This week might be remembered as one of the turning points in the fight against climate change as good news came from Canada, India and the European Union. The Paris Agreement will indeed come into force by the end of the year.
Brazil
Good news from Brazil, and no it is not the Olympics
Last week the Brazilian Senate ratified the Paris Agreement, making it one step closer to make this major climate change mitigation effort a reality. Brazil is the sixth world biggest carbon emitter and the biggest to ratify to date.
2015 was another record year for renewables
According to two recent studies, 2015 was yet another record year for renewable energy sources as no less than $285.9 billion (256 billion euros) have been invested in that sector last year.
Uruguay to invest $2.6 billion in Wind energy
The drought that is affecting Brazil so much is also undermining Uruguay and its large dependance on hydro energy ( 74 percent of local electricity ). The current alternative to hydro is oil. So the country will invest $2.6 billion ( 2.3 billion euros ) in wind energy in the next couple of years.
United States, China and Brazil outlined their climate plans
And these are huge steps in the right direction for both renewable energy and afforestation. This bode well for the upcoming IPCC climate talks that will take place late this year in Paris.
7.7 million people are now working in renewables
Last year I was reporting that we were 6.5 million people working in the Renewable Energy Industries. If I have – temporarily – left it, many more have joined as now this figure reaches 7.7 million people.
A massive drought strikes Brazil
In the land of carnavals, I had read that some festivities had been cancelled because of the lack of water, so I knew something was wrong in Brazil. In fact, it is the worst drought in 84 years !
Cleantech investments rebounded in 2014
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance global investments in clean energy such as wind and solar bounced back in 2014 with an increase of 16 percent over 2013. They reached $310 billion (260 billion euros).
Pope Francis to urge a billion Catholics to act on climate
Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, is due to call over a billion Catholics to act on climate. Ahead of the Paris Climate talks later this year, this is a big move that may even more tilt the balance on action.
6.5 million people ( and I )
This is the amount of people that are currently working in the renewable energy industries according to a recent report from the IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency )
Bioenergy ( everything from liquid biofuels to modern biomass and biogas ) have the largest contingency with 2.5 million people (with 1.4 million, 0.8 million and 0.3 million respectively)
Additionally 2.3 million people are working in the solar photovoltaic sector and 800 000 more work in the wind sector.
Brazilian deforestation increasing
Here are some bad news I read last week : deforestation in Brazil is increasing again. For the past years, it had been decreasing steadily, reaching its lowest levels in two decades.
But over the last year, deforestation increased by 28 percent over the previous one. As the BBC noted : ” The government is working to reverse this “crime”, Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said.”
This takes place as on a global scale, the world has lost a staggering 900,000 square miles (2.3 million square kilometers) of forests between 2000 and 2102 to deforestation or fire.