Election results: Conservatives on course for majority
News
Election results: Conservatives on course formajority
After results in 627 of 650 seats, the Conservatives look setto secure an outright majority in the UK general election, defyingpollsters’ predictions of a hung parliament. Green MP CarolineLucas retained her seat. Former energy andclimate change secretary Ed Davey was among those losing theirseat.Business Green saysthe windindustry is “braced for disaster”. You can remind yourself of theConservative manifesto pledges on climate and energyin Carbon Brief’s election gridandread somepre-election expert speculationonwhat the result might mean for the UK in the run up to Paris.
Climate and energy news
Modi: India can offer “natural leadership” onclimate change
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi says that his country -the fourth largest polluter – can provide leadership on climatechange, although he stopped short of saying whether his governmentwould cap or peak emissions ahead of the UN’s climate deal thisDecember. He told TIMEmagazine that India’srenewables programme was an “immense and huge initiative”.
Brazil’s climate plans stall as historic droughthits country
Brazil is no closer to revealing its contribution to the UN’sintended climate deal, according to experts close to thenegotiations. Diplomats have indicated that the submission couldnow come in October, instead of June, as the foreign ministrysuggested last year. Brazil is currently suffering one of its worstdroughts on record.
Little Chance to Restrain Global Warming to 2Degrees, Critic Argues
ClimateWire viaScientific American
A UN deal in Paris will not put the world on track to keepingtemperature rise below 2C, and scientists and economists must stopspreading “false optimism”, says Oliver Geden from the GermanInstitute for International and Security Affairs in a Naturearticle. Concepts such as negative emissions that could reducecarbon dioxide levels later are “dubious”, he says. Gristand RTCChave also covered his views.
Australian PM’s adviser says U.N. using climatechange for ‘new world order’
Maurice Newman, controversial business adviser to theAustralian prime minister says the UN is using climate change tocreate a “new world order” under its own control. He has expandedhis previous attacks on climate science in an opinion piecefor The Australian newspaper.
Coal investments are increasingly risky, say Bankof America
Pollution regulations, changing economic conditions andcompetition from shale gas and renewables are changing the dynamicsof coal says Bank of America. Its new coal policyexplains how thebank has and will continue to reduce its investments in coal,reports the Guardian. An article forThisismoney.co.uk via the Mailasksif divestment campaigns could harm share investments.Greenbizasks if carbon will causethe next financial crisis.
Climate and energy comment
Will last year’s predicted El Niño happen thisyear?
Australian research scientist Jaci Brown sets out thelikelihood of an El Niño arriving this summer in an article for theConversation. A strong El Niño “may quell debate about a warming’hiatus'”, . An article for Reutersspeculates thePacific weather phenomenon could mean a cold winter for Europe.
Fossil fuel: warming to atheme
Investors should take a targeted approach to fossil fueldivestment, argues the Financial Times’s Lex column. A focus oncoal firms, for instance, would increase the impact of divestmentin terms of the cost of capital, it says. An opinion piecefor The Guardiancontinues itsdivestment campaign, arguing museums “must cut ties to fossilfuels”.
New climate science
Annual Carbon Emissions from Deforestation in theAmazon Basin between 2000 and2010
A new study quantifies carbon emissions from deforestation inthe Amazon basin on a year-to-year basis between 2000 and 2010.Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased between 2001 and2004, and declined substantially thereafter. In the Bolivian,Colombian and Peruvian Amazon, deforestation increased over thestudy period.
Global carbon budget2014
A global research team led by scientists from the UK’sTyndall Centre at the University of East Anglia has released anaccurate assessment of all major components of the global carbonbudget, tracking anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and theirredistribution within the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrialbiosphere. Cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide will reach about545 billion tonnes of carbon between 1870-2014, the paperconcludes.
Sensitivity of the climate response to thealtitude of black carbon in the northern subtropics in anaquaplanet GCM
The effect of black carbon on the climate depends on how highin the atmosphere it settles, according to new research. NearEarth’s surface, it tends to increase the amount of subtropical lowcloud, creating a local cooling effect. If it’s added higher up inthe atmosphere within subtropical low level clouds it does theopposite, leading to overall warming.
Other stories
- China optimistic on reaching 2015 energy-savinggoals: China Daily (Reuters)
- Scientists warn of “runaway” West Antarctic icemelt (Climate News Network)
- Tesla’s batteries could be bigger business thanelectric cars – Elon Musk (The Guardian)
- New Zealand stresses costs of climate action,looks to carbon markets (RTCC)
- Climate fight will be won or lost in cities -World Urban Campaign (RTCC)