Climate Crisis AM Edition 2/9/2024 Barclays Cuts Fossil Fuel Lending

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According to an exclusive report from Reuters, Barclays will cut back on its funding of fossil fuel projects. It is currently the UK’s largest lender in the sector. The decision is part of Barclays’ Transition Finance Framework (TFF). Barclays will not drop funding to the industry entirely but will lend more to green energy companies. Barclays group head of sustainability Laura Barlow said, “It wouldn’t be a red line but … would inform our risk appetite.” Major banks have decided to “go green.” However, this appears to be because of outside pressure more than a belief that the fossil fuels companies offer higher default rates than other companies across the energy spectrum. Financial trouble in the green industry has probably made investments and loans to alternative energy companies risky. ‘’

New climate danger–heat plus smoke

Governments missed how serious climate change is

The costs of wildfires to the insurance industry have jumped, causing it to increase research about how fires start and how they spread, “Wildfires have upended the insurance industry, in part because climate change is fueling bigger and more destructive blazes.” the E&E Climate Wire reports. Among the efforts will be to do more sophisticated modeling of how fires start and how they spread. The Joint Economic Commission recently put the cost of wildfires at over $394 billion a year. The Western Fire Chiefs issued a study that shows four of the ten largest wildfires in American history were in the period that started in 2018.

Legal Fight Over Climate Free Speech

Widely regarded climate scientist Michael Mann won a defamation case against two bloggers who attacked him in 2012. The bloggers claimed his research and conclusions were “fraudulent.” According to The Washington Post, “Early in his career, Mann used data from tree rings, ice cores and coral reefs to show global temperatures were relatively stable until the Industrial Revolution. But after humans started burning fossil fuels in large quantities, Mann and his colleagues found, temperatures spiked over the past century.” The incident is unusual. Climate deniers often attack experts on climate change. In general, these attacks are considered part of free speech. The court decided the Mann case fell outside the give and take that has gone on about the causes of climate change, or whether it is occurring, for years.