Climate Change Weekly #111

U.S. CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS
FALL DRAMATICALLY, AGAIN, IN 2013

U.S. carbon dioxide emissions declined by 3.7 percent in 2013, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia (U.K.) reports. The decline in U.S. emissions continues a dramatic drop in U.S. emissions this century, even as global emissions rapidly rise.

The new Tyndall Centre report says there is enough data regarding 2013 carbon dioxide emissions to accurately project emissions for the final two months of the year and for 2013 as a whole. Global emissions will rise by 2.1 percent during 2013, powered mainly by a 5.9 percent increase in China and a 7.7 percent increase in India.

U.S. emissions have declined 14 percent since the year 2000. The decline is even more dramatic since 2007, with U.S. emissions down 16 percent in that short time.

Global emissions continue to rise despite the ongoing decline in U.S. emissions. Global emissions are up 45 percent since 2000, and up 16 percent since 2007.

China now emits approximately double the emissions of the second largest emitter, with China accounting for 27 percent of global emissions and the United States accounting for 14 percent of global emissions. Since the year 2000, China alone is responsible for two-thirds of the global increase in carbon dioxide emissions.

The new emissions data confirm the success of free-market emissions reduction programs relative to government-centered restrictions. Environmental activists routinely criticize the United States for being one of the few nations never to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which sought to impose emissions quotas on the United States while imposing no such quotas on China, India, and other developing nations. Nevertheless, emissions data show the United States has reduced more carbon dioxide emissions this century than any other nation. The U.S. emissions decline is due in large part to technological advances in natural gas production and power plant operations.

SOURCE: phys.org

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IN THIS ISSUE

Australia’s House of Representatives votes to repeal carbon tax ,  Australia minister says thanks, but no thanks to U.N. climate talks.  Japan pulls back from CO2 reduction pledge.  China leads walkout at U.N. climate talks, demands reparations. Poland sacks environment minister at U.N. climate conference … Germany plans to repeal airline environmental damage tax.  No, the Met Office did not expect lack of recent warming. Golden toad story illustrates flawed global warming alarms

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AUSTRALIA’S HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES TO REPEAL CARBON TAX

The Australia House of Representatives voted to repeal the nation’s carbon tax. The vote occurred just 18 months after the carbon tax took effect. Prime Minister Tony Abbott and members of his Liberal Party have made opposition to the carbon tax a key component of recent political campaigns. Abbott cast the Liberal Party’s resounding victory in Australia’s September 7 elections as a referendum on the carbon tax.

SOURCE: The Guardian

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AUSTRALIA MINISTER SAYS THANKS, BUT NO THANKS TO U.N. CLIMATE TALKS

Australia Environment Minister Greg Hunt declined to attend United Nations climate talks in Warsaw, Poland this month, choosing instead to send a lower-ranking diplomat to the meetings. United Nations officials and environmental activists said the decision was an insult to the U.N. climate conference and the embodiment of the Australian government’s skepticism about the asserted global warming crisis.

SOURCE: The Guardian

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JAPAN PULLS BACK FROM CO2 REDUCTION PLEDGE

Japanese officials announced the nation is pulling back from a pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Japan previously had pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2020. Japanese officials now say they will not reduce emissions from 1990 levels but will commit to a modest 3 percent rise in emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. Japan’s announcement came during United Nations climate talks in Warsaw, Poland. A Reuters news story filed from Warsaw noted Japan’s announcement added to gloom at the Warsaw talks, where no major countries have announced more ambitious goals to cut emissions.

SOURCE: Reuters

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CHINA LEADS WALKOUT AT U.N. CLIMATE TALKS, DEMANDS REPARATIONS

China led a bloc of 132 countries walking out of talks at the United Nations climate summit in Warsaw, Poland after the United States and other nations said they will not agree to discuss climate reparations until 2015, conveniently just after the upcoming 2014 elections. China and developing nations claim the United States and other Western nations owe them money because Western nations are causing global warming that is destroying their countries. Newly reported emissions data show China emits nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as any other nation.

SOURCE: Environment & Climate News

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POLAND SACKS ENVIRONMENT MINISTER DURING U.N. CLIMATE CONFERENCE

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk dismissed Environment Minister Marcin Korolec while Poland hosted United Nations climate talks in Warsaw. Tusk explained Korolec was not supportive enough of natural gas production through hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Tusk assured U.N. climate delegates Korolec would be allowed to preside over the Warsaw climate talks until the conference concludes, but he will be doing so as a lame duck.

SOURCE: Reuters

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GERMANY PLANS TO REPEAL AIRLINE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE TAX

German officials plan to repeal the nation’s environmental damage tax on airlines, which currently adds more than $50 to the price of many one-way flights. Global warming activists rallied vigorously for the tax before it was implemented two years ago. German officials now say the tax is imposing substantial harm on the nation’s economy while creating few environmental benefits.

SOURCE: The Local

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NO, THE MET OFFICE DID NOT EXPECT RECENT LACK OF WARMING

Although global warming alarmists at the U.K. Met Office claim in a new paper that they anticipated the recent lack of global warming, the Met Office’s claim is contradicted by its own publications, Paul Matthews documents in The IPCC Report. United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Lead Author Hans von Storch told Der Spiegel earlier this year that IPCC computer models cannot account for the recent lack of warming.

SOURCE: IPCC Report and Der Spiegel

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GOLDEN TOAD STORY ILLUSTRATES FLAWED GLOBAL WARMING ALARMS

A rash of reports in recent years from global warming activists and the media blaming global warming for the decline in golden toad populations illustrates how asserted crises are unjustifiably blamed on global warming, writes Jim Steele, director emeritus of the Sierra Nevada Field Campus of San Francisco State University. Steele documents the rise and fall of the myth that global warming caused rapid declines in golden toad populations, providing excellent, in-depth scientific support that non-scientists can readily follow.

SOURCE: Watts Up With That?
 

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RECOMMENDED SITES AND NEWSLETTERS

Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation
Global Science Report
Climate in Review, by C. Jeffery Small
International Conferences on Climate Change, The Heartland Institute
Center on Climate and Environmental Policy, The Heartland Institute
Climate Policy, The Heritage Foundation
Global Warming, Cato Institute
Center for Global Food Issues, Hudson Institute
JoNova, hosted by Joanne Nova
GlobalClimateScam.com
Center for Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute
GlobalWarming.org
Cooler Heads Digest
Climate Crusaders
Power for USA
Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
ClimateWiki
Master Resource
The Climate Bet
International Climate Science Coalition
Climate Scientists Register
Science and Public Policy Institute
Climate Depot by Marc Morano
World Climate Report by Dr. Patrick Michaels
E-FACT Report by the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)
Biweekly Updates from the Cooler Heads Coalition
Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change by Craig Idso et al.
Watts Up With That? by Anthony Watts
ICECAP by Joseph D’Aleo
Junk Science by Steve Milloy