[GWSG] UN in Bonn; Biden's meetings; his proposals; renewables' risks; EPA vs. C; Supreme C vs. us

[Tilley, Al]

1. The UN climate conference in Bonn, an intersessional preparation for COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt,  this November, has ended with a stalemate and charges that Europe is busy securing fossil fuels to replace Russian oil and gas and is not delivering the promised help for developing nations while still professing commitment to climate goals. The Bonn conference is Patricia Espinosa’s last after leading the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change for the past six years. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/17/un-climate-talks-stalemate-hypocrisy-allegation-european

2. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Major Economies Forum convened by President Biden that fossil fuel companies and the banks which fund them “have humanity by the throat.” He compared the industry to the tobacco companies which produced propaganda and continued to sell their addictive products for decades after the effects were known. Biden is on his way to Saudi Arabia to seek higher oil production. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/17/fossil-fuel-firms-un-head-antonio-guterres-blistering-attack

3. President Biden proposed a list of climate action measures to the Major Economies Forum. It is too bad that he is not halting all fossil fuel development, but the goals remain ambitious, and he is not recommending anything he is not pursuing for the US. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-lead-major-economies-push-more-urgent-action-climate-2022-06-17/

4. Renewables are not without their risks. Some are directly manageable. We could produce solar cells hardened against hail. We could be using utility-scale batteries much less susceptible to fire than the current Li-ion ones. (One of the iron batteries already in use would do, and is much less expensive to boot.) We could standardize the size of such items as solar cells and wind turbine blades. These risk control measures could make renewables even less expensive by saving insurance costs.  https://riskandinsurance.com/7-renewable-energy-questions-for-brown-browns-michael-perron/

5. James Hansen and other notables have urged the EPA to control greenhouse gas emissions under the Toxic Substances Act, used so far for dangers to public health such as asbestos and leaded paint which pose “an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment.” The EPA has 90 days to consider and act upon the legal petition.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/16/greenhouse-gases-must-be-legally-phased-out-us-scientists-argue

6. A looming supreme court ruling that the government cannot regulate carbon might block the initiative. The ruling would have a broad (and disastrous) impact on US climate action generally. It has long been in preparation by, as the story seems to imply, the Council for National Policy, which has been behind Citizens United, the attacks on abortion rights, ALEC, the current coup attempt, and other banes. Thanks to Ed Brock for the bad news. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/climate/supreme-court-climate-epa.html

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