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China Seeks Delay Over Global Climate Treaty

World Leaders Face Riddle Of Lack Of Warming


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By Dr. Benny Peiser —— Bio and Archives November 26, 2012

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The most recent global temperature record, released this week, shows the average global temperature fell last year for the second year. There is now general agreement that the rising trend has stalled. This is the background against which governments will meet in Doha to negotiate a globally binding agreement to cut carbon emissions, as agreed at last year’s meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. --Graham Lloyd, The Australian, 24 November 2012
Beijing wants industrialised countries to commit to cuts in greenhouse gas emissions before agreeing to an extension of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Beijing’s top climate negotiator said yesterday that international discussions for a new global climate treaty starting from 2020 should not begin until next year, after the securing of renewed pledges by developed nations at climate talks starting next week to reduce their greenhouse gas emission from 2013. --Li Jing, South China Morning Post, 23 November 2012 The EU's debt crisis has sapped its ability to lead the way in global climate talks, which began in Doha on Monday, and build on a fragile victory it clinched a year ago. European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard's drive to keep Europe at the vanguard of the global effort has been sabotaged at home and abroad by the debt crisis, which has drained energy or inclination for anything else. --Barbara Lewis,Reuters, 26 November 2012
The impact of the today’s Energy Bill announcement could be “catastrophic” for businesses in the UK. James Constant, Chair of EnergyForecaster.co.uk said: “The impact of these increased costs will be a serious concern for businesses if it is applied to them. While the exact rise to business energy bills is currently unknown, we predict the Energy Bill will continually push bills up for businesses over the next decade. Our most recent Business Energy Barometer showed that as many as up to 300,000 companies could go out of business if energy bills continue to rise by 15%/annum, which looks increasingly likely due to these increases.” --Energy Live News, 23 November 2012 Green energy subsidies will come back to haunt the government. As energy bills go up, the coalition will become increasingly unpopular. These policies will prove to be economically and politically costly. At a time when many countries are returning to cheap and abundant fossil fuels, Britain alone seems prepared to sacrifice its economic competitiveness. We will undermine our recovery by wasting billions on one of the most expensive, least efficient forms of energy. Millions will be consigned to fuel poverty. The only saving grace is that the government has refused to adopt new unilateral carbon targets, and it may be ready to give shale gas extraction the go-ahead without further impediment. –-Benny Peiser, City A.M., 26 November 2012 Mankind must go green or die, says Prince Charles – The Prince of Wales has warned that mankind is on the brink of “committing suicide on a grand scale” unless urgent progress is made in tackling green issues such as carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, intensive farming and resource depletion. Adopting uncharacteristically apocalyptic language, the Prince said the world was heading towards a “terrifying point of no return” and that future generations faced an “unimaginable future” on a toxic planet. However Dr Benny Peiser, director of Lord Lawson’s Global Warming Policy Foundation, said the Prince’s views were still out of step with mainstream thinking. “He is really a good representative of the environmental movement as such and it is not a personal issue,” he said. But he added that the “extreme alarm and extreme concern” was “over the top and not helpful to the debate. It doesn’t convince any governments or any ministers and in the end it is over the top and won’t be heard.” --Jonathan Brown,The Independent, 24 November 2012 The Central Intelligence Agency has disbanded its Center on Climate Change and National Security, a unit formed in 2009 to monitor the interplay between a warming planet and intelligence and security challenges. The creation of the office drew fire at the time from some Republicans, who said it was an unnecessary expense and a distraction from the agency’s focus on terrorism and other more immediate threats. The agency did not say whether the closing was related to budget constraints or other political pressures. --John M Broder, The New York Times, 21 November 2012



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