Australia fifth from top in Climate malPerformance Index — “Congrats”

Climate Change Rankings, 2017 by country.

Click if you care. All 61 countries (write in the top three yourself.)

I know you’ve all been waiting for the Climate Performance Index of 2017. It’s hitting the headlines today as countries who are falling in the list get officially told off.

A group called CAN have ranked the world (well, 61 countries) according to how much carbon dioxide they emit, and how many degrees they will alter world temperature… sorry, scratch that… and how much they pander to the climate-religion. For a few moments I was proud that Australia ranked 57th out of 61.  To reach the top of the malPerformance list (I’m aiming at number 61) Australia only has to outdo Korea, Kazakhstan, Japan and Saudi Arabia. We’re all in the officially “Very Poor” and most naughty bottom rank, along with the almost-as-naughty-Canada at 55th, and Russia, Iran, and Singapore.

At the other end of the scale, the top ranked country is France at number four.

Why “four” you ask? Because there is no one, two or three. Apparently, the top three countries are imaginary. This is so fitting:

* None of the countries achieved positions one to three. No country is doing enough to prevent dangerous climate change.

Righto. Lets call the winners:  Atlantis,  Pandora, and Neverland.

It’s hard to imagine the US is only down to 43rd, just “Poor” — even after the Trump effect.

The UK (what were you Brits thinking) ranks an abysmal sixth. Sorry about that. 

I’d like to say that Australia scoring 57th was impressive so I could invert the whole list and call it the Climate Sanity Index, or Least Gullible Countries on Earth, but we all know it isn’t true — indeed the list appears pretty random. Despite Germans, Danes and Australians doing more to cripple their economies than anyone else I can think of, they scored 29th, 14th and 57th.

Consider Denmark, which broke the world record for the highest percentage of wind farm generation in 2015, (and the highest electricity charges) but can’t place better than 14th.  Germany has 25,000 wind turbines and pays practically the second highest electricity charges but ranks 29th. Australia, the largest coal exporter in the world (or close) is crippling its own coal power stations and has  run a whole state into blackness, but gets 57th. We live further from everywhere than anywhere, have the lowest population density, and bigger distances to cover, and virtually the highest population growth rate in the western world, but are still pretending we can cut our emissions by an obscene one quarter. We deserve a Golden Hairshirt Award. Instead, we’re scraping the barrel with Saudi Arabia?  How many wind farms do they have, is it zero, or have they finished the first one yet?

 *Oops on the Headline. We are not third from the top but fifth. Darn. Corrected. Sorry. I know people will be disappointed.  – Jo

9.7 out of 10 based on 65 ratings

110 comments to Australia fifth from top in Climate malPerformance Index — “Congrats”

  • #
    Curious George

    I wonder who pays for these fabulous reports?

    90

    • #
      Yonniestone

      Your taxes of course, these people couldn’t run a raffle in a sheltered workshop.

      200

    • #
      Ron

      You pay for position as it always will be. But what gets me is that China gets great marks for their climate policy which is to do nothing until 2030 and build an additional 1171 coal fired plants to cope with all the jobs they are taking from the rest of the world. Do you think their position on the list be sour grapes?

      180

  • #
    Eugene WR Gallun

    JoNova —

    Atlantis, Pandora and Neverland — It is always a pleasure to read you. Facts, commonsense, and humor. What more could one ask?

    Eugene WR Gallun

    210

    • #
      Grant (NZ)

      No Eugene – the Golden Hairshirt Award was the line du jour.

      140

    • #
      Raven

      Pity there weren’t 52 countries.
      That would open up plenty of jokes about not playing with a full deck . . or missing Jokers etc.
      It’s quite a sham shame . . .

      70

    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      You don’t need to use mythical names. What about the missing real countries: Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, the Maldives, … and so on and so forth.

      This has just been thrown together by a bunch of people with no knowledge of Geography, and even less knowledge (if that is possible), of Geo-politics. In reality, will have little knowledge of how these countries generate their energy requirements.

      I get the impression that this “report”, has grown out of a High School homework project. I give it zero credence.

      20

  • #
    Yonniestone

    So they want to create an imaginary Emit List for an imaginary catastrophe do they?

    How about a list that rates organisations on damage done to people, animals and the environment in reality,

    – People dead from exposure due to not affording heating because green taxes inflated bills.
    – Dangerous heavy metals and plastics produced for turbines that are expensive to recycle if at all.
    – Hundreds of thousands of birds that are indiscriminately killed by (useless) wind power industry.
    – Millions of impoverished people with breathing complications and cancers from burning dung due to green sanctions.
    – Millions of children with no natural life coping skills due to mentally retarded green indoctrination.

    411

  • #
    Renato

    Wouldn’t France’s effective first spot on the list come almost entirely from the fact that it generates so much energy with zero CO2 emissions? From all its nuclear power plants?

    In which case there would also be some sanity at the top of the list.
    Regards.

    200

    • #
      James Murphy

      Sure, the vast majority of electricity in France comes from nuclear, with hydro as the next largest contributor, however you are sadly mistaken if you think there is sanity in the current French government. they are still pushing to reduce their “carbon footprint” in new and expensive ways.

      They are still building wind turbines in various parts of the country, for example…

      Thankfully some of the big silly stuff they announce, like the requirement for all new buildings to have solar panels (I’m simplifying the criteria a bit), gets voted for, and passed, but never makes that crucial jump to becoming an official building regulation that people ‘in the real world’ have to do anything about.

      80

    • #
      Andrew McRae

      That’s also the most likely way that Saudi Arabia will move up the list in future.

      How many wind farms do they have, is it zero, or have they finished the first one yet?

      I’m more interested in the progress on the 4 nuclear reactors they ordered from a Toshiba/Hyundai consortium about 5 years ago.

      30

  • #
    Jason Calley

    It does not matter how well countries do in the fight against CAGW. What is important is that they all get a trophy for participating. “Every country is a special snowflake! Hooray for everyone!”

    🙂

    220

    • #
      bobl

      Every country wins a prize!

      Note to Mal, when you have tripled peoples electricity bills, blacked out an entire state at the altar of socialist greenery and come out 57th then it’s time to call the game rigged and NOT PLAY! Australia instead doubles down on the game with the loaded dice and ratifies a treaty that the biggest economy in the world is about to dump!

      Turnbull, see that light at the end of the tunnel – it’s an oncoming train called the USA, unhampered by the massive impediments to growth that is green homage they will be the go-to place for high energy business – we won’t have a hope of competing with our self-immolation still in place.

      To the UN, the west is just a huge pinata filled with money that they can beat with a stick till the money falls out. I am sick and tired of being the “World Governor’s” (Their own words) whipping boy, and think we should stand up to the bully boys and slap them down. Stop playing the bully boys game, defund the UNFCCC along with Trump. While you are at it defund the corrupted UNHCR money slurp as well and pick another provider say the Red Cross or the Salvation Army.

      200

      • #
        toorightmate

        It is getting very crowded in the naughty corner.
        Time for UNEXIT?

        190

        • #
          tom0mason

          +1,000

          70

        • #
          Just Thinkin'

          toorightmate. We should have got out of the UN a LONG time ago.

          All they do is bash our world and try to bring us down to their level.

          JB, MT and all those others that want One World Government need to
          be voted out at the next election. Which may not be too far away.
          But, we have to get rid of the waffler first.

          20

  • #
    Greg

    We live further from everywhere than anywhere, have the lowest population density, and bigger distances to cover

    That’s not excuse !

    If you all really cared about the future of the planet you’d sort yourselves out and all live in S. A. to save energy instead of selfishly spreading out to occupy all that space and consuming ridiculous amounts of fuel travelling.

    100

    • #
      AndyG55

      “consuming ridiculous amounts of fuel travelling.”

      Not to S.A., though

      101

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        South Australia has lots of unpopulated spaces, the Great Victorian Desert, the Simpson Desert, the space between the Premier’s ears, but none of them are attractive to interstate people. Indeed the steady movement of young people interstate means the SA population growth rate is very low.
        We need a campaign (paid for by Canberra) “Come to SA, the State with So Much More, more electricity costs, more costly water, more levies, more bureaucratic interference etc.

        Andy – I’ll put you down as hunting for housing in Andamooka.

        80

        • #
          James Murphy

          I grew up in Adelaide, and really do like it, and still own a house there. I now live/work in France (though may be moved elsewhere, when the oil price picks up, and my employer resumes shifting pawns around the table).

          Recently, as my job came under imminent threat, I had to seriously consider my future, and my options. One such option was to move back to Adelaide, and live in a house I owe no money on, whilst doing some more study, and/or trying to find work. Unfortunately, this was my ‘doomsday’, or ‘last resort’ alternative, because I just don’t see Adelaide, or South Australia as a place which has a positive future, which is a great pity, for many reasons.

          120

        • #
          Analitik

          Coober Pedy will be the next metropolis in South Australia with the upcoming solar/wind/storage installation (aided by the expertise of KIRIEP). The can do Andamooka next.

          20

          • #
            Raven

            Hmmm . . how would anyone know if Coober Pedy were to become a metropolis.
            Everyone lives underground there . .

            50

            • #
              AndyG55

              The population of Coober Pedy is actually close to 3 million..

              … but they stay well hidden underground to avoid the government. 😉

              50

    • #
      Hivemind

      Live in SA, where they don’t create CO2 generating power. In fact, don’t generate power at all. Like the poorest of Indian or African villages, really.

      80

  • #
    Manfred

    I see the eco-Progressive, proto-globalist paradise of New Zealand (one of the A list places to flee to, for the disaffected Hollywood celebs suffering from US post-election malaise) ranks as 46th on the list, with a ‘poor’ performance! Perhaps the celebs will have a rethink? I hope so.
    New Zealand produces 60% of its base load power from hydro, which supplies all domestic needs. It also adds geothermal and tiny, useless dollops of wind and sun to the mix.

    The UN NGO that is ‘Climate Action Network Europe‘ are simply meddlesome eco-globalist b’stards with an Agenda that obviously has nothing to do with reality.

    190

    • #
      Ross

      Manfred

      Most of your ” meddlesome eco-globalist b’stards” wouldn’t know where NZ is or anything about it. Or they got their information from NZ Greenpeace.

      120

      • #
        Raven

        I recall back in the 80’s when New Zealand banned nuclear powered or armed vessels from entering their ports.
        It was a pretty gutsy move at the time because it mainly affected US war ships. Of course the US wouldn’t declare if their ships were either nuclear powered or nuclear armed. . . and the they were well pi##ed off.
        In response, the US told NZ they could go jump . . . and look after their own security and not rely on a long standing mutual defence agreement.

        It’s a good example of unintended consequences where a nation stands up for nuclear disarmament and simultaneously rejects it’s strongest military ally.

        Personally I reckon Oz should have invaded NZ while we had the chance if only for the good skiing . . . 😉

        60

        • #
          Manfred

          Surrounded by 1900km of hostile Sea and Ocean the pimple on the gnats bottom that is New Zealand is geopolitically positioned to take posturing pontification orders of magnitude above almost everyone else on the Earth without fear of consequence, retribution or any other border orientated inconvenience. It’s irrelevance to all but itself is regarded as a blessing. It is the detachment from reality that is troubling, one that easily lends itself to an unending extravaganza for the homegrown legion of libtard media.

          40

    • #
      Mark M

      Actual headline!

      Dubious carbon credits a thing of the past – Paula Bennett
      http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/bites/302243/dubious-carbon-credits-a-thing-of-the-past-paula-bennett

      Whoa! Wait. What?

      NZ eyes buying 80% international credits to meet target

      “NEW ZEALAND might buy international carbon credits to meet 80 per cent of its Paris Agreement emissions reduction commitment, a Government paper shows.”

      http://www.carbonnews.co.nz/story.asp?storyID=11503
      . . .
      Kiwis should check their wallets and Drain The Swamp.

      100

  • #
    grahamd

    Fantastic Jo, go CO2, the plants need it, and so the world needs it.
    Therefore a problem it is not, in think we should invest in smoke stack bottles, filled with Christmas cheer beer, that will be sparkling wine for many we know, and then they can stop whining, as they watch all that pollution escaping, as the bottle is opened!
    Unfortunately, many will still not have the bottle, to understand exactly what that demonstrates!

    50

  • #
    Bite Back

    Climate Malperformance? Odd choice of terminology to apply to climate or to Australia. What have you got that enables them to even suspect you of being able to control anything about the climate?

    Nothing.

    Please go on with your lives and ignore these pathetic and foolish — what are they, experts maybe — who want to rank you for 2017 before the ink is even dry on 2016.

    They deserve your scorn!

    BB

    90

  • #

    Their ABC and The Age are a bit slow off the mark, this astoundingly embarrassing news isn’t headlining anywhere. They’re still be moping about Trump.

    130

  • #
    PhilJourdan

    Damn! You Aussies are beating us again!

    Take care of my friend when he comes to visit in a month. 😉

    80

    • #
      bobl

      We will… Where from Phil?

      30

      • #
        PhilJourdan

        From the Old Richmond VA. He is heading to Sydney on vacation. Lucky dog! But make sure to send him back! We need his skills! 🙂

        20

    • #
      Raven

      If/when the Donald comes to visit Oz, my bet is he wants to play golf with Greg Norman.

      Crikey, how bad is it when our PM has to get the Donald’s phone number from a golfer. I’ve got nothing against The Shark, but you have to wonder when he’s better connected than our PM.

      Greg Norman for PM?

      60

      • #
        PeterPetrum

        Clearly neither Turnbull or Hockey thought for one moment that Trump would win, despite all the comments and prognostications on this blog, which I am quite sure they both read each day.

        What a demonstration of total political incompetence to have to get a phone contact for the President Elect from an Australian golfer.

        And did Norman hand it over without checking with Trump first? Gets worse and worse.

        Can you imagine the furore if Abbott had done that.

        70

        • #
          Raven

          Good questions Peter. I’ve got a couple of others . .

          Did Malcolm know Hillary’s number? . . that would be interesting.
          And if I was feeling less charitable (as if) . . maybe he just hit the “US_Pres.” button on his contacts list and Hilary picked up the phone? 😉

          50

  • #
    AndyG55

    That ultra-left greenie twerp, Justin Trudeau, from Canada, will be very upset with their position.

    He will make all Canadians SUFFER to climb up that list.

    100

  • #
    AndyG55

    Looking for Venezuela on the list.

    Their negative development should put them near the top. !

    100

    • #
      tom0mason

      AndyG55
      “Looking for Venezuela on the list. Their negative development should put them near the top. !”

      Thus within the criteria of this list, a race to the bottom is beneficial.

      60

  • #
    John F. Hultquist

    It is interesting, astounding really, at the quality of the work they have done.
    Australia is not just 40, nor even 40.6, but 40.66.
    This isn’t important in the OZ case, ’cause you are not close to anyone else. But look at Canada and the Islamic Rep. of Iran, with a difference of one one-hundredth.
    Get busy Canada. Take back your rightful place beside your brothers and sisters in OZ.

    50

  • #

    Hopefully, the Trump administration will do whatever it can to get the US to the bottom of this list where it’s science that matters and not conformance to a political narrative.

    Given where the Saudi’s are, why aren’t they committing billions to skeptical climate research? It would seem to me that the scientific truth is in their best interest. Why would they ever want to see a decrease in the demand for oil?

    61

  • #
    toorightmate

    Unless the Saudis use Brits or Yanks to design a wind turbine and use Pakistanis to erect it, they will never have one.
    Not the sharpest tools in the tool shed.
    BUT they do have a lot of money – thanks to British Petroleum. They donate some of their money to worthy causes such as the Clinton Foundation.

    80

    • #
      Geoff Sherrington

      Did you know that BP originated from money of William Knox d’Arcy from investment in Queensland’s Mount Morgan gold mine in the 1930s or so?
      William spent a lot of his private fortune selling holes in the deserts of Arabia before finally striking paydirt.
      It is an interesting Google.
      Geoff

      30

  • #

    I really like the idea of inverting the whole silly list and calling it the “Climate Sanity Index, or the non-Gullible Countries List”. This would be a whole lot more useful.

    110

  • #
    bobl

    I am Soooo sick of this nonsense, look at Australia’s Chart see the area we “Lag in” is renewables, Windmills and Solar panels that DON’T SAVE ANY CO2.

    Not only that, but do you notice that there is no bar for “Performance of Carbon Sinks” so the added forestry we do and the increase in carbon sinking that CO2 enrichment has caused that is at least twice our emissions meaning that we are at least -550MT CO2 equivalent (Yes that’s right, on a Whole of Biosphere basis we emit at least 550 MT LESS CO2 than we did in 1990 equivalent to all our anthropogenic emissions combined)! Sinks (of course) aren’t counted and so we rank 57th! – How RIGGED is this game.

    Somebody in government GET A BRAIN and dump this toxic bulls..t.

    /rant

    130

  • #
    Mark M

    Standards are high for No.1. Perfect weather is a pre-requisite:

    Paris floods made almost twice as likely by [Doomsday Global Warming] say scientists

    And, France doesn’t have a tax on coal.

    Expect more floods. Unless there is drought.

    70

  • #
    PeterS

    Yawn. Also, GIGO.

    60

  • #
    Ruairi

    To win a slow-bicycle -race,
    First to cross is a total disgrace,
    So the C.A.N. Emit List,
    Is by skeptics dismissed,
    With Australia ‘very good’ in fifth place.

    80

  • #
    el gordo

    We have marginally improved on last year.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/08/australia-ranked-third-last-in-climate-change-performance-of-58-countries

    Its a warm and comforting feeling being so far from the top.

    50

  • #
    MudCrab

    Okay, if I understand that graph correctly, 20% of your total grade comes from ‘Policy’.

    So if you just promise as a country to hug a lot of trees and build some poley bear safe zones some vague time in the future you can scam a quick 20 marks?

    No actually do. Just a lot of seem.

    Is this the Irony Clause?

    80

    • #
      bobl

      Oh, you forgot the “Trigger warnings” for snowflakes…

      70

    • #

      Notice that an unusually large fraction of China’s ranking is the policy metric. As Trump inferred (although he didn’t quite phrase it right), China is on the green bandwagon because ignoring green policy puts them at a competitive advantage and since they will be ignoring the policy anyway, they can make their own policy look like whatever the greenies want to see. I’m pretty sure that they’re not stupid and understand full well that the IPCC is dead wrong about the magnitude of the sensitivity which in effect gives them the moral high ground relative to what’s best for their own people.

      50

      • #
        el gordo

        Deng Xiaoping brought about an economic revolution and Xi intends to match that on the world stage.

        For strategic and commercial reasons Beijing is prepared to go along with this global warming fantasy, its a win win situation.

        30

      • #
        Raven

        . .they [China] can make their own policy look like whatever the greenies want to see.

        Didn’t China underreport coal consumption by 15% or something? The blowback was zero.
        Similarly, they declare they won’t do anything different till 2030. Blowback was less than zero.

        Ergo . . greenies approve of China.

        Adani look to open a coal mine destined entirely for export to India and heads explode.
        Conclusion: Greenies don’t appreciated a decent curry.

        (I was going to hint at what might explode with that curry, but decorum is doesn’t permit ;))

        30

  • #
    Lord Jim

    There will no doubt soon be another indicia: $$$ tithed to the UN climate fund.

    40

  • #
    John Michelmore

    I’m doing my bit and I’m proud of it.
    1) I live in SA
    2) I’m paying dearly for living here
    3) I support the renewable bee hive wax candle industry
    Please send your donations to the following address because you feel sorry for me!

    60

    • #
      AndyG55

      “Please send your donations to the following address because you feel sorry for me!”

      Sorry John… NO !!

      Your choice to live in SA.. you get enough of our money as it is.

      Maybe you should brush up on your submarine building skills,

      … job for this life, and the next. 🙂

      20

  • #
    Heather Brown (aka Dartmoor Resident)

    As a Brit, I’m ashamed to see us so high up. I suppose it’s because of our absurd (and hopefully impossible to achieve) policy and goals combined with the dreadfully high energy costs which have driven so much industry away.

    If only we could produce our own Trump (at least he is against an offshore wind farm near his land in Scotland).

    50

  • #
    Roy Hogue

    “Congrats”

    Third place! That is indeed an honor. Keep up the good work and Australia maywill go broke. Which would put you in good standing with the crowd that has ears but nothing between them, eyes but nothing behind them and…well…you can’t get any more lacking than that except to become world renown for finally saving the planet from… …from nothing. 😉

    Or maybe you should tell them, “No, thank you.” Politely of course.

    If there is ever a prize for the dimmest wit on the planet it won’t be one you could hand out. There are too many possible candidates and you could never bestow the honor on all of them.

    50

  • #
    ROM

    I thought that Kim Jong-un’s North Korea would have been a shoo in for at least one [ or maybe two ] of the top 3 positions.

    With that above comment in mind, one can get an insight into what is a group of extremely self righteous condescending anti western and anti democracy green hard left watermelon bigots who drew this table up.

    OK strong words but how else do you describe the fact that the UN has 193 countries / nation states listed as members and a disputed total of 206 nation states on this planet.

    The ignorant green left climate alarmist bigots who drew this list up, have listed just 58 countries out of that 193 in the accepted list of UN member countries / nation states and are proclaiming their anti democracy bigotry in a most spectacular fashion.

    I can only find two or perhaps three nations out of that list of 58 nations who are truly not democratic with elected and functioning parliamentary systems i.e. the outsiders are Kingdoms or full on dictatorships and / or do not elect parliamentary representatives and have a functioning representative system of government .

    They are Saudi Arabia, a Kingdom with no elected representative parliamentary system.

    Egypt which at present is a military dictatorship.

    Kazakhstan which nominally a elected parliamentary Republic but is ruled by the ruthless dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev and his family.

    So from this we can only assume that the originators of this list are true anti democratic and bigoted leftists who are attempting to force responsibility for the world’s still yet to be seen, let alone proven ” Catastrophic Climate Change” onto the western and democratic nations alone.

    A short perusal of the nations in that list will show that the by far majority of those nations are some of the most democratic and consequently the most advanced nations in openess and freedom on this planet.

    And where the authors of this list really allow their true colours to show i.e.; bright red with green stripes , are seen in the description of a Presidential parliamentary democracy of “Taiwan” which is recognised all over the world as Taiwan except in the Chinese hegemony.

    The condescending, arrogant authors of this list have labeled “Taiwan” as “Chinese Taipei”.

    62

  • #
    ROM

    Off topic;

    Oh Boy!
    What the election of just one man can do to an entire taxpayer funded, totally parasitical system with tens of thousands of climate parasites now desperately hanging on and desperately hoping that something, anything will happen to alleviate their distress at finding that the gravy train is running off the rails far from home and they are no longer going to be collecting their checks and signing their expense accounts in some lavish fleshpots as usual somewhere in an exotic and very expensive location next year and all at their tax payer’s unwanted expense.

    The One Man of course being Trump

    —————-
    Via; GWPF with cartoons by Josh

    COP22: IS THE GAME OVER?

    There is no draft text circulating, no words to correct, no red lines, indeed no lines whatever, a bad sign given we all up sticks in less than 50 hours. ‘The EU is reassessing the value in having these [COP] meetings every year. They are expensive and inefficient.’

    81

    • #
      Dennis

      Maybe they can obtain a mothballed steam engine and get their former leader, the railway engineer, to show them how to power it with sticks and water?

      40

    • #
      Raven

      Strewth . . only the UN fertile imagination could spawn a name like “High Ambition Coalition”.
      Without any Viagra $$ from Donald Trump they’ll need to rename it “Impotence Inc”.

      50

    • #

      These EU meetings of these COP meetings in exotic venues absolutely stench of corruption!!!
      What’s wrong with teleconferencing in the office, with tea and sandwiches for lunch like normal workers!!!
      GeoffW

      50

  • #
    pat

    ROM –

    there was one ***”touching moment”! lol

    17 Nov: BBC: Matt McGrath: Countries unite to defy Trump climate threat
    Delegates from more than 190 countries meeting in Marrakech have issued an urgent call for action to tackle climate change…
    It is being seen as the united response of countries to the threat of president-elect Donald Trump to pull the US out of the landmark agreement.
    Campaigners say it shows the strength of the global consensus on the issue.
    The promise by Mr Trump to “cancel” the Paris Agreement and ***end financial support for international climate action has galvanised the countries meeting here in Morocco…
    Aware that current plans submitted by countries are not enough to keep the world from dangerous levels of warming, the proclamation calls for an urgent increase of ambitions on cutting carbon…
    “It just goes to show how serious countries are about getting on with their climate action plans in order to protect their economies and their people,” said Liz Gallagher from the E3G climate think-tank.
    ***”It was a touching moment of solidarity after a bruising week.”
    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38021673

    17 Nov: UK Independent: Adam Withnall: COP22: Who is left to save the world if America pulls out of Paris Agreement?
    Barack Obama was one of the climate’s greatest champions, but Trump will not follow in his footsteps. Could China or Europe step in and take advantage?
    PHOTO CAPTION: #notmypresident protest: Trump has caused uproar by threatening to cancel the Paris accord, claiming man-made climate change is a Chinese hoax
    The dust still hasn’t settled here in Marrakech from Donald Trump’s shock US election victory, but attention at the UN climate summit is starting to turn towards how the rest of the world might soldier on without American leadership…
    One theme emerging from the COP22 summit is the idea that shifting to a greener planet is not a matter of sinking money into an endless budget for “aid”, but a business opportunity…
    But Chinese representatives here point out the “gigantic size” of its own emissions – Chinese real estate alone accounts for 8 per cent of global emissions, similar to the total emissions of the EU.
    One part of China’s plan involves phasing out steel and cement emissions by 2050 – a scheme which, on its own, would cut as much pollution as the entire emissions of the UK (twice over).
    Riffing on Mr Trump’s own claims to deal with what he sees as the problem of Mexico, a representative of one Chinese NGO joked that China would be willing to cut the equivalent of all US emissions – “particularly if President-elect Trump gets his way” – adding that “we would get the US to pay for it”…
    The suggestion is that the major cities and regions of Europe – as the cradle of Western civilisation – can lead the way to a kind of climate enlightenment…
    http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/donald-trump-paris-agreement-cop22-who-will-save-the-world-from-climate-change-a7422486.html
    first comment: China is left to save world with a pre-emptive nuclear strike to annihilate USA to stop runaway global warming that would make rice and wheat impossible to grow in China causing the death of over a billion of their citizens. China will not stand by while Trump destroys our planet even if they forfeit billions of dollars which America owes them.

    second comment: Why would China do that? China is by far the world’s biggest polluter.

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      Raven

      “we would get the US to pay for it”…

      Hilarious . . I love it.
      The US would pay for China’s emissions reductions and Mexico will pay for their wall.
      Jobs and growth . . jobs and growth . .

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      Graeme No.3

      Trump is clearly wrong about man made Climate Change being a Chinese invention. They didn’t invent it, they just saw through the scam in seconds and have played the warm-mists like fish (except that over rates the intelligence of those being played).
      The Chinese have reached back into history and realise that China was better off when there was a warmer climate so they couldn’t care less what the IPCC says, they will build their economy and if it turns out that the climate is warmer they win. If the climate behaves as natural then they still win as they will be far richer than if they had listened to those silly fools. At the same time they are increasing investment in warm countries likely to be less affected by any global cooling e.g. Australia, and a number in South Africa and South America so they have agricultural security.
      Wily Orientals and incredibly stupid Europeans.

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        AndyG55

        Graeme, where was Maurice Strong living during the “invention” of the climate scam?

        I also wonder how much that other creep, Soros, was involved.. where was he?

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        “Trump is clearly wrong about man made Climate Change being a Chinese invention.”

        In a way, he was correct where it’s the Chinese that invented the scam to give the issue lip service, to act only when it’s in their best interest and to take advantage of others who act to put themselves in a less competitive position.

        This is the scam I though he was referring to, not the scam involving the distortion of science that originated with the IPCC.

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          Graeme No.3

          The Great Global Warming scheme started around 1972. By 1988 it was in full flight with hysterical claims making headlines and bringing the media on board (why work when you can quote a scary press release?). The switch to “Climate Change” was a marketing decision to cover up the lack of predictive success and get more things that could be hyped as coming disasters.

          Remember that the formation of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on CLIMATE Change) was in 1988, long before Maurice Strong went to Peking. As for the Chinese look at what they do, and have done. They’ve built coal-fired power stations in vast numbers (as well as lesser amounts of nuclear & hydro) – hardly evidence that they are convinced believers. They have convinced the believers that they are fully supportive by committing to increasing emissions until 2030 !!!! and the fools believed it.
          They have just worked the hysteria to their advantage.

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    Ian Hill

    Congratulations to Turkey for getting where they are (51st) without even having a climate policy!

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    David Maddison

    Slightly off-topic. A new word.

    Post-truth. (Not a joke.)

    Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief:

    ‘in this era of post-truth politics, it’s easy to cherry-pick data and come to whatever conclusion you desire’

    ‘some commentators have observed that we are living in a post-truth age’

    https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/post-truth

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/16/post-truth-named-2016-word-of-the-year-by-oxford-dictionaries/

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      the word is 6 years old now

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        David Maddison

        It was actually used as early as 1992 and possibly earlier but was only recently accepted as a word of the English language when it came into common usage this year.

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          do you have a citation for that? Since it is a compound of two common words each with quite broad meanings, it has possibly been used even earlier but I would doubt that the meanings were all the same each time the words were compounded. I’m guessing your 1992 example is a different usage that died and the word was re-coined more recently with a different meaning.

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    pat

    17 Nov: AP: US solar panel maker to cut 1,600 jobs, halt plant in Ohio
    TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The biggest U.S. manufacturer of solar panels is cutting a quarter of its jobs worldwide and will halt production at its only North American plant in Ohio.
    First Solar Inc. says it’s facing challenging market conditions and needs to retool operations to begin making a more efficient solar panel.
    The company based in Tempe, Arizona, will cut 1,600 jobs worldwide.
    Details about the restructuring plan haven’t been released, but the company says it will stop production at its plant near Toledo that employs about 1,400 workers…
    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OH_FIRST_SOLAR_CUTS_OHOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

    13 Nov: CBS San Francisco: Waste From California Dairy Farms Presents Climate Change Challenge
    Got milk? Chances are it’s from California. There are more dairy cows in the Golden State than anywhere else in the country. But all that milk and cheese comes at a cost to the planet.
    Tom Frantz keeps a running count. He says dairy farms have taken over his farming community in the San Joaquin Valley. “There are ten of them within what I call smelling distance of my home,” he said, noting they’ve moved in in just the last 10 years…
    “We went from zero cows to about 60,000 cows, within about five miles of where I live.”…
    The state’s offering tens of millions of dollars in subsidies for dairies to install so-called digesters, giant tarps that cover manure pits and turn the methane into energy.
    But only 13 dairies out of 1,500 have working digesters, according to a recent report by the California Climate and Agricultural Network .
    “You look elsewhere across the country and in Europe and there are thousands and thousands of digesters, so this is not a new technology…
    The California dairy industry has also managed to dodge, at least for now, the requirements of a landmark climate bill the governor signed into law this year. The law calls for reducing emissions of short-lived climate pollutants like methane by 40 percent by 2030.
    On the last day of the session, the dairy industry added language that exempts it until “on or after 2024.” Even then, dairies would only have to comply if the regulations are economically feasible. If not, the state would have to reduce the goal in the strategy for the dairy and livestock sectors…
    Raudabaugh says the state so far is offering solutions that aren’t feasible, such as subsidies for digesters. “The grant money only works if there is infrastructure there to move the gas, the clean methane, so right now that is not something that has been widely looked at,” she said. As a result she says many dairies are planning to leave California.
    It’s all very frustrating to farmers like Tom Frantz. “They will just go to another state where they are not regulated and still emit the same amount of greenhouse gases,” he said. The only real solution he says: smaller dairies, and fewer cows. “The bottom line is we can’t afford to consume as much dairy products in our diet, if it’s going to overheat the planet,” he said.
    About half of all the milk produced in California goes into making cheese, and about 60% of the cheese is mozzarella, used on pizza. Frantz sees a direct connection between eating pizza and greenhouse gases.
    http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/11/13/waste-from-california-dairy-farms-presents-climate-change-challenge/

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      David Maddison

      Hopefully those solar panel workers can be re-employed doing something useful like building coal or nuclear power plants which President Trump will no doubt allow to be built again.

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    tom0mason

    The basic premise of there list is so much dross.
    If each nation clubs together and takes some arbitrary actions then the climate will become better!

    It’s laughable piffle!

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    Surprised that brits came as high on the naughty list as they did. The Northern Winter will soon be upon them and I’m sure they will be able to bask in in their glory through those long Winter nights! No hard feelings!
    GeoffW

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    Reality Observer

    Kudos for your excellent finish! We Yanks plan to beat you next year, though, so look out!

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      David Maddison

      Well Reality Observer, you’re going to have to try extra hard because you have non-CO2 producing nukes and we don’t (sadly). Hopefully our few remaining fossil plants will get us over the line again….

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    Phillip Bratby

    Europe will move up the list after all the blackouts this coming winter.

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    theRealUniverse

    The orange bit “climate policy’ read : signing stupid worthless agreements.

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