24 February 2022 - NPWJ News Digest

Articles

Explainer: as climate change wreaks havoc globally, IPCC report flags ways to adapt
Reuters, 24 Feb 2022

From Madagascar, where hunger is surging after a recent storm destroyed drought-withered crops, to Brazil's historic mountain town of Petropolis, hit by a deluge that has caused at least 176 deaths, the impacts of wilder weather are being felt worlwide. Worse is to come, faster than expected, even if effort to curb global warming are stepped up, a flagship U.N. climate science report is expected to warn at the end of this month.

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Climate Fears on Back Burner as Fuel Costs Soar and Russia Crisis Deepens
New York Times, 23 Feb 2022

It was only three months ago that world leaders met at the Glasgow climate summit and made ambitious pledges to reduce fossil fuel use. The perils of a warming planet are no less calamitous now, but the debate about the critically important transition to renewable energy has taken a back seat to energy security as Russia — Europe’s largest energy supplier — threatens to start a major confrontation with the West over Ukraine while oil prices are climbing toward $100 a barrel. 

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UK warned future exploration of North Sea risks undermining climate credibility
Financial Times, 23 Feb 2022

Future oil and gas exploration in the North Sea risked undermining the credibility of the UK’s global leadership on climate change, the government’s environmental adviser has warned. “We are very concerned about the signalling impact” of new North Sea exploration both domestically and internationally, Lord Deben, chair of the Climate Change Committee, said, adding that “an end to UK exploration would send a clear signal to the rest of the world that we really are serious about [limiting global warming to] 1.5C.” His comments came as the CCC published the findings of its review of the government’s proposed climate compatibility test to ensure licences for proposed North Sea oil and gas developments were in line with the UK’s 2050 net zero carbon targets.

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Climate change expected to make destructive flooding worse with more lives put at risk
Sky News, 23 Feb 2022

Intense rainfall combined with rising sea levels is helping to drive more severe flooding up and down the country, including that associated with the recent barrage of three storms in one week.

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Angola's climate refugees on 'a journey with no end'
Al Jazeera, 23 Feb 2022

 South Angola has been experiencing its worst drought for th past 40 years. It has forced thousands of people to flock neighbouring Namibia after failed harvests and rising food prices worsened food shortages across the region. The southwest provinces of Huila, Namibe and Cunene in Angola have been among the hardest hit by intermittent locust infestations and a drought which has put 1.58 million people at risk of severe hunger, according to the United Nations World Food Programme.

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