Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized 10 Jun 2017

Global Climate Policy Meets Its D-Day?…SPIEGEL: “CLIMATE ALLIANCE IS CRUMBLING”!

via NoTricksZone
http://notrickszone.com

If we can believe Spiegel, it looks like the German political blitz, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, aimed at isolating and humiliating the United States, particularly President Donald Trump, appears to have run aground. The Paris Climate Accord may be having its D-Day.

Image cropped from Spiegel here

According to the online English version of Der Spiegel, “The German chancellor had been hoping to isolate Donald Trump on climate issues at the upcoming G-20 summit in Hamburg“, but a number of longtime US allies have decided that the overall relationship with America is more important than the flakey, UN-manufactured “climate crisis”.

Merkel’s international defeat

Spiegel writes that Merkel led the charge to try to get 19 countries of the G20 to turn against America and “make Trump a bogeyman of world history. A score of 19:1“.

Japan, in part due to obvious North Korean factors, is also hardly ready to upset its longstanding crucial Pacific ally.

No sooner did Merkel launch her climate anti-Trump campaign at the G7 summit did it begin to crumble, first because of pragmatism out of Canada, and then Great Britain. Merkel was not able get the six other countries of the G7 to make a statement against Trump. Spiegel sums up: “Climate policy is great, but when it comes to national interests, it is secondary.”

What’s left of the G7 attempt to isolate Trump is a lonely gaggle of Germany, Italy and France.

Spiegel summarizes it is “a defeat for Merkel” when it comes to climate policy and international leadership.

No mention of “climate” in G20 draft statements

Concerning the G20 meeting in Hamburg in July, there are already signs that the climate issue will also be secondary there as well. Spiegel writes how several drafts for joint statements have circulated and: “There isn’t a single mention of the climate in the document.”

Now that Merkel realizes her strategy to isolate Trump is not working, Spiegel writes that German government officials are now “eager to avoid turning the climate statement into an instrument of power politics” and that Merkel will likely to “retreat” to a role of mediator.

But it’s an election year and the race to bash and “to stand up to” Trump is as intense as ever. In polls Merkel’s CDU/CSU party currently holds a huge lead over the crumbling SPD socialist party, led by Martin Schulz. Merkel probably could even afford softening her anti-Trump stance.

Germany CO2 emissions reductions an embarrassment

Another factor that Spiegel did not bring up is that Germany’s climate charges against America in fact look ridiculous. How can anyone take Germany seriously on climate protection, a country that has not cut back its greenhouse gas emissions in 8 years and will completely miss its 40% reductions target by 2020.

Moreover, led by the Merkel government, Germany has massively slashed subsidies on green energies and the Chancellor’s pledge to put a million electric cars on the road by 2020 remains light years away.

Germany preaching America on cutting greenhouse gases is nothing short of a bad joke.

via NoTricksZone http://notrickszone.com

June 9, 2017 at 09:18PM

Uncategorized 10 Jun 2017

Sammy Wilson: Trump’s Climate Change Decision Poses Huge Problem For UK

via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
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Sammy Wilson was the Democratic Unionist Party’s environment minister in 2008-9. He campaigned vigorously for the United Kingdom to leave the EU and believes that the country would be better served being in charge of our own finances, trade and immigration laws. He serves on the Brexit Committee at Westminster. No wonder the left wing are upset by the DUP’s importance in the new political order at Westminster following the general election:

The very wise decision by the US President to pull out of the totally flawed and pointless Paris Climate Change agreement, presents huge problems for the UK and the Government’s ongoing trade and industry strategy. It also raises big issues for an energy expensive area like Northern Ireland which has the most expensive electricity costs in the UK.

America is rebuilding its economy on cheap energy from shale gas and shale oil. Already it is attracting manufacturing jobs back to its shore from overseas because energy prices have plummeted due to the massive fall in prices as fracking of shale gas gathers pace. So cheap is its energy that it now pays to ship gas from America to Grangemouth Scotland rather than use gas from the North Sea. If we wish to remain competitive and increase trade with America we cannot ignore the actions of Donald Trump.

Currently our energy policy based on the Climate Change Act and the commitments we made under the Paris Agreement are costing consumers both industrial and domestic dearly. According to the Office of Budget Responsibility which independently measures the economic impact of Government policies our commitment to renewable energy targets means that consumers and Government are paying subsidies of £7.3bn per year rising to £14.7bn by 2025. This amounts to an increase of £292 per year on each household bill and will rise to £565 by 2025.

The result is massive fuel poverty 40% in Northern Ireland crippling bills for industry and the loss of industrial and other jobs to countries which have lower energy costs because they don’t engage in what the Prime Minister’s own Chief of Staff has describes as a “unilateral and monstrous act of self harm”.

The Paris Agreement itself is a delusion. India which signed up to it plans to build 400 coal fired power stations increasing CO2 emissions by 300% by 2030. China has promised to reduce CO2 per unit of GDP but given its growth rate will be producing 50% more CO2 by 2030. So pulling out of the agreement which was only a piece of window dressing for climate chancers who wished to pretend that they were doing something about an issue which they can’t affect anyhow is not the disaster which the green lefties are getting hysterical about.

What it might actually do is give us the opportunity to design a sensible energy policy which will help grow the economy, lift the burden of high energy costs off the shoulders of poor households and secure manufacturing and service jobs in energy intensive industries. The only losers will be those who are hoovering up billions of pounds of subsidies from hard pressed consumers.

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June 9, 2017 at 09:09PM

Uncategorized 10 Jun 2017

EPA Chief Backs Approach to Science That Could Upend the Global Warming ‘Consensus’

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

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt reignited a long simmering debate over a method of scientific inquiry that could upset the supposed “consensus” on man-made global warming.

Image result for red team blue team

In an interview with Breitbart’s Joel Pollak on Monday, Pruitt said he supported a “red team-blue team” set up to test climate science. Pruitt was inspired by an op-ed by theoretical physicist Steven Koonin, but others have been pushing this idea as well.

“If truth is what we are all after, why would any scientific organization object to an independent look at the claims of the climate establishment?” climate scientist John Christy said.

Christy has testified on the value of “red teams” for climate science many times in the past decade. This time, however, environmentalists and “consensus” scientists are worried Congress will take him seriously.

Red teams would challenge blue teams on global warming hypotheses on “what do we know, what don’t we know, and what risk does it pose to health, the United States, and the world,” Pruitt told Breitbart.

The military commonly using this method to challenge strategies and improve their overall effectiveness. Many climate scientists, however, say it has no place in their field. After all, 97 percent of climate scientists supposedly believe humans are the main cause of global warming.

“Science already has a red team: peer review,” David Titley, a climate scientist and retired rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, told The Washington Post.

“This just feels to me … like another way to skirt the tried and true scientific process that has worked for years in our field and many others,” said Marshall Shepherd, an atmospheric science professor at the University of Georgia who called the idea a “gimmick.”

Consensus scientists say the red team setup could manipulate public understanding of the science, giving a false impression of uncertainty and delay action on global warming. Skeptics, like Christy, say the other side is afraid the method will expose the weakness of the supposed “consensus” on global warming.

“My own analysis concerning 102 climate model runs is as clear as it can be—the theory has failed the simplest of scientific tests,” Christy said. “None of the august scientific societies crunched through the huge volumes of model output and observational data to perform such tests.”

“In the normative scientific method, when our theory fails, we are supposed to go back and modify or reject the theory and test again,” Christy said. “In this modern way of doing science, as best I can tell, the proponents of a failed theory simply yell louder, schedule marches on Washington, and attempt to quash any dissent.”

Consensus scientists say peer review works just fine, but skeptics point out the problems with climate models and many of their predictions. In fact, many articles have been written about the problems with scientific journals and peer review.

Climate scientist Roger Pielke Sr. says peer review has become politicized, where “gatekeeping” plays a role in who gets published and who doesn’t. Skeptics usually get the wrong end of that deal.

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G20 Summit: Merkel’s Anti-Trump Front Is Crumbling

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

In the run-up to the G20 summit, the German Government is trying to isolate US President Trump. According to SPIEGEL, Angela Merkel is lobbying for a commitment to the Paris climate agreement from as many statesmen as possible. But it’s not that easy.

First cracks in the climate alliance emerged early – just after Donald Trumps’ historical speech in the Rose Garden where he announced America’s withdrawal from the Paris climate deal. Only Germany, Italy and France signed a joint, critical statement in response to the farewell from the international climate alliance. Japan, Canada and the UK did not.

Undaunted, German chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to rescue the alliance against Trump. At the beginning of July, at the G20 summit in Hamburg, the leaders of the most important industrialized and emerging nations, such as China and India, will meet. Angela Merkel wants to take a manifest stand in the fight against global warming. According to SPIEGEL, her officials have drafted a 13 page document intended to be signed by as many heads of state as possible.

According to the draft statement, G20 leaders would have to committed to a “redesign of the global energy system in line with Paris” and to their pledges of “national contributions” for the reduction of greenhouse gases.

Social Democrats put Merkel under pressure

According to SPIEGEL, the draft document contains a number of points in which the Paris agreement is expressly reaffirmed and specified. “Our actions are guided by the Paris agreement,” it says. The goal was “to keep global warming well below two degrees [Celsius]”.

However, the German government fears that not all 19 heads of state and government – not including Trump — will sign this declaration at the summit in Hamburg. According to SPIEGEL, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a telephone call with Angela Merkel, has proposed that any reference to the Paris climate agreement should be removed from the G20 statement to allow US President Trump to sign it.

Merkel’s Social Democratic coalition partner (SPD) has warned the Chancellor not to concede and not to remove the clear commitment to the Paris Agreement. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told SPIEGEL: “It would be a good thing if as many participants of the G20 summit were to make it clear that they will comply with the Paris climate treaty.” He warned: “The G20 should not signal a tacit consent against the Paris agreement.”

Merkel is currently consulting by phone with G20 leaders to establish how great their willingness is to isolate Trump on the climate issue. During her Latin America trip this weekend, she will also discuss the subject with the Mexican President.

Translation GWPF