Patricia Espinosa as UN climate chief says decisions now will determine our future

From an Article by Abigail Adams, People Magazine Online, June 06, 2022

Now is not the time to lose focus on climate change, United Nations climate chief Patricia Espinosa says.

During an address Monday at the opening ceremony of the U.N.’s Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, the 63-year-old Mexican diplomat urged world leaders to remain focused on addressing the ongoing climate crisis despite other challenges facing populations across the globe — inducing “conflict, energy, food, and economic crises” as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.

But according to Espinosa, who will complete her second term as head of the U.N. climate office at the end of 2022, there is no time to waste with addressing climate change. “I appeal to all of you, especially in these difficult and challenging times, not to lose hope, not to lose focus, but to use our united efforts against climate change as the ultimate act of unity between nations,” she said at the event. “We must never give in to despair,” the diplomat added. “We must continue to move forward. Look at what we have accomplished in the last six years. Look at what we’ve accomplished in the last 30.”

But Espinosa also pressed world leaders to take action, and fast. Earlier in her speech, the climate chief said decisions on how to address the ongoing climate crisis are needed “now,” and that “very difficult decisions” must be made to do so. “We must understand that climate change is moving exponentially. We can no longer afford to make just incremental progress,” she said. “We must move these negotiations along more quickly. The world expects it.”

The Earth is currently about 1.1°C warmer than it was during the 19th century, according to the U.N.’s website. At this pace, the U.N. believes countries are “not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target” of preventing the global temperature from exceeding 1.5°C, which “is considered the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change.”

Over the next 10 days, Espinosa and “diplomats from around the world will try to lay the foundations” for the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt this November, according to the Associated Press.

At the opening press conference held later in the day, Espinosa said she believes the 10-day meeting “marks the start of a new face in the intergovernmental climate change process [and] the process of implementation.”

But “one thing is very clear” about the climate crisis, Espinosa noted: “We don’t have time” to waste. “We have a blueprint and we have a framework and we have the rules to ensure that it is transparent,” she said while addressing the media. “So I think it’s time to get on with the job.”

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See Also: Marine Life Could Experience ‘Mass Extinction’ if Humans Don’t Take ‘Rapid Action’ Against Climate Crisis

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See Also: Chevron CEO Warns Not to Count on New US Oil Refinery Even With Surging Gas Prices, Kevin Crowley & Alex Steel, Bloomberg News, June 3, 2022

(Bloomberg) — There may never be a new refinery built in the US despite surging gasoline prices, as policymakers move away from fossil fuels, according to Chevron Corp. “We haven’t had a refinery built in the United States since the 1970s, my personal view is there will never be another new refinery built in the United States,” Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth said.

Refining margins have exploded to historically high levels in recent weeks amid lower supplies from Russia and China and surging demand for gasoline and diesel around the world. “You’re looking at committing capital 10 years out, that will need decades to offer a return for shareholders, in a policy environment where governments around the world are saying: we don’t want these products,” Wirth said. “We’re receiving mixed signals in these policy discussions.”

Denver smog is very unhealthy; Mountains are barely visible!

From an Article by Andy Bosselman, Denver Streetsblog, March 6, 2019

Today from downtown Denver, the peaks of the Rocky Mountain foothills were barely visible through the brown cloud of pollution that covered the region with an unhealthy level of fine particulate matter.

At six p.m., Denver’s air quality index measured 162, an unhealthy level more than three times worse than the moderate rating of 51 now in Beijing. The pollution triggered health warnings across the northern Front Range.

Colorado’s “brown cloud” is an increasingly frequent reminder of the Denver-Boulder metro’s car dependency and the impact of the state’s oil and gas production, which the industry projects will generate $12.5 billion in revenue this year.

Kyle Clark, a News 9 anchor, reported that 30 to 40 percent of ozone levels — a related form of pollution that is not responsible for the brown cloud — result from the state’s oil and gas industry. Traffic generates similar levels, he tweeted. He also pointed out the irony of today’s extreme air quality problems with the intense oil and gas industry lobbying that happened at the state capitol today as legislators considered sweeping environmental reforms.

Reducing car dependency could help the region achieve clearer air, and Denver has plans to do exactly that. But the city is better at setting goals than achieving them. In Denver’s Mobility Action Plan, officials set a strategic goal of reducing single occupancy vehicle commutes from 73 percent of trips to 50 percent.

The city plans to supplement current bus service with a high-frequency transit network. The proposal is part of the long-term planning process known as Denveright, which will be finalized later this year.

But there are no concrete plans for the city to come up with the funding needed to provide the improved transit service promised in the plans.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Department of public health warned all people in the area to “reduce prolonged or heavy exertion” today and tomorrow, especially “people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children.”

Looking northeast from a downtown high-rise, it was almost impossible to see a nearby refinery. A crown of smog usually hovers over its buildings. But today its dirty halo blended into the thick haze of visible pollution that extended as far as the eye could see.

World Bank Issues Warnings

Air pollution costs trillions and holds back poor countries, says World Bank

From an Article by John Vidal, The Guardian, September 8, 2016

<< Study finds dirty air takes huge economic toll on poor countries and costs the world more than $5tn annually in lost work days and welfare costs >> 

Air pollution costs the world trillions of dollars a year and severely impedes development in many countries, according to the World Bank.

In a major study (pdf) of the economic costs of indoor and outdoor pollution, the bank found that in 2013 – the year from which the latest available estimates date – China lost nearly 10% of its GDP, India 7.69% and Sri Lanka and Cambodia roughly 8%.

Rich countries are also losing tens of billions of dollars a year through lost work days and welfare costs from premature deaths. Dirty air was found to cost the UK $7.6bn (£5.6bn) a year, the US $45bn and Germany $18bn.

Zimbawe, Malawi and Central African Republic were among the world’s least polluted countries, but Liberia had the lowest lost labour costs among developing countries ($25m). Uruguay lost just 0.03% of its GDP, costing it $17m, but Iceland – with only 400,000 people, little industry and costs of just $3m – emerged as the cleanest country in the world overall.

Drawing on World Health Organisation data, the bank said that air pollution now kills 5.5m people a year prematurely, or one in 10 people worldwide. It is the fourth leading cause of premature deaths worldwide behind smoking, diet and obesity, and is known to lead to cancers and heart, lung and respiratory diseases. Air pollution is responsible for more than six times the number of deaths caused by malaria.

Without including the costs of treating illnesses linked to pollution, the bank calculated that in 2013 premature deaths alone cost the global economy about $225bn in lost work days. But the cost to the world economy rose to more than $5tn when welfare costs, which are based on what people were prepared to pay to avoid dying from air pollution, were calculated.

Even these figures may not reflect the full cost of air pollution, said the bank.“The figure could be very much more if it included health costs. We did not include the costs of [morbitity] illnesses caused by pollution,” said lead author Urvashi Narain, a senior environmental economist for the institution. “The scale of the problem is truly daunting. The poor are more likely to live in polluted areas and are less able to access healthcare.”

The report, entitled The Cost of Air Pollution: Strengthening the Economic Case for Action, stressed the toll on poor countries. “The health risk posed by air pollution is the greatest in developing countries,” said the authors. “In 2013 about 93% of deaths and non-fatal illnesses attributed to air pollution worldwide occurred in these countries, where 90% of the population was exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution.”

Outdoor air pollution was growing in many countries, said the report, reflecting the massive rise in car numbers. But it said billions of people in developing countries continue to depend on burning solid fuels such as wood, charcoal, coaland dung in their homes for cooking and heating.

“Air pollution is not just a health risk but also a drag on development. By causing illness and premature death, [it] reduces the quality of life. By causing a loss of productive labor, it also reduces incomes in these countries,” said the authors.

The study drew a link between economic development and air pollution. From 1990 to 2013, welfare losses nearly doubled and labour income losses increased by 40%, despite countries having made great gains in economic development and health outcomes.

In low-income countries, declining death rates were more than offset by population growth and greater total exposure to polluted air. “Ambient air pollution is becoming a greater challenge,” said the report. “Since the 1990s, exposure to [it] has grown in most countries with some of the greatest increases in the heavily populated, fastest-growing regions, including south Asia and east Asia and the Pacific.”

By 2013, about 87% of the world’s population was living in areas that exceeded safe levels recommended by the World Health Organisation, added the authors, who warned that the poorest were most affected. “Apart from the sheer magnitude of the costs, the disproportionate impacts on the poorest segments of the population make air pollution a threat to shared and inclusive prosperity. The poor are more likely to live and work in polluted environments, but they are less able to avoid exposure or self-protect,” said the report.

“In the US, research dating back to the 1970s has documented how toxic facilities and sources of air pollution have tended to be sited near poor minority communities.”

While pollution-related deaths mainly strike young children and the elderly, premature deaths also result in lost income for working-age men and women. The report found that annual work income losses cost the equivalent of almost 1% of GDP in south Asia. In east Asia and the Pacific, where the population is ageing, labour income losses represent 0.25% of GDP, while in sub-Saharan Africa, where air pollution impairs the earning potential of younger populations, such losses represent the equivalent of 0.61% of GDP.

When looking at fatalities across all age groups through the lens of “welfare losses” – an approach commonly used to evaluate the costs and benefits of environmental regulations in a given country context – the aggregate worldwide cost of premature deaths in 2013 was more than $5tn. In east and south Asia, welfare losses related to air pollution were the equivalent of about 7.5% of GDP.

“Air pollution is a challenge that threatens basic human welfare, damages natural and physical capital, and constrains economic growth,” said Laura Tuck, vice-president for sustainable development at the World Bank.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net