Climate change crisis reports

As the crisis deepens three news items caught my attention.

Levels of HFCs rising - The threat from atmospheric HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) were supposed to have been banished due to international action taken from 2005. However the threat has returned according to a report in Phys.org:

Despite reports that global emissions of the potent greenhouse gas hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) were almost eliminated in 2017, an international team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, has found atmospheric levels growing at record values.

Call for reduced investment in fossil fuels world-wide - According to the BBC:

The world will face irreversible heating unless firms shift their priorities soon, the outgoing head of the Bank of England has told the BBC.
Mark Carney said the financial sector had begun to curb investment in fossil fuels – but far too slowly.
He said leading pension fund analysis "is that if you add up the policies of all of companies out there, they are consistent with warming of 3.7-3.8C".

Of course Mark Carney is not alone in this view. Some investors are moving in this direction.

How we can meet our climate goals - An article at ScienceAlert reports on research on those "elements most likely to help society limit global warming".

According to the research, the social tipping interventions that could help us do this would be:

• removing fossil-fuel subsidies and incentivising decentralised energy generation;
• building carbon-neutral cities;
• divesting from assets linked to fossil fuels;
• revealing the moral implications of fossil fuels;
• strengthening climate education and engagement; and
• disclosing information on greenhouse gas emissions.

Of course, many of these mechanisms are already in process and evident in society to some degree, but whether any have yet reached a tipping point leading to a rapid societal transformation is debatable.

Relentless persecution of the Baha'is in Iran

Despite its other problems Iran continues its totally unjust persecution of the peaceful Baha'i community, the largest religious minority in the country. According to the Baha'i News Service:

“The Baha’i International Community is alarmed by the recent wave of persecution against the Baha’i community in Iran and calls upon the international community to shine a spotlight on these issues, which represent a major further deterioration”, says Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the BIC.

Iranian authorities are preventing Baha’is across the country from obtaining national identification cards, while a series of home raids, confiscations, arrests, and attacks on properties have unjustly targeted Baha’is.