THE CARBON WAR

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The Winning of The Carbon War
Economist Intelligence Unit makes the point. Even if warming holds at two
degrees, investors could lose $4.2 trillion due to climate change impacts.
The preparations for the Paris climate summit continue to look cautiously
promising, offering hope that the endless grind of short-termist money-centricity
might change thereafter, if a strong enough signal can be sent. The French
government is shaping to lead from the front. It has passed a sweeping energy
bill cutting fossil fuel consumption 30% by 2030, boosting renewables, raising
a €100 per tonne domestic carbon tax, and more. In a speech at a “Summit
of Conscience for the Climate” in Paris, President Hollande says that 80% of
fossil fuels must remain in the ground. Clearly, Carbon Tracker CEO Anthony
Hobley’s briefing in the Elysée Palace found fertile ground.
A Paris deal might be taking shape. The co-chairs of the negotiations have
edited the 88 page treaty draft agreed in Bonn draft down to 19. This document
is now being mulled over by governments.
Much will depend on President Obama holding the line. Fifteen states
have now lined up in opposition to his climate plan. But attorneys general
for 15 others states have issued a statement supporting the Environmental
Protection Agency’s rules to cut emissions, saying they would oppose legal
efforts to block them.
American firefighters, meanwhile, struggle to contain the largest ever
US wildfire, in Idaho. Spanning more than a quarter of a billion acres, the
fire has been fed by drought. It should be so clear to the fossil fuel diehards
and their political support-base that this is the kind of thing that awaits us in
spades, should they win the carbon war. It is clear enough to young climate
campaigners around the world. Activists descend on RWE’s German lignite
mines. 1,500 march under the banner Ende Gelände: “here and no further”,
putting their bodies on the line to stop the giant digging machines. Says one,
to a camera, but speaking to governments: “if you are not going to solve it for
us, we are going to solve it for you.”
Australia maintains its shocking record, setting an emissions reduction
target by 2030 that leaves the nation trailing most other developed countries
in efforts to combat climate change. Meanwhile, a giant coal mine planned at
Carmichael looks like ending up stranded. Indian coal imports will drop to zero
by 2021, a new analysis shows, as renewables and grid upgrades progress. The
Australian coal won’t be needed. Investors will have poured billions uselessly
into a hole in the ground, never mind about climate change.
Standard Chartered sees the danger and abandons the mine.