This week’s top two climate change news highlights are…
Both South Korea and Japan have pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Japan’s prime minister said doing so would no longer put a contraint on economic growth. Meanwhile,, Korea’s leader previously unveiled a 42.7 trillion won ($38 billion) plan, to boost low-carbon power sources and foster green industries.
It will be interesting to see what policies both countries put in place to meet these targets. Currently, no country yet has adequate policy in place, and both Japan and South Korea will face challenges reducing their reliance on coal-fired power generation.
Read more on Japan here and Korea here.
An international team of scientists have found evidence frozen methane deposits in the Arctic Ocean have started to be released.
They’ve stressed their findings are prelimminary but this is quite significant because methane over time has a warming effect 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide over 20 years but also because changes in the Aritic sea could eventually create a ‘tipping point’.
A tipping point is an event that once happens would release huge amounts of carbon into the atmousphere all at once and would very rapidly increase the speed of global warming. So it’s not a good thing.
Read more here
Also worth a read ‘American Politicians Who Vote Against Climate Get More Corporate Cash’
“For every dollar these corporations gave to one of the most climate-friendly members of Congress during this election cycle, they gave $1.84—nearly twice as much—to an ardent obstructionist of proactive climate policy.
This pattern of giving more to candidates who do less for the climate comes as polls show voters are more concerned about climate change than ever before, and it stands in contrast to the bold claims many of these companies make about themselves and their products.”
Not in the least bit surprising but still disappointing to learn that corporations are still trying to limit policymaking to tackle climate change.
Climate Change Site 