Parliament calls for carbon capture to revive British industry and slash climate costs, Revealed: Exxon’s lobbying against electric vehicles in UK, & more

12.09.16

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Parliament calls for carbon capture to revive British industry and slash climate costs

A parliamentary inquiry has called for large government investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) to cut the long-term cost of climate action and revive depressed regions of the North, reports the Telegraph. The report finds CCS will be the cheapest way to reduce CO2 emissions from heavy industry and heating. It says the economic benefits of CCS far outweigh the costs developing it in the UK, reports the Financial Times. CCS could deliver low-carbon power more cheaply than nuclear, says the Guardian and more cheaply than offshore wind, says Bloomberg. In advance of the report’s publication, climate change minister Nick Hurd told the BBC he would welcome new ideas for promoting CCS. Reuters also has the story.

Revealed: Exxon’s lobbying against electric vehicles in the UK

DeSmogUK

Oil major ExxonMobil has been lobbying the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) against greener transport policy, reports DeSmog UK. It has obtained documents, including correspondence and three presentations given by the firm to the DfT since the Paris climate deal was agreed last December. The material, released under Freedom of Information rules, shows Exxon lobbying against biofuels and electric vehicles. It also reveals details of meetings held between DfT and other oil companies, including Shell and BP. Exxon “appears to be the only major fossil fuel company currently heavily lobbying the British government against greener transport policies”, DeSmog UK says.

Safety flaw casts fresh doubt on Hinkley reactor

The Times

The Flamanville nuclear power plant being built by French firm EDF in Normandy may have to restrict its output or could be abandoned because of the costs of correctly safety flaws, reports the Times. EDF plans to build the same reactor type at Hinkley Point in Somerset. In a business commentary elsewhere in the Times, Marcus Leroux looks at the alternatives to Hinkley.

EU regulators poised to seek deeper cut in energy use: draft

Reuters

The European Commission is poised to propose raising the EU target for energy efficiency to 30% by 2030, a more ambitious goal than previously agreed, according to a draft document seen by Reuters. The commission is set to publish its plan next month. The draft has yet to be formally agreed, but anonymous sources in the EU executive tell Reuters there is broad support for the move within the commission. Member states agreed a lower, 27% target, in October 2014.

Obama eyes big finish on climate

The Hill

President Obama hopes to secure international deals on HFCs and aviation emissions before leaving office, reports the Hill, in an effort to shore up his climate change legacy. The efforts add to Obama’s reputation for unilateral action and are sparking “new anger from Republican critics”, the Hill says. Experts say the president has the power to enter such agreements without Congressional approval.

Comment

Hinkley is the peak of subsidy culture

Jonathan Ford, Financial Times

Not a single megawatt of electricity generating capacity has been commissioned in the UK without government aid since 2012, writes Jonathan Ford in the Financial Times. The government’s energy policy is condemning consumers to “pay through the nose” for power, he says, when it should have taken “the rational course of applying a neutral carbon levy and letting the market determine the best way to cut emissions”.

What does the ‘energy transition’ really mean?

Nick Butler, Financial Times

The energy “transition” has become a buzzword but its meaning is loose and variable, writes Nick Butler in his Financial Times blog. It means more than simply a shift from fossil fuels towards zero-carbon sources of energy, he argues. It also encompasses the geographic shift of the world’s economy towards Asia and the transitions in a wide range of energy technologies and business models. “Across the old energy sector, all the shifts taking place are very uncomfortable and in some cases still barely understood”, he says. “The responses from most leading energy businesses has been minimal and tokenistic…[but] the one answer that is clearly wrong is to do nothing”.

Temperatures rise, and we’re cooked

Nicholas Kristof, New York Times

Some of the most important effects of climate change will be directly on human minds and bodies, says Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times. He looks at a working paper on the exam results of New York City students, finding results are slightly lower on very hot days. Rising temperatures also seem to cause more violence, Kristof writes.

Science

Aerosol and monsoon climate interactions over Asia

Reviews of Geophysics

A new paper provides a comprehensive review of studies on the Asian monsoon and its interactions with aerosol emissions. The researchers evaluate the different theories put forward regarding how aerosols affect the frequency, intensity, and phase of different monsoon climate variables. The researchers suggest that aerosol-monsoon research should consider natural aerosols – such as desert dust and biogenic aerosols from vegetation – as integral parts of the monsoon system, which is then subject to external forcings of global warming, human-caused aerosols, and land use change.

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