Issues discussed on today’s Daily Climate Show include…
- President Biden’s plans for tackling climate change are under threat. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, from the coal reliant state of West Virginia, opposes elements of the President’s Clean Energy Performance Program (CEPP), a $150bn central part of his Build Back Better plan and $3.5tn spending bill. The votes of Manchin and fellow sceptic Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are critical in a divided 50-50 Senate.
- The UK Government is facing criticism from major sponsors of COP26, including Sky, who are complaining about poor organisation and slow progress. High costs of accommodation near the event are also causing problems for activists who want to attend.
- Ford is switching its Merseyside site from producing gear boxes for petrol cars to making parts for electric vehicles. £230 million is being invested in the changeover, with some of the money come from the Government’s Automotive Transformation Fund.
- New AutoMotive have released showing about the EV charging network. There are currently 24,000 chargers in Britain, but 250,000 will be needed by the mid 2030’s. That will require 50 installations a day to meet the target.
- The first winners of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize winners have been announced. The five £1 million prizes went to The Republic of Costa Rica, Takachar, Coral Vita, The City of Milan food waste hubs and AEM Electrolyser.
- Invasive pine trees are causing a water shortage in Cape Town, South Africa. Plans are underway to remove the trees from 54,000 hectares which should reclaim around 55 billion litres of water which is equivalent to two months water supply for Cape Town. The pine trees are a mainstay of the South Africa forestry industry, but the seeds are so easily spred.
- To reach the target of becoming net zero by 2050, the UK Government believes Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) will need to play a key role. One CCS option is store CO2 in old gas and oil fields in the North Sea. However some believe this is not a good strategy as many of the proposed CCS technologies are still untested and none have yet been deployed at scale. It is believed that the Government is about to announce new funding for CCS projects.
Presenter Anna Jones was joined by guests Ziya Tong, science broadcaster and author, and former Green Party MEP and founder of Union of Justice Magid Magid, to discuss if Carbon Capture is the way to net zero, and whether the Royal Family are good role models on climate action.