Environment Agency boss resigns, giant icebergs fertilise the ocean, & more

12.01.16

News

Environment Agency boss Sir Philip Dilley resigns

Chairman of the Environment Agency, Sir Philip Dilley, resigned yesterday after coming under fire for continuing his holiday in Barbados over Christmas when parts of the UK suffered severe flooding. A statement by Dilley cites “inappropriate” demands and intense media scrutiny that detracted from the real issue of helping people affected by flooding as the reasons for his departure. Dilley maintains he has “not made any untrue or misleading statements” except from approving a statement which said he was “at home with his family”, which he now admits “could have been clearer”. Dilley’s predecessor, Lord Smith, also faced accusations that he had been slow to react to winter flooding, notes The Financial Times. The agency’s deputy chairwoman, Emma Howard Boyd, will become acting head while the government seeks to appoint Sir Philip’s replacement, reports The Times.

Giant icebergs fertilise the ocean, sucking carbon – study

Climate Home

Icebergs breaking off Antarctica might have an unexpected role to play in speeding up the absorption of carbon by the oceans, according to a new study. Giant icebergs, which scientists say will become more common in a warmer future, release iron and other nutrients as they drift along, which stimulate ocean plants to grow and absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. The process acts as a “natural ally for human efforts to limit the pace of climate change,” says Reuters. The Washington Post, The Guardian and The Daily Mail all wrote up the story, as did Carbon Brief. The study’s co-author has an article in The Conversation with more explanation on how icebergs are “breathing life into remote oceans.”

David Cameron challenged on climate policies

BBC News

Select committee chairmen Huw Irranca-Davies and Angus MacNeil have accused the Prime Minister of double standards on climate change after reneging on a manifesto promise to support carbon capture and storage (CCS). The government scrapped a £1bn competition for a large scale trial CCS plant after initially calling the technology “absolutely crucial” for the UK. Today’s criticism comes ahead of the Prime Minister’s appearance before the Liaison Committee to answer questions on climate change. Elsewhere, in an article for the new Nature Energy journal, Cambridge academic David Reiner says CCS may have become a gamble for austerity-pressed economies but urges them not to walk away now, reports Climate Home.

UK government misses own green targets

The Guardian

The government has failed to deliver on its promise of making big cuts to its own carbon emissions, domestic flights, waste and water usage, according to a report “quietly published” last month. Ministers fell short of their intended 25% cut in carbon emissions from government buildings and travel in 2014-15, compared to 2009-10, achieving only a 22% reduction, says The Guardian. George Osborne’s Treasury cut its emissions by 56%, while the Ministry of Defence trailed in last place with a 19% cut.

Billionaire activist urges Obama to focus State of the Union on climate change

The Guardian

Wealthy activist Tom Steyer has urged President Obama to go big on climate in his last State of the Union address, saying it offers one of the last high visibility opportunities to make the case the the American people for a clean energy transformation. Calling 2015 “a banner year for climate change”, Steyer told journalists the President needs to assure voters the progress made in Paris and with the clean power plan are “decisive and irrevocable” steps.

Comment

The solution for the melting polar ice caps may be hiding in the rainforest

Paul Salaman, The Guardian

Reducing carbon emissions is imperative for tackling climate change but conserving and restoring tropical forests could constitute half of the global warming solution, says a guest article from Paul Salaman in The Guardian, CEO of the Rainforest Trust. He says, “Simultaneously pulling carbon out of the atmosphere…would immediately and significantly reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide at a surprisingly low cost, providing a crucial bridge to a post-fossil fuel era.”

Surface Temperature or Satellite Brightness?

Kevin Cowtan, Skeptical Science

University of York climate scientist, Kevin Cowtan, explains the difference between directly measuring temperature at earth’s surface with thermometers and inferring the temperature of the upper atmosphere using satellites. The post is in response to claims made in a US senate subcommittee hearing that the satellite record is more reliable, a claim Cowtan says is “backed by many arguments but no data.”

Science

Policy trade-offs between climate mitigation and clean cook-stove access in South Asia

Nature Energy

Expanding clean cooking in South Asia may become more challenging if climate policies increase the cost of fuels, says a paper in Nature’s new Energy journal. Around 700m people in South Asia could still rely on traditional solid-fuel cook stoves – a major health hazard through air pollution – by 2030, the study says. Policy changes to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions could increase the costs of cleaner cooking fuels such as Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and kerosene, the study finds. However, careful policy design could partially compensate for the extra costs, the researchers say, and finance from international climate agreements could cover them completely.

Predicting future uncertainty constraints on global warming projections

Scientific Reports

Uncertainties in projecting future temperature changes could be drastically reduced in the coming decades, a new study says. Using climate model simulations, the researchers estimate how fast and in what way the uncertainties in projections can decline as robust records of observed global temperature get longer and longer. Uncertainties in projections for the 2040s could be cut by more than 50% by 2029, the study finds, and by more than 60% for the 2090s by 2049.