Reactions to Rudd's 'reset' speech & big Antarctic ice melt scenarios 'not plausible'

19.11.15

News

Questions over Rudd push to generate more power from gas

After the headline statements from energy secretary Amber Rudd’s policy reset speech were trailed yesterday in the press, papers have filled in the details of what was announced, and its impacts. The Financial Times looks at questions arising over the decision to push gas as a replacement to coal. It asks how companies are to build more gas plants if the government sticks to its insistence that government intervention should be limited. A Q&A looks at who wins and who loses from the decision to shut down coal. The Telegraph looks in more detail at claims in the speech that renewables generators must take responsibility for the intermittency of their power and plans to offer new subsidies to wind farms, as well as the possibility that the National Grid could be broken up. The Guardian says that Rudd’s new policies have been criticised by both coal and renewables firms.

Big Antarctic ice melt scenarios ‘not plausible’

BBC News

The worst case scenarios for sea level rise caused by Antarctic melt are “implausible”, claims a new paper in Nature. Oceans are likely to rise by around 10cm by 2100 because of Antarctic’s melting ice sheets, with previous predictions of sea level rise of 30cm or more having just a one-in-20 chance of occurring. The Times also covered the study, claiming the threat of melting ice had been “exaggerated”. Study co-author Tamsin Edwards explains in the Guardian how the study improves on previous ones, and why the findings are not cause for celebration. Carbon Brief also covered the story.

Climate change is ‘single biggest threat’ to polar bear survival

The Guardian

Shrinking Arctic sea ice means that global warming is now the largest threat to polar bears, according to a new study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. It found that there is a “high probability” that the 26,000 polar bears currently on the planet will decline by 30% by 2050, with a high risk of extinction, as changes to their habitat make it harder for them to hunt.Reuters also covers the story. The Washington Post covers a separate polar bear study in PLOS One, stating that climate change will cause polar bears to spend more time on land, in closer proximity to humans.

Investors recoil from Drax after energy speech

The Financial Times

After Amber Rudd announced yesterday that coal would be phased out by 2025, the market value of Drax — the UK’s biggest coal-fired generator — dropped by £40m in 30 minutes. Analysts said that the fall was also because Rudd did not mention biomass, which Drax hopes to focus on in the future. The Financial Times’ Lex column, however, predicts a positive future for Drax’s shares if it can “persuade the pro-gas Ms Rudd to back biomass”.

COP21 climate marches in Paris not authorised following attacks

The Guardian

Following last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris, the French government has refused to authorise climate marches taking place alongside the UN climate talks. Environmental activists had expected hundreds of thousands of people to turn out on 29 November and 12 December as leaders and negotiators gather to sign a new climate deal, but due to security concerns only demonstrations in closed spaces will now be allowed to go ahead. Climate Home and Inside Climate News also cover the story.

Comment

The Guardian view on Paris, terror and climate change: shaping the future

Editorial, The Guardian

A Guardian editorial links together the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, the forthcoming UN climate talks, and the UK government’s energy policy reset speech. There is reason to be optimistic that the talks will deliver a useful outcome, says the Guardian, but energy secretary Amber Rudd’s decision to go heavy on gas and light on efficiency will make the next steps in the UK’s plan to tackle emissions harder than they need to be.

Why a Climate Deal Is the Best Hope for Peace

Jason Box and Naomi Klein, The New Yorker

The Paris attacks should not distract from the task of tackling climate change at the UN conference in December, write Naomi Klein and Jason Box in the New Yorker. “Major shocks like the Paris attacks are awfully good at changing the subject,” they write — but instead they should be used as an opportunity to deepen the discussion around climate change, with solutions being key not just to limiting temperature rise, but also as the best way to secure global peace. Taking place against a backdrop of climate-fuelled violence and migration, this is the only way that the summit can be relevant, they say.

The UK is harking back to the energy system of the last century

Damian Carrington, The Guardian

Amber Rudd’s energy policy reset speech is riddled with contradictions, argues Damian Carrington, head of environment at the Guardian. Coal must be phased out only to be replaced by gas, while all technologies must be cost-competitive unless it is nuclear power, he writes. The most worrying aspect is its neglect of energy efficiency, he adds. By backing gas and nuclear at the expense of clean energy, Rudd has chosen the energy system of the last century, rather than the future, he concludes. Friends of the Earth chief Craig Bennett and Guardian financial editor Nils Pratley also offer up some largely negative views in the paper.

Science

Increased Land Use by Chukchi Sea Polar Bears in Relation to Changing Sea Ice Conditions

PLOS ONE

Female Polar bears living in the Chukchi Sea area of the Arctic are spending an additional 30 days on land per year, a new study finds. Researchers tracked bears using satellite radio collars during 1996-95 and 2008-13. The proportion of bears on land for more than seven days between August and October – when sea ice is at its lowest extent – increased from 20% to 39% between the two periods. The findings support earlier studies suggesting Polar bears will spend more time on land as Arctic sea ice declines, the paper says.

Adaptation options for wheat in Europe will be limited by increased adverse weather events under climate change

Journal of the Royal Society Interface

The areas of Europe that produce more than one-half of all European wheat will face some type of adverse weather event at least once every 10 years by the end of the century, a new study says. The researchers considered weather events that can affect wheat production, such as frost damage, water logging, heat and drought stress, and extreme conditions during sowing and harvest. Under the highest emissions scenario, 90% of European wheat production could be affected by adverse weather at least once every 10 years, and 50% every two years, the paper says.