Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Industry and Business News .




CLIMATE SCIENCE
Climate: World failing to meet 2C target, say analysts
By Mariette LE ROUX, Marlowe HOOD
Bonn (AFP) Sept 2, 2015


Indonesia to cut emission by 29 percent in 2030
Jakarta (AFP) Sept 2, 2015 - Indonesia has unveiled an ambitious new target for reducing carbon emissions, promising to slash its greenhouse gas output by 29 percent by 2030, the government said Wednesday.

The increased commitment by one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters will be officially submitted to the United Nations later this month ahead of a major climate change summit in December.

"We have reached the decision to reduce (emissions) by 29 percent by 2030," environment and forestry minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar told reporters.

The pledge goes beyond Indonesia's 2009 agreement to slash emissions by 26 percent -- or 41 percent with international assistance -- by 2020.

The final draft submission states Indonesia has set aside 12.7 million hectares (31.4 million acres) of forest for conservation to help realise its target. The government also hopes to derive nearly a quarter of its vast energy needs from renewable sources within a decade.

"Beyond 2020, Indonesia envisions an even bolder commitment to emission reductions," said the draft submission distributed by the ministry.

Indonesia, along with several other emissions-intensive economies, had been under pressure to submit its target before the UN climate summit in Paris.

"The Indonesia baseline uses the business as usual scenario of emission projections starting in 2010, based on historical trajectory (2000-2010), projected increases in the energy sector, and the absence of mitigation actions," the submission says.

It is hoped that a new pact to cut global emissions applicable to all countries will be hammered out at the long-awaited conference.

Extra CO2 a boon to plants, but only at low temperatures
Perth, Australia (UPI) Sep 2, 2015 - Phytoplankton are plant-like microorganisms that serve as the foundation for many marine food chains. Like plants, phytoplankton covert sunlight into chemical energy and carbon dioxide into oxygen.

Logic suggests that more CO2 would be advantageous to phytoplankton. But a new study in the Arctic Ocean suggests growing levels of carbon dioxide offer a boost only at low temperatures.

According to researchers at the University of Western Australia, rising CO2 concentrations in Arctic waters are having a positive effect on phytoplankton growth -- but that effect fades as water temperatures rise.

"This influx of CO2 could benefit primary producers, but we cannot forget that the temperature of the Arctic Ocean is also increasing almost three times faster than global temperatures," Lara Garcia-Corral, a researcher with UWA's Oceans Institute and School of Plant Biology, explained in a press release. "With the advent of the summer, when the temperature increases, the fertilizing effect of carbon dioxide diminishes to nothing and the ability of phytoplankton to capture CO2 decreases."

Even though CO2's plant-boosting effects may be limited to specific temperature ranges, researchers say it's important to better understand the interplay between plant communities and the changing ratios of chemicals in the atmosphere and ocean.

"These changes have a significant impact on ecosystems and the regulation of CO2," Garcia-Corral said. "Therefore, they are fundamental to elaborate projections of future impacts of climate change."

The work of Garcia-Corral and her colleagues is detailed in the latest issue of the journal of Nature Climate Change.

Inadequate national targets for curbing climate-altering greenhouse gases meant emissions would be "far above" the level required to stave off disastrous global warming, analysts warned Wednesday.

Instead of the UN-targeted ceiling of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels, the world was on track for 2.9-3.1 C by 2100, according to the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), a tool developed by a consortium of four research organisations.

"The climate targets so far submitted to the UN by governments collectively lead to global emissions far above the levels needed to hold warming to below 2 C," said a CAT statement.

Fifty-six governments have submitted pledges, known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or INDCs, that will form the backbone of a universal climate-rescue pact to be inked in Paris in December.

Including major emitters China, the United States and the 28-member European Union, pledges so far cover some 65 percent of global emissions, and 43 percent of the world population.

To stay under the 2 C threshold, which scientists say is necessary to avoid catastrophic impacts, greenhouse gas emissions would have to drop from about 50 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e) per year today, to 39-43 GtCO2e in 2025 and 36-45 GtCO2e in 2030, according to the CAT.

- Goal 'almost infeasible' -

"The current INDCs lead to emissions levels that exceed the benchmark 2 C limit by 12-15 GtCO2e in 2025, and 17-21 GtCO2e in 2030," said the CAT statement.

Current pledges for 2030 would make the 2 C goal "almost infeasible", it found.

Rather, they would result in temperature increases closer to "2.9-3.1 C by 2100," Bill Hare of Climate Analytics, a CAT contributor, told AFP.

The authors said the current level of ambition should not be locked into the long-awaited Paris agreement -- the first that will commit all the world's nations to slashing CO2 and other planet-harming greenhouse gases.

It was important that the pact include wording on narrowing the gap between what is needed and what has been promised, they warned, as diplomats met in Bonn for the penultimate round of negotiations before the crucial November 30-December 11 Paris conference.

But the negotiators themselves expressed frustration Wednesday at their halting progress, with just seven official negotiating days left before they head for the French capital.

Instead of line-by-line revision of the text, still over 80 pages long and littered with contradictory proposals, the Bonn session had seen "conceptual discussions, going around in circles," Amjad Abdulla of the Maldives, who speaks for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) told AFP.

"I wonder if there will be any progress to report back at home," added Samuel Adejuwon of Nigeria.

If not, he told a special stock-taking plenary, "it might be difficult for me to justify sending delegates here again in October."

- 'Inadequate' ratings -

Of the 15 INDCs assessed by CAT, seven were rated "inadequate" -- those of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Russia.

Six were rated "medium" -- those of China, the EU, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland and the United States.

Only two, those of Ethiopia and Morocco, were "sufficient" in line with the 2 C goal.

"Most governments that have already submitted an INDC need to review their targets in light of the global goal and, in most cases, will need to strengthen them," said Niklas Hoehne of NewClimate Institute, another CAT contributor.

"Those still working on their targets need to ensure they aim as high as possible."

The ten highest emitters yet to submit INDCs are India, Brazil, Iran, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Pakistan, which together account for 18 percent of global emissions.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








CLIMATE SCIENCE
Obama tours glacier to highlight march of climate change
Kenai Fjords National Park, United States (AFP) Sept 1, 2015
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday viewed Alaska's Exit Glacier, in a bid to drive home the impact climate change is already having on America. Obama visited the Kenai Fjords National Park in southern Alaska, where he stood against the backdrop of the vast, but receding, Exit Glacier. He pointed to signposts marking the glacier's retreat since 1815. "This is as good of a signpost o ... read more


CLIMATE SCIENCE
Using ultrathin sheets to discover new class of wrapped shapes

Smallest 3-D Camera Offers Brain Surgery Innovation

Scientists from NTU Singapore find electrifying solution to sticky problem

Combined disciplines, computational programs determine atomic structure

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Harris delivers Falcon tactical radios

DLS providing equipment for networked communications

Army funds testing of upgrade to communications system

General Dynamics delivering more digital modular radios to Navy

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Preparations with both passengers ongoing at Kourou

Countdown for Indian rocket GSLV launch to begin on August 26

Galileo satellites are "topped off" for Arianespace's upcoming Soyuz launch

ARSAT-2 arrives in French Guiana

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Denali, tallest peak in N.America, loses 10 feet

Russian Defense Ministry to use updated GLONASS GPS by 2016

Nicaragua to Host Russian GPS-Equivalent Ground Stations

Alibaba joins China arms maker to offer location services

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Newest China flight disturbance: fighting pilots

Britain seeks re-manufacture of attack helicopters

U.S. Navy orders more P-8A Poseidon aircraft

Bulgaria to repair its Soviet-built MiG-29 jets in Poland

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Superlattice design realizes elusive multiferroic properties

A little light interaction leaves quantum physicists beaming

SK Hynix to invest $38 billion over 10 years

'Quantum dot' technology may help light the future

CLIMATE SCIENCE
First global antineutrino emission map highlights Earth's energy budget

Russia to Develop Earth Remote-Sensing Satellite System for Iran

Sentinel-1A watching Jakobshavn glacier in action

Putting NASA Earth Data to Work

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Large parks key to city success

Lebanon activists step up campaign, occupy environment ministry

Millions of plastic particles exist in cosmetic products

Discarded electronics within Europe equals 10X volume of e-waste exported




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.