World consumption of primary energy in exajoules, 1994-2019. Primary energy consumption rose by 1.3 percent in 2019, less than half its rate in 2018 (2.8 percent). Growth was driven by renewables (3.2 EJ) and natural gas (2.8 EJ), which  together contributed three quarters of the increase. All fuels grew at a slower rate than their 10-year averages, apart from nuclear, with coal consumption falling for the fourth time in six years (-0.9 EJ). By region, consumption fell in North America, Europe and CIS, and growth was below average in South and Central America. In the other regions, growth was roughly in line with historical averages. China was the biggest individual driver of primary energy growth, accounting for more than three  quarters of net global growth. Oil continues to hold the largest share of the energy mix (33.1 percent). Coal is the  second largest fuel but lost share in 2019 to account for 27.0 percent, its lowest  level since 2003. The share of both natural gas and renewables rose to record highs of 24.2 percent and 5.0 percent respectively. Renewables has now overtaken nuclear, which makes up only 4.3 percent of the energy mix. The share of hydroelectricity has been stable at around 6 percent for several years. Graphic: BP

BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2020: Carbon emissions increase for another year, coal still the single largest source of power generation

By Bernard Looney 17 June 2020 (BP) – The COVID-19 pandemic may well turn out to be the most tragic and disruptive event that many of us will ever live through. As I write this – in the middle of June – over 400 thousand people globally have lost their lives to the infection. Millions […]

A performance protest on 15 June 2020 in Brasilia honors Brazilians who died after contracting the novel coronavirus. Photo: Adriano Machado / Reuters

Brazil ignored the warnings about COVID-19 – “A human catastrophe of unimaginable proportions”

By Terrence McCoy 16 June 2020 RIO DE JANEIRO (The Washington Post) – Weeks ago, when this seaside metropolis had recorded fewer than 10,000 cases of the novel coronavirus and there still appeared to be time, some of Brazil’s most respected scientists made their last-ditch appeal. The country had reached a pivotal juncture. Cases were […]

Collateralized loan obligations (CLOs): An Illustrated Guide. Data: Fitch Ratings. The fourth CLO depicts an aggregate leveraged-loan default rate of 78 percent. Graphic: the Atlantic

The looming bank collapse – “This crisis is more horrifying than I anticipated”

By Frank Partnoy 14 June 2020 (The Atlantic) – After months of living with the coronavirus pandemic, American citizens are well aware of the toll it has taken on the economy: broken supply chains, record unemployment, failing small businesses. All of these factors are serious and could mire the United States in a deep, prolonged […]

Map showing tracks of tropical storms Arthur, Bertha, and Cristobal in 2020. “We did set a record for the earliest third named storm formation date on record, breaking the old record set in 2016,” says Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist at Colorado State University. Graphic: CNN Weather

Records have been broken already, and the 2020 hurricane season just started – “We did not have to wait long for things to get rolling”

By Allison Chinchar 14 June 2020 (CNN) – The Atlantic hurricane season is already one for the record books and it’s only just getting started. With an early jump-start to the season, a record number of named storms, and a storm reaching states that don’t normally see tropical systems, this season is off to a […]

Accumulated Amazon deforestation Jan-Apr, 2009-2020. Data: INPE. Graphic: Mongabay

14 straight months of rising Amazon deforestation in Brazil

By Rhett A. Butler 12 June 2020 (Mongabay) – Deforestation in Earth’s largest rainforest increased for the fourteenth consecutive month according to data released today by the Brazilian government. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is currently pacing 83 percent ahead of where it was a year ago. Data from Brazil’s national space research institute INPE […]

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warns of a global food crisis caused by Covid-19 during a speech on 9 June 2020. Photo: UN News

UN warns of global food crisis – “It is increasingly clear that there is an impending global food emergency that could have long term impacts on hundreds of millions of children and adults”

9 June 2020 (UN News) – Although the COVID-19 pandemic could push nearly 50 million more people into extreme poverty, this and other dire impacts of the crisis can be avoided if countries act immediately to shore up global food security, the UN Secretary-General said on Tuesday. For his latest policy brief on the pandemic, […]

Meteorologists Jeff Masters and Bob Henson

End of an era: Weather Underground’s Category 6 blog to close shop this month

By Bob Henson 9 June 2020 (Weather Underground) – After a run of 15 years, Category 6—originally Dr. Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog—will publish its final post on June 19, as The Weather Company shifts resources to other weather and climate efforts. [Desdemona has been cribbing from Category 6 for more than ten years and is sad […]

Map showing the Global Peace Index for 2020. The average level of global peacefulness deteriorated 0.34 percent on the 2020 GPI. This is the ninth time in the last 12 years that global peacefulness has deteriorated. Graphic: Institute for Economics and Peace

Global peacefulness falls for the fourth time in the last five years – “We find ourselves at a critical juncture”

11 June 2020 (Institute for Economics and Peace) – This is the 14th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI), which ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness. In addition to presenting the findings from the 2020 GPI, this year’s report includes an analysis of the effect of the COVID-19 […]

Screenshot from “Honest Government Ad: Economic Recovery”. Photo: The Juice Media

Honest Government Ad: Economic Recovery in Australia

4 June 2020 (The Juice Media) – Hello, I’m from the Australian government. As we head into the worst economic recession in living history, what the nation needs now is leadership, evidence-based policies, and bold vision. And fucked if we have those. So instead, we’ve cooked up something else. That’s right, while you’ve been in […]

Map showing surface air temperature anomaly for May 2020 relative to the May average for the period 1981-2010. May 2020 was the hottest May on record. Data: ERA5. Graphic: Copernicus Climate Change Service / ECMWF

May 2020 was hottest May on record – “The really large anomalies started during January, and since then this signal has been quite persistent”

By Kelly Macnamara and Marlowe Hood 5 June 2020 PARIS (AFP) – Temperatures soared 10 degrees Celsius above average last month in Siberia, home to much of Earth’s permafrost, as the world experienced its warmest May on record, the European Union’s climate monitoring network said Friday. Large swathes of Siberia have been unusually warm for […]

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