More people now believe human-made climate change is happening, Judge refuses to block work on Dakota Access pipeline, & more

14.02.17

News

More people now believe human-made climate change is happening

The proportion of people in UK who accept climate change is happening and is largely human-caused has risen to almost two-thirds, a survey shows. A poll of 2,045 people reveals a “discernible shift” in UK public opinion as 64% agreed that manmade climate change is happening, up from 59% when the same question was asked in 2015 and 57% in 2014. Just 4% said it was not happening, while 22% said it was occurring but humans were not mainly responsible, the poll by ComRes for the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit shows. On a regional basis, the survey reveals that more people in Scotland (69%) believe climate change is real than in England (67%) or Wales (63%), says the Independent. Within England, London had the largest share of the population who think climate change is real on 71%, compared to the lowest figure of 57% in the North East. There was also a clear age-related pattern, notes the Indy, with 73% of 18-24-year-olds backing the scientific consensus on climate change compared to just over half (54%) of those aged 65 or over. The poll also reveals the climate-related risks which spark the most concern amongst the public, says BusinessGreen. These include concern about impact on wildlife (80%), flood risk (73%), and the availability and price of some foods (60%).

Judge refuses to block work on Dakota Access pipeline

The Hill

A federal judge yesterday denied a request to block construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. US District Judge James Boasberg said he would not grant the temporary restraining order against the project sought by the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, who argue the oil pipeline threatens the sacred Lake Oahe on the Missouri River. “Because there is no immediate harm because oil is not going to flow immediately, I deny the [order]”, Boasberg said, reports the Washington Post. However, the judge also ordered the pipeline company to provide weekly updates about when it expected oil to begin flowing, leaving open the possibility of further court intervention. He set a date of 27 February for a hearing on whether to issue a preliminary injunction at that time.

Act now before entire species are lost to global warming, say scientists

Guardian

The impact of climate change on threatened and endangered wildlife has been substantially underreported, a new study warns. The analysis finds that nearly half (47%) of the mammals and nearly a quarter (24%) of the birds on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature red list of threatened species are negatively impacted by climate change – a total of about 700 species. Previous assessments had said only 7% of listed mammals and 4% of birds were impacted. Earlier studies tended to focus on the future risks, ignoring the fact that the climate is already changing, says co-author Dr James Watson: “Many risk assessments are simply blind to the fact that climate change is happening now.” The findings show that warming is not just a theoretical future threat, and conservation work must focus on the “here and now”, reports New Scientist.

Toshiba delays earnings and writedown report, fuelling fears of crisis

Guardian

Toshiba has unexpectedly delayed the release of a key earnings report and details of its rumoured withdrawal from overseas nuclear projects amid rumours that it could suffer net losses of 500 billion yen ($4.4bn). The delay sent shares in the Japanese giant down by 8% in Tokyo, and “added to speculation that its financial woes could become an existential crisis,” the Guardian says. Toshiba was scheduled to confirm today that it is withdrawing from new nuclear projects outside Japan, dealing a blow to plans for a new power station in the UK, says the Press Assocation. Toshiba has a 60% stake in Nugen, the company which plans to build at Moorside, near Sellafield, so pulling out would leave the Government having to look for new backers. Bad news had been expected after Toshiba experienced “massive losses in its US nuclear construction business”, says the Times, the scale of which “may endanger the future viability of the company”.

Automakers ask Trump to reconsider car emissions standards

The Hill

The heads of several major automakers are asking President Trump to reconsider greenhouse gas standards for vehicles put in place during the Obama administration. In a letter, seen by Reuters, CEOs from General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler and the American arms of several international manufacturers urged Trump to revisit the vehicle fuel efficiency rules locked in until 2025. The rules require an average fleet-wide efficiency of more than 50 miles per gallon. The letter cautions that the rules “threaten future production levels, putting hundreds of thousands and perhaps as many as a million jobs at risk” – largely because Americans’ tendency to buy large vehicles makes it difficult to improve fuel efficiency across the whole industry.

Comment

British nuclear energy and the case for public funding

Editorial, Financial Times

If the UK government is going to rely on nuclear power to plug the gaps in supply, “it will need to be open to funding it directly,” says an FT editorial. The “dogma” of financing new nuclear plants through the private sector has resulted in the controversial deal for the proposed Hinkley Point, which will see the government guarantee to pay more than double the current wholesale electricity price for 35 years. “The next test of the UK’s commitment to nuclear expansion will be the plant Hitachi wants to build at Wylfa, in Anglesey,” the FT says: “If ministers want this to proceed, they should be open in principle to financing the project directly.” For example, the government could buy a minority stake in the project, the FT notes, “which would not count towards public debt and could be sold on once the plant was in operation”.

A Rare Republican Call to Climate Action

Editorial, New York Times

“The most important thing about a carbon tax plan proposed last week may be the people behind it,” says the New York Times in an editorial. The proposal came from a group of Republican elder statesmen who call themselves the Climate Leadership Council. They endorsed a carbon tax as a market-friendly approach to tackling climate change. The move could be a “breakthrough for a party that has closed its eyes to the perils of manmade climate change,” says the Times. But “neither President Trump nor Republicans in Congress have embraced the proposal,” the article notes, putting the “myopic” Republican party “out of step with the country.”

Science

Species’ traits influenced their response to recent climate change

Nature Climate Change

The most comprehensive review of the literature to date has identified species of animals and birds that are being already being affected by climate change. The study of 130 scientific papers suggest the negative impacts of climate change on threatened and endangered wildlife have been massively underreported, say the authors, with 47% of animal species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and 23% of threatened bird species already affected by rising temperatures in at least part of their distribution. Primates, elephants and marsupials are vulnerable, for example, because of their very slow reproductive rates and inability to adapt rapidly to changing conditions.

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