Climate Change News
Below are news items on climate change – many with relevance to aviation
EU claims victory in airline emissions wrangle
A new global aviation deal will weaken the hand of US airlines to resist inclusion in the EU ETS, the European Union’s transport chief Siim Kallas, has said. This is a diplomatic victory in a long-running dispute between the EU and US over how to curb airline GHG emissions. In 2012 all airlines that fly to Europe will be included and have to pay for emissions. A group of US airlines launched a legal challenge to the move in the UK last December. (FT)
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China digs in on rich-poor climate pact divide
China said on Thursday it will not bow to pressure to rethink a key climate change treaty and was preparing to cope with a "gap" without climate targets after the Kyoto treaty ends in 2012 if rich nations fail to add new greenhouse gas goals in time. Envoys from 177 governments are holding week-long talks in Tianjin on the shape of a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol. China will not agree to make their voluntary emissions cuts legally binding.
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“It’s already clear that the climate talks in December will go nowhere – so what do we do?” asks Monbiot
George Monbiot writes about the failure of any climate international climate talks, and the failure of any current mechanisms to cut carbon emissions. This year has been one of the hottest ever, equal to 1998 which had a strong El Nino. The EU ETS has been a dismal failure, with the recession enabling companies to store up carbon credits for more cheap emissions. The UK's real carbon emissions have grown rather then decreased. Highly recommended reading.
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Globally August was the 3rd warmest ever; January to August tied with 1998 as the hottest
The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for August 2010 was the 3rd warmest on record at 16.2 °C, which is 0.60 °C above the 20th century average of 15.6 °C. August 1998 is the warmest August on record and 2009 is the 2nd warmest. The worldwide land surface temperature was 0.90 °C above the 20th century average — the 2nd warmest August on record, behind 1998. The worldwide ocean surface temperature tied with 1997 as the 6th warmest August on record.
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EU emissions trading scheme on course to make only tiny savings, says Sandbag report
The entire 5-year period of the EU ETS that ends in 2012 is set to deliver carbon savings of less than 0.33% of total emissions. The analysis by emissions trading campaign group Sandbag predicts that only 32m tonnes of pollution permits will need to be surrendered to meet the cap on CO2 emissions – out of the 1.9bn tonnes of carbon emissions covered by the ETS each year. This is due to economic crisis driving down industrial activity while caps remain high.
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Land surface globally the hottest July on record – even hotter than 1998
The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for July 2010 was the 2nd warmest on record, behind 1998, at 16.5 °C (which is 0.66 °C above the 20th century average of 15.8 °C. The July worldwide land surface temperature was 1.03 °C above the 20th century average of 14.3 °C - the warmest July on record. The worldwide ocean surface temperature was 0.54 °C above the 20th century average of 16.4 °C and the 5th warmest July on record. (NOAA)
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Rising temperatures reducing ability of plants to absorb carbon, study warns
Scientists are sayinr rising temperatures in the past decade have reduced the ability of the world's plants to soak up carbon from the atmosphere. Large-scale droughts have wiped out plants that would have otherwise absorbed an amount of carbon - called NPP (Net Primary Production). This is equivalent to around 0.55 gigatonnes, while Britain's annual man-made greenhouse gas emissions are around 0.56 GT, and global aviation's re 0.88 GT. (Guardian)
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Pakistan floods: Climate change experts say global warming could be the cause
The floods in Pakistan, wildfires in Russia and landslides in China is evidence that global warming predictions are correct, according to climate change experts. The crises are driven by a ‘supercharged jet stream’ that has also caused floods in China and a prolonged heatwave in Russia. There have also been flash floods in France and Eastern Europe over the summer. This shows the predicted increase in incidence of extreme weather events due to climate change.
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In June UK CO2 emissions from aviation were 23% of total EU aviation emissions
RDC reports of European aviation emissions show the UK produces much more than other European country. The UK generated 23%, with Germany the next highest, at 17% and Spain 3rd with 13%. France is 4th with 11%. As for airports, Heathrow flights generated massively more CO2 than flights from any other European airport. In June, Heathrow generated around 1.8 million tonnes of CO2. Second is Frankfurt at 1.2 million, the third Charles de Gaulle at 1 million.
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We must restart the fight against global warming (Observer)
New evidence has now been produced to support showing man-made global warming. It has been deeply regrettable that the "climategate" and other climate denier assertions have been given so much publicity, and been allowed to stifle the urgency of getting proper debate and action on climate. The Observer editorial says: "It is both baffling and sadly predictable that it should be so hard to turn a matter of near certain scientific urgency into political action."