[GWSG] Advice to China; & Trump; coal losing; Islam & climate; soil C; rebuilding forests; Greenland tips

[Tilley, Al]

1.  China is preparing a new five year plan for energy production. An analysis from the US finds that the rapidly dropping costs of renewable energy and battery storage mean that China could save money by moving to 2/3 renewable energy by 2030. https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2020/08/10/plummeting-renewable-energy-battery-prices-mean-china-could-hit-62-clean-power-and-cut-costs-11-by-2030/#10dc1cdc1519  I imagine that Chinese planners might have some difficulty taking advice from a country which is busy deregulating methane leaks and getting rid of water efficiency measures such as low-flow showerheads. We have many voices over here, though, and those from the administration are not usually the ones making sense, though they are currently making policy. The advice from SUNY Stony Brook and the Berkeley Lab applies here at home as well as in China.

2. Trump has said that the Paris Agreement would hurt the US economically. A study at the London School of Economics finds that, to the contrary, withdrawal from the agreement poses an economic threat. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/13/trump-exiting-paris-accord-will-harm-us-economy-lse-research?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter

3. Wind and solar power are replacing coal, but not yet fast enough. The EU and the UK are leading the way. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/wind-and-solar-energy-is-steadily-replacing-coal/ar-BB17V6E4?ocid=msedgdhp

4. Muslim countries sometimes reject environmentalism as Western. They still contribute to the degradation of the climate, and still suffer from the effects. Islam provides a sufficient grounding for climate action. https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/time-muslim-world-climate-change-200810075721768.html?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter

5. The carbon cycle of soil processes ten times as much CO2 as humans emit. As it stands, soil absorbs about as much carbon as it emits. When it is heated, though, the amount of carbon released to the atmosphere increases, at least in the tropics. Tropical soil was experimentally heated 4C to a depth of a meter for a two year period. Extrapolation of the resulting emissions show that with that degree of heat the tropics would release “more than six times the current annual emissions from human-related sources,” perhaps more as the heat continues. Deeper layers of soil may contribute further emissions. Some forests may already be showing signs of CO2 fatigue. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-global-tropical-soils-leak-carbon.html

6. When a degraded tropical forest is restored, the carbon sequestration doubles if it is actively managed rather than left to regenerate naturally. It also recovers 50% faster. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-degraded-tropical-forests-big-carbon.html

7. Greenland is now committed to melting. The annual snows can no longer replace the warm weather ice loss in 99 years out of 100. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-greenland-ice-sheet.html

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