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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

From Benny Peiser's Global Warming Policy Foundation

Germany To Open 10 New Coal-Fired Power Stations
British Prime Minister Stokes Climate Row

Steag GmbH started Germany’s first new power plant fueled by hard coal in eight years, allowing the generator and energy trader to take advantage of near record-low coal prices that have widened profit margins. The plant is the first new hard-coal-fired generator in Europe’s biggest power market since 2005. It marks the start of Germany’s biggest new-build program for hard coal stations since its liberalization in 1998. Ten new hard-coal power stations, or 7,985 megawatts, are scheduled to start producing electricity in the next two years, according to information from German grid regulator Bundesnetzagentur and operators. --Julia Mengewein, Bloomberg, 15 November 2013

David Cameron provoked a row by saying there was growing evidence that man-made climate change was responsible for disasters such as Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 3,500 people in the Philippines last week. The Global Warming Policy Foundation, which argues that the threat from climate change has been exaggerated, said Mr Cameron appeared ignorant of recent findings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on extreme weather events. Benny Peiser, the foundation’s director, said: “In its latest report, the IPCC concludes that over the last 100 years there has been no increase in frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes.”….. Japan cast a shadow over UN climate talks in Warsaw yesterday by abandoning its previous target to cut emissions by 25 per cent by 2020. The announcement came after a decision this week by Tony Abbott, the Australian Prime Minister, to repeal a carbon tax and reject tighter emission targets.  --Francis Elliott, Laura Pitel and Ben Webster,
The Times, 16 November 2013 (Subscription required)
Listeners to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme were given an unmistakable but totally bogus message last week: that catastrophic storms such as Typhoon Haiyan are linked to global warming – and are set to increase. The same claim, which has no scientific basis, was echoed by David Cameron, who said there was ‘growing evidence’ that warming was responsible for storms. Meanwhile, Japan last week joined Australia in renouncing its target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Dr Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, said both Mr Cameron and Today seemed ‘totally unaware of both the science and changing international realities. Every scientist is adamant that the typhoon has nothing to do with global warming.’ --David Rose, Mail on Sunday, 17 November 2013
Gloom to match Warsaw’s overcast skies has descended over the UN’s 19th climate change conference, with little progress made during the first week despite the Philippines typhoon disaster and an impassioned plea for urgent action from its climate envoy, Yeb Sano. “The world’s governments continue to disappoint citizens who are fighting against catastrophic climate change and its devastating impacts,” said Martin Kaiser, head of the Greenpeace delegation. “Instead of stopping new investments in coal mining and oil drilling, and investing in renewable energies, Japan and Australia have reneged on their voluntary pledges from 2010.” --Frank McDonald, Irish Times, 18 November 2013

As activists gathering this week for U.N. climate talks in Warsaw, Poland, fuel hopes for a 2015 legally binding treaty, U.S. lawmakers already are throwing cold water on the prospects. In interviews this week with members of Congress on the right and left, even the most ardent supporters of international efforts to curb global greenhouse gas emissions said chances of Senate approval for a treaty have not improved much since the Kyoto Protocol crashed and burned in Washington, D.C., in 1997. --Lisa Friedman and Jean Chemnick,
E&E Daily, 15 November 2013

Recent decisions by the governments of Australia, Japan and Canada to downgrade their efforts over climate change have caused panic among developing nations who fear others will follow soon. Developing nations have launched an impassioned attack on the failure of the world’s richest countries to live up to their climate change pledges in the wake of the disaster in the Philippines. With more than 3,600 people now believed to have been killed by Typhoon Haiyan, moves by several major economies to backtrack on commitments over carbon emissions have put the world’s poorest and most wealthy states on a collision course, on the eve of crucial high-level talks at a summit of world powers. --John Vidal,
The Observer, 17 November 2013

Coal power can be part of the solution to tackling global warming, the UN climate chief told a major coal industry summit on Monday. Her remarks, at a summit that takes place as the second week of UN climate negotiations get under way in Warsaw, prompted strong criticism from the head of the UK’s climate statutory advisers and environment campaigners. John Gummer, the chair of the government’s climate advisers and former UK environment minister, said that ”calling coal a clean solution is like characterising sex trafficking as marriage guidance.” --Adam Vaughan and John Vidal,
The Guardian, 18 November 2013

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