Top 10 Priorities for President Biden to Tackle the Climate Crisis

WRI.org

Former U.S. Vice President Joseph R. Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris are widely recognized as having won the 2020 U.S. presidential election, with a majority in the Electoral College and a resounding majority in the popular vote. The Democratic Party has retained control of the U.S. House of Representatives, while the results for the U.S. Senate are very close and the outcome is undetermined at this time. In this WRI Commentary, WRI U.S. Director Dan Lashof suggests a 10-point plan for the new administration.


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President-elect Biden will be sworn into office in the midst of four deeply intertwined crises: the health crisis, the economic crisis, the racial injustice crisis and the climate crisis. He has promised to build back better by taking bold action on all four simultaneously, including making unprecedented investments in health care, infrastructure and clean energy.
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The energy-sector threat: How to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities

Electric-power and gas companies are especially vulnerable to cyberattacks, but a structured approach that applies communication, organizational, and process frameworks can significantly reduce cyber-related risks.
In our experience working with utility companies, we have observed three characteristics that make the sector especially vulnerable to contemporary cyberthreats.First is an increased number of threats and actors targeting utilities: nation-state actors seeking to cause security and economic dislocation, cybercriminals who understand the economic value represented by this sector, and hacktivists out to publicly register their opposition to utilities’ projects or broad agendas.
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How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point—and transformed business forever

In just a few months’ time, the COVID-19 crisis has brought about years of change in the way companies in all sectors and regions do business. According to a new McKinsey Global Survey of executives,1 their companies have accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years. And the share of digital or digitally enabled products in their portfolios has accelerated by a shocking seven years.2 Nearly all respondents say that their companies have stood up at least temporary solutions to meet many of the new demands on them, and much more quickly than they had thought possible before the crisis. What’s more, respondents expect most of these changes to be long lasting and are already making the kinds of investments that all but ensure they will stick. In fact, when we asked executives about the impact of the crisis on a range of measures, they say that funding for digital initiatives has increased more than anything else—more than increases in costs, the number of people in technology roles, and the number of customers.To stay competitive in this new business and economic environment requires new strategies and practices. Our findings suggest that executives are taking note: most respondents recognize technology’s strategic importance as a critical component of the business, not just a source of cost efficiencies. Respondents from the companies that have executed successful responses to the crisis report a range of technology capabilities that others don’t—most notably, filling gaps for technology talent during the crisis, the use of more advanced technologies, and speed in experimenting and innovating.3 Tiếp tục đọc “How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point—and transformed business forever”

Alarm as Arctic sea ice not yet freezing at latest date on record

theguardian.com

Delayed freeze in Laptev Sea could have knock-on effects across polar region, scientists say

Sea Ice crystals
 Climate change is pushing warmer Atlantic currents into the Arctic and breaking up the usual stratification between warm deep waters and the cool surface. This also makes it difficult for ice to form. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

For the first time since records began, the main nursery of Arctic sea ice in Siberia has yet to start freezing in late October.

The delayed annual freeze in the Laptev Sea has been caused by freakishly protracted warmth in northern Russia and the intrusion of Atlantic waters, say climate scientists who warn of possible knock-on effects across the polar region.

Ocean temperatures in the area recently climbed to more than 5C above average, following a record breaking heatwave and the unusually early decline of last winter’s sea ice.

The trapped heat takes a long time to dissipate into the atmosphere, even at this time of the year when the sun creeps above the horizon for little more than an hour or two each day.

Graphs of sea-ice extent in the Laptev Sea, which usually show a healthy seasonal pulse, appear to have flat-lined. As a result, there is a record amount of open sea in the Arctic.

“The lack of freeze-up so far this fall is unprecedented in the Siberian Arctic region,” said Zachary Labe, a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University. He says this is in line with the expected impact of human-driven climate change.

“2020 is another year that is consistent with a rapidly changing Arctic. Without a systematic reduction in greenhouse gases, the likelihood of our first ‘ice-free’ summer will continue to increase by the mid-21st century,’ he wrote in an email to the Guardian. Tiếp tục đọc “Alarm as Arctic sea ice not yet freezing at latest date on record”

Building a Climate Resilient Future for Costa Rica’s Coffee Farming Communities

WRI.org

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How Can Governments Attract Private Investment for the Green Energy Transition?

The world is not on track to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change. With 2030 just a decade away, and governments are under pressure to speed up the clean energy transition.

The good news is that: a) the technologies and the capital are available to accelerate the green energy transition, and b) the private sector is ready to invest billions of green dollars into decarbonization and clean energy.

But how can governments provide the institutional and regulatory frameworks that make it attractive for private companies and investors to invest in and deploy the needed solutions and technologies to accelerate the clean energy transition?
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Linking Air Pollution To Higher Coronavirus Death Rates

Harvard.edu

recent Harvard analysis led by Professor Francesca Dominici along with Doctoral student Xiao Wu and Assistant Professor Rachel Nethery is the first nationwide study to show a statistical link between COVID-19 deaths and other diseases associated with long-term exposure to fine particulate matter. The paper has been submitted for peer review and publication in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Dành cho sinh viên: CHUỖI SEMINAR: GIẢI MÃ CÁC GIẢI PHÁP NĂNG LƯỢNG BỀN VỮNG

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Bạn muốn kiến tạo các giải pháp bền vững cho môi trường nhưng không biết bắt đầu từ đâu?
Hãy đến với chuỗi Seminar trực tuyến “Giải mã các giải pháp Năng lượng bền vững” – nơi bạn sẽ có cơ hội:
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🔑 Làm quen và giải đáp các thắc mắc về các Thử thách trong vòng Online Hackathon (đối với các bạn đã đăng ký cuộc thi)
🔑 Làm quen với các diễn giả, đồng thời sẽ là các Cố vấn cho các đội thi trong vòng Online Hackathon

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Build a spiritually healthy capital, Party leader exhorts Hanoi

vnexpress.net 

By Hoang Thuy   October 12, 2020 | 05:29 pm GMT+7

Build a spiritually healthy capital, Party leader exhorts Hanoi

Vietnam’s Party Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong speaks at the 17th Party Congress of Hanoi, October 12, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on Monday called for Hanoi to become a “peaceful, beautiful capital that is healthy physically and spiritually.”

Addressing the opening session of the 17th Hanoi Party Congress for the 2020-2025 tenure, Trong acclaimed the results achieved by the city’s Party Committee for the 2016-2020 term, describing them as “great and important.”

Hanoi currently contributes over 16 percent of the nation’s economic growth, 18.5 percent of national budget collection, 20 percent of domestic revenue and 8.6 percent of the country’s total import and export turnover.

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Infographics: Urban Development in Viet Nam

By | May 2nd 2019|

URBANET’s latest infographic series with interesting facts and figures about urbanisation and urban development in Viet Nam.

Urbanisation in Viet Nam – Urban and Rural Population in Viet Nam | Viet Nam Infographics © GIZ

The graphic displays the steady growth of Viet Nam’s urban population since 1950. The growth of the rural population stagnated in the early 2000s and is projected to decrease over the next decades. Prospects suggest that by 2040 more people will live in urban than in rural areas.

Urbanisation in Viet Nam – Size of Settlements in Viet Nam | Viet Nam Infographics © GIZ


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Japan backs ISDS in fierce debate at Energy Charter Treaty review

ISDS.bilateral.org

AFTINET | 17 September 2020

Japan backs ISDS in fierce debate at Energy Charter Treaty review

Reports on the Energy Charter Treaty process to ‘modernise’ continue to demonstrate entrenched opposition to efforts to make it support the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to less than 2°C.

The European Union has proposed amendments that reinforce governments’ “right to regulate” on issues like public health and the environment. But any change requires unanimous agreement by the ECT’s 53 signatories.

On September 8, 2020, 97 European Parliament MPs and another 49 MPs from national parliaments in Europe  content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Statement-on-Energy-Charter-Treaty-ENG_080920.pdf” target=”_blank” rel=”external noopener”>called for the “EU negotiators to ensure that the provisions in the ECT that protect foreign investment in fossil fuels are deleted and thus removed from the ECT. Similarly, ISDS provisions need to be scrapped or fundamentally reformed and limited. If this is not achieved at the end of the 3rd negotiation round planned for the autumn, we ask EU Member States to explore pathways to jointly withdraw from the ECT by the end of 2020”.

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Nuclear ‘not an effective low carbon option’

pv-magazine.com 

Researchers in the UK have analyzed 25 years of electricity-production and carbon emissions data from 123 countries. Their findings show renewables are considerably more effective than nuclear in reducing carbon emissions from energy generation and that the two technologies tend to get in each other’s way when considered in a joint approach. OCTOBER 5, 2020 MARK HUTCHINS

FOUR THINGS GOVERNMENTS CAN DO TO ATTRACT MORE RENEWABLE ENERGY INVESTMENT

climateweeknyc.org

By Jakob Askou Bøss, Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Stakeholder Relations, Ørsted and Jennifer Layke, Director of Global Energy Program, World Resources Institute

The technologies and the capital are available to accelerate the green energy transition, but the global transformation from fossil fuels to clean energy is not moving forward quickly enough. Governments need to adjust their institutional and regulatory framework to pave the way for the necessary private investments to get the job done.

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4 Questions About China’s New Climate Commitments

WRI.org

Electric bus in Hangzhou, China
Electric bus in Hangzhou, China. Photo by Shankar S./Flickr

In his speech to the UN General Assembly on September 22, 2020, President Xi Jinping of China announced that China will scale up its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to tackling climate change by adopting more vigorous policies and measures in an effort to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality before 2060.

The announcement is among the most significant signs of progress concerning countries’ efforts to mitigate climate change since agreeing to the Paris Agreement in 2015. Further clarifications on the exact commitment will be needed, and it is likely that even more ambition will be needed in future. Here are four key questions and answers about this important development.

1. What Exactly Is New?

The announcement marks the first time that China has set a concrete long-term target of carbon neutrality. This means that by 2060, the country will either stop carbon dioxide emissions altogether, or — more likely — use various means to remove an equivalent amount of any remaining emissions.

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COVID-vaccine results are on the way — and scientists’ concerns are growing

Researchers warn that vaccines could stumble on safety trials, be fast-tracked because of politics or fail to meet the public’s expectations.
A protester holds a placard that says 'Freedom No Lockdown Masks Tests Vaccine'.

Protesters call for an end to COVID-19-based restrictions in Sacramento, California.Credit: Stanton Sharpe/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty

Several ongoing coronavirus-vaccine trials could announce game-changing results next month. But as anticipation grows, concerns are growing about whether the vaccines will clear safety trials, what they will achieve if they do and the risk that the approval process will be influenced by politics, or at least seem to be. Tiếp tục đọc “COVID-vaccine results are on the way — and scientists’ concerns are growing”