[GWSG] AUS is back; heat risks for humans, plants, ; and insects; Tesla's coal sub; G7 grows strong; HSBC countered

[Tilley, Al]

1. At the UN Oceans conference in Lisbon the newly formed Australian government is represented by its environment minister Tanya Plibersek, who announced initiatives consistent with a renewed dedication to climate action. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/27/tanya-plibersek-declares-environment-is-back-front-and-centre-in-australia-at-un-ocean-conference

2. Growing heat brings health risks for humans and other animals. Heat of over 90F can also impair pollination in plants, including food crops. https://e360.yale.edu/features/pollen-and-heat-a-looming-challenge-for-global-agriculture

3. Insects are also falling victim to the growing heat. As they go, they threaten to take the plants, and us, with them. Almost Invisible Angels, a two-minute film, attends to the passing insects.  https://climatecrocks.com/2022/06/26/insects-and-angels-wings/

4. A farm of Tesla’s utility-scale batteries are replacing Hawaii’s last coal plant (which was obviously used to provide occasional power). The state intends to produce 100% green energy by 2045. https://electrek.co/2022/06/27/tesla-megapacks-replace-hawaii-last-remaining-coal-plant/

5. The G7 leaders are forming a climate club to oversee their pledges to decarbonize the road sector by 2030 and the power sector by 2035. (The pledges are hedged a bit—“fully or predominantly”—but I see no mischief in leaving some wiggle room.) They also pledged to accelerate the phasing-out of unabated coal. (Since no practical way of abating coal exists, that fudge is probably harmless.)  They committed to ending “new direct public support for the international unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022.” Again, there is a hedging allowance for “limited circumstances” consistent with a 1.5C goal. The only real, but perhaps inevitable, disappointment in the communique is a declaration that liquid natural gas will be acceptable as a ”temporary response” to the current crisis, which appears to refer to the embargo on Russian fossil fuels.  If these strong commitments were not somewhat hedged, they probably would not be doable. The G7 participants were served predominantly plant-based meals. That seems to have braced them well.  https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/28/g-7-leaders-to-set-up-a-climate-club.html

6. A few weeks ago Stuart Kirk, head of responsible investing for HSBC, gave a talk minimizing the financial risk to be expected from climate destabilization. Texas A&M’s Andrew Dessler replays the speech and provides some critical commentary in a 21-minute video. In another sizzling 1.5 minutes, Al Gore has his say.  https://climatecrocks.com/2022/06/28/andrew-dessler-why-investors-do-need-to-worry-about-climate-change/

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