A summary of today’s top climate and clean energy stories.
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(Pic: Neils Photography)
Australia: Indigenous Australians face “disproportionate” harm from climate change, according to a leaked report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The second IPCC report, which is due to be released next March, also warns that climate change could swamp A$226bn worth of coastal property via sea-level rises and cause the number of heatwave-related deaths in Sydney to triple by the end of the century. (Guardian)
Research: A new study suggests the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) will be more intense. The El Nino sees a warming of the eastern and tropical Pacific, while its cooler sister, La Nina, makes things chillier in these same regions. (BBC)
EU: Germany is on the verge of succeeding in watering down EU environmental legislation it deems threatening to its car industry after a months-long campaign of arm-twisting and diplomatic finesse. (FT)
Australia: The Abbott government has rejected suggestions it could be forced to pay companies more than A$2 billion if it presses ahead with scrapping the carbon price before 2015. New analysis from energy advisory firm RepuTex warns the government could be facing a A$2 billion bill if companies rush to cash in their freely allocated permits before the carbon price is repealed. (The Australian)
France: Green groups have praised a French court’s decision to uphold a ban on fracking and urged UK prime minister David Cameron to halt the “hugely risky process” in the UK. (Business Green)
UK: Energy prices will continue to rise for British consumers and the government can do little about it, energy secretary Ed Davey has warned. The Lib Dem minister told the BBC he accepted that prices would go up, and some of the costs causing the rises were “impossible to avoid”. (Guardian)
Research: Installations of solar power in the UK are likely to top records this year, and could offset some of the expensive dependence on gas, research has found, but the global outlook for green energy is still gloomy. Investment in clean energy around the world fell to $45.9 billion in the third quarter of 2013, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a 14% drop on the second quarter and a reduction of a fifth compared with the same period last year. (Guardian)
UN: The viability of the UN’s Green Climate Fund could be sealed at Ban Ki-moon’s climate leader summit next September, when its sources of funding are expected to be revealed. A meeting of the GCF’s board in Paris last week ended without setting a date for raising new funds, after the US and Australia blocked any specific timeline. (RTCC)
Norway: The newly elected Norwegian government is considering establishing a mandate for its pension fund to be invested in renewable energy, according to the political platform released on Monday. (RTCC)
Research: Over the next two centuries, forests will shrink until they cover just 22% of the world’s surface, scientists predict. (RTCC)
Australia: The Dutch solar racing team Nuon has won gold once again, for the fifth time in seven tries, at the World Solar Challenge race in Australia. Its car, the Nuna7, took just over 33 hours to complete the 3,000km (1864 miles) trip from Darwin to Adelaide — powered by nothing but the sun. (Clean Technica)