MPs ‘Deeply Worried’ Govt Will Prioritise Affordability Over Climate Targets

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)http://www.thegwpf.com

MPs ‘deeply worried’ about gaps between UK climate targets and policy delivery

The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee has expressed its concern over the gaps between the UK’s decarbonisation ambition and current policymaking, on the same day that the Treasury faced criticism from MPs for failing to improve its approach to environmental sustainability.

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) is “deeply disappointed” with the Treasury’s inaction to adequately factor in long-term sustainability risks into its decisions

In a review of the Government’s forthcoming Industrial Strategy, the BEIS Committee warns that progress against the Fifth Carbon Budget, which requires UK emissions to be 57% lower between the period of 2028 and 2032, compared with 1990 levels, should not become secondary to affordability.

The Committee welcomes the “explicit commitment” to meet future carbon budgets set out in the Industrial Strategy green paper, but notes that “we are deeply worried that the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has identified significant gaps between our ambition and our current policy delivery”.

The Industrial Strategy must include “meaningful” policies to support the decarbonisation of industries and buildings, the report says, to reduce the reliance on the power sector to drive emissions reductions. The Committee wants to see “clear signs” as to how Government will embed clean growth, driven by battery technology and energy storage, in the country’s economic future.

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via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) http://www.thegwpf.com

March 2, 2017 at 11:47PM

Study opens new questions on how the atmosphere and oceans formed

via Current News – Principia Scientific Internationalhttp://principia-scientific.org

A new study led by The Australian National University (ANU) has found seawater cycles throughout Earth’s interior down to 2,900km, much deeper than previously thought, reopening questions about how the atmosphere and oceans formed.
A popular theory is that the atmosphere and oceans formed by releasing water and gases from Earth’s mantle through volcanic activity during the planet’s first 100…

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March 2, 2017 at 11:29PM

The three ironies of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests

via Watts Up With That?http://ift.tt/1Viafi3

Guest post by David Middleton Dakota Access Protest Backfires For Standing Rock By Irina Slav – Feb 22, 2017 The months-long protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline project has seriously hurt the revenues of a casino operated by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe – the tribe that initiated the protests as a portion of […]

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March 2, 2017 at 11:19PM

White House Considers Breaking Trump’s Promise To Withdraw From The Paris Agreement

via Climate Change Dispatchhttp://climatechangedispatch.com

The White House is still deciding whether or not it will honor one of President Donald Trump’s biggest campaign promises regarding energy policy — to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. “Trump’s advisers have not yet fleshed out a detailed position on whether the U.S. should stay in the Paris agreement,” a source told Politico. […]

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March 2, 2017 at 11:08PM