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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brought to you by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute
State Greenhouse Gas Emission Restrictions Opposed by General Motors On February 9, Rick Wagoner, Corporate CEO of General Motors, encouraged auto dealers to oppose allowing individual states to create their own, more restrictive limits that go beyond any greenhouse gas (GHG) emission requirements that may be passed by Congress. During the National Automobile Dealers Association convention, Wagoner said that if states were allowed to set their own regulations, automakers would be forced to focus on the state-level and would not accomplish as much on alternative fuel vehicles to reduce levels of oil consumption and pollution. “We’re not going to be able to accomplish everything that we otherwise could,” he said. Stephen L. Johnson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), denied a federal waiver allowing California to force automakers to reduce GHG emissions in new cars and light trucks by 30 percent by 2016. If California were allowed to set its own limits, 12 other states would have joined in the effort. Wagner told a group of dealers, “We need to work together to educate policymakers at the state and local levels on the importance of tough but national standards.” Click on the following link for more information:
Climate Change Threatens King Penguins with Extinction A study led by Yvon Le Maho at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curie in Strasbourg, France, found that king penguins, second in size to the emperor penguin, are at risk of extinction due to climate change. The penguins, which live at the northern edges of Antarctica in the southern Indian Ocean and feed on small fish and squid, are unusual in that their breeding cycle takes an entire year. The nine year study, performed by marking 456 penguins with electronic tags and tracking them with the use of buried radio antennas, found that a 0.46ºF increase in surface sea temperature correlated to a nine percent decrease in the adult penguin population. The researchers said this means that with a predicted 0.36ºF temperature increase per decade over the next 20 years, the king penguin populations are at a high risk of extinction due to global warming. Click on the following links for more information:
UN Urges Concerted Action on Climate Change At the United Nations General Assembly two-day session beginning February 11, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “If 2007 was the year when climate change rose to the top of the global agenda, 2008 is the time we must take concerted action.” The debate, titled “Addressing Climate Change: the United Nations and the World at Work,” was designed to build on the Bali international climate conference and to plan for a new international climate change agreement by the end of 2009. Ban said a map will be needed to limit greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to climate change impacts and provide the necessary finances and technology to do this. The president of the assembly, Srgjan Kerim, said “the UN cannot address climate change alone. No one can. . . The challenge is to find policies, instruments and technologies that can create low-carbon economies which promote sustainable economic growth and provide incentives for the individuals to change behavior.” Michael Bloomberg, New York City Mayor, called for the United States to enact a tax on carbon emissions, stating that the United States must set “real and binding carbon targets [which are] ambitious but also achievable.” John Ashe of Antigua and Barbuda, speaking for the Group of 77 and China, said in order to execute the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, “urgent action” is needed. Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said, “More action can be expected to take place in the developing world with more ambitious commitments by developed countries.” Click on the following links for more information:
Climate Change May Increase Heat Wave Deaths in UK A report by the UK Department of Health warns that, based on studies that temperatures in the United Kingdom are expected to rise 2.5-3.0°C by the end of the century, the United Kingdom will see deadly heat waves and contaminated drinking water. The report, “Health Effects of Climate Change in the UK,” warns that if no action is taken by 2017 there is a high possibility that heat waves could lead to more than 6,000 deaths. The report states that there is a 1 in 40 chance that by 2012 South-East England will have experienced a severe heatwave that will cause perhaps 3,000 immediate heat-related deaths. “In terms of conventional thinking about risks to health, a risk of 1 in 40 is high,” the report said. The UK National Health Service (NHS) is advising hospitals, nursing homes and other social care institutions on how to deal with the problems brought on by global warming. While malaria outbreaks were likely to remain rare, the report said health authorities would need to be alert to the dangers posed by possible larger outbreaks of malaria in continental Europe. Click on the following links for more information: The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is proposing a first-ever annual fee on greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted by businesses and government agencies. The fee of 4.2 cents per metric ton of CO2 is structured to raise $1.1 million per year. It is not designed to be a carbon tax, but rather to pay for the air district’s global warming-reduction programs in California. Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in San Francisco, said “the climate is changing, and we think that everybody needs to help with the solution and pay their fair share to reduce GHGs.” Carl Pope, the national executive director of the Sierra Club, commented that the US Supreme Court ruled that CO2 is a pollutant like other smog-causing chemicals and can be controlled under the Clean Air Act. Pope said, “There are costs associated with emitting CO2, and the people who emit it should pay the costs.” However, Tubber Hull, a spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Association in Sacramento, said that charging oil refineries and power plants may cause the consumers to pay more. While critics say that fees could easily rise, once a charge is in place, experts say that a fee is the best solution to cutting GHGs. Dan Kammen, director of renewable energy programs at University of California-Berkeley, said “emissions in California are still going up. All the nice paperwork is not going to make emissions go down until we put a price on what we don’t want – which is GHG emissions.” The proposal is scheduled to receive a hearing February 25. Written comments on the proposed rule are due by March 7. If passed by the air district's board of directors in May, it would become effective July 1. Click on the following links for more information: Midwest oil refineries are anticipated to produce up to 40 percent more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the next decade. Oil companies have started to refine Canadian petroleum, which emits 15–40 percent more CO2 than conventional oil, due to the added energy that is required to process the heavy petroleum that is extracted from Canadian tar sands. BP’s plan to expand their refinery in Whiting would increase the facilities’ GHG emissions to 5.8 million tons a year—an amount equivalent to placing 320,000 additional cars on the nation’s highways. Last year many large corporations, including BP and ConocoPhillips, said they planned to slow and eventually reverse their growth in GHG emissions. However, due to the fact that the government has not regulated GHGs, it is not possible to ensure these companies keep their promises. Industry estimates and academic researchers say that the Midwestern United States is responsible for a fourth of the nation’s global-warming pollution. With oil prices soaring, many leading climate scientists and environmental groups are calling for action that would offset the financial incentives to process heavy Canadian crude. Henry Henderson, head of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Midwest office, said “if carbon isn’t considered in these huge investments, we are going to be stuck with a tremendous burden.” Click on the following link for more information:
Shipping Industry Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the Rise Emma Maersk, the world’s largest merchant ship, travels between China and Europe, carrying with it 13,000 containers of cargo and burning almost 350 tons of fuel per day—an amount that can lead to more than 300,000 tons of CO2 emitted per year. Data supplied by the industry indicates that shipping emissions today are three times greater than the 400 million tons of CO2—or 1.8 percent of global emissions—that were previously calculated. Today, the shipping industry emits 1.21 billion tons, or 4.5 percent of global emissions, per year—a value two times higher than the CO2 emitted from aircraft. Experts say the problem is that the shipping industry has been growing rapidly—carrying more than 90 percent of the world’s trade by volume—and that countries won’t share responsibility on emission regulations. Christian Eyde Moller, chief executive officer of the Rotterdam-based DK Group, said “the world’s shipping fleet has grown very quickly. Ships are getting bigger and bigger, and they are burning more.” Scientists estimate the emissions will increase 30 percent to 1.45 billion tons in the next 12 years—bringing shipping to six percent of global emissions by 2020. One study shows that the emissions would be reduced by 23 percent if ships traveled ten percent slower. However, ship owners said more ships would be needed if they were forced to travel more slowly—which would increase emissions. Click on the following links for more information: Costa Rica, which produces more than 80 percent of its electricity in hydroelectric plants, is highly susceptible to changes in the climate. With their dependence on hydroelectric plants for electricity, even a small change in rainfall could leave the country without the power it needs. In 2007, the entire country was practically shut down because the reservoirs dried up due to a rainy season that arrived a few weeks late. Max Campos, a meteorologist who helps Central American countries assess their water resources, says the people of Costa Rica will be among the first to be affected by climate change due to their dependence on rain. He says, “This is something that people must understand. Any small deviation from what we consider normal, it is going to be very, very difficult to adjust.” Click on the following link for more information:
Climate Seen as Business Issue, but Action Lacking A study carried out in December and published in the McKinsey Quarterly, based on a survey of 2,192 executives from around the world, shows that while business leaders consider climate change important, little is being done to reduce company greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The survey reported that 60 percent viewed climate change as an important consideration in their companies’ strategy; 70 percent consider it important in managing corporate reputation and brands; more than 50 percent think it is important in product development, investment planning, and purchasing and supply management; about one third responded that their companies placed a higher emphasis on climate change than other global trends; and 61percent view climate change issues as having a positive effect on profits if well managed. However, more than one-third of executives say their companies seldom or never consider climate change when developing overall strategy and 15 percent are not aware of whether or not their companies have already set targets. The survey found six out of ten anticipate new climate change technical standards, and despite the uncertainties around regulation, 82 percent of executives expect some form of climate change regulation in their companies’ home country within five years. Click on the following links for more information:
DOE Responds to Controversy over Biofuels and Net GHG Emissions from Land Use Change Last week EESI’s Climate Change News reported on a controversy over biofuels and net GHG emissions. To recap: a study by the University of Minnesota and the Nature Conservancy claimed that conversion of rainforests, peatlands, savannas or grasslands in Southeast Asia and Latin America to produce biofuels release 17 to 420 times more carbon than the annual savings from replacing fossil fuels. A second study--written by a group of researchers from Princeton University, Woods Hole Research Center and Iowa State University--concluded that over 30 years, use of traditional corn-based ethanol would produce twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as regular gasoline due to land use conversion. In a letter to Science dated February 14, Michael Wang, Argonne National Laboratory, and Zia Haq, DOE Office of Biomass Program, offered a critique of these two studies. The authors argue that a number of factors influence land use changes and that we cannot accurately determine the effects of biofuels production without a “clearly defined baseline for global food supply and demand and cropland availability,” an element that was lacking in the current studies. Wang and Haq also argue that the studies do not adequately account for increases in per acre crop yields. In the United States, corn yields have increased by nearly 800 percent for corn in the last century, with average per acre increases of 1.6 percent between 1980 and 2006. Furthermore, the authors of the letter maintain that much of the data used to build the models in these studies is outdated or inappropriate. Click on the following links for more information:
Events February 20, 2008 Teleconference on Carbon Trading Markets
March 4-6, 2008 Washington International Renewable Energy Conference The US Government will host the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008) at the Washington, DC Convention Center on March 4-6. WIREC 2008 will consist of four major co-located events: Ministerial Meeting; Official Side Events; Business Conference; and Trade Show. The Trade Show is anticipated to be the largest business to business and business to government conference and exposition ever held on renewable energy in the United States. It will host exhibitors, speakers and delegates from more than 70+ countries from around the world. For more information see www.wirec2008.gov and www.americanrenewables.org
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Fredric Beck This EESI publication is a free, weekly electronic newsletter intended to inform interested parties, particularly the policymaker community, of the latest climate change-related news. Permission for reproduction of this newsletter is granted provided that EESI is properly acknowledged as the source. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute is a non-profit organization established in 1984 by a bipartisan, bicameral group of members of Congress to provide timely information on energy and environmental policy issues to policymakers and stakeholders and develop innovative policy solutions that set us on a cleaner, more secure and sustainable energy path. |
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