The Environment Chronicle

On 6 November 2015, US President Barack Obama rejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Nebraska. " Several years ago, the State Department began a review process for the proposed construction of a pipeline that would carry Canadian crude oil through our heartland to ports in the Gulf of Mexico and out into the world market. This morning, Secretary Kerry informed me that, after extensive public outreach and consultation with other Cabinet agencies, the State Department has decided that the Keystone XL Pipeline would not serve the national interest of the United States. I agree with that decision."

On 4 November 2015 the City of Münster became the first German city to ban its pension fund from investing in coal, oil, and gas companies, in the latest victory for the growing global divestment campaign.

The New York attorney general has begun an investigation of Exxon Mobil to determine whether the company lied to the public about the risks of climate change or to investors about how such risks might hurt the oil business. On 4 November 2015, Exxon Mobil received a subpoena from the office of the attorney general of New York, Eric Schneiderman, seeking financial records, emails and other documents. The goal is to examine whether back in the 1970s, Exxon Mobil funded groups to undermine scientific studies involving climate change. Also, the attorney general is investigating whether the oil giant properly informed its investors of the profit risks that might arise as countries cut back on fossil fuels.

On 3 November 2015, the government of the Russian Federation signed decree 'On the creation of Bikin National Park”. More than 1,16 million hectares of forests in the Bikin River in Primorsky province will be protected. The newly created Park is the traditional land of Udege people and home for the Amur tiger. “The forests of the Bikin River, often referred to as “the Russian Amazon' constitute the biggest area of intact mixed forests in the Northern Hemisphere. These forests are home for 10% of the Amur tiger population. The creation of the Bikin National Park practically marks the completion of establishing the protected areas network necessary for the adequate protection of Amur tigers. The newly designated park also takes in the account the interests of the Indigenous people living in the region, - said Yury Darman, PhD., director of the Amur Branch, WWF-Russia, the distinguished ecologist of the Russian Federation. - It is a very vast forested territory, located in the Western slope of the Sihote-Alin Mountain Range, the only big basin with intact forests where no logging was ever done. Therefore, these forests look exactly like the Ussury taiga prior to the mid of 19th century.” Leading international experts confirmed an outstanding global value of the Bikin River Basin. In 2010, this forest massif was included into the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List.

On 30 October 2015, German State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth (German Environment Ministry) and UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres presented the synthesis report on the aggregate effect of intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs). INDCs are national climate action plans which have been submitted by governments ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (30 November to 11 December). As at 1 October 2015, 119 INDCs had been received, covering 147 Parties to the Convention, and representing 75 per cent of Parties and 86 per cent of global emissions in 2010. A total of 100 Parties included an adaptation component in their INDCs. According to the report, the mitigation measures being taken are almost four times the level of those taken under Kyoto Protocol in 1997. However, these commitments are still not enough to limit global warming to 2 degrees until the end of this century.

EU Commission plans for more ambitious national caps on emissions of six key pollutants, including NOx, particulates and sulphur dioxide, were endorsed by Parliament on 28 October 2015. Air pollution causes about 400,000 premature deaths in the EU yearly, and the plans could save up to €40bn in air pollution costs by 2030. MEPs approved the proposed caps for sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), methane (CH4) ammonia (NH3), and fine particulates (PM, less than 2.5 micrometers), to be achieved by 2020 and 2030, as proposed by the Commission. MEPs want the future national emission ceiling (NEC) directive to contribute to the reduction of mercury emissions in the Union, but an impact assessment should be carried out before national emission reduction commitments are determined.

Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21), Cardinal Marx, the President of COMECE, has signed the following appeal issued by Cardinals, Patriarchs and Bishops from across the globe representing the continental groupings of national episcopal conferences. This appeal calls on the negotiators of the COP21 in Paris to work toward the approval of a fair, binding and truly transformational climate agreement.

On 26 October 2015, an alliance of nine European environment ministers of Germany, Croatia, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Spain wrote to EU Commissioner Karmenu Vella to warn him not to dismantle nature protection laws.

On 23 October 2015, at the climate negotiations in Bonn, countries agreed on the negotiating text for the climate summit in Paris (30 November to 11 December 2015). The draft text of the agreement enjoys full ownership by the governments of the world and represents a balanced text that will constitute the starting point for the final round of negotiations. UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said that the draft text includes additional options that reflect the concerns of all countries. “We now have a Party-owned text that is balanced and complete. The challenge for governments is to bring it down to a much more concise and coherent form for adoption in Paris.”

Tackling illegal logging is crucial for controlling climate change by reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere. As a way of helping the environment protecting trees is hard to beat. The innovative Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT)launched by the Commission in 2003 was therefore a welcome initiative. However, twelve years later the results overall are meagre, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors, published on 22 October 2015. Four countries have not yet fully implemented the EU Timber Regulation, which was introduced to prevent illegal timber entering the EU market. As the chain of control is only as strong as its weakest link in the single market, illegal timber could still be imported into the EU via these four countries. The EU Auditors examined the effectiveness of the main aspects of the EU Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade. Under the Action Plan, 300 million euro was allocated to 35 countries between 2003 and 2013. Two countries, Indonesia and Ghana, made good strides towards full licensing for their timber. But in general, progress has been very slow and many countries have struggled to overcome the barriers to good governance. In the twelve years since the Commission introduced the Action Plan, no partner country has obtained fully-approved (FLEGT) licensing.

On 21 October 2015 the Federal Cabinet adopted the Environmental Report 2015.

Plastic waste finds its way into the ocean, and from there to the farthest reaches of the planet – even as far as the Arctic. This was confirmed in one of the first litter surveys conducted north of the Arctic Circle, carried out by an international research team from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and Belgium’s Laboratory for Polar Ecology. The researchers presented their results in an article released on 21 October on the online portal of the journal Polar Biology. In order to gauge the level of pollution, the researchers took advantage of an expedition that brought the research icebreaker Polarstern to the Fram Strait, the area between East Greenland and Svalbard. In July 2012, AWI biologist Dr Melanie Bergmann and her team searched for litter floating on the sea surface from the ship’s bridge and by helicopter, maintaining a “litter watch” for a combined distance of 5,600 kilometres. “We found a total of 31 pieces of litter,” reports Bergmann. Although this number may sound low, it confirms that there is indeed litter floating in the remote Arctic Ocean. The plastic litter reported from the Fram Strait could be leaking from a sixth garbage patch, which may be forming in the Barents Sea according to computer models.

Australia's government has given its approval for one of the world's biggest coal mines to be built by India's Adani Mining in Queensland. In August 2015, a court temporarily blocked the project because of environmental concerns. But the approval has now been granted subject to "36 of the strictest conditions in Australian history" environment minister Greg Hunt said. The approval was signed on 15 October 2015 by Mr Hunt and follows a long running debate between those for and against the mine.

Finance Ministers from 20 vulnerable countries, representing close to 700 million people across the globe, have joined forces to create the V20, or Group of the Vulnerable Twenty, representing economic and financial interests of nations highly at risk due to climate change. The Vulnerable Twenty group of Ministers of Finance was established during 07 – 08 October 2015 at Lima, Peru in conjunction with the Annual Meetings of The World Bank Group & International Monetary Fund. The V20 members, all CVF participating countries, comprise: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam. In its first statement the group called the response to climate change a “foremost humanitarian priority”, with the V20 committing to act collectively to “foster a significant increase” of public and private finance for climate action from wide-ranging sources, including international, regional and domestic mobilization.

On 7 October 2015, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed landmark legislation - SB 350 by Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) - that establishes world-leading energy efficiency and renewable energy goals for California. Governor Brown signed the legislation from the East Terrace of the Griffith Observatory overlooking the City of Los Angeles and was joined by dozens of government, climate, business, environmental justice and community leaders. SB 350 codifies goals Governor Brown laid out in his January 2015 inaugural address to double the rate of energy efficiency savings in California buildings and generate half of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

On 7 October 2015, AWI biologist and climate researcher Professor Hans-Otto Pörtner was officially voted Co-Chair of the IPCC’s Working Group II at a ceremony held in Dubrovnik, Croatia. He’ll be leading the Group, which primarily focuses on the risks and impacts of climate change, as well as potential adaptation strategies, together with Debra Roberts from South Africa. His term of office will begin with the preparation of the IPCC’s sixth Assessment Report and continue through 2022.

On 6 October 2015 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) elected Hoesung Lee of the Republic of Korea as its new Chair. Hoesung Lee was elected by 78 votes to 56 in a run-off with Jean-Pascal van Ypersele. A total of six candidates had been nominated for the position.

On 1 Occtober 2015, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation announced the 2015 Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award. The jury recognises SHEILA WATT-CLOUTIER (Canada) “for her lifelong work to protect the Inuit of the Arctic and defend their right to maintain their livelihoods and culture, which are acutely threatened by climate change.” Sheila Watt-Cloutier is one of the most outstanding advocates for the economic, social and cultural rights of the Inuit of the Arctic. As an elected representative of her people, administrator and advocate, Watt-Cloutier significantly contributed to an overhaul of the education system in Nunavik in Northern Quebec to make it more effective in meeting the needs of Inuit communities. She was an influential force behind the adoption of the Stockholm Convention to ban persistent organic pollutants, which accumulate strongly in Arctic food chains. Through her advocacy, she has shifted the discourse around climate change by establishing how unchecked greenhouse gas emissions violate the collective human rights of the Inuit.

Almost a third of all natural World Heritage Sites has the threat of oil, gas and mining exploration hanging over it, according to a new report published on 1 October 2015. This threat rises to an alarming 61 per cent in Africa. The new assessment - in a report called Safeguarding Outstanding Natural Value, produced by WWF, Aviva Investors and Investec Asset Management - puts the risk at a higher level than previously thought. The report also brings to light the risk to investors of involvement with extractives companies working, or who might work, in these special places now or in the future.

On 28 September 2015, Shell provided an update on the Burger J exploration well, located in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea. Shell has found indications of oil and gas in the Burger J well, but these are not sufficient to warrant further exploration in the Burger prospect. The well will be sealed and abandoned in accordance with U.S. regulations. Shell will now cease further exploration activity in offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future. This decision reflects both the Burger J well result, the high costs associated with the project, and the challenging and unpredictable federal regulatory environment in offshore Alaska.

On 28 September 2015, the government of New Zealand announced to create a 620,000-square-kilometre fully protected marine sanctuary in the Kermadec region. Located in the South Pacific about 1,000 kilometres northeast of New Zealand’s North Island, the Kermadecs are home to a wide array of species and serve as an important migratory pathway for marine mammals making seasonal journeys between tropical and cooler waters.

On 27 September 2015 the heavily-touristed section of the city centre of Paris became car-free for a day from 11am to 7pm.

On 26 September was the Global day of Action 2015. Thousands of people took Actions for Climate across the globe to demonstrate the solutions to climate change.

Energy Watch Group makes the International Energy Agency responsible for consistently underestimating the potential of renewable energy and promoting conventional energy sources. The new study by Energy Watch Group and Lappeenranta University of Technology, released on 22 September 2015, comes to the conclusion that the International Energy Agency (IEA) annual reports World Energy Outlook (WEO) between 1994 and 2014 have been publishing misleading projections on solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy. The WEO has significant impact on both political and economic decisions of world governments regarding energy.

On 21 September 2015, EnBW’s Baltic 2 offshore wind farm was officially put into operation. EnBW Baltic 2 is located 32 kilometres to the north of the island of Rügen. 80 wind turbines with a total output of 288 megawatts have been installed over an area of 27 square kilometres. The offshore wind farm will generate 1.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year and cover the aggregate requirements of 340,000 households while saving 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).

The 50th European Marine Biology Symposium took place on Helgoland from 21th to 25th September 2015. Around 200 participants from 24 countries met to discuss long-term changes to environmental conditions and ecosystems. This jubilee is a return to the roots: In 1966, the Biological Institute Helgoland hosted the first of these symposiums, which have since been held annually at different locations. Long-term data series is the main topic of the Marine Biology Symposium, where researchers present current and future methods for collecting and analysing long-term data, and explain how these can be made compatible. Such long-term observations have a tradition at the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) on Helgoland: since 1962, researchers there have been analysing water and plankton specimens on a daily basis. In fact, the “Helgoland Roads” plankton time series is one of the longest in Europe, and also has the highest temporal definition. Comparisons with data from other geographical regions like the Arctic are important in order to make an educated estimate of the effects of global warming on marine life.

On 19 September 2015 at a conference in Quebec, Canada an international research team presented the first online data portal on global permafrost. In the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (www.gtnp.org) researchers first collect all the existing permafrost temperature and active thickness layer data from Arctic, Antarctic and mountain permafrost regions and then make it freely available for download. This new portal can serve as an early warning system for researchers and decision-makers around the globe. A detailed description of the data collection is published today in an open access article on the Earth System Science Data portal.

On 18 September 2015 the EU Council adopted the decision on the creation of a market stability reserve (MSR) for the EU greenhouse gas emission trading scheme (EU ETS).

On 18 September 2015, the Council adopted conclusions establishing the EU's position for the UN climate change conference in Paris later this year. This mandate sets out the EU's vision for the new climate agreement to be adopted at the conference. The EU will aim at reaching an ambitious, legally-binding and dynamic agreement, with the objective of keeping global warming below 2°C. In order to achieve this objective, the Council stressed that global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2020 at the latest, be reduced by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 1990 and be near zero or below by 2100.

On 18 September 2015, EPA issued a notice of violation (NOV) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (collectively referred to as Volkswagen). The NOV alleges that four-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009-2015 include software that circumvents EPA emissions standards for certain air pollutants. California is separately issuing an In-Use Compliance letter to Volkswagen, and EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have both initiated investigations based on Volkswagen’s alleged actions.

Draft rules to cut emissions of major air pollutants from non-road mobile machinery (NRMM), ranging from lawn mowers to bulldozers, tractors and inland waterway vessels, were backed by Environment Committee MEPs on 15 September 2015. NRMM engines account for about 15% of all NOx and 5% of particulate emissions in the EU. The draft rules would cover internal combustion engines used in machines ranging from small handheld equipment, such as lawn mowers and chain saws, through agricultural and farming machinery (harvesters, cultivators), construction machinery (bulldozers, excavators), to railcars, locomotives and inland waterway vessels.

Pakistan’s federal government must start implementing its climate change plans a judge at Lahore High Court said on 14 September 2014, ruling on a legal challenge brought by a farmer. In his judgement Judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah ordered the establishment of a national Climate Change Commission (with named members) with a clear remit to ensure effective implementation, along with a number of other practical institutional measures. The case against the Pakistani government had been brought to Lahore High Court’s Green Bench by an individual petitioner, Asghar Leghari. Using public interest litigation (PIL), Leghari who relies on agriculture for a living, charged the government and relevant authorities with failing him as a citizen. He accused them of failing to develop the required resilience to climate change as required under the government’s own framework for implementation of National Climate Change Policy 2013. The Commission is now due to meet on 1 October 2015 and tasked with coming up with implementation targets by December.

Despite its claim of being a leader in the fight against climate change, the European Union still has around 280 coal power plants, operating in 22 different EU member states. The majority of these plants are more than 30 years old. Burning coal caused 17% of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union in 2014. Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe exposes these facts on the coal business in the online Coal Map of Europe (www.coalmap.eu) which was launched on 10 September 2015. Based on extensive research and using a range of public data sources, CAN Europe has calculated key figures on the coal industry. The NGO has visualised the most aspects of the story of coal power in eight different maps. For the first time, now there is a full and comprehensive overview of the fleet of existing and planned coal power plants, that also displays key information on pollution and health impacts from burning coal. The Coal Map also highlights how governments are still heavily involved in this industry through state-owned companies as well as by providing enormous subsidies.

On 8 September 2015, the planning company and wind farm operators from Bremen, wpd, celebrated the official opening of the Butendiek offshore wind farm in the NordseeCongressCentrum in Husum with around 300 guests, after commissioning the last of 80 turbines in total making up the 288 megawatt project at the beginning of August. The wind farm can supply around 370,000 households with renewable energy. Butendiek was completed within the specified timeframe and cost budget, and is seen as the most speedily constructed offshore project: offshore work began in March 2014 and only eleven months later, the first turbines were already feeding power into the public grid.

Fewer seals could be hunted for their fur thanks to a stronger EU ban on the trade in seal product, approved in plenary on 8 September 2015 (631 MEPs in favour, 31 against, 33 abstentions). The new rules will extend the ban to products resulting from hunts to protect fishing stocks, although Inuit and other indigenous communities will continue to be exempt from the ban. These changes, already agreed with EU governments, are needed to bring EU regulation in line with World Trade Organization rules. In response to animal welfare concerns, the EU banned in 2009 the trade in seal products, such as sealskin coats, mitts, bags or seal meat. This ban entered into force in 2010. However, it allowed two exceptions, one for products resulting from indigenous hunts and the other for small-scale hunts to ensure sustainable “marine resource management”. The ban was challenged by Canada and Norway in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In June 2014, it delivered a ruling which noted that the ban could be justified on moral grounds regarding the welfare of seals but required more clarification of the exceptions applied. To address the WTO concerns, the European Commission proposed an amendment to the current EU rules in February 2015. Under the changes, which have already been agreed with EU governments, Inuits will be allowed to sell seal products in the EU only if their hunting methods have due regard to animal welfare, are a part of their tradition and contribute to its subsistence. Meanwhile, an exception regarding seal products originating from hunts to protect fish stocks has been removed.

On the 5 September 2015 the international non-governmental organization WWF celebrated Brazil’s Amazon Day in Germany and Brazil. On Amazon Day, amazing images of the rainforest were projected onto Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue, and in Cologne, in Germany, the internationally regarded Brazilian photographer Sebastian Salgado, will be showcased a selection of striking black and white images of the Amazon on an immense public screen.

On 24 August 2015, an international tribunal in Den Haag ruled that the Russian government broke international law by boarding a Greenpeace ship and detaining its crew following a peaceful protest against Arctic oil drilling in 2013. The permanent court of arbitration has found “the Netherlands is entitled to compensation with interest for material damage to the Arctic Sunrise”, the Hague-based body said in a statement.

The first in-depth review of JI’s environmental integrity shows about three-quarters of credits may not represent actual emission reductions, and their use to meet mitigation targets may have increased emissions by about 600 million tonnes. As of March 2015, almost 872 million ERUs had been issued under JI. But while JI is meant to support climate change mitigation by making it more cost-effective, a new SEI study shows that it seriously undermined global climate action. In a random sample of 60 JI projects, 73% of the offsets came from projects for which additionality was not plausible – that is, the projects would likely have proceeded even without carbon revenues. The study also examined the six largest project types across JI, and found only one, N2O abatement from nitric acid production, had overall high environmental integrity – meaning the projects were likely to be truly additional and not overcredited. Altogether, the study found that about 80% of ERUs issued came from project types of low or questionable environmental integrity. The design of JI is meant to safeguard against non-additional projects: Host countries must cancel one of their emission allowances for every ERU issued. But the study found more than 95% of ERUs were issued by countries with significant surpluses of allowances. If those countries issued non-additional ERUs, they would not have to make up the difference by further reducing emissions at home. Thus, ERUs worth about 600 Mt CO2e issued as of March 2015 may not represent actual emission reductions. The study was published on 24 August in "Nature Climate Change".

Germany and Brazil want to intensify their cooperation in many policy areas, notably in the fields of climate protection and sustainable development. This was agreed upon by the participants of the first German-Brazilian intergovernmental consultations in Brasília. On 20 August 2015 the Brazil´s President Dilma Rousseff and German Chancellor Angela Merkel published a Joint Statement on Climate Change.

NOAA is declaring the recent deaths of 30 large whales in the western Gulf of Alaska an "unusual mortality event," triggering a focused, expert investigation into the cause. An unusual mortality event is a stranding event that is unexpected, involves a significant die-off of a marine mammal population, and demands immediate response. Since May 2015, 11 fin whales, 14 humpback whales, one gray whale, and four unidentified cetaceans have stranded around the islands of the western Gulf of Alaska and the southern shoreline of the Alaska Peninsula. To date, this brings the large whale strandings for this region to almost three times the historical average. The declaration of an unusual mortality event will allow NOAA and federal, state, and tribal partners to develop a response plan and conduct a rigorous scientific investigation into the cause of death for the stranded whales.