US To Stop Funding UN Climate Process
Brought to you by Benny Peiser's Global Warming Policy Forum
Opposition from the United States, Saudi Arabia and others has forced Germany to drop a reference to financing programs to combat climate change from the draft communique at a G20 finance and central bankers meeting. A G20 official taking part in the meeting said on Friday that efforts by the German G20 presidency to keep the wording on climate change financing had run into resistance. “Climate change is out for the time being,” said the official, who asked not to be named. --Reuters, 17 March 2017
In a budget blueprint released on Thursday morning, US president Donald Trump proposed sweeping cuts to US financial support for the global fight against climate change. The State Department section of the budget proposal said the Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI) would be eliminated. Through the GCCI, the State Department is a major funder of the UNFCCC, providing €6 million (US$6.44m) each year – roughly 20% of its operating budget. An official told Climate Home the State Department had not provided any funds appropriated in the 2017 financial year to the UNFCCC or IPCC. --Karl Mathiesen, Climate Home, 16 March 2017
Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions rose last year, according to a new report. CO2 levels rose by 4 million tons in 2016 (0.7 percent), which means Berlin will have to reduce those levels by 40 million tons over the next three years in order to meet the country’s 2020 climate targets. The country’s opposition Green party (who sponsored the study) is blaming an increase in vehicle miles traveled for the emissions increase: ‘The Greens also blamed a pick-up in oil consumption, driven by an expanding economy: German gross domestic product rose 1.9 per cent last year, its fastest pace in five years. They said higher consumption of diesel was also a factor.’ Imagine that, Greens inveighing against economic progress. If you need a reminder of how politically toxic and counterproductive environmental dogma can be, look no further than this example. --The American Interest, 17 March 2017
Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions were flat for a third straight year in 2016 even as the global economy grew, according to the International Energy Agency, signaling a continuing decoupling of emissions and economic activity. The biggest drop came from the United States, where carbon dioxide emissions fell 3%, or 160 million tonnes, while the economy grew by 1.6%. The decline was driven by a surge in shale gas supplies and more attractive renewable power that displaced coal. Emissions in the United States last year were at their lowest level since 1992, a period during which the economy grew by 80%. --International Energy Agency, 17 March 2017
The latest assessment of green energy costs by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), was reported yesterday by the BBC couched in doublethink worthy of 1984. They announced, just as five of the big six energy providers raised prices by between 7-10%, that ‘Britain’s low carbon energy revolution is actually saving money for households’. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tucked away at the bottom of a technical annex was a shocking revelation; households would be paying almost twice as much for climate policies than the CCC had estimated in their previous report on energy bills. The Annex of the report includes an estimate of £235 for the cost of low-carbon policies on household energy bills in 2030, a cost that the CCC claimed in 2015 would only be £125. --Harry Wilkinson, Global Warming Policy Forum, 17 March
A landmark year in 2016 for global warming politics has further deepened the already formidable divide between Republicans and Democrats on the issue. Two-thirds (66%) of Democrats say they worry about global warming a great deal, compared with 18% of Republicans. The 66% of Democrats worrying a great deal about the issue is the highest percentage in Gallup’s annual polling on the question since at least 2000 and is nine percentage points above last year’s previous high of 57%. Republicans’ 18% who say they worry a great deal is the same as last year’s percentage and 11 points below the party’s high of 29% in 2000. --Gallup, 17 March 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment