Newslinks - 5th March • Gas prices, Obama's climate picks & summers on steroids
- 05 Mar 2013, 09:30
- Carbon Brief staff
UK natural gas prices reach seven-year
high
Gas prices have soared to the highest level since 2006. The
cause of Monday's price rise was a Norwegian plant power outage but
the National Grid denies there is an overarching supply problem.
The "big six" energy companies say the rising price of gas has been
the main driver behind bill increases over recent
years.
Financial Times
News:
Cabinet Picks Could Take On Climate
Policy
President Obama has nominated experienced clean air
campaigner Gina McCarthy to take charge of the US Environmental
Protection Agency and physicist and nuclear power advocate Ernest
J. Moniz to run the Department of Energy. The nominees will be a
core part of the president's team charged with turning his climate
rhetoric into reality.
New York Times
Talks for EDF Energy to build nuclear plants
'could fail within weeks'
Talks between the government and EDF over building a new
nuclear plant are at "crisis point", according to the Telegraph.
EDF has said it wants a deal by the end of the month.
Telegraph
CCS projects to get second chance at EU funding in
April
Applications for EU carbon capture and storage funding
re-open in April, giving the UK a second chance to apply. The UK
missed out the first time round as the government refused to give
financial guarantees to the four projects that
applied.
BusinessGreen
How extreme weather acts as a catalyst for climate
concern
In a welsh poll 85 per cent of respondents reported being
either fairly or very concerned about the risks of climate change,
while 88 per cent agreed the climate was changing - levels not seen
in British opinion polls since the mid 2000s. The research suggests
recent bad weather has a strong effect on views about climate
change.
Guardian
Carbon pricing needed to control airline CO2
emissions: study
Research from Manchester Metropolitan University says a
carbon price needs to be applied to aviation to stabilize air
pollution. The price would need to be set by the EU as aviation is
not covered by the Kyoto Protocol measures.
Reuters
China becomes world's top oil
importer
China has overtaken the US as the world's largest importer
of oil. An increase in US domestic production is part of the reason
for the shift which has the potential to shake up the geopolitics
of natural resources.
Financial Times
Foreign firms cash in on fracking boom in the UK:
Most companies licensed to drill using technique are not
British-owned
Profits of a prospective UK shale gas boom could line the
pockets of foreign firms rather than boosting the UK's economy,
says the Daily Mail. The biggest license-holder, IGas, is
part-owned by the Chinese government. Energy Desk also takes a look at
who owns the licenses.
Daily Mail
Commentary:
How Closing New York Times' Green Blog Will Hurt
Environmental Coverage
The New York Times is set to disband its Green Blog, leaving
Andy Revkin's Dot Earth as its only blog dedicated to environmental
issues. Media Matters says this is a blow to its wider
environmental coverage as the blog frequently proved more attentive
and thorough than the print edition.
Media Matters
How a decarbonisation target will lead to lower
energy bills
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has released
new data showing a decarbonisation target would save consumers
money. The research comes as MPs debate an amendment to the energy
bill which would require a shift away from carbon intensive energy
sources by 2030.
BusinessGreen
Why Treasury may reject nuclear
option
The BBC's Robert Peston mulls over the UK government's
nuclear dilemma - should it pay a high strike price to EDF, or does
the UK's energy future lie with other technologies?
Robert Peston
Oil demand could peak within five
years
Financial Times columnist Nick Butler predicts demand for
oil peaking by 2020, ahead of other forecasts. His predictions are
based on the market looking for alternatives given the increasing
political and economic uncertainties around the extraction and
production of oil.
Financial Times
Science:
'Like summer on steroids': Australia's hottest
ever year blamed on climate change, with 'really frightening'
temperatures in store
Australia's Climate Commission says the effect of climate
change on this summer's weather was like an elite athlete taking
steroids. A new report shows a direct causal link between
Australia's record hot summer and man-made climate
change.
Independent
Shipping lanes could open over the North Pole due
to climate change
Research from the University of California claims the Arctic
ice sheet will be fragile enough for ice-breaking ships to carve a
path between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by 2050.
The Times also covers the
story.
Telegraph
Sussing out sea level rise
The European Geophysical Union looks at the complexities
behind sea-level rise. It focuses on a new approach to include
impacts on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets in
projections.
Geolog
