Climate News Live
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0131191820080701
As the G8 nations prepare for their July, 8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, The World Bank has agreed to establish two investment funds for them to consider during the meeting. The investment funds are to help developing economies switch to cleaner energy technologies to curb carbon emissions and to better enable poor countries to adapt to climate change.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the funds are part the Bank's response to climate change challenges.
"We think the (funds) will have a significant impact in generating even more financing for climate action," Zoellick said, "but also in demonstrating new approaches to address the current and future effects of climate change.
"These approaches will range from agriculture to water management, from transport to urban development, and from biodiversity to energy access," he said.
The World bank is optimistic about the future of the investment funds, as several nations have already came out in support of them. Indeed, climate change will be a heated topic during the G8 summit.
Reuters: Lesley Wroughton; July 2, 2008
Submitted by: M. Lamarre
Texas has become a leader in wind energy with Houston adding itself to the list.
The heart of the U.S. oil patch on Tuesday began using wind-powered electricity for about a fourth of its municipal power needs at a lower price than it is paying for power produced from coal and natural gas, city officials said. The move shows how renewable energy's prospects are improving at a time of soaring fossil-fuel prices. Long derided as an expensive niche, wind power now is moving closer to the mainstream. Houston's push also underscores how far renewable energy has to go. Wind power has taken hold more in Texas than in many other states, both because the western part of the state is breezy and because Texas has enacted a mandate designed to boost wind-power generation. The federal government has rejected calls to implement that kind of mandate nationally.
The Wall Street Journal; July 2, 2008
Submitted by J. Andrews
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2008/2008-07-01-01.asp
Last month, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program's Subcommittee on Global Change Research released a report on the changing weather patterns of North America. Their conclusion? We will see more "extreme" weather patterns in our nation which could cause significantly more damage than natural disasters already occuring.
Droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes are likely to become more common as humans continue to increase concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to first comprehensive analysis of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America.
"This report addresses one of the most frequently asked questions about global warming - what will happen to weather and climate extremes? This synthesis and assessment product examines this question across North America and concludes that we are now witnessing and will increasingly experience more extreme weather and climate events," said report co-chair Tom Karl, PhD, who directs the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
The report is based on scientific evidence that a warming world will be accompanied by changes in the intensity, duration, frequency, and geographic extent of weather and climate extremes.
The Midwest floods already ruined a large batch of agricultural products. Should our modeling and futures trading incorporate these new predictions? Will it raise food prices even further?
Environmental News Service; July 1, 2008
Submitted by B.Shapiro
A high number of clear days with the sun shining bright is not enough (on its own) to make all types of solar power economical. Solar photovoltaic cells (called Solar PV) have a fairly high initial cost for installation in rooftop arrays, and debate dogs the question of a true payback period. The comparison with power costs from the local utility aren't always favorable, since electricity is best generated from solar power on sunny days (and defintely not at night). Storage batteries can help with the economics, but the efficiency of these schemes tends still to suffer in comparison. However, the debate on the economics of solar PV shifts when Climate Change is figured in the mix, and the potential costs of mitigation are considered.
Fox 11 News, Tucson AZ; June 30, 2008
Submitted by R. Campbell
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121478564162114625.html
An April 2007 Supreme Court Decision that found that carbon dioxide emissions from cars are pollutants under the Clean Air Act and therefore subject to regulation has prompted the EPA to start drafting regulations on how the government can effectively cut ozone-depleting emissions from the transportation sector. Wall Street Journalists have been privy to the unreleased draft.
The court's ruling centered on emissions from automobiles. But it set the stage for regulations affecting the entire U.S. economy -- from power plants to factories and ships -- by ordering the EPA to determine whether greenhouse gases endanger public health or welfare, the legal criteria for regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
In recent weeks, the Bush Administration warned that regulatory havoc would result if the EPA were to regulate greenhouse gases under the act. The White House argues the act restricts the EPA from considering costs when imposing regulations and could ultimately mean the agency would have to regulate nearly everything that created emissions, including hospitals, schools and apartment buildings.
The EPA draft document concludes that motor vehicles could be even more fuel efficient than currently required by law. Based on advanced technologies such as plug-in hybrid vehicles, fuel efficiency could be improved to well above 35 miles per gallon between 2020 and 2025, it says. A 2007 energy law that has been supported by the Bush administration mandates an average vehicle fuel-efficiency of 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
For other sectors, the EPA draft document shows how emissions such as carbon dioxide could be regulated through the government-permit process and through a cap-and-trade system similar to the programs the agency administers for acid rain and mercury.
Congress is currently investigating EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and the White House for denying California a waiver to regulate their own greenhouse gas emissions and for editing significant science out of government reports that were supposed to be politically non-biased.
Wall Street Journal; June 30, 2008
Submitted by B. Shapiro
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-intel26-2008jun26,0,5875448.story
The U.S. intelligence agencies have compiled a report on climate change and its possible future affect around the world. The report concludes that climate change may threaten U.S. security because of humanitarian crises such as illegal immigration and ethnic violence from politically weaker countries.
According to the report, the effects of global warming are likely to be most severe in sub- Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Central and Southeast Asia. Its authors warn that less rainfall and more volatile weather could cut agricultural output in some regions of Africa by as much as 50%.
Democrats and environmental activists praised the assessment, calling it formal acknowledgment by a key part of the government that the threat of rising temperatures is real.
But the report was also criticized, particularly by skeptics of global warming and people who oppose using U.S. intelligence resources to track something as amorphous as the environment
The report also concluded that U.S. infrastructure is weak and is not prepared to deal with climate change.
Los Angeles Times: June 26, 2008
Submitted by M. Lamarre
McCain has been considered one of the more "environmentally-friendly" Republicans in Congress, but his speech yesterday is sure to anger his allies both on the Hill and off. He says that in order to lower oil prices, we need to lift the ban on offshore drilling. Currently only a few places in the Gulf of Mexico and around Alaska permit this. McCain wants to give power to the states to regulate drilling off their coasts.
"With gasoline running at more than four dollars a gallon, many do not have the luxury of waiting on the far-off plans of futurists and politicians," McCain told cheering political leaders and oil industry executives in Houston yesterday. "We have proven oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States. But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production. And I believe it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use."
President Bush also supports McCain's idea, but unlike the Commander-in-Chief, McCain still opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Democrats have blasted McCain, who wanted to uphold the moratorium in 2000 before our current energy costs began to surge.
Boston Globe; June 18, 2008
Submitted by B.Shapiro
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=594724&p=1\
Despite the overwhelmingly large number of data circulating supporting climate change and the popularity of climate change talks in governments' and businesses, Roger Pielke, political scientist at the University of Colorado, says there is nothing 'wacky' about the weather. Mr. Pielke examines the recent floods in Iowa and blames climate scientists and modelers for falsifying and exaggerating extreme weather patterns.
If all weather events are consistent with climate models, then no current weather events serve as any useful indicator of climate change or as a sign that climate change is happening.
Iowa floods are nothing new. Stories of failed levee maintenance, inappropriate settlement and development of flood regions are now emerging. Declining investment in bridge and river services create increased vulnerability to the inevitable and normal floods. A focus on climate change, which cannot be accurately singled out as the cause, can do no good.
Mr. Pielke even has a chart showing flood damages in the United States declining for the past 70 years. However, given Rex Tillerson's, head of Exxon, admit of paying organizations millions to downplay the impact of climate change last month, Mr. Pielkes will have to show a lot more data to convince climate change believers that there is nothing 'wacky' about climate change.
Financial Post: Terence Corcoran: June 18, 2008
Submitted: M. Lamarre
http://www.prdomain.com/companies/A/Allianz/newsreleases/200861758305.htm
Allianz's Chief Operating Officer, Oliver Bate, spoke to the UN General Assembly about what financial service companies can do to aid with global efforts to fight climate change. Bate also answered questions regarding the UN's role in fostering a better climate and the effect of climate change on businesses in the private sector.
When asked, what significance does climate change have for the business and strategy of Allianz? Bate cites the need to satisfy their customers.
Our business is to empower our customers to manage their risks and opportunities and to find solutions for the challenges they face. Climate change is one of most important challenges of the next centuries. If we manage to provide innovative and sustainable solutions like insurance and investments for clean technology, it will help our customers, and ultimately us, to generate sustainable growth.
Business Register: June 16, 2008
Submitted by: M. Lamarre
A group of experts who met in New Delhi concluded that climate change, even with its perils, would open opportunities for businesses in developing countries to make profits. The profits would come as a result of certified emission reduction (CER) sales.
Industrialized countries that have committed themselves to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions plan to achieve 25-30 per cent of their target by buying CERs from developing countries, according to YP Abbi, senior fellow at The Energy and Resources institute (TERI).
"This is a huge opportunity for Indian businesses," Abbi said at a seminar on the business of climate change organized by TERI and Knight International Journalism Fellowships.
However, researches suggested CER supplies will depend on numerous external factors. For example, China's recent earthquake would reduce their CER supplies by up to five percent.
The Times Of India; May 22, 2008
Submitted by M. Lamarre
