A Primer for the Paris Climate Talks

By William Kay

Intro
 

From November 30 to December 11, 2015 the Parisian suburb of Le Bourget will host the $180 million United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties. “COP21” will induce spectacular displays of eco-activist anguish, round-the-clock political wrangling, and unprecedented global warming media hype. The following articles may serve as a programme for this impending farce.

“Climate Change and European Energy Independence” pivots on a 200-page analysis of the world’s energy industry by the International Energy Agency; a document prepared as a reference text for COP21 delegates. This document, and certain communiques from the European Union, expose with surprising candidness the main motive behind the Climate Change campaign. Europe is regularly importing over $500 billion a year worth of fossil fuels from economic rivals who also enjoy cheaper energy costs due to their natural fossil fuel endowments. Forsaking fossil fuels is an existential struggle for Europe.

“Big Climate” profiles the climate-industrial complex that has emerged in response to the subsidies and incentives lobbied into place by Climate Change campaigners. Tens of thousands of businesses build and install wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicle chargers, biofuel digesters, etc. Best estimates place the climate-industrial complex’s revenues in the $1.5 trillion a year range. This commercial activity simply would not exist but for the Climate Change campaign.

The article “A Tale of Two Places” compares how the Climate Change campaign impacts fossil-fuel-rich Alberta and fossil-fuel-poor Denmark.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 

Climate Change and European Energy Independence
Big Climate
A Tale of Two Places
Conclusion
Footnotes and Sources

Climate Change and European Energy Independence
 

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 200-page World Energy Outlook Special Report (2015) is a must-read for COP21 negotiators. This was certainly its authors’ intent:

“This World Energy Outlook Special Report has the pragmatic purpose of arming COP21 negotiators with the energy sector material they need to achieve success in Paris in December 2015.” (1)

The authors, IEA’s Directorate of Global Energy Economics, toiled under the glare of a seven-member High-Level Advisory Panel whose most notable member was France’s Climate Negotiations Ambassador. One of his co-panelists was Environmental Defense Fund’s Fred Krupp.

Additional input came from 76 outside experts drawn from three types of organizations:

(a) Environment and Energy and Climate Ministries of IEA countries;

(b) Corporations such as Vestas, Volkswagen, Shell, Deutsche Bank, Toshiba, Siemens, Munich Re, Toyota, and Electricity de France; and

(c) Enviro-movement pillars like Natural Resources Defense Council, World Wildlife Fund, United Nations Environment Programme, Climate Works Foundation, and European Climate Foundation.

Big Green doesn’t get any bigger.....To Read More.... 

Global Warming is Real - or - Paris Really Was Such a Nice Vacation

Britain Follows Paris Climate Deal With Cuts To Green Subsidies
After Paris, Britain Goes All Out For Shale

 

Britain cut more renewable energy subsidies on Thursday, putting jobs at risk and drawing criticism for losing credibility in tackling climate change, a week after the landmark deal in Paris. Britain's Conservative government has been reining in spending on all renewables subsidies since it took power in May, saying the cost of technology has come down sharply and subsidies should reflect that. Thursday's cuts came a day after it allowed the use of fracking to extract shale gas below national parks and protected areas and as it is expected to announce the winners of new onshore oil and gas licenses. --Reuters, 17 December 2015

MPs on Wednesday voted in favour of the use of fracking to extract shale gas under national parks, weakening a decision against fracking in national parks made earlier this year and giving shale gas explorers access to more resources. Britain is estimated to have substantial amounts of gas trapped in underground shale rocks and Prime Minister Cameron has pledged to go all-out to extract these reserves, to help offset declining North Sea oil and gas output. MPs, who supported the rule change with a slim 37-vote margin, decided to loosen this rule on Wednesday by allowing shale gas explorers to undertake fracking at least 1,200 metres below the surface in national parks. --Reuters, 17 December 2015

The ink hasn’t yet dried on the UN climate accord and one of the territories most at risk from global warning is already demanding an opt-out. “We still have the option of making a territorial opt-out to COP21,” Kim Kielsen, the prime minister of Greenland, said during a visit to Copenhagen on Monday. “We have an emissions quota of 650,000 tonnes of CO2, which is the same as a single coal-fired power plant in Denmark, or a minor Danish city.” --Peter Levring, Bloomberg, 14 December 2015

India still plans to double coal output by 2020 and rely on the resource for decades afterwards, a senior official said on Monday, days after rich and poor countries agreed in Paris to curb carbon emissions that cause global warming. “The environment is non-negotiable and we are extremely careful about it,” Anil Swarup, the top bureaucrat in the coal ministry, told Reuters. “(But) our dependence on coal will continue. There are no other alternatives available.” --The Guardian, 14 December 2015

Less than a week since signing the global climate deal in Paris, Japan and South Korea are pressing ahead with plans to open scores of new coal-fired power plants, casting doubt on the strength of their commitment to cutting CO2 emissions. Even as many of the world’s rich nations seek to phase out the use of coal, Asia’s two most developed economies are burning more than ever and plan to add at least 60 new coal-fired power plants over the next 10 years. --Japan Times, 16 December 2015

A new paper forecasts that overall winter sea ice extent will remain steady in the near future. This research underlines the significance of satellite data showing that Arctic sea ice extent now is broadly similar to that reported a decade ago. Climate scientists at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found that changes in the North Atlantic ocean circulation could allow overall winter sea ice extent to remain steady in the near future, with continued loss in some regions balanced by possible growth in others, including in the Barents Sea. --Reporting Climate Science, 11 December 2015

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