Archive for the ‘copenhagen’ tag
Forget the hockey stick, the bloomer theory rules
Lots of traffic on climategate, but the New York times has some good stuff,
The Copenhagen conference itself reflects increasing acceptance of the scientific arguments: the negotiations leading to the talks were conducted by high-ranking officials of the world’s governments rather than the scientists and environment ministers who largely shaped the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Late last week, President Obama changed the date of his visit to Copenhagen to Dec. 18, the last day of the talks.
For many, a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was a marker of a shift in the global warming debate. In it, the panel — a volunteer network of hundreds of scientists from many disciplines who meet periodically to review climate studies and translate the results into language useful to policy makers — concluded that no doubt remained that human-caused warming was under way and that, if unabated, it would pose rising risks.
Over the last several decades, other reviews, by the National Academy of Sciences and other institutions, have largely echoed the panel’s findings and said the remaining uncertainties should not be an excuse for inaction.
The panel’s report was built on two decades of intensive scientific study of climate patterns.
Greenhouse gases warm the planet by letting in sunlight and blocking the escape of some of the resulting heat. “The physics of the greenhouse effect is so basic that instead of asking whether it would happen, it makes more sense to ask what on earth could make it not happen,” said Spencer Weart, a physicist and historian. “So far, nobody has been able to come up with anything plausible in that line.”
Good questions, but perhaps a more base line of inquiry is better,
How can one refute this?
New Federal Targets — Target Trash Talk Redux
Word on the street is new Federal targets will be announced at Copenhagen. Most likely PM Harper is playing follow the leader, literally following Obama to Copenhagen, So, expect harmonized targets with the US, which is -17% below 2005.
But anything can happen, cause target trash talk is way easier than action.
The Masks are off….
See here and here for an elaboration of this,
Ottawa will delay the release of climate regulations until there is a firm agreement on a global approach and clarity on how the United States intends to regulate emissions – which could take until late 2010,
and the Minister’s comments
“In the absence of an international understanding, and in the absence of an international framework, it is difficult for any country to finalize domestic policies and to put in place its domestic approach — whether that’s a regulatory approach or a cap and trade, or something else,”
I guess if Canada developed a Regulatory Framework on Industrial Emissions when the US said it would do nothing and we had clear international commitments under Kyoto, then it would only make sense to abandon the Regulatory Framework in light of US action and a uncertain international agreement.
And they called Prime Minister Martin Mr. Dithers.
Be Patient on Climate Policy … Because we have no ambition
A senior federal cabinet minister has added some long awaited clarity on where Canada is going with climate policy in advance of Copenhagen,
“I don’t think we’ve been ambiguous on this issue…”
(here)
Be patient cause we have no policy....
This picture, and indeed the whole federal policy, is eerily paralleling the Bush administrations bold forays into climate policy … see post here
Our climate policy is this big...
As always, while the feds fiddle, energy intensive industries are rolling out high emitting capital with low expectations that they will see real carbon prices,
I think there is certainly hope in the industry that they can see some clarity in the near future,” Dunbar said.
“They don’t want to see this situation with all this uncertainty drag on for years. I think the sooner they can have clarity, the better off they are and the easier it will be for people to make decisions.”
He said there are many points of view on the subject –some players wouldn’t even mind a carbon tax, for instance –but most agree they want a fair regime that applies equally to all emitters, without picking winners and losers.
Some $100 billion worth of oilsands projects for northern Alberta were deferred or canceled last year as credit markets froze and commodity prices tanked.
The only certainty in Canadian climate policy is inaction.