European Union leaders announced they will be consolidating energy and environmental goals under a new commissioner, effectively axing the intergovernmental groups’ climate arm as green policies are making it harder for citizens to pay their power bills. “The EU is signalling a historical shift away from its green priority towards a new focus on economic recovery, competitiveness and energy cost,” Dr. Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Forum, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “This policy shift has been in the making for the last two years, but only now has Europe new leaders who are no longer obsessed with climate change,” said Peiser, who is based in the UK. --Michael Bastasch,
The Daily Caller, 12 September 2014
The nomination of Miguel Arias Cañete for the position of Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy has been roundly criticised. The Greens and environmental NGOs see Cañete as an illogical choice and have reacted furiously to his nomination. In France, The Greens have suggested that Cañete might be the worst possible choice for the climate. The fact that Alenka Bratusek, Vice-President of the Commission, in charge of the Energy Union as well as the Climate Action and Energy position, clearly demonstrates that energy will be a higher priority than climate over the next five years. --
EurActiv, 12 September 2014
A fall in natural gas flows from Russia to several Central and Eastern European countries this week has sent a chill through the region as it prepares for possible energy shortages this winter. Signs that Russia is already cutting supplies come as it remains at loggerheads with Ukraine over gas prices amid ongoing tension between the two countries. If a deal can’t be reached it is possible Russian supplies to Ukraine could be halted through winter—as happened during previous price disputes in 2006 and 2009. Kiev might in turn try to siphon off supplies intended for Europe for its own needs, as it did in the past. That could cause energy shortages: Russia supplies around 30% of the continent’s gas needs, half of which transits via Ukraine. --Sean Carney,
The Wall Street Journal, 12 September 2014
Teeside’s “proud industrial heritage” faces further decline because of punishing ‘green’ taxes, the Government was warned. A cross-party alliance of the region’s MPs used a Commons debate to urge ministers to ease the pain for energy intensive industries, including steel and chemicals. The plea follows the introduction of a ‘carbon tax’ – a minimum price for the energy produced, to cover the cost of pollution and to stimulate new, renewable forms of energy. --Hannah Chapman,
The Northern Echo, 12 September 2014
Do UK households cut back on food spending to finance the additional cost of keeping warm during spells of unseasonably cold weather? For households which cannot smooth consumption over time, we describe how cold weather shocks are equivalent to income shocks. We find evidence that the poorest of older households cannot smooth fuel spending over the worst temperature shocks. --Timothy K. M. Beatty et al., Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, January 2014
The ozone layer is healing. Or so said the news last week. Thanks to a treaty signed in Montreal in 1989 to get rid of refrigerant chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the planet’s stratospheric sunscreen has at last begun thickening again. Planetary disaster has been averted by politics. For reasons I will explain, this news deserves to be taken with a large pinch of salt. You do not have to dig far to find evidence that the ozone hole was never nearly as dangerous as some people said, that it is not necessarily healing yet and that it might not have been caused mainly by CFCs anyway. --Matt Ridley,
The Times, 15 September 2015
It seems the world is not running out of oil after all. In fact, producing nations and America’s frackers are beginning to worry that we are facing a glut of the stuff. None of this will prevent President Barack Obama from telling other world leaders meeting on September 23 at a United Nations climate conference that he will continue to fight to end the use of fossil fuels in America in order to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions he believes are causing dangerous increases in world temperatures. The president’s hope of presiding over the beginning of the end of the era of fossil fuels will be dashed. --Irwin Stelzer,
The Sunday Times, 14 September 2014
The world’s richest philanthropists are being urged to put their fortunes into the fight against global warming rather than other green causes, as 160 eco-laureates seek help to “save civilisation”. The call to hike climate change spending is unprecedented in its scale, with the signatories – all winners of major environmental awards – taking out a full-page advert in today’s International New York Times. The group urges foundations and philanthropists to prioritise spending on climate change, warning that all other charitable goals and schemes could be rendered worthless unless global warming is properly addressed. --Tom Bawden,
The Independent, 15 September 2014
