UN Secretary General at Public Briefing

From a News Update from Democracy Now! on October 27, 2021

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres issued yet another stark warning just days ahead of the COP26 global climate summit.

Secretary-General António Guterres: “Less than one week before COP26 in Glasgow, we are still on track for climate catastrophe, even with the last announcements that were made. The 2021 Emissions Gap Report shows that with the present nationally determined contributions and other firm commitments of countries around the world, we are indeed on track for a catastrophic global temperature rise of around 2.7 degrees Celsius. Now, even if the announcements of the last few days will materialize, we would still be on track to clearly more than 2 degrees Celsius.”

In more encouraging climate news, a new report highlights the power of the grassroots divestment movement, as some 1,500 institutions and other investors have committed to divesting $40 trillion in assets from fossil fuels over the past decade.

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SEE ALSO ~ EU’s Biggest Pension Fund to Dump $17 Billion in Fossil Fuel Investments, Alastair Marsh, Bloomberg Green News, October 26, 2021

ABP — Netherlands to Divest $17 Billion in Fossil Fuel Assets

Europe’s biggest pension fund, ABP of the Netherlands, has joined a growing number of investment managers blacklisting fossil fuels as the finance industry gives in to pressure from activists and customers alarmed at the prospect of a climate catastrophe caused by carbon emissions.

ABP said Tuesday it will divest 15 billion euros ($17.4 billion) worth of fossil-fuel assets by early 2023. The fund said it doesn’t expect the decision to hurt long-term returns and added that the move will allow it to unveil a more ambitious CO2 reduction goal next year. The announcement underpins the speed with which the investment industry is turning its back on oil, gas and coal, with 1,500 asset managers overseeing a combined $39.2 trillion now committed to offloading such holdings, DivestInvest said in a separate release.

The development marks a huge shift over the past seven years. Back in 2014, when DivestInvest first tallied such commitments, funds turning their backs on fossil fuels represented just $52 billion. So far in 2021, the $16 billion Ford Foundation, started by the son of Henry Ford and now ranked among the world’s largest private foundations, said it will cease to invest in fossil fuels. Harvard University’s $42 billion endowment made a similar pledge and Maine became the first U.S. state to order its public pension fund to sell off fossil-fuel holdings.

New York City’s pension funds have announced plans to divest about $4 billion worth of fossil fuel-related investments and Canada’s second-largest pension manager, Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, has said it will sell billions of dollars worth of oil assets, including large equity stakes in Canada’s top crude producers, as part of a new strategy that aims to dramatically cut the emissions from its investments. Fidelity International unveiled plans Tuesday to halve the carbon footprint of its investment portfolio by 2030.

Katharine Hayhoe, Barack Obama and Leona Di Caprio discuss climate change

From an Article by Madeleine Cuff, i-News (Environment), UK, October 25, 2021

Backbench MPs in England are railing against the government’s plan to cut UK emissions to net zero by 2050, warning the policy will leave British citizens “poorer and colder”.

Most insist they do not deny the science of climate change and are merely questioning the policy costs and wisdom of targeting ‘net zero’ in the UK. But renowned climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe suspects otherwise.

Professor Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist, professor of political science at Texas Tech University, and chief scientist at the US Nature Conservancy. She is also one of the world’s leading communicators of climate science and has experienced her fair share of climate sceptics.

In her eyes, there are five clear stages of climate denial: arguing (1) that climate change is not real, (2) that humans are not to blame, (3) that climate change will be a positive force, (4) that it will be too expensive to fix, and (5) arguing it will be too late to tackle it.

“What do all these stages have in common?” Prof Hayhoe asked. “They all accomplish the same goal. The goal is the important thing – it doesn’t matter what you say, it is the goal that matters. And what is their goal? No climate action.”

“We often see politicians cycling through these stages,” she told i-News. As the climate science has become ever more robust, those arguing against action have had to adapt, she argued. “No wonder the sceptics have shifted,” she said. “They are very clever. They have their eyes fixed on their goal.”

“[Yet] the reality is, what is at stake is civilization as we know it,” she stressed. “What’s at risk is so large that the question is not ‘how can we afford action’, the question is ‘how can we not afford to act’.”

To counter these arguments there needs to be a more honest and open dialogue among the public about what climate action looks like, Professor Hayhoe said. “Why those arguments are so successful is because the rest of us remain paralysed,” she argued.

“We don’t know what to do. And it’s easier, if someone is arguing for inaction and we don’t know what to do, to say ‘maybe let’s wait and study some more’. We don’t have time for that. We need to act as soon as possible.”

The right conversation can go a long way towards spurring action, Prof. Hayhoe insisted. “The secret is begin the conversation with something you agree with the other person on, not disagree,” she said. “That establishes common ground and mutual respect.”

“Then – and this addresses the fear – always bring up a positive, constructive solution to the problem in hand,” Professor Hayhoe said. For example, if the conversation is about cars the solution could be talking about how many people are already switching to EVs. “The solution can be at any level, but it has to be something that person can get on board with,” Professor Hayhoe said.

She hopes the COP26 climate summit, which starts next week in Glasgow (31 Oct. to 12 Nov.), will spark more conversations about climate change across the UK. “It gives us a great opportunity to start a discussion,” she said.

NEW BOOK ~ ‘Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World’ by Katharine Hayhoe, Simon and Schuster UK, £20