Sick: Disasters good for putting climate on agenda: Figueres

6 March, 2014 by

EU parasite

UN parasite

This EU UN parasite should be sacked. Perhaps she should visit the wrecked homes and businesses of those flooded in Somerset or on the banks of the Thames.

Those disasters had little, if anything, to do with climate change (chronic lack of dredging in Somerset – probably because of some moonbat environmental diktat, and the Thames had worse flooding in 1947 when CO2 was ‘safe’), but that doesn’t stop Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of UNFCCC, scoring tasteless and offensive political points out of others’ suffering:

Figueres said: “There’s no doubt that these events, that I call experiential evidence of climate change, does raise the issue to the highest political levels. It’s unfortunate that we have to have these weather events, but there is a silver lining if you wish, that they remind us is solving climate change, addressing climate change in a timely way, is not a partisan issue.“

She added: “We are reminded that climate change events are for everyone, they’re affecting everyone, they have much, much longer effects than a political cycle. Frankly, they’re intergenerational, so morally we cannot afford to look at climate change from a partisan perspective.” (source)

‘Silver lining’? Witch.

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India joins China in boycotting EU's aviation blackmail

23 March, 2012 by

Carbon price down 7%

China has already rejected the EU’s carbon blackmail, and now the Indian government has done the same. Not only is the EU in danger of starting a global trade war, but repercussions are widening, as China cancels a $14bn order with European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

And all for what? To prop up the EU’s pointless emissions trading scheme which will do virtually nothing for the climate, and everything to damage Europe’s competitiveness. Even Reuters, in the article below, acknowledges that the carbon price in the EU is too low to encourage any low-carbon investment. What a joke.

NEW DELHI, March 22 (Reuters) – India joined China in asking its airlines to boycott the European Union’s carbon scheme on Thursday, confirming what a senior Indian government source previously told Reuters and stoking a diplomatic row over the issue.

“Though the European Union has directed Indian carriers to submit emissions details of their aircraft by March 31, 2012, no Indian carrier is submitting them in view of the position of the government,” India’s civil aviation minister Ajit Singh said on Thursday.

“Hence the imposition of a carbon tax does not arise,” Singh told lawmakers in a written reply.

The European Commission was not immediately available to comment. [LOL – Ed]

India’s opposition to the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), a major plank in the bloc’s efforts to curb carbon dioxide emissions and combat global warming, could damage the chances of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) it is negotiating with the EU.

On Monday, a senior government official told Reuters that India would ask local airlines not to buy carbon credits from or share emissions data with the bloc.

Since January this year, all airlines using EU airports start to become liable to pay for carbon emissions, but no carriers will be handed a bill until next year.

Initially, they will also be given free allowances to cover the bulk of the cost.

The March 31 deadline is one of a series for airlines to comply with various EU requirements. Documents seen by Reuters showed that airlines, including from India and China, have previously signed up to become eligible for free allowances.

SOVEREIGNTY

Foreign governments, including the world’s top three carbon emitters – the United States, China and India – say the EU is exceeding its legal jurisdiction by charging for an entire flight, as opposed to just the part covering European airspace.

In a meeting last month in Moscow of the so-called “coalition of the unwilling”, countries opposed to the EU law including India, agreed on retaliatory steps, although it did not agree on enforcing them.

China said in February its airlines were barred from participating in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme unless they gained government approval. Beijing has also suspended the purchase of $14 billion worth of jets from European maker Airbus .

The EU’s Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard has said the EU only adopted its current policy because efforts to agree a United Nations scheme to curb rising aviation emissions had failed.

She has repeatedly said the EU will stand by its law unless the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization can come up with a global plan.

The European Parliament has also reiterated support for the carbon charge and officials say it could decide to express its anger at India by blocking the Free Trade Agreement with the country. (source)

The EU is embarking on a very dangerous journey. It will end in tears for the EU, and China and India will be laughing.

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Bankrupt EU still obsessed with 'tackling climate change'

17 March, 2012 by

Glover - Chief Alarmist

You would have thought the EU had bigger fish to fry – like staying in the black, avoiding the collapse of the Euro zone, patching up relations with trading partners over the malicious airline tax, that kind of thing.

But no, the EU is still obsessed with wrecking its economy with pointless measures to “tackle climate change” – at least Poland has thrown a spanner in the works for the time being – but their latest paid hack, its first chief scientist, has thrown her weight behind climate action, despite economic troubles:

The European Union cannot use the economic slowdown as an excuse to delay action on fighting climate change, the bloc’s first-ever chief scientific adviser has warned.

Molecular biologist Anne Glover took on the newly created role reporting to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the start of this year, having previously served as chief scientific adviser to Scotland’s devolved government. [But she’s not a climate scientist – she isn’t qualified to speak – no wait, she’s on the right side so we ignore that – Ed]

Despite the fact that many EU governments are slashing their public budgets in an attempt to reduce debt levels, and industry is warning against the cost of climate policies, Glover said Europe cannot afford to postpone action to cut emissions.

“It has been extremely disappointing to see many member states cut back on their emission reduction efforts because they say ‘we’re going through a recession‘,” she said. [Yeah, feeding your population and keeping them in jobs is such a bore -Ed]

“Make no mistake, if we had unabated man-made climate change, we would go through an absolutely horrible period of conflict and migration, until the world’s population started diminishing very rapidly.” [See, no exaggeration there! – Ed]

As Europe’s leaders begin to switch their focus from spending cuts to boosting growth and jobs, constraints on natural resources also mean that the EU cannot just spend its way out of recession as it has in the past.

“The simplest way to think about increasing jobs is to make more stuff and get people to buy more stuff. But my point is that we can’t do that, because we’re running out of resources,” Glover said.

Looks like Glover is following in the footsteps of our own Chief Scientists, Penny Sackett and Ian Chubb, both climate alarmists. And to finish off, just one more quote:

“If we take the automotive industries, if you ask people ‘do you think you’ll have a car that runs on diesel or petrol in 2020 or 2030?’, the overwhelming answer is ‘no’. All of the citizens of Europe think that their cars will be running on some eco-fuel that won’t be polluting the environment. (source)

“All of the citizens of Europe”? I don’t think so. And what will they run on? Electricity generated from coal, perhaps, because you’ve shut down all your nuclear reactors? Or sunbeams and farts?

Glover’s really living in a little fantasy land in her head. Pity the EU.

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Poland blocks EU's climate policy nightmare

11 March, 2012 by

Hero of the EU

Out of 27 countries, only Poland has the common sense and foresight to oppose the EU’s suicidal, and ultimately utterly pointless, emissions reduction policy, guaranteed to send the bloc back to the Dark Ages.

Poland rightly considers that allowing its population access to cheap and affordable energy is more important than politically-correct environmental posturing which will achieve nothing for the climate. Reuters is shocked:

BRUSSELS, March 9 (Reuters) – Coal-reliant Poland on Friday vetoed European Union efforts to move further towards a low carbon economy, pitting itself against the rest of the 27-member bloc.

Denmark, holder of the rotating EU presidency, has placed the environment at the heart of its leadership, backed by the Commission and the business community on the need for clear direction on EU climate policy beyond an existing set of 2020 goals.

Only the Danes could be so blinkered. At a time of global financial uncertainty, Greece on the verge of default, the US up to its neck in debt, the bacon and Lego country believes “the environment” should be front and centre…

But Poland, which relies on carbon-intensive coal for more than 90 percent of its electricity, said it could not agree to any inclusion of milestones for future carbon reductions in an EU text debated at a meeting of environment ministers.

“Unfortunately, one delegation has blocked,” Denmark’s Climate and Energy Minister Martin Lidegaard told reporters. “It has been a tough day. It would have been better if 27 countries would have been on board, but 26 is very encouraging.”

That translates as one custodian of common sense, and 26 ecotard lemmings…

The text of an environmental council meeting does not have firm policy status within the EU’s complex decision-making process, but it is a signal, which is weakened if consensus cannot be achieved.

Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the backing of almost the entire bloc was enough to allow the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, to keep working on further progress.

“Twenty-six member states want us to move ahead with the low carbon road-map,” she told Reuters.

In other words, the EU will find a way to go ahead with this nonsense at any cost.

To help fill the policy vacuum after a firm goal of a 20 percent carbon cut by 2020 expires, the roadmap lays out a route towards a long-term aim to reduce the bloc’s carbon emissions by 80 percent by the middle of the century. (source)

Eighty percent by 2050 is sheer madness. Even 20% by 2020 will be extremely damaging for the European economy, and will make no discernible difference to global temperatures (even if we assume CO2 is a driver of global temperature), since China and India will more than make up for any such reductions.

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Frozen Europe

13 February, 2012 by

Heidelberg frozen solid

The Big Freeze in Europe continues. This clearly has nothing to do with climate change, it’s just weather. However, it does demonstrate the damaging power of extreme cold. Now imagine what it would be like surviving in these extreme weather conditions with astronomical energy prices as a results of pointless “climate change mitigation policies”:

You would be forgiven for thinking these stunning vistas lay deep in the heart of Antarctica.

But they are, in fact, what has become of the European landscape as temperatures plummet to nearly -40C – the coldest snap in decades.

Rivers, lakes, beaches and even seas have been iced over by a Siberian freeze, creating some incredible sights, but also more tales of tragedy.

Thousands enjoyed a day out on the frozen Lake Pfaeffikersee, near Zurich, Switzerland, today, while ice anglers looked more like Eskimos as they braved the conditions on a Polish reservoir.

But in southern Kosovo, nine people were killed when an avalanche hit the village of Restelica, officials said on Sunday, adding to more than 500 killed in snow and bitter cold across the Continent in the past two weeks.          

In Poland, the interior ministry said 20 people had died in the past 24 hours because of the freezing weather, bringing the toll there so far this year to at least 100.

A spokeswoman said the latest victims froze to death or were suffocated or killed by fires due to defective or improvised heaters. 

The Kosovo avalanche enveloped about 15 houses on Saturday, but only two were occupied at the time.   

One person was missing and a girl aged about six was found alive late on Saturday after residents and emergency services helped dig out the houses. She was taken to hospital.   

‘The number of dead people now is nine and we believe there is still one missing person,’ said Ibrahim Shala, a spokesperson from the Kosovo Security Force (KSF).           

Temperatures have plummeted in parts of Europe close to minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit) in the coldest February snap the region has seen in decades. Meteorologists say it could last till the end of the month.           

In Kosovo, three people died and two children were injured on Thursday when a gas can that a family was using for heating exploded.

Kosovo’s government ordered schools to remain closed for another week with more snow expected. Police said many inhabited areas were completely cut off.

In neighbouring Montenegro the government imposed a state of emergency late on Saturday after snow blocked roads and railways across most of the country. Three people have died so far.

More than 50 people have been stranded on a train in Montenegro’s north for more than two days as emergency crews struggle to rescue them.
In the mountain town of Zabljak in Montenegro’s north, snow was 2.3 metres deep, while authorities have banned all private traffic in the capital Podgorica, where snow is almost a metre (three feet) deep and more is forecast on Sunday.

In Serbia, which declared a state of emergency last week, 19 people have died in the cold snap so far.

Economists said damage from the cold weather may cost the country more than 500 million euros ($660 million).

More than 2,000 industrial businesses have been idled to limit the strain on coal-fired power plants and hydropower plants, which were struggling because of the buildup of ice.

The government also ordered the closure of all schools and non-essential businesses until February 20.

Port authorities for Serbian sections of the Danube, Sava and Tisa rivers halted navigation due to a heavy buildup of ice.

For the first time in decades, parts of the Black Sea has frozen near its shores, while the Kerch Strait that links the Azov Sea and the Black Sea has been closed to navigation.

Some great photos at the link.

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Euro cold snap: The day the sea froze

5 February, 2012 by

Freezing Britain

From the Weather Isn’t Climate department. Just as warmer winters are blamed on “global warming” so are colder winters too! Which is it? Both? Yes, of course.

It’s our old friend the unfalsifiable hypothesis. Ask “The Cause” what weather phenomenon would be evidence that man-made global warming was NOT happening and all you would receive in return is a blank stare and a thud as jaw hits ground.

Whatever the real cause, it’s very cold in the UK at the moment (and in much of Europe as well):

  • Temperatures as low as Himalayas overnight, plunging to nearly -11C in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
  • Third of flights out of Heathrow tomorrow cancelled
  • Much of England under ‘Level 3’ cold weather alert, which warns of ‘100% probability’ of severe cold weather, icy conditions and heavy snow
  • Drivers warned to check ‘gritter Twitter’ updates as breakdowns attended by AA double
  • British Gas puts fleet of 4X4s on standby as call-outs soar
  • Salt stocks across Britain stand at 2.4m tons – a million more than last year
  • Sporting events called off including Portsmouth v Hull City Championship football match

Snow showers are sweeping across Britain tonight – with forecasters warning that most of the country will be covered by snow by the morning.

Widespread snow of up to 15cm deep is forecast to fall overnight across much of the country, with flurries already hitting Scotland, northern England and the Midlands this afternoon.

Up to 15cm of snow is expected to cover parts of Cumbria, Lincolnshire, East Anglia, North Yorkshire, the Peak District and the Midlands, while South East and eastern England is predicted to see up to 10cm of snow fall overnight.

Passengers travelling through Heathrow Airport have been warned that a third of tomorrow’s flights will be grounded, and the RAC has warned of a ‘dangerous cocktail of driving conditions’.

The freezing conditions have caused daytime temperatures to plummet four or five degrees lower than average for February – traditionally the coldest month of the year.

Motorists faced a ‘dangerous cocktail of driving conditions’ while forecasters warned the freezing weather was here to stay.

Kevin Andrews, RAC patrol ambassador, said the wintry weather and sub-zero temperatures had left roads ‘extremely treacherous’.

He added: ‘It looks like we’re going to get a dangerous cocktail of driving conditions this weekend.’

The motoring organisation said it had attended 70 per cent more breakdowns than normal while a spokesman for the AA said it dealt with around 1,500 call-outs per hour this morning.

The total figure was predicted to reach up to 15,000 by the end of the day – almost double the 8,500 of a usual Saturday.

Most parts of the country are expected to wake up to a blanket of snow tomorrow morning, including Cumbria, Lincolnshire, East Anglia, North Yorkshire and the Peak District and temperatures will remain low, with -9C expected in the snowy Midlands.

Meteo Group forecaster Paul Mott said the deep freeze was likely to continue into next week – meaning the snow is likely to settle and much of Britain will remain carpeted in white. (source)

There are also some great photos at the link. And elsewhere in Europe, temperatures have plunged:

TEMPERATURES have plunged to new lows in Europe, where a week-long cold snap has now killed more than 200 people as forecasters warned that the big freeze would tighten its grip at the weekend.

In the Czech Republic, the mercury dropped to as low as minus 38.1 degrees Celsius overnight yesterday while even Rome was sprinkled in snow.

In the past seven days, a total of 218 people have died from the cold weather, according to an AFP tally.

Ukraine’s emergencies ministry said the cold snap had now killed 101 people, substantially raising the previous toll of 63. Sixty-four of the victims died on the streets, it added.

Almost 1600 people have requested medical attention for frostbite and hypothermia.

As they try to prevent the toll from rising even further, authorities announced that 2940 shelters had been set up across the Ukraine where people could find warmth and food and another 100 would be opened in the next hours.
There was no sign of an immediate let-up in the weather, with forecasters saying temperatures would hover between minus 25 to 30 degrees Celsius at night and minus 16 to 21 in the day.

The ferocious temperatures killed eight more people over the past 24 hours in Poland, bringing the death toll to 37 since the deep freeze began a week ago, police said.

Temperatures plunged to as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius in parts of Poland – but even that was three degrees warmer than the temperatures in the southwestern Sumava region of the Czech Republic.

Temperatures have been so cold in Bulgaria that parts of the River Danube have been frozen over.

Sixty per cent of the surface near the port of Ruse was iced over, severely hindering navigation, the Danube exploration agency said.

Elsewhere in Bulgaria, another six people were found dead from the cold, bringing the overall tally to 16 in the past week, according to a tally of local media. No official figures have been released.

Most of the dead in the European Union’s poorest country were people in villages, found frozen to death on the side of the road or in their unheated homes, the reports said.

More than 1000 Bulgarian schools remained closed for a third day on Friday amid fresh snowfalls and piercing winds in the northeast of the country.

Residents in Rome experienced only their second day of snow in the past 15 years. Up to five centimetres of snow fell in suburbs of the Italian capital, although there was little precipitation in the city centre.

Temperatures in the Alpine region of Piedmont in northern Italy went as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius.

And the Met Office, always keen to make sure the public doesn’t get the wrong idea, provides the best quote of all:

The Met Office said there was a danger that the cold weather would catch people off-guard after the warmer-than-normal winter so far. (source)

Not any more it isn’t.

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Chinese airlines refuse to pay EU carbon blackmail

6 January, 2012 by

Calling Europe's bluff?

As ACM reported last month, the EU is in danger of triggering a trade war with its demand that airlines pay an additional carbon tax when flying within its territory. Obviously thinking that opposition would crumble, the EU is standing firm. Unfortunately, however, so are the Chinese:

CHINA’S four leading airlines have thrown down the gauntlet to the European Union by saying they will refuse to pay carbon charges levied under Europe’s emissions trading scheme.

The defiant message – which could lead to a ban from European airports – marks an escalation of resistance to the scheme, which came into effect this week and is also opposed by the US.

Despite the growing threat of a trade war, Europe sees the cap-and-trade system for aviation emissions as a crucial tool for reducing greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

Since Sunday, any airline using an airport in the EU has been obliged to participate.

But China’s leading aviation body said it would not.

”China will not co-operate with the European Union on the ETS, so Chinese airlines will not impose surcharges on customers relating to the emissions tax,” said the deputy secretary-general of the China Air Transport Association, Cai Haibo.

The association represents Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines, which fly millions of passengers to Europe each year. (source)

Legal action is being considered. Watch this space.

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Carbon price – EU: $8 (and falling), Australia: $23 (and rising)

15 December, 2011 by

The EU carbon price has slumped to a new low, making Australia’s $23 a tonne carbon tax in mid-2012 nearly three times the price on the European market:

European Union and U.N.-backed carbon prices plunged to new record lows on Wednesday, beset by worries about Europe’s economic turmoil and uncertainty about a future global climate pact.

Carbon prices have shed more than 60 percent since June, as Europe’s worsening debt crisis dented demand at a time when the EU emissions trading scheme, the world’s biggest carbon market, is oversupplied with hundreds of millions of permits.

Benchmark EU carbon permits tumbled more than 8 percent on Wednesday to a fresh record low of 6.43 euros ($8.41)a tonne. They were at 6.51 euros at 1305 GMT.

Front-year U.N.-issued carbon credits, so-called certified emission reductions, fell 11 percent to a new record low of 3.92 euros a tonne. (source)

And this won’t be the end. Carbon prices will end up like the Chicago exchange, worth a few cents, whilst Australia commits economic suicide from next July with a price of $23.

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EU carbon price tumbles to new low

26 November, 2011 by

The only way is down…

As if the European financial crisis wasn’t bad enough. Not only is GFC Mark II just around the corner, courtesy of a US debt of over $15 trillion, the sound financial management of Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, etc etc, but also, thanks to Julia Gillard’s pointless carbon tax (AU$23 per tonne, rising each year thereafter), Australia’s competitiveness at a very difficult time will be severely compromised in the global economy, as European carbon prices enter free fall:

European Union carbon permits and U.N.-backed credits collapsed to record lows on Thursday, extending this week’s sharp price slide as fears of a slowing economy sapped demand in the markets that are heavily supplied with emissions units.

It was also a signal that market participants are losing confidence in the flagging EU carbon market, the world’s biggest cap-trade scheme, traders and analysts said.

This latest crash could not have come at a worse time. In just a few days a U.N. climate summit in South Africa will resume work on a new globally binding pact to cut emissions.

Investors are already nervous about the future of carbon markets, given the uncertainty around when a new climate pact will emerge and what trading mechanisms will operate under it.

“Confidence is at an absolute minimum. It’s the macro-economic picture and the whole sentiment is not too good,” said a carbon trader at a financial institution.

Front-year carbon permits called EU Allowances (EUAs) closed 6.6 percent lower at 7.91 euros ($10.54) a tonne, after touching an all-time low of 7.80 euros earlier.

“There’s room to go down to 7 euros,” said Matteo Mazzoni, carbon analyst at Nomisma Energia in Italy, adding that 7.70 euros could be the next support level.

Some 11,000 power generators and industrial plants from 30 European countries take part in the region’s emissions trading scheme. It covers around half of the bloc’s carbon emissions.

Benchmark U.N.-issued carbon credits, which come from accredited emission reduction projects in developing countries, closed down almost 8 percent at 5.43 euros, after hitting a new record low of 5.30 euros.

FREEFALL

Carbon prices have shed more than half their value since June, as the euro zone’s worsening debt crisis choked demand for emissions permits.

The EU carbon market is also oversupplied with hundreds of millions of permits, and some analysts don’t expect demand to outpace supply until 2020.

“The oversupply seems to be overwhelming,” the trader said. (source)

Demand won’t outpace supply until 2020 – meaning that if the carbon tax survives that long (highly unlikely), Australians will suffer at least three years of a fixed carbon price far greater than that in the EU, and then a market-based trading scheme which will have a price floor of $15 from day one.

Hello? Julia and Greg? Are you receiving any of this? This Labor government sure know how to screw a country. Their own.

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G20 to Australia: "You're on your own" on carbon

5 November, 2011 by

"Congratulations, Julia, on wrecking your economy"

“Courageous” is how the G20 describes Australia’s action on climate change! What a wonderful euphemism for bat-sh*t crazy. Yet Gillard and Combet will no doubt still argue that Australia is being “left behind” and that it’s all in the “national interest” – delusional!

As Europe sinks into economic oblivion, the US debt creeps up by the day, and a GFC Mk II looks ever more likely, the rest of the world is starting to realise that there are more important things than pointless environmental gestures which will be hugely damaging for standards of living but which will do nothing for the climate.

JULIA Gillard’s introduction of a carbon tax has been praised at the latest economic summit for showing the way on climate change but Australia is being isolated within the G20 on carbon pricing as members retreat due to changing priorities and economic pressure.

As the government prepares to cut the carbon tax debate in the Senate to pass the bills with Greens’ support, the final communique from the G20 summit in France recognises Australia’s leading role on climate change.

But with the increased economic pressures from the global debt crisis and a shift in priority to food security, particularly in Africa, climate change action is dropping down the order of importance.

Critics of the G20’s lack of action on climate change have praised Australia’s action as “courageous” and said the diminishing priority for climate change was a “big problem for the G20”.

The shift at the G20 and the praise for Australia expected in the communique highlights the Gillard government’s move ahead of the developed economies on carbon pricing.

While Australia is pursuing the most comprehensive carbon tax in the world to combat the effects of climate change, other G20 members are retreating from emissions trading schemes to cut greenhouse gas emissions, such as Canada, while others are giving greater emphasis to dealing with the immediate effects of climate change. [In other words, adaptation – Ed.]

Australia (and Gillard) are turning into standing jokes on the world stage. How embarrassing.

Read it here.

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