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Australia’s bushfires have pumped out half a year’s CO2 emissions.

Posted on by dishanth
Australia’s bushfires have pumped out half a year’s CO2 emissions.
  • Australian CO2 emissions have surged by 250 million tonnes as a result of bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland.
  • Vegetation vital for absorbing CO2 is being destroyed by the blazes.
  • Experts say climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of the fires.

The east coast of Australia is burning. And as bushfires rip through everything in their path, they are generating CO2 emissions that pose a long-term threat to the world.

NASA data, supplied to Guardian Australia, shows that since August fires in New South Wales and Queensland have increased Australia’s annual emissions by 250 million tonnes – that’s half the country’s total emissions in 2018.

Australia is in the grip of a severe heatwave, with forecasters predicting the country’s highest-ever temperature of 50.7°C could soon be exceeded.

 

Temperatures around Australia.
Image: Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology

 

So far, the fires have killed six people, destroyed hundreds of homes, and consumed 2.7 million hectares of countryside, wiping out plant life that is vital for absorbing future CO2 emissions. The cost of the damage has already reached $100 million.

 

Air quality

More than 2,000 firefighters have been tackling the bushfires but fire chiefs say a prolonged drought has made the task much harder.

 

Bushfire at Mount Tomah, New South Wales in December 2019.
Image: Reuters

 

Sydney has recorded air quality 22 worse than standard levels as bushfire smoke has created a smog that has caused respiratory problems for residents. Actor Sam Neill reported smelling the fires at 39,000 feet while his flight was still hundreds of miles from Sydney.

 

 

Bushfires are common in this region of Australia during the summer and autumn, but this year the blazes have arrived early and with unexpected ferocity. The country’s Bureau of Meteorology says climate change is influencing the frequency and severity of dangerous fires.

 

Smog caused by bushfires in the Blue Mountains envelops Sydney.
Image: REUTERS/Stephen Coates

 

The extreme weather has prompted renewed calls for climate action by the Australian government. In response to the crisis, New South Wales is reported to be planning new climate targets, reducing emissions by 35% by 2030, compared to a national target of a 26% cut.

 

Tackling climate change

Australia was ranked 43rd out of 115 nations in the World Economic Forum’s 2019 Energy Transition Index because of its heavy dependence on coal for electricity generation.

However, there are ambitious plans to harness the country’s abundant sunshine to generate renewable energy for export. Plans have been announced to build a huge solar farm, covering 15,000 hectares in the Northern Territory, to supply power to Singapore.

 

Burnt-out cars left behind by the Australian bushfires.
Image: Reuters/Darren Pateman

 

In the Pilbara region of Western Australia an even larger green energy project is under way. The Asian Renewable Energy Hub plans to use wind combined with solar to generate up to 15 gigawatts of electricity at what backers say will be the world’s biggest wind/solar hybrid site.

By greening its industries and becoming a major exporter of renewable energy, Australia would be able to reduce its carbon emissions which, including its coal, oil and gas exports, now account for 5% of the global total.

 

 

Written by

Douglas Broom, Senior Writer, Formative Content

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Coke, Nestlé and Pepsi top plastic polluter audit again as green groups slam recyclable packaging as ‘false solution’.

Posted on by dishanth
Coke, Nestlé and Pepsi top plastic polluter audit again as green groups slam recyclable packaging as ‘false solution’.

Food and beverage firms Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and PepsiCo are the world’s biggest plastic polluters, a study of litter found on beaches, streets, homes, and parks in 50 countries has revealed.

The same firms have topped the global plastic polluter audit, conducted by a collective of environmental groups running cleanup operations, for the second year in succession.

This is despite initiatives the multi-national consumer goods companies have launched to address the chronic plastic pollution problem they have contributed to.

Coca-Cola has launched recyclable bottles made entirely from renewable plant-based materials, aiming to use it in all its packaging by next year. Nestlé has a plan to make all of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, while Pepsi has pledged to develop bottles made from renewable resources.

 

Coke uses PlantBottle packaging, which are bottles made from plants, saves the equivalent annual emissions of more than 315,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide, Coke estimates.
Image: Coca-Cola

 

But these measures do not address the root of the problem – the overuse of plastic by consumer goods firms – and so have not affected their standing in the global litter audit, the campaigners noted.

“Commitments by corporations like Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and PepsiCo to address the crisis unfortunately continue to rely on false solutions like replacing plastic with paper or bioplastics and relying more heavily on a broken global recycling system,” said Abigail Aguilar, plastic campaign coordinator for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, the lead group for the Break Free From Plastic campaign, in a media briefing on Wednesday.

“We call them false solutions because they perpetuate the throwaway culture that caused the plastic pollution crisis, and will do nothing to prevent these brands from being named the top polluters again in the future.”

As part of Break Free From Plastic, a global movement of non-governmental organisations advocating against new plastic production, Greenpeace orchestrated 4,384 cleanups in over 50 countries from August 1 to September 30, picking up 476,423 pieces of plastic. Almost half of the plastic waste was marked with a clear consumer brand.

Other companies identified in the study included Mondelez International, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Philip Morris International and Perfetti van Melle.

 

The world’s top 10 biggest plastic polluters in 2019.
Image: Break Free From Plastic.

 

Von Hernandez, global coordinator of Break Free from Plastic, called on corporations to reduce their production of single-use plastic, instead of using recycling or recyclable packaging as a solution.

He cited a 2017 study that found that 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic trash have been produced since 1950, but only 9 per cent of it has been recycled globally.

“Even if all plastic packaging were collected to be recycled, it would only be down-cycled or transformed into another inferior product that inevitably becomes waste, ending up in incinerators and landfill, polluting our oceans,” Hernandez said.

“Over the next 30 years, the amount of plastic waste is set to quadruple,” he warned.

A call for ‘alternative delivery systems’

Environmentalists urged the consumer goods companies to invest in different ways to package their products that do not create pollution.

 

unilever hair refilling station

Unilever’s hair refilling station in a mall at the Makati Central Business District in the Philippines.
Image: Unilever

 

Unilever, which ranked as the fifth largest polluter in the audit, launched a shampoo and conditioner refilling station in three high-traffic malls in Metro Manila, Philippines in March.

The hair and skincare giant, which owns brands such as Dove, Sunsilk, and Lux, sells many of its products in single-use plastic sachets in developing countries like the Philippines and Indonesia to make its products more affordable.

While environmentalists lauded Unilever’s intiative, they said consumers in the lower income bracket who mostly use single-use sachets will not use the refilling stations.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but malls especially in the central business district are not that accessible to the common Filipino. In our dialogue with the companies, we told them that if they are to invest and introduce an alternative [to plastics], they need to position them where they are easily accesible, like in sari-sari (retail) stores or public markets,” Aguilar said.

“Solutions must be affordable, simple, convenient, durable, and non-toxic,” he said.

 

Source: www.eco-business.com