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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brought to you by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute UN Report Describes Risks of Inaction on Climate Change The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), “Climate Change 2007,” has now been completed. Its final part, "The Synthesis Report" was released in Valencia, Spain, on November 17. Earlier this year, three IPCC Working Group contributions to the AR4 were released. The report’s summary was the first to acknowledge that the melting of the Greenland ice sheet from rising temperatures could result in a substantive sea-level rise over centuries rather than millennia. The report finds that global warming is "unequivocal," temperatures have risen 1.3 °F in the last 100 years, and that human activity is largely responsible for warming. “If there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late,” said Rajendra Pachauri, a scientist and economist who heads the IPCC. “What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.” Pachauri said that since the IPCC began its work five years ago, scientists have recorded “much stronger trends in climate change,” such as a recent melting of polar ice that had not been predicted. “That means you better start with intervention much earlier.” Among the key findings are: about 20 percent to 30 percent of all plant and animal species face the risk of extinction if temperatures increase by 2.7 °F; by 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages, residents of Asia's large cities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding, Europeans can expect extensive species loss, and North Americans will experience longer and hotter heat waves and greater competition for water; and more GHG emissions could bring "abrupt and irreversible" changes, such as the loss of ice sheets in the poles, and a corresponding rise in sea levels by several yards. Click on the following links for more information:
UN Report on Climate Change May Still Be Too Optimistic Following the release of the fourth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on November 17, experts and even some authors of the report say it may still be too optimistic. The fourth report is a final summary of the three reports published earlier this year, which covered, respectively, climate trends, the planet’s ability to adapt to climate change, and strategies to reduce carbon. Conclusions drawn in the report include a predicted average sea level rise of 4.6 feet as a result of greenhouse gas emissions that have been released thus far in the atmosphere. However, some scientists have stated that even this report could be out of date as new data is continues to come in. “The IPCC is a five-year process and the IPCC is struggling to keep up with the data—we are all being inundated with new evidence and new science,” said Hans Verolme, director of the Global Climate Change Program at the World Wildlife Fund. The IPCC chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, said that since the IPCC began work on its current report five years ago, scientists have recorded "much stronger trends in climate change," like a recent melting of polar ice that had not been predicted. "That means you better start with intervention much earlier." Developments that affect the IPCC predictions, scientists said, include faster than expected industrial development in China and India. Economic growth has a huge effect because these countries' industries are largely powered by electricity from burning coal, a cheap but highly polluting source of energy. "The IPCC report never imagined the world would move back to a coal- based energy economy--and that's essentially what we've done," said Gernot Klepper an economist who studies climate change at the Kiel Institute in Germany. "If you extrapolate from that we're running into a disaster." Click on the following link for more information: On November 17, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) held its Third Summit conference. The three themes of the conference were stability of global energy markets, energy for sustainable development, and energy and environment. OPEC ministers assembled in the run-up to the summit expressed support for carbon capture and storage, an emerging technology to trap carbon dioxide and store it underground. Saudi Arabia said it would put aside $300 million to fund research into climate change. Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates are contributing an additional $150 million each. According to the Washington Post, the oil cartel is concerned that a broader cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions could place heavy costs of petroleum products and reduce consumption. OPEC said "We share the international community’s concern that climate change is a long-term challenge, and recognize the interrelationships between addressing such concerns on the one hand, and ensuring secure and stable petroleum supplies to support global economic growth and development on the other." OPEC said it would stress "the importance of expediting the development of technologies that address climate change, such as carbon capture and storage." The First and Second OPEC Summits were held in Algiers and Caracas in 1975 and 2000, respectively. Click on the following links for more information:
Britain Unveils World's First Climate Change Bill On November 14, Britain introduced a climate change bill into the House of Lords with an aim to receive Royal Assent by spring or early summer 2008. The Climate Change Bill will place a statutory cap on Britain's emissions--with five-year carbon budgets set on the advice of the new independent climate change committee providing certainty for investors, business and consumers. The legislation will enact a target of achieving a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of at least 60% by 2050 through domestic and international action, and will also put into statute an interim target for 2020 of a 26%-32% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, against 1990 levels. "This bill shows the world that we are serious, and that we are not asking other countries, and in particular poorer countries, to do what we are not willing to do ourselves. This is vital to our ambition to get a future deal agreed by the end of 2009,' said British Environment Minister Hilary Benn. The bill also proposes the formation of a committee on climate change, which will advise on carbon budgets, investigate whether the 2050 target needs to be strengthened further, and report on the impacts of including emissions from international aviation or shipping in Britain's targets. However, the current bill was criticized for not putting in place a year-on-year commitment, which campaigners say will make monitoring easier. "The bill should require annual milestones, in addition to the five-year budgets that the government is planning, so that progress is properly scrutinized every year. This would ensure that Britain is kept on course for meeting an 80 percent cut," said Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth. Click on the following links for more information:
Pollution, Warming and Overfishing Keep Blue Crab Numbers Down The Chesapeake Bay's blue crabs are hovering at historically low population levels, scientists say, as pollution, climate change and overfishing threaten the bay's ultimate survivor. This fall, a committee of federal and state scientists found that the crab's population was at its second-lowest level in the past 17 years, having fallen to about one-third the population of 1993. They forecast that the current crabbing season will produce one of the lowest harvests since 1945. The reasons for the decline probably include climate change, because the water now is often too warm for a grass species the crabs use as shelter. Click on the following link for more information: By year's end, the New Jersey Legislature is expected to approve a plan requiring electric utility companies in the state to pay for the greenhouse gases they produce, a charge that could amount to $70 million or more each year. The legislation would authorize regulators to impose a so-called cap-and-trade system on utilities that emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. New Jersey, New York and eight other states agreed to the plan two years ago, ordering electric companies to cut greenhouse pollution 10 percent by 2021. Governor Corzine and environmental groups say the state should auction off all allowances to the highest bidder, rather than give utilities some or all of them for free. With bidding expected to start at $2 or $3 a ton in the early years, the process could raise up to $69 million annually for energy conservation, subsidies for solar power and other clean-energy projects and assistance to low-income customers hit with higher electric bills. Click on the following link for more information: On November 20, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) by industrialized countries have broken new records. In 2005, the total emissions of greenhouse gases by this group "rose to an all-time high," the UNFCCC said. "The increases in emissions came from both the continued growth in highly industrialized countries and the revived economic growth in former East Bloc nations," it said. Transport accounted for the biggest growth in emissions of any sector. By the end of 2005, the United States emitted 16.3 percent more greenhouse gases than in 1990. Australia was 25.6 percent above the 1990 benchmark. Click on the following links for more information: According to a study commissioned by the United Nations Foundation, leading industrial nations--the G8 and Plus 5 countries in particular--could avert the most serious climate effects by reducing carbon levels, simply by cutting wasted energy. The report - Realizing the Potential of Energy Efficiency: Targets, Policies, and Measures for G8 Counties - says that the world’s most powerful nations need to double their annual rate of improvements in energy efficiency to 2.5 percent per year. If they do that, the report says, the global amount of carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide equivalents in the atmosphere could be kept below 550 parts per million (ppm). The report finds that an investment of 3.2 trillion in energy efficiency programs, technologies and upgrades would be needed, but $ 3 trillion in new power plants could be avoided. The difference--the $200 billion--would be made up by reduced energy bills. Energy efficiency improvements would pay for themselves in 3-5 years, meaning businesses and consumers would quickly see lower energy bills. Click on the following links for more information:
Bayer to Spend $1.46 Billion on Climate Program Bayer has launched its Group-wide Climate Program, a multi-focus plan for reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment. Some initiatives, such as a concept for zero-emission buildings and the creation of stress-tolerant plants, have already begun. Others will be rolled out and run over the course of several years. Overall, Bayer plans to invest $1.46 billion in climate-related projects in the next three years. "We are well aware that we are an emitter of greenhouse gases," said Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer AG Werner Wenning. "That was why in the past we focused our attention on lowering CO2 emissions." Since 1990 Bayer has worked to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, and it has set new emission targets for the period between 2005 and 2020. Between 1990 and 2006 the company reduced its absolute global greenhouse gas emissions by 36 percent. Wenning appealed to politicians to include major greenhouse gas emitters like the United States, China and India in a new international climate agreement. "We need a turnaround with CO2 emissions. The global problem can only be addressed through joint action worldwide, at least by all the major parties responsible for emissions," said Wenning. "Europe and particularly Germany cannot stop the climate change by adopting an isolated pioneering role. In addition, this could seriously endanger industry's competitiveness." Bayer also plans to encourage scientific innovations in climate protection and to motivate young people to become interested in the climate through Bayer Science and Education Foundation. Every two years the foundation will give the Bayer Climate Award, with a prize of about $73,000, for groundbreaking solutions for climate protection. Click on the following links for more information:
China Wants To Freeze Pollution Emissions at 2005 Levels On November 21, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao addressed the 3rd East Asia Summit and outlined China's views and position on climate change and its measures to tackle the problem. The Chinese premier called climate a global issue and urged countries to work together to address the issue. Wen said climate change is "ultimately a development issue" and dismissed the notions of tackling climate change at the expense of economic growth or pursuing economic growth with no regard to climate change. "We should pursue economic growth, social development and environmental protection in a coordinated and balanced way, and develop models of production and consumption compatible with sustainable development," Wen said. "China in the next five years will be determined to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent (per unit of GDP) to reduce carbon emissions and will strive to keep carbon emissions at 2005 levels," said Wen. China has set specific targets on greenhouse gas emission control to be met in 2010, including cutting energy intensity of GDP by 20 percent from the 2005 level and freezing industrial emissions of nitrous oxide at the 2005 level. Click on the following links for more information: A part of his presidential campaign, Sen. Biden (D-DE) announced a $50 billion investment in green jobs, alternative energy and energy efficiency. He also committed to setting higher energy efficiency and renewable energy targets for the federal government--the nation's largest energy consumer. Sen. Biden pledged to restore US leadership on climate change by immediately directing US negotiators to return to global climate change negotiations and bringing with them a plan from the US to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. "President Bush's refusal to do anything meaningful to reduce our dependence on oil or take action against climate change has insured that we are stuck paying the bill at the pump for his irresponsible foreign policy," said Sen. Biden. "As the next president I will tackle our greatest challenge: undertaking the massive economy-wide project of transforming America into the source of the world's energy future." Click on the following links for more information:
Events The American Meteorological Society (AMS) hosts a briefing entitled "Arctic Sea Ice Melt and Shrinking Polar Ice Sheets: Are Observed Changes Exceeding Expectations?" Essentially all state-of-the-art global climate models indicate that sea ice extent should be declining over the period of observations, pointing strongly to a role of increased greenhouse gas concentrations. However, the observed rate of decline in September exceeds that from nearly all models. While natural climate variability explains part of the observed rapid ice loss, it appears that the models, as a group, are underestimating the sensitivity of the ice cover to the effects of greenhouse warming. The briefing will be held Monday, November 26 from 12:00 Noon - 2:00 pm in Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 106, Washington, DC. Click the following link for more information: The polar regions are changing faster than any other part of our planet. Find out why with Dr. Robin Bell, chair of the International Polar Year. Learn about the goals of the International Polar Year, the research projects underway, and the challenges of working in the Antarctic and the Arctic. Advance ticket purchase is recommended. Contact the Koshland Science Museum at 202-334-1201 or ksm@nas.edu to purchase tickets. For more information see: Senators on the Environment Committee will vote on the Lieberman-Warner climate bill (S. 2191) when the proposed legislation is marked up on December 5. For more information see: http://epw.senate.gov/public/
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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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