China reports record temperature for mid-July at 52.2C

BEIJING, China - China on Monday said the mercury hit 52.2 degrees Celsius (126 degrees Fahrenheit) in the northwest of the country over the weekend, setting a record for mid-July.

A weather station in the Xinjiang region's Sanbao village "recorded a temperature peak of 52.2 degrees Celsius at 19:00 on July 16, breaking the historic heat record for the same period of the year", the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said in a statement.

The previous record of 50.6C was set in July 2017, according to the statement.

Xin Xin, an analyst working for the CMA, said in post on his verified Weibo account that 52.2C was the "highest measured temperature at a regional station in our country that I have ever seen".

Sanbao lies on the outskirts of Turpan city, where authorities have told workers and students to stay home and ordered special vehicles to spray water on major thoroughfares, the meteorological body said.

Ground surface temperatures reached 80C in parts of Turpan on Sunday, according to the statement.

The Northern Hemisphere has endured record-setting summer heat waves in recent weeks, which scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.

Chinese authorities have warned of extreme weather and "multiple natural disasters" this summer.

Agence France-Presse

Climate crisis to reshape finance: BlackRock CEO

Laurence D. Fink, the founder and chief executive of BlackRock, announced Tuesday that his firm would make investment decisions with environmental sustainability as a core goal.

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager with nearly $7 trillion in investments, and this move will fundamentally shift its investing policy — and could reshape how corporate America does business and put pressure on other large money managers to follow suit.

Fink’s annual letter to the chief executives of the world’s largest companies is closely watched, and in the 2020 edition he said BlackRock would begin to exit certain investments that “present a high sustainability-related risk,” such as those in coal producers. His intent is to encourage every company, not just energy firms, to rethink their carbon footprints.

“Awareness is rapidly changing, and I believe we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance,” Fink wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times. “The evidence on climate risk is compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about modern finance.”

The firm, he wrote, would also introduce new funds that shun fossil fuel-oriented stocks, move more aggressively to vote against management teams that are not making progress on sustainability, and press companies to disclose plans “for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized.”

Fink has not always been the first to address social issues, but his annual letter — such as his dictum 2 years ago that companies needed to have a purpose beyond profits — has the influence to change the conversations inside boardrooms around the globe.

And now Fink is sounding an alarm on a crisis that he believes is the most profound in his 40 years in finance. “Even if only a fraction of the science is right today, this is a much more structural, long-term crisis,” he wrote.

A longtime Democrat, Fink insisted in an interview that the decision was strictly business. “We are fiduciaries,” he said. “Politics isn’t part of this.”

BlackRock itself has come under criticism from both industry and environmental groups for being behind on pushing these issues. Just last month, a British hedge fund manager, Christopher Hohn, said that it was “appalling” of BlackRock not to require companies to disclose their sustainability efforts, and that the firm’s previous efforts had been “full of greenwash.”

Climate activists staged several protests outside BlackRock’s offices last year, and Fink himself has received letters from members of Congress urging more action on climate-related investing. According to Ceres and FundVotes, a unit of Morningstar, BlackRock had among the worst voting records on climate issues.

In recent years, many companies and investors have committed to focusing on the environmental impact of business, but none of the largest investors in the country have been willing to make it a central component of their investment strategy.

In that context, Fink’s move is a watershed — one that could spur a national conversation among financiers and policymakers. However, it’s also possible that some of the most ardent climate activists will see it as falling short.

Even so, the new approach may put pressure on the other large money managers and financial firms in the United States — Vanguard, T. Rowe Price and JPMorgan Chase, among them — to articulate more ambitious strategies around sustainability.

When 631 investors from around the world, representing some $37 trillion in assets, signed a letter last month calling on governments to step up their efforts against climate change, the biggest US firms were conspicuously absent.

BlackRock’s decision may give CEOs license to change their own companies’ strategy and focus more on sustainability, even if doing so cuts into short-term profits. Such a shift could also provide cover for banks and other financial institutions that finance carbon-emitting businesses to change their own policies.

Had Fink moved a decade ago to pull BlackRock’s funds out of companies that contribute to climate change, his clients would have been well served. In the past 10 years, companies in the S&P 500 energy sector had gained just 2 percent in total. In the same period, the broader S&P 500 nearly tripled.

In an interview, Fink said the decision developed from conversations with “business leaders and how they’re thinking about it, talking to different scientists, reading different research.” Fink asked BlackRock to research the economic impacts of climate change; it found that they are already appearing in a meaningful way in the form of higher insurance premiums, for fires and floods, and expects cities to have to pay more for their bonds.

Wherever he goes, he said, he is bombarded with climate questions from investors, often to the exclusion of issues that until recently were once considered more important. “Climate change is almost invariably the top issue that clients around the world raise with BlackRock,” he wrote in his letter.

He wrote that he anticipated a major shift, much sooner than many might imagine, in the way money will be allocated.

“This dynamic will accelerate as the next generation takes the helm of government and business,” he wrote. “As trillions of dollars shift to millennials over the next few decades, as they become CEOs and CIOs, as they become the policymakers and heads of state, they will further reshape the world’s approach to sustainability.”

While BlackRock makes its green push, the Trump administration is going in the opposite direction, repealing and weakening laws aimed at protecting the environment and promoting sustainability. Indeed, Fink’s effort appeared to be another example of the private sector pressing on issues that the White House has abandoned.

Still, Fink made plain that while he intends for the firm to consider climate risks, he would not pursue an across-the-board sale of energy companies that produce fossil fuels. Because of its sheer size, BlackRock will remain one of the world’s largest investors in fossil-fuel companies.

“Despite recent rapid advances in technology, the science does not yet exist to replace many of today’s essential uses of hydrocarbons,” he wrote. “We need to be mindful of the economic, scientific, social and political realities of the energy transition.”

BlackRock manages money for countries across the globe as well as US states and municipalities. It could face opposition for its new stance in areas that benefit from fossil fuels, like Middle East countries or states where oil has become a significant part of their economies.

Fink said that because much of the money BlackRock manages is invested in passive index funds like those that track the S&P 500, the firm was unable to simply sell shares in companies that it felt were not focused on sustainability. But he did say that the firm could do so in what are known as “actively managed funds,” in which BlackRock can choose which stocks are included.

BlackRock also plans to offer new passive funds — including target-date funds that are based on a person’s age and are meant to be used to prepare for retirement — that will not include fossil fuel companies. Investors will be able to choose these instead of more traditional funds. To the extent that fossil fuel companies are in an index, BlackRock plans to push them to consider their eventual transition to renewable energy. Fink said the company would vote against them if they are not moving fast enough.

“We will be increasingly disposed to vote against management and board directors when companies are not making sufficient progress on sustainability-related disclosures and the business practices and plans underlying them,” he wrote.


2020 The New York Times Company

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'They told people not to come': Australia's bushfires ravage tourism industry

SYDNEY - Pillars of fire and smoke from bushfires are tarnishing Australia's reputation for pristine vistas abounding in wildlife and wreaking havoc on tourism, operators said, as authorities are forced to cancel concerts, close parks and evacuate towns.

The smoke has shrouded entire cities and driven air quality to unhealthy levels, with at least 10 people dying in the fires in the past week, while colonies of animals such as koalas and flying foxes have been destroyed.

"Seeing all the images of fires on television and social media is not going to help, it puts a dent in Australia's reputation as a safe tourist destination," said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital.

"It's come at a time when the economy was already fragile," he added, ranking tourism as Australia's fourth biggest export whose strength officials had been counting on to help offset a domestic reluctance to spend.

Bushfires burning for weeks near the world heritage site of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney in the southeastern state of New South Wales have driven away tourists.

As visitors take to social media to warn others to steer clear, the number of busloads of tourists each day has fallen to about 4 from 15 or 20, said Stacey Reynolds, a receptionist at the Blue Mountains Backpacker Hostel in Katoomba.

"They told people not to come in and it's affected everything, from restaurants to motels to backpackers to cafes," she added. "The streets are empty."

Although there is no published nationwide data on tourism since the fires took hold in late spring, Australia attracted 2.71 million holiday makers last summer, up 3.2 percent from the previous year, as many fled the northern hemisphere winter.

Hotels in the largest city of Sydney saw a fall of 10 percent in guest numbers in December, the Accommodation Association of Australia said.

"The fires and the smoke have had a real brand and reputational damage in Sydney," added its chief executive, Dean Long.

The train and cable network of Scenic World in the Blue Mountains had 50,000 fewer visitors in December, down 50 percent from last year, Chief Experience Officer Amanda Byrne said.

Scenic World was open, but the hotels around the area are having more cancellations than bookings, she said.

Government agency Tourism Australia, which released a new advertisement last month to lure Britons to beautiful beaches and stunning scenery, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The scorching temperatures and bushfires, which have also burnt vineyards in South Australia and warmed the usually cool island state of Tasmania, will hit the sector hard, said Judith Mair, who studies tourism, environment and consumer behavior.

"It will be in stages - immediately with evacuations, dislocations and cancellations, but also in the longer term, because tourists buy holidays based on the image of a destination and Australia's is being badly affected," said Mair, a professor at the University of Queensland Business School.

Hundreds of national parks in the southeastern states of New South Wales and Victoria, thronged by 100 million visitors a year, have closed.

With fires burning nearby, Christopher Warren, co-proprietor of a bed and breakfast in Kangaroo Valley in New South Wales, said he had to evacuate his guests.

"The worst-case scenario is that we would be hit by a fire and our business would be destroyed," said Warren, who saw the best case as a loss of income exceeding A$80,000 ($56,048), through the disruption of 3 of his busiest months.

Paul Mackie, who uses AirBnB to rent out an apartment on Sydney's Bondi Beach to British and European tourists in the peak summer holiday period was hit by last-minute cancellations.

"I had bookings for the whole of this period going for the next couple of months, but a lot have cancelled because they said they saw the news of the fires," Mackie added.

AirBnB declined to comment.

A Sydney airport spokesman said it did not have recent statistics on whether the fires were hitting arrival. A Qantas spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the wildfires had hurt bookings.

The fires have spotlighted Australia's environment policies, criticized most recently at a UN summit in Madrid, said Susanne Becken, a professor of sustainable tourism at Griffith University in Queensland.

"The government's response to the climate crisis does not bode well...and this is not good for tourism," Becken said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Sit-down strike for climate

Red Rebels from Extinction Rebellion are seen during a School Strike for Climate Australia (SS4C) 'Solidarity Sit-down' outside of the office of the Liberal Party of Australia in Sydney, Australia on Friday. The event is part of a series of strikes in cities across Australia to protest outside the offices of politicians and fossil fuel companies.

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Sydney gasps for air as Australia bushfire smoke reaches record levels

MELBOURNE - The Australian state of New South Wales is gasping under the worst levels of air pollution recorded as smoke from widespread bushfires causes a spike in hospital visits and hazards including poor visibility for drivers.

Sydney, the country's most populous city, woke up to a thick haze, and blood red sun, for the fourth consecutive day on Friday, even as a cooler change brought some relief for firefighters battling scores of wildfires across the country's southeast.

The bushfires have pushed the harbor city into a rare appearance this week in the top 10 cities with the worst air pollution in the world. Having reached as high as No. 8, Sydney was sitting at No. 10 on the Air Visual global rankings on Friday morning, above Jakarta and Shenzhen, and just below Mumbai and Kolkata.

The crisis has put pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison, with critics saying he had not done enough to address the impact of climate change on Australia.

"The impacts of the ongoing drought and recent bushfires have led to some of the highest levels of air pollutants recorded in New South Wales since air quality monitoring began during the millennium drought," a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Planning, Industry and Environment said in an email.

Workers heading into the city and children going to school donned masks to deal with the hazardous air quality while 55 bush and grass fires still burned across the state after 2 weeks.

The smoke haze brought with it particulate pollution, which can be absorbed into the bloodstream, a danger that the NSW Health Ministry said had resulted in rising numbers of people showing up at hospital emergency departments.

In some areas of NSW and South Australia state, officials were advising motorists to take care while driving because of reduced visibility.

CLIMATE POLITICS

Bushfires are not unusual in Australia but the fire season has begun much earlier than usual, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees C (104°F) well ahead of the start of the southern summer and high winds hitting a landscape that has been parched by 3 years of drought.

Bushfires have already left at least 4 people dead and destroyed more than 400 homes across 2 states since the start of November. Fires are still burning in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland states.

"We have a long way to go," Victoria Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said on Australian Broadcasting Corp television.

Morrison on Friday again rejected any links between the fires and his conservative government's policies, including support for the coal industry.

"The suggestion that Australia, by having some trade-off where we could have higher emissions reduction targets, which would destroy jobs in regional communities, if we did that, then we wouldn't be having these fires. That is just not true," Morrison told 3AW radio.

Morrison's conservative government has committed to the Paris Agreement to reduce its emissions by 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. Critics point out that current projections suggest it will not meet that target and have called on the government to put in place policies to address the shortfall.

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Death toll in Australia bushfires rises to 4

SYDNEY - The death toll from devastating bushfires in eastern Australia has risen to four after a man's body was discovered in a scorched area of bushland, police said Thursday.

Residents found the body outside the New South Wales town of Kempsey, one of several areas hit by bushfires in recent days.

Police said formal identification was yet to take place but it was believed to be the body of a 58-year-old man who lived in a shed. He was last seen on Friday.

Three others have perished in bushfires in New South Wales, the state worst affected by fires that broke out along the eastern seaboard late last week.

Hundreds of houses have been damaged or destroyed and more than one million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land burnt in the blazes.

Tough conditions were expected to flare again in Queensland and New South Wales at the weekend as the temperature rises and winds pick up.

More than 100 blazes were burning on Thursday but a respite from "catastrophic" conditions has seen the danger from many fires downgraded and residents returning to sift through the remains of their homes.

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Not so 'Welcome to Venice'

A tourist pushes her floating luggage in a flooded St. Mark's Square, in Venice, Wednesday. 85% of the city was flooded, the high-water mark hitting 187 centimeters (74 inches) late Tuesday, inching close to the highest level ever recorded was 194 centimeters (76 inches) during infamous flooding in 1966. 

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Bushfires ravage Australia

Sharnie Moren and her 18-month-old daughter Charlotte look on as thick smoke rises from bushfires near Nana Glen, near Coffs Harbour, Australia, on Tuesday. Queensland and New South Wales have recently declared a state of emergency as fires raged in Australia’s eastern region, killing three and destroying more than 150 homes. 

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2 dead, at least 100 homes lost in Australia bushfires

SYDNEY -- At least two people have died and 100 homes have been destroyed as an unprecedented number of bushfires tore through eastern Australia Saturday.

New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian also said seven people were unaccounted for, as firefighters tried to contain dozens of out-of-control blazes that have raged in the state since Friday.

"I'm sorry to say that number can increase during the day," she said of the death toll, adding that despite some respite Saturday, next week's weather forecast "could mean we're not through the worst of it."

Emergency services said they had found the remains of one person in a car and another woman died despite medics struggling for several hours to save her.

"At this stage, it appears at least 100 homes have been destroyed in yesterday's bush fires," the fire service said in an update early Saturday.

More than 30 people have been injured, most of them firefighters.

Almost 100 blazes pockmarked the New South Wales and Queensland countryside -- although just five of them remained highly dangerous.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the large number of fires was "incredibly concerning." He urged residents to "stay safe" and "listen to emergency services."

"I'm getting regular updates and we stand ready to offer any assistance needed," he tweeted.

Firefighters had warned they were in "uncharted territory" as they deployed 1,200 firefighters and 70 aircraft across a roughly 1,000-kilometer stretch of the seaboard.

Bushfires are common in Australia and a vast corps of firefighters had already been tackling sporadic blazes for months in the lead-up to the southern hemisphere summer.

But this is a dramatic start to what scientists predict will be a tough fire season ahead -- with climate change and unfavourable weather cycles helping create a tinderbox of strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures.

While conditions eased markedly in some areas and the forecast was downgraded from "extreme" to "high" or "very high" Saturday, a total fire ban remained in place in many areas and further high winds were predicted.

'We can't get to everyone' 

Firefighters had described the conditions Friday as "difficult" and "dangerous". 

"Unfortunately, many people have called for help but due to the size and speed of the fires we couldn't get to everyone, even by road or helicopter," New South Wales firefighters said.

In some areas, residents were stuck and told to simply "seek shelter as it is too late to leave."

Local radio stopped normal programming and provided instructions about how to try to survive fires if trapped at home or in a vehicle.

Across the central coast smoke could be seen billowing high into the sky and residents took to social media to post photos and videos of smoke-laden tangerine skies and flames engulfing stories-tall eucalypts within sight of their homes.

Authorities said some of the fires were creating their own weather conditions -- pyrocumulus clouds that enveloped entire towns.

Meanwhile, high winds flung embers and burnt debris far ahead of the fires' front lines, depositing the dangerous detritus on the balconies and front yards of unsuspecting residents.

Despite easing conditions, a prolonged drought and low humidity levels will continue to make circumstances combustible. 

Earlier this month some of the same fires cloaked Sydney in hazardous smoke for days, giving the city a higher concentration of particles per million than cities like Bangkok, Jakarta or Hong Kong. 

Swathes of Australia have gone months without adequate rainfall, forcing farmers to truck in water at exorbitant cost, sell off livestock or leave their land to lay fallow.

On Wednesday, Morrison's climate-skeptic government announced a package of low-cost loans worth around A$1 billion (US$690 million), designed to help drought-stricken farmers struggling with the latest "big dry."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

2 dead, at least 100 homes lost in Australia bushfires

SYDNEY, Australia – At least two people have died and 100 homes have been destroyed as an unprecedented number of bushfires tore through eastern Australia Saturday.

New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian also said seven people were unaccounted for, as firefighters tried to contain dozens of out-of-control blazes that have raged in the state since Friday.

"I'm sorry to say that number can increase during the day," she said of the death toll, adding that despite some respite Saturday, next week's weather forecast "could mean we're not through the worst of it."

Emergency services said they had found the remains of one person in a car and another woman died despite medics struggling for several hours to save her.

"At this stage, it appears at least 100 homes have been destroyed in yesterday's bush fires," the fire service said in an update early Saturday.

More than 30 people have been injured, most of them firefighters.

Almost 100 blazes pockmarked the New South Wales and Queensland countryside -- although just five of them remained highly dangerous.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the large number of fires was "incredibly concerning." He urged residents to "stay safe" and "listen to emergency services."

"I'm getting regular updates and we stand ready to offer any assistance needed," he tweeted.

Firefighters had warned they were in "uncharted territory" as they deployed 1,200 firefighters and 70 aircraft across a roughly 1,000-kilometer stretch of the seaboard.

Bushfires are common in Australia and a vast corps of firefighters had already been tackling sporadic blazes for months in the lead-up to the southern hemisphere summer.

But this is a dramatic start to what scientists predict will be a tough fire season ahead -- with climate change and unfavorable weather cycles helping create a tinderbox of strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures.

While conditions eased markedly in some areas and the forecast was downgraded from "extreme" to "high" or "very high" Saturday, a total fire ban remained in place in many areas and further high winds were predicted.

'WE CAN'T GET TO EVERYONE'

Firefighters had described the conditions Friday as "difficult" and "dangerous."

"Unfortunately, many people have called for help but due to the size and speed of the fires we couldn't get to everyone, even by road or helicopter," New South Wales firefighters said.

In some areas, residents were stuck and told to simply "seek shelter as it is too late to leave."

Local radio stopped normal programming and provided instructions about how to try to survive fires if trapped at home or in a vehicle.

Across the central coast smoke could be seen billowing high into the sky and residents took to social media to post photos and videos of smoke-laden tangerine skies and flames engulfing stories-tall eucalypts within sight of their homes.

Authorities said some of the fires were creating their own weather conditions -- pyrocumulus clouds that enveloped entire towns.

Meanwhile, high winds flung embers and burnt debris far ahead of the fires' front lines, depositing the dangerous detritus on the balconies and front yards of unsuspecting residents.

Despite easing conditions, a prolonged drought and low humidity levels will continue to make circumstances combustible.

Earlier this month some of the same fires cloaked Sydney in hazardous smoke for days, giving the city a higher concentration of particles per million than cities like Bangkok, Jakarta or Hong Kong.

Swathes of Australia have gone months without adequate rainfall, forcing farmers to truck in water at exorbitant cost, sell off livestock or leave their land to lay fallow.

On Wednesday, Morrison's climate-skeptic government announced a package of low-cost loans worth around 1 billion Australian dollars (US$690 million), designed to help drought-stricken farmers struggling with the latest "big dry."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

To save climate, tax carbon at $75 per ton: IMF

WASHINGTON — The world's biggest carbon polluting nations should jointly agree to tax emissions at $75 per ton in the next decade to keep climate change at safe levels, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.

The global crisis lender's call for immediate action confronts a policy dilemma that has left major economies rife with discord in recent years as they battle to prevent catastrophic warming of the planet.

"Carbon taxes are the most powerful and efficient tools but only if they are implemented in a fair and growth-friendly way," IMF researchers said in a blog post.

After violent protests last year, France suspended plans to raise carbon taxes beyond $50 per ton. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has moved to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris Agreement and some American lawmakers have advanced a "Green New Deal" to invest in de-carbonizing the economy.

The report was released ahead of next week's annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank at which newly installed IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva is expected to urge member countries to action.

A COMMON APPROACH

Taxing emissions -- raising the cost of carbon-intensive energy for electricity, travel, manufacturing, shipping and food -- is the most efficient way to prevent global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, the goal set in the Paris accord, according to the IMF research published Thursday.

While the current global average cost is $2 per ton, a coordinated increase to $75 by 2030 among the largest emitters in the Group of 20 economies would be the most likely to succeed.

A common approach would prevent "free-rider" countries from benefiting from reforms made by other nations and allow industries within countries to remain competitive with those in other nations, the report said.

But IMF researchers acknowledge the daunting and unequal costs this could impose.

Coal prices would more than triple. Electricity would shoot up by more than 30 percent in Canada and by between 70 and 90 percent in Australia. Gasoline prices would rise by between five and 15 percent in most countries, according to the report.

But environmental benefits would more than offset such costs -- by 2030, a $75 per ton tax would prevent an estimated 725,000 premature air pollution deaths, mainly in China, according to the report.

And consumers and firms eager to keep costs will have an immediate incentive to avoid emissions and invest in cleaner energy.

Tax revenues could be used to make such changes politically acceptable: targeted assistance to poor and vulnerable households, displaced workers and regions hit disproportionately by the transition.

Offsetting cuts to payroll and income taxes, combined with dividends to the public, could make the transition more politically palatable, the report said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Teenage climate activist Thunberg takes on Trump's Twitter taunt

UNITED NATIONS - Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg shot back at on Tuesday at U.S. President Donald Trump's attempt to mock her on Twitter by changing her profile on the social media site to reflect Trump's taunting remark.

Late on Monday Trump retweeted a clip of the 16-year-old's speech to a United Nations climate summit in which she angrily denounced world leaders for failing to tackle climate change by demanding: "How dare you?"

Trump, 73, commented: "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!"

By Tuesday Thunberg shot back, changing her Twitter biography to: "A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future."

A Reuters video of Thunberg glaring at Trump as he entered the United Nations in New York on Monday went viral on social media. Trump has questioned climate science and has challenged every major U.S. regulation aimed at combating climate change.


Thunberg started missing school on Fridays a year ago to protest for climate action outside the Swedish parliament, inspiring millions of children and sparking a global climate strike movement known as Fridays for Future.

On Tuesday, the hashtags #GretaThunbergOutdidTrump and #BeBest were trending in the United States. Be Best Melania Trump's campaign against cyber bullying.

Thunberg is in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the few people whose nomination has become known before the awards ceremony. She is the bookmakers' favorite to win the prize next month.

Trump has made the case that he deserves to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and commented again on Monday when asked about the topic.

"I think I'm going to get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly, which they don't," Trump said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Schoolchildren throng streets in vast global climate strike

NEW YORK, United States—Huge numbers of children skipped school Friday to join a global strike against climate change that teen activist Greta Thunberg hopes will mark a turning point in persuading leaders to act against environmental disaster.

Chanting slogans and waving placards, youngsters and adults filled the streets of cities across the world in what was expected to be the biggest ever protest against the threat posed to the planet by warming temperatures.

Demonstrations across Asia and the Pacific kicked off the day of action, which spread to Africa and Europe, with crowds turning out in Paris, London and Berlin, before nearing their completion in the United States where Thunberg rallied.

"I hope this will be another social tipping point that we show how many people are engaged, how many people are putting pressure on leaders," the 16-year-old told AFP in New York.

Organizers forecast protests in more than 5,000 locations across 137 countries. In Australia alone, they said more than 300,000 children, parents and supporters rallied.

Although there was no official turnout, Thunberg said "millions" had participated.

"It can't go on any longer. We are at the end of our planet," said Bernie Waldman, 14, one of thousands to protest in New York, where 1.1 million students were permitted to skip school for the event.

In Slovakia, 5-year-old Teo asked a crowd of 500 "not to cut down forests, and reduce garbage production and not to use so many petrol-fuelled cars."

"Stop climate change now" and "There is no planet B" read some of the signs brandished by demonstrators in a trendy central shopping district of Tokyo.

"We adults caused this planet emergency. We should take our responsibilities for the next generation," said Chika Maruta, 32.

'WE DESERVE BETTER'

Swedish schoolgirl Thunberg called on leaders to act now to curb gas emissions.

"Now we have proven what we can do, now they have to prove what they can (do). They need to take their responsibility," she said. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel used Friday to pledge at least 100 billion euros by 2030 to tackle emissions in the energy and industrial sectors, boost zero tailpipe emission electric vehicles and get passengers out of planes and onto trains.

About 200 marched in Ghana's capital Accra, where some 44 percent of the country's population has not heard of climate change, according to a study by Afrobarometer.

"Developing countries like Ghana are the most affected. We don't have the resources to adapt to climate change," said 26-year-old protest organizer Ellen Lindsey Awuku.

Hundreds also took to the streets in Kenya and Uganda.

Events began in the deluge-threatened Pacific Islands of Vanuatu, the Solomons and Kiribati, where children chanted: "We are not sinking, we are fighting."

The defiance message was heard across Asia.

"We are the future and we deserve better," 12-year-old Lilly Satidtanasarn, known as "Thailand's Greta" for her campaign against plastic bags in malls, told AFP in Bangkok.

'YOU'RE BEING LIED TO'

In Australia, some local authorities, schools and businesses encouraged people to participate in the strikes.

Australia has been struck in recent years by droughts, more intense bushfires, devastating floods and the blanching of the Great Barrier Reef—phenomena blamed on a changing climate.

Numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown a link between human-made gas emissions and climate change.

But the protests also highlighted resistance from those who question the threat.

Australian ruling coalition parliamentarian Craig Kelly told children Thursday that "everything you're told is a lie."

"The facts are, there is no link between climate change and drought, polar bears are increasing in number."

BUSINESSES TAKING ACTION

An increasing number of businesses backed the protests.

Amazon chief Jeff Bezos pledged Thursday to make the US retail giant carbon neutral by 2040 and encouraged other firms to do likewise.

Friday's mass action set the scene for a range of high-profile climate events in New York.

A Youth Climate Summit will take place at the United Nations on Saturday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will then host an emergency summit on Monday in which he will urge world leaders to raise their commitments made in the 2015 Paris climate accord.

The agreement saw countries pledge to limit the long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels, and if possible, to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

A landmark UN report to be unveiled next week will warn that global warming and pollution are ravaging Earth's oceans and icy regions in ways that could unleash misery on a global scale.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Investors with $11 trillion in assets pledge shift from fossil fuels:report

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Institutional investors holding assets worth $11 trillion have now pledged to divest from fossil fuel assets, a significant jump in the number committing to clean energy, a report said on Monday.

A growing number of investment and wealth funds have been looking to pull away from fossil fuels and shift to renewables, especially since the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

The $11 trillion figure was released in a report as part of the "Financing the Future" summit in Cape Town for advocates for investment in clean energy transition.

More than 1,000 institutional investors are committed to dropping fossil fuel assets, including wealth funds, banks, insurance firms as well as scores of city councils, universities, and religious organisations.

By comparison, institutional investors with holdings of $52 billion in assets had made the same commitment in 2014.

"We are seeing a clear shift away from fossil fuel investments in every sector," said Clara Vondrich, Director of Divest-Invest, one of the report authors.

"Coal, oil, and gas assets are being recognized as toxic -- not just morally due to the climate crisis but also increasingly financially."

The $11 trillion figure represents around 16 percent of the total global equity markets in 2018, the organizers said, citing World Bank figures. 

Activists for fossil fuel divestment say it is one way to reduce carbon emissions by pressing investors to get rid of shares, bonds or other assets in those companies.

Across all business sectors, global companies responding to pressure from society and shareholders are looking for low-emissions ways for growth that are "Paris-compliant".

But oil and gas projects set up by major fossil fuel companies over the last 20 months threaten both shareholder value and efforts to keep Earth from overheating, according to an analysis released last week.

Greenhouse gas emissions stemming from new investments totaling $50 billion could push already tough Paris climate treaty goals for capping global warming out of reach, warned Carbon Tracker, a non-profit financial think tank.

Earth's average surface temperature has gone up 1C since the late 19th century, and is on track -- at current rates of CO2 emissions -- to warm another two or three degrees by century's end.

The Paris Agreement calls on humanity to block the rise in Earth's temperature at "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels, and 1.5C if possible.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Major fashion companies to make G7 pledge to help environment

PARIS - Major fashion companies from around the world said on Friday they had signed a pact which they would present at this week's G7 summit to help protect the environment.

The pact has been signed by 32 companies including the likes of Adidas, Burberry, Kering, Hermes, LVMH and Nike.

Protecting the environment will be a leading issue at the G7, with French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary General António Guterres having expressed concern this week over wildfires raging through the Amazon.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Record heatwave across Northern Hemisphere

From the Arctic Circle and Scandinavia to California, Japan and North Africa, an exceptional heatwave has been sweeping across the Northern Hemisphere for several weeks, setting record high temperatures and causing drought and wildfires.

Meteorologists say the summer weather conditions are a result of climate change.

"2018 is shaping up to be one of the hottest years on record, with new temperature records in many countries," said Elena Manaenkova, deputy secretary-general of the World Meterological Organisation (WMO).

"This is no surprise," she added. "The heatwaves and extreme heat we are experiencing are consistent with what we expect as a result of climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions. 

"This is not a future scenario. It is happening now.” 

30 C in Arctic Circle

The summer weather in the north of Europe has been especially unusual with the thermostat in the Arctic Circle hitting 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

Record temperatures were reported in northern Norway at 33 C last week, more than 15 degrees C higher than normal, according to the Norwegian meteorological institute.

Another record in Norway was set at Makkaur on the Barents Sea where the mercury in the land of the midnight sun on July 18 never dropped lower than 25 C.

And near the Arctic Circle at Kvikkjokk in Sweden temperatures climbed to 32.5 C on July 17, while the Finnish Lapland the next day saw 33.4 C, according to Meteo France.

In Russia's Siberia, the mercury hit 37.2 C at Tompo on July 9 and 35.5 C at Vanavara on June 26, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).

Across Europe

In other parts of Europe, a heatwave has moved across Ireland and the British isles to France, though the temperatures have not set record highs.

Southern European countries, in contrast, have seen summer temperatures lower than normal, according to the WMO.

But the still hot, dry weather triggered wildfires in Greece, claiming at least 82 lives, making them Europe's deadliest this century.

41 C in Japan

In Japan, several dozen people have died in the scorching heat which reached a national record of 41.1 C at Kamagaya on Monday, official data showed.

The same day it reached more than 40 C for the first time in Tokyo's metropolitan region.

African record?

In the Sahara desert of Algeria on July 5, the mercury soared to 51.3 C, which was probably "the highest ever recorded in Algeria by reliable instruments", the WMO said.

It is likely a record for the African continent, since reliable records began, according to Meteo France.

But if the WMO recognises data from Africa's colonial period as reliable, the 55 C temperature reached in Tunisia in 1931 would still be considered as the African record.

Neighbouring Morocco has also seen a new national record temperature at 43.4 C on July 3 at Bouarfa, the WMO said.

And in the Middle East, on the coast of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula, the temperature never fell below 42.6 C, even at night, on June 28, which could be the highest minimal temperature ever registered there, the WMO said.

California's Death Valley

In the United States, California has been under scorching heat, including record temperatures on July 6 of 48.9 C in Chino in the west of the state, and the next day 47.2 C in the Van Nuys neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

At the Furnace Creek station in the Mojave Desert's Death Valley on July 8, the mercury registered 52 C -- still below the 56.7 C hit on July 10, 1913, although the historic world record is contested by some experts.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Actor DiCaprio says climate action is US's 'biggest economic opportunity'

NEW YORK - Tackling climate change is the "biggest economic opportunity" in the history of the United States, no matter who holds political office, said Hollywood star and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio.

"There are a few, very prominent people that still deny the overwhelming conclusions of the world's scientists that climate change is largely human-caused and needs immediate urgent attention," he told a U.N. awards ceremony on Friday evening.

But "the truth" about climate change has spread like "wildfire", he added.

DiCaprio's comments, as he received a prize for his work as a global citizen, did not refer to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump by name but were a thinly-veiled reference to his views and climate-skeptic cabinet members with oil industry ties.

Earlier this month, 42-year-old DiCaprio and the head of his foundation met with Trump and his team, reportedly arguing that support for renewable energy could create millions of jobs.

Trump has suggested climate change is a hoax and raised the possibility of withdrawing U.S. support for a new global accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which most scientists believe are driving up sea-levels and more droughts and violent storms.

"In less than 100 years of our pollution-based prosperity, we humans have put our entire existence in jeopardy," warned DiCaprio, who released his own documentary "Before the Flood" on the impacts of global warming two months ago.

DiCaprio, who won an Oscar this year for playing a fur trapper battling nature's elements in "The Revenant", said his documentary is the most viewed "in history ... (showing) just how much the world cares about the issue of climate change".

But he said the battle to address it is far from over, calling on the world to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, which came into effect in November, and to "go further".

'ENVIRONMENTAL AWAKENING'

People everywhere are acting to curb the damage to humans, nature and wildlife from a warming planet, DiCaprio said - from putting a price on carbon emissions, to buying cleaner cars, eating less meat, and businesses vowing to be carbon-neutral.

"To those who may be discouraged by nay-sayers, let me remind you, the environmental awakening is all over the world and the progress we have made so far ... has always been because of people, not governments," DiCaprio told the United Nations Correspondents Association event in downtown New York.

DiCaprio, who has worked closely with outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on climate action, congratulated the U.N. chief for "elevating the significance of climate change to one of fundamental global sustainability and peace".

Without Ban Ki-moon's persistence, the world would never have made so much progress on climate change, culminating in the Paris Agreement sealed in December 2015, DiCaprio said.

Earlier on Friday, Ban Ki-moon said acting on climate change meant "jobs, growth, cleaner air and better health", adding that leaders of top companies, governors and mayors understand this.

The Paris Agreement is "a precious achievement that we must support and nurture", he told his final press conference at the United Nations. "There is no going back," he added.

(Reporting by Megan Rowling @meganrowling; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

The green vision of Pope Francis

VATICAN CITY - Main points of Pope Francis's Encyclical on the environment, released on Thursday:

- Main Challenge -

Climate change represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our time. Its worst impact will probably be felt by developing countries in coming decades.

"The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek sustainable and integral development."

- A man-made problem -

Scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is mainly as a result of human activity.

Humanity must recognise the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption.

- Conflict and war -

"It is foreseeable that, once certain resources have been depleted, the scene will be set for new wars."

- Throwaway culture -

"The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth...

"These problems are closely linked to a throwaway culture."

- Carbon emissions -

"We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay."

- Consequences -

"If present trends continue, this century may well witness extraordinary climate change and an unprecedented destruction of ecosystems, with serious consequences for all of us."

A quarter of the world's population lives on, or near, the coast so sea level rises would be extremely dangerous.

- Drastic reductions -

Polluting gases must be "drastically reduced" with the reduction of fossil fuels and development of renewable energy.

- Rich to blame -
Developed countries ought to significantly limit their consumption of non-renewable energy and assist poorer countries to support policies and programmes of sustainable development.

"Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms."

- Drinking water -

"Access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right.... Some studies warn that an acute water shortage may occur within a few decades unless urgent action is taken."

- Biodiversity -

"The earth’s resources are also being plundered because of short-sighted approaches to the economy, commerce and production. The loss of forests and woodlands entails the loss of species which may constitute extremely important resources in the future, not only for food but also for curing disease and other uses."

- Binding agreements -

Enforceable international agreements are urgently needed, since local authorities are not always capable of effective intervention.

- Carbon credits -

The strategy of buying and selling carbon credits "can lead to a new form of speculation which would not help reduce the emission of polluting gases worldwide".

It may simply become a ploy which permits maintaining the excessive consumption of some countries and sectors.

- Religion -
"Most people profess to be believers. This should spur religions to dialogue among themselves for the sake of protecting nature, defending the poor, and building networks of respect and fraternity."

- Economy and growth -

"We need also to think of containing growth by setting some reasonable limits and even retracing our steps before it is too late...

"That is why the time has come to accept decreased growth in some parts of the world."

- Consumerism -

"Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction."

- Technology and profit -

"The economy accepts every advance in technology with a view to profit, without concern for its potentially negative impact on human beings."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Global warming could undermine poverty fight: World Bank

WASHINGTON - Climate change could undermine efforts to defeat extreme poverty around the globe, the World Bank warned Sunday.

In a new report on the impact of global warming, the bank said sharp temperature rises would cut deeply into crop yields and water supplies in many areas and possibly set back efforts to bring populations out of poverty.

"Climate change poses a substantial and escalating risk to development progress that could undermine global efforts to eliminate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity," the report said.

"Without strong, early action, warming could exceed 1.5–2 degrees Celsius and the resulting impacts could significantly worsen intra- and intergenerational poverty in multiple regions across the globe."

The bank said it is already likely that average temperatures will rise 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels, based on the built-in impact of past and current greenhouse gas emissions.

That means that extreme heat events, sea level rise and more frequent tropical cyclones may now be unavoidable.

But without concerted action, the real danger is that the average global temperature increase could go to 4.0 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

The bank called that "a frightening world of increased risks and global instability."

"Ending poverty, increasing global prosperity and reducing global inequality, already difficult, will be much harder with warming of two degrees Celsius, said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

"But at four degrees, there is serious doubt whether these goals can be achieved at all."

Shrinking crop yields

The new report, "Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal" focuses on the specific regional impacts of warming.

Warming of two degrees could lower the yield of Brazil's soybean crop by 70 percent. Andean cities would be threatened by melting glaciers, and Caribbean and West Indian coastal communities could see their fish supplies dwindle.

Two-degree warming could reduce yields of maize, wheat and grape crops in Macedonia by 50 percent. In northern Russia, it would mean substantial melting of the permafrost, causing a surge in damaging methane emissions, which would amplify the warming trend.

The World Bank has set an ambitious target of eliminating extreme poverty around the world by 2030, and Kim says that can still be done if warming is limited to just two degrees.

But temperatures have already increased 0.8 degree from the pre-industrial mean, and the new study says it is likely already too late to forestall a 1.5-degree gain.

The impacts of poverty exacerbated by climate change are wide and complex, the report shows. It will increase migration, though some people without means will be stuck with worse prospects in life.

In the Middle East and North Africa, water resources and agriculture will be under severe threat from warming.

And in turn, the impact could be political. The report cited two studies that linked the Arab Spring uprising to the drought impact of warming on food prices.

Further climate change could add to security problems "by placing additional pressures on already scarce resources and by reinforcing such preexisting threats as political instability, poverty, and unemployment," it said.

"This creates the potential for social uprising and violent conflict."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Thousands flee wildfires in southern Australia

SYDNEY - Thousands fled wildfires raging on the Australian island of Tasmania, destroying at least 80 properties and leaving unconfirmed reports of one man dying in the blaze, police said Saturday.

The fires flared on Friday as much of the country suffered a summer heatwave which pushed temperatures above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Tasmania, a southern island state known for its cooler climate.

One of the worst affected areas was the small community of Dunalley, some 55 kilometres (34 miles) east of Hobart, where police estimate about 30 percent of buildings have been destroyed, including the police station and school.

In nearby Connelly's Marsh, about 40 percent of buildings have been ruined.

Police said a firefighting crew was trapped by a bushfire on Friday at Dunalley, where there are fears that a man may have died in the blaze.

"They had to take shelter in their vehicle as the fire burned over their vehicle and they were, from that location as I understand it, able to see a gentlemen who was trying to protect his property and they couldn't get to him, it was too unsafe," acting Police Commissioner Scott Tilyard said.

Dunalley resident Tony Young told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he realised the seriousness of the wildfires when he spotted plumes of smoke and a helicopter overhead.

"I'd no sooner said that than the embers came straight into the garage where I was standing and ignited the ceiling in the shed and just engulfed it," he told the broadcaster.

"So all I could do was drive the car out of the shed, drive across the other side of the road and stand back and look at the whole place just being engulfed in flames, just like a movie."

Further south on the Tasman Peninsula east of Hobart, as many as 2,000 people had taken refuge in the town of Nubeena overnight, while another 700 were sheltering at the nearby historic Port Arthur site.

Others have been ferried to emergency accommodation in Hobart.

"At this stage, there are no confirmed reports of deaths or major injuries resulting from the fires throughout the state," Tasmania Police said in a statement.

Authorities said while temperatures had dropped from Friday's peak of 41.8 Celsius -- the hottest day in Hobart since records began in the early 1880s -- the fire danger had yet to pass, with several bushfires burning out of control on Saturday in the east and west of the state.

"Those fires overnight did lose a bit of intensity, but generally we've had a lot of firefighters doing active firefighting," Tasmania Fire Service spokesman John Holloway told ABC TV.

"While those fires did abate, they're still doing a bit of damage."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the government would help support those affected by the bushfires.

"At the moment the focus of course is on still fighting the fires," she told Channel Nine.

Bushfires are also burning in other parts of Australia, including South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Australia's worst bushfires occurred in February 2009, in the so-called "Black Saturday" disaster, in which a series of fires raged in extremely dry and windy conditions, destroying 2,000 homes and killing 173 people.

source: abs-cbnnews.com