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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Friday, September 5, 2014

From Benny Peiser's Global Warming Policy Foundation

UN Warning: Most Nations Have Failed To Ratify Kyoto Protocol Extension
 
Britain Handed EU Climate And Energy Portfolio
 In Draft Juncker Commission Line-Up

The UN has expressed concern that only a handful of countries have ratified an extension to the Kyoto Protocol, more than 18 months after they agreed to do so. Kyoto, the world’s only legally binding global emissions treaty, ran out at the end of 2012. At climate talks in Doha, December 2012, the 144 parties to the treaty agreed to extend the deal to 2020. However, so far only 11 have formally backed the amendment, despite an intervention by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon in February 2013. Until all 144 parties deliver their “instruments of acceptance” to New York, the amendment will not enter into law. --Ed King, Reporting Climate Change, 4 September 2014

The top leaders of China and India, two of the world’s top emitters of greenhouse gases, aren’t planning to attend this month’s United Nations summit on climate change, according to a diplomat at the UN. President Xi Jinping of China and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon they won’t be at the day-long meeting of world leaders on Sept. 23, the person said, requesting not to be identified discussing the leaders’ plans. That deals a blow to a gathering meant to lay the groundwork for a global agreement to reduce carbon dioxide, which is blamed for global warming. --Sangwon Yoon and Mark Drajem, Bloomberg, 3 September 2014

 

The UK could miss out on its desired economics portfolio in Jean-Claude’s Juncker’s new European Commission, instead being handed responsibility for the EU’s energy and climate change policies. Juncker will rebuff Prime Minster David Cameron, who has lobbied hard for Jonathan Hill to be given an economics job, according to a draft European Commission line up, seen by EurActiv. The decision, if ultimately confirmed, could push the UK closer to leaving the EU. --EurActiv, 4 September 2014

Since the turn of the century, there has been little increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s surface, new research claims. Previous studies claimed this hiatus has lasted for 15 years, but new research believes the temperature has remained almost constant since 1995. The conclusions were made by an economics professor who studied historical land and ocean temperatures for noticeable trends. Professor Ross McKitrick from the University of Guelph in Canada studied land and ocean temperatures since 1850. He compared this to satellite data from 1979 to 2014. By plotting trends in this data, he has concluded that global warming has been on pause for 19 years. --Victoria Woollaston, Daily Mail, 3 September 2014

Politicians who do not believe in climate change should be ‘crushed and buried’, according to the new president of the British Science Association. Sir Paul Nurse, who starts his presidency next week, pledged to ‘take on’ the ‘serial offenders’ who he accused of cherry picking scientific facts to suit their arguments. In an extraordinary outburst, Sir Paul accused those who refuse to accept scientific orthodoxy on global warming of ‘distorting’ the facts. --Ben Spencer, Daily Mail, 4 September 2014

Dr Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, accused Sir Paul of using ‘the language of extremism’. ‘If he can’t live with critics and sceptics that is too bad. But there is no need to use this kind of violent and aggressive vocabulary. ‘Scepticism used to be a sign of science itself. When scientists cannot cope with that, and instead use this language of extremism, it is a sign of desperation, a sign they are losing the plot.’ --Ben Spencer, Daily Mail, 4 September 2014

Sir Paul Nurse is calling for malefactors to be "crushed and buried", which sounds as though he has been reading too much of the Marxist literature he apparently favoured at one time, or perhaps indicating too many hours spent in front of Game of Thrones. We know who he means of course, because he has made such allegations against Nigel Lawson in the past. On that occasion, Nurse got himself into a bit of a pickle, unable to defend himself from Lawson's accusation that he was lying. Eighteen months later, he is reduced to repeating the general allegation, still without any specific details of the offence, but this time minus the name as well. You have to laugh. --Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, 4 September 2014

With many advanced economies questioning whether they can afford low-carbon policies and investments in renewable energy, emerging markets account for a growing share of global investment in ‘green’ energy. Yet fiscal pressures are raising doubts in these countries, too, jeopardising the global green growth transition. In this climate, it is no surprise that large-scale private investment in ‘green’ sectors has yet to materialise due to perceived risks and the relative novelty of the market. That is unlikely to change until governments create the enabling conditions needed for business to drive forward the next generation of green growth. --Oxford Analytica Conference 2014, Christ Church, Oxford University, 18 September 2014

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