Government accused of 'outrageous vandalism' over new fracking rules while ministers ‘to rethink solar subsidy cuts’
News
Ministers ‘to rethink solar subsidy cuts’
The Department for Energy and Climate Change is expected to unveil its final decision on the solar subsidies later today, following on from a controversial announcement in August when the government announced plans to cut the subsidies by 87%. But the government is expected to row back on its decision. Sources in Westminster told the Times that a compromise was likely, with residential solar installations still facing steep cuts in subsidies but not as much as previously feared. Critics say the Prime Minister should make no move to cut subsidies until he knows how it would affect the UK’s ability to meet its Paris accord obligations, the Guardian reports. *8.50am update: Guardian says solar subsidies have been slashed by 65%.
Fracking: Government accused of ‘outrageous vandalism’ over new rules
New rules allowing fracking below national parks were passed thanks to a “shabby” evasion of parliamentary debate, Liberal Democrat and Labour MPs have said. Ministers used a statutory instrument – a form of secondary legislation – to push through the new rules, which means legislation can pass into law without a debate in the House of Commons. “They have shown their true colours and complete lack of regard for protecting some of the most beautiful scenery in the UK and its wildlife”, said Tim Farron, the leader of the Lib Dems. The new plans reverse a pledge made in January that fracking would be banned in protected areas. The Guardian and the Timesalso have the story.
Donald Trump loses wind farm legal challenge
Donald Trump’s legal challenge to a planned offshore wind farm has been rejected unanimously by the UK’s Supreme Court, the BBC reports. Developers hope to build 11 turbines close to Trump’s golfing development on the Aberdeenshire coast. Alex Salmond, Scotland’s former first minister, branded Trump a ‘loser’, following the decision. BusinessGreen, the Independent and the Telegraphalso carry the story.
LA to Lloyds rubber-stamp Paris climate deal
400 businesses and 150 cities and regions representing 700 million people promised to quickly and effectively implement the Paris agreement yesterday, Climate Home reports. Firms including Allianz and Unilever, and regions such as Scotland and California began batch of pledges vowing to implement newly-struck global warming accord. Meanwhile, San Diego has made a legally-binding pledge to move entirely to renewables in 20 years, the New York Times reports.
Polar bears travel further as Arctic sea-ice drifts
The thinning pack in the warming Arctic is now drifting faster than it used to, and so the bears must travel further to get back to their territory, a study has found. Scientists tracked the animals for nearly 30 years and found they have increased their activity levels. “We find that the bears in the recent period are 9-13% more active to compensate for the ice motion” said David Douglas, a wildlife biologist speaking at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest annual gathering of Earth scientists.
Climate change warming world’s lakes at alarming rate
Climate change is warming lakes around the world at an alarming rate, a new study finds. The study is the largest of its kind: a total of 236 lakes, representing more than half of the world’s freshwater supply, were monitored for over 25 years. “We found that lakes are warming at an average of 0.34 degrees Celsius each decade all around the world, threatening freshwater supplies and ecosystems”, said lead author Sapna Sharma. The Daily Mail also has the story.
Comment
There is a new form of climate denialism to look out for – so don’t celebrate yet
After the signing of of the historic climate deal we “might now hope” that climate deniers are officially irrelevant. But there is a new form of denial that says renewable sources can’t meet our energy needs, writes Naomi Oreskes in the Guardian. That would have troubling consequences for climate change if it were true, but numerous studies have shown that it is not.
Even if the global warming scare were a hoax, we would still need it
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Telegraph
Whether or not you accept the hypothesis of man-made global warming is irrelevant, writes Evans-Pritchard, since the Chinese Academy and the Politburo accept it. This political fact is “tectonic” for the global fossil industry and the economics of energy. Responding to climate change can help us out of our current low-growth trap, he says.
Paris Climate Accord Is a Big, Big Deal
Thomas L Friedman, New York Times
The new climate agreement means we still have a chance to “avoid the worst impacts of global warming that we cannot possibly manage and to manage those impacts that we can no longer avoid”, writes Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. What will make this deal “epochal” is if the US and China now lead the world in imposing a price on carbon, he writes.
Science
Attribution of extreme weather and climate-related events
A new study reviews the state of the science around attributing extreme weather events to human-caused climate change. Studies to date have shown clear evidence for human influence on extremely warm seasonal temperatures and reduced odds of very cold seasonal temperatures, while evidence regarding extreme rainfall events, droughts, and storms is more mixed, the study finds. Geographical coverage of attributing extreme events remains patchy and based on the focus and capability of each individual research group, the paper notes.
Projected changes in east Australian midlatitude cyclones during the 21st century
The east coast of Australia is regularly hit by midlatitude cyclones, known as East Coast Lows, which provide an important source of water but can bring severe weather and flooding. A new study analyses how the frequency and intensity of these storms may change under a warming climate. During winter months, when the cyclones are most common, the findings suggest a decreased frequency of storms, but with a potential increase in the frequency of cyclones with heavy rainfall and those closest to the coast.
Cli-fi on the screen(s): patterns in the representations of climate change in fictional films
A new paper reviews the burgeoning genre of “cli-fi” – fictional works about climate change. In their study of around 60 cli-fi movies, the researchers find that filmmakers tend to focus on extreme weather events and the possibility of Earth slipping into a new ice age, such as in The Day After Tomorrow, which came to our screens in 2004. These choices “reflect filmmakers’ predispositions more than any scientific consensus and thus demonstrate the challenge that cli-fi films pose to climate change communicators,” the paper says.
Other stories
- Gatwick takes aim at rival with pledge to stagger expansion (The Times)
- Greenland Ice Sheet lost mass faster between 2003 and 2010 than ever before (Mail Online)
- Thousands Petition Calif. Attorney General, Demanding Exxon Climate Investigation (Inside Climate News )
- El Niño Could Ignite Amazon, Drench California (Scientific American )
- Ireland to cut carbon emissions by 95% by 2050 (Energy Live News )
- Third of UK’s reactors shut down at once (The Times)
- What on Earth is a climatarian? (Grist)