Giant climate funds issue giant press releases but not much else.The pledges aren’t being kept, hardly any money is being handed out. The posterchild drowning Islands are being left dangling in danger because the forms are too complicated.
Everyone wants to save the world, but not enough to make the forms simpler:
Red tape’ locking small island states out of billions in climate funds
Many small developing countries are so administratively stretched that they cannot fill in all the complex forms needed to access climate money to help them to reduce emissions and adapt to increasing global temperatures, rising sea levels and extreme weather.
Small Pacific Islands will drown in red tape before they drown in a rising ocean:
Although billions of dollars of climate money is theoretically available, in practice red tape and paperwork makes it is extremely hard and slow to get hold of, says the Commonwealth Secretariat, the central institution of the 53 Commonwealth countries, who are among the hardest hit by climate change.
UN priorities? What’s more important — collecting funds to save the Islands, or saving the actual islands…
Fiji’s high commissioner in London, Jitoko Tikolevu, said the process of applying for climate funds was “very cumbersome”. “We need to be trained how to access the money. It’s one thing having it available, it’s another getting access to it.
The solution? Don’t simplify forms, employ more bureaucrats:
Low institutional capacity, convoluted forms, and a complex and slow approval process all but denies small countries, says the secretariat, which is to pay for experts to work with small Commonwealth countries to help them access money.
Big Climate Fund Puffery
All talk, no action. The Green Climate Fund has spent only 4% of what was promised:
The Green climate fund (GCF), which is based in South Korea and will become the world’s main channel for climate finance, has been pledged about $10bn so far by rich countries, but has only approved investments of about $424m in 17 projects (pdf) since November 2015.
It has an “aspirational goal” to commit $2.5bn this year, which many observers say it is unlikely to meet.
Don’t mix the Green Climate Fund up with the nameless pot of $100 billion which is candidly referred to only as “One Hundred Billion Dollars”. It’s not a Fund to Save Earth,so much as a Fund to get Funds. I’ll call it the OHBD fund. This is a fund that began in Copenhagen in 2009.
Rich countries together pledged to mobilise $100bn (£77bn) a year by 2020 in last year’s Paris climate talks. But, according to new analysis by the Commonwealth Secretariat, since 2009 only $726m has been received by the smallest 31 small Commonwealth states, including Dominica, Guyana, Namibia, Nauru, Solomon Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, Tonga and Vanuatu.
Perhaps with a bit more research The Guardian might find a newer link, but the “OHBD” Fund page is a year old, and most of the links are forbidden. I went looking to see how much of the $100b a year they were getting and spending. The joint statement mentions the “$100 billion dollar goal” many times, but doesn’t mention any specific numbers or achievements except for the word-salad that “initial resource mobilization to exceed $10 billion” in 2014. (What ever that means). So six years after they started they’ve reached 10% (maybe) of their target. Four busy years to go then?
It’s no accident I can’t find a number, the “Key Elements of Our Common Methodology” is that they can’t account:
“It is important to note that current data and methodological limitations prevent us from accounting for the full range of flows that we are mobilizing towards the $100 billion goal at this time, in particular those mobilized through public policy interventions. As such, any near-term estimate produced will necessarily be partial, and will omit some – and possibly a substantial amount – of climate finance mobilized. We intend to continue to improve our methodology as data availability increases and measurement methods evolve, and, as a result, we expect our reporting to become more complete over time.”
More proof it seems that the big climate funds are mostly there to grab headlines.
Meanwhile red tape is warming the world, and increasing deadly emissions. Where are the Environmentalists Against Redtape? Off partying with the Grassroots Form Fillers who could save whole Islands at the stroke of a pen, but are too busy asking for more money to put in nameless UN pots.
Brings to life the phrase, ‘drowning in red tape’ doesn’t it?
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¯
.
“…We intend to continue to improve our methodology as data availability increases and measurement methods evolve, and, as a result, we expect our reporting to become more complete over time.”
…
…but flying hundreds of bureaucrats on charter flights and Lear Jets to air conditioned conference centers in exotic locations do not pay for themselves.
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Correct, you can’t just pluck this CO2 bu!!sh$t out of thin air………oh wait.
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The forms are”Complex”for a reason.This money was “Never”meant to go to the Pacific nations.It was meant to go to the UN only.
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The UN could form a small committee of 3 or 4 thousand employees to administer these funds.
UNEXIT – the sooner the better.
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The UN are old hands at this sort of stuff. Remember their superb ‘oil for food‘
programmescam?152
I thought Australia was selling wheat to Iraq under the Oil for Food program well before 1995.
Australia had long been Iraq’s preferred supplier of wheat because the Australian Wheat Board maintained by far the world’s best quality control in wheat trading. Because Australia had been the traditional supplier it gained recognition of rights in the Iraq trade. It did not take five years of sanctions to show that the food sanctions were starving the Iraqi population.
Maybe in 1995 they signed off on a plan. But my recollection is that the wheat trade was back on before then.
It seems that there were lots of scams in that programme. But the claim that AWB ltd paid $300 million in bribes was an outright lie. The Howard government did not defend AWB Ltd because they themselves were up to their necks in it, and AWb Ltd was in their view a bastard child, not born of the “Free Market”, but of $3 billion worth of wheat which the Australian Wheat Board held on behalf of growers when they abolished it applying their “Free Market Theory.”
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Dead right Ted.
We were grossly penalised for doing business in Iraq the same way that every other company and country did business in Iraq.
And in line with the ABC’s cod of ethics, we all went around cutting our wrists.
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The Australian Wheat Board’s business had a long standing line of communication with Iraq. So when Australia joined the coalition to invade Iraq, AWB Ltd was a very important communicator for the invaders.
There was an earlier example of AWB service outside its normal business. In the days of the Bamboo Curtain, the AWB was one of only a handful of firms around the world which did business through the Bamboo Curtain with China. This trade required considerable assistance from the Australian government.
When the Chinese decided to open up the Bamboo Curtain, this already established line of communication with the Chinese government put Australia in the box seat for dealing with China under the new rules. It wasn’t Whitlam or Nixon who opened the curtain, it was the Chinese. Whitlam got the credit, but the Australian Wheat Board built the way for him to lead the world.
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toorightmate. Just for the record.
I knew that the “inland trucking fees” were being paid when they were being paid, why they were being paid. and how much was being paid. Alexander Downer was a key player with this dealing. There was nothing secret about it, I didn’t have any special sources of information. The Australian government approved, and the UN approved and wrote the cheques. It was all fair and above board.
Yet when Kevin Rudd and the Marxists in our media raised a ruckus on behalf of American trade competitors, the Howard government threw AWB Ltd to the dogs.
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Back again. The destruction of AWB Ltd was part of the same Marxist program as the AGW scam. To destroy private capital and abolish private ownership of land and private management of industry generally. And the Howard government were too dopey to comprehend this.
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In this new age of financial transparency, the “OHBD” Fund page, mentioned by Jo above, says
1) See the outcomes of the Climate Finance Forum on tracking climate mitigation finance, mainstreaming climate change considerations, etc., etc., [with more unusable links]
All are on a server for http://climatefinanceforum.com/ which only gives
So taxpayers why should you all wish to know when, where, who, and how your pledged tax $, £, €, ¥, etc., are being (mis)spent.
Truly a new era in open and transparent administration.
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Well. it’s understandable, really it is. The bureaucrats running the shop have to preserve the privacy of all the accounts receiving the financial flows. They sure don’t want you or the rest of us making a list of all the(ir) bank accounts receiving those funds. They might be traceable.
They’re perfectly capable of full and frank accounting amongst themselves.
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What’s the bet that the entire $100 bill, as is usually the case, is going on “administration”, or some such bureaucratic buffoonery?
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That firm Full & Frank Accounting must be making a motza
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From Jo’s link above
They intend, or is it just another “aspirational goal” to be transparent?
Still with only a few million of taxpayer money why should they have planned for this, and a timely effort on getting ‘transparency’ in place is very difficult, after all they have yet to decide what to tell the public about how they are spending OUR money.
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It is interesting that there is no mention of shrinkage, nor the concept of the giving of gifts, to expedite the consideration of who should be present when matter are discussed. Life is very relaxed in the Islands.
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The Peter Principle thrives in the UN. For these UN sub-agencies, sub-sub-agencies, commissions, sub-commissions, deputy administrators, deputy to the deputy, deputy doodads, and on and on, the bureaucracy can only continue to grow if they hang on to all the money they get. It never ends, it never shrinks, it just grows and grows.
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Explained like that, it sounds a lot like a cancer.
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Perhaps the ‘perilous’ island nations that align with the UN should learn “He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon”
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For the latest news on how the bureaucrats are eating away at the taxpayers pledged fund just look here —
http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en/follow/
They are so busy they can not even find time to update the web page from December last year. It must be so difficult to find a good website administrator when you’ve only got a few million in the bank. But then AGAIN why should they be accountable? It’s only public money!
And the site shows lots of help for those in need?
Well for bureaucrats in need of a nice like Chablis, or cool swim in a private pool maybe but not much else.
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There are encouraging indications that humanitarians and social scientists in the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN) may persuade physicists to correct an error in logic (sloping baseline across the top of Figure 2) that isolated humanity from reality eighty years ago (1936-2016):
http://www.journalijar.com/article/11650/neutron-repulsion–social-costs-from-overlooking-this-power/
My research mentor, the late Professor P.K. Kuroda (1917-2001), first noticed this error in a question to Nobel Laureate F.W. Aston after his lecture at the Imperial University of Tokyo on 13 June 1936.
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Here is the link to a paper on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) on cyclic variations in sunspot counts: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2767274
The flux of cosmic rays in the solar system varies inversely with sunspot counts, probably because most if not all cosmic rays here come from the Sun’s pulsar core. The error in Bethe-Weizsacker’s definition of nuclear binding energy masked neutron repulsion, the source of energy in the cores of ordinary stars like the Sun and galaxies.
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that will help the pacific island nations.
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My research mentor, the late P.K. Kuroda (1917-2001), was a 19-year old student when he noticed a misunderstanding of nuclear energy (E = mc^2) after Nobel Laureate F.W. Aston’s lecture at the Imperial University of Tokyo on 13 Jun 1936.
Fifty-six years later Kuroda reported the misunderstanding on page 7 of his 1992 autobiography:
http://www.omatumr.com/abstracts2005/PKKAutobiography.pdf
Pages 5-8 of Kuroda’s autobiography describe Aston’s lecture and the surprising question from a young physicist when Aston finished.
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Are you actually a bot?
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Oliver is a real person, Gee Aye. At least, as real as you. He just has a few topics that he tends to dwell upon.
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The odd thing is, that Oliver’s topics are usually absolutely nothing to do with the topic on hand.
But Gee, they do have some content. 😉
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Hello Rereke Whakaaro, your face is nice. Would you like to visit me at [email protected] I will be nicely for you.
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Are you having a bad day, Gee Aye?
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I was reading the memoirs of Dr Kuroda, above (Thanks Oliver K Manuel) when I came across this:
My work in nuclear medicine diagnosis involves TC99 as the most important isotope. No one outside the fields of nuclear medicine or nuclear physics has heard of it, which is little wonder, because the main source of the element is from nuclear reactors. Our supplies come from the Australian research reactor known as OPAL (open pool Australian lightwater reactor) at Lucas Heights, Sydney.
What is remarkable about Tc99 is that its properties are so perfect for its use in diagnostic nuclear medicine. It is almost as if God made it for us. In the form that we use it (Tc99m), it is a gamma emitter, which means low radiation dose. It has a short half life of just 6 hours, which means that a sample lasts for just over one day and it can be easily produced from a generator of radioactive Molydenum(Mo99) by a very simple technique. Hence Lucas heights only needs to send us a shipment of Mo99 once a week. That means regular and reliable supplies (most of the time). Just to top it all off Tc has many valence states so it can be linked or “tagged” to many chemicals and molecules which are of biological interest.
90
So?
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So pithy, I had to give it a tick.
Content however was a bit so so.
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Grandpa Simpson is how I’d describe the comment I commented on.
Something something the end.
None of this introduction subject evidence content point of interest conclusion nonsense that essay writers from pre roman times untill now thought important. Let’s all shout with glee… essay writing with peter c
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Thanks, Peter, for the comment.
One of my former students (Mr. Vic Becker) works in nuclear medicine too, so I am somewhat familiar with the favorable qualities of Tc99.
The religious would say “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous!”
[Oliver, please try to avoid off topic matters. Thanks.] AZ
Returning to the topic of climate fund puffery vs science, you can get free access to a new article by Nick Scafetta et al., “On the astronomical origin of the Hallstatt oscillation found in radiocarbon and climate records throughout the Holocene,” Earth-Science Reviews 162, 24–43 (2016) until 10 November by using this link http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1TlSB2weQTZcD
The “astronomical“ origin of the of the Hallstatt oscillation may be completely dependent on an assumed “astronomical“ origin of cosmic rays.
Since the core of the Sun is a pulsar, simple geometry suggests that is the source of most, if not all, cosmic rays striking Earth. [ See references 44-48 in https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10640850/Solar_Energy_published.pdf ]
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Thanks Oliver K.
Off topic but none the less fascinating. I read the whole of Prof Kiroda’s manuscript last night.
[And still off topic. We reserve the first part of the comments on any topic for relevant comments. So let this be the end of the off topic subthread. No more about it. Thanks.] AZ
00
LOVE this article!
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Small nations expecting largesse,
From funds marked for climate redress,
Didn’t get what was due,
As they couldn’t cut through,
The red tape which blocked all access.
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The street-term for this is slush fund.
Using a euphemism is the practice of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive. The term United Nations(UN) is, itself, a euphemism, and those of the UN are masters of the practice. When embedded in sufficient gobbledygook the material is indistinguishable from the work of a 1,000 monkeys texting away on a keyboard for 1,000 years.
If, in fact, cAGW were a problem, then one might get concerned about all this. Otherwise it is just another way of elites taking money from regular folks. Nothing new about that.
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The Indian Government did not seem to be impress by the funds performance or figures…
A discussion paper from end of 2015 —
Climate Change Finance Unit
Department of Economic Affairs
Ministry of Finance, Government of India
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Must be bad when the Malthusian organization of F(r)iends of the Earth are also upset about the lack of transparency over the One Hundred Billion Dollar Fund —
http://www.foe.org/news/archives/2015-10-groups-write-donor-countries-about-100-billion-clima-2
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And
“The EU and its Member States are committed to working with other UNFCCC Parties to advance discussions on the implementation of a robust international framework for the monitoring, reporting and verification of emission reduction activities.”
http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/international/finance/transparency/index_en.htm
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I think the UN is to money what a theoretical perfect black hole is to matter ( yeah OK, mea culpa, I am not an astrophysist, so a bit of licence, please…) , a bit of a mystery and once something ( like money ) enters it, it can never escape…and it draws in and drains the universe around it, for no benefit…..
Actually, thats probably just Communism…hmmm..oh ..hang on…
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And Oxfam is not happy
http://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/2015/10/behind-the-numbers-getting-to-100-billion-in-climate-finance/
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People may be interested in this page from the OECD web-site where they go into the ‘climate change’ financing so far done.
http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/climate-change.htm
Within which there is this pdf ‘flyer’ section on ‘Small island developing states (SIDS): financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’
21
The paragraph under “Key Elements of Our Common Methodology” would not be out of place in a Nigerian scam email touting for access to your bank account.
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So ‘Yes Minister.’
‘…never seek to know for whom the bell tolls, Bernard.’
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Small Pacific Islands are much more likely to drown in red tape than to get submerged by rising sea levels. Most of them have increased in area over the least 30 years. Red Tape is a bigger problem.
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Att: Tom Foolery
A Cootamundra NSW resident who has lived there for fifty years has never experienced flooding like it is right now:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-22/nsw-weather:-residents-evacuated-as-rivers-rise-in-southern-nsw/7866564
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Does this comment have anything to do with Jo’s post — that is, funding for endangered islands?
Cootamundra is in a shallow bowl, geographically speaking, along Muttama Creek. Near the town center the water channel is only a few feet below the houses and streets. As with most such towns the land cover is now hardened (asphalt, concrete, rooftops) and this causes faster runoff and higher peaks of flood water.
Flooding — not a surprise.
Why you bring it up — surprise.
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Doomsday believer and shill John Kerry:
“Mr Kerry said listening to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made him feel like he was living in a “parallel universe” …
~ ~ ~
Listening to John Kerry, one could think John Kerry is already there. Said Kerry:
“A Russian statement said the trucks had “caught fire”, which Mr Kerry called tantamount to blaming “spontaneous combustion”.
. . .
Kerry, who ‘believes’ Global Warming is a bigger threat than terrorism dismisses Global Warming as a cause for the “spontaneous combustion” explosions?
Hahaha … parallel universe? You’re already there.
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Just like Kerry’s response when his nations’planes attacked a hospital in Afghanistan last year .Medicins Sans Frontiere said the attack lasted an hour despite repeated attempts to call it off.After destroying Haiphong/ Hanoi and laying waste to most of Indochina lecturing the heavy-handed Russians reeks of ……well hypocrisy.
30
I have just spent 4 weeks in Russia (as a tourist). The thing that amazed me was that the vast majority of Russian people love Putin and dislike Gorbachov.
The Russian people were very nice, but despite 70 years having passed, did not have a nice word to say about Germans.
Economically, they are now getting on their feet and their living standards are improving appreciably.
They see Putin as a leader.
Can any of you scribes tell me of another world figure which is currently regarded as a “leader” by their country.
As for renewable energy in Russia, forget it – they are very well educated technically.
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When youre at the bottom of a hole, any help up looks appealing….
Perhaps as things improve further, they may re-evaluate things. That said, the russians are pragmatic, so perhaps it suits them right now.
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Originalsteve,
You forgot to nominate a leader.
The Ruskies have liked Putin for over a decade now – are you trying to tell me they are slow learners?
40
To paraphrase Bonaparte: “there is no such thing as good or bad soldiers- just good or bad generals” .
30
He’s ex-KGB…..I suspect it might be dangerous not to like him….
hence the pragmatism
10
Just in case this new “increase of coastal land” study has gone missing. Interesting article about satellite observations showing that the planet’s coastal land is actually increasing.
Gore’s SLR garbage is probably the biggest CAGW scare over the last 30 years. But over the last 30 years the coastal land areas have increased. How does that work?????
BBC link to this new study and the relevant quote.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37187100
Coastal areas were also analysed, and to the scientists surprise, coastlines had gained more land – 33,700 sq km (13,000 sq miles) – than they had been lost to water (20,100 sq km or 7,800 sq miles).
“We expected that the coast would start to retreat due to sea level rise, but the most surprising thing is that the coasts are growing all over the world,” said Dr Baart.
“We’re were able to create more land than sea level rise was taking.”
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http://www.infowars.com/scientists-admit-fake-climate-change-predictions/
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Thanks Dennis,
The video at that link (35 minutes) is of Lord Monkton’s presentation at the “New Dawn of Truth” conference in London earlier this month. At the end it provides a link to video of all the segments of the conference:
http://www.deluxetech.co.uk/climate-change-conference-both-days/
This is the link I’ve been seeking for days, so again, many thanks.
Cheers,
Dave B
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The Maldives solved the problem of climate change and sea level rise by installing hyper-expensive hotels, resorts and airstrips. No more aqualung meetings now! You don’t mention sea levels in front of the uber-rich Russians, Middle Eastern royalty, Eurotrash and Yank tech entrepreneurs who are paying thousands a night for a room by the turquoise-fringed shores. Oh no. In the Maldives now that whole climate thingy is so last century.
If a waiter does happen to mention sea levels by mistake they just explain he’s from Barcelona.
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Well when is this climate change going to happen? Can we get on with it already!? The sky has been falling for over 50 years! Hurry up already!
Why is the left so obtuse? Why are there so many that just believe what they are told? What is Klein going to do when the world just keeps going? What will be her next manifesto? She doesn’t believe her own BS because she had a child! Great bring a life into a world that will end! Oh dear I do not know what to do!! When the world ends should I turn the lights out?
72
Ah but as Alynski used to say ” the issue inst the issue” – mainly climate chnage is just a distraction , the real aim is undermining democracy.
Communist Saul Alynski also dedicated one of his book to the Devil ( look it up )
Communism…gotta love it….
42
I always wonder how these charity organizations grow, what motivates people to start collecting money and where it eventually goes and whether anyone cares? Climate Charities are no different to save the gay white dolphin charities. Or class actions where in Melbourne recently, the entire $6Million settlement went to the lawyers and not the alleged victims. Charities too are often housed in ten storey buildings with lots of staff and the money goes in the front door in wheelbarrows, never to be seen again. Plus business class travel, tax deductibility, total exemption from other taxes like Religious organizations. Consider all the fake hospitality and trades training colleges around Australia acting simply as immigration centres for students and pull throughs for their parents and costing the government billions a year.
So who would be surprised if all the Climate Charity money simply vanished into the hands of the organizers and their friends? No one. Who would care? Those who receive the cash say nothing. Those who hand it over could not afford to say anything even if they knew.
The great thing about a $100Billion dollars worth of elephant repellent a year is that most countries are completely free of elephants and those which have elephants are usually comfortable with them. So with Climate Charities. The only people worried about where the money goes are those who have missed out, but that’s the way with money for nothing. You have to be part of the system. A bit like Carbon Indulgences and an Emissions Trading System.
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You would have to say that the trillions of dollars building 250,000 windmills in countries which do not need them has worked a treat! The world is not warming. Clearly money well spent.
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Send them to South Australia, they need more windmills.
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Consider making the wind farms tourist attractions like Stonehenge or Easter Island. Most people have not seen hundreds of useless things in a line. Magnificent really, testament to a religion which will be lost in the mists of time as people wonder why anyone wanted useless windmills in a time of plenty of power and only in rich countries? You could even supply power to the windmills to make them turn. Surely windmills were build for the shaman gods of wind, sky and water when people rebelled against Judeo Christian religions and went back to the druidic religions? It seems only politicians understood the true nature of windmills, a political device to get elected.
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#Ecocrucifix
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Only when the wind doesn’t blow, so the new ones will prevent blackouts.
MEMO to self: Price generators.
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Honda has a pretty good one for home use…
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When the Green madness ends, the solar companies, the windmill companies, the government Climate Change departments at every level, we the public will be asked to pay a tax to help them cope with the loss of their Green jobs, and the people who ran the Green companies. It would be the decent thing to do, to allow them to make the transition, having saved the planet from excess elephants.
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TdeF,
I always wonder how these charity organizations grow, what motivates people to start collecting money and where it eventually goes and whether anyone cares?
You may wish to ask this charity ‘World Resources Institute’ based in Washington D.C.
I find their report on the One Hundred Billion Dollar (slush)fund quite relax about how the money gets in and accountably goes out…
http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/10/insider-getting-100-billion-climate-finance-how-close-are-we
How Do Current Commitments Measure Up?Last week at the General Assembly in New York, France and the UK announced climate finance commitments for 2020. France will raise its support from its current level of €3 billion ($3.3 billion) a year to €5 billion ($5.6 billion) in 2020; the UK will increase from around £880 million ($1.3 billion) presently to at least £1.76 billion ($2.7 billion) in 2020. Germany had already announced in May that it would double its current provision of around €2 billion ($2.2 billion) a year to €4 billion ($4.5 billion) a year by 2020. Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced it would double its climate finance from around $3 billion a year currently to $6 billion in 2020, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) committed to increase their climate finance to €18 billion ($20 billion) over the next five years.
The new pledges from developed countries total around $6 billion additional finance in 2020…
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O/Topic – the religion of peace shows up again:
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/32692593/explosive-argument-at-perth-university-campus-sparked-by-pauline-hanson-shirt/#stop
TBH I am surprised this was reported at all…
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This video was on the UPF facebook page until the facebook moderators deleted it, funny to watch SJW’s get triggered, blind panic comes to mind.
Hut’s is a good bloke, and like many he’s well educated on the subject at hand, much to the lefties chagrin. LOL 🙂
41
The islanders have already factored-in that AGW is a cargo cult.
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Remember the television news images of “climate change” on a Pacific Island visited by a journalist not long after a cyclone, Palm trees flattened, debris on a beach and an island spokesman talking about the rising ocean and how his people need financial assistance to combat climate change?
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I do remember and cringed at the incredulity, here the ABC presents warriors fighting to stop climate from changing.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4551282-3×2-700×467.jpg
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I’m just amazed we’re still talking about these Islands when they should be beneath the water by now.Apologies to residents who still go about their lives on these islands( and coconut trees,pigs,bats,dogs etc.)
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If only I had that text to include with my business bank loan application. Surly that would have been the magic needed to get funded.
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It’d be a red flag to many auditors – honest ones, at least – as it basically states hey, we don’t what’s coming in or where from, where we put it, or where we send it. The data isn’t there, we can’t find it, maybe someday we will. And the idea that software or an accounting system isn’t available to track it? Laughable.
30
All this presupposes that anyone actually cares whether or not a few small islands disappear, along with their populations, who will simply migrate to the country with the best options of social security available. While I wish those affected no harm, per se, I, and I suspect almost everyone else, couldn’t really care a fig about the likelihood of a few small, temporary (on a cosmic time-scale) islands disappearing back into the blue void of ocean whence they emerged a few thousand years ago.
It’s no great loss, and as they say, “Worse things happen at sea.”
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Orang Putih,
You appear to gravely misunderstand.
Depopulating these islands is OK. However, these islands must be protected or the elites, and their enormous entourage, will have to
vacationconference somewhere closer to where you live.Believe me, you really don’t want that.
😉
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when will ABC do a Four Corners prog on the following!
22 Sept: Australian: Annabel Hepworth: Renewable energy puts ‘strain on system’
Increasing penetration of renewable energy is having a “pressure cooker” effect of straining the electricity system and imposing costs, according to a new paper.
The Energy Policy Institute of Australia paper, written by the University of Queensland’s Simon Bartlett, also cautions that when renewables exceed about 10 per cent, the costs of integrating them into the grid increases, in part because of a potential need to invest more in interconnection.
“A ‘pressure cooker’ effect starts, where the strain on the remaining system causes additional costs and may require wasteful curtailment of surplus renewable generation,” Professor Bartlett, a former chief operating officer of Queensland’s Powerlink and a former director of South Australia’s ElectraNet, writes.
The comments are likely to fuel debate about renewable energy targets…
“Renewable generation by its very nature can quickly disappear, placing huge ramping requirements on the remaining conventional generation, particularly at times of total customer peak load,” the paper says…READ ALL
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/renewable-energy-puts-strain-on-system/news-story/8ac8eec301687970a164de36ec42c885
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Willing to bet that there are people that have absolutely no problems getting hold of this money whenever they need it.
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21 Sept: ClimateChangeNews: Megan Darby: Paris climate pact passes first hurdle for entry into force
Sixty countries have joined the Paris Agreement after a New York ceremony, representing 48% of emissions, boosting confidence it will take effect this year
Brazil, Morocco and Bangladesh were among a tranche of nations to submit their documents at a special event hosted by Ban Ki-moon at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
Leaders of 13 more recorded video messages pledging to follow in the coming weeks, including ***the EU, South Korea and New Zealand…
“I am ever more confident that the Paris Agreement will enter into force this year,” said Ban. “What once seemed impossible is now inevitable… This is a major achievement for multilateralism.”…
It remains to be seen which countries will add the 7% of global emissions needed to take the pact over the finish line.
The EU is seeking political assent from member states to fast-track its ratification, which would add 12% of global emissions. Japan (4%) is likely to pass legislation in its autumn parliamentary session, according to officials. India (4%) and Russia (8%) seem to be in less of a hurry…
For businesses, entry into force of the Paris Agreement is an “important signal,” said Paul Polman, chief executive of consumer goods giant Unilever. “With this clear direction of travel from political leaders, companies can now accelerate efforts to achieve a zero carbon future.”…
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/09/21/paris-climate-pact-passes-first-hurdle-for-entry-into-force/
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21 Sept: ClimateChangeNews: Ed King: Live in New York: Innovating to meet the climate challenge
Follow our climate policy innovation event with the World Bank on Twitter with #Innovate4Climate and watch it live on our webcast from 1400 East Coast Time…
The World Bank Group and Responding to Climate Change Limited (RTCC) are proud to host ‘Innovating to Meet the Climate Challenge,’ a half-day event looking at emerging innovations and the new opportunities they bring…
Event Agenda (all times US East Coast)…DETAILS
Moderator: Ed King, Editor, Climate Home…
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/09/21/live-in-new-york-innovating-to-meet-the-climate-challenge/
22 Sept: SMH: Mark Kenny: Political climate change: Malcolm Turnbull praises UN for progress on arms, global warming, refugees
NEW YORK: A moderate Malcolm Turnbull has emerged on to the world stage as the great multi-lateralist, celebrating global progress in securing higher living standards while praising the usually maligned United Nations for successes on climate change, arms control, and refugee assistance…
“Over the past five years, the UN system has produced a global Arms Trade Treaty, a pivotal global agreement on climate change, a transformational set of Sustainable Development Goals, and a global blueprint for disaster-risk reduction.”…
While Tony Abbott was dubious, Mr Turnbull is an unrestrained enthusiast…
“We need strength – to respond firmly and decisively in the face of tyranny and abuse; to stand up to those who would seek to divide societies through terror, and against those who seek to exploit desperation to their benefit,” he said in a diplomatic slap at the Trump agenda…
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/political-climate-changemalcolm-turnbull-praises-un-for-progress-on-arms-global-warming-refugees-20160921-grl4vy.html
22 Sept: SBS: Paris climate agreement moves closer to enactment
Australia signed the agreement in April, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is also expressing optimism that the deal is closer to reality.
“We are honouring and fulfilling our commitments made in Paris. I urge other countries to do all they can under their laws to ratify the agreement in 2016 and help bring it into effect. Australia is confident that collectively the world will, in the common good, rise to the challenges ahead.”
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With respect, why?
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22 Sept: AllAfrica: Africa: Remarks by President Obama at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, Plaza Hotel, New York
Let me begin by thanking Mayor Bloomberg — not just for the introduction but for the incredible work that Bloomberg Philanthropies is doing, not just in helping this event but for all the work that you’re doing in promoting entrepreneurship and development throughout Africa.
And I’d also like to thank our co-host, and a tremendous champion of investment and engagement in Africa — my great friend, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker…
And under Penny’s leadership, nearly 300 American companies have taken trade missions to Africa, with more than 8,000 African buyers attending U.S. trade shows…
Three years after launching Power Africa, we’re seeing real progress — solar power and natural gas in Nigeria; off-grid energy in Tanzania; people in rural Rwanda gaining electricity. This means that students can study at night and businesses can stay open. And we are not going to let up. Partners like the World Bank and the African Development Bank are mobilizing billions…
http://allafrica.com/stories/201609220004.html
21 Sept: AP: APNewsBreak: Nigeria sues over $12B in ‘illegal’ oil exports
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria is suing several leading oil companies for $12.7 billion of crude oil that allegedly was exported illegally to the United States between 2011 and 2014, officials said Tuesday.
The Federal High Court in Lagos begins hearings next week in cases filed against Nigerian subsidiaries of U.S. multinational Chevron, British-Dutch Shell, Italian ENI’s Agip, France’s Total and Brasoil of Brazilian Petrobas, according to the court register
Officials familiar with the cases said Nigeria’s government alleges that the companies did not declare more than 57 million barrels of crude oil shipments. That was deduced from audits of declared exports and what was unloaded in the United States.
Some shiploads registered less when they left Nigeria and more on reaching the United States, while some entire shiploads were undeclared in Nigeria, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the cases still are in court.
The United States was the biggest importer of Nigerian oil until it began exploiting its own shale oil reserves, ***though Nigerian exports to the U.S. have increased six-fold this year, according to OPEC…
Michael Kanko confirmed that his U.S.-based ImportGenius database was used by attorneys to confirm declarations made to U.S. customs by shippers and importers.
Law professor Fabian Ajogwu is representing the Nigerian government in the case against Chevron, which comes up first on Sept. 30.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/nigeria-sues-oil-companies-12-7b-illegal-exports-143150651–finance.html
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Four new papers agree that sea level rise has nothing to do with humanity.
‘Scientists who have recently attempted to detect an anthropogenic signal in regional sea level rise trends have had to admit that there is “no observable sea-level effect of anthropogenic global warming,” or that the “sea level rise pattern does not correspond to externally forced anthropogenic sea level signal,” and that sea level “trends are still within the range of long-term internal decadal variability.”
– See more at: http://notrickszone.com/2016/08/01/all-natural-four-new-scientific-publications-show-no-detectable-sea-level-rise-signal/#sthash.f8rER59q.Sr3uuXro.dpuf
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The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) perspective:
20 Sept: Jamaica Observer: Caribbean countries to benefit from new global climate fund
NEW YORK, United States (CMC) — Six Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are seeking assistance for funding of climate related projects after the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub was launched here on Tuesday.
“The placement of a climate finance adviser in our ministry is a priority and a critical step in building our capacity and supporting efforts to improve access and use of available climate finance,” the ministry said in a statement.
The hub, which is being hosted by the Mauritius government, is intended to assist governments deal with the ravaging effects of climate change by accessing funding from a global fund target of $100 billion a year by 2020.
Endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of Government, the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub, will place national climate finance advisers for two years at a time in recipient countries, who will help host ministries to identify and apply for funding streams.
The innovative approach will build on-the-ground capacity to access multilateral funds such as the Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund and Climate Investment Funds, as well as private sector finance…
***The Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub is supported with a $1 million grant (AUS) by the ***Australian government and a £1 million grant (GBP) from the Commonwealth Secretariat, plus in-kind support from the Government of Mauritius.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Caribbean-countries-to-benefit-from-new-global-climate-fund
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the big MSM story today:
21 Sept: Office of the Director of National Intelligence: Implications for US National Security of Anticipated Climate Change
Climate change is projected to produce more intense and frequent extreme weather events, multiple weather disturbances, along with broader climatological effects, such as sea level rise. These are almost certain to have significant direct and indirect social, economic, political, and security implications during the next 20 years. These effects will be especially pronounced as populations continue to concentrate in climate-vulnerable locales such as coastal areas, water-stressed regions, and ever-growing cities. These effects are likely to pose significant national security challenges for the United States over the next two decades, though models forecast the most dramatic effects further into the future.
***Click to download the PDF Report (13 PAGES)
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-and-publications/214-reports-publications-2016/1415-implications-for-us-national-security-of-anticipated-climate-change
my choice bits from the report:
This memorandum was prepared by the National Intelligence Council and was coordinated with the US Intelligence Community.
P2: This page has been intentionally left blank.
P4: This page has been intentionally left blank
P9: In Australia, the world’s third-largest beef exporter, the direct and indirect impacts of heatwaves have contributed heavily to a decline in cattle stocks to the lowest levels in 20 years.
***”COULD”…
Climate change ***could become a national security risk, report says
PBS NewsHour – 9 hours ago
21 Sept: Voice of America: Obama: National Security Decisions Must Consider Threat of Climate Change
WHITE HOUSE —
U.S. President Barack Obama says climate change is a growing threat to national security and its impact should be factored into national security-related decisions, plans and actions.
Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum establishing the new policy Thursday.
The memorandum calls for 20 federal agencies and offices to work together to ensure “the best information on climate impacts is available to strengthen our national security,” according to the White House.
The move came on the same day the National Intelligence Council released a report saying climate change “will likely pose significant national security challenges” over the next 20 years, including on U.S. military operations and bases.
It also said climate change is already causing national security problems around the globe and will worsen…
The Presidential Memorandum requires an assessment and policy plan be completed in 90 days.
“That will provide a template that should help encourage this work and provide direction for this work,” Deese added.
The next administration will not be required to enforce it…
“There is every reason for the next administration to follow this blueprint,” Dr. John Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “The facts on the ground and in the atmosphere and in the ocean are not going to change.”…
http://www.voanews.com/a/climate-change-national-security-threat/3519436.html
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and the cow “could” jump over the moon.
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Regional cooling signal spotted in the Arctic.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2016/09/15/arctic-ice-growing-rapidly/#comments
In other nooze: Ship of Fools 2 only escape catastrophe by the skin of their teeth when ice prematurely closed in.
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Our “ship of fools” is far more foolish than their “ship of fools”.
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I am confused. Sea level has been rising at the same rate for a couple of hundred years. Are these the islands that are getting bigger? How did they form? Can you explain the problem to me again?
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OT
For those wondering what happens when the electricity fails just ask the people of Puerto Rico today…
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/21/494931135/massive-power-outage-reported-in-puerto-rico
ChiefIO has id covered at https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2016/09/22/puerto-rico-goes-dark/
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Maybe that ought to tell them something, like, just maybe, barely maybe, they should chuck all that climate and rising sea levels nonsense into the sea and pay closer attention to more useful things. Better economic prospects would be a good place to start, as in tourism. If it can keep Hawaii afloat financially it can work for anyone in the south pacific.
Just a suggestion of course. There’s no need to get impatient. I’m sure that eventually, if they try hard enough they’ll get all the forms filled out and then they can hand out all that money to… …well, to people who will waste it all on combatting a nonexistent problem. But like Jo says, no one cares anyway.
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“All talk, no action. The Green Climate Fund has spent only 4% of what was promised:
‘The Green climate fund (GCF), which is based in South Korea and will become the world’s main channel for climate finance, has been pledged about $10bn so far by rich countries, but has only approved investments of about $424m in 17 projects (pdf) since November 2015.
It has an “aspirational goal” to commit $2.5bn this year, which many observers say it is unlikely to meet.’”
Is there somebody called Clinton who is absolutely in no way at all involved, no way, no, sir, in the operations of this fund?
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Red tape and green lunacy… Welcome to Watermelonesia.
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a MUST-READ:
Carney, Page 14 – Conclusion: Markets that Value the Future:
“Financial policymakers will not drive the transition to a low-carbon economy. Governments will establish the frameworks, and the private sector will make the investments”…”Given the uncertainties around climate, not everyone will agree on the timing or scale of adjustment required. The right information allows sceptics and evangelists alike to back their convictions with their capital.”
PDF: 15 pages: Resolving the climate paradox
Speech given by Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, Chair of the Financial Stability Board
Arthur Burns Memorial Lecture, Berlin
PAGE 13: The International Energy Agency estimates that globally as much as €45 trillion of investment in total could be needed in power supply and end-use efficiency to meet the two-degree target agreed in Paris…
China alone is likely to require around €500 billion a year from 2016 to 2020 to finance its national environmental goals…
For investors, green bond markets offer a stable, rated and liquid investment with long duration. For issuers, green bonds are a way to tap the huge US$100 trillion pool of patient private capital managed by global institutional fixed-income investors…
The green bond market is gradually gathering speed. Annual issuance rose from just US$3 billion in 2012 to US$42 billion in 2015. It could double this year…
To reach escape velocity, market participants and public authorities will need to coordinate to deliver common green bond frameworks and definitions, and other necessary supporting infrastructure, to build local and cross-border markets.
Specific measures could include:…READ ALL
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2016/speech923.pdf
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22 Sept: New Scientist: Should UK’s Royal Society host those who deny climate science?
The scientific society risks undermining some of its good work by hiring out its prestigious platform to people who should be ignored, says Michael Le Page
The invitation plopped onto my editor’s desk yesterday morning. An invitation from Nigel Lawson, former chancellor of the UK, to a lecture by writer and politician Matt Ridley…
Let’s be clear: I’m not arguing that such people should be silenced. They have a right to express their views. Personally, I’d prefer they did it where they don’t disturb the reality-based community, but if they want to hold meetings in obscure venues to talk among themselves, I don’t really care.
What does disturb me is when these views are given a public platform. Ridley’s claims should not be cited as if he were an expert on, say, sea ice, as he was by the BBC earlier this week.
His views are not supported by evidence. He admits the world is warming, but not nearly as much as scientists claim…READ ON
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2106842-should-uks-royal-society-host-those-who-deny-climate-science/
i can’t excerpt more, but Carbon Brief has the following:
In a statement, the Royal Society said “there is scope for debate on the policy responses”. “Of course this is true,” says Le Page, “but if, like [chairman of GWPF, Nigel] Lawson and his so-called Global Warming Policy Foundation, you think climate change is not a serious problem, you cannot seriously discuss the policy response to its threats.”
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The UK’s Royal Society would do itself a favor by openly addressing the error in the Weizsacker-Bethe definition of “nuclear binding energy” (as illustrated by the sloping baseline across the top of Figure 2 in a paper recently published in IJAR).
A hyperlink to the published article on the “sleight of hand” that obscured the source of energy that powers the Sun and the cosmos – NEUTRON REPULSION – is posted in comment #5 above.
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