23 January 2018, Climate Home News, Davos 2018: climate change rhetoric and reality. he movers and shakers at the World Economic Forum warn climate change is a major threat to prosperity, but what are they doing about it? Climate change is a hot topic in the snows of Davos this year. The world leaders, business tycoons and celebrities jetting in to the annual World Economic Forum (Wef) have identified the biggest threats to prosperity as environmental. A global risk survey places extreme weather events, natural disasters and failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation in the alarm zone for both likelihood and impact. So you can expect the topic to come up in speeches and panel sessions. India’s Narendra Modi is the headliner, to be followed by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron. All have something to boast about when it comes to climate protection. All have weaknesses they would rather you didn’t mention. Then comes Donald Trump, who rejects the whole climate agenda, but may not have as much power as he thinks to reverse it. Read More here
Tag Archives: Economy
19 January 2018, World Resource Institute. Global Environmental Risks Are Keeping Davos Leaders Awake at Night. As movers and shakers — reportedly including President Trump – fire up their private jets to travel to Switzerland for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the Forum issued its annual Global Risks Report. For more than a decade, the report has been surveying the WEF’s network of business, government and civil society leaders, asking them to rank global risks based on both their impact and likelihood. In short, the report asks what keeps the global elite awake at night. The answer? Mounting environmental threats. 2 Takeaways from the Global Risks Report First, a majority (five of eight) of the risks respondents said were both most impactful and most likely to happen were environmental risks. These were extreme weather events, failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation, man-made environmental disasters, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, and natural disasters. A sixth, water crises, is labeled by the WEF as a societal risk, but it can also be considered an environmental risk. In other words, even while geopolitical and cyber risks are increasing and domestic politics in many countries are in turmoil, the leading decision-makers in business and government remain most concerned about the cluster of risks connected to the environment—many of them related to climate change. Read More here
11 January 2018 Boomberg, Hype Meets Reality as Electric Car Dreams Run Into Metal Crunch. When BMW AG revealed it was designing electric versions of its X3 SUV and Mini, the going rate for 21 kilograms of cobalt—the amount of the metal needed to power typical car batteries—was under $600. Only 16 months later, the price tag is approaching $1,700 and climbing by the day. For carmakers vying to fill their fleets with electric vehicles, the spike has been a rude awakening as to how much their success is riding on the scarce silvery-blue mineral found predominantly in one of the world’s most corrupt and underdeveloped countries. “It’s gotten more hectic over the past year,” said Markus Duesmann, BMW’s head of procurement, who’s responsible for securing raw materials used in lithium-ion batteries, such as cobalt, manganese and nickel. “We need to keep a close eye, especially on lithium and cobalt, because of the danger of supply scarcity.” Like its competitors, BMW is angling for the lead in the biggest revolution in automobile transport since the invention of the internal combustion engine, with plans for 12 battery-powered models by 2025. What executives such as Duesmann hadn’t envisioned even two years ago, though, was that they’d suddenly need to become experts in metals prospecting. Automakers are finding themselves in unfamiliar—and uncomfortable—terrain, where miners such as Glencore Plc and China Molybdenum Co. for the first time have all the bargaining power to dictate supplies. Read More here
19 December 2017, CSIRO-ECOS, Refining the accounts on canola emissions savings. BIOFUELS are about to work even harder to prove their renewable worth, under new European Union rules. From 2018 the European Commission’s Renewable Energy Directive mandates that biofuels must demonstrate a 50 per cent emissions saving compared to their fossil fuel companions (or a 60 per cent saving when produced in refineries constructed after October 2015), compared to a flat 35 per cent saving now. CSIRO was commissioned by the Australian Oilseed Federation and the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre to assess the greenhouse gas emissions of growing canola in Australia, in order to continue exports to the European Union for use as a feedstock for biodiesel under the new rules. In 2016/17, more than 3.1 million tonnes of Australian canola was exported to the EU, worth around $1.8 billion. EU buyers can pay a $20-40 per tonne premium for non-genetically modified canola (which Australia primarily produces), making the EU export market one with a cool $100 million premium riding on it. The vast majority of this canola (91 per cent in 2015-16) is used to make biodiesel. To secure this important export market the Australian industry needed to demonstrate that canola can be grown at a low enough carbon footprint so that once all the other processes of shipping and refining are added, the final product can be deliver to the customer at the fuel bowser within the target saving of 50-60 per cent. We are happy to say it did. Read More here