What you need to know

Cut. The. C——.
Emissions are really, really bad

Why this matters? No COP pledges can hide the data. Do not think there is progress on climate. No G20 country has real plans to meet 1.5ºC (Guardian).

This year we have:

• Highest concentration of greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, and NO₂)

• Greatest annual CO₂ emissions (call it 34,299,382,534 tons or so)

• The hottest year on record

• Highest daily temperature anomaly

• Highest sea surface temperatures

• Lowest Antarctic sea ice

Your challenge? Get angry? Go into politics? Move to Canada?
Read more: Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability on carbon levels; Monty Python on life in Canada 

Records broken: a broken record.
November warmest ever

Why this matters? November was 1.75°C warmer than the average for 1850-1900. October 2023 was the warmest October ever. September 2023 was the warmest September ever. This is not good.
Your challenge? To read the same headline again and again, and not get bored. Don’t.
Read more: Zeke Hausfather on X.com, Copernicus

Big Food: we’ll pay for farming that doesn’t kill you

Why this matters? Farming is 30% of carbon emissions, plus destroying topsoil (a big one). But regenerative agriculture is not financially viable, yet. This week Big Food (Mars, McCain, McDonald's, PepsiCo and Waitrose) published a plan to get there.
Your challenge? To know what you buy matters. Support responsible farming - the extra cost goes a long way.
Read more: Story: Edie, More general: Food & Land Use Coalition

One thing to worry about

Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS): burn fossils, pump carbon underground! Basically, littering: bury the trash behind the house & hope your kids don’t touch it. 🤨

But, CCS is not actually being built, despite many countries planning it at scale (and oil companies talking a lot).

The purple line is what forecast call for, and the green bars show what’s happening.

Bonus: Clean generation is cheaper. Read Auke Hoekstra on X

One thing to be optimistic about

Repeat after me: Climate is a tech problem. Good news: the Americans are coming. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Clean Investment Monitor reports the US invested a staggering $226B in energy transition in the last year. The New York Times has a great story on the big investments the IRA is stimulating.

A couple of times, the Yanks turned up late but sorted our problems. Here’s hoping they do it again.

If you want to be more depressed, read this…

Find horror movies lame? Read the new Global Tipping Points report.

Mass death of warm-water coral reefs. 26 natural processes suddenly and irreversibly disrupted, including ice sheets, tropical rainforests, mountain glaciers, and ocean currents. Abrupt thawing of permafrost regions.

Be afraid. Very afraid.

Apologies for the discouraging news. Next week I’ll round off 2023 with optimistic stuff. 🤞

Thanks for reading. For the last 15 years, I’ve been founding energy transition businesses including Estover Energy (industrial biomass CHP), and co-founded 3ti (solar/EV charging/batteries in one). I sit on the board of Active Energy Group (high carbon bio).

My new business is Beaverbrook Energy - supporting commercial & industrial companies in the energy transition. Follow us on LinkedIn ahead of our 2024 launch.