Ever-higher average global temperatures mean more intense extreme heat over ever-wider regions. When the planet becomes on average 1.5°C warmer than it was for most of human history, then for two out of every three years, one-fourth of the northern hemisphere will experience the kind of blistering heat waves recorded in 2018. And should planetary average temperatures creep up by 2°C – the maximum proposed by 195 nations at the global climate conference in Paris in 2015 – then the probability rises to 100%. That is, extreme heat over a large area of the hemisphere will be guaranteed every summer.
Climate News Network 17th April 2019 read more »
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old who inspired thousands of school children to take action on climate change, has told Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to forget Brexit and focus on climate change.
BBC 17th April 2019 read more »
Climate change activists glued themselves to a train and others chained themselves to Jeremy Corbyn’s home in a third day of protests. Extinction Rebellion protesters have been blocking traffic at Marble Arch, Waterloo Bridge, Parliament Square and Oxford Circus since Monday. Earlier, three activists were glued to a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) train at Canary Wharf, causing minor delays. Four people also glued themselves together at the Labour leader’s home. The activists, who also used a bike lock to attach themselves to Mr Corbyn’s north London house, said they supported him but wanted the Labour Party to go further than declaring a “climate emergency”.
BBC 17th April 2019 read more »
Demonstrators who chained themselves to Jeremy Corbyn’s garden fence were left tearful when he declined to speak to them outside his home. Four Labour activists attached themselves to a fence yesterday in front of their party leader’s home in Islington, north London, using bike locks and superglue. They had travelled from Stroud in Gloucestershire to take part in the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations. They had been outside his home for two hours when Mr Corbyn and his wife, Laura Alvarez, came out. According to the activists, he left without speaking to them and declined their gift of chocolates in a paper bag marked “Jeremy’s love hamper”. Two of them appeared tearful after Mr Corbyn and his wife left. Skeena Rathor, 42, a Labour councillor from Stroud, told The Times: “I felt embarrassed. I felt sad. That’s it.” She said Ms Alvarez had told them “to give the chocolates to homeless kids”. Ms Rathor said: “We’re trying to bring attention to the climate emergency.”
Times 18th April 2019 read more »
Scotland Yard issued warnings yesterday that officers’ leave may be cancelled over the weekend as some protesters already arrested went back to join other activists. Police said that more than 100 individuals were arrested on Wednesday, bringing the total to nearly 400. Katerina Hasapopoulos, who was arrested on Monday for criminal damage to Shell’s building on the South Bank of the Thames, went back to Waterloo Bridge yesterday. “I’m here because this is vitally important — we are facing an unprecedented emergency and we need to take emergency action,” she said. “I left my three children, all under six, at home with their father to do this, because their future depends on it.”
Times 18th April 2019 read more »
The heads of two major central banks have written a stark warning about the financial risks of climate change. Bank of England governor Mark Carney and France’s François Villeroy de Galhau set out the dangers to the global economy in an open letter. “If some companies and industries fail to adjust to this new world, they will fail to exist,” they wrote. The letter was co-signed by the chair of the climate-focused Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS). The NGFS is a coalition of 34 central banks which was formed in 2017, with the Bank of England as a founding member. It released its first major report into climate-related financial risks on 17 April.
BBC 17th April 2019 read more »
Edie 17th April 2019 read more »
Climate change protests will become much more commonplace, according to the head of one of Europe’s biggest ethical investment funds. The warning coincides with the arrest of nearly 300 people in London this week amid huge protests against climate change. Nordea Bank’s Sasja Beslik told the BBC the protests were “just the beginning”. People who were worried about climate change did not feel that had many other “tools” at their disposal, he said. Mr Beslik is in charge of sustainable finance at Nordea, one of the biggest banks in Europe, and the third largest corporation in the Nordic region of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
BBC 17th April 2019 read more »
