Best of our wild blogs: 1 Mar 18

17-18 Mar: 'The Fun Odyssea' - community launch for kids and the family
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

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Parliament: National recycling effort collected 2 per cent of total domestic waste in 2016

Audrey Tan Straits Times 28 Feb 18;

SINGAPORE - A national recycling effort collected just 2 per cent of the total amount of waste generated by the domestic sector here in 2016, falling far behind other waste collection efforts.

The informal recycling sector, which includes rag-and-bone men, for instance, collected almost nine times more.

The figure was derived from calculations done by The Straits Times, after Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources Amy Khor on Wednesday (Feb 28) revealed figures for the National Recycling Programme in Parliament- the first time such data was revealed publicly.

She was responding to a question by Mr Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC), who had asked for the cost and tonnage of recyclables collected under the National Recycling Programme.

Dr Khor said the public waste collectors collected about 44,200 tonnes of recyclables in 2016, but did not say how much the programme has cost the Government.

The 44,200 tonnes collected by public waste collectors work out to about 2 per cent of the 2.1 million tonnes of waste generated by the domestic sector in 2016.

In total, only 435,600 tonnes of waste were recycled.

Recyclables from the domestic sector, which includes public and private estates, schools, army camps, petrol kiosks, places of worship and shophouses, are picked up by public waste collectors under the National Recycling Programme, or collected by the informal recycling sector.

On Wednesday, Dr Khor told the House that the Ministry for the Environment and Water Resources (Mewr) is looking at how it can improve recycling rates in the domestic sector.

"In recent years, we have been enhancing recycling infrastructure to make it even easier for Singaporeans to recycle," she said.

For example, from April 1 this year, all new non-landed private residential developments will need to provide dual chutes for refuse and recyclables.

All existing condominiums will also have to provide one recycling bin per block from Aug 1 this year.

"We will also use regulatory measures to complement the new recycling infrastructure. For example, we will introduce a new framework to make it easier for Singaporeans to recycle their e-waste," Dr Khor added.

The new measures follow other strategies that NEA has already taken in hopes of boosting Singapore's lacklustre domestic recycling sector.

For example, since 2014, every HDB block has been provided with a blue recycling bin - up from one bin for every five blocks. That year, the Government also announced that all new public housing projects will be fitted with recycling chutes with throw points on each floor.

Still, overall domestic recycling rate - which includes recyclables collected under the National Recycling Programme and the informal recycling sector - has hovered around 20 per cent since 2012.

In comparison, Taiwan has a household recycling rate of 55 per cent. Germany's recycling rate for municipal waste is 64 per cent and that of South Korea is 59 per cent, according to statistics from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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Carbon tax a conscientious approach for a sustainable future

Where the announced carbon tax rate at Budget 2018 has seen a downward revision from a previously mentioned range, two experts discuss the merits of an entry-level carbon tax.
Allan Loi and Melissa Low Channel NewsAsia 1 Mar 18;

SINGAPORE: There was a sigh of relief during Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat’s announcement at Budget 2018 that a carbon tax of S$5 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions will be imposed from 2019.

In doing so, Singapore joins more than 67 other jurisdictions in implementing carbon pricing as a tool to reduce carbon emissions.

Since the 1990s when it was first implemented in most Nordic countries, a carbon tax has been progressively accepted as a transparent and accountable way of pricing in the cost of the negative externalities of producing energy, and collecting revenue from the large emitters of harmful greenhouse gases (GHG).

However, to most businesses and individual consumers, a carbon tax is a new and additional expense. They will have to integrate this new cost burden into their operating budget constraints.

Environmentalists may see the landing price point as marginal compared to the prices set in other countries such as Sweden and Norway, where rates go as high as S$186 per tonne of emissions.

Where it had been announced previously that the carbon tax might land at S$10 to S$20 per tonne of emissions, the price point announced at Budget 2018 was a downward revision.

What might be the reasons for this? More importantly, will it still achieve its intended impact in shaping business decisions and consumer behaviour?

OPPORTIUNITY TO ENHANCE CLIMATE CHANGE EFFORTS

Regardless of the imposed amount, Singapore’s carbon tax presents several opportunities to enhance national efforts in tackling climate change, including through more robust data collection and revenue recycling to help companies become more energy efficient.

Companies will be required to submit a verifiable emissions report by Jun 30, 2020. Monitoring plans indicating how each company ensures the quality of data used for computation in the emissions report, which may have to be verified by an independent third party, will have to be submitted by the preceding Dec 31 each year.

Some of these guidelines were earlier introduced as part of enhancements to the Energy Conservation Act.

How carbon tax revenues are reallocated to the economy will be important.

A key question is how should these be allocated among the goals of driving further green investments and energy efficiency? In addition, how much revenue will be directed at fostering industry and job growth in the clean energy sector or in aiding companies working on sustainable urban solutions?

As Mr Heng mentioned, revenue collected from this scheme will be used for two existing funds designed specifically to support further green initiatives for the industry, going some way to help make progress in Singapore’s goal of sustainable development - one that manages our carbon footprint and does our part to combat climate change.

It is unclear if all revenue will be channelled indefinitely to these funds, but the option to use some revenue to drive other productive aspects of the economy such as infrastructure or education could potentially be open.

STARTING SMALL

S$5 per tonne of emissions may sound trivial to some. However, many countries that charge high carbon taxes often include exemptions to avoid the economy being struck too hard by carbon prices.

According to a literature survey of carbon pricing in 2016 by academic journal Energy Policy, Switzerland exempts the transportation sector, whereas France excludes the fishing industry in their system. Singapore, for now, does not view it necessary to employ such exemptions.

Other jurisdictions such as British Columbia and the Nordic countries are less affected by a carbon tax for electricity generation because they are almost entirely fuelled by cleaner renewable electricity sources such as wind and hydropower.

Like some of the more recent adopters of the carbon tax, such as Japan, Chile, Colombia, and Latvia, Singapore is starting with a low initial carbon tax rate. The S$5 per tonne of GHG emissions serves as an entry-level price to allow the economy time to adjust before the tax is increased after review by 2023.

As Joseph Aldy, an associate professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, mentioned in a recent paper that the immediate implementation of a large carbon tax in general will “shock the energy system” and destabilise longer-term plans to attract support for the tax.

As a small open economy that has a sizable dependence on foreign direct investments and fossil fuels, Singapore must ensure that the cost from a carbon tax does not unduly increase the cost of doing business in Singapore, risking driving companies away or costing the economy jobs.

Currently, electricity generation for Singapore is still predominantly driven by fossil fuels, even though we’ve moved toward using cleaner burning natural gas. This means unlike some other developed countries, most sectors in the economy will be impacted by the tax.

DOES NOT RULE OUT CARBON TRADING SYSTEM

Looking at the draft Carbon Pricing Bill released late last year and to be read later this year, Singapore’s carbon tax is to be operated as a fixed price credit-based system, where covered entities purchase allowances from the regulator NEA and surrender the amount equal to their respective emissions during the compliance period.

Such a move allows authorities the flexibility to move towards a carbon trading scheme in the future, where Singapore imposes a cap on the total level of emissions, and allow companies with low emissions to sell their excess allowances to larger emitters.

Singapore’s 2030 target of reducing emissions intensity by 36 per cent compared to 2005 levels could act as a cap in such a trading scheme, where emissions based on this are expected to stabilise at 65 million tonnes of GHG emissions by 2030.

IMPACT ON MONTHLY HOUSEHOLD UTILITY BILLS

What looks certain is that household welfare is unlikely to be adversely affected – given that the resulting electricity and gas expenses from the carbon tax will only rise by about 1 per cent on average and additional Utilities-Save rebates will be provided by the Government to eligible households.

Another offsetting factor may be Singapore’s move towards full retail contestability in its electricity market by the second half of 2018.

Singapore residents could be looking at further discounts off their electricity bills compared to Singapore Power tariffs should they switch to a suitable alternative tariff plan or electricity provider, based on publicly available price offers and assuming oil prices and households’ electricity consumption remain similar.

In addition, consumers may be allowed to switch to providers who use renewable sources of energy such as solar power in the future, further reducing their carbon footprint.

ROAD TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

The new carbon tax is intended to price in the costs of climate change and our carbon footprint into energy consuming activities, making them more salient to businesses and consumers.

This complements existing educational and financing schemes in place to reduce our carbon emissions and combat climate change in Singapore.

Putting a price on carbon has proven reasonably successful in most countries that have implemented it. The carbon tax is thus an essential step in Singapore’s climate change efforts, and necessary if we are to meet our international climate commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Companies and consumers must use the next few years wisely to get a head start before authorities review the carbon tax rate with the intention of increasing it to between S$10 and S$15 per tonne of emissions by 2030.

We must aim to become more energy efficient and factor in the cost of climate change cost into our everyday lives, until it becomes part of our habitual nature to be mindful of our actions and how they impact the environment.

Allan Loi is a research associate at the Energy Studies Institute at the National University of Singapore. Melissa Low is a research fellow at the same institute.

Source: CNA/sl

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121 live birds, 4,500 sachets of chewing tobacco seized from tour bus at Woodlands

LOW YOUJIN Today Online 28 Feb 18;

SINGAPORE – An attempt to smuggle 121 live birds and 4,500 sachets of chewing tobacco was foiled by immigration officials at the Woodlands Checkpoint early Monday (Feb 26) morning.

The birds, along with the contraband goods, were detected by customs officials at around 6am when they conducted a search on a Malaysian-registered tour bus, according to a joint-media release by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and Agri-food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) on Wednesday (Feb 28).

TODAY understands that the 30-year-old male driver is a Malaysian citizen. He was charged on Wednesday.

The authorities said ICA officers discovered three black bundles in red plastic bags, which were later found to contain the chewing tobacco, in the luggage compartment located on the right side of the bus.

The birds were also found on the same side of the bus, though concealed in another compartment. The authorities said that live Fischer's Lovebirds, Red Whiskered Bulbuls, White Rumped Shamas and Spotted Doves were found in 10 boxes.

The Fischer's Lovebird is classified as a protected species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

According to the joint-statement, the driver, live birds and the bus were handed over to the AVA for investigation purposes, while the tobacco was referred to the HSA.

The authorities remind the public that the import and sale of chewing tobacco is prohibited in Singapore. Any person who is convicted of importing chewing tobacco can face a fine of up to S$10,000 and/or jailed up to six months for the first offence.

Repeat offenders can be fined up to S$20,000 and/or jailed up to 12 months.

The authorities said that CITES permits are required for any import, export and re-export of CITES species, including their parts and products.

Under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act, offenders can be fined up to S$50,000 per scheduled species (not exceeding a maximum aggregate of S$500,000) and/or imprisonment of up to two years upon conviction.

The authorities added that the import of animals and birds without a licence is an offence under the Animals and Birds Act.

Any person, on conviction, is liable to a fine of up to S$10,000, and/or imprisonment of up to 12 months.

Furthermore, any person who causes any unnecessary pain or suffering to any animal shall be liable upon conviction to a fine of up to S$15,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 18 months.

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Indonesia: Government to relax forest moratorium for military installations

Anton Hermansyah The Jakarta Post 28 Feb 18;

The government is planning to revise a 2017 presidential regulation on forest moratorium to make way for the construction of military installations.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said on Wednesday the regulation stipulated that new licenses for developments in primary forests and peat lands could only be issued for the development of the government’s strategic projects, but it was unclear if military-related developments were included.

Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu has requested that the regulation be revised.

"I think the request is reasonable, because defense-related matters such as building a military airport in the forest are also strategic projects," she said at the Presidential Palace, adding that she would study the request.

The forest moratorium regulation was first issued in 2011 under the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration. It has been extended every two years, with the latest extension made by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in June last year.

"I will study the proposed revision with my team," Siti said. (ahw)

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Total ban on bee-harming pesticides likely after major new EU analysis

Analysis from EU’s scientific risk assessors finds neonicotinoids pose a serious danger to all bees, making total field ban highly likely
Damian Carrington The Guardian 28 Feb 18

The world’s most widely used insecticides pose a serious danger to both honeybees and wild bees, according to a major new assessment from the European Union’s scientific risk assessors.

The conclusion, based on analysis of more than 1,500 studies, makes it highly likely that the neonicotinoid pesticides will be banned from all fields across the EU when nations vote on the issue next month.

The report from the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa), published on Wednesday, found that the risk to bees varied depending on the crop and exposure route, but that “for all the outdoor uses, there was at least one aspect of the assessment indicating a high risk.” Neonicotinoids, which are nerve agents, have been shown to cause a wide range of harm to bees, such as damaging memory and reducing queen numbers.

Jose Tarazona, head of Efsa’s pesticides unit, said: “The availability of such a substantial amount of data has enabled us to produce very detailed conclusions. There is variability in the conclusions [and] some low risks have been identified, but overall the risk to the three types of bees we have assessed is confirmed.”

The Efsa assessment includes bumblebees and solitary bees for the first time. It also identified that high risk to bees comes not from neonicotinoid use on non-flowering crops such as wheat, but from wider contamination of the soil and water which leads to the pesticides appearing in wildflowers or succeeding crops. A recent study of honey samples revealed global contamination by neonicotinoids.

The assessment was welcomed by many scientists and environmentalists. “This is an important announcement that most uses of neonicotinoids are a risk to all bee species,” said Prof Christopher Connolly, at the University of Dundee, UK. “The greatest risk to bees is from chronic exposure due to its persistence.” Prof Dave Goulson, at the University of Sussex, said: “This report certainly strengthens the case for further restrictions on neonicotinoid use across Europe”.

“We have been playing Russian roulette with the future of our bees for far too long,” said Sandra Bell at Friends of the Earth. “EU countries must now back a tougher ban.” Several nations had been waiting for the Efsa report before deciding their position.

However, a spokesman for Syngenta, a neonicotinoid manufacturer, said: “Efsa sadly continues to rely on a [bee risk guidance] document that is overly conservative, extremely impractical and would lead to a ban of most if not all insecticides, including organic products.”

Matt Shardlow, at charity Buglife, said the risk guidance document should be urgently implemented to prevent another pesticide “blunder”. He said: “It is a tragedy that our bees, moths, butterflies and flies have been hammered by these toxins for over 15 years.”

In March 2017, the Guardian revealed draft regulations from the European commission which would ban neonicotinoids from all fields across Europe, citing “high acute risks to bees”. The chemicals could still be used in closed greenhouses.

Efsa’s first assessment in January 2013 found “unacceptable” risks to bees from neonicotinoids and paved the way for the partial EU ban which was passed in April 2013. It banned the use of the three main neonicotinoids on flowering crops, principally oilseed rape, as they were seen as most attractive to bees.

Bees and other insects are vital for global food production as they pollinate three-quarters of all crops. The plummeting numbers of pollinators in recent years has been blamed on disease, destruction of flower-rich habitat and, increasingly, the widespread use of neonicotinoid pesticides.

There has been strong evidence that neonicotinoids harm individual bees for some years but this has strengthened in the last year recently to show damage to colonies of bees. Other research has also revealed that 75% of all flying insects have disappeared in Germany and probably much further afield, prompting warnings of “ecological armageddon”.

In November, environment secretary Michael Gove overturned the UK’s previous opposition to tougher restrictions on neonicotinoids. “The weight of evidence now shows the risks neonicotinoids pose to our environment, particularly to the bees and other pollinators which play such a key part in our £100bn food industry, is greater than previously understood,” Gove told the Guardian. “I believe this justifies further restrictions on their use. We cannot afford to put our pollinator populations at risk.”

The environment department’s chief scientist, Prof Ian Boyd, warned in September that the assumption by regulators around the world that it is safe to use pesticides at industrial scales across landscapes is false. This followed other highly critical reports on pesticides, including research showing most farmers could slash their pesticide use without losses and a UN report that denounced the “myth” that pesticides are necessary to feed the world.

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Parliament: Singapore adopts three-pronged approach to deal with wildlife trafficking

Audrey Tan Straits Times 28 Feb 18;

SINGAPORE - The Government has a three-pronged strategy to deter wildlife trafficking at Singapore's border checkpoints.

This includes subjecting passengers and shipments to a risk assessment, conducting multiple layers of checks at the checkpoints, and adopting a coordinated enforcement approach among the agencies involved, such as the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), Singapore Customs, as well as Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.

"Taken together, these measures have led to several successful seizures of illegal wildlife in Singapore," said Senior Minister of State for National Development Koh Poh Koon in Parliament on Wednesday (Feb 28).

Dr Koh was responding to a question raised by Mr Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) on what measures are in place at Singapore's border checkpoints to deter wildlife trafficking.

On the importance of risk assessment, Dr Koh said that the framework helps flag passengers and shipments that require more detailed checks. Passengers and cargo are also screened by officers and a variety of other tools, such as x-ray machines.

Singapore's agencies also work together to take quick action "after receiving credible and actionable intelligence or tip-offs from the public and from our international partners," Dr Koh said.

He warned that traffickers are subject to heavy penalties if caught with wildlife parts, facing fines of up to $500,000, up to two years' jail, or both.

Even though demand for illegal wildlife parts, such as rhino horn, ivory or pangolin scales, is not as high in Singapore compared to other countries in the region, the Republic has long been flagged by international environmental organisations as being a transit point for these items.

Mr Ng also asked if Singapore will consider deploying sniffer dogs to detect wildlife on passengers or in cargo, as the country does for narcotics.

Dr Koh said that the Government uses scanning technologies for this purpose.

"More studies are needed to determine if sniffer dogs can be more effective than our current methods," Dr Koh said.

But he added that the AVA - which falls under the purview of his ministry - is continually studying the efficacy of different tools and techniques to detect illegal wildlife at the border checkpoints.

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Malaysia: 45 tunnels to save pristine forests

mazwin nik anis The Star 28 Feb 18;

PUTRAJAYA: Only 216ha of forest will be cleared to make way for the 688km East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) alignment, with efforts being made to further reduce the size of the affected area.

This is only 10% of the 2,000ha of forest originally estimated to be lost in the course of the project, said Dr G. Balamurugan, managing director of ERE Consulting Group Sdn Bhd, which conducted the social impact assessment of the project.

This was made possible through the redesign and realignment of the ECRL, he added.

“ECRL is a project of great importance for the country. What we want is to ensure it causes minimal damage to the environment and impact on wildlife while meeting its economic and social objectives,” he said at the signing of a memorandum of agreement between China Communications Construction Co Ltd (CCCC) and the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) on the implementation of a wildlife management plan.

CCCC was represented by its executive managing director Bai Yinzhan while director-general Datuk Abdul Kadir Hashim signed on behalf of Perhilitan.

The signing was witnessed by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and China’s Ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian.

Dr Balamurugan said the ECRL alignment runs close to 25 different forest reserves, home to animals such as elephants, tapir, tigers, barking deer and sun bears.

To minimise the impact on the environment, 45 tunnels will be built to keep the forest intact.

For wildlife to be able to roam freely and safely, 27 crossings and 100km of viaducts will also be constructed, he said.

“In areas that can’t be avoided, expeditions will be held to check for rare species of flora which will be replanted at unaffected forest areas,” he said.

Dr Wan Junaidi said the RM10mil contribution from the CCCC for a period of seven years would enable Perhilitan to take crucial measures to ensure the rail project complies with environmental requirements.

“The wildlife management plan will, among other things, minimise and monitor the impact on wildlife and their habitats along key stretches of the ECRL,” he said in his speech.

Describing this as a milestone agreement, the minister lauded the project for its environment-friendly initiatives.

Dr Wan Junaidi said he had informed the Cabinet that the ministry wanted to be consulted from the start of the project so that any concerns and impact on the environment could be addressed.

“With the agreement on the implementation of a dedicated wildlife management plan for ECRL, this key catalytic rail project will proceed with adequate safeguards.

“This is a win-win situation as the ministry strongly believes that development and the environment must always go hand in hand.

“I am glad to see that CCCC is proving to be a good and responsible partner for the ECRL by focusing on protecting the environment.

“This collaboration will ensure the project incurs minimal damage to the environment and protects the welfare of wildlife,” he said.

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Indonesia: Bears handed over to Riau conservation authority

Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 27 Feb 18;

Worried about the legal sanctions he might face for keeping a protected species, Adi, 28, a resident of Sungai Buluh village in Bunut district, Pelalawan regency, Riau, handed over a pair of sun bears to the Riau chapter of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency.

Agency spokesperson Dian Indriati said Adi had voluntarily handed over the sun bears that he had kept for three years.

“The agency’s ranger team led by Murmaiddin Putraper fetched the bears in Bunut on Monday evening. The bears are now in Pekanbaru and are undergoing a medical assessment by a medical team,” Dian said on Tuesday.

She said that the two bears, a male and a female, were about 4 years old and in good condition. Information collected by the agency revealed that the bears were found by Adi when he was working on an oil palm plantation in Bunut about three years ago.

“When they were found, the bears were still very young and had been abandoned by their mother. Adi later decided to take care of them until he was made aware that under the prevailing laws, it is prohibited to keep protected wildlife and this might lead to legal sanctions,” said Dian.

Law No.5/1990 on the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystem stipulates that anyone found guilty of hunting, keeping and trading in wildlife may face a maximum of five years in prison and a maximum fine of Rp 100 million (US$7,310). (ebf)

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North Atlantic right whales may face extinction after no new births recorded

Declining fertility and rising mortality, exacerbated by fishing industry, prompts experts to warn whales could be extinct by 2040
Joanna Walters The Guardian 26 Feb 18;

The dwindling North Atlantic right whale population is on track to finish its breeding season without any new births, prompting experts to warn again that without human intervention, the species will face extinction.

Scientists observing the whale community off the US east coast have not recorded a single mother-calf pair this winter. Last year saw a record number of deaths in the population. Threats to the whales include entanglement in lobster fishing ropes and an increasing struggle to find food in abnormally warm waters.

The combination of rising mortality and declining fertility is now seen as potentially catastrophic. There are estimated to be as few as 430 North Atlantic right whales left in the world, including just 100 potential mothers.

“At the rate we are killing them off, this 100 females will be gone in 20 years,” said Mark Baumgartner, a marine ecologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Without action, he warned, North Atlantic right whales will be functionally extinct by 2040.

A 10-year-old female was found dead off the Virginia coast in January, entangled in fishing gear, in the first recorded death of 2018. That followed a record 18 premature deaths in 2017, Baumgartner said.

Woods Hole and other groups, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have been tracing right whale numbers in earnest since the mid-1980s.

Federal research suggests 82% of premature deaths are caused by entanglement in fishing line. The prime culprit is the New England lobster industry. Crab fishing in Canadian waters is another cause of such deaths.

Baumgartner said that until about seven years ago, the population of North Atlantic right whales was healthy. But then lobster fishermen began greatly increasing the strength of ropes used to attach lobster pots to marker buoys.

Whales becoming entangled are now far less able to break free, Baumgartner said. Some are killed outright, others cannot swim properly, causing them to starve or to lose so much blubber that females become infertile.

“Lobster and crab fishing and whales are able to comfortably co-exist,” Baumgartner said. “We are trying to propose solutions, it’s urgent.”

Baumgartner said the US government should intervene to regulate fishing gear. He also said the industry should explore technology enabling fishermen to track and gather lobster pots without using roped buoys.

The whales migrate seasonally between New England and Florida, calving off Florida and Georgia from November to February. They primarily feed on phytoplankton. Scientists believe rapid warming of the Gulf of Maine, linked to climate change, is drastically depleting that food source.

Past measures to prevent ship collisions and to safeguard feeding areas have helped. Several environmental groups have sued the federal government, demanding greater protection for right whales.

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More than 100 cities now mostly powered by renewable energy, data shows

The number of cities getting at least 70% of their total electricity supply from renewable energy has more than doubled since 2015
Elle Hunt The Guardian 27 Feb 18;

The number of cities reporting they are predominantly powered by clean energy has more than doubled since 2015, as momentum builds for cities around the world to switch from fossil fuels to renewable sources.

Data published on Tuesday by the not-for-profit environmental impact researcher CDP found that 101 of the more than 570 cities on its books sourced at least 70% of their electricity from renewable sources in 2017, compared to 42 in 2015.

Nicolette Bartlett, CDP’s director of climate change, attributed the increase to both more cities reporting to CDP as well as a global shift towards renewable energy.

The data was a “comprehensive picture of what cities are doing with regards to renewable energy,” she told Guardian Cities.

That large urban centres as disparate as Auckland, Nairobi, Oslo and Brasília were successfully moving away from fossil fuels was held up as evidence of a changing tide by Kyra Appleby, CDP’s director of cities.

“Reassuringly, our data shows much commitment and ambition,” she said in a statement. “Cities not only want to shift to renewably energy, but, most importantly – they can.”

Much of the drive for climate action at city level in the past year has been spurred on by the global covenant of more than 7,400 mayors that formed in the wake of Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris accord.

Burlington, Vermont, was the only US city reporting to CDP that sourced all of its power from renewable sources after having fully transitioned in 2015. Research from the Sierra Club states there are five such cities in the US in total.

Burlington is now exploring how to become zero-carbon.

Mayor Miro Weinberger said to CDP that its shift to a diverse mix of biomass, hydro, wind and solar power had boosted the local economy, and encouraged other cities to follow suit. Across the US 58 towns and cities, including Atlanta and San Diego, have set a target of 100% renewable energy.

In Britain, 14 more cities and towns had signed up to the UK100 local government network’s target of 100% clean energy by 2050, bringing the total to 84. Among the recent local authority recruits were Liverpool City Region, Barking and Dagenham, Bristol, Bury, Peterborough, Redcar and Cleveland.

But the CDP data showed 43 cities worldwide were already entirely powered by clean energy, with the vast majority (30) in Latin America, where more cities reported to CDP and hydropower is more widespread.

In the six months to July, Latin American cities reported having instigated $183m of renewable energy projects – less than Europe ($1.7bn) or Africa ($236m). Europe topped the list for projects open for investment, but laid claim to just 20% of the 101 cities to be predominantly powered by clean energy.

The Icelandic capital Reyjkavik, sourcing all electricity from hydropower and geothermal, was among them. It is now working to make all cars and public transit fossil-free by 2040.

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Arctic warming: scientists alarmed by 'crazy' temperature rises

Record warmth in the Arctic this month could yet prove to be a freak occurrence, but experts warn the warming event is unprecedented
Jonathan Watts The Guardian 27 Feb 18;

An alarming heatwave in the sunless winter Arctic is causing blizzards in Europe and forcing scientists to reconsider even their most pessimistic forecasts of climate change.

Although it could yet prove to be a freak event, the primary concern is that global warming is eroding the polar vortex, the powerful winds that once insulated the frozen north.

The north pole gets no sunlight until March, but an influx of warm air has pushed temperatures in Siberia up by as much as 35C above historical averages this month. Greenland has already experienced 61 hours above freezing in 2018 - more than three times as many hours as in any previous year.

Seasoned observers have described what is happening as “crazy,” “weird,” and “simply shocking”.

“This is an anomaly among anomalies. It is far enough outside the historical range that it is worrying – it is a suggestion that there are further surprises in store as we continue to poke the angry beast that is our climate,” said Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. “The Arctic has always been regarded as a bellwether because of the vicious circle that amplify human-caused warming in that particular region. And it is sending out a clear warning.”

Although most of the media headlines in recent days have focused on Europe’s unusually cold weather in a jolly tone, the concern is that this is not so much a reassuring return to winters as normal, but rather a displacement of what ought to be happening farther north.

At the world’s most northerly land weather station - Cape Morris Jesup at the northern tip of Greenland – recent temperatures have been, at times, warmer than London and Zurich, which are thousands of miles to the south. Although the recent peak of 6.1C on Sunday was not quite a record, but on the previous two occasions (2011 and 2017) the highs lasted just a few hours before returning closer to the historical average. Last week there were 10 days above freezing for at least part of the day at this weather station, just 440 miles from the north pole.

“Spikes in temperature are part of the normal weather patterns – what has been unusual about this event is that it has persisted for so long and that it has been so warm,” said Ruth Mottram of the Danish Meteorological Institute. “Going back to the late 1950s at least we have never seen such high temperatures in the high Arctic.”

The cause and significance of this sharp uptick are now under scrutiny. Temperatures often fluctuate in the Arctic due to the strength or weakness of the polar vortex, the circle of winds – including the jetstream – that help to deflect warmer air masses and keep the region cool. As this natural force field fluctuates, there have been many previous temperature spikes, which make historical charts of Arctic winter weather resemble an electrocardiogram.

But the heat peaks are becoming more frequent and lasting longer – never more so than this year. “In 50 years of Arctic reconstructions, the current warming event is both the most intense and one of the longest-lived warming events ever observed during winter,” said Robert Rohde, lead scientist of Berkeley Earth, a non-profit organisation dedicated to climate science.

The question now is whether this signals a weakening or collapse of the polar vortex, the circle of strong winds that keep the Arctic cold by deflecting other air masses. The vortex depends on the temperature difference between the Arctic and mid-latitudes, but that gap is shrinking because the pole is warming faster than anywhere on Earth. While average temperatures have increased by about 1C, the warming at the pole – closer to 3C – is melting the ice mass. According to Nasa, Arctic sea ice is now declining at a rate of 13.2% per decade, leaving more open water and higher temperatures.

Some scientists speak of a hypothesis known as “warm Arctic, cold continents” as the polar vortex becomes less stable - sucking in more warm air and expelling more cold fronts, such as those currently being experienced in the UK and northern Europe. Rohde notes that this theory remains controversial and is not evident in all climate models, but this year’s temperature patterns have been consistent with that forecast.

Longer term, Rohde expects more variation. “As we rapidly warm the Arctic, we can expect that future years will bring us even more examples of unprecedented weather.”

Jesper Theilgaard, a meteorologist with 40 years’ experience and founder of website Climate Dissemination, said the recent trends are outside previous warming events. “No doubt these warming events bring trouble to the people and the nature. Shifting rain and snow – melt and frost make the surface icy and therefore difficult for animals to find anything to eat. Living conditions in such shifting weather types are very difficult.”

Others caution that it is premature to see this as a major shift away from forecasts. “The current excursions of 20C or more above average experienced in the Arctic are almost certainly mostly due to natural variability,” said Zeke Hausfather of Berkeley Earth. “While they have been boosted by the underlying warming trend, we don’t have any strong evidence that the factors driving short-term Arctic variability will increase in a warming world. If anything, climate models suggest the opposite is true, that high-latitude winters will be slightly less variable as the world warms.”

Although it is too soon to know whether overall projections for Arctic warming should be changed, the recent temperatures add to uncertainty and raises the possibility of knock-on effects accelerating climate change.

“This is too short-term an excursion to say whether or not it changes the overall projections for Arctic warming,” says Mann. “But it suggests that we may be underestimating the tendency for short-term extreme warming events in the Arctic. And those initial warming events can trigger even greater warming because of the ‘feedback loops’ associated with the melting of ice and the potential release of methane (a very strong greenhouse gas).”

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