Positive climate stories in January 2024
Christmas is a fading memory, days are short and energy is low – there’s not much to be excited about in January. Ever the optimists, we’ve found some light to cut through this dark month.
1. EU fossil fuel CO2 emissions hit 60-year low
Carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union fell by 8% in 2023, compared to the previous year. As a result, they’re at their lowest level in 60 years.
The biggest contributor to the drop was the rise of clean electricity. Record levels of solar panels and wind turbines were built last year in the EU. When it came to industry, emissions have dropped due to efficiency improvements and drops in production due to high gas prices. And changes to transport also had an impact.
While these are undoubtedly figures to be celebrated, there is a flip side. First off, the research doesn’t include sectors such as agriculture, dirty chemical processes such as cement-making, or other damaging greenhouse gases such as methane. Researchers also warn that overall, emissions need to fall faster.
The analysis was carried out by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea). Their analyst Isaac Levi told The Guardian:
“EU CO2 emissions have finally fallen back to levels apparent in my parents’ generation in the 1960s. Yet, over this time period, the economy has tripled – showing that climate change can be combated without foregoing economic growth.”
2. How policy has the potential to impact maritime’s decarbonisation
At Opportunity Green, we firmly believe that policy has huge potential to accelerate the decarbonisation of the shipping sector. So we were interested to read this report just published by Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, which looks at the climate policy landscape for maritime and examines the potential impacts it can have on decarbonisation in the sector.
The report investigates the investment implications of three policy developments, the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the FuelEU Maritime Regulation. It questions how these policies impact the uptake of alternative fuels, which have been identified as key pathways to achieving net-zero targets in maritime transport.
A range of positive opportunities emerge across the entire maritime industry. Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping states that:
“Forward thinking maritime companies can strategically position themselves in an evolving policy landscape to take advantage of new incentives for alternative fuels.”
“For cargo owners, the results translate into an opportunity to accelerate upstream emissions reduction targets for cargo traded between the US and the EU.”
“Fuel producers can make a more convincing case for shipping companies to engage in offtake agreements to ensure supply on transatlantic voyages within the timeframe of FuelEU pooling incentives.”
Download the full publication here.
3. Legal victory in Norway paves the way for Rosebank
A groundbreaking legal win in Norway is raising hopes for similar action here in the UK. On 18 January, it was ruled that the emissions that come from the burning of oil and gas reserves and the impact of extraction must both be taken into account by Norwegian government before they can approve a new field.
The case was bought by Greenpeace Norway and Young Friends of the Earth Norway, who challenged the approval of three new oil and gas fields by the government. There’s now hope that it will set an example for similar challenges to be made against UK-based oil and gas projects such as Rosebank. Currently, the UK government only takes into account the impact of extracting reserves, not that of combusting them.
Uplift is one organisation pushing for such action – their executive director of climate action Tessa Khan put it brilliantly in her article for the Guardian:
“What the win in Norway puts beyond doubt is this: the oil and gas industry and its champions in government can no longer assume that courts will overlook the true climate impact of new oil and gas fields. An evolution in the legal approach to drilling is happening even in a major oil-producing country like Norway.”
4. We can reach ‘drawdown’
And finally, here’s a solutions-based project we discovered this month, which we’re really enjoying. It’s called Project Drawdown – drawdown being “the point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline”. This, they say, is achievable by mid-century – providing we make the best use of all existing climate solutions.
Their website is a collection of practices and technologies that can not only reduce greenhouse gas concentrations, but that are also:
currently available
growing in scale
financially viable
able to have a net positive impact
quantifiable under different scenarios.
The solutions are organised according to sectors or areas of interest (buildings, transportation, industry etc), with a deep dive into what practices and technologies are available, looking at their potential impact, based on scientific research and analysis, with tips on what we can all do personally to get involved.
And the figures are pretty mind-blowing. As an example, the replacement of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants with a mix of alternatives can reduce emissions by 42.73–48.75 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent from 2020 to 2050. Taking into consideration that total global emissions were around 37 gigatons in 2022, we’re suitably impressed.
What positive climate stories have lifted your spirits this month? Share it with us on Twitter or LinkedIn and we’ll help to spread the word.
