New Report: Alarm Over Climate Turns People Off

Alarmist claims about the impact of global warming are contributing to a loss of trust in climate scientists, an inquiry has found. Apocalyptic language has been used about greenhouse gas emissions as “a deliberate strategy by some to engage public interest”. However, trying to make people reduce emissions by frightening them has “harmful consequences” because they often respond suspiciously or decide the issue is “too scary to think about”. The inquiry concludes: “Alarmist messages that fail to materialise contribute to the loss of trust in the science community.” --Ben Webster, The Times, 24 June 2014

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Global warming science and climate policy face a severe and deepening crisis of credibility. The whole climate agenda is confronted by growing doubt and criticism, not least as a result of the so-called Climategate scandal, the Copenhagen fiasco and the revelations about the IPCC's alarmist claims based on unreliable sources. The scientific community is haemorr­haging integrity and authority at an unprecedented speed and scale. What we are witnessing is a growing backlash over the suppression of scientific data, the exaggeration of global warming impacts and the maltreatment of climate critics. --Benny Peiser, The Observer 7 February 2010 A drive to improve European Union energy security risks being “held hostage” to a push for a fast and ambitious agreement on future EU climate policies, according to a Polish diplomat. Poland’s calls on EU leaders to unite behind a long-term energy strategy at a summit this week in Belgium are opposed by some EU governments that support cutting greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2030, a goal the Polish government objects to, according to the diplomat, who asked not to be identified, citing policy. The countries, which the diplomat declined to identify, aim to overcome Poland’s opposition to the ambitious climate goals by making a tactical link between energy security and carbon policies, the diplomat said. --Ewa Krukowska, Bloomberg, 23 June 2014

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With its Energiewende, Germany hoped to teach the world a thing or two about responsible green governance. The policy experiment has been a resounding failure on both economic and environmental terms. Germany has taught everyone a lesson, all right: how not to craft energy policy. --Walter Russell Mead, The American Interest, 21 June 2014 Italy’s centre-left government has pledged to cut power bills by 10 percent to help struggling households and small firms, and has tabled a set of measures that include spreading incentives for solar power producers over a longer timeframe. The government says the solar industry has already profited from one of Europe’s most generous incentive schemes, paid for by consumers through their bills, and should now do its part in bringing end-user prices down. In an attempt to curb costs and stop power bills rising, Rome capped incentives, but they will still cost Italians more than 200 billion euros over the next 20 years. --Stephen Jewkes and Massimo Gaia, Reuters, 23 June 2014 Germany’s solar industry association, BSW Solar, has condemned the German government for its stance on PV, claiming that in the first five months of this year the country only installed 818MW of new PV generation capacity. Since the beginning of 2012, BSW Solar claims system prices have fallen in Germany by 25%. Yet between 2012 and 2013 it says, demand for PV dropped by 60%, followed by the similarly poor showing recently between January and May. --Andy Colthorpe, PV Tech, 20 June 2014 Before the economic crisis, Spain was a haven for energy investors. Generous subsidies to renewables turned the country into one of the world’s leading producers of wind and solar power, while high electricity and gas demand fuelled infrastructure growth. After years of wrangling, the government last year pushed through reforms to tackle the deficit by slashing subsidies – some retroactively – and raising taxes. Investors have been up in arms ever since. Iberdrola has responded to the reforms by increasing its investment in other countries. Out of a total of €8.9bn it has earmarked for investment for 2014-16, it plans to invest 85 per cent on projects abroad, including offshore wind farms in the North Sea. --Martin Roberts, Financial Times, 24 June 2014

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