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Newsletter (copy 11)
The Philippines' new Climate Accountability Bill
Good morning!
Some good news to get things started:
Europe’s electricity generation from fossil fuels is down 24% this year, according to BloombergNEF.
Global demand for coal will start to decline from 2024 as renewables advance, according to the International Energy Agency.
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Lawmakers in the Philippines have introduced a draft law that seeks to hold companies accountable for their contributions to climate change.
“If passed, this would be a world first,” researchers at the Grantham Research Institute said in a note.
“The bill combines requirements of transition planning and due diligence with substantive emission reduction obligations, alongside stringent accountability mechanisms and a novel approach to redress for those suffering loss and damage.”
Why it matters: Over the past decade, extreme weather has cost the Philippines roughly $10 billion, according to the country’s finance department. The toll is only expected to increase as climate change advances.
Even though the Philippines is a minor contributor to the climate crisis, it’s bearing the brunt of it as sea levels inch higher and storms grow more intense. That’s driving a wave of climate lawsuits, which, in turn, are now influencing state policies.
The draft Climate Accountability Act sets climate due diligence standards for corporates, and includes both penalties and incentives to ensure they’re adhered to. Companies that fail to comply could be hit with fines equivalent to 15% of their gross incomes, while those that meet the standards would be eligible for tax incentives.
The bill also seeks to implement the ‘polluter pays’ principle, whereby companies must pay up for the environmental damage they cause.
It includes the establishment of a Climate Change Reparations Fund, which would cover claims by the victims and survivors of climate change-fuelled catastrophes. It would rely on attribution studies to determine the degree to which a company is liable, and would be funded by fines for things like greenwashing and exceeding emissions allowances.
Further, the bill seeks to ensure that the transition away from fossil fuels does not harm communities and workers reliant on the traditional energy industry, partly by setting up a compensation and reemployment mechanism.
“In many ways, the provisions in [the bill] reflect themes that have emerged in recent examples of climate change litigation cases that aim to force companies to take responsibility for their contributions to climate change,” the Grantham Research Institute note says.
“Although it remains unclear whether the bill will pass into law in its current form, the mechanisms proposed are potentially precedent-setting.”
- Read the full story here.
The final COP28 agreement — which was overseen by Sultan Al Jaber, the head of an oil company — defied earlier expectations that it would be a total flop.
While they didn’t call for a phase out of coal, oil and gas, world leaders agreed for the first time ever that we must “transition away from fossil fuels”.
At the same time, most countries committed to tripling renewable energy installations and doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030, while also building more sustainable food systems.
“The mention of fossil fuels in the COP28 text marks a milestone for a COP agreement, which has never been so explicit in naming the primary cause of the climate crisis,” said Mindy Lubber, CEO of the investor-focused non-profit Ceres.
- Read the full story here.
From 2024 onwards, solar and wind facilities in the US will generate more electricity than the country’s diminishing fleet of coal-fired power plants, according to the department of energy.
The world’s largest economy will likely add 23 gigawatts (GW) of new solar in 2023, alongside 9GW of battery storage capacity. It’s on track to follow that up with 37GW of new solar and well over 10GW of additional batteries in 2024, per the department’s Energy Information Administration.
“We expect solar and wind generation together in 2024 to overtake electric power generation from coal for the first year ever, exceeding coal by nearly 90 billion kilowatt-hours,” or 15%.
The nation’s coal fleet is rapidly shrinking, while output from fossil gas plants is plateauing.
“Coal production is becoming even less cost competitive in power markets as more renewable capacity comes online and Inflation Reduction Act policies further bolster zero-carbon generation,” the department said.
Solar is comfortably the fastest-growing generating capacity source, followed by batteries and wind.
The US government plans to get to 80% renewable-based electricity by 2030, and a 100% carbon-free power system by 2035.
Much work needs to be done to get there. Next year, fossil gas will likely hold a 42% share of the electricity mix, followed by renewables at 24%, nuclear at 19%, and coal at 15%.
- Read the full story here.
Renewables will cover 52% of Germany’s total electricity needs in 2023 — a five percentage point increase from the year before, according to preliminary calculations by solar and hydrogen research group ZSW and energy industry association BDEW.
Onshore wind farms accounted for 22.3% of the mix and solar PV held a 12.2% share. Biomass, offshore wind, and hydro accounted for the rest of the renewables output.
“The numbers show that we are on the right track,” BDEW chair Kerstin Andreae said in a statement, adding that policymakers needed to reduce red tape to facilitate a full transition to clean energy.
Frithjof Staiß, managing director of ZSW, said the country would also need to invest heavily in green hydrogen and direct air capture systems, which extract carbon from the air. Both technologies rely on renewable energy, meaning solar and wind output would need to “increase significantly”.
Germany aims to get to 80% renewable power by 2030.
- Read the full story here.
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