Frackers want law change as council blocks drilling plan
News
Steep 2014 UK emissions cuts are unsustainable,
warns Committee on Climate
Change
In its latest progress report, the Committee on Climate
Change (CCC) delivers its verdict on how effective government
policy has been in achieving the UK’s legislated climate targets.
The report is a story of good news with serious qualifications. UK
emissions fell steeply in 2014. But the government cannot take the
credit, says the CCC, and there are serious questions about whether
these reductions can be sustained in the long term.
Updated: Two plans to begin first fracking
operations in UK for four years
rejected
Two applications by Cuadrilla to carry out exploratory
fracking in the UK for the first time in four years have both now
been refused by Lancashire County Council’s planning committee. The
decisions have been described as a “major blow” for the UK fracking
industry. Carbon Brief summarises the decisions and explores what
they might mean for the UK’s energy mix and climate goals.
Climate and energy news
Frackers want law change as council blocks
drilling plan
The decision by councillors in Lancashire to defy their own
legal advisers by rejecting an application for the UK’s first
exploratory fracking rig near Blackpool means, reports the Times,
that the “multibillion-pound fracking industry in Britain [has]
suffered a huge setback”. The Guardiansays hundreds of
anti-fracking campaigners were “visibly delighted” outside the
council meeting in Preston as news of the “surprise” victory
reached them. The BBCsays Cuadrilla, the firm making
the application to frack for shale gas, was “surprised and
disappointed” and would consider its “options” regarding an
appeal. BusinessGreenrounds up all the
reaction, including the views of Pieter Kiernan, energy analyst at
the Economist Intelligence Unit: “It is clear that the emergence of
shale gas in the UK, and more broadly in Europe, will be very much
slower than what has been witnessed in the US given lower levels of
public support and tighter environmental rules.” The
Financial Timessays that “a
fracking campaign by any UK shale explorer, let alone first
production, which was always a distant prospect, could now be
several years away”.
Climate change plans require urgent action,
government warned
The UK must take urgent action to prepare for the impact of
climate change, the government has been warned. Ministers should
focus on the future risks of heatwaves and flooding, says the
Committee on Climate Change (CCC) in its annual progress report.
Its report said more needed to be done to keep emissions on track.
The Guardianfocuses on the CCC’s
remark that the government “must explain how its withdrawal of
support from onshore windfarms will affect the cost of meeting
greenhouse gas emissions targets”. The Financial Timesnotes that the CCC
pointed out that “poor design of homes and hospitals will add to
heatwave problems”. Meanwhile, the Timeshighlights another detail
from the report: “People who pave their front garden should be
forced to restore it to grass to keep cities cool in summer.”
The Telegraphalso coudn’t resist this
angle. RTCCand Reutersalso carry the story,
and BusinessGreensums up all the
reaction.
EU-China summit ends with climate pledge
imminent
China and the European Union redoubled their commitment to a
strong climate pact on Monday in a Brussels summit, reports RTCC,
as expectations build for the publication – due today – of China’s
widely-anticipated emissions reduction pledge. Heads of the world’s
number one and three emitters of greenhouse gas emissions signed a
joint agreement on climate change and heralded a “new starting
point” after 40 years of relations. Reutersreported comments made by
Li Keqiang, the Chinese premier, in which he said that the EU and
China must “step up their cooperation…to establish a fair,
reasonable, win-win global climate governance system”.
Politicowent out on something of a
limb by reporting that “China ready to go further on climate
change”, adding it would do so “by moving up the timeline for
peaking its carbon emissions and opening the possibility of sending
money to other countries to take action, according to EU sources
close to the negotiations”. Separately, RTCCreported that the BASIC group
of countries – India, China, Brazil and South Africa – released a
21-point statement outlining how they see a global climate change
pact working. The Guardianalso reports the BASIC
statement.
Melting Arctic sea ice could be disrupting the
oceans’ circulation-with major
consequences
According to new study published in Nature Climate Change,
retreating Arctic sea ice could disrupt a major ocean circulation
pattern and even affect climate patterns in Europe. The weakening
of a powerful ocean current known as the Atlantic Meridional
Overturning Circulation has the potential to cause some unexpected
consequences. If the current slows down and less warm water gets
transported north, then less heat will be transferred in regions
such as Western Europe. According to the lead author, Europe could
actually experience a cooling effect in the future as a result of
this – although how pronounced this cooling will be remains
unclear. MailOnlinealso covers the study.
White House ‘disappointed’ with ruling against
EPA
The White House has voiced its disappointment over a Supreme
Court ruling against the Obama administration’s landmark air
pollution rule. In a 5-4 ruling, the high court decided on Monday
that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not properly
weigh the cost of regulations when it crafted tough new rules on
toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants. The BBCsays that the US government has
made several attempts to strengthen the Clean Air Act, but the
court said this latest move must include costs as well as health
risks. TheFinancial Timessays that the
“court’s decision was celebrated by businesses and their Republican
allies, who will be emboldened in their complaints that regulators
in a variety of sectors are refusing to take into account industry
costs”. Reutersalso carries the story.
Climate and energy comment
The prospects for UK shale gas have never looked
bleaker
Damian Carrington, The
Guardian
Cuadrilla are near certain to appeal, says the Guardian’s
head of environment, but the “nascent fracking industry in the UK
may never recover from this blow”. Carrington expects the decision
will now be placed on the desk of Greg Clark, the communities
secretary. However, “this will be made all the more agonising by
the Clark’s loudly trumpeted move to empower local people to veto
onshore wind farms”. He adds: “Trusting local people on wind but
not on fracking would look like hypocrisy.”
Don’t fear
fracking
The Telegraph – which has long been a cheerleader for
fracking in the UK – says the decision by councillors in Lancashire
to reject Cuadrilla’s double application is a “major setback to the
country’s search for a secure and plentiful independent energy
supply”. It adds: “This is a national resource, just like coal was,
and it may well require central Government intervention to decide
whether this crucial project should go ahead.”
British heatwave: is it global
warming?
Michael McCarthy, The
Independent
The imminent heatwave predicted for southern England this
week “may well turn people’s thoughts once more to a phrase we have
almost stopped using: global warming,” says the veteran
environmental journalist. “Climate change, which incorporates other
phenomena such as more violent weather events and sea-level rise,
rather than just evident heat, has become the preferred term; but
‘global warming’ may be about to come back into vogue.”
New climate science
Dynamical malaria models reveal how immunity
buffers effect of climate
variability
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences
Temperature and rainfall play a key role in malaria
transmission in areas where the disease is not endemic, a new study
suggests. Researchers analysed 15 years of malaria records for two
villages in Senegal – one where the disease occurs intermittently,
and one where it it prevalent all year round. The study finds that
climate limits the spread of malaria except where the disease is
endemic – where local immunity can keep the disease at bay.
Decreasing intensity of open-ocean convection in
the Greenland and Iceland seas
Retreating sea ice in the Iceland and Greenland Seas may be
changing the circulation of warm and cold water in the Atlantic
Ocean, and could ultimately impact the climate in Europe, according
to new research. The Gulf Stream moves warm water north toward
western Europe, where it loses heat and moisture to the atmosphere.
But declining sea ice has caused a 20% reduction the transfer of
heat to the atmosphere since 1979, the researchers say. Further
reductions could weaken the Gulf Stream and see colder conditions
in Europe, the study warns.
Responses of pink salmon to CO2-induced aquatic
acidification
Pink salmon may be at risk in the future from ocean
acidification of their freshwater habitats, suggests a new study.
Researchers reared baby pink salmon at current and projected future
carbon dioxide levels and then transferred them to seawater. They
found that the salmon exposed to higher carbon dioxide levels were
smaller and less able to use oxygen, limiting their ability to find
food and evade predators.
Other stories
- India’s next weapon against climate change? The
heat-tolerant dwarf cow (Reuters) - UN climate talks moving at snail’s pace, says Ban
Ki-moon (The Guardian) - UK targets 45.4GW in second capacity
auction (Energy Live News) - Britain, Canada to strengthen cooperation on
nuclear energy (Reuters) - Shell says could begin Arctic oil exploration off
Alaska in late July (Reuters) - ()