Drax decision reversed
Climate and energy news
Cuba looks to mangroves to fend off rising
seas
Worried by forecasts of rising seas from climate change, the
effects of hurricanes and the salinization of farmlands,
authorities say they are beginning a forced march to repair Cuba’s
first line of defense against the advancing waters – its mangrove
thickets, which have been damaged by decades of neglect and
uncontrolled logging.
Scotland Approves Wind Farms to Power More Than
100,000 Homes
The Scottish government approved two wind farms that will
power more than 100,000 homes. The government gave the go-ahead to
an extension of about 171 megawatts to an existing wind farm near
Abington that will bring its total generating capacity to 512
megawatts, it said today in a statement on its website. It also
approved the construction of a new 69-megawatt wind farm in South
Ayrshire.
China and US presidents to attend Ban Ki-moon
climate summit
Barack Obama and Xi Jinping are set to attend a climate
summit hosted by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon in September. The
US and Chinese heads of state are on a “very long list of
confirmations” to attend the one-day conference in New York,
according to UN climate chief Christiana Figueres. Both leaders are
keen to showcase their ambitious climate credentials in advance of
key talks in Paris next year.
Antarctic fur seals feel climate
impacts
Yet another cute animal is suffering the effects of climate
change. A new Nature articletracks fur seals over three
decades. It finds that females are being smaller, and those that
survive to motherhood are breeding later in life. The researchers
say a shift in the dominant climate pattern has affected the supply
of the seals’ primary food source – krill. The Mailalso has the
story.
EU agrees to improve energy efficiency 30% by
2030
European Union member states will have to improve their
energy efficiency by nearly a third in the next 15 years, under new
proposals unveiled on Wednesday by the European commission. The
target – to improve efficiency by 30% by 2030 – had been the
subject of dispute, as some industries wanted to avoid setting a
firm goal and instead rely on the market and the EU’s carbon price
to provide an economic incentive to cut energy waste.
The BBC quotes EU Energy Commissioner calling the
target ‘ambitious but realistic’. But others had been pushing for a
tougher target, of 40% energy savings by 2030, and were
disappointed.
Climate and energy comment
BNEF’s Chase on solar affordability pushing power
to new heights
In this video, Bloomberg’s Jenny Chase discusses a forecast
calling for solar energy to account for 5-7 percent of all power
globally by 2030.
Philippine province proves mass storm deaths can
be avoided
A violent typhoon hit the Philippines last week. But noone in
Albay Province was killed. Local officials have put in place early
warning signals coupled with incentives for people to observe them.
But they say other provinces seem less interested in following
their example.
Land rights in Latin America: where are the voices
of indigenous women?
Women play an important role in food production and often
have to bear the brunt of the added burden of adapting to climate
change in forests and farmland. Latin America NGO director Omaira
Bolaños explains the barriers to getting women’s voices heard in
climate change talks.
New climate science
Proximity to Coast Is Linked to Climate Change
Belief
A new paper examined the relationship between physical
proximity to the coastline and climate change belief. The authors
show, in a national probability sample of 5,815 New Zealanders,
that people living in closer proximity to the shoreline expressed
greater belief that climate change is real and greater support for
government regulation of carbon emissions.
Climate change selects for heterozygosity in a
declining fur seal population
A strange thing is happening to Antarctic fur seals.
Populations are declining as climate change reduces the amount of
prey available, yet females are older and bigger when they start
breeding. It turns out the altering conditions are favouring
females with a particular genetic make up, which is a stark example
of climate change-induced selection in action, say the
researchers.
The Cardinal Sins of European Energy Policy:
Nongovernance in an Uncertain Global
Landscape
EU policymakers have a number of choices available when it
comes to energy policy, yet “we witness a general stalemate” in the
political debate where “internal problems seem to impede any
meaningful and coherent external policy”, according to a new paper.
The authors outline what they see as the five ‘cardinal sins’ of
European energy policy and governance, and possible ways to
overcome them.
Long-term sea level trends: natural or
anthropogenic?
Detection and attribution of human influence on sea level
rise is an important topic that has not yet been explored in depth,
says a new paper. The researchers say their study provides
statistical evidence that sea level rise, at global and regional
scales, is “beyond its natural internal variability”. In New York,
Baltimore, San Diego, Marseille and Mumbai, the contribution from
human influence is at least 50 per cent, they add.
Drivers of decadal hiatus periods in the 20th and
21st Centuries
A new paper looks at the occurrence of past “hiatus” periods
in surface warming. The researchers found they can be caused by
volcanic eruption and aerosols, but most have be explained by the
negative phase of a natural ocean cycle known as the Interdecadal
Pacific Oscillation (IPO). The authors also say that under high
rates of greenhouse gas emissions there is little chance of a
hiatus decade occurring beyond 2030, even in the event of a large
volcanic eruption.