Red, Green, and Blue

As developed nations juggle with the numbers attempting to dodge the issue of agreement on ambitious carbon emissions cuts, the Scottish government has unveiled plans to cut the country’s carbon emissions by a staggering 42 percent, more than the 40 percent recommendation given by IPCC.

This is the most ambitious emissions reduction goal adopted by any country thus far, Germany has plans to 40 its emissions by 40 percent while Britain formally adopted a 34 percent reduction goal this April. Scotland, with its strong renewable energy infrastructure and bold plans to expand the same, has raised the bar even further.

In the recent weeks the developed countries have been in the line of fire of the green groups as they proposed disappointing emission reduction goals. Completely ignoring the IPCC recommendations of 25-40 percent reductions by 2020, Japan and Russia proposed cutting their respective emissions by merely 8 and 10-15 percent. These are only just better than the Kyoto Protocol goals which bind them to cut their emissions by 5-6 percent by 2012 from 1990 levels.

The driving engine behind this highly ambitious goal is the strong renewable energy infrastructure of Scotland. The Scottish government has unveiled numerous clean energy projects in the recent years which has helped the nation make the transition from fossil fuels to clean fuels. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week’s confirmation of climate change by the White House has only further raised the stakes for the Arctic. As detailed in former posts, one of the significant effects of our changing climate is the thinning of the ice pack in the Arctic, and the subsequent opening of the Northwest Passage. As the Northwest Passage opens, so too will we see an upsurge in the demand for shipping and the rush to access oil, gas, and mineral resources. [More...]

Significantly for observers, commercial fleets are beginning to view the Northwest Passage as a viable option for getting from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

“The ice is more favourable than in past decades,” said Capt. Georges Tousignant of Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping, “It’s navigable, it’s not that high-risk.”

And it’s not just Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping that is interested in navigating the Northwest Passage, the Canadian Coast Guard has seen an increase in the number of ships that entered the Northwest Passage. The longer that good shipping conditions continue, the more companies that will view the Passage as a viable transit route.

Unfortunately for the polar bears and infrastructure built reliant on permanent ice in the north, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that ice melt rates have increased. In May of 2009, ice melted at a rate of about 54,000 square kilometers per day throughout the Arctic. Average May ice melt has traditionally been closer to 47,000 kilometers per day.

The implications of all this ice melt is that similar to the long-term melting of permafrost, there will be less of the dangerous multi-year ice that impedes shipping every year. And therefore every year there will be increased shipping, and increasing attention to the viability of the Northwest Passage.

With increasing attention being paid to the Northwest Passage, watch for its status under international law to become a point of contention along with other northern concerns such sovereignty and related territorial claims.

Image: ashatsea (Creative Commons)

The League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club today launched a new television ad “amplifying President Obama’s call “for Congress to pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The ad employs video from the President’s Tuesday press conference, in which he made the case for clean energy and expressed support for the Waxman-Markey climate bill.

The ad, relying simply on the words of the President, stands in stark contrast to the fear-laden ad released on Monday by the Newt Gingrich-led and billionaire-sponsored American Solutions for Winning the Future.

“The President’s voice is the most powerful, but he is only one of the millions of Americans who want to move to a 21st Century sources of clean, American energy,” LCV President Gene Karpinski said in a release. “In 30 years in Washington, the coalition that has formed in support of this bill is one of the most powerful I’ve ever seen because the vote in question is the most critical we’ve ever faced.”

‘American Solutions for Winning the Future’ scaring Americans into action?

With all signs pointing to a Friday vote in the House of Representatives on the Waxman-Markey climate bill, the right-wing political action committee behind the “Drill here, drill now, pay less” campaign of last summer, yesterday launched a last-ditch effort to block climate change legislation by scaring the crap out of you.

The ad, produced by the group American Solutions for Winning the Future, urges you to contact your Representative to tell them how scared you are of the devastating economic impacts of climate and energy legislation. The new commercial was released on the heals of a Congressional Budget Office report that found the annual cost of the Waxman-Markey climate bill would be an average of $175 per household — far less than previous GOP cost estimates.

Led by former Republican Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, American Solutions for Winning the Future is no garden variety political organization. Financed by a host of high-profile billionaire-backers including Casino Kingpin and third richest person in America, Sheldon Adelson; co-founder of PayPal and staunch libertarian Peter Thiel; Cincinatti businessman and second-biggest contributor to the GOP, Dick Farmer, and; Texas textile magnate and patron of right-wing causes for almost 50 years, Roger Milliken, the organization has emerged as one of the most powerful and, perhaps, reactionary PACs on the American political landscape.

With Speaker Nancy Pelosi likely bringing climate change legislation to the House for a floor vote later this week, a newly-released report by the Congressional Budget Office found that the per-household cost of The American Clean Energy and Security Act was far lower than previously estimated costs.

According to the report, released late Friday afternoon, the annual cost of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill would be an estimated $175 per American household. In addition to the project low cost of Waxman-Markey, the CBO report also suggests the bill would achieve emissions reductions of approximately 17% below 1990 levels by 2020. Read the rest of this entry »

As Congress engages in the major debates surrounding climate and energy legislation, a broad coalition of consumer, economic and environmental advocacy groups has published a report on the substantial consumer savings that stronger energy efficiency and renewable energy standards would bring.

Published by the Consumer Federation of America, Environment America, Energy Future Coalition and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the report (pdf) indicates that studies of the technical potential for easily implemented efficiency improvements show efficiency could lower demand by as much as 30 percent in states from all regions of the U.S. at costs well below the current cost of electricity.

Read the rest of this entry »

Getting no support from other developed nations like United States and Australia the European Union has so far failed to commit funds for developing and poor countries to help them mitigate effects of the changing climate. EU is under tremendous pressure to pledge funds as consistent monetary support to the developing countries is essential to make the next climate treaty a success.

During the Bali Climate Change Conference, held December 2007, it was agreed that the developed nations will create an Adaptation Fund to aid the developing countries acquire the new and clean energy technologies thus reducing their carbon emissions. This December, when the landmark Copenhagen Climate Change Conference is scheduled to take place, will mark two years of inaction on part of the developed countries.

While the European Union has always recognized its responsibility to help developing countries, the promises made have not been translated into concrete actions. Response from other developed nations has been dismal too. United States and Australia have no system in place to raise funds for the Adaptation Fund. The proposed emissions trading scheme in the United States would see industries getting emission rights for free, raising serious questions about the effectiveness of the scheme. Australia has delayed implementing its emissions trading scheme citing financial pressures owing to the economic recession. Read the rest of this entry »

They are everywhere. We can’t see them, but little by little they are destroying our way of life. But for the first time ever, they are being caught red-handed. They are greenhouse gases. And today Deutsche Bank unveiled the world’s first real-time carbon counter to measure these microscopic murderers.

Deutsche Bank’s 70-foot-tall digital billboard was unveiled today at 33rd Street and 7th Avenue in the heart of New York City. It stands right outside Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, displaying the running total of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Kevin Parker, Global Head of Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management division (DeAM) and a member of Deutsche Bank’s Group Executive Committee, switched on the counter at a ceremony this morning.

The belief that information acts as a catalyst for action plays the muse for the Carbon Counter’s creation. The number displayed on the scientifically-valid Counter is based on measurements that come from scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The measurements track all long-lived greenhouse gases covered under the Kyoto and Montreal Protocols (24 gases excluding ozone and aerosols).

“It will be a huge task to bring global emissions under control and my hope is that putting this data in the public view will spur both governments and markets to move us more quickly to a low-carbon economy,” said Parker.

With the spotlight shining on clean energy, the stage has been set for the U.S. to rid itself of a harmful addiction to foreign oil. The stars are aligned and the cards have been dealt. Soon we’ll have kicked the dirty habit, right?

Sarah Palin seems to think so. Perhaps you’ll remember her proposal to tap the natural gas supply found under the pristine Alaskan wilderness. As Governor of Alaska she “fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history . . . a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.” Read the rest of this entry »

It seems unlikely that an agreement on the terms of the next climate treaty could be reached at the December-scheduled Copenhagen talks. The United States, not a member of the Kyoto Protocol and one of the major players in the international negotiations tussle over the climate treaty, has not yet reached a consensus over how to reduce carbon emissions and a bill successfully passing through the Senate in 2009 seems quite difficult.

The major issues that US lawmakers need to look into are, first, how to make the transition from carbon-intensive fossil fuels to clean renewable energy sources and, second, how to finance this transition without burdening the people with any significant monetary load.

The proposed carbon trading scheme has attracted criticism from the environmentalists since it allows the government to distribute emission permits to the industries free of cost. A bill proposing a nationwide carbon tax was also introduced in the US Congress but experts fear that, if implemented, the bill would put a financial burden of more than $1000 per year on the US households. Read the rest of this entry »