Covering Climate Now webinar, plus UN climate ambition summit set for Sept. 2023, and a guide to help U.S. schools decarbonize!
1st CCN Webinar of 2023, UN Climate Ambition Summit Set for Sept. 2023, Guide to Help U.S. Schools Decarbonize!
COVERING CLIMATE NOW WEBINAR ON CC NEWS TO WATCH IN 2023
According to our friends at Covering Climate Now, a news organization that collaborates with journalists to make climate a part of every beat in the newsroom–covering the climate story well in 2023, journalists need clarity on the biggest climate developments of 2022. Among them: the United States passing the Inflation Reduction Act, the world’s governments agreeing to create a loss and damage fund, and the continuing increase in emissions and impacts as the climate system approaches tipping points.
Covering Climate Now is hosting a press briefing to discuss the biggest climate developments in 2022 and what to expect in the coming year on Thursday, January 12, at 12 pm US Eastern Time. The webinar is actually intended for journalists, BUT, my thoughts are this information is too good to hoard amongst the media. That’s why I’m sharing it with you. And that’s why checking out the Covering Climate Now webinar matters to us.
Click on the link in the Deeper Dive section of this story @34.203.12.8/episodes to register.Panelists include Dr. Saleemul Huq of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Dhaka, Bangladesh; author and activist Bill McKibben; and Dr. Marcia Rocha of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris.
DEEPER DIVE: CCN Webinar, BillMcKibben.com, CCN
U.N. CLIMATE AMBITION SUMMIT SET FOR SEPTEMBER 2023
UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced he will convene a Climate Ambition Summit in September 2023 to generate “new, tangible and credible climate action” to “accelerate action at the mid-way point” of the UN SustainableDevelopmentGoals. Going forward, he said he will push for a Climate Solidarity Pact, for all big emitters to “make an extra effort” to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with the 1.5°C goal and provide support for those who need it.
The Secretary-General made it clear that the price of entry for every nation, was “non-negotiable, credible, serious and new climate action and nature-based solutions that will move the needle forward and respond to the urgency of the climate crisis.” He said it would be “a no-nonsense summit. No exceptions. No compromises. There will be no room for back-sliders, green-washers, blame-shifters or repackaging of announcements of previous years.
Guterres said the Climate Action Summit would be convened alongside a General Assembly opening-week summit already on the calendar, designed to accelerate action towards the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).The Secretary-General expressed determination to make 2023 a year for peace and action, to advance the SDGs, address inequalities, and “deliver a livable planet to our children and grandchildren.” He went on to say, “We are finally starting to forge a peace pact with nature.”
NEW EDUCATION GUIDE TO HELP U.S. SCHOOLS DECARBONIZE
The Inflation Reduction Act, provides $369 billion in climate and energy provisions, signifying the largest climate investment in US history and has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by approximately 40 percent by 2030, promote environmental justice objectives in communities most impacted by climate change, and create high-paying clean energy jobs. According to both the Aspen and World Resources Institute, the education sector plays an important yet often overlooked role in addressing climate change. Across the country, nearly 100,000 public schools, each with a substantial carbon footprint, make up one the largest consumers of energy in the public sector.
Additionally, the 480,000 school buses they operate, US schools systems control and maintain the largest mass transit fleet in the nation. That’s why the Aspen Institute’s This Is Planet Ed and the World Resources Institute’s Electric School Bus Initiative partnered up and produced the “K12 Education and Climate Provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act” guide. It’s purpose? Breaking down how the Inflation Reduction Act can help America’s almost 100,000 public schools decarbonize.
For those of us not enrolled in a US public school, or who don’t have public school-aged children, or who don’t live in America, why does this guide matter to us? Aside from being a template?! Efforts to decarbonize U.S. schools also create opportunities for the 50 million students enrolled in those schools to engage with climate change solutions first-hand, while helping to build America’s societal capacity to address climate change now and into the future. Click on the link in the Deeper Dive Section of this story at theclimate.org/episodes to download the guide.
DEEPER DIVE: ThisIsPlantedEd, The Guide, World Resources Institute