The Poseidon Principles: A Groundbreaking New Formula for Navigating Decarbonization.  RMI- June 17, 2019  James Mitchell For the past 18 months, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has worked behind closed doors with an unprecedented coalition to establish the Poseidon Principles. Today, June 18, 2019, the Principles become public as 11 banks representing approximately $100 billion become the founding signatories of the agreement. The Poseidon Principles are a new type of climate change agreement, the significance of which is difficult to overstate. As the first global, sector-wide, and self-governing climate alignment agreement among financial institutions, these principles redefine the role of banks in the maritime shipping sector and lay a clear path for the broader financial sector to make new, significant contributions to global decarbonization.The Poseidon Principles are the first example of financial players joining forces to drive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in line with a climate target. Signatories to the Poseidon Principles will work to foster the decarbonization of the maritime shipping sector, which represents two to three percent of global GHG emissions—around the same amount as the nation of Germany. They will do this in line with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) climate target of 50 percent absolute GHG reductions by 2050.                        Safe Passage Through Uncharted Waters...... The first clue in understanding how and why this groundbreaking achievement came to fruition is in its name. It is said that sailors prayed to Poseidon, the god of the sea, for safe passage. As the physical impacts of climate change become increasingly tangible, they engender ever more urgent calls for policies to drive global emissions toward zero. The physical impacts of a changing climate, transition risks of changing climate policies, and reputational risks of failing to contribute to society’s decarbonization create a challenging new cocktail for all participants in the global economy. This new reality must be understood and managed carefully, especially in the financial sector which often has years-long exposure to capital- and carbon-intensive assets like ships, power stations, and steel mills.                The Poseidon Principles redefine the role of banks in the maritime shipping sector and lay a clear path for the broader financial sector to make new, significant contributions to global decarbonization.  The Poseidon Principles place clear-eyed navigators at the helm to traverse these uncharted waters of global decarbonization. Not only will the Principles play a tremendous role in ensuring the safe passage of the shipping industry itself, but they also establish a path for the financial sector to play a significant and positive role in managing its own risks while contributing significantly to the achievement of society’s common, global decarbonization goals.                   https://rmi.org/the-poseidon-principles-a-groundbreaking-new-formula-for-navigating-decarbonization/    

 The Poseidon Principles: A Groundbreaking New Formula for Navigating Decarbonization.  RMI- June 17, 2019  James Mitchell For the past 18 months, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has worked behind closed doors with an unprecedented coalition to establish the Poseidon Principles. Today, June 18, 2019, the Principles become public as 11 banks representing approximately $100 billion become the founding signatories of the agreement. The Poseidon Principles are a new type of climate change agreement, the significance of which is difficult to overstate. As the first global, sector-wide, and self-governing climate alignment agreement among financial institutions, these principles redefine the role of banks in the maritime shipping sector and lay a clear path for the broader financial sector to make new, significant contributions to global decarbonization.The Poseidon Principles are the first example of financial players joining forces to drive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in line with a climate target. Signatories to the Poseidon Principles will work to foster the decarbonization of the maritime shipping sector, which represents two to three percent of global GHG emissions—around the same amount as the nation of Germany. They will do this in line with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) climate target of 50 percent absolute GHG reductions by 2050.                        

Safe Passage Through Uncharted Waters...... The first clue in understanding how and why this groundbreaking achievement came to fruition is in its name. It is said that sailors prayed to Poseidon, the god of the sea, for safe passage. As the physical impacts of climate change become increasingly tangible, they engender ever more urgent calls for policies to drive global emissions toward zero. The physical impacts of a changing climate, transition risks of changing climate policies, and reputational risks of failing to contribute to society’s decarbonization create a challenging new cocktail for all participants in the global economy. This new reality must be understood and managed carefully, especially in the financial sector which often has years-long exposure to capital- and carbon-intensive assets like ships, power stations, and steel mills.                

The Poseidon Principles redefine the role of banks in the maritime shipping sector and lay a clear path for the broader financial sector to make new, significant contributions to global decarbonization.  The Poseidon Principles place clear-eyed navigators at the helm to traverse these uncharted waters of global decarbonization. Not only will the Principles play a tremendous role in ensuring the safe passage of the shipping industry itself, but they also establish a path for the financial sector to play a significant and positive role in managing its own risks while contributing significantly to the achievement of society’s common, global decarbonization goals.                   https://rmi.org/the-poseidon-principles-a-groundbreaking-new-formula-for-navigating-decarbonization/    

“Unfortunately it has become too late to save Arctic summer sea ice,” said Prof Dirk Notz, of the University of Hamburg, Germany, who was part of the study team. “As scientists, we’ve been warning about the loss of Arctic summer sea ice for decades. This is now the first major component of the Earth system that we are going to lose because of global warming. People didn’t listen to our warnings. “This brings another warning bell, that the kind of projections that we’ve made for other components of the Earth system will start unfolding in the decades to come.” Other climate scientists said in 2022 that the world was on the brink of multiple disastrous tipping points. Prof Seung-Ki Min, of Pohang University, South Korea, who led the new study, said: “The most important impact for human society will be the increase in weather extremes that we are experiencing now, such as heatwaves, wildfires and floods. We need to reduce CO2 emissions more ambitiously and also prepare to adapt to this faster Arctic warming and its impacts on human society and ecosystems.” In 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that the Arctic would not lose its summer ice if emissions were cut sharply and global temperature rises were limited to 2C. But the new research, published in the journal Nature Communications, projects the loss of summer sea ice in the 2050s in the low emissions scenario.....READ ON  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/06/too-late-now-to-save-arctic-summer-ice-climate-scientists-find      

Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding. A summary of The Future We Don’t Want research on the impact of climate change on sea levels.By 2050, 800 million people will live in cities where sea levels could rise by more than half a metre. Many coastal communities around the world already live with the threat from sea level rise and coastal flooding; where climate impacts can drown neighbourhoods, put people’s lives at risk and wreak economic havoc. But, if the world fails to commit to the Paris Agreement’s goal of reducing carbon emissions and limit global average temperature rise to 1.5oC, many of the world’s cities will face an extraordinary threat from rising seas and coastal flooding by mid-century. According to the new The Future We Don’t Want analysis, the total urban population at risk from sea level rise, if emissions don’t go down, could number over 800 million people, living in 570 cities, by 2050. It is therefore crucial that Paris Agreement pledges are honoured if the social and economic impacts of catastrophic climate change are to be avoided. Estimates suggest that the global economic costs to cities, from rising seas and inland flooding, could amount to $1 trillion by mid-century. As with other climate hazards, local factors mean that cities will experience sea level rise at different paces. Cities on the east coast of the U.S., including New York City and Miami, are particularly vulnerable, along with major cities in South East Asia, such as Bangkok and Shanghai. In the U.S., east coast cities are witnessing sea level rise that is two to three times faster than the global average while cities along China’s Yellow River Delta are experiencing sea level rise of more than 22 cm (9 inches) per year. According to a 2016 report by Christian Aid; Miami, Guangzhou, and New York are the top three cities in terms of the value of assets exposed to coastal flooding between 2010 and 2070; between 2 and 3.5 trillion dollars. But it’s Kolkata, Mumbai and Dhaka that have the highest number of people at risk from coastal inundation; between 11 and 14 million.                                                                                                                                  Cities are at risk of coastal flooding and storm surges Even though variations in geography leave certain cities acutely exposed to sea level rise and coastal flooding, such as low-lying delta cities in typhoon and hurricane zones, a city’s level of climate risk is intensified by socio-economic circumstances and the built environment’s shape and form. In New York City, some of the most valuable properties in the world are located in flood-prone areas at the southern tip of Manhattan and real estate valued at an estimated $129 billion lies within the city’s floodplains. While the financial scale of a storm surge impact may be unique in New York, considering the city’s property values and status as a global financial centre, many other cities are dealing with a common problem: How can a city increase its resilience to climate change while simultaneously meeting the housing demands of a rapidly growing, low-income population? Such is the situation in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania. An estimated 8 percent of the city already lies below sea level, which puts over 143,000 people at risk from coastal inundation. But an extremely rapid population growth of 5.3 percent a year means that unplanned informal settlements are expanding into flood-prone areas, where poor residents are highly susceptible to climate impacts. There, the residents’ vulnerability is heightened by inadequate storm water drainage, sewage and piping systems that result in public health hazards during floods......and there's more   https://www.c40.org/what-we-do/scaling-up-climate-action/adaptation-water/the-future-we-dont-want/sea-level-rise/