How to wreck a democracy: Let judges decide complex national policies based on who sues first. What could possibly go wrong?

German climate change law violates rights, court rules

BBC

Germany’s climate change laws are insufficient and violate fundamental freedoms by putting the burden of curbing CO2 emissions on the young, its highest court has ruled.

It says the law fails to give enough detail on cutting CO2 emissions after current targets end in 2030. “The provisions irreversibly offload major emission reduction burdens on to periods after 2030,” it found.

Like the EU legislation, Germany’s domestic climate change law provides for a 55% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030.

But the German Constitutional Court said on Thursday that current measures “violate the freedoms of the complainants, some of whom are still very young” because they delay too much of the action needed to reach the Paris targets until after 2030.

Since when did young people have right to be protected from climate change?

It’s time for other young people to sue the court, and the government. Germany’s climate change laws are wildly expensive and pointless, and will have no measurable […]

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April 30, 2021 at 01:58PM

We need your help and the deadline is Monday, May 3, 2021. On or about March 30, 2021, Biden EPA chief Michael Regan fired all of EPA’s independent science advisers and rolled back important anti-corruption measures implemented by the Trump EPA to ensure the independence and balance of these boards as required by law. For background on this, read my Washington Times column. EPA is now taking nominations for new members. The deadline for submitting nominations is Monday, May 3, 2021. Read on to help nominate scientists and experts for the EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). You can nominate yourself or someone else. This is very important.

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April 30, 2021 at 12:59PM

By Kirye
and Pierre Gosselin

Global warming is supposed to mean a shorter winter, and thus we should expect a March warming trend for the northern hemisphere.

Today we look at the latest March data now available from the Japan Meteorology Agency (JMA) for France, Ireland and Finland.

As we have seen in other countries, the untampered JMA data show that the month of March has not warmed in these countries in decades.

30 years of March cooling in France

First we plot the mean temperature data for the surface stations in France for which the JMA has sufficient (untampered) data – going back more than 3 decades:

Data source: JMA.

As the above chart shows, only three of the 12 stations plotted show any warming for the month of March. Nine of 12 stations show cooling or no meaningful trend. So also in France spring appears to have been coming a bit over the past three decades.

Ireland – 4 decades of March cooling

Next we plot the mean temperature for the stations in Ireland, also for which the JMA has sufficient data, going back close to four decades.

Ireland is particularly interesting due to its location in the Northeast Atlantic, and so can tell us what impacts oceanic cycles could be having:

. Data source: JMA.

And that impact seems to be a wee bit of cooling. Five of six stations in Ireland show cooling, or flat. CO2 is definitely not driving the climate there.

Finland, the neighbor of Greta Thunberg’s Sweden

Next we plot the March data for Finland, also the stations for which the JMA has adequate data:

Data source: JMA.

Like in Greta Thunberg’s Sweden, Finland’s winters are not getting shorter. The data there show no warming in March taking place in more than 30 years. Winter is taking its time leaving. Nothing is really changing. Why would this be a “crisis”?

In summary, along with Canada, Alaska and Sweden, also Finland, France and Ireland have been showing no March warming.

One of the coldest Aprils on record in Germany

And finally, our friend Snowfan here reports how April, 2021, in Germany is coming in as one of the coolest since recording began in 1881.

The following chart of Germany shows the April mean temperature anomaly so far, up to April 29th, for various locations. Used is the new 1991 – 2020 reference period:

April 2021 temperatures have been running some 3°C below the 1991-2020 mean.

The latest forecast also foresees a cool start for May.

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April 30, 2021 at 12:40PM

According to AP: ‘Additionally, the court supported the idea that severe restrictions on freedom are acceptable when related to efforts to prevent climate change.’ Severe! You have been warned. 
– – –
Clean Energy Wire reports:

Germany’s Constitutional Court ruling that the government’s climate policies are insufficient will have a major impact on the country’s election campaign and beyond, media commentators say.

“The political impact of the ruling is likely to be enormous,” writes Jakob Schlandt in Der Tagesspiegel. “The judges leave no doubt at all that there is a robust, actionable scientific consensus on man-made climate change,” which results in an obligation for politicians to act, Schlandt writes.

In the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Wolfgang Janisch writes that politicians can no longer postpone decisions regarding climate protection. “The defense of fundamental rights against climate protection failures [..] must begin today,” Janisch writes.

In a commentary in Focus Online, Ulrich Reitz says the ruling paves the way for Green Party politician Annalena Baerbock to possibly become the next German chancellor. “The Greens can now make climate policy the benchmark for all legislative interventions,” Reitz writes, and warns of “climate absolutism” that will restrict people’s fundamental rights in a similar way to the coronavirus policies.

In Die Welt, Daniel Wetzel argues that the judicial belief that the next generation will be more heavily burdened by climate change is “highly questionable” and not scientifically supported. Clean energy technologies are making rapid progress and their costs are falling, he says, meaning “climate protection will likely be cheaper and easier for the next generation.”

Full article here.

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April 30, 2021 at 11:24AM