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Green Climate
CARDIFF, SEVILLE, MARSEILLE: THE EUROPEAN FOOTBALL STADIUMS MOST AT RISK FROM
CLIMATE CHANGE
The roof of the Tropicana Field, damaged the morning after Hurricane Milton hit
the region, 10 October 2024, in St. Petersburg, Florida. - Copyright AP
Photo/Julio Cortez
Copyright AP Photo/Julio Cortez
By Euronews Green
Published on 03/12/2024 - 16:02 GMT+1
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Wales’s Principality Stadium and Spain’s Estadio Benito Villamarín are some of
the most imperilled venues.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sports stadiums are iconic focal points for cities and fans, but they are coming
under increasing and costly threat from climate change.
Under a high-emissions scenario, extreme weather could cost dozens of the
world’s biggest football venues $800 million (€760mn) by 2050.
That’s according to a new report from data analytics firm ClimateX, which
analysed the risk to all 12 of next year’s FIFA World Cup stadiums in the US,
plus Europe’s 25 largest football venues.
“This data is a stark reminder of the mounting threats climate change poses to
the infrastructure underpinning global events,” says Lukky Ahmed, CEO of Climate
X.
“As we celebrate the world’s love for football, we must also confront the
sobering reality that some of the sport’s most cherished venues are at risk.”
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The study evaluated the impact of 10 climate hazards, including flooding,
wildfires, drought, and extreme heat on the 37 major stadiums.
It’s worth noting that the warming scenario it used, known as RCP8.5, was
intended by the IPCC researchers who developed it to represent a very high
emissions situation.
It is not the most likely scenario, but Ahmed’s point stands: “Stakeholders must
take immediate action to safeguard these assets and ensure the sustainability of
future events.”
WHICH OF EUROPE’S SPORTS STADIUMS ARE MOST AT RISK FROM CLIMATE CHANGE?
One of the most dramatic images to emerge in the wake of Hurricane Milton in
October was of Florida’s Tropicana Field (“The Trop”) stadium - its white
fibreglass roof blown to rags.
The US state will remain on the frontline of football’s climate crisis,
according to Climate X. Inter&Co Stadium and Camping World Stadium, both in
Orlando city, ranked highest on the company’s scale for hazard exposure in the
coming years.
In Europe, Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and Estadio Benito Villamarín
in Seville, Spain, are also at high risk from flooding and heat.
By 2050, ClimateX forecasts that hazard exposure will intensify, with the
Velodrome in France and Oaka Stadium in Greece joining the Seville stadium and
other US venues at the top of the rankings.
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about climate change
Each stadium’s risk was ranked based on its total loss in dollars and
percentages, comparing projected damages from climate hazards to the stadium’s
current replacement cost and its known vulnerabilities.
To protect themselves, some stadiums are wisely investing in smart design and
natural barriers, ClimateX notes. As well as working to reduce their own hefty
carbon footprints - installing solar panels and harvesting rainwater, for
example.
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Green Green News
THE WORLD’S ‘BIGGEST’ LEGAL CASE HAS JUST BEGUN - AND IT IS ALL ABOUT CLIMATE
CHANGE
Judges are seated as the International Court of Justice opens hearings into what
countries worldwide are legally required to do to combat climate change.
- Copyright AP Photo/Peter Dejong
Copyright AP Photo/Peter Dejong
By Rosie Frost
Published on 02/12/2024 - 16:31 GMT+1•Updated 04/12/2024 - 12:54 GMT+1
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The International Court of Justice is due to hear from 98 states and 12
international organisations - including many first-time participants in these
kinds of proceedings.
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Today, the world’s top court began hearing evidence on what could be the largest
case in its history.
During two weeks of hearings, more than 100 countries and organisations are due
to submit their arguments on what states should be legally required to do to
combat climate change.
Hearings are taking place at The Hague in the Netherlands from 2 to 13 December
with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) expected to deliver an advisory
opinion in 2025.
The proceedings have particular significance for the small island states which
pushed for the opinion. They come just a week after developing nations denounced
a deal at COP29 to provide $300 billion a year in climate finance by 2035 to
help poorer countries cope with climate change as woefully insufficient.
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Opening the hearings, Vanuatu told the ICJ that it had once again “witnessed
first-hand” the failure of the international summit. Vanuatu is a low-lying
archipelago east of Australia which is particularly vulnerable to extreme
weather, water insecurity and the threat of sea-level rise.
For the people of the island state, the “prolonged and systemic failure of the
COP process” has cost them their wellbeing, cultures and even their lives.
WHY IS THE ICJ BEING ASKED FOR AN OPINION ON CLIMATE CHANGE?
The call for an advisory opinion from the ICJ on climate change is part of an
attempt to establish a stronger framework of accountability that sets clear
international legal obligations for climate action.
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have led the charge, with the idea first
proposed by law students in Fiji five years ago.
It was then taken up by Vanuatu which successfully led a coalition of nations in
pressuring the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to seek an opinion from the ICJ. Last
year, the UNGA finally asked the court for an opinion on “the obligations of
States in respect of climate change”.
Activists protest outside the International Court of Justice, in The Hague as
the hearings open. AP Photo/Peter Dejong
There are two fundamental questions the 15 judges from around the world are
facing about a state’s obligations in international law. The first is what is
their duty to protect the climate? The second is what are the legal consequences
when they cause significant harm through their actions or inactions?
The judges were also briefed on the science behind the issue at hand by the UN's
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change before the hearings began.
The advisory opinion the ICJ delivers won’t be legally binding so can't directly
force nations to act but it will be politically and legally significant.
It could see climate action and commitments grounded in the rule of law. This
would mean countries could be held accountable for failing to address climate
change adequately.
The advisory opinion is likely to influence climate change lawsuits in courts
all over the world - including those where small island states are seeking
compensation from developed nations for historic climate damage.
WHY IS AN ADVISORY OPINION ON CLIMATE NEEDED?
Vanuatu told the ICJ today that the outcome of these proceedings will
“reverberate across generations, determining the fate of nations”. The conduct
on trial, it said, is that of states which have failed for over a century -
despite dire warnings - to rein in their emissions.
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“Seven years ago, 196 parties adopted the Paris Agreement, which was a
monumental step meant to safeguard both people and the planet,” Ralph Regenvanu,
special envoy for climate change and environment in the government of Vanuatu,
told journalists ahead of the hearings.
Vanuatu's special climate envoy Ralph Regenvanu prepares to speak as the
International Court of Justice in The Hague.AP Photo/Peter Dejong
“Yet nearly a decade later, Vanuatu and other small island states are still
trying to prevent further harm while repairing the loss and damage that has
already occurred, while seeing a lack of action by these parties that have
signed up to the Paris Agreement.”
Regenvanu adds that SIDS are among some of the worst affected by climate change
despite contributing just a fraction of global emissions.
“The lack of progress at the UN climate change talks in lowering emissions and
slowing down climate change despite the Paris Agreement necessitates the legal
action we are trying to take now.”
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COULD THIS BE THE BIGGEST LEGAL CASE IN HUMAN HISTORY?
The ICJ is due to hear from 98 states and 12 international organisations -
including many first-time participants in these kinds of proceedings. A total of
91 written statements and 62 additional written comments have already been
submitted.
“It marks the most extensive participation in ICJ hearings ever. In terms of
participation, we can safely say that this is the biggest case in human
history,” Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, legal counsel for Vanuatu's ICJ case and
international lawyer at Blue Ocean Law told journalists.
> Territories are already disappearing, livelihoods are being destroyed, and
> fundamental human rights are being violated right now.
What makes these proceedings historic, she adds, is not just their skill but
their substance. These aren’t future risks or theoretical threats but current
reality for millions around the world.
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“Territories are already disappearing, livelihoods are being destroyed, and
fundamental human rights are being violated right now. And the conduct that is
causing these violations has long been disguised as lawful.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The ICJ hearings are part of a trio of legal advisory opinions on climate
requested from some of the world’s highest courts within the space of six
months.
Earlier this year the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea confirmed
that parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) are
obliged to take measures to combat marine pollution caused by climate change.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is expected to be the next and is due
to publish its advisory opinion at some point in 2025.
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ITALY'S NATURE-RICH PO DELTA SAVED FROM OFFSHORE DRILLING BY 'CRUCIAL' COURT
CASE WIN
The Po Delta covers an area of around 500 km2 in northeast Italy.
- Copyright Riccardo Celio
Copyright Riccardo Celio
By Rebecca Ann Hughes
Published on 02/12/2024 - 16:00 GMT+1 •Updated 16:00
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Offshoring drilling threatened to submerge parts of the delta, which is already
bracing against a barrage of problematic, climate change-induced conditions.
ADVERTISEMENT
Environmental groups have won a landmark case against a project to drill for
offshore gas in Italy's Po Delta, a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve.
The 500 km2 wetlands located around an hour south of Venice are some of the
largest and richest in the Mediterranean.
Partly created by slow sedimentation and partly by human reclamation efforts,
the park is a complex mosaic of lagoons, marshes, beaches and farmland veined
with rivers.
The delta is engaged in a long-standing battle against the encroaching Adriatic
Sea and the reignited gas project prompted fresh fears of flooding.
ITALY’S UNESCO-DESIGNATED DELTA IS SINKING
At the mouth of the Po Delta, where the land is dispersed within a labyrinth of
canals and lagoons, a crumbling brick warehouse lies semi-submerged by water.
The building was once located on Batteria island along with a scattering of
houses.
In the mid-20th century, water began to lap over the island’s shores. It wasn’t
caused by sea level rise but by the land sinking. Residents tried to take
advantage of the abundance of water by cultivating rice paddies, but by the
1970s, Batteria had to be abandoned to the sea.
The island’s settlement, though begun earlier, was aggravated by the extraction
of gas in the delta that took place between the 1930s and 1960s. The process
meant drawing gas and salt water from beneath the ground, causing the already
unstable land to sink faster.
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Several other areas of land around the edge of the delta also disappeared
underwater.
By 1959, there were 1,424 wells extracting as much as 300 million cubic metres
of gas a year. After a government investigation found drilling was causing land
sinkage, extraction activity was halted in 1965.
From the end of the 18th century to today, some areas of land in the Po Delta
have shrunk to four metres below sea level, according to the director of the Po
Delta reclamation consortium Giancarlo Mantovani.
Some of the causes are natural, but they account for a fraction of the
settlement. An accumulation of sediment brought by rivers causes soil to compact
and sink but only around one or two millimetres per year.
By the 1970s, Batteria island had to be abandoned to the sea. Rebecca Ann Hughes
Reclamation also has an impact but with a maximum subsidence of around 70
centimetres annually.
“The real problem was created with the extraction of methane," Mantovani told
Italian newspaper l’Internazionale.
The land level has continued to drop because "what was set in motion is not an
engine that turns on and off as you want," he added.
Now, it is a constant fight to keep the water at bay using drainage pumps and
hydraulic defences. High embankments line the tributaries of the Po River.
Standing on the road on top, you can see how the water is often significantly
higher than the land.
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ITALY’S BIGGEST DELTA IS BATTLING AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
The Po Delta is also having to brace against a barrage of problematic, climate
change-induced conditions.
For several years now, the area has suffered prolonged drought. This is then
followed by torrential downpours that release months-worth of rain in a matter
of hours, which the sun-hardened ground cannot absorb.
Lack of glacial water coming down from the mountains and sea level rise means
the freshwater of the rivers is being contaminated by salt sucked upstream from
the sea.
"Certainly, what we are witnessing is the outcome of the ongoing climate
changes, which are already underway," Ramona Magno, a drought and
desertification expert at Italy’s National Research Council, told FairPlanet.
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These conditions are destroying the delta’s rich biodiversity and fragile
habitats. It is home to over 350 bird species and more than 1,000 plant species.
Birds like herons, flamingoes and snowy egrets crowd the marshland while the
varied landscape includes ancient forests, giant sand dunes and a maritime
pine-filled botanical garden.
But there are already signs of change. The saline water is wiping out areas of
forest where dead trees now protrude from stagnant lagoons.
The Po Delta is also a prime area for agriculture, with acres of rice paddies
and maize plantations, but the high concentration of salt in the water is also
causing irrigation problems.
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The Po Delta is home to over 350 bird species and more than 1,000 plant species.
Paolo Comai
At the mouth of the delta, an area known as the Sacca di Scardovari is home to a
clam and mussel fishing community.
The shoreline is dotted with wooden huts on stilts where the crustaceans are
collected and processed.
But warming waters mean the livelihood of these fishermen is at risk. Rising
temperatures are altering the marine environment causing a boom in blue crab
numbers.
This non-native species feeds on clams and mussels and has decimated their
populations.
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We explored this in detail last year in our piece on how blue crabs were
threatening Italy’s fishing industry.
CONSERVATION GROUPS WIN COURT CASE AGAINST PO DELTA OFFSHORE DRILLING
Despite all the risks already facing the fragile Po Delta, another has been
looming.
As the Ukraine war curtailed supplies of gas, the Italian government gave the
green light for the resumption of drilling in the upper Adriatic by Australian
company Po Valley Operations.
It came despite repeated warnings of the risks of environmental damage.
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“We have tried to raise everyone's awareness of concrete issues such as the
increase in salt which damages agriculture,” Vanni Destro, spokesperson for the
Polesine No Drills Committee, told l’Internazionale.
“But sometimes we even lack the memory of what has already happened. And
therefore many become alarmed only if it is pointed out to them that Venice
could also sink due to subsidence.”
Related
* Why is Trump’s son-in-law allowed to build in Europe’s first wild river
national park delta?
* Po Valley: Air pollution is causing serious health risks for more than 16
million Italians
“We are already overwhelmed by the blue crab, now the drills: we risk definitive
collapse,” said Roberto Pizzoli, the mayor of the delta town of Porto Tolle.
For many environmental groups and local politicians, the dangers far outweigh
the possible benefits. The drilling would extract at most 10 billion cubic
metres of gas in 16 years, a fraction of Italy’s annual consumption of 70
billion cubic metres.
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“The drilling would be irrelevant for our energy needs, but have a considerable
impact on the environment,” the Veneto region’s president Luca Zaia told media.
Finally, there is good news. In late November, environmental groups won their
court case against the Italian government over the proposed gas platform known
as the Teodorico project.
NGOs ClientEarth, Legambiente, LIPU-Birdlife Italy, WWF Italy and Greenpeace
Italy challenged the project in 2021, arguing that the state had failed to
assess the impacts of gas exploitation activities on the adjacent protected
area, home to dolphins, loggerhead turtles and a host of other linchpin
species.
The judge confirmed that this failure was a breach of EU and Italian nature
laws, overturning the company’s permit to operate, and preventing the gas
platform from being built.
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“Approving this project sacrificed wildlife for oil and gas. It was a lesson in
how not to fight climate change and a clear breach of EU and Italian laws - but
this crucial win reverses that," says ClientEarth lawyer Francesco Maletto.
"It is another victory in a patchwork of fights to restore our ocean and rebuild
wildlife populations."
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