MP Owen Paterson gives speech to climate sceptic lobby group
News
Owen Paterson gives his views on climate and
energy
Former environment secretary Owen Paterson MP’s speech to
climate skeptic lobby group the Global Warming Policy Foundation
last night is prominent in the UK media today. Paterson argues that
the Climate Change Act, which provides the framework by which the
UK is committed to cutting emissions and addressing climate change,
should be repealed. He argues that climate change has been
‘exaggerated’. This is the line the Telegraph takes –
Climate change forecasts ‘exaggerated’,
ex-environment secretary Owen Paterson claims- and
also stressed by the BBC in its broadcast coverage and
online. The Daily Mail highlights
Paterson’s claim that ministers have raised costs for the poorby
seeking to address climate change. A Mail editorialsays “The Climate Change
Act must surely be amended or repealed,” calling it “the most
crippling commitment in our peacetime history.” The FTfocuses on what Paterson does
want- a network of small nuclear reactors supplying
power across the country. But Paterson “declined to say where such
nuclear systems might be sited in or around London,” it reports.
The Times chooses the headline Climate change lobby ‘has African blood on its
hands’. Energy and climate secretary Ed Davey says Owen
Paterson doesn’t seem to understand very much about energy
policy, Business Green reports. The Committee on
Climate Change, which advises the government on climate science and
policy, flatly rejectsthe accuracy of
Paterson’s main claims.According to metadataon a version
of the speech that was circulated to journalists, the author of the
document was climate skeptic peer Matt Ridley. We look at his
claims here.
Climate and energy news
Wind blows away fossil power in the Nordics, the
Baltics next | Reuters
In Norway and Sweden, “the arrival of wind power on a large
scale has … pushed electricity prices down, eroding profitability
of fossil power stations,” Reuters reports. Demand for coal in the
Nordic market has decreased, and power prices have almost halved
since 2010, as demand stalls and energy use decreases. Coal and gas
plants in the region are slated for mothballing if the situation
continues.
Will Climate Change Denial Become a Political
Liability? U.S. Treaty Envoy Thinks
So
Inside Climate News reports: “Climate change denial will
switch from being a litmus test for major Republican politicians to
a liability in the near future”, according to chief US climate
negotiator Todd Stern. “I doubt, even a year from now, whether
major political candidates will consider it viable to deny the
existence of climate change.”
Gas boom from unrestrained fracking linked to
emissions rise
According to a new paper in the journal Nature, developing
shale gas would lead to an increase in overall carbon emissions.
The Guardian reports that according to the research “only new
interventions, such as a long-sought international climate change
deal or significant global price on carbon pollution, would be
effective in tackling warming.”
Poland leads opposition to EU energy
deal
“Poland and other eastern European countries are prepared to
scupper the EU’s landmark climate change deal next week if they do
not receive greater guarantees about their future energy costs”,
reports the Financial Times. Brussels expects to compensate eastern
EU members who rely heavily on coal as part of any climate deal,
but it may not be enough for countries including Poland, Hungary,
Romania and Bulgaria.
Climate and energy comment
Lockheed Martin Says It Will Have A Working Fusion
Reactor In 10 Years – But Will It
Matter?
Lockheed Martin has said it could have a small nuclear
fusion reactor working within ten years. But why wait for nuclear,
asks Thinkprogress, when the emissions cuts we need to make are
now, and renewables can provide power already. Reuters covers the
announcement from Lockheed Martin here.
Coal industry still in denial over prices,
regulation
A look at the economics of the global coal market from
Reuters. Over-supply is leading to depressed prices for coal, with
India rather than China likely to drive future demand. Australian
coal supply is still growing – so prospects for the price of coal
to rise in the future are slight. The coal industry has also not
done its part in “[fighting] their corner against the rising tide
of green activism and government regulations that seek to limit the
use of the fuel.”
New climate science
Using records from submarine, aircraft and
satellites to evaluate climate model simulations of Arctic sea ice
thickness
A new paper finds climate models do a generally poor job of
representing how sea ice thickness varies across the Arctic. The
researchers found the models generally agree with observations from
submarines, aircraft and satellites about the average thickness,
but they don’t capture regional variations too well at the moment.
Limited impact on decadal-scale climate change
from increased use of natural
gas
Exploiting shale gas globally won’t help cut carbon
emissions in the long run, according to new research. Abundant
natural gas would only partially replace coal as an energy source,
while increasing gas consumption by 170 per cent by 2050. This
means emissions would fall by a maximum of two per cent, though the
majority of models in the study showed emissions rising by up to
seven per cent.
New Study Details Alarming Acceleration In Sea
Level Rise
Melting ice and warming ocean water mean sea level rise is
happening at the fastest rate in at least 6,000 years, according to
new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Science, which attempts to reconstruct the past
behaviour of sea levels.