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Annan criticises US over global warming
Xan Rice, Guardian
In a thinly veiled attack on the US and Australia, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, said today that a “frightening lack of leadership” was hindering the fight against global warming.
…”If they [the US and Australia] don’t sign Kyoto, they have to be in step with the rest of the industrialised world,” Mr Annan said. “They have a responsibility to their citizens and to the rest of the world.”
…More than 100 environment ministers have gathered in Nairobi to try to negotiate the platform for a successor treaty to Kyoto, which expires in 2012. Environmental activists say that a new agreement will have to include the US and Australia if it is to be effective. Countries undergoing rapid industrialisation, such as China, India, Brazil and Mexico, should also agree to binding targets, even if they are less onerous, they say.
Australia, which is the world’s second biggest per capita greenhouse gas polluter, has softened its stance in recent days, with the prime minister, John Howard, saying that he would consider an international carbon trading system – a key element of Kyoto – to try to slow global warming.
The US, the world’s biggest carbon dioxide polluter, is showing signs of feeling the heat from campaigners. The spokesman for Republican senator James Inhofe, who heads the Senate environment and public works committee and has described global warming as a “hoax”, complained at a debate yesterday that scientific debate was being suppressed. “The sceptics who get vocal are vilified,” said Marc Morano, director of communications for the committee.
But few people expect the US, represented in Nairobi by Paula Dobriansky, the under-secretary for global affairs, to change its hardline stance.
(15 Nov 2006)
Climate insurance urged for poor
Richard Black, BBC
The UN wants insurance companies to help protect the world’s poor against the impacts of climate change.
Insurance-based schemes could make money available to affected communities much faster than traditional aid, its climate meeting in Nairobi was told.
(14 Nov 2006)
The cost of climate change
Joe Nation, SF Chronicle
Steve Howard, my driver and host, seems like an unlikely soul to save the planet. Tall and thin, effusively polite and British, Howard describes how his Ph.D. research here in Kenya more than a decade ago led him to tackle climate change.
Howard, the CEO of the Climate Group, a London-based nonprofit, studied the effects of small changes in temperature and rainfall on forests and plant life. We assume, he says, that trees and plants are very resilient. In fact, they are not, he explains. Nor is the planet.
Howard is one of more than 5,000 scientists, governmental representatives and other participants who have traveled here to Kenya to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change. Like Howard, most of those attending the conference are already convinced that our continued use of fossil fuels is overheating the Earth and bound to lead to dire consequences, not just for our grandchildren, but for us — and in a very short time.
(15 Nov 2006)
White House Sued for Not Doing Report on Warming
Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle
Federal law required scientific assessment be issued in 2004
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Environmental advocates sued the Bush administration Tuesday for ignoring a 2004 congressional deadline to report to lawmakers and the public on the latest research on global warming.
A 1990 federal law requires the government to produce a scientific report every four years on climate change and its effects on the environment, including land, water, air, plant and animal life and human health.
The Clinton administration issued the first report in October 2000, warning of severe effects on different regions. But the Bush administration has not filed a report and has indicated it will not do so, environmentalists said in the suit filed in federal court in San Francisco.
Instead, the administration’s Climate Change Science Program says it will issue 21 mini-reports on various aspects of the overall topic. The first report, on temperature trends in the lower atmosphere, was released in May, and others will be issued periodically through 2008, a spokesman said.
“The Bush administration has failed to comply with the law,” said attorney Julie Teel of the Center for Biological Diversity, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “I think the administration’s afraid to release this information because it makes climate change real for people.”
(15 Nov 2006)
Authors Avery and Singer say warming not caused by humans but by 1,500 year cycle
Monica Trauzzi, E&E TV
As leadership of Congress shifts, the discussion and push for legislation on climate change is also expected to change. During today’s OnPoint, Dennis Avery and Fred Singer, co-authors of the new book, “Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years,” discuss why they think Democratic leadership will not produce much change on the climate front. Avery and Singer explain why they believe humans are not causing climate change and give their thoughts on the recent British government sponsored climate change report written by Nicholas Stern.
(15 Nov 2006)
Dennis Avery is an economist and fellow at The Hudson Institute, which is well known in the U.S. As SourceWatch says:
While describing itself as “non-partisan” and preferring to portray itself as independently “contrarian” rather than as a conservative think tank, the Hudson Institute gains financial support from many of the foundations and corporations that have bankrolled the conservative movement. The Capital Research Center, a conservative group that seeks to rank non-profits and documents their funding, allocates Hudson as a 7 on its ideological spectrum with 8 being “Free Market Right” and 1 “Radical Left.” [1]Hudson has traditionally had a strong focus on U.S. domestic policies such as national defense, education, crime, immigration, welfare, pesticides and biotechnology
I think with the recent Democratic electoral victories, their time is up. The climate issue will be the straw that destroys their credibility. If conservatives want to survive in the new era, they may want to distance themselves from them; note the greenward shift of the Tories in the UK and Republican Schwarzenegger in California. -BA
Blair faces revolt over C02 targets
Nigel Morris, The Independent
Tony Blair faces a major Commons revolt over his refusal to commit Britain to annual cuts in the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
The opposition parties and more than 200 Labour MPs have demanded that the Climate Change Bill, which will be announced in this week’s Queen’s Speech, include a promise to reduce C02 emissions by 3 per cent each year.
But the Prime Minister is resisting the demands, insisting that annual legally-binding targets would be too inflexible. He argues that without “pretty heavy” tax measures an unusually cold winter would scupper hopes of achieving that year’s planned reduction.
Without a compromise, the Government looks certain to trigger a rebellion on a scale that could wipe out its majority.
(15 Nov 2006)
Climate change bill to balance environmental and energy concerns
James Sturcke, Guardian
The government will introduce the long-awaited climate change bill during the coming session of parliament, it was confirmed today in the Queen’s speech.
The bill will make up part of the government’s “policy to protect the environment, consistent with the need to secure long-term energy supplies”, the Queen announced in the House of Lords.
The climate change legislation will comprise four key elements:
· It will set out a statutory commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60% from 1990 levels by 2050;
· it will establish an independent body – the carbon committee – to work with government to reduce emissions over time and across the economy;
· it will create enabling powers to put in place new emissions reduction measures needed to achieve set goals, and
· it will improve monitoring and reporting arrangements, including how the government reports to parliament.
(15 Nov 2006)
