Winning: Huge UN Climate junket only attracts four leaders

2018, Poland: When it comes to national leaders, nobody turned up

The second week of the UNFCCC conferences was always the one where the politicians swarm. But this time the only leaders are the ones from tiny pacific atolls who come in hope of increasing their GDP, one grant at a time.

Nina ChestneyAgnieszka BarteczkoKATOWICE, Poland (Reuters) – Brexit turmoil and French riots have kept many government chiefs away from the final and crucial week of U.N. climate talks, with only four national leaders present on Tuesday.

Out of around 134 national representatives delivering speeches over the next two days, only four are heads of government: the president of Kiribati and the prime ministers of Samoa, the Cook Islands and Tuvalu – nations among the most vulnerable to climate change.

No Leonard Di Caprio either.

If there was real money and power going down here, or leaders thought voters loved climate action, they would be in Poland.

Looks like winning.

h/t Pat

PS: Good luck to Great Britain. In the long run, will it be a real hairdryer, or EU approved one?

PPS: Good luck to the Yellow Vests. Watch Craig Rucker from CFACT interview the Gilets Jaune


The protest is about millionaires … with their private jets, talking about the environment.

9.9 out of 10 based on 57 ratings

100 comments to Winning: Huge UN Climate junket only attracts four leaders

  • #
    Yonniestone

    Its a start but listening to ABC radio at this hour the pushing of the climate agenda and globalization is rampant, worse still is the people that blindly accept it as truth.

    401

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      I think eventually we will have a Soviet scenario whereby the ABC will pretend to publish “news” , and we will pretend to believe it….

      392

      • #
        PeterS

        For many of us the ABC has already become our version of “Pravda” of the old Soviet Union. For this reason alone a true Liberal government would have sold it off or closed it down a long time ago.

        311

    • #

      And running a close second has been The Age, which surprised me when they published this, but fails to mention the reason why that’s the case. The reason being that we are spending billions subsidising inefficient and expensive renewable energy and getting rid of efficient and cheap conventional power sources. Just a cursory examination of why and how power prices have escalated of the last decade or so would easily explain the causes. And this is the cost to just household bills, the article completely ignores the cost added to every aspect of life, making the actual increase far more than reported. And if The Age thinks energy prices are high now, just wait, they ain’t seen nothing yet::

      An update by the Australian Bureau of Statistics of the consumer price index shows a spike in the past 12 months in how much of an average Australian’s weekly spending is going towards electricity expenses.

      As recently as 2005, just 1.6 per cent of a household’s spending went towards electricity. Last year this had climbed to almost 2.2 per cent.

      Over the past 12 months, the share of electricity climbed by 17 per cent to now account for 2.5 per cent of household spending. It is the highest proportion of spending accounted for by electricity since it was separated from other sources of energy in records that go back to 1964.

      “Energy became less affordable in 2017-18,” AER board member Jim Cox said.

      He said the number of households being disconnected had also risen, with more than 72,000 households’ power being cut off across the east coast, excluding Victoria, after they failed to pay their bills.

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    • #

      And has anyone noticed the breathless and near hysterical reporting of today’s weather in Victoria and Queensland (at least on Sun Lies on Seven)? It’s like this is a Biblical event never before seen.

      202

      • #
        robert rosicka

        I still remember the big wet of 2017 Dennis but we did rebuild .

        50

      • #
        Greebo

        Haven’t watched SunLies since it was KRuidd’s regular gig. Thank you for your service

        50

      • #
        el gordo

        Aunty is playing it with a straight bat, not a word on climate change.

        https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-12/bom-issues-severe-weather-warning-as-major-storms-forecast/10610060

        But not mentioning that global cooling has begun is a sin of omission.

        90

        • #
          robert rosicka

          Just listening to local radio (abc) and they after much prompting are getting callers to say they have never ever seen so much rain .

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          • #
            el gordo

            Selective memory.

            As we drift into a cooler regime the ABC will recognise the BoM seasonal forecast is a washout, how on earth can they predict climate change into the distant future.

            I see aunty easing off on the catastrophe meme and in this way its a resounding victory for our side, as the Australian Brainwashing Company grudgingly moves back to the centre.

            90

            • #
              robert rosicka

              Got stuck in the shed by the latest downpour and they were talking to a Cherry grower near Eldorado who reported 190mm of rain and the first question was surely that’s never happened before and the answer was priceless.
              Yep back in the seventies.

              140

            • #
              yarpos

              Early days yet, they will just report the facts for now. Give it a few days and we can expect that the “it can all be explained by AGW climate change” cue Peter Hannam stage left at Fairfax.

              20

            • #
              NB

              ‘Australian Brainwashing Company’
              Almost perfect. But what about:
              Australian Brainwashing Co-op.

              20

          • #
            GreatAuntJanet

            We did get a delicious 33 mls last night out here in the central west, and more showers coming. I remembered what it was making the noise on the roof from before, so I am not afraid.

            40

          • #
            Ted O'Brien.

            I think I’ve only twice in my life seen more dust than this morning. We have a good season here, though dams are low, but clearly somebody is still in drought.

            00

      • #
        PeterPetrum

        As at the time of writing (3:20EST) Mwlobourne has had 16mm and Adelaide less than 5mm.

        “Never seen rain like it”. Humfff!

        40

  • #
    Gordon

    Like I said in a previous post, maybe…. just maybe the world is waking up. I hope so.

    220

    • #
      Robdel

      Theywill only wake up when darkness descends, in other words, no electricity for long periods.

      160

    • #
      PeterS

      If that is the case we should see Shorten lose the next election by a landslide despite the failings of the LNP. Somehow I don’t see it going that way but then again almost everyone in the media thought Clinton was going to become President. It will be an interesting election result for us to say the least.

      90

      • #
        el gordo

        The LNP should win in a canter, with their decentralisation plan the States have accepted.

        It solves the immigration problem and the infrastructure spend a huge boost to the economy.

        On the question of energy, coal is back in the mix because of the need for baseload power for the new cities.

        41

  • #

    The reason that no major leaders turned up to this years junket is that there is no point. After over 20 attempts to try to control global emissions the UN has effectively admitted defeat. Take the UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2018. In its ninth addition, it is the first time that it looked at the contributions of the G20 countries. I looked at the data. With 78% of global emissions, nine of these countries project that with policy they will increase their emissions from 2015 to 2030. Just slightly less than compared to without policy. The USA – without doing anything – will have a bigger emissions decrease from 2015 to 2025 than the EU28 in 2015 to 2030 with all its vast expenditure on renewables.
    Further, the EGR 2018 does not believe many of the emissions-reducing countries will achieve their emissions “commitments”.
    Leaders of developing countries will not turn up as they will not get any money. The developing countries know it is a game, that if played would be severely damaging to their countries. When they submitted INDCs back in 2015, many adopted a similar policy. First was to project highly exaggerated “Business as Usual” emissions growth. Then to claim a lower growth emissions growth pathway will billions of dollars of financial assistance. My third chart shows the BAU emissions growth for 8 of the most populous countries outside of the G20. With one eighth of the world’s population and just 4% of global emissions, they collectively claim under BAU scenarios emissions will grow in 15 years by 143% to 5.1 GtCO2e between 2015 and 2030, when population will grow by 25%. On average, these countries claim a similar 6% emissions growth to that of China from 1990 to 2010, when its GDP growth was 10% pa.

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    • #

      I have recently added another post on the UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2018. What I find significant is the implied, but clear, admission that the attempts to reduce global emissions have failed. For instance in the main points of the Executive Summary are comments like:-

      (G)lobal GHG emissions in 2030 need to be approximately 25 percent and 55 percent lower than in 2017 to put the world on a least-cost pathway to limiting global warming to 2°C and 1.5°C respectively.

      (T)his original level of ambition needs to be roughly tripled for the 2°C scenario and increased around fivefold for the 1.5°C scenario.

      There are the usual exhortations for “unprecedented and urgent action” But it is not like Shakespeare’s Henry V rallying his men with a “once more unto the breach chaps and we will crack it” but more about like “My good fellows, if you are really going to breach the defenses we need to upgrade from the colorful fireworks to a few kegs of proper gunpowder, then make a few genuine sacrifices. And I will be cheering you all the way.

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      • #
        TdeF

        What is extraordinary is that if they were really concerned about CO2 levels, they would be measuring them and the effectiveness of 350,000 windmills in reducing them. Apart from natural sources of CO2, the problem with doing this is that there has been no effect whatsoever on the steady growth of CO2 in the atmosphere. Measuring what you are trying to achieve would be so depressing and people would stop paying for windmills.

        It’s almost as if mankind had nothing to do with it, that a warmer ocean stuffed with 98% of all CO2 released more CO2. ‘Climate Scientists” know that when beer warms up, it absorbs CO2. This is called Beer Acidification. Then the CO2 warms beer and so warm beer attracts more CO2, producing catastrophic runaway beer warming resulting in very fizzy very hot beer. Global Beer Warming. Isn’t The Science wonderful?

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        • #
          Kevin Lohse

          I’ve noticed that. When sitting watching the Saturday afternoon football on the TV, my glass of beer slowly and hitherto inexplicably disappears. I now know that this phenomenon is due to evaporation caused by CRBW. Thanks for the info.

          120

        • #
          sophocles

          Of course they’re not interested in monitoring CO2 levels. Whyever would they want to do that?

          They think they are right on the verge of succeeding. Try this … It’s rather scary. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8JRCoSgsUU ]

          The aim is, as announced by Christiana Figueres, i… to destroy Free Enterprise and Capitalism and replace it with a resource-based energy-driven economic system called Sustainable Development, Green Economy aka Technocracy. This goes back to before WWII.

          Kevin: CRBW is a long known and well understood effect. It’s always the cause of sufficient stocks of beer being kept in the house. It’s truly Okay so long as the beer isn’t spilt or otherwise wasted but I don’t agree with the science TdeF has quoted. It’s too pseudo-scientific, like climate, to be possibly true, especially the definition of Beer Acidification. Flat Beer (shudder) is most definitely not acidic. (Offensive to the palate too!) BA is falsified by all those little CO2 bubbles rising to the top of the stein and is regarded by 97% of Beer Researchers as the cause of the head.

          Unless your TV is involved and the footy is being really sneaky …

          🙂

          40

          • #
            sophocles

            Oh yeah, that reminds me:

            You mentioned windmills, TdeF:
            Iceland has developed a vertical windmill impeller which might just prevent the health damaging infra-sound and the bird/bat slaughter from/by ye-old standard windmill three bladed fan.
            [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlxz-KzebbQ ]

            This impeller can be scaled to extreme dimensions.

            40

  • #
    OriginalSteve

    What if they gave a war, and nobody came?

    Much the same….the Climate Comrades made another “call to arms” and everyobe was…er….busy…..

    Oh dear….. 🙂

    250

  • #
    Spetzer86

    Gas is going for USD$1.89/US Gallon here in the American mid-West. We’re actively fracking for a low-cost fuel future!

    160

    • #
      Bill In Oz

      How many liters in a US gallon ?

      At the moment here in South Australia unleaded in around $1.20 a liter..Buta good proportion of that price is taxes

      70

      • #
        RickWill

        Near enough to AUD0.7/litre. (0.26l/gallon USD0.72=AUD1)

        Victoria has petroleum price at AUD1.55/l and it has been as high as AUD1.70/l this year.

        60

      • #
        John Westman

        To my knowledge, there are about 3.8 litres to the US gallon.
        In Australia. we use the imperial gallon which is slightly larger than the US gallon. The imperial gallon is about 4.5 litres

        70

        • #
          OldGreyGuy

          In my time converting the computer systems in an oil company an imperial gallon = 4.54619 litres

          Can’t seem to get that number out of my head no matter how much I drink.

          80

      • #
        Another Ian

        Round figures 4

        40

    • #
      Binny Pegler

      1 us gallon = 3.78lts, $1us = $1.39aud so that’s about $0.695aud/lt – We can only dream.

      Curretly in rural Qld we’re paying $1.70aud/lt that = $4.62us/gal! Probably something that should be more widely published.

      In Australia if you work hard and earn $100 the Govt takes $33 in income tax

      You then spend the remaining $67 to buy fuel the Govt takes $6.7 in GST plus $23.45 in fuel tax

      So from the $100 you work hard to earn the Govt has helped themselves to $63.15

      If they spent that money carefully and wisely for the overall benefit of the country, with and eye to the future. You wouldn’t mind some much, but they just waste it on B.S.

      More than anything this is what the yellow vests are about.

      200

    • #
      Another Ian

      Spetzer86

      But the government hand is still in your wallet

      https://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/topic/118365-were-1-in-pa-yee-haw/

      40

    • #
      yarpos

      We complain , like we do about lots of stuff, but really there isnt much cheaper petrol around the world outside the US. Try using rental cars in EU,UK, NZ and boy those currency wheels spin fast at the pump.

      30

  • #

    …Samoa, the Cook Islands and Tuvalu – nations among the most vulnerable to climate change.

    LOL!

    252

  • #
    • #
      John F. Hultquist

      “This is a coal. Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared … ”

      Thanks Mark – that’s funny.

      I grew up in coal country – western Pennsylvania. Relatives were involved in coal, gas, and oil production. Cousins and I played in and swam in the old open coal cuts.
      Our coal was not particular pretty, but there is a type from eastern Pennsylvania that is. It is call Peacock Coal. Search using those 2 words and use ‘images’ to see the variety. It is too bad that Mr. Morrison did not have a large specimen of colorful coal.

      150

  • #
    Another Ian

    Around this area

    “COP24 – It Is All About 3rd World Development $$”

    “On France24 “Eye On Africa” program, they interviewed Marcel Alers, Global Head Of Energy, United Nations Development Program. (I didn’t know we needed a “Global Head Of Energy”, it being a local need and local product…) ”

    https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2018/12/12/cop24-it-is-all-about-3rd-world-development/

    “My “take away” from all this is two fold:

    First, the Usual Suspect: It’s ALL about the money and transfer of enormous wealth from those countries that work and created it, to those that have incompetent leadership and can’t get their act together enough to be productive; along with a free ride on all the R&D work we’ve done to make the world a better place via creating technology. Tech is NOT free, and they want a free ride worth many more $BILLIONS on that front. A generous slice to land in the pockets of UN connected apparatchiks, no doubt, along the way.

    Second, since getting hotter isn’t happening, and cold tends to bring droughts, they have moved on to water as their key hook. “Hydro-Diplomacy” meaning letting the UN decide who gets water and who doesn’t, along with who can grow the crops that take water and make the money off of them (and transporting them). They want to control the air via their CO2 fantasy, and now are adding on a desire to control global water. So watch for more “news” hyping any lack of rain anywhere, but especially in Africa.

    Frankly, it looks to me like we could have 40 feet of snow from Canada to Alabama, from Sweden to Paris, and these idiots would still be demanding $BILLIONS to fight “Global Warming”… It’s ALL about the money, let there be no doubt.

    It is essential to put the UN on a strict “No money” diet.”

    260

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      I think the UN are foolishly mistaken if they think they can tell us what to do….

      Everyone will eventually “Macron” the UN….

      Globally….game over.

      80

    • #
      sophocles

      The videos posted on that page are chilling!

      Brrr, grey VW beetles, the only car … for miles!
      Technocracy … that’s what the UN is trying to bring in …

      Compulsory viewing …

      20

  • #
    Peter C

    Theresa May survives the Vote.

    If Britons still want Brexit they had better put on Yellow Vests and get out in the streets Now!

    260

    • #
      Destroyer D69

      Theresa May campaigned for the NO side in the referendum.Then got the responsibility for implementing the YES vote.Bit of a conflict of interest here.Arranged an exit in name only leaving Britain as not much more than a vassal state of the unelected EU masters.

      180

    • #
      Annie

      Where is Guy Fawkes when you need him?
      I am appalled that TM has survived…her BRINO would leave the UK in a far worse state than the one a majority voted to leave.
      Yellow Jacket time approaching rapidly?

      141

      • #
        Ross

        I am appalled as well Annie but do not forget that something like 70-75% of UK MPS voted to remain in the EU ( that figure may have been for Conservative MPs).
        But I think the Conservative MPs who supported May must have a death wish. Unless they have very high margins in their electorate they will be out of a job at the next election. Nigel Farage is supposedly setting up a new Party ( with good financial backing). So he will take away some Conservative votes.
        There is no way May will get her Brexit deal through —Labour would be politically stupid to back it (even if they agreed with it) and we can assume many of the 117 Conservatives who did not vote for May will not support it. There was a poll out in recent days saying there was a 2:1 against the deal with MPs.

        50

  • #
    Reed Coray

    Joanne, shouldn’t your sub-headline be: When it comes to national leaders, nobodies turned up?

    250

    • #
      sophocles

      This COP is a working one. They’ve got to hack out the stuff they’re going to do to us. The next COP will finish the job and maybe agree to it all. The one after that could be the big “View Halloo” (the fox has broken cover).

      That’s the call for the Leaders to emerge for the Big Signing. That’s when they strut across the world stage.

      “Hey world, look at us! We’re Saving You.”

      sheesh — here are your new chains.

      40

  • #
    Dennis

    The climate change of politics.

    Voter warming caused by deceptive political claims being exposed.

    60

  • #

    Out of around 134 national representatives delivering speeches over the next two days, only four are heads of government: the president of Kiribati and the prime ministers of Samoa, the Cook Islands and Tuvalu – nations among the most vulnerable to climate change.

    These are really significant nations. The combined population is 350,000, less than that of the London Borough of Croydon, or of Canberra – Australia’s 8th largest City.

    140

    • #
      Binny Pegler

      When the potential climate handout is on par with your total budget – you bet the head of govt needs to be there.

      100

      • #

        This is quite right. Further, the coastline of coral islands can shift dramatically in short periods. Why not blame natural coastal erosion on climate change, then get someone else to pay for moving buildings. It is a bit like being able to blame rapid tire wear in a super car to a design flaw in a cars design, and then claim the replacement cost of tires against the warranty.

        80

    • #
      yarpos

      Vulnerable to what exactly? there has been no unusual off trend sea level rise. Vulnerable to carbon taxes making airline tourism unaffordable?

      40

      • #

        The islands are vulnerable. The coral islands can shift over time, so buildings cab be inundated by the sea. Further, low-lying islands are extremely exposed during typhoons. It is very easy to blame natural vulnerability on humans, then get richer nations to compensate for adverse weather events. What is more, there are plenty of alarmists who will encourage the island states.

        40

  • #
    Another Ian

    “Going To Zero”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/12/12/going-to-zero/

    “So the next time someone tries to get you to sign on to yet another brilliant plan that the US is supposed to sign on to in order to “reduce our carbon footprint”, like the plans for everyone in the US to stop eating meat or to stop flying in airplanes or to buy electric cars or to cover half the US landscape with solar panels or to tax energy until the poor people put on yellow vests and throw rocks … well, the next time one of those charming folks proposes one of those plans, all of which come with a multi-billion dollar price tag, feel free to point them to this analysis and tell them “Even cutting US emissions to zero will make no perceptible difference by 2050! None!”. “

    120

    • #
      yarpos

      But you have to “do something” , its a lot like gun laws in the US. You “do something” to make yourself feel good, even it it does nothing to impact what you see as the core problem (setting aside if there even is a problem)

      50

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall…but does mention “green schemes”:

    Hardship increases as energy pain forces electricity disconnections
    The Australian-10 hours ago
    Australia’s energy market worsened in 2017-18, with household electricity bills up as much as 22 per cent and rising numbers of people falling … amid a vacuum in national energy policy, according to the market regulator. … in rising wholesale energy, ***green schemes and regulated network charges that they did not control…

    50

  • #
    dinn, rob

    Macron’s strategy includes a focus on AI ethics to ensure that algorithms are controlled and work for the greater good, avoiding the “opaque privatization of AI or its potentially despotic usage” by foreign governments, the president said. He even proposed to set up an “IPCC of AI,” a group akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and made up of thousands of volunteer scientists who review climate science literature.
    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/03/emmanuel-macron-wants-france-become-leader-ai-and-avoid-dystopia
    ……………………….
    12-11-18 France used the Montreal conference to convince other countries to partner on the creation of the International Panel on Artificial Intelligence (IPAI), showcased as “an IPCC of AI”—a group similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which brings together global experts to comprehensively, openly, and objectively assess the risk of human-induced climate change, for the purpose of developing global consensus on the impact of AI. This proposal is not only misguided for France, which should be directing its energy into fixing EU laws to better support AI and increasing EU public investments in AI, but it is also a distraction for the other G7 countries, which should be focusing on accelerating the development and adoption of AI through global cooperation on research, development, and deployment.
    The “IPCC of AI” is rooted in the idea that new global leadership is necessary to avert creating an AI dystopia, or in the words of French President Emmanuel Macron the “opaque privatization of AI or its potentially despotic usage.” While the IPCC model may be appropriate for evaluating the scientific literature on climate change—where there is an objective truth—this approach will not resolve unanswerable ethical questions about the societal changes brought about by AI or the willingness of countries to make tradeoffs between technological progress and economic disruption. Moreover, the EU is already part of many similar initiatives. In addition to the UN Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics which studies the “risk-benefit duality” of AI, EU member states have signed on to the Declaration of cooperation on AI to implement a common European approach to responsible use of AI, and the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on AI is developing guidelines on the ethical use of data in AI. https://www.datainnovation.org/2018/12/french-proposal-for-an-ipcc-of-ai-will-only-set-back-global-cooperation-on-ai/

    50

    • #
      dinn, rob

      What is beyond grabbing and massaging by the “well-intentioned” and “highly-placed” and their well-greased allies? There’s alot of junk in AI in the first place, but then comes the bandwagon effect so common.

      40

  • #
    pat

    12 Dec: ClimateChangeNews: Step up on climate or choose ‘immoral, suicidal’ path, says UN chief
    Call by António Guterres was joined by Fiji’s prime minister, who said not succeeding on climate change would be “craven, irresponsible and selfish”
    By Natalie Sauer and Sara Stefanini; Karl Mathiesen contributed reporting
    “To waste this opportunity would compromise our last best chance to stop runaway climate change. It would not only be immoral, it would be suicidal,” Guterres said. “This may sound like a dramatic appeal, but it is exactly this: a dramatic appeal.”
    The remarks were some of the last to be made at the Talanoa Dialogue, a diplomatic procedure initiated by the Fijians in 2017 that aims to bridge divides in the polarised climate process through the sharing of stories…

    Launching the call, Bainimarama said governments needed ***to increase their current national climate pledges five-fold to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial level.
    “Or enter history as the generation that blew it; that sacrificed the health of our world and ultimately betrayed humanity because we didn’t have the courage and foresight to go beyond our short-term individual concerns. Craven, irresponsible and selfish,” said Bainimarama…

    Because of this, there is a push for countries to regularly increase their pledges, with the first moment being targeted as next year at a summit Guterres is organising in New York in September.
    Bainimarama appealed to all nations to arrive at the summit with plans for new pledges, joining Fiji and the Marshall Islands, which have already committed to raising their pledges in recent months…
    But the extent to which the Talanoa Dialogue leads to a declaration that pushes for ambition is questionable too, a British source said.
    “Personally, I don’t feel like the mood is quite there yet.”…
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/12/12/step-climate-choose-immoral-suicidal-path-says-un-chief/

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    • #
      Mark M

      “This is not the time for me to give up my private car or jet.

      It is, however, the time for the rest of you to make sacrifices, above all to give up all rights, democracy and sovereignty & hand all power to the corrupt UN bureaucracy, led by …
      oh … by me actually”

      António Guterres (UN-spun)

      60

    • #
      Dennis

      Fiji and Marshall Islands pledges???

      Would that be Australian taxpayer’s monies or other recent donor to Pacific nations to save them from rising ocean level?

      40

  • #

    The antonym of Brexit is Anschluss. That really happened when Europe was all fired up against “greed” yet stiffing These States for war loans and preparations taken during their Opium War 3 (The Great War). The Anschluss lasted some 7 years, and the New Third Reich is still digging up bombs dropped on National Socialist altruism in practice. Britain voted Brexit si, Anschluss no, and Ecological National Socialism wants to hold added elections until Anschluss and Carbon Taxes are “shown” to be the piplz choice. Paddypower is laying odds that Brexit will again fail. These are the experts who predicted the US Democratic Ecological Socialists would win and that Trump would lose. Faith is a curious thing, but clearly something Europe has bet on since the 100 Years’ War and every violent clash since. Non-initiation of force is, of course, unthinkable… so welcome back to the initiation of force! And don’t come asking for loans or entangling alliances.

    30

  • #
    Jeffry

    I have a fairly basic question. If climate change is such an existential threat why hasn’t the UNIPCC developed a Global Bureau of Meteorology so that people could see the Worlds weather with temps in Celsius and Fahrenheit, snowfall, rainfall, storms of all descriptions, among other things, and records of these things where they reliably exist? Surely they have the funds?
    Is this because the facts do not support the contentions? Habeus Corpus Meteorologus.

    50

  • #
    pat

    TWEET: Megan Darby, Climate Home
    They do say the devil is in the detail

    20

    • #
      pat

      rest of the comment got cut off.

      TWEET: Megan Darby, Climate Home
      They do say the devil is in the detail

      10

      • #
        pat

        there might have been an emoji problem posting Megan’s Twitter thread. the rest:

        …666 square brackets in the latest iteration of text, per (CarbonBrief) @DrSimEvans’ tracker #COP24
        12 Dec 2018
        SEE GRAPH

        from replies:
        James Murray, BusinessGreen
        That still seems like… quite a lot…

        Simon Evans, CarbonBrief
        you’re not wrong, James
        more impt, almost all the major political fights remain unresolved

        James Murray, BusinessGreen
        Anyone panicking yet? Feels quite restrained watching from afar, and yet that does seem like a lot to get through in *checks watch* 72 hours even with extra time.
        https://twitter.com/climatemegan/status/1072865688237174794

        20

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  • #
    Ruairi

    World leaders now choose to ignore,
    Their invite to C.O.P. 24,
    And celebrities too,
    With better things to do,
    When they wouldn’t have missed it before.

    60

  • #
    pat

    trying to post a comment again…

    13 Dec: Bloomberg: Brazil’s President-Elect Questions Paris Climate Deal Again
    By Bruce Douglas
    President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said that Brazil could not afford to meet some of the requirements in the Paris Accord, and that unless they were changed he would withdraw from the agreement.
    Speaking on Facebook Live on Wednesday evening, Bolsonaro added that he would never take any actions that would undermine Brazilian sovereignty. The president-elect also said that Brazil should take advantage of its natural mineral wealth, and that the country’s indigenous population should be integrated into Brazilian society…

    In his 15-minute statement, Bolsonaro also criticized the UN migration pact, saying that Brazil could not open its doors to anyone who wished to come…
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-12/brazil-s-president-elect-questions-paris-climate-accord-again

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    el gordo

    Coral bleaching death rate exaggerated.

    ‘Scientists from James Cook University have just published a paper on the bleaching and death of corals on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and were surprised that the death rate was less than they expected because of the adaptability of corals to changing temperatures.

    ‘It appears as though they exaggerated their original claims and are quietly backtracking. To misquote Oscar Wilde, to exaggerate once is a misfortune, to do it twice looks like carelessness, but to do it repeatedly looks like unforgivable systemic unreliability by some of our major science organisations.’

    GWPF

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    pat

    12 Dec: UN: COP24: World sports join team UN in race against climate change
    At the United Nations’ COP24 conference in Poland on Wednesday, 17 major players representing sporting bodies, athletes and fans, added their names to the collective scoreboard, with the launch of the Sports Climate Action Framework…

    The 17 the represent the starting line-up of the Sports Climate Action Framework, include major players like the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Other signatories include the French tennis federation, Roland Garros, Formula E, the International Sailing Federation, organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, the Rugby League World Cup 2021, and the World Surf League…

    The sports industry bears responsibility for extensive carbon emissions on several fronts; including through travel, overall energy use, venue construction, and catering. With this initiative, it recognizes the need to unite behind a set of principles to get on track for a net-zero emissions economy by 2050…

    Some concrete initiatives have already seen the light of day. The IOC, in collaboration with the UNFCCC secretariat, has produced two guides: “Sustainability Essentials: Sports for Climate Action” and “Carbon Footprint Methodology for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games,” meant to provide essential climate action guidance to sports federations and others…
    https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/12/1028321

    11 Dec: CNN: Stella McCartney, Burberry among fashion brands uniting against climate change
    by Fiona Sinclair Scott
    The fashion industry emits more greenhouse gas than all international flights and maritime shipping journeys combined, and it’s estimated that a garbage truck’s worth of clothing is either burned or sent to a landfill every second. On top of that, thanks to our powerful washing machines, our clothes pollute the ocean with microfibers equating to approximately 50 million plastic bottles each year…

    A fashion industry charter for climate action was formally launched at this year’s United Nations climate change conference, COP24, in Katowice, Poland.
    Support for the new charter has come from high street retailers, luxury fashion houses and other suppliers within the sector. Stella McCartney, Burberry, Adidas and H&M Group are included in the list of 40 signatories…
    The companies involved have committed to reducing their aggregate greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and they’ve agreed to prioritize low-carbon transportation suppliers and favor climate-friendly materials…

    McCartney called upon her peers in the industry to sign the charter, urging the industry to work together.
    “It’s a no-brainer but there has to be a collective conversation,” she said. “I think that’s what’s so powerful and exciting and promising about COP24.”
    https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/cop24-fashion-charter-for-climate-change/index.html

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    el gordo

    ‘Germany’s environment minister, Svenja Schulze, told reporters that her country is committed to phasing out the use of coal, though the exact deadline has yet to be determined.

    ‘But in a nod to the recent protests in France over fuel prices, Schulze warned against governments forcing through measures, saying they would lose public support “faster than you can spell climate protection, and then people pull on yellow vests.”

    Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-12-chief-climate-teeter-closer-collapse.html#jCp

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    pat

    CNN reports the opinions of CAGW zealots:

    12 Dec: CNN: ‘A huge mess’: Failure at COP24 climate talks would be ‘suicidal’
    By John D. Sutter; CNN’s Mark Tutton and Gül Tüysüz contributed to this report
    The heads of state for some of the main countries causing climate change — the United States, the UK, Germany, China, Canada and India among them — are not present here in Poland to try to keep the wheels from falling off an agreement meant to save humanity and the planet.
    So the weight of the world at the COP24 climate talks here in Poland appears to be falling on tiny nations like Vanuatu, which saw more than half of its GDP vanish after a recent cyclone.

    That nation’s minister of foreign affairs, Ralph Regenvanu — call him “Minister Ralph,” his delegation says — has emerged as one of the few clear, moral voices present at these talks, which are seen by some scientists, environmentalists and policy experts as a “huge mess” that threaten to cause calamity if they fall apart entirely this week. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday said it would be “suicidal” for these global warming negotiations to fail…
    Regenvanu stood at a lectern wearing a green tie and glasses, indicting the global community.

    Important aspects of the talks, which aim to create rules for tracking carbon emissions cuts as part of the Paris Agreement, which was hashed out three years ago, have become “a huge mess,” said Bill Hare, director of Climate Analytics, a research group based in the UK.

    “What we’re seeing now is that many countries are exploring the bottom of the drain when it comes to ambition — and in a surprising way,” said Hare, who is a climate scientist and physicist. “For those in the scientific community following this here, the levels of concern are rising.” The rules as they were being discussed early Wednesday would allow for “massive loopholes” and “double counting” that would create confusion about how much countries really were doing to curb greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet, he said. It’s so bad that he’s started to wonder if it might be better for countries not to agree on anything at all — rather than to codify lasting rules that are weak to the point of irrelevance.

    Hare’s teenage kids have been asking him if the whole process is, in fact, irrelevant…
    The final test, Hare said, will be 2020, when countries submit updated pollution-reduction plans…

    Jeff Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, said the discord is a sign that “this process is not working.”…
    Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, said a severe lack of leadership at the UN COP24 talks is resulting in mass confusion at this “critical” stage…

    Delegations from rich countries with some moral high-ground — Germany, New Zealand and Canada, among them — are not doing enough to rally support, observers said. The United States used to fill that role as a sheep herder, said Hare, but is noticeably absent here…
    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/12/health/sutter-climate-leadership-cop24/index.html

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    pat

    read all:

    12 Dec: ClimateDepot: Skeptics take the stage at Poland event: Morano: ‘The biggest threat to Poland today comes from the UN climate conference’
    http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/12/12/skeptics-take-the-stage-at-poland-event-morano-the-biggest-threat-to-poland-today-comes-from-the-un-climate-conference/

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    pat

    all endorsed by the CAGW mob, as far as I’m concerned:

    12 Dec: WUWT: SHAME: @350 is Turning children into climate activists by encouraging school strikes
    by Anthony Watts
    350.org’s Bill McKibben supports campaign of school-strikes over climate alarm this Friday 12/14/18
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/12/12/shame-350-is-turning-children-into-climate-activists-by-encouraging-school-strikes/

    12 Dec: Phys.org: Radical environmentalists are fighting climate change – so why are they persecuted?
    by Heather Alberro (Associate Lecturer/PhD Candidate in Political Ecology, Nottingham Trent University), The Conversation
    As social inequality and ecological breakdown escalate, steady change may no longer be enough to avoid civilisational collapse. Environmentalists cannot rely on timid appeals to power any longer.
    Enter ‘radical’ greens
    I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know radical environmentalists from numerous groups throughout my doctoral research. I’m especially interested in uncovering their worldviews – how they diagnose the root causes of ecological decline and what motivates them to engage in often high-risk interventions on behalf of the natural world and other species…READ ON
    https://phys.org/news/2018-12-radical-environmentalists-climate-persecuted.html

    links at bottom to:

    2 Nov: Phys.org: Capitalism is killing the world’s wildlife populations, not ‘humanity’
    by Anna Pigott (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Geography Department, Swansea University, Swansea University), The Conversation

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      pat

      another example of the manipulation of the young. WaPo guy speaks as though it was ordinary delegates who interrupted the US presentation:

      VIDEO: 6min43sec: 13 Dec: Cheddar: U.S. Official Gets Chilly Reception at COP24 Climate Conference
      Leaders from around the world are meeting in Poland to discuss climate change and clean energy, but representatives from the United States didn’t get the warmest of welcomes. Griff Witte, Berlin bureau chief for The ***Washington Post, talked to Cheddar about controversial comments made by a White House advisor at the COP24 conference
      https://cheddar.com/videos/u-s-official-gets-chilly-reception-at-cop24-climate-conference

      who/what is Cheddar?

      Cheddar: 19 March: RAINE VENTURES LEADS $22 MILLION ROUND FOR CHEDDAR ALONGSIDE LIBERTY GLOBAL, GOLDMAN SACHS, ANTENNA GROUP, 7 GLOBAL CAPITAL, AND DENTSU VENTURES TO FUEL DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
      Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Comcast Ventures, The New York Stock Exchange, AT&T, Ribbit Capital, Amazon and Altice USA all participate.
      Cheddar, the leading, live, Post-Cable Network, today announced a $22 million Series D financing led by Raine Ventures to launch its second live news network and fuel international growth. New investors in the company included: Liberty Global, Goldman Sachs, Antenna Group, 7 Global Capital, Dentsu Ventures, and the family office of Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher…

      Cheddar has dramatically increased its distribution in the past year with live linear broadcasts and on demand programming on Sling, Comcast X1, Amazon, Facebook, Spotify, Twitter, Twitch, and a host of other platforms. The company will launch its Snapchat Publisher Story in April…

      According to a recent study conducted by Market Strategies International (MSI), a provider of audience measurement services to leading cable networks, Cheddar viewership has already climbed to 10% among U.S. ***millennials (13% among 18–24 year olds) after less than two years of its first broadcast. The average live Millennial Cheddar viewer has also quickly formed loyalty to the brand with 89% of users who have ever watched live tuning in in the last month. One in five 18–24 year olds is aware of the Cheddar brand…

      It is also notable that Cheddar viewers are characterized by a high degree of affluence based on both household income and net worth, with 58% of the audience having net worth in excess of $250,000…
      I’m thrilled to welcome this group of leading global media powerhouses into Cheddar,” said Jon Steinberg, Founder and CEO of Cheddar…

      Cheddar broadcasts from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, its street level studio in the glass corner of the Sprint Store in the Flatiron Building, WeWork on Los Angeles, and the White House. It is available on Sling TV, Amazon, Twitter, 60% of smart tvs in the U.S., and Facebook…
      The company was founded by Jon Steinberg, President and Chief Operating Officer of BuzzFeed from 2010 to 2014. Its investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Raine Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Liberty Global, Comcast Ventures, AT&T, Amazon, Antenna Group, Ribbit Capital, The New York Stock Exchange, Altice USA, 7 Global Capital, Denstu Ventures.

      About The Raine Group
      The Raine Group is a global merchant bank focused exclusively on technology, media, and telecommunications. The firm has offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Shanghai, and Mumbai.
      https://news.cheddar.com/raine-ventures-leads-22-million-round-for-cheddar-alongside-liberty-global-goldman-sachs-antenna-20d9146c772a

      Wikipedia: Cheddar (TV channel)
      Cheddar broadcasts live daily from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ, the Flatiron Building in New York City, and the White House lawn and briefing room in Washington, D.C. covering new products, technologies, and services…

      Cheddar in January 2017 launched a 24-hour linear feed on Twitch, the gaming and video platform owned by Amazon. On March 15, 2018, Cheddar announced its new TV show called Crypto Craze about cryptocurrency, which is a thirty-minute show focusing on cryptocurrency trading…

      In March 2018, the company announced its plan to expand internationally…The funding round was led by Raine Ventures along with Liberty Global, Goldman Sachs, Antenna Group, 7 Global Capital, Dentsu Ventures, Jeffrey Sprecher, and Kelly Loeffler. As of this investment round, the company is valued at $160 million…

      In May 2018, Cheddar acquired Viacom’s MTV Networks on Campus to show its latest channel CheddarU, which will stream content from its flagship financial-news streaming service and segments from Cheddar Big News to ***9 million students on more than 600 campuses. Universities that qualify, can receive the CheddarU service for free. CheddarU is part of the ChedNet division of Cheddar, which focuses on installing more screens and broadcasting its service in gyms, hotels, airport lounges, restaurants, bars, among others…
      Cheddar bought RateMyProfessors.com and its app in October 2018 from Viacom. In October 2018, the company announced its programming will air for 30 minutes every weeknight on CUNY TV, the independent station by the City University of New York…ETC ETC
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_(TV_channel)

      do the MILLENIALS they target have a clue about Cheddar or how they are being manipulated?

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    pat

    headline on ABC “Just In” page:

    Cyclone Owen reaches NT as category three, ***expected to hit Queensland as category four

    actual headline:

    13 Dec: ABC: Tropical Cyclone Owen reaches category three on NT coast, ***may develop to category four today
    The system is likely to cross the coast along the south-east Gulf of Carpentaria coast between Karumba and Pormpuraaw later on Friday, ***likely as a category four system.
    The weather bureau expects the cyclone to weaken after making landfall, before making its way down Queensland’s east coast…
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-13/cyclone-owen-reaches-category-three-near-nt-approaching-qld/10614060

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    pat

    lengthy, detailed, well worth a read:

    12 Dec: Business Day South Africa: Renewable energy’s dreadful costs and awful electricity
    Unreliable capacity and excessively high costs make renewable energy nothing more than a ‘green’ idealogue’s dream
    by Andrew Kenny
    (Kenny is a professional engineer with degrees in physics, mathematics and mechanical engineering)
    SA (South Africa) is stumbling towards energy disaster. On top of Eskom’s failures comes the calamitous Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2018, a plan for ruinously expensive electricity. (The IRP 2018, drawn up by the department of energy, plans SA’s electricity supply.) The IRP is mad, based not on the real world but on a fantasy world of computer models.

    The IRP’s “least-cost option” is in fact the most expensive option possible, which has seen electricity costs soaring wherever it has been tried. This is a combination of wind, solar and imported gas. It was drawn up by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and supported by the IRP. It is a recipe for calamity.

    It seems strange that SA should forsake its own huge resources of reliable energy and depend on foreign sources. Worse is its reliance on unreliable solar and wind.
    South Australia actually did implement something like the CSIR’s “least-cost option”…

    The last thing Eskom needs now is to be burdened by useless, very expensive renewable electricity. Recently, the parliamentary portfolio committee on energy, after listening to submissions on IRP 2018, recommended that coal and nuclear should remain in our energy mix. Perhaps a ray of hope for sanity.
    https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2018-12-12-renewable-energys-dreadful-costs-and-awful-electricity/

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      RickWill

      It would be sad for South Africa if their CSIR is collaborating with Australia’s CSIRO. Any analysis on electricity supply by CSIRO has more than a sprinkling of pixie dust with the magic power of the diversity fairy. Those producing the reports are high on hopium.

      The South Australian example is actually better than it would be if the State network was not part of the national grid with its robust, high capacity link to Victoria. Imagine how often the wind generators in SA would be demand constrained if there was no 650MW link to Victoria. Imagine how often SA would go dead if there was no 650MW supply link from Victoria. The South Australian grid is not only the most expensive source of power in the developed world but has inflicted incredible damage on the Victorian network by making Hazelwood uneconomic and is now costing Victorian consumers. We know what happens when the link is down without ample warning.

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      Half a world apart from South Africa is canadianenergyissues.com Sample this: Nuclear reactors contributed 55.7 % of total electrical power generated in-province.
      88.4 % of Ontario-generated electricity was carbon-free.
      Nuclear reactors contributed 63 % of Ontario’s carbon-free electricity. And Canada exports nuclear-generated power to hillbillies to the south.

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    Analitik

    Tuvalu is still vulnerable? I thought it was due to be underwater years ago.

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      Another Ian

      It is having a protracted drowning spasm

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      Greebo

      Just goes to show that the windmills and PV panels work after all. It’s summer here in Victoria, and I’m going to light a fire for warmth. Obviously closing Hazelwood has been effective. They have been correct all along….

      Is a /sarc tag really nec?

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    […] from Jo Nova. World leaders stay away from Poland apart from islanders from the non-sinking islands looking for money. And the Great Southern Ocean is cooling instead of warming. Could there be a problem with the […]

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    Robber

    What an IPCC boondoggle. I thought the science was settled, but just look at all of the carbon dioxide generating parties that lie ahead – who is providing the funding?
    2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories – May 2019. The authors started drafting the 2019 Refinement at the first Lead Author Meeting in June 2017 in Bilbao, Spain.
    Climate Change and Land. Experts met on 13 – 17 February 2017 in Dublin, Ireland to prepare a draft outline for the report. 103 experts from 52 countries were selected as Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors – who will draft each individual chapter – and Review Editors, who will ensure that comments by experts and governments are given appropriate consideration as the report develops. The Special Report is scheduled to be finalized in August 2019 (TBC).
    The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. At its 43rd Session (Nairobi, Kenya, 11 – 13 April 2016), the IPCC Panel decided to prepare a special report on climate change and the oceans and the cryosphere. The scoping meeting that prepared the draft outline for the report was held on 6 – 9 December 2016 in Monaco. During its 45th Session (Guadalajara, Mexico, 28 – 31 March 2017), the IPCC Panel approved the outline of the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC). The report will be finalized in September 2019.
    AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. The meeting to draft the outline of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) took place in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 1 to 5 May 2017. The draft outlines were approved by the 46th Session of the Panel in early September 2017. The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report will be finalized in April 2021.
    AR6 Climate Change 2021: Mitigation of Climate Change. July 2021
    AR6 Climate Change 2021: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. October 2021
    AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2022. The AR6 Synthesis Report will integrate and synthesize the contributions from the three Working Groups that will be rolled out in 2021 into a concise document suitable for policymakers and other stakeholders. It will be finalized in the first half of 2022 in time for the first global stocktake under the Paris Agreement.

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    GD

    CFACT reporter:

    It is clear that the people here are upset with high energy costs driven by carbon taxes and UN climate policies.

    The only question remains is, ‘where will this revolution spread to next?’

    I wish I could answer ‘Australia’. Unfortunately, I fear that the majority of Oz citizens have swallowed the green pill and believe that solar panels and wind turbines are the solution to what is a non-existent problem.

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