Global Warming Policy Forum | 15 Oct 2014
Climate Fears Exaggerated, Says Ex-Environment Secretary
Poland and other eastern European countries are prepared to scupper the EU’s landmark climate change deal next week if they do not receive greater guarantees about their future energy costs. Spearheaded by Germany, Britain and France, the EU wants to seal an agreement at a summit on October 23-24 to ensure the 28-member bloc will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But coal-dependent Poland and some of its neighbours argue that the EU’s proposals to compensate them for modernising their heavy industry do not go far enough. The opponents to the deal, led by Poland and the Czech Republic, but also including Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, are ready to walk away from the summit if they are not offered improved terms. —Financial Times, 15 October 2014
“This may fail,” Rafal Trzaskowski, Poland’s European affairs minister, told the Financial Times. “We have our well-entrenched red lines . . . If they are not ready to take into consideration our apprehensions, then we will decide later this week or early next week not to deal with the issue at the summit.” A senior Polish official involved with the negotiations said that Warsaw was “not confident” that there would be a deal next week. Marcin Korolec, Poland’s environment minister, said on Monday that EU countries were still “very far” from a compromise. —Financial Times, 15 October 2014
Predictions about the rate of climate change have proved to be ‘wildly exaggerated’, former environment secretary Owen Paterson will claim today. In a speech to the Global Warming Policy Foundation, Mr Paterson will highlight recent studies and temperature records that he says pour cold water on many of the most alarmist forecasts. –John Stevens, Daily Mail, 15 October 2014
British householders are facing soaring energy bills and winter power cuts thanks to the “folly” of relying on wind power, experts said last night. The green crusade of successive governments is set to double electricity bills for households and cost homes £26billion a year by 2030, it was claimed yesterday. The cost of renewable energy and carbon taxes will put an extra £983 a year on household bills by then, compared to relying on a mix of nuclear and new gas-fired power stations, three experts told a Lords committee. Last night Dr Benny Peiser of the Global Warming Policy Forum said: “The irony is that energy prices around the world are falling, particularly for oil and gas. But households are not profiting because Government policies are making energy more expensive.” –John Ingham, Daily Express, 15 October 2014
It sounded like a good idea [not]: build massive solar energy plants in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East to supply Europe with 15 percent of its electricity needs by 2050. But the consortium behind the ambitious plan has now admitted defeat following disagreements over funding and persistent political instability in the desert nations where the plants were going to be built. —Associated Press, 14 October 2014
1) Poland Leads East European Opposition To EU Climate Deal – Financial Times, 15 October 2014
2) Climate Fears Exaggerated, Says Ex-Environment Secretary – Daily Mail, 15 October 2014
3) Wind Farm ‘Folly’ Blamed For £100 Per Year Energy Bill Rise – Daily Express, 15 October 2014
4) Another Green Energy Fiasco As Desertec Unravels – Associated Press, 14 October 2014
1) Poland Leads East European Opposition To EU Climate Deal
Financial Times, 15 October 2014
Henry Foy in Warsaw, Christian Oliver in Brussels and Pilita Clark in London
Poland and other eastern European countries are prepared to scupper the EU’s landmark climate change deal next week if they do not receive greater guarantees about their future energy costs.
Spearheaded by Germany, Britain and France, the EU wants to seal an agreement at a summit on October 23-24 to ensure the 28-member bloc will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But coal-dependent Poland and some of its neighbours argue that the EU’s proposals to compensate them for modernising their heavy industry do not go far enough.
The opponents to the deal, led by Poland and the Czech Republic, but also including Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, are ready to walk away from the summit if they are not offered improved terms.
“This may fail,” Rafal Trzaskowski, Poland’s European affairs minister, told the Financial Times. “We have our well-entrenched red lines . . . If they are not ready to take into consideration our apprehensions, then we will decide later this week or early next week not to deal with the issue at the summit.”
Brussels wants to compensate eastern European nations for the potential costs by allocating them allowances from the EU’s carbon market but officials in Warsaw argue that the current plan on the table cannot guarantee enough cash that the huge overhaul of its coal industry requires to meet the EU’s targets.
A delay in finalising the EU’s 2030 energy and climate targets would be a setback for international climate talks aimed at getting nearly 200 countries to seal a new global deal in Paris in December next year.
The central Europeans think that their best chance of a sweetened deal is to postpone a decision on the emission reduction targets into the next commission, rather than accept a rushed compromise this month. Brussels is proposing that, by 2030, countries should reduce their emissions by 40 per cent from 1990 levels.
Poland fears that this target would hit its economy disproportionately because 90 per cent of its electricity comes from coal and Warsaw argues that the EU deal will drive up consumer prices 120 per cent between 2021 and 2030. Likewise, an unusually high percentage of Czech industry is dependent on energy-intensive manufacturing.
“What we are trying to do is work with the assumption that we want a compromise,” said Mr Trzaskowski, describing a “common position” between the five countries. “The most important thing is that we do not take additional burdens that will increase the cost of energy.”
A senior Polish official involved with the negotiations said that Warsaw was “not confident” that there would be a deal next week. Marcin Korolec, Poland’s environment minister, said on Monday that EU countries were still “very far” from a compromise.
That view is echoed in Prague, according to a Czech official briefed on the negotiations, who said eastern European countries were concerned that the outgoing European Council president, José Manuel Barroso, was in a hurry to seal the agreement before his term ends in November.
The EU has long been a standard bearer for countries pushing for a tougher agreement in the UN-backed talks and had been widely expected to be among the first to put forward a robust set of 2030 targets for cutting the bloc’s emissions.
A delay in finalising those targets would in no way be fatal for the already complex and uncertain talks, but it could embolden other countries wary of the EU’s stance, such as Australia and Canada, to try to block a tougher outcome in Paris.
2) Climate Fears Exaggerated, Says Ex-Environment Secretary
Daily Mail, 15 October 2014
John Stevens
Predictions about the rate of climate change have proved to be ‘wildly exaggerated’, former environment secretary Owen Paterson will claim today. In a speech to the Global Warming Policy Foundation, Mr Paterson will highlight recent studies and temperature records that he says pour cold water on many of the most alarmist forecasts.
He will say: ‘I readily accept the main points of the greenhouse theory. Other things being equal, carbon dioxide emissions will produce some warming.
‘The question always has been: how much? On that, there is considerable uncertainty.’
The vast majority of scientists say climate change is happening and that it is man-made.
But Mr Paterson will argue that many climate models have proved inaccurate.
‘Over the past 35 years, the earth’s atmosphere has warmed nothing like as fast as forecast, and over the last 18 years it has not warmed at all, according to some sources,’ he will say. […]
Mr Paterson also warned measures to tackle climate change could be more damaging than global warming itself.
He added that the pause in global temperatures rising each year has been so long it is ‘old to enough to vote’.
He said: ‘There has not been a temperature increase now for 18 years. Some people say 26 years.
‘The pause is old enough to vote. The pause is old enough to join the Army. The pause is old enough to pay its taxes.
‘I am concerned that the measures we are taking to counter projected dangers may actually be causing more damage now than those dangers.’
3) Wind Farm ‘Folly’ Blamed For £100 Per Year Energy Bill Rise
Daily Express, 15 October 2014
John Ingham
British householders are facing soaring energy bills and winter power cuts thanks to the “folly” of relying on wind power, experts said last night. The green crusade of successive governments is set to double electricity bills for households and cost homes £26billion a year by 2030, it was claimed yesterday.
The cost of renewable energy and carbon taxes will put an extra £983 a year on household bills by then, compared to relying on a mix of nuclear and new gas-fired power stations, three experts told a Lords committee.
They also said the “foolhardy” green policy will do little to cut emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
The Scientific Alliance report highlights warnings by the regulator Ofgem that the margin for electricityproduction for the 2015-16 winter will be at an all-time low of 2 per cent compared to the pre-privatisation requirement of at least 20 per cent.
It means that in times of high demand, such as during very cold weather, Britain would be at risk of power cuts.
The alliance argues that wind power – which is the main renewable energy source depended on by Government – is unreliable.
One of the experts, Sir Donald Miller, former chairman of Scottish Power, said: “The blind reliance by successive governments on unreliable, intermittent renewable energy has reduced the margin of safety to a critical level.
“This has brought the country to a position where power cuts could become a regular feature of cold winters for several years.”
The written report has been submitted to the Lords Science and Technology Committee’s inquiry into the nation’s electricity infrastructure.
At the inquiry’s launch its chairman, the Earl of Selborne, said: “We are set to see our safety cushion between demand and supply drop to particularly low levels over the next two winters.”
And yesterday’s report stated: “The foolhardy policy of replacing reliable and efficient gas, nuclear and coal power stations by expensive and inefficient wind turbines and solar farms has raised energy prices while doing little to cut emissions of carbon dioxide.
“The total costs are some £12billion per year more in 2020 than an optimum programme of gas turbines and nuclear, and almost £26billion per year more by 2030.”
The alliance calls for new nuclear power plants to help plug shortfalls caused by the closure of ageing coal-fuelled power stations and rising demand.
The report was released as former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson prepares to deliver a lecture tonight urging the Government to stand up to green bullies and go nuclear.
Last night Dr Benny Peiser of the Global Warming Policy Forum said: “The irony is that energy prices around the world are falling, particularly for oil and gas.
“But households are not profiting because Government policies are making energy more expensive.”
4) Another Green Energy Fiasco As Desertec Unravels
Associated Press, 14 October 2014
It sounded like a good idea [not]: build massive solar energy plants in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East to supply Europe with 15 percent of its electricity needs by 2050. But the consortium behind the ambitious plan has now admitted defeat following disagreements over funding and persistent political instability in the desert nations where the plants were going to be built.
The Desertec Industrial Initiative announced Tuesday that it is going to focus on consulting others after most of its former backers pulled out, including German insurance company Muenchener Rueckversicherung.
The remaining members of the Munich-based consortium are Saudi company ACWA Power, German utility giant RWE and Chinese grid operator SGCC.
