Explore Our Planet

The ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) sees its responsibility to address, limit or reduce the impact of aviation greenhouse gas emissions on the global climate.

During the latest session of the Assembly - held at ICAO Headquarters in Montréal from 18 to 28 September 2007 - some members (Egypt, Chile, LACAC) expressed their concerns regarding the EU initiative to include aviation into the European Emission Trading system (ETS). Though all members agree on market mechanisms - not taxes - as best solution.

To fly is most polluting means of transportation, by kilometer, hour and person. The emitted amount of CO2 is estimated to double by 2015, including better efficiency of engines. Emitting NOx and steam at high altitude, forming cirrus clouds and trails even multiplies the climate effects by 2-4.

Assuming a trading system for the european airspace only and an average cost of 10 EURO per ton of CO2 tickets for midrange flights (>1500km) will include an extra amount of about 9 EURO.

Until an international agreement is found it is up to the passengers to compensate their emissions for example with atmosfair. This company uses CDM and invests in e.g. hydropower projects in developing countries.

More:
ICAO: Assembly Resolutions in Force (2004)
IPCC: Aviation and the Global Atmosphere
EU/CE: Giving wings to emission trading
Reuters: Britons top table of carbon emissions from planes
International Blog Action Day

In the edition of last week the Economist mentioned ExploreOurPla.net :

ExploreOurPla.net brings together thousands of sources of images and data to let users investigate climate change.

The articles describes the new possibilities of combining latest Web 2.0 technologies with geo information.

Under present climate conditions, 609 out of the 666 (or 91%) Alpine ski areas in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland can be considered as naturally snow-reliable.

The remaining 9% are already operating under marginal conditions. The number of naturally snow-reliable areas would drop to 500 under 1

The beauty industry easily adapts trends and turns them into campaigns using stylistic photos. Do you think that’s cynical?

Dan Barton, vice president of communications for Diesel USA said: ‘It isn’t that we want to make a social or political statement. We’re taking a serious issue and putting it into Diesel’s world, a surreal avant-garde world. We don’t want to make light of the subject. We want to raise it in a way that people can digest.’

The ads photographed by Terry Richardson appear in Vogue, GQ, Esquire and public places. They show New York and Rio de Janeiro flooded, half-submerged Mount Rushmore, Parrots, rather than pigeons, populate St. Mark’s Square in Venice and the Eiffel Tower surrounded by lizards and Finland as palm tree-studded desert.

Via: dethroner.com - Diesel’s New Ad Global Warming Ad Campaign

The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) analyzes, documents and promotes market-based trading systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

‘ETA’s 2006 Greenhouse Gas Market Report - Moving to Action’ breaks down the flexible instruments implemented under the Kyoto protocol: the Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation and emissions trading.

“…the reality of carbon markets is an increasingly potent factor as various regions try to devise their own approach and architecture to the management of carbon, off sets and emissions reduction.”

The insurance industrie has natural interests to limit consequences of Climate Change and Global Warming.

Private insurer losses from Hurricane Katrina for damaged, destroyed, or flooded homes and businesses, and for offshore oil and gas platforms that were either damaged, lost or missing and presumed sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, are estimated to be in the range of $40 to $60 billion.

Lord Peter Levene spoke yesterday to the World Affairs Council at the National Press Club in Washington.

Some quotes from his speech ‘Catastrophe trends and climate change: A global insurer’s perspective’:

We live in challenging times. Conflict in the Middle East. Drought in Africa. Terrorism threats to our major cities and airports. Global trade strains. Fifty-dollar barrels of oil. Like much of the policymaking establishment in Washington these days, insurers are paid to worry. And there is no shortage of issues to chew over.

But in recent months I have begun to wonder whether these sizeable dilemmas will, in generation or two, prove minor in comparison to the threat posed by natural catastrophe trends. … (more…)

The World Health Organization states:

• Poor nutrition contributes to 1 out of 2 deaths (53%) associated with infectious diseases among children aged under five in developing countries.
• 1 out of 4 preschool children suffers from under-nutrition, which can severely affect a child’s mental and physical development
• 1 out of 3 people in developing countries are affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies and therefore more subject to infection, birth defects and impaired physical and psycho-intellectual development.

Aviation contributes to global climate change, and its contribution is increasing. While the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions fell by 3 % from 1990 to 2002, emissions from international aviation increased by almost 70 %.

In spite of significant improvement in aircraft technology and operational efficiency this has not been enough to neutralise the effect of increased traffic, and the growth in emissions is likely to continue in the next decades.

Overall, the total annual distance covered by the global civil aircraft fleet was forecast to grow by 149% from 2002 to 2030, with the seat-kilometres forecast to grow by 229%.

The case with the most technological advance (that with $100/tonne CO2 cost) was forecast to produce 22% less CO2 in 2030 than the case without the extra incentives to technology development.

However, even this case was forecast to produce nearly twice as much CO2 in 2030 as in 2002.

Forecasts of CO2 emissions from civil aircraft for IPCC, DTI, November 2006

Met Office in UK continues current series of reported temperature records in Europe and according to Guardian it faces a budget cut of at least £5m over next 3 years in climate research.

Quoted from press release:

The Met Office confirms that the autumn 2006 has been the warmest in the last 347 years across central parts of the UK.

Central England Temperature records dating back to 1659 are the longest instrumental temperature records in the world, and autumn 2006 has been warmer than any equivalent autumn since then. The provisional mean temperature this year was 12.6 °C. The previous highest figure for the equivalent period was 11.8 °C, recorded in 1730 and 1731.

The provisional UK-wide mean temperature for autumn was 11.3 °C, beating the previous record set in 2001 of 10.5 °C, in a temperature series that began in 1914.

UK Met Office: Warmest autumn on record - confirmed
The Guardian: It’s hot - but climate research is being cut

This McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) and McKinsey’s Global Energy and Materials (GEM) perspective aims to increment the understanding of global energy demand.

The main finding is that, even with growing demands, there are sufficient opportunities for energy-productivity improvements which could represent a 15 to 25 percent cut in the end-use energy demand by 2020.

McKinsey identifies market-distorting subsidies, information gaps, agency issues and other market inefficiencies as fields of improvement. Shortly, end consumers need more information to make educated market decisions.

Productivity of growing global energy demand: A microeconomic perspective, Executive summary