Green energy spending to combat climate change
News
Britain must increase spending on green energy by
ten times in next 15 years to help reduce global warming, says
UN
The mail quotes leaked figures from Sunday’s IPCC report,
indicating that cutting greenhouse gases to manageable levels will
cost up to four per cent of global GDP by 2030. The UK needs to up
its renewables spending to fulfil its share but prominent climate
skeptics Lord Lawson and Lord Howe – both quoted in the piece – say
funds should be diverted to adaptation instead.
Climate and energy news:
Westminster’s £10m loan delays coal mine
closure
Energy minister, Michael Fallon, has confirmed plans to offer
a last minute reprieve to two of Britain’s remaining deep-pit coal
mines, in the shape of a £10m loan. The loan will prevent the loss
of 2,000 staff employed by the company, the piece
reports.
New U.N. Climate Report Meets a Complicated
World
The Wall Street Journal says it has seen a draft of the new
IPCC report, which is reported to say countries need to cut
emissions by at least 40% by 2050 from 2010 levels. The short
article quotes climate scientist Myles Allen, who says: “The key
new finding that they’re emphasising is that climate change is
being felt by people and not just by polar bears”.
Climate extremes inflate food
prices
Some farmers and traders are braced for a volatile 2014, as
drought in various parts of the world affects agricultural
commodity markets, reports the FT. A separate articlelooks at the new sense of
urgency over food security injected into the debate by the new IPCC
report.
Cities on frontline of climate change
struggle
A look at how “retrofitting” cities – through installing loft
and cavity wall insulation, improved boilers, better window glazing
or energy efficient lighting – can bring emissions down. Only a
handful of cities in the UK have climate change strategies –
Birmingham plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 40% by 2020 from
a 2005 baseline, the article notes. The Conversationlooks at “green
roofs’ as a low-cost solution to reduce office
temperatures.
El Nino more than 50 percent likely by summer:
U.S. weather forecaster
On Tuesday, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology pegged the
chances of El Nino in 2014 at more than 70 percent. The US Climate
Prediction Centre puts the odds of it striking by summer a bit
lower, but still at more than 50 per cent.
U.N. climate report stops short of clear economic
case for action
Countries are pushing for clearer numbers on the costs and
benefits of mitigation in the new IPCC report – due on Sunday. The
cost estimates in the draft text seen by governments don’t take
into account savings from cleaner air and a reduction in the scale
and seriousness of climate impacts, for example. Clearer costs
would encourage businesses and investors to act, say investor
groups.
Europe supply in jeopardy as Putin threatens
Ukraine gas cut
Russian president Vladimir Putin has expressed concern over
Ukraine’s gas debt totalling $2.2 billion. Back in 2008, gas
shortages were felt across Europe after Russian state provider
Gazprom halted gas supplies to the Ukraine over a price dispute,
and there are fears it could happen again, reports Reuters.
Challenge to Titanic sinking
theory
UK scientists have challenged the idea that the Titanic was
unlucky for sailing in a year when there were an exceptional number
of icebergs in the North Atlantic. Iceberg risk was at the “large
end” but “not outstandingly large”, say the
researchers.
Artificial cooling tricky topic for climate
panel
As scientists and government delegates gather in Berlin to
approve a summary of the new IPCC report on climate change
mitigation, geoengineering will be a topic of heated discussion,
reports AP. While the Russian government is pushing for more
emphasis on techniques such as Solar Radiation Management (SRM) and
Bioenergy with Carbon Capture And Storage (BECCS) as a way to bring
temperatures down, others warn the technology could be ineffective
and possibly harmful.
Desmond Tutu calls for anti-apartheid style
boycott of fossil fuel industry
Desmond Tutu says the IPCC’s reports show “we have 15 years
to take the necessary steps” to tackle climate change. Tutu calls
for people to cut their ties with corporations financing climate
change, boycott events and put pressure on energy
companies.
Climate and energy comment:
Stand up for the things we love that are
threatened by climate change
From chocolate and coastlines to bee and butterfly habitats,
we need to protect the cherished things that climate change
endangers, says Climate Coalition chair Neil Thorns. As politics
and society has changed, the message has also evolved to become
more relevent to people’s everyday lives, Thorns
explains.
Why US fracking companies are licking their lips
over Ukraine
Two bills have been introduced into the US Congress
attempting to fast-track liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, all
in the name of helping Europe to wean itself from Putin’s fossil
fuels, explains writer Naomi Klein.
New climate science:
Recent Global Temperature ‘Plateau’ in Context of
a New Proxy Reconstruction
Reconstructing earth’s temperature record back to 1782
suggests the slowdown in surface warming we’ve seen in the last 15
years or so is nothing unusual. Based on the pattern of natural
variability over the last 170 years, there is about a 40% chance
temperatures could cool slightly over the next few years, the
researchers add.