2016 Set to Break Global Temperature Records

The following post is based on the provisional statement for 2016 published by WMO to inform the UN Climate Change conference that took place in Marrakech, Morocco (COP22) in November 2016.

It is very likely that 2016 will be the hottest year on record, with global temperatures even higher than the record-breaking temperatures in 2015.

Long-term climate change indicators are also record breaking. Throughout the year, extreme weather led to considerable socio-economic losses in all regions of the world.

 

Highlights of 2016

Temperatures

Global temperatures for January to September 2016 were approximately 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels and 0.88°C (1.58°F) above the average for the 1961-1990 reference period.

Oceans

Temperatures were above normal over most ocean areas. This contributed to significant coral bleaching and disruption of marine ecosystems in some tropical waters, including the Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia, and Pacific island countries such as Fiji and Kiribati. Coral mortality of up to 50% was reported in parts of the Great Barrier Reef.

Global sea levels rose about 15 millimetres between November 2014 and February 2016 as a result of El Niño, well above the post-1993 trend of 3 to 3.5 mm per year, with the early 2016 values reaching new record highs. Since February, sea levels have remained fairly stable.

Greenhouse gas concentrations

Annual average global carbon dioxide concentrations in 2015 reached 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time. Initial observations indicate new records in 2016. At Cape Grim (Australia), CO₂ levels in August averaged 401.42 ppm, compared with 398.13 ppm in August 2015. At Mauna Loa (Hawaii), mean weekly concentrations of CO₂ as of 23 October were 402.07 ppm, compared with 398.50 ppm at the same time in 2015, whilst the May 2016 value of 407.7 ppm was the highest monthly value on record.

Ice and snow cover

Arctic sea ice extent was well below normal throughout the year. The seasonal minimum in September was 4.14 million square kilometres, the equal-second (with 2007) lowest extent on record after 2012. The winter maximum in March was the lowest on record. The autumn freeze-up has also been much slower than normal; the sea ice extent as of the end of October is the lowest on record for the time of year.

After several years of well-above-normal values, Antarctic sea ice extent fell to near normal by the start of 2016. It reached a seasonal maximum nearly a month earlier than usual. It was still well below normal as of the end of October.

Summer melting on the Greenland ice sheet was substantially above the 1990-2013 average, with especially strong melting in July, but was less than in the record melting year of 2012.

High-Impact events

• Hurricane Matthew in October, which hit Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas, and the US.
• Typhoon Lionrock, which caused destructive flooding and heavy casualties in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 
• Cyclone Winston, the most severe tropical on record to affect Fiji. 
• Yangtze basin in China had its most significant summer floods since 1999. 
• Flooding and landslides in Sri Lanka in mid-May left more than 200 people dead or missing, and displaced several hundred thousand. 
• Above-normal seasonal rainfall in the Sahel led to significant flooding in the Niger River basin. 
• There were also a number of major heatwaves, wildfires and droughts during 2016.

What is in store for us in 2017? Climate change impact could be even more severe. There is also uncertainty about global action on climate change, with the election of Donald Trump as the US President. He denies the very idea of climate change and so does Scott Pruitt, the new head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, appointed by Trump.

This post relates to Chapter 13 of the book.

Swachh Bharat versus Namami Gange

The following post is based on an article in the December 16-31 issue of the magazine Down To Earth.

Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, 30 million septic tanks and pits are to be constructed along the banks on the Ganga by the municipalities. These tanks and pits would produce 180 million litres of faecal sludge every day. Where will all the faecal sludge go? It will all be deposited, untreated, into the Ganga, offsetting any cleaning up of the river attempted by the big and prestigious project called Namami Gange.

25 per cent of the 400 million people living along the Ganga depend only on on-site sanitation. Even by 2011, there were 18 million septic tanks and 10 million pit latrines along the Ganga and the sludge from these sources is just released into the river. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will only increase this amount. In order to abolish open defecation by October 2, 2019, about 3 million toilets are to be built along the Ganga using four technologies – septic tank, twin pits, biotoilet or biodigester. They will produce 180 MLD of faecal sludge and septage. If this is not managed well, most of it will end up in the river.

Nether the Swachh Bharat Mission nor Namami Gange has any plans to treat faecal sludge. Under Namami Gange, sewage treatment plants will be established only in Class-1 cities (with populations of over 100,000 each).

Thus, the two major programmes – Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Namami Gange are working at cross purposes.

Implementing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change: COP 22 in Marrakech, Morocco

Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 21^st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) and the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1) were held in Marrakech, Morocco, from 7-18 November 2016.

According to UNFCCC, the Conference successfully demonstrated to the world that the implementation of the Paris Agreement is underway and the constructive spirit of multilateral cooperation on climate change continues.

Key Outcomes and Initiatives of COP 22

Rule Book:

A crucial outcome of the Marrakech climate conference was to move forward on writing the rule book, or operational manual, of the Paris Agreement. Countries pressed forward on this and set a fast track date of 2018 for completion

Multilateral Assessment:

At COP 22, seven developing countries presented updates and opened themselves to examination by their peers on how they are moving to a low-carbon economy.

Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency

During COP 22, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a multilateral funding arm, announced a Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency backed by 11 developed country donors providing $50 million-worth of funding.

Progress by Governments

Governments made progress across key areas of climate action, including climate finance, adaptation, capacity building, technology and gender-responsiveness. This is an overview:

Climate finance

• Countries pledged more than $81 million to the Adaptation Fund, surpassing its target for the year.
• Countries pledged over $23 million to the Climate Technology Centre and Network, which supports developing countries with climate technology development and transfer. As the implementation arm of the Technology Mechanism, the CTCN is a key institution to enable nations realize their commitments under the Paris Agreement.
• The Green Climate Fund (GCF) announced the approval of the first two proposals for the formulation of National Adaptation Plans: Liberia for $2.2 million and Nepal for $2.9 million. Another 20 countries are expected to have their proposals approved soon with up to $3 million each.
• Overall, the GCF is on track to approve $2.5 billion worth of projects.

Capacity Building

• In another show of accelerated climate action, countries operationalized the Paris Agreement’s Paris Committee on Capacity Building. It will help build capacity for climate action in developing countries. The members have been elected and the committee will take up its work in May 2017.

Technology

• During COP 22, governments learned that in 2016 over 30 projects for cutting emissions with technology transfer objectives were approved by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), with $188.7 million in GEF funding and $5.9 billion in co-financing.

Global Climate Action

Further impressive announcements were made by cities and sub-national governments to investors and business as part of the Global Climate Action (GCA). The Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action provides a strong roadmap for how the UNFCCC process will catalyse and support climate action by Parties and non-Party stakeholders in the period 2017 to 2020.

Corporate Climate Action

• The number of companies making climate commitments through the We Mean Business coalition has more than doubled since COP 21.

Energy

• At COP 22, the Indian company Dalmia Cement and Helvetia insurance group committed to use 100% renewable power across their operations and join RE100; the global, collaborative initiative with more than 80 of the world’s most influential companies.

Cities

• Cities, towns and regions are making big impacts in implementing their climate commitments by acting locally and partnering globally.

• A new assessment tool presented during the Resilience Showcase will allow standardized qualitative reporting of adaptation commitments to the Global Covenant of Mayors.

• The Energy Efficiency in Buildings Programme was launched, designed to unlock funds for the improvement of energy efficiency through better coordination, offering technical assistance and financing transformational projects.

Forests

• The Government of Indonesia announced it is implementing a moratorium on clearing super high-carbon, intact peatland. The action builds on Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s announcement at last year’s Forest Action Day in Paris, to end new and review existing peat concessions.

• Colombia has announced plans to close the forest frontier as a key component of a post-conflict future. Efforts include focusing development on non-forest lands, implementing strong tenure reform, and placing very large areas of forest under indigenous peoples’ control.

Water

• The Water for Africa initiative, established by the Kingdom of Morocco and supported by the African Development Bank was launched at COP 22, aiming to render justice to Africa through the adoption of a specific action plan that will mobilize different international political, financial and institutional partners.

Transport

• The Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) is supporting an additional 40 countries to realize the financial benefits and CO2 benefits of improved vehicle fuel economy.

Oceans

• COP 22 Ocean Action partners released the Strategic Action Roadmap on Oceans and Climate: 2016 to 2021, which provides a vision for action on oceans and climate in the next five years, addressing six oceans.

Agriculture

• Launch of the Global Framework on Water Scarcity supports countries to integrate climate change and sustainable water use into agricultural sectors policies and cross-sectoral dialogue.

• 130 mayors from cities across the world signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP), which calls for sustainable food systems that foster the accessibility of healthy food for urban citizens, biodiversity protection and food waste reduction. ​

 

The new era of implementation and action for climate and for sustainable development was captured in the Marrakech Action Proclamation, issues at the end of COP 22. The next conference, COP 23, will be held in Bonn, Germany, in November 2017.

This post relates to Chapter 13 of the book and the content has been derived from www.unfccc.int.