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Daily Briefing |

TODAY'S CLIMATE AND ENERGY HEADLINES

Briefing date 15.03.2017
Trump to drop climate change from environmental reviews, source says, Germany must set exact climate goals soon after election: Merkel, & more

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News.

Trump to Drop Climate Change From Environmental Reviews, Source Says
Bloomberg New Energy Finance Read Article

US president Donald Trump is poised to sign a “sweeping directive to dramatically shrink the role climate change plays in decisions across the government”, Bloomberg reports. The targets of the order will range from appliance standards to pipeline approvals, going far beyond a targeted assault on Obama-era measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and block coal leasing that have been discussed recently. It would largely reverse how the Obama administration addressed climate change, an approach that required government agencies to submit formal environmental reviews that factored in the impacts of climate change. The order, which could be signed in a week, will also “compel a reconsideration of the government’s use of a metric known as the “social cost of carbon” that reflects the potential economic damage from climate change”, Bloomberg writes. The social cost of carbon, which Carbon Brief recently published an explainer on, was used by Obama to justify a number of policies. Bloomberg reports that some changes could happen immediately, while others “could take years to implement”. The expected move “puts our country, our communities and our people at great risk” said Paul Getsos, national coordinator of the People’s Climate Movement, “it also sends a dangerous message to the world that the United States does not care about climate change or protecting front-line communities.” Meanwhile Tom Pyle, president of the fossil fuel advocacy group the American Energy Alliance, welcomed the order, calling it essential to undoing Obama’s climate policies that “permeated the entire administration”. The story was also covered in the Hill and Reuters.

Germany must set exact climate goals soon after election: Merkel
Reuters Read Article

Germanys next government must set precise targets for cutting carbon emissions soon after the election in September, chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday, in order to to give clarity for local governments and companies. The nation’s pledge to reduce emissions by 80-95% by 2050 from 1990 levels was a good goal but had to be properly discussed, she said in a speech: “There is a big difference between 80 percent and 95 percent…It must be decided early in the next legislative period. A lot depends on it … We must get clarity”.

Saudis promise Opec deal still stands despite rise in output
The Times Read Article

Saudi Arabia was “battling to restore confidence” in Opec’s oil production deal yesterday as the price of Brent crude oil slumped to a three-month low of $50.63 a barrel, the Times reports. The kingdom issued a statement underscoring its commitment to the deal made in November, after an unexpected rise in its output raised questions over whether it had quietly dropped its cuts. “Saudi Arabia assures the market that it is committed and determined to stabilising the oil market by working with other producers”, their energy ministry said. The Financial Times also has the story.

Overnight Energy: Trump administration ponders deeper EPA cuts
The Hill Read Article

Trump’s administration is looking to expand its budget cuts to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to reports yesterday. The EPA did not fight the 24% cut officials proposed for it, which has encouraged the administration to aim for deeper spending cuts, the Hill writes. The White House is expected to roll out its budget proposal this week.

Scientists issue warning over planting trees to stop floods
The Times Read Article

The benefits of creating natural flood defences by planting trees and creating water meadows may have been overstated, according to a review of the evidence, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A. While natural defences “can reduce small floods in very small catchments [areas of land drained by a river]”, the study found that there is little evidence that they protect homes from severe events: “Evidence does not suggest a major effect on the most extreme events. The bigger the flood and catchment, the less the potential to slow or store floodwater.” Co-author Louise Heathwaite, of Lancaster University, said that people could not expect full protection as climate change will make events more extreme. The UK government announced £15 million for natural defences in November.

Trump’s Defense Secretary Cites Climate Change as National Security Challenge
ProPublica Read Article

Trump’s secretary of defense James Mattis believes climate change is a threat to American interests abroad and the Pentagon’s assets everywhere, a position that appears at odds with the views of the US president and many in his administration, ProPublica reports. Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he believes in climate change and recognises it as a threat, in unpublished written testimony in response to questions submitted to him by Democratic members of the committee. “Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today”, he wrote, continuing, “It is appropriate for the Combatant Commands to incorporate drivers of instability that impact the security environment in their areas into their planning”. The Hill also carries the story.

Philippines senate unanimously votes to ratify Paris climate deal
Climate Home Read Article

The senate of the Philippines has voted unanimously to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change, despite doubts expressed by President Rodrigo Duterte last year, who described curbs on the country’s greenhouse gas emissions as “nonsense”. The Philippines is one of the world’s most vulnerable nations to extreme weather, and the argument that the UN pact is is in the country’s best interests prevailed, Climate Home reports.

Comment.

Scott Pruitt's climate denial may be Putin's real prize
Owen Gaffney, New Scientist Read Article

A comment piece in New Scientist asks whether climate change was a motive behind Russia’s interference in the US election. “Apart from oil and gas, it produces little anyone wants to buy…Without restructuring, a global clean energy revolution will likely put the Russian economy in a death spiral”, Gaffney writes, “Perhaps it’s time we expended more effort on asking exactly why it interfered [in the US election]”.

Big energy fears peak oil demand is looming
Ed Crooks, Financial Times Read Article

A feature in the Financial Times looks into oil producers’ fears of the prospect of “peak demand” for oil, and at the evidence for how close this end to growth in global consumption might actually be. Shell believes it could be “between the mid-2020s and the late-2030s”, while the International Energy Agency (IEA), puts the date at 2040, or possibly beyond. But if accelerated electric car sales and more investment in alternative energy bring the IEA’s date forward, big energy’s investment in new large projects could be risky, Crooks notes.

We Shouldn’t Always Have Paris
Editorial, Wall Street Journal Read Article

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal advocates pulling out of what it describes as “Obama’s global climate accord”. The US should do this because the deal gives, in the words of US president Trump, “foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use”. Why stay in an agreement that the Trump administration has no plan for honouring, the paper asks.

Science.

The impact of temperature changes on vector-borne disease transmission: Culicoides midges and bluetongue virus
Royal Society Interface Read Article

Since Bluetongue virus – a disease of ruminants, mainly sheep – first arrived in northern Europe in 2006, occurrence has not reached such high levels again in the UK. But climate change could see the risk of the disease rise significantly, such that 2006-like levels become the norm in England by 2050, according to new research. The scientists say their findings suggest we can expect regular and widespread outbreaks of blue tongue virus among animal populations in the UK in future.

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