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Daily Briefing |

TODAY'S CLIMATE AND ENERGY HEADLINES

Briefing date 10.03.2017
EPA chief doubts carbon dioxide’s role in global warming, Shell CEO urges switch to clean energy as plans hefty renewable spending, & more

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News.

EPA chief doubts carbon dioxide's role in global warming
BBC News Read Article

Scott Pruitt, the newly-installed head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), says he “would not agree” that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming. In an interview with CNBC, Pruitt said that measuring human impact on the climate was “very challenging” and there was “tremendous disagreement” about the issue. Pruitt instead insisted that officials needed “to continue the debate.” His views are at odds with both the established scientific consensus on climate change and with Pruitt’s own agency, says Guardian. The EPA’s website states that CO2 is the “primary greenhouse gas that is contributing to recent climate change”. Pruitt’s comments sparked a backlash from scientists, says another CNBC piece. “The world of science is about empirical evidence, not beliefs,” said Gina McCarthy, Pruitt’s immediate predecessor at the EPA, reports the Washington Post: “I cannot imagine what additional information the administrator might want from scientists for him to understand that.” Kerry Emanuel, professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that “Scott Pruitt is just plain wrong on this,” reports the Associated Press, while Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, said that “Pruitt has demonstrated that he is unqualified to run the EPA or any agency.” In an interview with CNN (reported by The Hill), Bernie Sanders said “I wish I could come up with another word — it is pathetic, that that is the position of the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.” The story was covered widely, including in the New York Times, the Telegraph, The Hill, Reuters, New Scientist, and the Sun, while the Guardian has a video clip of the interview. Hours after his comments made headlines, Pruitt told an energy industry gathering in Houston that he questioned whether the EPA has the legal right to regulate CO2, reports the Wall Street Journal. There is a “fundamental question” about whether the EPA has the congressional authority to “deal with the CO2 issue,” he said.

Shell CEO urges switch to clean energy as plans hefty renewable spending
Reuters Read Article

The oil and gas industry risks losing public support if progress is not made in the transition to cleaner energy, says Ben van Beurden, the chief executive of Shell. Speaking at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, van Beurden said he thinks “trust has been eroded to the point that it is becoming a serious issue for our long term future…If we are not careful, broader public support for the sector will wane.” Shell plans to increase its investment in renewable energy to $1bn a year by the end of the decade, he added. Van Beurden also warned global energy leaders to brace for the shock of falling oil use as soon as the 2020s, reports the Telegraph: “We have to acknowledge that oil demand will peak, and it could already be in the next decade. It could happen. There are people who believe it will grow forever but I don’t subscribe to that.” Meanwhile, the Times also reports that Shell is selling off most of its Canadian oil sands assets in a $7.25bn deal. The move is the “latest sign of global energy groups backing away from some of the world’s highest-cost and most greenhouse gas-intensive sources of crude oil,” says the FT. Bloomberg New Energy Financedescribes the deal as Shell taking “a big step toward remaking itself as a natural gas company”.

WHITE HOUSE: The Clean Power Plan is gone — and there's no 'replace'
E&E News Read Article

The White House intends to unravel the US Clean Power Plan without providing a replacement, according to a source who was briefed on the issue. An executive order expected to be released next week also instructs the Justice Department to effectively withdraw its defence of the Plan, which is currently making its way through the US Court of Appeals after a legal challenge. If successful, the result would mean the case is “frozen in place,” the source said, preventing the judges from issuing an opinion this spring. Meanwhile, The Hill reports that the House Science Committee on Thursday approved two bills to reform how the Environmental Protection Agency conducts scientific research. The bills require the EPA to publicly release scientific research it uses to write regulations and opens up their Science Advisory Board to new membership. “The days of trust-me science are over,” said Committee Chairman Lamar Smith. “In our modern information age, federal regulations should be based only upon data that is available for every American to see and can be subjected to independent review. That’s the scientific method.” Buzzfeed also has the story.

G-20 Poised to Signal Retreat From Climate-Change Funding Pledge
Bloomberg New Energy Finance Read Article

Finance ministers for the US, China, Germany and other G-20 members may scale back a robust pledge for their governments to combat climate change, according to a statement obtained by Bloomberg News. Citing “scarce public resources,” the ministers said they would encourage multilateral development banks to raise private funds to accomplish goals set under the 2015 Paris climate accord. The statement – an early draft prepared for a meeting that will be held in Germany next week – is a “significant departure from a communique issued in July,” notes Bloomberg. That statement urged governments to implement the Paris Agreement quickly and called on wealthy nations to make good on commitments to raise $100bn annually to cut greenhouse gases around the globe.

Ineos makes a fresh dash for shale gas
Times Read Article

The petrochemicals group Ineos has expanded its British shale gas empire by buying all of the drilling rights held by French energy group Engie. Ineos, which already boasted the biggest portfolio of shale licences in the UK, said that the purchase of the 15 further licence interests would increase its holdings by about 10% to more than 1.2 million acres, reports the Financial Times. The companies did not disclose the value of the deal, which encompasses exploration rights in Cheshire, the east Midlands and Yorkshire. Engie said its retreat from British shale gas was in line with its strategy to focus more on energy infrastructure, like gas pipelines, and services, reports Reuters.

Tillerson has recused himself from Keystone pipeline issues: State Dept.
Reuters Read Article

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will not work on issues related to TransCanada’s application for a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, says the State Department. In a letter to Greenpeace, the State Department’s deputy legal adviser Katherine McManus said that Tillerson “has not worked on that matter at the Department of State, and will play no role in the deliberations or ultimate resolution of TransCanada’s application.” The recusal came after Greenpeace wrote to officials at the State Department and the Office of Government Ethics, urging Mr Tillerson to distance himself from any decisions, says the Independent.

Comment.

Scott Pruitt demonstrates what climate denial sounds like
Editorial, Washington Post Read Article

Scott Pruitt’s comments that CO2 is not the primary cause of climate change can only be described as “denial”, says the Washington Post in an editorial. It is not just “scepticism”, the Post says, as that “implies reasonable doubt in the face of inadequate information.” Instead, Pruitt’s comments are “denial of a scientific consensus built on ample evidence that gets stronger every year, and it is denial of Mr. Pruitt’s essential responsibilities as the nation’s chief environmental watchdog.” “What else can one call Mr. Pruitt?” the article asks.

Science.

Anthropogenic warming impacts on california snowpack during drought
Geophysical Research Letters Read Article

Climate change-driven drought has reduced average snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada by 25%, according to new research, with some places experiencing losses of up to 43%. The frequency of extreme drought events, such as the region experienced in 2011-2015, have at least doubled and possibly quadrupled in response to human-caused climate change, say the authors. They expect the snowpack to shrink a further 60-85% in future, depending on the emissions scenario.

The whole-soil carbon flux in response to warming
Science Read Article

Holding three times as much carbon as Earth’s atmosphere, understanding how soil is likely to respond to warming is an important factor in climate projections. Yet past studies haven’t dug deep enough – quite literally. While most research has been limited to just 20 cm below ground, a new study of coniferous temperate forest soils in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada suggests the amount of carbon released from soil below this surface layer will increase by 34-37% in response to 4C of warming, considerably more than the 9-12% suggested in previous work.

The geologic history of seawater pH
Science Read Article

A new reconstruction of ocean acidity stretching back 100 milion years suggests seawater pH increased from early Archean values of ∼6.5 to 7.0 to more recent values of ∼7.5 to 9.0, mostly as a result of solar brightening and less hydrothermal interaction between seawater and the oceanic crust. A lower pH in Earth’s early oceans would have had a critical bearing on the climate and the chemical reactions associated with the origin of life, the authors note.

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