US rejects Keystone XL pipeline from Canada
News
US rejects Keystone XL pipeline from Canada
On Friday, US President Barack Obama rejected an application to build a pipeline bringing 800,000 barrels of oil from Canadian oil sands to Nebraska, on the grounds that it would not be in the national interest. Citing concerns that it would not have boosted jobs or lowered petrol prices, the president also said its approval “would undercut” efforts to tackle climate change. The decision was widely covered, with The New York Times calling it a “victory for environmentalists and a bitter loss for the oil industry”. The US president rejected the project “on climate grounds”, says Climate Home, a decision The Guardian says signals the US is taking lead on climate change fight. A New York Times editorial says it “speaks to the crux of the battle against global warming: More fossil fuels need to stay in the ground”, while The Washington Post says it adds momentum for the Paris climate talks next month. But the decision not to go ahead wasn’t about jobs or the climate – it was all politics, says FiveThirtyEight. A Financial Times editorial says that while Keystone decision is symbolic, Obama must now focus on “policies that will genuinely make a difference to the risks.”The Daily Mail, The Financial Times, Carbon Pulse, InsideClimate News and Reuters have more on the story.
Rising temperatures could drive 100m into extreme poverty, World Bank warns
Extreme weather and rising seas could push more than 100 million people into extreme poverty by 2030, according to a new report from the World Bank. Describing ending poverty and tackling climate change as “the defining issues of our generation”, the report says global sustainable development will be impossible without first tackling climate change. Lead author Stephane Hallegatte told Climate Home “When we look at poverty today, we see that climate-related shocks and stresses are already an obstacle to people escaping poverty.” Or as BusinessGreen puts it, climate change could wipe out “hard-won gains” in international development. Reuters, TIME andAP have more on the new report.
Storm and drought: what Europe has to fear from climate change
From deserts in Spain to deforestation in Germany, the Guardian dedicates a whole page to the impacts of climate change in Europe. Taking Spain, Italy, Poland, the UK, Germany, France and the Mediterranean Sea in turn, the article describes how the warming seas, failing olive groves and vineyards, dry ski resorts, heatwaves and floods should serve as a dramatic backdrop to the international climate talks taking place in Paris next month, “Europeans are already facing subtle harbingers of global warming. Seas, mountains, forests, plains, towns and cities – the risks within Europe itself are many, varied and increasingly difficult to ignore.”
Demands grow for overhaul of UK energy policy
Scotland’s energy minister, Fergus Ewing, has called on the government to overhaul energy policy, citing concerns over the country’s “worryingly low” margin of supply over demand in a letter to energy secretary Amber Rudd. While a full blown emergency was avoided last week, the crunch showed how fragile the UK’s energy supply has become, says the FT. The piece looks ahead to Rudd’s policy speech, expected later this month, with one insider saying affordability has taken precedent over decarbonisation: “She is nervous of doing anything that the chancellor will not approve of. This is a Treasury energy policy.”
More oil companies could join Exxon Mobil as focus of climate investigations
The New York attorney general’s investigation into the Exxon’s record on public communication of climate change risks may well spur legal inquiries into other oil companies, many of which have funded lobby efforts, says the New York Times. Prosecutors may decide to investigate companies that chose to fund or join organisations that questioned climate science or policies designed to address the problem, such as the Global Climate Coalition and the American Legislative Exchange Council. In a separate article, John Schwartz looks at how the case both mirrors and contrasts with the US Justice department’s successful case against the tobacco industry in 1997.
France reimposes border controls for climate summit
Security concerns ahead of next month’s international climate talks, which will be attended by up to 80 heads of state, have forced officials to reinstate border controls, reports the FT. The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, told a TV channel that any attack or incident would “stain this large international gathering that is carrying a grand message for humanity.” The Guardian and Politico have the story.
Comment
A huge opportunity beckons as the Government ‘resets’ energy policy
With energy secretary Amber Rudd’s big speech on how she plans to deliver clean, affordable and secure energy supplies expected soon, the chief of energy company SSE calls for a “period of clarity” to deliver the next stages of investment needed to move forward. He says: “We’re moving our portfolio from a mix that was once weighted towards coal and gas towards one that is now weighted towards gas and renewables. And we want to do more…Making sure the full cost of carbon dioxide emissions is factored into energy investments from the outset is a key part of this.”
The Observer view on the Tories’ shameful record on climate change
Since the election, the government has performed a series of dizzying U-turns on its green policies, says an editorial in yesterday’s Observer. Elsewhere in The Observer, head of the Committee on Climate Change, John Gummer, warns David Cameron about the impact of subsidy cuts to solar and wind power and Airah Cadiogan, a policy officer for Oxfam in the Philippines, says the second anniversary of typhoon Haiyan is a timely reminder that the world’s most vulnerable should be at the heart of the Paris climate talks.
Warmists armed with windmills are the REAL threat to Britain
Climate skeptic columnist Peter Hitchens says coming “within inches of major power blackouts” last week should force a rethink on the UK’s “exceptionally high” green taxes, which he says are “paying for useless windmills and solar panels and destroying our manufacturing industry.” He adds: “Several perfectly good coal-fired power stations failed to help because we recently shut them down and blew them up.” In a similar vein, Charles Moore in The Telegraph says the UK’s “obsession with global warming will put the lights out all over Britain” and an opinion column by Matt Ridley, a climate skeptic with coal-mining interests on his land, in today’s Times says that pursuing wind power has “in reality created a dirtier, costlier and less reliable electricity industry.” Elsewhere, Lord Deben, head of the government’s scientific advisory body on climate and energy, explains in City AM why we can’t blame the decline of the world’s steel industry on climate change. Carbon Brief also has this explainer.
Science
Old World megadroughts and pluvials during the Common Era
Scientists have produced a new atlas of dry and wet summers across Europe, and parts of North Africa and the Middle East, year to year for the past 2,000 years. The researchers used 106 tree ring records – each with dozens to thousands of trees – to reconstruct past weather records, and then matched them with historical accounts of severe drought and wetness. The findings suggest that droughts were more severe, extensive, and prolonged over Northern Hemisphere land areas before the 20th century, the paper says.
Canopy leaf area of a mature evergreen Eucalyptus woodland does not respond to elevated atmospheric [CO2] but tracks water availability
A 28 month-long experiment finds that higher atmospheric carbon dioxide levels did not result in greater growth in the canopy of Eucalyptus trees. Researchers tested the response on canopy leaf growth in a subtropical woodland where rainfall is sometimes limited. The results show that the leaf canopy increased quickly after heavy rainfall, but decreased steadily during periods of low rainfall.
Other stories
- Images Show Impact of Sea Level Rise on Global Icons (Climate Central)
- VW says it will cover extra CO2 and fuel usage taxes paid by EU drivers (Reuters)
- Saudi Arabia will not stop pumping to boost oil prices (Financial Times)
- Iran’s return to the oil market (Financial Times)
- Crimes against the environment: the silent victim of warfare (The Conversation)
- Tree rings can predict the FUTURE as they reveal clues about upcoming climate change (Daily Mail)
- China promises action on climate ahead of Paris talks (Associated Press)
- Swansea’s tidal lagoon project delayed amid concerns over costs (Independent)
- Putin to join more than 100 leaders at Paris climate talks (Associated Press)