2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #22A

A fossil fuel-free New York State by 2050
Biocide: a Memorial Day for planet Earth
China's emissions peak hard to predict
Climate change and least developed countries
Climate change is real, so do something about it
Forestry programmes bogged down in Latin America
Geoengineering: our last hope, or a false promise?
Green groups attack UK resistance to EU climate goals
Humans caused climate change, study shows
UK emissions must be halved by 2030
Uncertainty is no excuse for procrastinating on climate change
What about the heat-island effect?

A fossil fuel-free New York State by 2050

An in-depth look at Stanford and Cornell's 100 percent alternative energy road map for New York state.

Biocide: a Memorial Day for planet Earth

Memorial Day weekend is a time to reflect on loved ones lost, and also an opportunity for many to get outside to enjoy God's green earth. Yet our consumption-driven lifestyles, and our continued burning of fossil fuels in stupendous quantities (even George W. Bush declared that our nation is "addicted" to oil), make it less and less likely our earth will remain green for future generations. For our children and their children, Memorial Day weekend may become a time to reflect on another loved one lost: Mother Earth.

China's emissions peak hard to predict

Many variables will factor into when China's greenhouse gas emissions will peak, and the issue requires more in-depth analysis, Zhou Dadi, vice-chairman of the National Energy Advisory Committee, told China Daily on Friday.

Recent media reports said China's greenhouse gas emissions might peak before 2025.

The Chinese government has always attached great importance to climate change issues and has actively responded, said Zhou, who is also a professor at the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Climate change and least developed countries

As this example shows, the needs of Least Developed Countries have traditionally not been addressed in the present-day climate negotiations. Successful market instruments, such as the Clean Development Mechanism have primarily benefited emerging economies, in particular China, which currently holds 61% of all Certified Emissions Reductions. This puts the LDCs in a tricky situation: On the one hand they argue for a global agreement and limiting of global temperature rise to a maximum of 1.5°C. On the other hand, they lack the means to foster a strong negotiation position.

Climate change is real, so do something about it

With a new study showing 97 percent of scientific papers on climate change since 1991 agree that fossil fuels are largely responsible, the doubters need to stand aside so public-policy initiatives to protect the Earth can proceed.

Forestry programmes bogged down in Latin America

Issues related to the ownership of forest carbon and to prior consultation mechanisms threaten to derail plans for the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation of Forests (REDD+) in some countries of Latin America, according to experts.

The problems are hindering the design of Mexico’s plan in the framework of the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD). In Panama, they have prompted the country’s indigenous peoples to withdraw from the programme.

Geoengineering: our last hope, or a false promise?

Geoengineering — the deliberate, large-scale intervention in the climate system to counter global warming or offset some of its effects — may enable humanity to mobilize its technological power to seize control of the planet’s climate system, and regulate it in perpetuity.

But is it wise to try to play God with the climate? For all its allure, a geoengineered Plan B may lead us into an impossible morass.

Green groups attack UK resistance to EU climate goals

Green campaigners and industry experts have hit out at the government's plans to block new EU-wide renewable energy targets, which they say are essential to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and creating a green economy.

Humans caused climate change, study shows

A new study has proven the obvious (okay, maybe the accepted) fact that humans are responsible for the climate change.

Published in the journal “Environmental Research Letters,” the new study surveyed thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers to find that 97.1 percent of them agreed that climate change is caused by human activity.

UK emissions must be halved by 2030

Europe should commit to a tough new target to halve emissions by 2030, Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey has said.

The Lib Dem Cabinet minister said the goal was ambitious but achievable as the Government set out its position ahead of efforts to secure a new international deal in 2015 on tackling global warming.

But the UK will oppose a European Union wide renewable energy target because it is "inflexible and unnecessary," he added.

Uncertainty is no excuse for procrastinating on climate change

Today we released research which reduces the range of uncertainty in future global warming. It does not alter the fact we will never be certain about how, exactly, the climate will change.

We always have to make decisions when there are uncertainties about the future: whether to take an umbrella when we go outside, how much to spend on insurance. International action on climate change is just one more decision that has to be made in an environment of uncertainty.

What about the heat-island effect?

For years, anti-science global-warming deniers have claimed the instrumental temperature record that shows steady warming is skewed because of the so-called heat -island effect in urban areas. The instrumental temperature record shows warming of about 1.2 degrees Celsius since 1952.