Global Warming Policy Forum | 10 Sept 2014
Nearly three-quarters of Conservative MPs do not accept that climate change has been proven to be caused by human activity, according to a new poll. The survey of 119 MPs from all parties was commissioned by PRWeek from Populus to establish the attitudes of parliamentarians to climate change and environmental issues as part of a special report on the subject. Only 51 per cent of MPs agree that it is an established fact that global warming is largely man made, though there are substantial differences between parties. A further 18 per cent agree that “man-made climate change is environmentalist propaganda”. –Alex Benady and John Owens, PRWeek, 10 September 2014
The public’s obsession with climate change, a common feature during much of the 1980s and 1990s, has been waning rapidly. The reason for growing climate fatigue is not so much a PR failure. After all, hundreds of millions are being spent each year around the world by thousands of NGOs, green energy lobbies and green government ministers. It is rather that reality no longer corresponds with alarmist predictions. No communication skills can revive the success of bygone scaremongering as long as the actual climate does not conform to apocalyptic predictions made just a few years ago. –Benny Peiser, PRWeek, 10 September 2014
Climate has not changed. We have changed. –Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, New Delhi, 5 September 2014
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, reportedly will be a no-show at the United Nations climate summit this month. Could it be because he does not accept the science behind climate change? Modi used to be a supporter for climate action. But in public remarks on two occasions in the last week, the leader of one of the fastest growing – and biggest emitting – economies appeared to express doubt about whether climate change was even occurring. So what’s changed? Since his election, Modi has dismantled a number of environmental protections, clearing the way for new coal mines and other industrial projects. He also blocked funds to Greenpeace and other environmental groups and is known to be vehemently anti-NGOs. –Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, 9 September 2014
Ireland will seek easier targets next month when the European Council is expected to agree a new climate change policy. Government officials have told their EU counterparts Ireland is unlikely to be able to meet 2020 greenhouse gas reduction targets and that this must be recognised before 2030 targets are set by the council in October. A report by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources said Irish officials would seek “a trajectory to 2030″ which “factored in the impact of the economic crash on our ability to invest” in anti-climate change measures. –Shane Phelan, New Irish News, 9 September 2014
A senior European Commission official has told EurActiv.fr that the election of the Polish premier as President of the European Council represents a “challenge for climate negotiations,” as Poland has systematically tried to hold back European climate policy. This sentiment is likely to be echoed by the international community ahead of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference. “Everything has been done to ensure that the climate dossier is not a top priority of the new President of the European Council. His credibility could soon be called into question,” one specialist assured. —EurActiv, 9 September 2014
If Republicans win the Senate in November, the GOP will make energy a priority Senate hopeful says. If Republicans win the Senate in November, Republican Senate candidate Dan Sullivan (Alaska) says the GOP will make energy a priority. “A Republican Senate would approve Keystone XL pipeline jobs, because Canada is our neighbor and ally,” Sullivan said. “We’ll authorize more offshore development, because it’s good for coastal states and the rest of the country. We’ll seize the opportunity to expand our energy trade, because that will benefit our nation, and others who need energy – like Ukraine,” he added. –Laura Barron-Lopez, The Hill, 6 September 2014
1) Overwhelming Majority Of Conservative MPs Are Climate Sceptics – PRWeek, 10 September 2014
2) Benny Peiser: The Reasons For Britain’s Climate Fatigue – PRWeek, 10 September 2014
3) Indian Prime Minister: “Climate Has Not Changed. We Have Changed” – The Guardian, 9 September 2014
4) Mr Europe Puts EU Climate Agenda In Doubt – EurActiv, 9 September 2014
5) Republican Majority Would Squash Obama’s Green Agenda, Sullivan Says – The Hill, 6 September 2014
1) Overwhelming Majority Of Conservative MPs Are Climate Sceptics
PRWeek, 10 September 2014
Alex Benady and John Owens
Nearly three-quarters of Conservative MPs do not accept that climate change has been proven to be caused by human activity, according to a new poll.
Only 51 per cent of MPs agree that it is an established fact that global warming is largely man made, though there are substantial differences between parties.
Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of Labour MPs agree that man-made global warming is now an established scientific fact compared with 30 per cent of Tory MPs.
Over half (53 per cent) of Conservative MPs agree with the statement that “it has not yet been conclusively proved that climate change is man made”.
Climate change has fallen down the political agenda in the past five years, said half of all MPs, compared with 23 per cent who believe the opposite.
2) Benny Peiser: The Reasons For Britain’s Climate Fatigue
PR Week, 10 September 2014
The public’s obsession with climate change, a common feature during much of the 1980s and 1990s, has been waning rapidly.
The reason for growing climate fatigue is not so much a PR failure. After all, hundreds of millions are being spent each year around the world by thousands of NGOs, green energy lobbies and green government ministers.
It is rather that reality no longer corresponds with alarmist predictions that were issued just a few years ago.
The novelty of global warming and the habitual alarm have lost their original shock value. Most people have begun to take climate scares with a sizeable pinch of salt.
The climate campaign was founded on two fears: that global warming was an urgent threat that needed to be prevented imminently and at all costs; and second, that the world was running out of fossil fuels. Both assumptions turned out to be wrong.
The shale revolution means the world is swimming in abundant gas and oil. But by far the biggest problem facing the climate agenda is the global warming ‘pause’.
The average global surface temperature has not risen for 17 years, an inconvenient fact that no scientist had predicted.
If the warming standstill continues for much longer, climate scientists and models on which much of international climate policy is based will continue to haemorrhage credibility.
The climate campaign has become unpopular among voters who are hostile to green taxes and rising energy costs. Governments are seen to be unwilling to agree to drastic solutions that are detrimental to economic growth.
No communication skills can revive the success of bygone scaremongering as long as the actual climate does not conform to apocalyptic predictions made just a few years ago.
Benny Peiser is the Director of the Global Warming Policy Forum
3) Indian Prime Minister: “Climate Has Not Changed. We Have Changed”
The Guardian, 9 September 2014
Suzanne Goldenberg
India’s PM used to call climate action a moral duty, now he tells students ‘climate has not changed, we have changed’
Modi used to be a supporter for climate action. But in public remarks on two occasions in the last week, the leader of one of the fastest growing – and biggest emitting – economies appeared to express doubt about whether climate change was even occurring.
“Climate has not changed. We have changed. Our habits have changed. Our habits have got spoiled. Due to that, we have destroyed our entire environment,” the rightwing leader told students in a video Q&A,according to India Today on Friday.
Modi was also vague on global warming and its causes in an interview with The Hindu a few days earlier.
“Climate change? Is this terminology correct? The reality is this that in our family, some people are old … They say this time the weather is colder. And, people’s ability to bear cold becomes less,” he said.
“We should also ask is this climate change or have we changed. We have battled against nature. That is why we should live with nature rather than battle it,” he said.
Both sets of comments are at variance with Modi’s earlier views on climate change, set out in an e-book, published in 2011 when he was chief minister of Gujarat….
So what’s changed? Since his election, Modi has dismantled a number of environmental protections, clearing the way for new coal mines and other industrial projects. He also blocked funds to Greenpeace and other environmental groups and is known to be vehemently anti-NGOs.
4) Mr Europe Puts EU Climate Agenda In Doubt
EurActiv, 9 September 2014
The election of Donald Tusk as head of the European Council comes alongside pressure for Poland to improve its environmental record. The 2030 climate package is due to be adopted before the arrival of the new president, who is more concerned with the European Energy Union than with his climate change commitments.
A senior European Commission official has told EurActiv.fr that the election of the Polish premier as President of the European Council represents a “challenge for climate negotiations,” as Poland has systematically tried to hold back European climate policy.
This sentiment is likely to be echoed by the international community ahead of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference. The role of the President of the European Council, as described in the rules of procedure, involves organising meetings of the European heads of state and deciding what goes on the agenda.
Diplomatic precautions
Donald Tusk’s nomination is accompanied by an assortment of well-orchestrated diplomatic precautions. According to our sources, France and Germany have insisted that Herman Van Rompuy, the outgoing President of the European Council, should commit to finalising the European position on the 2030 climate and energy package during the next meeting of the European Council, due to take place on 23 and 24 October, in Brussels.
The 2030 climate and energy package, proposed by the Commission earlier this year, remains a working document because it has not yet been discussed by the heads of state. The European stance, which in theory should have been determined last spring, has been delayed, with the crisis in Ukraine dominating European summits since early 2014.
“Everything has been done to ensure that the climate dossier is not a top priority of the new President of the European Council. His credibility could soon be called into question,” one specialist assured. The Climate Change Conference he organised in Warsaw in 2013 was a fiasco. Poland generates 90% of its electricity from coal and its CO2 emissions per capita continue to rise. This is not a good image for the EU, which likes to market itself as a world leader on climate change.
5) Republican Majority Would Squash Obama’s Green Agenda, Sullivan Says
The Hill, 6 September 2014
Laura Barron-Lopez
If Republicans win the Senate in November, the GOP will make energy a priority Senate hopeful says.
Republican Senate candidate Dan Sullivan (Alaska) blamed President Obama and Senate Democrats for locking up the country’s energy resources in the party’s weekly address, vowing that a GOP-controlled Senate would be the best fix.
Sullivan, who is challenging Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) this year, worries for his three teenage daughters, who he claims won’t be able to take advantage of the state’s wealth of oil, natural gas, hydropower, and more, if the administration’s regulatory agenda continues unchecked.
“The Obama-Reid agenda has locked up America’s natural resources, burdened small businesses throughout the country with an avalanche of regulations and suffocated job growth through a complete disrespect for the rule of law,” Sullivan said during the address on Saturday.
He added that the Environmental Protection Agency, and Washington, D.C., are trying to “dictate how we manage our state-owned lands.”
That could all change, he explains, if voters put him, and fellow Republicans in charge.
“The American Dream is resilient,” he said. “All we need is new leadership in Washington to make it happen once again.”
If Republicans win the Senate in November, Sullivan says the GOP will make energy a priority.
“A Republican Senate would approve Keystone XL pipeline jobs, because Canada is our neighbor and ally,” Sullivan said.
“We’ll authorize more offshore development, because it’s good for coastal states and the rest of the country. We’ll seize the opportunity to expand our energy trade, because that will benefit our nation, and others who need energy – like Ukraine,” he added.
Republicans won’t stop there, they will also work to block the administration’s carbon pollution proposal for existing power plants, and other regulations the EPA is trying to finalize by next year.
