March, 09 2021, 11:00pm EDT
A.G. Garland Has a Mandate to Hold Polluters Accountable: Center for Climate Integrity Statement
President Biden Pledged to Support Climate Lawsuits Against Polluters During Campaign.
WASHINGTON
Newly confirmed U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has a mandate to hold climate polluters accountable through investigations and strategic support of plaintiff-driven lawsuits, the Center for Climate Integrity said today.
President Biden pledged during his election campaign to instruct the Justice Department to support climate lawsuits against polluters, and Garland has promised to advance environmental and climate justice issues as attorney general.
During Garland's confirmation hearing, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (CT) pointed to Biden's pledge and the growing number of state attorneys general who have filed climate fraud lawsuits against major oil and gas companies, and he encouraged Garland to consider taking action "against oil and gas companies for lying to the American public about the devastating effects of these products on climate change."
Richard Wiles, executive director of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
"Attorney General Garland has a clear mandate to hold polluters accountable and investigate acts of fraud against the American public. There has never been a more consequential fraud perpetrated against the American people than the fossil fuel industry's concerted, decades-long campaign to mislead and lie about the catastrophic climate damages they knew their products would cause.
"We urge Attorney General Garland to support communities seeking to hold climate polluters accountable and to ensure that the Justice Department investigates oil and gas companies' efforts to deceive the American people about climate change. "
President Biden's Pledges to Support Accountability for Climate Polluters:
In his 2020 climate plan, Biden pledged to order the Department of Justice to "strategically support ongoing plaintiff-driven climate litigation against polluters," a reference to lawsuits filed against the fossil fuel industry by more than 20 U.S. states and localities.
During a 2020 Democratic primary debate, Biden said of fossil fuel companies and executives, "if you demonstrate that they, in fact, have done things already that are bad and they've been lying, they should be able to be sued, they should be able to be held personally accountable...This is an industry we should be able to sue. We should go after, just like we did the drug companies, just like we did with the tobacco companies."
Background on Climate Liability Cases:
Since 2017, 25 communities, including the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Rhode Island; the District of Columbia, and more than a dozen city and county governments in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, and Washington have brought lawsuits under different claims to hold oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products' role in climate change. Learn about those cases here.
The Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) helps cities and states across the country hold corporate polluters accountable for the massive impacts of climate change.
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'Sirens Are Blaring': WMO Says 2023 Shattered Key Climate Metrics
"Fossil fuel pollution is sending climate chaos off the charts," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said.
Mar 19, 2024
Last year broke records for several key climate indicators, including surface temperatures, ocean heat, sea-level rise, and the loss of Antarctic sea ice, the World Meteorological Organization found in its State of the Global Climate 2023 report, released Tuesday.
The agency confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year on record and said it gave an "ominous" new meaning to the phrase "off the charts."
"Earth is issuing a distress call," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video statement. "The latest State of the Global Climate report shows a planet on the brink. Fossil fuel pollution is sending climate chaos off the charts. Sirens are blaring across all major indicators."
"The climate crisis is THE defining challenge that humanity faces and is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis."
2023 saw an average global near-surface temperature of 1.45°C, the report found, making 2023 the hottest on record and the cap on the warmest 10-year period on record.
"Never have we been so close—albeit on a temporary basis at the moment—to the 1.5°C lower limit of the Paris agreement on climate change," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said in a statement. "The WMO community is sounding the red alert to the world."
The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service and European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts had found separately that January 2024 capped a 12-month period that exceeded the 1.5°C target for the first time.
2023 was also a particularly alarming year for ocean heat, with nearly a third of the ocean in the midst of a marine heatwave at any time during the year. Global sea-surface temperatures reached record heights for April and every month after, with July, August, and September especially hot. Ocean heat content also broke records, and more than 90% of the ocean experienced a heatwave for at least a portion of the year.
The world's glaciers and sea ice did not fare any better. Glaciers lost the most ice in any year since record-keeping began in 1950, and Antarctica's sea-ice extent at the end of winter smashed the previous record by 1 million square kilometers.
"Because of burning fossil fuels, which leads to CO2-induced global heating, we have impacted the polar regions to such a degree that 2023 saw by far the greatest loss of sea ice in the Antarctic and of land ice in Greenland," University of Exeter polar expert Martin Siegert told Common Dreams. "The world will feel the detrimental effects now and into the future because the changes observed will lead to 'feedback' processes encouraging further change."
"Our only response must be to stop burning fossil fuels so that the damage can be limited," Siegert added. "That is our best and only option."
2023 also saw record sea-level rise and ocean acidification.
"Climate change is about much more than temperatures," Saulo said. "What we witnessed in 2023, especially with the unprecedented ocean warmth, glacier retreat, and Antarctic sea ice loss, is cause for particular concern."
Records were broken too for the main cause of all this warming and melting—the levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide all reached record levels in 2022, and data indicates that the atmospheric concentrations of all three continued to rise in 2023, with carbon dioxide levels 50% higher than before the industrial revolution.
The report also considered the impacts of global heating on extreme weather events: 2023 saw several especially devastating climate-fueled disasters, including lethal flooding from Cyclone Daniel in Libya; Tropical Cyclone Mocha, which displaced 1.7 million people in the region around the Bay of Bengal; an extreme heatwave in southern Europe and North Africa; a record wildfire season in Canada that smothered several North American cities in heavy smoke; and the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years in Hawaii.
In addition to claiming lives and forcing people from their homes, these disasters have several other impacts on peoples' well-being. For example, the report noted that the number of people suffering from acute food insecurity had shot up to 333 million in 2023, more than two times the 149 million before the pandemic. While the root causes of this are war and conflict, economic downturns, and high food prices, extreme weather events can make the situation worse. When Cyclone Freddy, one of the longest-lasting cyclones ever, struck Madagascar, Mozambique, and Malawi in February, it flooded vast swaths of agricultural fields and damaged crops in other ways.
"The climate crisis is THE defining challenge that humanity faces and is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis—as witnessed by growing food insecurity and population displacement, and biodiversity loss," Saulo said.
Guterres, meanwhile, said the impact of extreme weather on sustainable development was "devastating."
"Every fraction of a degree of global heating impacts the future of life on Earth," he said.
There was some positive news in the report, mainly that renewable energy increased new capacity by nearly 50% in 2023 compared with 2022, the highest rate of increase in 20 years. Global climate finance nearly doubled from 2019-2020 to almost $1.3 trillion, but this was still only 1% of global gross domestic product.
To have a shot at limiting warming to 1.5°C, finance needs to increase by nearly $9 trillion by 2030 and another $10 trillion by 2050, but this is much lower than the estimated cost of doing nothing, which would be $1,266 trillion from 2025-2100, though the WMO said this was likely a "dramatic underestimate."
Guterres said it was still possible to limit long-term global temperature rise to 1.5°C, but it required swift action; leadership from the G20 nations toward a just energy transition; countries proposing 1.5°C-compliant climate plans by 2025; increased climate finance flows toward the developing world, including for adaptation and Loss and Damage; universal coverage by early warning systems by 2027; and "accelerating the inevitable end of the fossil fuel age."
"There's still time to throw out a lifeline to people and planet," Guterres said, "but leaders must step up and act now."
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Only 7 Countries Meet WHO's Air Quality Guidelines as Fossil Fuels Worsen Pollution
"The science is pretty clear about the impacts of air pollution and yet we are so accustomed to having a background level of pollution that's too high to be healthy," said an official at Swiss firm IQAir.
Mar 19, 2024
A Swiss air quality monitoring firm on Tuesday said its latest worldwide data reveals the need for more walkable cities and a swift transition away from planet-heating fossil fuels, as just 7 out of 134 countries were found to meet global standards for dangerous air pollution.
IQAir found that Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius, and New Zealand were the only countries that met the World Health Organization's (WHO) guidelines for particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) pollution, which is made up of microscopic airborne particles and can become embedded in peoples' lungs and even their bloodstreams, especially in cases of high exposure.
Three territories—Bermuda, French Polynesia, and Puerto Rico—also met WHO's standard.
PM2.5 can cause or aggravate asthma and has been linked to worsened lung function, heart attacks, respiratory ailments, and irregular heartbeat.
While IQAir measured countries' air quality against WHO's guideline for "safe" PM2.5 levels—five micrograms per cubic meter—U.S. scientists found last month that there is no safe amount of PM2.5 for humans.
IQAir found that PM2.5 levels were highest in the Global South. Bangladesh was found to have more than 15 times the amount of PM2.5 pollution than what is advised by WHO, while Pakistan's level was 14 times higher. The most polluted metropolitan area in 2023 was Begusarai, India, and India had four of most polluted cities in the world.
But "things have gone backwards" in wealthy countries as well, Glory Dolphin Hammes, North America chief executive of IQAir, told The Guardian, particularly as planetary heating has fueled wildfires like those that stunned scientists in Canada and Europe last year.
Canada, long a leader in air quality, had a PM2.5 level of 10.3 in 2023, and air quality across North America was "significantly influenced by extensive Canadian wildfires that raged from May to October." More than 40% of Canadian cities recorded annual PM2.5 levels that exceeded 10 micrograms per cubic meter. Eleven percent, or 35 cities, exceeded 15 micrograms per cubic meter, compared to just a single city in 2022.
World Weather Attribution directly linked Canada's wildfires to the climate emergency,
saying fossil fuel combustion and the resulting planetary heating made the blazes twice as likely.
The country's PM2.5 levels last year showed that governments "should act to make their cities more walkable and less reliant upon cars, amend forestry practices to help curtail the impact of wildfire smoke, and move more quickly to embrace clean energy in place of fossil fuels," Hammes told The Guardian.
"The science is pretty clear about the impacts of air pollution and yet we are so accustomed to having a background level of pollution that's too high to be healthy," she said. "We are not making adjustments fast enough."
Robb Barnes, climate program director for the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, said the report shows Canada is "no exception" as governments are urged to confront the fact that "climate change, pollution, and burning fossil fuels is disastrous for human health."
Air pollution is blamed for an estimated 7 million premature deaths each year, with countries in the Global South—where clean energy sources are less available for heating and other uses—reporting the most deaths linked to PM2.5.
Frank Hammes, global CEO of IQAir, noted that much of the Global South, including many countries in Africa, lack air quality monitoring mechanisms.
"A clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a universal human right. In many parts of the world the lack of air quality data delays decisive action and perpetuates unnecessary human suffering," said Hammes in a statement. "Air quality data saves lives."
In order to prevent more premature deaths linked to PM2.5 pollution, the report said, policymakers in Canada and other wealthy countries where air quality suffered in 2023 must take decisive steps to decrease PM2.5 emissions from fossil fuel-powered vehicles, power plants, and industrial processes, including:
- Broadening the adoption of renewable, clean energy in public transportation systems;
- Providing subsidies for battery-powered and human-powered modes of transportation;
- Championing infrastructure projects that enhance pedestrian mobility; and
- Introducing incentive programs to stimulate the adoption of clean air vehicles for commercial and personal purposes.
"IQAir's annual report illustrates the international nature and inequitable consequences of the enduring air pollution crisis," said Aidan Farrow, senior air quality scientist for Greenpeace International. "In 2023 air pollution remained a global health catastrophe. IQAir's global data set provides an important reminder of the resulting injustices and the need to implement the many solutions that exist to this problem."
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Israeli 'Use of Starvation' as Weapon in Gaza Would Be 'War Crime': UN Rights Chief
"The clock is ticking," said Volker Türk. "Everyone, especially those with influence, must insist that Israel acts to facilitate the unimpeded entry and distribution of needed humanitarian assistance."
Mar 19, 2024
A dire new report on mass hunger in the Gaza Strip prompted the United Nations high commissioner for human rights to declare Tuesday that Israel's persistent obstruction of humanitarian aid "may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime."
"Israel, as the occupying power, has the obligation to ensure the provision of food and medical care to the population commensurate with their needs and to facilitate the work of humanitarian organizations to deliver that assistance," Volker Türk said in a statement after the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Phase Classification (IPC) warned that half of Gaza's population is currently experiencing catastrophic hunger and at growing risk of starving to death.
Noting that Israel's 16-year blockade of Gaza "has already had a severe impact on human rights for the civilian population," Türk said Monday that Israel is required under international law to ensure the population of Gaza can access food, medicine, and other humanitarian assistance in a "safe and dignified manner."
"The clock is ticking," said Türk. "Everyone, especially those with influence, must insist that Israel acts to facilitate the unimpeded entry and distribution of needed humanitarian assistance and commercial goods to end starvation and avert all risk of famine. There needs to be full restoration of essential services, including the supply of food, water, electricity, and fuel. And there needs to be an immediate cease-fire, as well as the unconditional release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza."
Türk is not the first U.N. official to condemn Israel's deliberate withholding of food aid from Palestinians in Gaza. Last month, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri said that "there is no reason to intentionally block the passage of humanitarian aid or intentionally obliterate small-scale fishing vessels, greenhouses, and orchards in Gaza—other than to deny people access to food."
"Intentionally depriving people of food is clearly a war crime," said Fakhri.
"The U.S. co-owns this outcome and now must apply real leverage ASAP to change course."
In violation of the International Court of Justice's January order, the Israeli military has systematically restricted ground-based aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip and violently attacked crowds seeking out the limited assistance that has been allowed to enter the enclave, fueling the rapid and deadly spread of malnutrition.
The IPC's new report put numbers to what aid groups on the ground in Gaza have been reporting in recent weeks as Israel's bombing and blockade continue with no end in sight. According to the IPC, Gaza's entire population is facing acute food insecurity and "famine is imminent."
Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International and a former U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) official,
wrote on social media Monday that the IPC's report offers "the grimmest analysis" he has "ever seen."
"The famine is now starting," Konyndyk wrote. "Only question at this point is how much more momentum it will be allowed to develop. Every day without a cease-fire at this point will extend the famine further on the back end, costing more lives."
U.S. President Joe Biden "must begin pulling out all the stops to get this contained," Konyndyk added. "The Netanyahu government created this situation as the U.S. continued supplying them with arms and diplomatic cover. The U.S. co-owns this outcome and now must apply real leverage ASAP to change course."
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