Watching the world burn:

As the planet reels from unprecedented
heatwaves, floods, wildfires and droughts, you may be feeling a rising
sense of unease or even panic.

My own “Oh Shit!” moment
came in early 2009, two years after I began writing on the science and
geopolitics of climate change for Agence France-Presse.  I had reported
on scores of peer-reviewed studies, talked to scientists, attended UN
climate summits, and interviewed Pacific islanders whose tiny nations
were sinking beneath the waves.  But the knee-buckling realisation that
unchecked global warming would upend civilisation had not yet hit me in
the gut and left me gasping for air.

That sucker-punch came at a conference in
Oxford where a wide range of experts were asked to imagine a planet that
had warmed four degrees Celsius. The tableau that emerged was a waking
nightmare. It left me feeling as if I were in possession of terrifying
knowledge that others somehow failed to see.

‘Dash for Gas’ Takes Off at COP 27:

“As the cleanest hydrocarbon [fossil] fuel,
natural gas is seen as the perfect solution that strikes the right
balance and will continue to play a key role in the future energy mix,”
said Egypt’s petroleum minister, Tarek el-Molla, speaking in Cairo at a
Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) meeting, weeks before climate talks
began in Sharm el-Sheikh.

With COP 27 negotiations in full swing, we want to make sure you–and all those around you–have all the climate news you need.

GECF
members agreed that COP 27 and next year’s COP 28 in United Arab
Emirates present “a great opportunity to make a case for gas in the
energy transition,” reports Climate Home News, citing an official summary of the meeting.

Natural
gas is widely claimed to have lower emissions than other fossil fuel
sources like coal, but the International Energy Agency (IEA) says the
world cannot afford to increase the use of any fossils—including gas—if
there is to be any hope of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above
pre-industrial levels, as outlined in the Paris Agreement.