A few times each year, we will be sharing our favourite good news and bad news stories in relation to the climate change emergency.
The Good News
Solar power is quickly becoming the cheapest way to generate electricity! Costs have dropped to $40/megawatt hour, which is lower than building new power plants to burn coal or gas.
'It’s even close to being competitive with the marginal costs of running the coal and nuclear plants we already have.' says Peter Orszag of Lazard, leading financial management & advisory firm. Progress is being made!
You can find the full Bloomberg article here.
The Bad News
The amount of carbon released from the loss of intact tropical forests is 626% higher than previously thought, due to factors taking into consideration selective logging, (damaging overall forest health) + wildlife losses from hunting.
Scientists looked at 549 million hectares of intact tropical forests in the world between 2000 and 2013. 48 million hectares were destroyed in those thirteen years.
Results forced researchers to conclude that the “continued destruction of intact tropical forests is a ticking time bomb for carbon emissions because they play an indispensable role in stabilising the climate.'
Original paper here.