In Review: 2016 Was Mainly but Not Entirely Bad News for Climate Change

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So, 2016ย happened.

Fair to say, it wasnโ€™t exactly a vintage year for action on climateย change.

Brace yourselves, hereโ€™s DeSmog UKโ€™s review of the year. It wasnโ€™t all bad! (But mainly it was, letโ€™s beย honest).

Big Year forย Exxon

Oil giant Exxon has had a rollercoaster ride thisย year.

DeSmog UK started the year revealing that Exxon had spent millions lobbying the European Commission and working to influence climate policy as a member of five influential think tanks.

Thatโ€™s on top of the millions it gave to UK universities and the special access it gained to lobby the UK government against the electric vehicles.

Meanwhile, the company was gearing up to face the ongoing Exxon Knew investigation across theย pond.

In April, a DeSmogBlog investigation revealed that Exxon actually knew about the dangers its products posed to the climate years earlier than previouslyย thought.

That revelation came as two more US Attorneys General announced plans to investigate whether Exxon had deceived the public and its investors by lying about its knowledge of the risks of climate change, taking the tally of states investigating the company toย three.

While Exxon was initially cooperative, the company gradually went on the attack. In July, a Congressman who has taken money from both Exxon and Koch Industries tried (and failed) to get information out of investigators. And in September, Exxon lobbyists met with Republican Attorneys General to work out how to counter the courtย orders.

Just as it looked like the story had paused for a much-needed winter break, Trump won the US presidential election and promptly picked Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary ofย State.

That could be great news for Russia. Itโ€™s probably less good news for the UK, which faces the prospect of Tillerson and foreign secretary Boris Johnson (who has a penchant for questioning climate science) bashing out any future USUK bilateral climateย deals.

Brexit and Climate Deniersย Unite

In June, Brexit happened. You probably heard aboutย it.

It led to one prime minister, David Cameron, resigning. Another, Theresa May, taking office without an election. And a whole bunch of politicians connected to a wide network of euro-sceptic climate deniers being put into positions of power.

Itโ€™s all very messy. Fortunately, DeSmog UK has mapped it all out forย you.

View the full interactive map in detail on Littleย Sis

As DeSmog UK reported in June, the reach of this small group of Brexit climate deniers extends to include prominent politicians such as foreign secretary Boris Johnson and environment secretary Andrea Leadsom, as well as some big mediaย outlets.

Vote Leaveโ€™s victory certainly seemed to embolden the UKโ€™s climate deniers. Particularly after May swiftly abolished DECC, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the same week she enteredย office.

Nigel Lawsonโ€™s climate denying Global Warming Policy Foundation booked the UKโ€™s most illustrious scientific institution, the Royal Society, for its annual lecture in October โ€“ much to the chagrin of its scholars. To no one’s surprise, coal baron Matt Ridley delivered a lecture riddled with unscientific nonsense, which was robustly discredited by scientists.

And in December, a report written by a former UKIP researcher with ties to the climate denier network said the UK could face blackouts this winter. Controversial MP Grant Shapps presented on behalf of a โ€˜groupโ€™ of MPs that didnโ€™t actually exist, It was also resoundingly rejected by experts.

UK Climate Deniers Cheerlead forย Trump

Another story that probably crossed your radar was the US presidentialย election.

Donald Trump, the man that is now president-elect, is a climate denier. And somewhat unsurprisingly, heโ€™s surrounding himself with other climateย deniers.

That will no doubt delight infamous climate deniers, Koch Industries, which has links to many of them, as this DeSmogBlog map shows.

DeSmog UK has outlined who Trumpโ€™s picks are, what their jobs do, and how it could affect the UK.

One person hoping to make friends will be UK international trade secretary Liam Fox, who visited US climate denying think tank the Heritage Foundation within weeks of being appointed to the position post-Brexit, DeSmog UK revealed inย November.

He was swiftly followed by Brexiteer MEP Daniel Hannan, who blamed the current absence of a UKUS trade deal on โ€œspoiled millennialsโ€.

Those are just two examples of politicians that will see Trumpโ€™s tenancy in the White House as an opportunity to solidify a burgeoning de-regulation, isolationist, anti-climate science network on both sides of theย Atlantic.

Good News! Some Deals Wereย Signed

But it really wasnโ€™t all bad. Here are a few things that are worth remembering as we move inย 2017.

The UK finally ratified the Paris Agreement (albeit after it had formally come into force), as did lots of other countries.

That at least put the deal on a relatively sure footing before Trumpโ€™s election threatened to blow Novemberโ€™s international negotiations in Marrakech out of theย water.

At the meeting, China stepped up to suggest it doesnโ€™t care what Trump and the US does, itโ€™s going to continue with its decarbonisation plans. The UK struggled to get its voice heard above the din, however, perhaps signalling its new negotiating realityย post-Brexit.

Just prior to the conference, in October, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed off a nationwide carbon price. Though he did also give the governmentโ€™s blessing to a new tar sands oil pipeline the week before, and yet another pipeline the month after.

Also in October, countries struck a deal to cap emissions from aviation. That was quickly followed by an agreement to curb emissions of hydrofluorocarbons, which could prevent a 0.5ยฐC rise in temperature byย 2100.

Those deals perhaps offer a glimmer of hope forย 2017.

Whether next year is good or bad, DeSmog UK will be there to investigate the influence of money and misinformation on the global climate and energy debate, and to report as the impacts of these seismic shiftsย unfold.

Follow us on twitter and facebook to make sure youโ€™re always up to date. And sign up to our weekly newsletter below for regularย round-ups.

Happyย holidays.

Main image credit: Funk Dooby via Flickr CC BYSA

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Mat was DeSmog's Special Projects and Investigations Editor, and Operations Director of DeSmog UK Ltd. He was DeSmog UKโ€™s Editor from October 2017 to March 2021, having previously been an editor at Nature Climate Change and analyst at Carbon Brief.

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