It’s official: 2017 was one of the hottest years on record

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It’s official: 2017 was one of the hottest years on record
By Alessandra Potenza@ale_potenza Jan 18, 2018, 1:58pm EST
RE: https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/18/1...ends-nasa-noaa

Last year was either the second- or the third-warmest year on record, depending on whether you ask NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

2017 was the second-hottest year, behind only 2016, according to NASA, which pegs the world’s average temperatures at 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.90 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean. But according to NOAA, 2017 was the third warmest on record, behind 2016 and 2015. The two government agencies ranked 2017 differently because they use slightly different methods to calculate world temperatures.

Despite the difference, the long-term warming trends are very clear, Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said during a press conference. “The overall picture is very, very similar and coherent,” Schmidt said. “We’re in a long-term warming trend.”

Today’s government reports are in clear contrast with what the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has repeatedly claimed. In December, as some parts of the US were experiencing frigid temperatures and record amounts of snow, Trump joked in a tweet that “we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming,” and mocked other countries for working together to tackle climate change as part of the Paris climate deal. In June, Trump announced the US will withdraw from the agreement, making it the only country in the world to reject it.

But at the press conference today, Schmidt reiterated that all the warming we’ve been witnessing in the last 60 years is due to us, in particular the the increasing levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide we’ve been pumping into the atmosphere.

The five hottest years on record have all occurred since 2010, according to both NASA and NOAA. The world has warmed up by 2 degrees Fahrenheit (a bit more than 1 degree Celsius) since 1880. And despite the year-to-year variability due to climate patterns like El Niño, which tends to increase global temperatures, “the long-term trends are very clear,” said Deke Arndt, chief of the monitoring section at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. In fact, 2017 ranked among the hottest years on record, even without an El Niño, which spiked temperatures in 2016.

NOAA’s data indicated that the US specifically had an average temperature of 54.6 degrees Fahrenheit in 2017, ranking it behind 2012 (55.3 degrees Fahrenheit) and 2016 (54.9 degrees Fahrenheit). Last year was also extreme in terms of natural disasters for the US: the country experienced 16 total, including wildfires, droughts, and major hurricanes — which killed at least 362 people. Overall, these weather and climate disasters cost the US a record $306 billion.

Beyond the US, 2017 was the second-warmest year for South America. On January 27th, 2017, thermometers in the Argentinian city of Puerto Madryn hit 110 degrees Fahrenheit (over 43 degrees Celsius), a record high temperature that far south, according to NOAA. The Arctic is also warming up about twice as fast as the rest of the world. As sea ice melts, less sunlight is reflected back into space, retaining even more heat. Sea ice in the Arctic is continuing to disappear: in December 2017, for instance, the extent of Arctic sea ice was the second smallest since records began in 1979. Some areas, mostly in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, saw cooler temperatures on average. But despite regional differences, the world is warming up consistently. “The planet is moving remarkably uniformly,” Schmidt said.

Despite the Trump administration’s stances on climate change, Schmidt and Arndt said that both the NASA and NOAA analyses were conducted “in the exact same way and with the exact same amount of rigor” as previous years. No input was received by the administration.

“NASA and NOAA work on providing the best science that we can and the best analysis that we can,” Schmidt said. “We don’t really get involved in the policy aspects of this.”

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More Institutional Investors Throw Weight Into Fight Against Climate Change
RE: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilv.../#6c74bfc31551

French President Emmanuel Macron is now hosting a climate summit with dozens of world leaders while the largest money managers are putting increasing pressure on some of the biggest polluters. The collective efforts are designed to curb emissions and to increase the transparency into corporate climate strategies.

It is all coming two years after the signing of the Paris climate agreement — the global pact to keep temperature increases in check. To this end, national leaders from across the globe are in meetings in Paris to further those aims, which they hope will result in a solid plan to transfer $100 billion by 2020 to developing nations to provide them the technologies to cut their CO2 emissions.

At the same time, institutional investors that manage trillions in assets are working to persuade companies to pursue socially responsible investments — specifically those that would reduce heat-trapping emissions. In the past, those investors have been effective in getting businesses to listen and to act, albeit the level of commitment has varied depending on corporate missions.


“Moving 100 of the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters to align their business plans with the goals of the Paris Agreement will have considerable ripple effects,” Anne Simpson, Investment Director of Sustainability at the world’s largest institutional investor CalPERS, said. “Our collaborative engagements with the largest emitters will spur actions across all sectors as companies work to avoid being vulnerable to climate risk and left behind.”

Altogether, 225 investors with $26 trillion in assets under management have combined their financial might under the banner of Climate Action 100+. Their message: Companies that focus on the so-called triple bottom line — economics, environment and social — are outperforming other broader indices and they are also demonstrating that they are living their missions and ingraining their brands among their customers.

Among the companies that they hope to persuade are China Petroleum & Chemical Co., Gazprom and Exxon Mobil Corp., which just yesterday said that it will give its shareholders a sharper look inside of its strategy to fight climate change. Calpers said via a telephone conference that companies are being asked to cut their CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050.

The broader context here, of course, is the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, which climate activists have used as a clarion call to get local and national leaders to step up, as well as businesses that want to serve the needs of their constituencies. As such, French President Macron is underscoring his effort to get the private and public sectors to combine to help fund carbon-friendly energy projects across the globe.

“I don’t see any way for this to go backwards,” Maureen Kline of Pirelli, an Italian tire company, told a conference sponsored by Environmental Leader. “If all the regulations were rolled back, they would still be asking us to become more sustainable.”

Now sustainability efforts are going down the supply chain and throughout the investor community, as well as through the big banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley that also finance such efforts. The business case is strong too. It is improving financial performance, driving a competitive advantage, fostering innovation, building customer loyalty, improving risk management and attracting employees, Kline adds, noting that a preponderance of the studies performed show a positive correlation between sustainability efforts and shareholder value.

Consider that PriceWaterHouseCoopers says that 71 percent of businesses say they are planning for sustainable development goals. Meantime, the Global Reporting Initiative says that 82 percent of the 250 largest companies are doing sustainability reporting. There is $22.89 trillion under management in the global sustainable investment market, adds the Global Sustainable Investment Association.

What now? CO2 levels have been falling in the European Union, largely a reflection of less coal generation and more renewable energy use. By 2020, the continent aims to achieve a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions (from 1990 levels,) a 20% increase in renewables and a 20% improvement in energy efficiency. In March, the continent is expected to discuss increasing its CO2 targets to 40% by 2030.

The corporate world, meanwhile, is getting pressured by institutional investors and customers alike. That’s why many companies say they are dedicated to the climate cause regardless of who occupies the White House. Research by Lucid and Urjanet indicates that 73% of businesses expect their commitment to carbon reductions and sustainability to be the same while 21% plan to increase their involvement. Only 7.7% say that they will decrease their commitment.

Addressing climate change is a product of popular expression, low-carbon options and global political leadership, which generally sees the issue as having profound environmental and economic implications. Corporations, too, are trying to appeal to both a climate conscious public and to the money managers who can help their enterprises grow. Deterrents exist. But when political prowess combines with financial might, that’s an even bigger force that could make a difference.