The UK government lost the first legal test of its much-hyped net zero strategy as a London judge ordered that new assessments be published about the plan to strip carbon out of the economy.

The legal challenge was brought by a group of environmental campaigners who called for greater scrutiny of proposals to zero out greenhouse-gas emissions. They argued that government targets were too vague and didn’t comply with Britain’s own climate-change legislation. They said the UK’s proposals for meeting mid-term targets were likely to be inadequate.

“This decision is a breakthrough moment in the fight against climate delay and inaction,” said Sam Hunter Jones, a senior lawyer at ClientEarth, one of the groups that brought the claim. “It forces the government to put in place climate plans that will actually address the crisis.

The leadership candidates for the Conservative Party have all recently faced questions about whether they intend to back the target. Kemi Badenoch became the last of the remaining candidates to accept the 2050 target, according to the Guardian.

In his ruling, Judge David Holgate ordered a report to be published that explained in detail how the country would meet carbon budgets that cap the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions, along the way to 2050. 

The UK Business Department declined to comment immediately. — Bloomberg

Cow manure power station in Japan extends battle to curb methane

A Canadian company has teamed up with the renewable energy arm of Japanese property group Toyo to build one of Japan’s biggest plants to convert cow manure into power, the latest effort to fight the potent effects of methane on global warming.

The facility will anaerobically digest about 250 metric tons of cow manure a day and generate about 1.2 megawatts of energy from biogas — enough to power about 2,200 homes a year, according to Anaergia Inc. 

The firm is designing and installing the plant for Toyo Energy Solution Co. in Kasaoka, a coastal town in southern Japan better known for its seafood and horseshoe crabs.

While Anaergia has built more than 1,700 agricultural waste anaerobic digestion facilities globally, the plant in Kasaoka highlights the increasing focus on mitigating the climate effects of cattle. 

Agriculture and livestock are the biggest contributors from human activity to methane, a potent greenhouse gas with 84 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in the short term. 

From masks that capture methane from bovine burps to seaweed diets that are supposed to limit them, researchers are developing an array of technologies and systems to try to limit emissions from cattle. 

Greater climate transparency is helping drive that shift. Monitoring firm GHGSat Inc. said in April it detected methane emissions from space for the first time from a cattle herd, through its high-resolution satellites. 

The Kasaoka project is Anaergia’s second with Toyo after it built a plant in Yabu City that converts farm and food waste into renewable energy. — Bloomberg

US Senate Democrats urge Biden to declare climate emergency

Two US Senate Democrats urged President Joe Biden on Monday to declare a climate emergency and use the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of a wide range of renewable energy products and systems, including solar panels. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jeff Merkley, speaking days after an effort to advance climate legislation failed in the Senate, also called on Biden to use the White House “bully pulpit” to draw attention to climate-related crises in the United States.

“It is time for the Biden administration to pivot to a very aggressive climate strategy,” Merkley said.

Biden said last week that he would take unspecified steps to reduce climate emissions after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin withdrew support for climate legislation that Democrats had hoped to pass before Congress leaves Washington for its August recess. In the evenly divided Senate, Manchin’s support was critical for the passage of the legislation, which lacked any Republican backing.

Manchin and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had been in talks about $300-billion in tax credits for industries including solar and wind power, carbon capture from power plants, and nuclear power, which generates virtually emissions-free electricity.

Whitehouse said he spoke to the White House about the need to move forward with aggressive executive action, but shared no details. 

“I’ve talked to the White House about going on offence and being aggressive and doing all the things that it is within the executive powers to do that have not so far been done,” he said.

Whitehouse said the conversation tracked his public call for initiatives ranging from tighter carbon regulations for vehicles and power plants to carbon border tariffs and potential federal litigation against the fossil fuel industry.

It was not clear, however, how far the White House could go, after the Supreme Court last month effectively restricted the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing emissions rules involving matters of major “economic and political significance”. — Reuters

Suppressed Australia report shows ‘shocking’ ecological crisis

Australia’s natural environment is in a state of rapid decline as climate change, habitat loss and invasive species destroy ecosystems and native animals, according to a new report. 

The 2021 State of the Environment report released by the government on Tuesday found not a single indicator of Australia’s ecological wellbeing had improved since 2016, with the number of vulnerable and endangered species increasing by 8%.

The study said a failure to address the environmental warning signs, including the threat of climate change, would “result in species extinctions and deteriorating ecosystem conditions, which are reducing the environmental capital on which current and future economies depend”.

Among the ecological areas which were ranked as “deteriorating” in the report prepared by independent experts were Australia’s land and soil quality, inland water supply, native vegetation and water and air quality.

Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek described the report’s findings as “shocking.”

She said the former government, which lost power in a May election, had delayed its release in an attempt to suppress the unflattering findings for as long as possible.

The report was originally presented to former minister Sussan Ley in late 2021, but was not released before the May election. Ley’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg News.

One of the report’s authors, Emma Johnson, deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Sydney, told ABC Radio that Australia had a “biodiversity crisis” and a “climate crisis”, both of which needed urgent action from the government and the community.

Johnson said the decision by the former government to delay the release of the report by seven months had delayed “action by seven months”.

In the report, the authors recommended taking more rapid action on climate change and collaborating more closely with indigenous Australian communities. In addition, the report’s authors called for a nationwide framework to help coordinate on environmental issues. — Bloomberg

As Britain swelters, UN warns of worsening heat waves to at least 2060

Climate change-driven heat events that pushed UK temperatures to record highs on Tuesday will become more frequent and intense for decades to come, the head of the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation said. 

“The negative-trending climate will persist until at least 2060,” Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the WMO said at a briefing in Geneva.

 “These heat waves are becoming more frequent because of climate change,” he added, blaming the volume of carbon dioxide already emitted. 

The UN official likened the climate situation to an athlete enhancing their performance with illegal drugs.

“We have been doping our atmosphere by injecting more carbon dioxide,” Taalas said. 

The WMO as well as the World Health Organization said they were expecting increasing pressure on health systems and more casualties due to the current heat wave in Europe that has boosted temperatures from France to the UK, where thermometers reached 40°C on Tuesday for the first time. 

Last year, Europe recorded its highest temperature yet, 48.8°C in Sicily, Italy. Heat records were also broken in Spain, Turkey and Canada last year and the WMO expects more record temperatures soon.

The more frequent heat events should be a “wake-up call” for governments and voters, the WMO chief said. Policies should encourage climate change mitigation that would help cities better adapt to higher temperatures, reducing fossil fuels and eating less meat, the UN officials said.

Higher temperatures are already affecting food production with crop damage as well as medical emergencies. The elderly, young and pregnant women are most at risk, the WHO said. — Bloomberg DM