[GWSG] 100% corps; HBSC: transition on; rating sustainability; a new grid; new weather; CA's plight

[Tilley, Al]

1.  The Climate Group works for corporate climate action.  They argue that corporations, and governments, will save billions of dollars by going 100% renewable, and are soliciting that resolution.  Currently resolved are Intel, Microsoft, Nestle, Ikea, Swiss Re, and others.  http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/news-and-blogs/economies-that-go-100-renewable-could-save-520-billion-a-year/?dm_i=6R6,3CH9M,LUPUO,BYYBF,1



2.  The investment bank HBSC is the latest financial group to conclude that the shift to renewables is now driven by economics.  HBSC considers that attention to enhancing energy efficiency and to scaling up renewables are the two "key drivers" of the transition.  Energy storage will also be important.  They project that solar power will become as cheap as wind power by the end of the decade.  They expect feed-in tariffs to be replaced by energy auctions as the primary development tools for renewable energy.  http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/renewables-at-pinch-point-as-hard-economics-trumps-green-idealism-61637



3.  Some 50,000 companies offer sustainability ratings based on over 8,000 metrics.  Companies which measure the most material ratings (e.g. carbon emissions) outperform those whose ratings are on more superficial bases.  A materiality framework has been developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jean-rogers/focusing-corporate-sustai_b_7156148.html



4.  Last week the administration announced with two executive orders a plan to ready the grid for changes in our power arrangements, and a Quadrennial Energy Review which proposes further measures and the funding to carry them out.  Climate Progress boils the plans down to six angles of attack.  On Thursday April 30, CEOs from seventeen utilities will begin work on one of the angles by discussing how our electrical service can become more resilient.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/28/3651491/six-things-in-qer/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cptop3



5.  Under current global heating levels 75% of heat extremes and 18% of heavy rain or snowfall over land worldwide is driven by climate change, a new study concludes.  As climate deteriorates the percentages will rise.  http://www.nature.com/news/global-warming-brews-weird-weather-1.17407



6.  Grist has a good overview of the drought situation in California with a summarizing title: "California's drought isn't doomsday, but yes, it will change the state."  http://grist.org/food/californias-drought-isnt-doomsday-but-yes-it-will-change-the-state/?utm_campaign=daily_feed&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter  Grist uses last year's Risky Business report as the source of a calculation that we have a 5% chance of four feet of sea level rise by 2100.  That now seems too conservative and needs to be brought up to date.  I wouldn't be surprised to see those odds for midcentury.  Still, Risky Business's latest report is on California, and it is worth a look.  http://riskybusiness.org/reports/california-report/executive-summary
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