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Daily Briefing |

TODAY'S CLIMATE AND ENERGY HEADLINES

Briefing date 23.01.2017
Prince Charles: We must act on climate change to avoid ‘potentially devastating consequences’, On White House website, Obama climate priorities vanish, replaced by Trump’s focus on energy production, & more

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News.

Prince Charles: We must act on climate change to avoid 'potentially devastating consequences'
Sunday Telegraph Read Article

Future generations will pay the “biggest price” if we fail to act to avert the “potentially devastating consequences” of climate change, says Prince Charles, according to the Sunday Telegraph. He says climate change is the “wolf at the door”, report the Mail and Press Association. The prince of Wales also thinks TV weather forecasts should make clear the role of climate change in floods and heatwaves, reports the Mail on Sunday, while the Daily Mail reports “one MP [Philip Davies] saying the public doesn’t want ‘propaganda’ forced upon them”. The prince has co-authored a Ladybird Book on climate change, due to be published this week. It is the first of the series to have been submitted for peer review, says the Telegraph in an “exclusive preview” that includes images and charts from the book. The prince has authored an opinion piece for Mail Online in which he writes: “We can take the scientific evidence and act accordingly or we can find ways to remain unconvinced that robust and immediate action is necessary.” Daily Mail columnist Stephen Glover devotes himself to prince Charles, writing: “For years the Prince has been increasingly outspoken in predicting Armageddon”. The Daily Mail also has an editorial to the subject. It says: “In throwing his weight behind climate change zealots, [prince Charles] dives into political waters that the heir to the Throne would do well to avoid”. The editorial says the “jury [is] still out” on links between climate change, flooding and heatwaves.

On White House website, Obama climate priorities vanish, replaced by Trump’s focus on energy production
Washington Post Read Article

The incoming Trump administration has wiped the White House website of all Obama-era policies, report the Washington Post and many others, with climate change among the casualties. A new page sets out Trump’s priorities for energy, including scrapping the Clean Power Plan, backing “clean coal” and refocusing the Environmental Protection Agency on air and water protection. The administration wants to boost the oil, gas and coal industries, reports Reuters. It would be hard to dream up a cabinet friendlier to fossil fuels, says Gregory Meyer for the Financial Times. The administration has issued an executive order halting the introduction of any new regulations, reports another story for the Financial Times. Roger Harrabin, BBC environment analyst, asks if it is now a case of the “World v Trump on [the] global climate deal”. The Trump victory creates uncertainty for wind and solar, reports the Associated Press.

Government 'tried to bury' its own alarming report on climate change
The Independent Read Article

The government stands accused of trying to “bury” the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, reports the Independent in its front-page splash. The five-yearly report, which says the UK faces a doubling of heatwave deaths and “significant risk” to food supplies was published “with little fanfare…[and] no speech [from secretary of state Andrea Leadsom]”. There was no government statement announcing the report and “no mainstream media organisation covered the report”, the Independent says.

We will not invest in coal, says China’s would-be World Bank
The Times Read Article

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will avoid financing coal mines and power stations, reports the Times. The paper says: “A determination to be seen as environmentally friendly…has prompted the new Chinese rival to the World Bank to dash the coal industry’s hopes of a source of easy funding”. The bank may lend to coal schemes in some circumstances, the Times adds, for instance where an old, inefficient plant was being replaced by a newer station in a country with high demand for power.

Theresa May to unveil industrial strategy with biggest investment in transport, broadband and energy for a generation
The Telegraph Read Article

The UK government is launching the outline of a new industrial strategy today, as it publishes a green paper on the plans. It will propose “the biggest investment in transport, broadband and energy in a generation”, reports the Telegraph. The green paper was published early on Monday morning.

Gore 'hoping for best' from Trump over climate
BBC News Read Article

Former US vice president Al Gore believes climate campaigners will “win” the debate, reports the BBC, as it covers the launch of Gore’s new climate film “An Inconvenient Sequel”. The film “lacks heat”, says a Guardian review, which gives the film two stars. Reuters also covers the film, under the headline “Al Gore rouses Sundance with climate film on eve of Trump induction”.

Cambridge scientists consider fake news 'vaccine'
BBC News Read Article

Small “doses” of misinformation can help readers build up “resistance” to fake news, according to University of Cambridge researchers discussing their work with the BBC. Their study used a “disguised experiment”, the BBC says, in which more than 2,000 people in the US were “presented with two claims about global warming”. The BBC says: “The researchers say when presented consecutively, the influence well-established facts had on people were cancelled out by bogus claims made by campaigners. But when information was combined with misinformation, in the form of a warning, the fake news had less resonance.”

Comment.

China is shaping up to be a world leader on climate change
Nicholas Stern, Financial Times Read Article

Chinese president Xi Jinping defended the Paris climate agreement last week, writes Lord Nicholas Stern in the Financial Times. China’s role “will be key, not only as the world’s largest emitted but also as its largest investor in sustainable infrastructure”, writes Stern. He adds: “China has come so far so fast that many people are unaware of how much progress it has made, from investing in renewable energy to tackling air pollution”.

Science.

Assessing the hydrologic and water quality impacts of biofuel-induced changes in land use and management
GCB Bioenergy Read Article

A new study examines how a shift in land use in the Southern High Plains of Texas from cotton to perennial grasses to support biofuel production could significantly affect regional hydrology and water quality. Replacing cotton with Alamo switchgrass and Miscanthus x giganteus decreased average annual surface runoff by 88% and enhanced soil water content over part of the growing season. The nitrate-nitrogen loads in surface runoff and leaching to groundwater reduced by 80-100% under the perennial grasses scenario, the study notes.

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