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  • The last 12 months have been the hottest on record

    The last 12 months have been the hottest on record

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    Earth just recorded its hottest 12-month streak (from November 2022 to October 2023) with respect to the preindustrial (1850–1900) baseline, according to researchers at Climate Central. “Most of this warming, about 1.28ºC, results from human-induced climate change, with natural variation in the climate caused by processes such as the ongoing ocean-warming event El Niño contributing much less, says climate researcher Friederike Otto at Imperial College London,” according to Nature.

    The Copernicus Climate Change Service basically concurs. Its researchers report that October 2023 was the warmest October in its global temperature record, which goes back to 1940. The average surface air temperature rose 0.85°C above the 1991–2020 average for October and was 1.7°C above the average for the pre-industrial reference period. October 2023 “marked the fifth consecutive month of record temperatures globally,” per Copernicus.

    The year 2023 from January to October was 0.1°C warmer than the 10-month average for 2016, “currently the warmest calendar year on record, and 1.43°C warmer than the pre-industrial reference period,” Copernicus reported.

    The satellite temperature record by University of Alabama in Huntsville researchers also notes that “the global atmospheric temperature anomaly increased slightly in October from the record value observed in September to +0.93°C (+1.67°F) above the 30-year average, setting a new anomaly record for the 45-year satellite era.”

    “October 2023 has seen exceptional temperature anomalies, following on from four months of global temperature records being obliterated,” observed Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. “We can say with near certainty that 2023 will be the warmest year on record, and is currently 1.43ºC above the preindustrial average.”

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    Ronald Bailey

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  • ‘We have a deal’: EU bans new gas-fueled cars starting in 2035

    ‘We have a deal’: EU bans new gas-fueled cars starting in 2035

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    The European Union reached a deal Thursday to effectively ban new gas-powered cars beginning in 2035.

    It’s a move seen as a key part of a broader plan to reduce carbon emissions across economic sectors — and a major policy achievement to carry into high-profile United Nations climate-change talks in Egypt early next month.

    Speculation about a deal, which had been heavily debated, was reported earlier this week and confirmed Thursday via a tweet from the spokesperson for the rotating presidency of the bloc, currently held by the Czech Republic.

    Broadly, the agreement is part of a plan that requires a 55% cut in emissions across transportation, buildings, power generation and other sources this decade. That halfway mark is seen as a major milestone as the EU aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

    The announcement comes as the U.N. climate arm has released a series of updated reports this week. One chastised the “highly inadequate” steps to date by rich nations to cut emissions of Earth-warming greenhouse gases, such as those from burning fossil fuels. The window to act is closing but is not quite shut yet, according to the Emissions Gap report from the U.N. Environment Programme. “Global and national climate commitments are falling pitifully short,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday. “We are headed for a global catastrophe.”

    The EU is the world’s largest trade bloc, and its moves could push other major economies to also set firm cutoff dates for gasoline
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    and diesel engines. Volkswagen AG
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    and Daimler Truck Holding AG
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    are already moving deeper into electric vehicles. Volkswagen this week said it would stop selling internal-combustion-engine cars in Europe between 2033 and 2035.

    Other major economies, including the U.S., have set similar goals, but the U.S. has not set any federal-level restrictions on vehicle manufacturing. Some individual automakers, including General Motors
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    have set their own timelines. And California approved plans in August to mandate a gradual phasing out of vehicles powered by internal-combustion engines, with only zero-emission cars and a small portion of plug-in gas/electric hybrids to be allowed by 2035.

    As the world’s fifth-largest economy, California can create ripple effects with its moves. At least 15 other states have signed on to California’s existing zero-emission vehicle program or have shown interest in and are working toward codifying the change. Among them, Washington, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Vermont are expected to adopt California’s ban on new gasoline-fueled vehicles.

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