GWPF | 5 Dec 2014
Japan’s CO2 Emissions Hit Record – Germany Set For Near Record Coal Imports
India will not sign any deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions at UN climate talks in Lima that threatens its growth or undermines its fight against poverty, the environment minister said Friday. The minister branded poverty as the worst kind of environmental disaster which “needs to be eradicated immediately”, adding that no one should dispute the right of the poorest members of society to have access to energy. “Poor people have aspirations we must fulfil them, we must give them energy access,” he said. —AFP, 5 December 2014
Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions rose in fiscal 2013 to the equivalent of 1.395 billion tons of carbon dioxide, its worst total since comparable data became available in fiscal 1990, according to the Environment Ministry. Emissions in fiscal 2013 were up 1.3 percent from fiscal 2005 and 10.6 percent from fiscal 1990. Since Japan has set a goal of reducing emissions by 3.8 percent by fiscal 2020 from fiscal 2005, the latest result underscores the major challenge it faces in achieving that target. —Japan Times, 5 December 2014
Germany is set to import around 50 million tonnes of hard coal in 2014 which would be just below last year’s record of 51 million tonnes, coal importers’ lobby VDKI said in a statement. Coal generation is still the backbone of German power supply in a country set on moving away from nuclear power and favouring renewable energy over fossil fuels. The country in January to September used hard coal for 43 percent of coal generation, of which 17 percent was hard coal and 26 percent domestic brown coal, industry statistics showed. With power prices historically low, generators are opting to burn more coal instead of more expensive gas. —Business Recorder, 5 December 2014
About $1 billion in Japanese funding that Japan claimed was part of a UN initiative to help developing countries take action against climate change went, unnoticed, towards Japanese companies for the construction of three coal-fired power plants, the Associated Press reported Monday. The slip-up highlights major gaps in oversight when it comes to funding climate projects in developing countries. The three power plant projects, built in Indonesia by Japanese companies, were listed as “climate finance.” But the U.N. has no formal definition of what constitutes legitimate climate finance, nor does it have a watchdog agency to ensure climate dollars end up in appropriate places. –Zoe Schlanger, Newsweek, 2 December 2014
1) India Won’t Sign Climate Deal If It Threatens Its Economic Growth – AFP, 5 December 2014
2) Japan’s CO2 Emissions Hit Record: Higher Now Than 25 Years Ago – Japan Times, 5 December 2014
3) ‘Green’ Germany Set For Near Record Coal Imports In 2014 – Business Recorder, 5 December 2014
4) Oopsie! $1 Billion In UN Funds To Fight Climate Change Built Coal Power Plants Instead – Newsweek, 2 December 2014
1) India Won’t Sign Climate Deal If It Threatens Its Economic Growth
AFP, 5 December 2014
NEW DELHI (AFP) – India will not sign any deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions at UN climate talks in Lima that threatens its growth or undermines its fight against poverty, the environment minister said Friday.
Speaking ahead of his departure to a key round of talks in the Peruvian capital, Prakash Javadekar said he was heading into the negotiations with “an open mind” but warned the Indian delegation would not “shy away” from tough debate.
“Any agreement… will be by consensus,” Javadekar told reporters in New Delhi. “Our growth cannot be compromised.”
The minister branded poverty as the worst kind of environmental disaster which “needs to be eradicated immediately”, adding that no one should dispute the right of the poorest members of society to have access to energy.
“Poor people have aspirations we must fulfil them, we must give them energy access,” he said.
Negotiators from 195 countries are gathering in Lima for talks which end on Dec 12, hoping to agree on a draft agreement to address climate change that will be adopted in Paris next December.
Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have already set an outside target of limiting global warming to 2 deg C over pre-industrial levels.
China, the United States and Europe have also unveiled emissions pledges.
Energy-starved India is seen as one of the major obstacles to a deal as it is heavily dependent on coal-fired power plants and millions suffer regular power cuts.
2) Japan’s CO2 Emissions Hit Record: Higher Now Than 25 Years Ago
Japan Times, 5 December 2014
Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions rose in fiscal 2013 to the equivalent of 1.395 billion tons of carbon dioxide, its worst total since comparable data became available in fiscal 1990, according to the Environment Ministry.
Emissions over the year through last March rose 1.6 percent from a year earlier due largely to the expansion in fossil fuel-based power generation, the ministry said Thursday. Thermal power generation, which generates large amounts of carbon dioxide, has increased sharply since the 2011 Fukushima disaster began, leading to the idling of all of the nation’s nuclear power plants, which had produced about a third of its electricity.
Emissions in fiscal 2013 were up 1.3 percent from fiscal 2005 and 10.6 percent from fiscal 1990.
Since Japan has set a goal of reducing emissions by 3.8 percent by fiscal 2020 from fiscal 2005, the latest result underscores the major challenge it faces in achieving that target.
3) ‘Green’ Germany Set For Near Record Coal Imports In 2014
Business Recorder, 5 December 2014
Germany is set to import around 50 million tonnes of hard coal in 2014 which would be just below last year’s record of 51 million tonnes, coal importers’ lobby VDKI said in a statement. With power prices historically low, generators are opting to burn more coal instead of more expensive gas.
The total would be made up of 37.5 million tonnes of steam coal for power stations, 10 million tonnes of coking coal for iron- and steelmakers and 2.5 million tonnes of coke, a related product, the group said, adding this was based developments from January to September.
“Third-quarter imports, at 7.9 million tonnes into Germany, were only slightly below the same period of last year,” it said.
Coal generation is still the backbone of German power supply in a country set on moving away from nuclear power and favouring renewable energy over fossil fuels. The country in January to September used hard coal for 43 percent of coal generation, of which 17 percent was hard coal and 26 percent domestic brown coal, industry statistics showed.
With power prices historically low, generators are opting to burn more coal instead of more expensive gas, which only held 10 percent of the generation market in the nine months.
Despite stable imports, VDKI is increasingly concerned that its utility customers are becoming unprofitable because of low power prices.
These partly result from priority given to green energy on power grids, where it causes supply pressure. Operators of hard coal-fired plants say they need to earn between 50 and 60 euros per megawatt hour of electricity to cover production costs, but are only getting 35 euros/MWh in the wholesale market.
4) Oopsie! $1 Billion In UN Funds To Fight Climate Change Built Coal Power Plants Instead
Newsweek, 2 December 2014
Zoe Schlanger
About $1 billion in Japanese funding that Japan claimed was part of a UN initiative to help developing countries take action against climate change went, unnoticed, towards Japanese companies for the construction of three coal-fired power plants, the Associated Press reported Monday. […]
The slip-up highlights major gaps in oversight when it comes to funding climate projects in developing countries. The three power plant projects, built in Indonesia by Japanese companies, were listed as “climate finance.” But the U.N. has no formal definition of what constitutes legitimate climate finance, nor does it have a watchdog agency to ensure climate dollars end up in appropriate places.
Japan allocated the funding to Japanese companies under U.N. loans described as “thermal power plants,” with no indication that they were coal-fired projects.
The funding came from a pot of money established by the U.N. in 2009, when wealthy nations pledged to accumulate $30 billion in climate finance over the following three years. At the time, Japan agreed to provide about half that sum.
