Climate Change News – 9/12 – 9/19  

Brought to you by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute              Carol Werner, Executive Director 

United Nations, Swiss Re, Harvard Join Together to Study Impacts of Climate Change 

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced this week that it will be teaming up with Swiss Re, the world’s leading reinsurance company, and the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment to undergo a new study on the impacts of climate change on human health and economic well-being.  The participation by each of the three groups reflects their organizational interests:  poverty reduction and economic development, disaster-related insurance, and human health.  “While climate change and biodiversity loss are global problems, their debilitating effect on human livelihoods and well-being is most severely felt by the poor in developing countries, threatening decades of development efforts,” said Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of UNDP.  Drawing upon funding and staff resources from all three organizations, the study will focus on four key areas:  heat waves and air pollution; changing patterns of infectious diseases; extreme weather events; and impacts on biodiversity.  “The biological impacts and financial costs of climate instability are already affecting many nations, especially in the developing world,” noted Dr. Paul Epstein, Associate Director of the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment.  “With warming and an intensification of extreme weather events, patterns of diseases and disease carriers are shifting among humans, plants and animals in unexpected ways… This could result in tremendous economic losses in the developed world and cause overwhelming damage in developing countries, with already over-stretched physical and human infrastructures.”  

       More information available via the UNDP.      

Emissions Reductions Initiatives Announced in Brattleboro, VT, Alberta, Canada 

In cooperation with the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) campaign, the city of Brattleboro, VT, announced this past week that it plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in residential and commercial areas by 10 percent over the next 7 years.  Additionally, the city has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in city buildings and operations by 20 percent over the same time period.  “This is really a long-term plan that will improve air quality in the town, increase citizen involvement in local government and create an overall better quality of life,” said Paul Cameron, the city’s CCP associate. “This is instrumental to our future.”  The Cities for Climate Protection campaign is run by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.  

Similarly, province officials in Alberta, Canada, kicked off their new “Alberta Reduce Idling Campaign” this past week at separate events in Calgary and Edmonton.   The campaign seeks to persuade motorists to turn off their car engines when they are parked or stopped for more than 10 seconds, unless in traffic.  According to officials, if all of Alberta’s 2.3 million registered vehicles idled five minutes less per day, 302,000 tons of carbon dioxide would be saved per year, as well as 125 million liters of fuel and $87 million Canadian dollars.  “Everything we do, large or small, to cut greenhouse gas emissions is an important part of the answer to climate change,” said Herb Dhaliwal, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources. “Idle-free campaigns are helping municipalities and individual Canadians take action at the local level.” 

       More information available via the Bennington Banner and Climate Change Central - Canada 

In related news, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham stated last week that meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will be impossible without the development of new technologies, many of which the United States is researching.  In an address to European climate policy experts, Abraham outlined the United States’ commitment to developing fuel cell, clean coal, and carbon sequestration technologies.  “Either dramatic greenhouse gas reductions will come at the expense of economic growth and improved living standards, or breakthrough energy technologies that change the game entirely will allow us to reduce emissions while, at the same time, we maintain economic growth and improve the world's standards of living,” Abraham noted. 

                More information available via U.S. Newswire. 

New Study Reveals Disagreement Over Atmospheric Warming  

Science Magazine recently published the controversial results of a new study concluding that the Earth’s atmosphere may actually be warming at a faster rate than its surface – an assertion in conflict with earlier conclusions.  According to a new analysis by Konstantin Vinnikov, of the University of Maryland, and Norman Grody, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), satellite data of the troposphere (the lowermost 8-11 kilometers of the atmosphere) reveals that atmospheric temperatures have risen by roughly 0.024 degrees Celsius per year since 1978.  This conclusion, however, is in direct conflict with earlier assertions by others studying atmospheric temperatures, which claim that temperatures have remained fairly steady.  Those who doubt Vinnikov and Grody’s results claim that their analysis failed to take into account that satellites’ orbits undergo slight adjustments over time.  Grody, however, disagrees.  "Calibration alone would not explain the differences," he asserts.  An attempt to resolve the issue will be made in October, at a workshop sponsored by the National Climate Data Center in Asheville, NC.  

                More information available via Nature and Science 

Other News 

       • World Climate Change Conference commences September 29th in Moscow. 

       • Administration releases Earth Observation Summit notes and materials.  

       • European Commission reportedly offers Russia $2 million (EURO) to ratify Kyoto.

       • US citizens among least informed about climate change in developed countries. 

       • Australia to come close to its Kyoto requirements, despite being a non-signatory party.

       • Irish businesses accused of failing to meet greenhouse gas emissions goals.        

Upcoming Events 

Sept. 29   The Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Agriculture and What Can Farmers Do About It?

                This briefing will examine some of the impacts of climate change on U.S. agriculture, as well as what farmers can do to mitigate climate change while also increasing profitability -- through such practices as soil carbon sequestration, biofuel production, and the use of wind energy on farms.  The briefing is open to all interested parties, and will be held on Monday, September 29, 2003,  from 9 to 11 a.m. at the City Club in Washington, DC, at 555 13th St. N.W.  Continental breakfast will be served.  Space is limited, so please RSVP to Tracy Graham, 617-384-8534, Tracy_Graham@hms.harvard.edu . 

Nov. 18-19   Emissions Strategies in the North American Carbon Market

                A seminar designed for company executives and policy makers to learn how to benefit from carbon emission reductions, remain compliant and reduce carbon risk, find a market for emissions reductions, and trade carbon emissions effectively.  The seminar is sponsored by Oil and Gas IQ, as well as by the Emissions Marketing Association and the International Emissions Trading Association.  It will feature presentations from Dow Chemical, Dupont, Motorola and Pfizer.  Washington, DC

This weekly email-newsletter is intended to inform recipients of the latest climate change-related news.  The newsletter is an EESI publication intended for all interested parties, particularly the policymaker community.  Issues will be archived on our website at www.eesi.org under ‘Publications.’  For more information regarding either the newsletter or EESI please contact JR Drabick at jrdrabick@eesi.org.