetles and mistletoe, and even keep their numbers down for years.
A new 3D koala genome will aid efforts to defend the threatened species | The Conversation
AUSTRALIA - Genetic information can play a key role in the effort to conserve koalas and other species. A detailed map of the koala genome is vital to understanding their susceptibility to disease, their genetic diversity, and how they may respond to new environmental pressures. We have created a new “chromosome-length” sequence of the koala genome, which will allow researchers to study its three-dimensional structure and understand its evolution.
Genetic information can play a key role in the effort to conserve koalas and other species. AAP Image/Joel Carrett
Economy and Business
Asset manager BlackRock threatens to sell shares in worst climate polluters | The Guardian
BlackRock, the world’s biggest investment fund manager, has threatened to sell shares in the worst corporate polluters in a bid to support the goal of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chief executive, said the investor would ask companies whose shares it holds to disclose their plans to achieve net-zero emissions. The new approach is set out in Fink’s annual letter to CEOs around the world. BlackRock could then divest from polluting companies, in its actively managed funds – which represent about a tenth of its assets - if they did not improve.
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Rio Tinto and BHP battle Apache tribes to build North America's biggest copper mine at sacred Oak Flat site | ABC News
USA - "This place is very holy and religious to us." Wendsler Nosie Senior, an elder of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, is describing his people's land, Oak Flat or Chi'chil Bildagoteel, in the Arizona desert in the US south-west. The site in the Tonto National Forest is a popular camping and hiking ground and contains sacred cultural heritage locations that include rock carvings, burial sites and the Apache Leap, where Apache warriors jumped to their death after being driven to the edge of the cliff by the US cavalry. But earlier this month, in the dying days of the Trump administration, the US Government handed over Oak Flat to two of the world's biggest mining companies, Rio Tinto and BHP.
The San Carlos Apache tribe has been campaigning for years to prevent mining at Oak Flat. (Supplied)
Waste and the Circular Economy
Australia at risk of losing billions of dollars in revenue without cultural shift to re-use | The Guardian
AUSTRALIA - Australia could see billions of dollars in revenue lost without a profound cultural shift to a circular and zero-waste economy that re-uses plastic, glass and paper instead of burying it in landfill or exporting it. The national science agency, CSIRO, released a detailed circular economy roadmap identifying major challenges including inconsistencies across states, a lack of reprocessing capacity and the continued loss of materials to landfill and dumping.
EU lawmakers back tougher measures to cut waste, require greener products | Reuters
EU - Lawmakers in European Parliament’s environment committee on Tuesday called for stricter EU measures to stop materials being thrown away or wasted, including binding requirements to include recycled content in products and curb raw materials use. As it seeks to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and shrink its negative environmental impact, the European Union’s executive Commission is drafting laws to encourage companies to reuse materials and recycle more.
'A relatively static picture': UK supermarkets stock fractionally more plastic in 2019 than two years prior | BusinessGreen
UK - The UK's leading supermarkets produced more plastic in 2019 than they did two years prior, according to findings published today that suggest the flurry of plastic strategies and targets unveiled by chains of late are struggling to make significant gains in tackling overall plastic pollution. A new report released this morning by Greenpeace and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals the UK's 10 leading supermarkets collectively produced almost 897,000 tonnes of plastic packaging in 2019, a figure that marks a 1.6 per cent reduction compared to levels recorded a year ago but a 1.2 per cent increase on levels recorded in 2017.
Politics and Society
Biden shows we don’t have to choose between climate action and jobs | Sydney Morning Herald (Opinion)
AUSTRALIA - Australia has been stuck in a climate policy cul de sac for nearly two decades. Every time we look like making progress reducing our emissions, we are told loudly and repeatedly by vested interests that we can have jobs, or we can have a healthy environment, but we can’t have both. While that’s almost never been true, it has created enough fear among vulnerable communities and cabinet rooms to serve its desired effect of delaying action to cut carbon pollution to another day or year… But 2021 looks like being the year that Australia’s isolation on climate policy becomes untenable.
Biden's new climate orders to include pause on federal oil and gas leasing - sources | Reuters
USA - The Biden administration is expected to announce a temporary suspension of new oil and gas leasing on U.S. federal lands and waters on Wednesday, and to order that nearly a third of federally run acreage is conserved over the next decade, three sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. President Joe Biden will make the announcement as part of a second batch of executive orders aimed at combating climate change, a key policy effort of the newly sworn-in president that marks an about-face from his predecessor Donald Trump who sought to maximize the country’s oil, gas and coal output.
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'Our future is not guaranteed': Students rally outside Parliament to demand climate action | Stuff
NEW ZEALAND - Children and teenagers from Auckland to Invercargill gathered at Parliament in Wellington on Tuesday, demanding politicians take climate change seriously. Around 150 protestors, ranging from school kids to teachers and other members of the public, came together for the School Strike for Climate NZ 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. They presented politicians from across the political aisle a list of demands to be acted on in the first 100 days of this parliamentary term, including phasing out fossil fuels, moving to 100 per cent renewable energy sources, and investing in climate education in schools.
Energy
Boeing vows to develop planes able to fly on 100 per cent sustainable fuel by 2030 | BusinessGreen
Boeing has announced plans to begin producing commercial aircraft capable of flying on 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by the end of the decade. The US plane manufacturer said the development of planes that can run entirely on SAFs would be critical if the carbon-intensive aviation sector is to meet its climate goal of cutting carbon emissions by 50 per cent by mid-century… However, critics have long argued that high costs and limited capacity, as well as concerns over the availability of sustainable feedstocks, mean jet biofuels risk becoming a distraction from the need to curb demand for flights and step up investment in zero emission technologies, such as electric and fuel cell aircraft.
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