Ibstock, a leading UK manufacturer of clay bricks and concrete products, has confirmed a major investment in a new pathfinder project designed to put it on track to deliver the world’s first net zero emission brick factory.A combination of rapidly reduced process emissions and greater thermal efficiency is expected to cut the carbon intensity of bricks produced at the Ibstock Atlas site in the West Midlands by 50 per cent. The efficiency improvements are to be coupled with on-site renewable electricity generation and renewable energy procurement, while the remaining emissions will be offset through investment emission reduction projects.
As such, the company said it expects the Atlas project to deliver net zero emissions for its direct Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
The investment, which was announced at the Group’s AGM Trading Update on Earth Day last Thursday, marks the next stage of the company’s well-documented sustainability journey.
The Atlas re-development will receive part of a £60m fund, which will also support substantial wider investments in the company’s West Midlands Aldridge plant.
“The Net Zero journey is one we share with our customers,” said Ibstock chief executive Joe Hudson.
“We have seen a transformational shift in attitudes from all of our key stakeholders; and there is a ‘sea-change’ in how our customers, and, in turn, their customers, view environmental issues. As the UK’s leading brick manufacturer we recognise that we have to adapt and respond – and this is reflected in our Sustainability Roadmap to 2025.
“We have been leading the way for some time within our sector, with our investments in new production capacity at our Throckley, Chesteron, Eclipse and Lodge Lane plants all reducing the carbon intensity of the manufacturing process, and as the recipients of multiple sustainability awards. However, we can do more, and we can go further. Our plan to invest in Atlas is at the heart of this.”
The company’s goal is to establish the Atlas project as one of the most operationally efficient brick factories in the world and an exemplar for the industry in terms of environmental performance.
Ibstock intends to markedly increase brick production to meet demand for greener bricks and support government objective’s to deliver new homes and infrastructure at scale. Once the development is complete, the Atlas factory will produce more than 100 million bricks per annum, more than doubling its previous capacity.
The company said the investment will also bring crucial benefits to the local economy in terms of employment, training, and opportunities for local suppliers with the project expected to both support the future of the brick factory and create highly-skilled local manufacturing and engineering jobs.
South Australia’s high uptake of renewables has led to another national energy milestone, with record low daytime wholesale prices in the first three months of the year.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has released its latest quarterly report, which also found that negative spot prices reduced South Australia’s average quarterly price by $10 per megawatt-hour.
For the first time, the average cost of power per megawatt-hour during the 10:00am–3:30pm off-peak was regularly into negative territory in South Australia, at negative $12.
Wholesale prices reflect the price of power paid by electricity retailers to generators, and eventually have an impact on household bills.
“National Energy Market (NEM) quarterly average wholesale electricity prices fell sharply compared to recent first quarters,” the report stated.
Key points:
Daytime wholesale prices were consistently in negative territory in SA
That was driven by renewable energy, but gas generators were needed to help stabilise the grid
Wholesale prices across the country dropped in the March quarter
“This represents the first quarter – anywhere in the NEM – when the daytime average has fallen below zero on a consistent basis.”
Wholesale prices across the country fell, helped by a milder summer and increasing amounts of renewable energy generation.
South Australia’s energy mix includes significant generation from rooftop solar.
Despite prolonged periods of negative spot prices in Victoria, there was less trickle-through impact on average quarterly prices in that state.
According to AEMO, the biggest drivers of negative prices were high output from renewables and low daytime demand.
The reduction in South Australia’s wholesale prices came despite a small fire at the Torrens Island power station in March which caused a brief but significant surge in trading prices.
There was a fire at the Torrens Island power station in March.(ABC News)
The fire limited energy export capacity and contributed $14 per megawatt-hour to the quarterly average of $41.
“This sudden drop in gas-powered generation (GPG) output and availability, coupled with restricted transfers on the Heywood Interconnector, as well as low wind and solar output, contributed to the trading price spiking above $5,000/MWh for three hours,” the report said.
With the output of the Barket Inlet and Torrens Island power stations reduced as a result of the fire on March 12, batteries stepped in to dispatch power.
South Australia has been at the forefront of solar uptake, but the growth of renewable energy sources in South Australia has placed pressure on gas-powered generators to stabilise the grid.
“Persistently low electricity prices below their cost of generation required AEMO to direct South Australian gas-powered generations on for system security for a record 70 per cent of the quarter,” chief markets officer Violette Mouchaileh said.
Violette Mouchaileh says gas generators have had to stabilise the system. (AEMO)
Big generators are compensated when the cost of generation is greater than the price being offered by the market.
On Tuesday, the Australian Energy Regulator slashed the Default Market Offer (DMO) for customers in states, including South Australia.
The DMO is “the maximum price an electricity retailer can charge a standing offer customer each year” and is intended to protect consumers from price gouging.
In South Australia, the DMO will be cut by $116 for the upcoming financial year.
The palm oil certifier, which is soon to unveil a new five-year strategy, has experienced a number of staff changes.
Dan Strechay, the global director of outreach and engagement for the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the palm oil industry’s largest eco certifier, has switched to consumer goods giant Mars.
Strechay moves on after close to five years with the Kuala Lumpur-headquartered organisation to take on a role as director of sustainability communications and engagement at the maker of M&M’s, Snickers, and the Mars bar, based in the United States.
Also leaving RSPO is head of human resources Shailaja Sharma at a period of transition for the organisation. Fay Richards is currently acting head of marketing and communications, based in London, while Preethi Jain is Asia Pacific head of outreach and engagement, based in India. Sara Cowling, global head of communications, is on maternity leave.
The RSPO logo on Cabbage brand vegetable oil in NTUC Fairprice supermarket in Singapore. Image: Robin Hicks/Eco-Business
Beverley Postma was appointed chief executive of RSPO a year ago, replacing outgoing CEO Darrel Webber. Postma, who will soon to unveil a new five-year strategy for the certifier, is still based in Singapore ahead of a move to KL.
RSPO said that while it has experienced staff changes in the past few months, the organisation is expanding personnel in the region, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. “We are confident in our five-year strategy which details ambitious milestones and how we will achieve them,” a spokesperson said.
In 2018, RSPO unveiled new standards that ruled out deforestation and growing on peat for its members. A report by Greenpeace last month found that while RSPO had strong standards and a solid approach to stakeholder engagement and transparency, implementation was an issue. RSPO emerged as the strongest of the certification bodies in the study.
The risks that climate change poses to companies are now undeniable. Company directors are expected to factor these risks in their business activities and decisions, or may be personally responsible, a new legal opinion warns.
Singapore corporate directors are required to consider climate change risks as part of their duties to act in the best interests of the company, and failure to do so can result in legal action for their companies and themselves personally.
As climate change poses both physical and transitional risks to companies, directors should understand the activities of their companies that may impact, or be impacted by climate change and take necessary action to ensure that these issues are addressed.
These are the main findings of a new legal opinion by a team of independent legal counsel, titled Directors’ Responsibilities and Climate Change under Singapore Law. A legal opinion is an opinion from lawyers issued in letter form expressing legal conclusions on a matter.
“Given the seriousness and public concern over climate change, directors of Singapore companies must be aware that they will incur criminal and civil liabilities if they do not inform themselves on how their companies impact or are impacted by climate change and factor these into their decisions as directors,” said Jeffrey Chan, senior director of TSMP Law Corporation and lead author of the opinion.
Commissioned by the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI), the main aim of the legal opinion is to examine the legal basis for directors and trustees to take account of climate change risks, and societal responses to climate change risks.
The background to the new legal opinion is the landmark Hutley opinion written in 2016, which discusses how Australian law requires company directors to consider, disclose and respond to climate change.
The Hutley opinion rose to significance as it shifted the Australian company directors’ understanding of climate change as a financial risk issue rather than just an environmental issue. It was subsequently endorsed by the Australian monetary authority, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.
Ernest Lim, associate professor of NUS Law and co-author of the opinion explained: “As the impacts of climate change on Singapore become more visible, and legislative and regulatory responses strengthen, this affects the standards of conduct directors must meet to fulfil their duties.”
“Just last year the Monetary Authority of Singapore issued environmental risk management guidelines, setting out their expectations that directors and senior management of financial institutions should maintain oversight of environmental risk management and be assigned specific responsibilities in this regard. The legal opinion draws on these and other developments to find that climate issues are within directors’ responsibilities,” Lim added.
As the governance of a company, directors must ensure that their companies comply with all regulatory prescriptions relating to climate change. At the minimum, they should disclose the risks that climate change poses to the business of their companies, as required by the Singapore Stock Exchange Listing Rules.
Directors of Singapore companies must also be prepared for the possibility that they may be taken to court to compel them to take action to ensure that the business activities of their companies do not contribute to climate change, or if such activities are in progress, to terminate such activities.
Transitional business models are an imperative
Apart from legal action, companies that do not have a transitional business model to achieve net zero by 2050 risk stranded assets and erosion of shareholder value, warned Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, executive director and chief executive of Temasek International at the launch event of the legal opinion.
“If you don’t start today, you might find that your business model may no longer be relevant in the context of what a greener world may expect from companies,” he said.
Citing the example of the carbon pricing needed to limit global warming aligned with the Paris Agreement, he said that companies that do not factor in the possible increase in carbon tax will be greatly impacted down the road.
Although Singapore announced a carbon tax for this decade of S$5 to S$15 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions, the government has said that they are going to reassess the carbon pricing.
“To achieve a 2 degree-world or even a 1.5-degree world, you need to have carbon pricing of between US$40-80 as of now, and then US$50-100 by 2030, assuming that you can half carbon emissions by then,” Pillay said.
“So if you’re not changing your business model to cater to a potential carbon pricing of that magnitude, you are going to see an erosion of value of your company. That could have serious implications across the different stakeholders that you’re engaged with,” he said.
In addition, nine out of 10 of the asset managers in the world have decided to put in place environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks to measure the performance of each company.
“Climate change risks are going to factor into the asset managers’ decisions about whether to invest in a company or not. If you’re not thinking about it, you might find that capital markets will punish you down the road,” he said.
“It’s very difficult for boards to consider all the risks that they face. But if you can get through the Covid-19 situation, you still have climate risk as the biggest existential problem with your business model. So directors have to come up with proper transition plans,” he warned.
An all-new eco smart city is now coming up in Singapore. Also known as a forest town, this new place is going to be nature’s true haven. The new city is aimed at improving the health and well-being of residents, paving the way for a better future.
The eco-city is going to be car-free, and its construction is taking place in Tengah, in the West Region. It is going to have five residential districts with 42000 homes, and help to reduce carbon emissions in the city. The forest town, as it is being often referred to used to be a military hub, with brick making factories all around. All that’s going to change when the new smart city is going to be built. In its new avatar, the forest town is going to be an example of good and clean living.
The car-free smart city is going to have safe zones for pedestrians, and also for cycling. The forest town without cars is going to be free from traffic, and as you can imagine, much of the day-time traffic stress is not going to be there. It is a sure way to develop wellness for the citizens, while keeping sustainability in mind.
Source: CNN
The five districts of Tengah are going to be Park, Garden, Forest Hill, Plantation, and Brickland. Even though the city is car-free, residents from here will be able to travel in buses in order to go into town. Tengah will also be connected with a water catchment area, and a nature reserve. Surely, it is going to be a one-of-a-kind place where you can breathe easy, and experience wellness like never before.
Of the 42,000 homes being built at Tengah, more than 70% will be made available through the HDB on long-term leases. Prices for two-bedroom apartments currently begin at just 108,000 Singapore dollars ($82,000), with the first apartments set to complete in 2023.
Source: Courtesy The Housing & Development Board
All residents will have access to an app allowing them to monitor their energy and water usage. (“You empower them to take control of where they can cut down their energy consumption,” Chong said.) Digital displays in each block will meanwhile inform occupants of their collective environmental impact, which could even encourage competition between residential blocks, according to SP Group.
Regardless of whether the use of smart technology can significantly dent greenhouse gas emissions or not, engaging residents with their own consumption could instigate behavioral change, according to Perrine Hamel, an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University’s Asian School of the Environment. This, she added, is a crucial part of Singapore’s goal of reaching peak emissions by 2030 and reducing them thereafter.
“Thinking about food consumption and thinking about the way people use air conditioning is all part of (achieving climate targets),” she said. “Changing behavior is going to be an integral part of it and, of course, urban design is the first way to affect and change behavior.”
Beyond promoting and protecting biodiversity, conserving nature on the site can lead to further behavioral change, Hamel said.
XPRIZE, the global leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grand challenges, today announced the official launch of $100 Million XPRIZE Carbon Removal with the opening of team registration and the release of the competition guidelines. The announcement comes shortly after Peter H. Diamandis, XPRIZE founder and executive chairman, and Elon Musk sat down for a live stream hosted on Twitter to discuss the importance of spurring carbon removal solutions, the climate crisis, and the launch of the largest incentive prize in history. The conversation was followed by a virtual question and answer hosted by Marcius Extavour, vice president of climate and environment at XPRIZE, and XPRIZE’s chief impact officer, Zenia Tata.
Funded by the Musk Foundation, $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal is aimed at tackling climate change by asking global innovators to develop solutions that can pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans and lock it away permanently in an environmentally benign method.
Calling all early stage startups for the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal! https://t.co/SJEygzf4Eg
The climate math is becoming clear that we will need gigaton-scale carbon removal in the coming decades to avoid the worst effects of climate change. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates the need at approximately 10 gigatonnes per year of net CO2 removal by 2050. As governments, companies, investors, and entrepreneurs make plans to meet this challenge, it is clear that we will need a range of solutions to be proven through demonstration and deployment to complement work that is already underway.
This four-year global competition invites innovators and teams from anywhere on the planet to create and demonstrate solutions that can pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans. To win the grand prize, teams must demonstrate a working solution at a scale of at least 1000 tonnes removed per year; model their costs at a scale of 1 million tonnes per year; and show a pathway to achieving a scale of gigatonnes per year in future. All demonstrations must be validated by a third party. In the first of two competition phases, teams must demonstrate the key component of their carbon removal solutions at smaller scale, not the full operating solution. Fully operational solutions are required to win. Any carbon negative solution is eligible: nature-based, direct air capture, oceans, mineralization, or anything else that achieves net negative emissions, sequesters CO2 durably, and shows a sustainable path to ultimately achieving gigatonne scale.
“The goal of this CO2 Removal XPRIZE is to turn ideas into demonstration, and turn powerpoint solutions into hardware,” said Peter H. Diamandis, founder and executive chairman of XPRIZE.
“By launching the largest prize competition in history, our hope is to focus the brainpower of engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs around the world to build solutions that actually work, at low-cost and at massive scale. We know that our incentive prize competition models deliver huge philanthropic leverage. Typically driving 10x to 40x the prize purse spent by all the teams to achieve the goal. XPRIZE pays for demonstrated solutions versus ideas. So, we’re excited to see that same level of impact with this challenge. Many thanks to Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation.”
Throughout the competition, $100 million in prize purses will be distributed in the following manner:
Teams can enter the competition at any stage. XPRIZE is looking for the best solutions, whether they competed in earlier rounds or not. After 1 year of competition the judges will review the progress of competitors at that time and award up to 15 Milestone Prizes of $1 million each.
XPRIZE will also award up to US$5M to student teams in the Fall of 2021. These awards may fund participation in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal or the development of key supportive technologies.
In 2024, after developing their solutions, teams are invited to apply to be considered as Finalists, and be visited by XPRIZE to validate their solution’s performance in person. In 2025 after 4 years, judges will select the winners:
US$50 million paid to the single Grand Prize Winner US$30 million to be distributed among up to 3 runners up
“It should be clear to everyone in 2021 that climate change poses an existential threat, and that our CO2 emissions are a leading cause,” said Marcius Extavour, vice president of climate and environment at XPRIZE. “Even as we race to get to net zero, the climate math tells us that we must also accelerate the development and deployment solutions that can be carbon negative. That’s what this prize is all about.”
‘’It’s not too late to create a better future, but doing that will take a group effort and companies facilitating the development of bold innovations. We’re looking forward to seeing what teams develop over the next four years and witnessing how their creations have a first hand impact on mitigating the climate crisis. Starting now.’’
For more information on XPRIZE Carbon Removal, to view the prize guidelines or to register, please visit xprize.org/carbonremoval.
About XPRIZE
XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the global leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest challenges. Active competitions include the $20 Million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, the $10 Million Rainforest XPRIZE, the $10 Million ANA Avatar XPRIZE, the $5 Million IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling, $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing, and $500K Pandemic Response Challenge.
The Musk Foundation creates grants are made in support of: renewable energy research and advocacy; human space exploration research and advocacy; pediatric research; science and engineering education; and development of safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity.
The industrial revolution brought many advances, including improved living standards, for many (but not all) people around the globe. But it has also led to environmental degradation, and is responsible in part for the climate crisis we now find ourselves living in.
One potential contributor to solving this environmental crisis is the use of open environmental data, available to all, that can be analysed and used in ways that maximise sustainability. The only problem is that there are not, at present, global environmental open data resources – although many jurisdictions do have open data projects focused on the natural and built environments.
Open data and big data – the opportunities and challenges
Open data is just as it sounds: data sets collected by agencies that are made freely available to anyone that wants to use them. The Australian government has its own open data program available at data.gov.au. Data.gov.au has collected open data from all levels of government and all types of data. From an environment standpoint it covers everything from tree planting to garbage bin locations, collection schedules and contents.
It’s true this open data project doesn’t sound particularly sexy. But it’s the possibilities that this vast data resource opens up that are the most interesting aspects of the program. Suddenly, there’s information available about what’s happening in the local environment, all available in a format that is easily digestible by common data analytics programs.
The use cases for open data
Where governments can use open data is in developing policies designed to ensure better environmental regulation.
The potential for data collection is also limitless. It’s not just restricted to satellite data but is also open to everything from home weather stations, citizen activist activities like counting bird populations or tracking the growth of bush and forests, through to advanced “internet of things” sensors.
These IoT devices can capture just about any sort of data imaginable. Want to know how much sunlight fell on a particular field over a certain period of time? An IoT sensor can tell you.
This latest sensor technology offers real-time reporting of environmental data. And that data can be used to create open databases available for anyone to use.
Organisations can also use open data, and the IoT to track their own sustainability efforts. Miners, for example, can understand how much CO2 their operations are creating, and then use that data to create carbon offsets in a bid to meet net zero emissions – as many Australian organisations, including mining giants like BHP, have committed to.
A critical part of the open data movement, however, is the analytics associated with finding insights and answers about our environment.
The importance of analytics
Analytics works in two ways. First, it can derive insights into what has happened and why. But more importantly, it can also provide insights into what will happen, when it will happen, and what are the contributing factors for that particular outcome.
Business and government needs to use this open data, and analytics, to create new models around sustainability. That’s because until recently, the environment was treated as an externality – that is, something to be used (and abused) but which wasn’t factored into calculations about the bottom line.
With the shift towards sustainability, more and more companies are taking environmental inputs and outcomes into their ledger books, and calculating profit based on their environmental performance. These calculations are all powered by data, and the insights from advanced analytics.
Without data and analytics, we’re going to repeat the mistakes of the past when it comes to environmental issues. The tragedy of the commons is real, but by using open data sets, we can map a future where business, government and the environment are moving forward for the betterment of the earth – and humanity.
The UK government is to set in law the world’s most ambitious climate change target, cutting emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.
And, as reported by Sky News earlier, the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget will incorporate, for the first time, the country’s share of international aviation and shipping emissions.
It will mean an increase in ambition on the international pledge made by the UK government last December to reduce emissions by 68% by 2030.
In line with the recommendation from the independent Climate Change Committee, this Sixth Carbon Budget limits the volume of greenhouse gases emitted over a five-year period from 2033-2037, taking the UK more than three-quarters of the way to reaching net zero by 2050.
This will ensure Britain remains on track to end its contribution to climate change while remaining consistent with the Paris Agreement temperature goal to limit global warming to well below 2°C and pursue efforts towards 1.5°C.
The Paris Climate Agreement commits signatory countries to help limit global warming to well below 2°C, ideally to 1.5°C
The new target will become enshrined in law by the end of June, with legislation setting out the UK government’s commitments laid in Parliament on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the bold move was because he wanted to “continue to raise the bar on tackling climate change” hence “the most ambitious target to cut emissions in the world”.
A hundred and one Nobel laureates, including the Dalai Lama, are calling for governments around the world to sign up to a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to help tackle the climate crisis.
In an open letter to world leaders published on Wednesday former presidents, scientists, novelists and religious leaders are urging governments to commit to a rapid and just transition away from fossil fuels, and a “transformational plan” to ensure everyone around the world has access to renewable energy.
“Climate change is threatening hundreds of millions of lives, livelihoods across every continent and is putting thousands of species at risk,” they state. “The burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil, and gas – is by far the major contributor.”
The signatories are experts in the fields of peace, human rights, security, economics, literature and the natural sciences and say they “are seized by the great moral issue of our time: the climate crisis and commensurate destruction of nature”.
“The solution is clear,” the letter adds. “Fossil fuels must be kept in the ground. Leaders, not industry, hold the power and have the moral responsibility to take bold actions to address this crisis.”
The letter, which comes before a key international climate conference to be held in Glasgow this year, calls on world leaders end any new expansion of oil gas and coal production, phase out existing fossil fuel extraction in “fair and equitable” way and to invest in a “transformational plan” to ensure 100% access to renewable energy globally.
The call is backed by environmental campaign groups and think tanks from around the world. In a letter of support being sent to political leaders they write that the demands from the Nobel prize winners “echoes the call of billions of people across the world for fast and fair action on the climate crisis”.
The idea of a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty was first raised by Andrew Simms from the New Weather Institute and Peter Newell of Sussex University in the Guardian in 2018
Simms said: “That so many Nobel prize winners from the fields of chemistry, physics, medicine and peace publicly support its principles for the fossil fuel treaty shows it’s an idea whose time has come.
“The proposal makes meeting climate targets easier by drawing a line in the sand of further fossil fuel exploration and production, rapidly advances renewable energy alternatives, and does so with equitable global mechanisms to ensure fairness.”
The US will attempt to re-assert its global leadership on climate change as President Joe Biden hosts 40 leaders at a virtual summit in the White House.
It’s expected that the US will unveil an updated carbon pledge that will see their emissions nearly halved by 2030.
Ahead of the meeting, officials urged greater ambition on countries perceived as laggards on climate.
Referring to Australia, an official said “there would have to be a shift” in their approach.
President Biden has made climate change a key focus in the early days of his administration.
As well as re-joining the Paris climate agreement on his first day in office, he announced early on that he would gather around 40 world leaders for a global summit on Earth Day – 22 April.
President Biden rejoined the Paris agreement on his first day in office and pledged to hold a leaders summit shortly after Image Jim Watson
Among those attending will be China’s President Xi Jinping.
Despite serious tensions between the two countries on a host of issues, both sides seem keen to keep climate change separate from these disputes. Last weekend, the two countries issued a joint statement saying they would tackle climate “with the seriousness and urgency it demands”.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, a senior Biden administration official spoke warmly about the potential for co-operation.
“It’s quite clear that there is a distinctly shared level of ambition. Both countries see this as a crisis. Both countries see the need for action in the 2020s. Both countries see the need to work towards holding the increase in global temperatures to 1.5C,” he said.
“We certainly hope that President Xi will come to the meeting, and further elaborate on some of the additional efforts that China would choose to make. But I think we’ve got a very strong basis in the joint statement that the two countries made about the directions they seem to be moving.”
Protestors outside the White House hold cardboard cut outs of the leaders due to meet Source Reuters
But for other countries who have been slow to embrace action on climate change, the Biden team were less effusive.
Both Brazil and Australia’s sceptical approach to the issue had found favour in the Trump White House. That’s no longer the case.
“At the moment, I think that our colleagues in Australia recognise that there’s going to have to be a shift,” one official said.
“It’s insufficient to follow the existing trajectory, and hope that they will be on a course to deep decarbonisation, and getting to net zero emissions by mid-century.”
Speaking about Brazil, the same official said: “The expectation for all countries is that the ambition has to be increased immediately.”
But while the US is talking strongly about ambition, the proof of change for many observers will be in their new carbon-cutting pledge for 2030 they are expected to announce at the summit.
Despite some earlier uncertainty, China President Xi Jinping will address the US summit
This will require some clever footwork from the US. They will have to go for a figure that is scientifically credible but also politically achievable.
While the Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives, the Senate is essentially deadlocked, making the passage of new climate legislation rather tricky.
“It seems to me that President Biden is in a bit of a bind, and he has to deal with the Congress that he has,” said Samantha Gross from the Brookings Institution.
“But I believe that Congress, particularly the Republicans, haven’t really kept up with increasing concern among the American public about climate.”
For some in the international community, even the mooted 50% cut in emissions won’t be going far enough.
A coal train snakes through the landscape in the US – predictions are that coal use will increase this year as the economy recovers from the pandemic Source Getty Images
“The US should cut at least 55% from 2005 levels by 2030 to inspire others to raise their ambitions,” said Quamrul Chowdhury, from Bangladesh and a climate negotiator for the Least Developed countries group.
“Mitigation is the best adaptation and major economies must cutback emissions quickly and steeply.”
The US pledge will undoubtedly be the headline, whatever its size – but there are also expected to be new steps announced by a number of countries.
“The three that I think are most likely beside the US to step up at this summit are Canada, Japan and South Korea,” said Helen Mountford from the World Resources Institute (WRI).
Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison has been criticised for slow action on climate Source Tracy Nearmy
“China… would be fantastic, but I think [we[ quite likely might wait longer, I wouldn’t expect it at this time.”
She added: “India is a real question mark, but whether they’re going to announce either a net zero target or enhanced plan, I would say there’s less of a chance of that.”
For those who were involved in the negotiations that led to the Paris agreement in 2015, the key thing this week is not to derail the discussions at the first hurdle.
This is the first big climate meeting of a critical year that will culminate in a gathering of around 200 world leaders in Glasgow in November at COP26.
“I think that for the US leaders summit to be a success, we need to have the 40 leaders present and expressing their willingness to reach strong agreement by Glasgow,” said Remy Rioux, who was a negotiator for France during the Paris talks.
“And also for the US to demonstrate that they are back, and that they are back as convincingly and strongly as possible.”
