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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brought to you by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute
Details of California Low Carbon Fuel Standard Released On August 2, University of California Transportation Experts released the second of a two-part report on the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The LCFS was commissioned in January by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and is intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fuels 10 percent by 2020. The new report includes specific policy recommendations for implementation of the standard. "This new policy is hugely important, and has never been done before," said co-author Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis. "It will likely transform the energy industries. And the 10 percent reduction is just the beginning. We anticipate much greater reductions after 2020." Alex Farrell, director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at UC Berkeley, worked with Sperling on the report. "Stabilizing the climate will require major changes in the coming years, and the new fuels that will come on the market in response to the low carbon fuel standard will be an important part of that change.... One of the key roles for the state agencies will be ensuring that the competition among the different fuels results in real carbon emission reductions, more consumer choice, and minimal costs," Farrell said. The authors recommend initially modest carbon reductions, as greater reductions will become possible once new innovations reach the market. Click on the following links for more information:
President Bush Invites World Powers to Discuss Climate Change, Growth On August 3, President Bush formally invited top officials from the world's leading economic powers to take part in a climate change summit aimed at establishing voluntary goals for lowering greenhouse gas emissions while sustaining growth. Bush hopes that the event will provide a forum for world leaders to agree upon a post-Kyoto framework for addressing climate change. "Science has deepened our understanding of climate change and opened new possibilities for confronting it," Bush said in the letter of invitation. The meeting is scheduled to take place in Washington on September 27 and 28, and will be hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. President Bush will address the delegates. Click on the following links for more information: A team of UK scientists at the Met Office Hadley Center have developed a model to predict how ocean currents and human activities will influence climate over the next ten years. The model predicts that the global average temperature in 2014 will be 0.3°C warmer than in 2004, but the influence of human emissions will be masked by natural climate variations through 2009. Dr. Doug Smith is lead author of a paper describing the model that was published August 10 in the journal Science. "It is the same model as used in the latest IPCC report's predictions for the coming century, but the difference is that it starts from the real observed status of the ocean and the atmosphere," Smith said. "Greenhouse gases and aerosols are also included, but it is really trying to predict any [natural] variability on top of that. We start with the present state of the ocean, and we try to predict how it is going to evolve. There is... particular interest in the coming decade, which represents a key planning horizon for infrastructure upgrades, insurance, energy policy and business development.'' Click on the following links for more information:
Gore Accuses Polluters of Manipulating Climate Data Former Vice President Al Gore said on August 7 that Exxon Mobil Corp. and other large energy companies are funding research aimed at undermining the scientific consensus on global warming as part of a campaign to mislead the public. "There has been an organized campaign, financed to the tune of about $10 million a year from some of the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is disagreement in the scientific community," Gore said at a forum in Singapore. "In actuality, there is very little disagreement.... We live in a world where what used to be called propaganda now has a major role to play in shaping public opinion." ExxonMobil spokesman Gantt Walton denied the allegations, explaining that the company's financial support did not influence the outcome of the studies. "The recycling of this type of discredited conspiracy theory diverts attention from the real challenge at hand: how to provide the energy needed to improve global living standards while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Walton said. Click on the following links for more information: Former US Vice President Al Gore said on August 7 that new, clean technologies can help China reduce its carbon emissions without sacrificing economic growth. "There are ways to leap-frog the old, dirty technologies," Gore said. "China has a great deal at risk.... The water crisis is very closely related to the climate crisis." Gore cited the mobile phone industry as a business that does not rely heavily on fossil fuels. He said that while Chinese leaders have "expressed themselves forcefully" on global warming, their comments do not "necessarily lead to immediate changes in the region." Click on the following link for more information:
EIA Evaluates Lieberman-McCain Climate Bill The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has completed an analysis of climate change legislation proposed by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and John McCain (R-AZ). The EIA says that the proposed bill, which would reduce US emissions to 60 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, would also reduce economic output by $533 billion, or 0.22 percent of total discounted GDP, over the 2009 to 2030 time period. The legislation "increases the cost of using energy, which reduces real economic output, reduces purchasing power, and lowers aggregate demand for goods and services," the agency said. The EIA analysis showed that gasoline prices would rise by 41 cents a gallon in 2030, and average electricity prices would be 21 percent higher. Coal prices would increase the most, up 245 percent by 2030. These increases would not be large enough ''to create dramatic shifts in consumer behavior,'' but would increase the demand for fuel efficient vehicles. Click on the following links for more information:
Philippines' Arroyo Urges Action on Climate Change In an August 7 meeting with her cabinet and lawmakers, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asked both chambers of Congress to enact legislative measures to curb climate change and prevent flooding and landslides. Arroyo gave Congress a list of 28 measures her administration wants enacted in the coming year, including laws on renewable energy, land use, resource conservation, and climate change. "The present water and power shortages due to the dry spell deliver a wake up call for our generation to urgently embark upon a determined, well-planned and -funded, wide-ranging strategic initiative to conserve resources," Arroyo said. "We must also build up the environment through forest conservation and expansion to absorb greenhouse gases warming the world and to enhance our water resources while preventing floods, erosion and siltation." Click on the following link for more information:
Russian Officials Emphasizing Benefits of Global Warming While much of the world struggles with efforts to mitigate climate change, some Russian experts are pointing to potential benefits of global warming. Vladimir Klimenko, a professor at the Moscow Energy Institute, runs a lab funded by the state-run oil and gas company. He says that warmer winters mean billions of dollars saved on heating, fewer cases of depression, and a longer growing season. "For our great northern country, I don't today see any imminent problems for the next 100 years at least," said Konstantin Pulikovsky, who heads Russia's environmental regulatory agency. Critics say that the negative effects of global warming will outweigh the benefits. "Because of drought, we'll lose a major part of the most productive soil of Russia," said Vladimir Chuprov, head of the energy department at Greenpeace Russia. "As a result, Russia will receive millions of climate migrants - farmers that can't work anymore. We think Russia will lose more than it gains, like the whole planet." Melting permafrost could destroy Russian cities situated above the Arctic Circle, and the melting of Arctic ice sheets could create icebergs that will impede access to Russia's oil and gas reserves. Click on the following link for more information:
Evangelicals Show Increasing Interest in Climate Change Some Christian evangelicals are taking a strong interest in global warming, due in part to a years-long international campaign by British bishops and leaders of major US environmental groups. "I did sense this is one of these issues where the church could take leadership, like with civil rights," said Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor of the Florida-based Northland Church . "It's a matter of who speaks for evangelicals: Is it a broad range of voices on a broad range of issues, or a narrow range of voices?" Republican, Christian evangelicals comprised 24 percent of the US electorate in 2004 and 2006, so environmental groups working to change US climate policy are interested in their support. Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope is reaching out to the 40 percent of Sierra Club members who are religiously observant. "We don't have a Sierra Club prayer circle -- that's conceivable, but we don't have that yet," Pope said. "It's the role of faith in our lives to help us act on something that is inconvenient and is, in some ways, abstract." Click on the following link for more information:
Scottish Puffins Hurt by Climate Change Atlantic Puffin chicks are starving on islands near Scotland because their prey, oil-rich sand eels, young herring, and sprats, are becoming increasingly scarce. "Since July, the parents have been bringing back mainly pipefish, which the chicks can't swallow,'' said Sarah Money, a seabird ranger with the National Trust for Scotland (NTS). Many of the burrows contain piles of uneaten, rotting pipefish. The chicks are just dying of starvation, with hundreds of emaciated bodies lying around outside the burrows." Some experts attribute the prevalence of pipefish to global warming, which could enable the fish to extend their range southward. Dr. Becky Boyd, a marine policy officer with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, says that mismanagement of Scotland's waters is also a contributing factor. "The management of seas in Scotland is in absolute chaos, and the future of puffins is verging on catastrophe as a result," Dr Boyd said. "This is not just about dying puffin chicks and disappearing sand eels, it's a sign that Scotland's seas are pressing the red destruct button as a result of human pressures. The Scottish government must create a network of marine reserves where wildlife can recover, and press ahead with a Scottish marine bill with conservation at its heart to revive our seas and support all the livelihoods that depend upon them." Click on the following link for more information:
Global Warming Linked to Sierra Tree Deaths According to a US Geological Service (USGS) survey, trees in the Sierra Nevada are dying at a rate nearly double that of two decades ago, and global warming is the likely cause. Since 1983, USGS scientists have monitored more than 21,000 trees in 21 locations at Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. Death rates have climbed at an average of 3 percent each year, while the rate of new growth has been constant. The study, headed by USGS scientist Phil van Mantgem, found that the tree die-offs have been ''gradual and subtle'' so far but are likely to be more severe in the future. "We looked at all the different forest types, and so what we were seeing was not an anomaly to one species," van Mantgem said. "There's probably something generally going on. Something broad scale.... What surprised us are how sensitive these trees are to short-term changes in climate. That was kind of a shock.'' Click on the following link for more information:
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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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