Positive 2023 Climate News Roundup
Let's end the year on an optimistic note
We are in the waning days of 2023. And in the spirit of the ubiquitous annual “years in review” or “wrapped” content out there, I thought it would be appropriate to end the year with a roundup of some positive climate news. This journey is not just for me to prepare for a future of a changing climate, but also to push myself into being an optimist.
It reminds me of my conversation with Kat Davis, Portland Public Schools Climate Justice Advisor, from last week’s podcast episode. She mentioned the “hope gap” when it comes to climate communication.
“The hope gap concept comes from the Yale Project on Climate Communication…it is this concept where there's this gap between the severity of the scale of climate change and the way that we communicate it and the ability for one person to feel like they are capable of making change,” she said. “And so there's this gap between what…needs to happen and how effective you're going to be in making that happen.”
So the solution is to focus on solutions. “Together we can imagine multiple futures of solutions and that's kind of the amazing part is because we have one image of doom and gloom,” Kat said. “The flurry of burning buildings and hurricanes and storms and all of our heads. And then, but then the really amazing thing is that there's actually, you know, thousands if not more, but different pathways to what a future of solutions could look like.”
So to end the year on a positive note, I thought it would be valuable to lead with hope and solutions.
With that, here is a roundup of positive climate news from 2023…
Wins from Youth-Led Climate Lawsuits
The organization, Our Children’s Trust, is working with young people around North America to hold governments accountable for failing to protect them and their futures from catastrophic climate change. Over the last decade, they’ve launched lawsuits in all 50 states. Last fall, young people in Montana achieved a groundbreaking win in the first constitutional climate trial. The judge ruled that the state’s use and investment in the fossil fuel industry violates young people’s constitutional rights to “a clean and healthful environment.” This win could create a precedent for these types of climate-focused legal actions. TIME event recognized Our Children’s Trust executive director, Julia Olson as one of the TIME100 because of the organization’s successes.
Next up for Our Children’s Trust:
Navahine F. V. Hawaiʻi Department Of Transportation: In 2022, 14 youth filed a constitutional lawsuit (similar to that in Youth v. Montana) claiming that the way their state’s DOT operates results in higher greenhouse gas emissions and, therefore, violates their constitutional right to “live healthful lives in Hawai’i now and into the future.” The goal is that HDOT meets the state legislature’s decarbonization goal to reach a sero emissions economy by 2045. The trial is currently set to take place at the Environmental Court of the First Circuit in Honolulu, HI on Monday, June 24, 2024 to Friday, July 12, 2024. Stay up-to-date on the details here.
Juliana v. United States: “In 2015, 21 young Americans filed their constitutional climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, against the U.S. government. Their complaint asserts that, through the government's affirmative actions that cause climate change, it has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources.” While on June 1, 2023, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs to continue with the trial, the U.S. DOJ continues to file motions in order to delay or dismiss the case. We’re still waiting to hear the judge’s ruling on recent motions and are expected in the coming months. Stay up-to-date on Juliana v. U.S. here.
Big Climate Wins in Oregon
We had a great year in Oregon for climate action. It wasn’t looking great towards the end of the legislative session when we experienced the longest legislative walkout in history–Republicans walked out for weeks denying the quorum to pass any new legislation. Session resumed with only 10 days left, but there seemed little hope that any of the many important pieces of climate legislation would make it through. The state’s climate coalition rallied big-time and put all of those pieces together in one big Climate Resilience Package which was approved at the eleventh hour, thus leading to the most comprehensive climate investment in Oregon history.
This is what I wrote for the climate justice organization Families for Climate summing up what the package will do:
This is the most comprehensive climate package in Oregon history, providing essential public services to reduce climate and air pollution, support healthy, affordable, resilient communities, and create family-wage jobs across Oregon. The policies and programs included in this package were strategically crafted to leverage unprecedented federal funding for climate and clean energy. By investing roughly $100 million in crucial climate action and community resilience, the Climate Resilience Package will enable the state to leverage at least 10 times that in federal funding. Highlights include the following bills:
Resilient, Efficient Buildings Package (SB 868, 869, 870, 871, HB 3166),
Community Resilience Hubs (HB 2990),
Natural Climate Solutions (SB 530), Community Green Infrastructure Act or theAKA TREES Act (HB 3016),
Environmental Justice and Tribal Navigator (SB 852), and many more.
Community Renewable Energy Grant Program - Provides funding for ODOE’s Community Renewable Energy Grant Program to support planning and developing community renewable energy and energy resilience projects.
In addition to this comprehensive climate resilience package, Multnomah County (where Portland is) filed a historic lawsuit against “Big Oil” (17 oil and gas companies) for $52 million for damages from the historic 2021 heat dome (that killed 96 people in Oregon and 69 in Multnomah County), $1.5 billion for future damage, and $50billion for climate adaptation efforts. There’s hope that a successful lawsuit could help create precedence for holding Big Oil accountable for climate change.
Some Wins from COP28
At the outset, the whole COP28 event felt like a bit of a sham given that it was held in one of the world’s biggest oil-producing countries in the world and the COP28 President, the UAE’s Sultan Al Jaber said in the run-up of the conference that there’s essentially no science showing that phasing out fossil fuels would help climate change, which, of course is not true in the least. Yet, there were some wins this year. Here are the three that Vox’s Umair Irfan points to (among the losses, of course, but let’s look at the bright side):
The pledge to cut methane pollution: “The Global Methane Pledge, which promises to cut methane by 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030, could avert 0.2 degrees Celsius of warming (0.36 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2050,” wrote Irfan. “More than 150 countries have signed on, and at COP28 large methane emitters like the US and Brazil offered more details about how they will regulate this greenhouse gas.”
The boost to renewable energy: “COP28 secured a commitment to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity and double the rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030,” wrote Irfan. “Replacing coal, oil, and natural gas with sources like wind and solar power is a critical tactic for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. And stretching that energy to do more is crucial for meeting growing demand and making the business case to install more.”
Increase in money towards damages from climate disaster: Climate disasters are happening at increasingly higher rates and impact lower-income nations the most. COP28 at least acknowledged this fact as there were commitments to help relieve the pain from these disasters. “So far, donors have promised $700 million, but some aid groups say the need is closer to $400 billion per year,” wrote Irfan. “Countries also agreed to put more cash toward a goal of pooling $100 billion per year to finance climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. The UAE also announced that it is creating a $30 billion climate investment fund.”
Many other wins!
I’m not the only one listing off the climate wins around the world in 2023. There has been a lot of good stuff happening. Here’s a roundup from other news sources to help boost your optimism going into 2024:
Your 2023 Climate Wins, Wrapped – Atmos
Nine breakthroughs for climate and nature in 2023 you may have missed – BBC
Sparking Change in 2023: Sierra Club Victories Across the Power Sector – Sierra Club
2023 wins and trends in state energy and climate policy – Clean Air Task Force
What climate wins gave you the most hope in 2023? What are your hopes for 2023?