Has the World Entered a New Era of Warming?

Current conditions: Unusually hot and dry weather in Ivory Coast has farmers worried about a looming shortage of cocoa beans • Construction on one of Britain’s busiest roads has been extended by nine months due to extreme weather • The first of three winter storms hitting the U.S. this week will arrive today, bringing snow to the Mid-Atlantic region.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Studies suggest the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit is already dead

Two new studies published this week concluded that we’re probably already beyond the 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming threshold outlined in the Paris Agreement. Last year was the first full calendar year with global temperatures averaging more than 1.5C above pre-industrial averages, but scientists have been divided on whether this was a short-term anomaly or the beginning of a new and irreversible era. The new studies, both published in the journal Nature Climate Change, used different methodology to investigate this question, but came to the same conclusion: “Most probably Earth has already entered a 20-year period at 1.5C warming.” The findings echo research published last week from famed climate scientist James Hansen, who predicted that warming will ramp up by 0.2 or 0.3 degrees Celsius per decade to breach 2 degrees Celsius in warming by 2045. Last month was the hottest January on record, at 1.75 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial averages.

2. Rivian commercial van now available to all businesses

Rivian is making its electric commercial van available to all business customers that want to electrify their fleets. Up until now the vans have been available only for Amazon, but the EV maker said yesterday that exclusive partnership has ended. The vans come in two sizes: the smaller RCV 500 (available for $79,900) and the larger RCV 700 (for $83,900). Both are eligible for the $7,500 tax credit. “This will be one of Rivian’s greatest tests yet,” said Mack Hogan at InsideEVs. “If it can prove to business owners that it can build robust, dependable vans that can be serviced in the field, it should have no issue winning retail customers’ trust when it launches the R2 and R3.”

Rivian

3. NYC to get 267 new DC fast chargers

New York State is giving $60 million to EV infrastructure startup Revel to build 267 DC fast chargers across NYC by 2027. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the loan, which comes from the NY Green Bank, on Monday, saying “it is critical that we continue to build electric vehicle infrastructure to ease the shift to EV ownership for more New Yorkers, especially those in urban areas.” The chargers will be spread across nine sites, five of which will be completed within the next year. Those include 44 chargers near LaGuardia Airport, 24 chargers near JFK Airport, as well as sites in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. The public chargers will be open 24/7. This marks the first EV charging infrastructure loan from the NYGB.

4. Residents sue after Moss Landing battery fire

The fallout continues from last month’s fire at the world’s largest battery storage plant in California. Four people who live near the site of the blaze are suing Vistra Energy, which owns the Moss Landing Power Plant, and a handful of other energy companies for insufficient safety measures. Public awareness about the possible health hazards of the fire are also growing, with The New York Times reporting on several studies that have detected toxic levels of heavy metals in soil samples surrounding the facility, and spotlighting complaints from local residents who say they have experienced headaches, sore throats, nosebleeds, and other symptoms in the weeks following the disaster. The fire raises questions about the safety of large battery storage facilities, which store excess energy to be deployed on-demand and are seen as essential to decarbonizing the grid. The International Energy Agency has said that “grid-scale batteries are projected to account for the majority of storage growth world wide.”

5. Report: India will not update its emissions targets in new climate plan

India, the world’s third largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, does not plan to submit new targets for limiting those emissions, Bloomberg reported. Under the Paris Agreement, nations are required every five years to submit new climate plans – known as nationally determined contributions – that outline emissions reduction goals and strategies for hitting those goals. But India apparently plans to focus its NDC on climate change adaptation measures. Yesterday was the official deadline for all Paris Agreement parties to submit their updated NDCs, but most countries are running behind.

THE KICKER

Deforestation levels in Colombia in 2024 rose slightly from 2023, but were still the third lowest in 23 years.

Editor’s note: This article originally misstated the location of the Moss Landing battery fire. It’s been corrected. We regret the error.