Paris agreement struggles — only 0.04% of global CO2 emissions “ratified” (1% of man-made CO2)

It was all a grand theater. Greens brag that the Paris agreement was signed by “179 countries”, but it means nothing until they get 55 nations controlling 55% of the worlds (man-made) emissions. Right now, they’ve had a resounding response from no country that matters. (Forgive me Norway, with 0.14% of man-made emissions, right now, you are in a small group which includes Palestine, Palau, and North Korea.)

What they need:

UN Climate Change, ratification, carbon dioxide.

Entry into force

In accordance with Article 21, paragraph 1, of the Paris Agreement, the Agreement shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 % of the total global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Depositary.

What they’ve got:  22 states which produce 1% of man-made emissions.

Paris Agreement – Status of Ratification

As of 2 August 2016, there are 179 signatories to the Paris Agreement.  Of these, 22 States have also deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval accounting in total for 1.08 % of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.

So only  33 countries and 54% of global emissions to go. (And they obviously mean “human emissions”, not “global emissions” or they’ll have to get Nero, Davy Jones, and the Union of Phytoplankton to sign up. )

So the UN has promises that cover 1% of the 3 to 4% of global emissions that mankind makes — a grand total 0.04% of total global emissions being as generous as possible.

The ratified list: Barbados, Belize, Cameroon, North Korea, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Maldives, Mauritius, Nauru, Norway, Palau, Palestine, Peru, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Somalia and Tuvalu.

Note that Climate Analytics points out that the number was not set higher at 60% because then a block could have formed to stop it. The biggest emitters are: China, 20%;  USA,  18%;  EU,  12%;  Russia,  7%;  India,  4%;   Japan,  4%. Think of it the other way, it’s a challenge to organize a block of 45% refuseniks — whatever China and the US do will make or break this. Presumably all the little countries can be bought off with UN pork or threats, and the world is waiting til the US election.

For anyone who wants to know the fine print of the agreement:

On 17 March 2016, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, acting in his capacity as Depositary of the Paris Agreement, transmitted pdf-icon certified true copies of the Agreement to all Member States of the United Nations and Parties to the Convention.

 UPDATE: Thanks to questions from commenters I found out which countries are in that club and added the map. :- )

9.3 out of 10 based on 77 ratings

89 comments to Paris agreement struggles — only 0.04% of global CO2 emissions “ratified” (1% of man-made CO2)

  • #
    AndyG55

    “(And they obviously mean “human emissions”, not “global emissions” or they’ll have to get Nero, Davy Jones, and the Union of Phytoplankton to sign up. )”

    Not only that, but the bovine and sheep and other ruminant unions will need to sign up,

    and the really big land based RVU (rotting vegetation union) will need to be consulted…

    And the termite union.. can’t see them signing in a hurry…

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    • #
      Gary

      Phytoplankton are net absorbers of CO2. They get carbon credits, not debits.

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      Roy Hogue

      How about everyone simply drops the subject and goes home? Aren’t there enough real problems in this world for them to work on? 🙁

      I can make a long list if anyone is interested and it will not mention climate change even one time.

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      • #
        Olaf Koenders

        Precisely. I didn’t sign the damn thing so what makes them think they have any authority to make me do anything?

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        • #
          Bulldust

          ****NEWSFLASH***

          We interrupt this broadcast with alarming news … climate change causing release of anthrax… panic… run about … put paper bag on head:

          http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-02/bambrick-zombie-microbes-reindeer-and-climate-change-health-risk/7683078?section=analysis

          Death toll: one human child.

          In other news, newly elected president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has already incited police to kill hundreds of “drug personalities”:
          http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-02/reign-of-terror-has-started-in-philippines/7682466

          But obviously the real danger is your air-conditioner…

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          • #
            Bulldust

            Interesting indeed… I noticed the same story at WUWT but quoted from the Gauniad:

            https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/01/anthrax-outbreak-climate-change-arctic-circle-Russia

            Note how that story includes a remark about the last outbreak in 1941 … when SUVs were a major cause of warming? Oddly the ABC version of the story omits that little factoid. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that the writer for the ABC version is Hilary Bambrick, councillor with the Climate Council.

            Simply wow. Note what was formerly The Drum and would have allowed comments, is now an opinion section with no avenue for feedback to correct half truths.

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            • #
              OriginalSteve

              I am struggling with how the thawing of one animal is attibributed to climate change, and how if this bacterium is very old ( 75 years ) what makes it any more dangerous than US army people digging up people who died from the spanish flu in canada, isolating the virus and handling it?

              Also, there must be 100s of dead animals lying around world wide with way more dangerous stuff lurking within it.

              Why didnt they just burn the carcass?

              Complete nonsense….mutter mutter….

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              • #
                Bulldust

                Eating raw or undercooked meat is not unusual in the region. It is more likely the anthrax got into the food chain and was contracted by humans eating under-prepared meat infected with anthrax. At least that is what some commentators are suggesting at WUWT. A regional heat wave having thawed out some infected carcasses or ground is hardly evidence of a climate change induced epidemic, but apparently this is what Hilary Bambrick would like people to think.

                I would hazard a guess that this is another case of a scientist conforming to climate change orthodoxy because that is where the research funding trough is:

                http://www.uws.edu.au/staff_profiles/uws_profiles/professor_hilary_bambrick

                As an economist I am painfully aware of how humans will contort their ethics and morality in response to incentives. Research funding is a powerful incentive for academics. Cui bono?

                I could not be more dispassionate as I write these things … it is very disappointing. Perhaps my lack of excitement reflects the understanding that it is virtually impossible to change such structures. One individual cannot compete with billions of dollars of incentives. The system is well and truly corrupted.

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            • #
              Owen Morgan

              https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/01/anthrax-outbreak-climate-change-arctic-circle-russia

              It’s a lowercase “r” for “russia”. Uppercase gets a 404. I was thinking that the Grauniad had squirrelled the piece away, but a search found it. Thank you for the link.

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      • #
        Hasbeen

        Sorry Roy Hogue, but I think you have that all wrong.

        We should all think ourselves lucky that these dills have this nice little nonexistent problem to play with. Surely you don’t want these dills playing with anything that actually matters do you?

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        • #
          Roy Hogue

          I understand your point. But the non problems they’re working on are having worse and worse consequences for everyone. So I don’t see how we can tolerate them much longer. However, you’re right, they may foul up more serious things if they get their hands on them. On the other hand, since the real incentive to mess around with the climate seems to be money to be made, maybe these same dills won’t even want to be involved in solving real problems because there isn’t so much opportunity to game the system, leaving the money freed up to use for better things.

          Actually I have no idea how it can all be sorted out in the end. But we’ll never get to the end if we don’t make a start. It’s that old Chinese proverb about the journey of a thousand miles still needing to begin with a single step.

          And the best solution would be for people to pay closer attention to what their governments and other organizations are doing, in other words, pay much closer attention to politics.

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    • #
      Yonniestone

      I went to a Termite union meeting once.

      It was very boring and I wooden go to another!

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      • #
        MudCrab

        Did they give you plenty to chew over?

        I have considered joining, but being termites there is a mound of paperwork to fill in first.

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      • #
        Roy Hogue

        I wooden want to disappoint you but termites have no union. So it must have been some imposter insect. Termites are too busy hiding their activities to have a union. A union might compromise their secrecy with all those meetings, collection of dues, tax forms and so-on.

        Sorry about that, Yoni.

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  • #
    toorightmate

    Most of the intelligencia associated with Paris would regard 0.04 and 1.0% as being very close.
    In fact they are this close:
    The English football teams play for the Football Association (“FA”) cup each year.
    If you were to fill the “FA” cup with sugar, it would be the sweet FA cup.
    0.04 and 1.0% are also sweet FA.

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  • #
    PeterC

    it means nothing until they get 55 nations controlling 55% of the worlds (man-made) emissions. Right now, they’ve had a resounding response from no country that matters.

    It was not clear from the links, which 22 countries had actually ratified the agreement. I think Australia has done so. Thanks Julie Bishop and Greg Hunt!

    Australia would account for almost all of the 1% so who could the other 22 countries be and what are they expecting. The list probably includes the Maldives and the Cook Islands.

    This is one agreement that I was hoping Australia would never be part of.

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    • #
      Analitik

      I looked hard and couldn’t find any link to which countries made up the 22, either. I actually expect it is currently made up of miniscule island states like Tuvalu and The Solomon Islands.

      I also tried reading the agreement but gave up after 6 pages and 18 articles of absolute repetitive twaddle.

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      • #

        Ask and ye shall receive — Excellent question. Map and list of countries added. Not Australia. Not NZ. Not Canada (not yet). Not France either.

        The ratified list: Barbados, Belize, Cameroon, North Korea, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Maldives, Mauritius, Nauru, Norway, Palau, Palestine, Peru, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Somalia and Tuvalu.

        Note that Climate Analytics points out that the number was not set higher at 60% because then a block could have formed to stop it. The biggest emitters are: China, 20%; USA, 18%; EU, 12%; Russia, 7%; India, 4%; Japan, 4%. Think of it the other way, it’s a challenge to organize a block of 45% refuseniks — whatever China and the US do, will make or break this. Presumably all the little countries can be bought off with UN pork or threats, and the world is waiting til the US election.

        Brazil 2.5%, Canada 2%, Australia 1.5%, UK 1.5%, Sth Africa 1.5%

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        • #
          Rereke Whakaaro

          Presumably all the little countries can be bought off with UN pork …

          Except for some countries, large and small, in the Middle East, Western Asia, and Africa.

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        • #
          PeterC

          Thanks Jo,

          The map and the link make a lot clearer.

          The ratification crowd need countries with 55% of the emissions to sign.

          Starting with those who are unlikely to sign we have China 20%, Russia 7% and India 4%. That comes to 31%. Suddenly the US Presedential election in November becomes very important. The Republicans do not support climate change. If the US 18% do not ratify the Paris agreement seems to be all over.

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          • #

            OK, But… Doesn’t the Paris agreement mean that countries set their own promises? So what’s to stop China from promising almost nothing, then ratifying it, just to keep the carbon-gravy train running? They are net benefactors of the carbon-gravy (UN Pork).

            Same applies to India.

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        • #
          Bob in Castlemaine

          It’s possible Norway sees some kind of perverse competitive advantage for itself in kowtowing to the UN by ratifying the Paris agreement.
          Norway gets almost all of it’s electricity from emissions free hydro generation. It makes a killing selling excess hydro to poor fools like Germany and Denmark to prop-up intermittent wind generation in those countries. Then, to add insult to injury, Norway picks up some of their neighbours’ unwanted “spilled” wind energy for a song.
          Norway’s offshore oil and gas production is largely exported, so they export most of their fossil fuel “carbon debt” overseas.
          Of the other ratifiers, an assortment of dictatorships and banana republics, it’s a fair bet UN back-handers are going on there.

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        • #
          Sceptical Sam

          What? What?

          No Vatican?

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  • #
    Dave in the States

    So the UN has promises that cover 1% of the 3 to 4% of global emissions that mankind makes — a grand total 0.04% of total global emissions being as generous as possible.

    Which indicates:

    A) It’s not really about saving the planet, but rather a vehicle for a political agenda.

    B) It is merely symbolic and/or a Green Religion religious rite.

    C) They really are that innumerate.

    D) All of the above.

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      The Greens have, or had, a saying: “Think globally, and act locally”. This is a challenge in its own right for some people.

      International politicians are such people, because they feel so important. And because their self-adoration is so high they turn the saying around, so they can, “think locally, and act globally”.

      At least one of the current contenders for the job of Secretary General, is such a person.

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  • #
    TdeF

    Why not get everyone to sign an agreement banning nuclear weapons? Or war? or Chemical Weapons? Or Missiles? Then if any country breaks the agreement, the UN can convene a court and prosecute say China or Russia or Pakistan or India or North Korea or Iran? The Security Council nations must be terrified of prosecution.

    The rolling CO2 farce is making the UN seem absolutely useless. Remember when the IPCC declared solemnly that their perfect science predicted 400 million Indians were going to die of thirst by 2035 due to Global Warming? No evidence at all behind that one. A typographical error apparently. So only out by 200 years but still they claim truly valid science albeit without any facts or rationale. They have infallible peer reviewed science.

    Still the UN can accommodate retired politicians like Helen Clarke and even our own Kevin Rudd in total luxury and perhaps 100,000 non specific public servants, a sort of Canberra on first class jet aircraft and in luxury accommodation with chauffeurs and without taxes. Without the UN Christiana Figueres, communist head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and all her Presidential ruling family from Costa Rica would have to find real work, preferably in richer countries.

    14 Tiny island states have signed. Tuvalu with a population of 9876 people. St.Kitts&Nevis 54,191 St. Lucia 182,273 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 109373
    Samoa 190,372 Palau 20,918 Nauru 10,084 Marshall Islands 52,634 Maldives 345,023 Grenada 105,897 Fiji 881,065 Barbados 284,644 Seychelles 89,173.
    Spot the pattern? The Pacific island countries have only been settled in the last thousands years, including New Zealand. Some are coral atolls by definition always at sea level even if in Paradise. Still they want compensation for ruining their perfect tropical climates.

    Also you get Norway and Peru. Clearly Peru is going to be swamped. The major cities in Peru range from 5,000 to 12,400 feet above sea level. Norway like Sweden is actually rising faster than sea level. Then you get South Korea, who you might think had a bigger problem in North Korea than Global Warming.

    When will this comedy stop?

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    • #

      TdeF, you beat me to it!

      To add to what you’ve stated, the total population represented by the listed countries (9,876 people is a country?!) is 81,993,682, being 1.151% of the total world population.

      As you say, when will this comedy stop?

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

      Who will “prosecute” a member of the Security Council, if that member is found to have broken such an agreement?

      And if they have broken the agreement, that means that they have retained a nuclear stockpile or chemical weapons facilities, whilst other members of the Security Council may have disposed of theirs.

      It is a nice dream, Tdef. But the genie has long ago left the bottle.

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      • #
        TdeF

        Yes, of course. That is the inanity of it all. Only MAD Mutually Assured Destruction has given us the greatest period of world peace in the history of mankind. No WW3. So what have we done with this gift? Built 250,000 windmills to prevent destruction of our planet while our population soars exponentially threatening our very existence. Greens lack any ability to think rationally as they revert to Shamanistic religions of wind, water and fire worship. What we should be doing with $1Trillion a year in massive waste is obvious, but thanks to politicians with a total brain capacity of a small puppy is building windmills precisely where they are not needed and do no good at all. The exercise in self harm in South Australia and Tasmania and soon in Victoria boggles the mind.

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        • #
          Rereke Whakaaro

          Each generation feels the need to provide something to the betterment of society, as their parents did, and their grandparents, and each preceeding generation before them, has done.

          The Boomer generation was very prolific in that regard, because after the war, large portions of the world needed rebuilding in ways that were better than before.

          This has left the Millenials in a bit of a vacuum. They need, and are looking for, something that is significant enough to match what their parents achieved, but do so in a much more benign and empathetic way. I can’t guess what that might be – I am a product of the wrong generation – but I can tell you that windmills are not the answer.

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          • #
            TdeF

            Windmills are like the Selfie stick, reflecting the tragic and totally indulgent self focus of a new generation born into luxury.
            In fact both are extremely selfish and thoughtless. Like holding up a tablet just to take a photo, blocking everyone else’s view.

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          • #
            Rereke Whakaaro

            One of my brilliant and insightful colleagues points out that the Millenials are much more socially orientated than their parents, and will look for low impact, low cost, minimalistic solutions to problems, in stark contrast to the large-scale civil constructions that their parents saw as being, “much more cost effective”. He has a very valid point of view.

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            • #
              TdeF

              You mean no cost tokenism. Seeming not doing socialism. Like the juvenile approach to all problems.

              The gigantic windmill industry though is a huge civil engineering comparable to a hundred Egyptian pyramids and exactly as useful and pointless and without the longevity.

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          Well the problem is that sometimes you have to let the kiddies hurt themselves to learn…you can tell them and tell them and …sometimes experience is the best teacher…

          My thought would be to make sure you have some solar on the roof ( that can be set up to run stand alone without needing to sense street power to be enabled ) and go from there

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    • #
      toorightmate

      I want everyone to sign an agreement which outlaws ingrown toenails.

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      “Then if any country breaks the agreement, the UN can convene a court and prosecute say China or Russia or Pakistan or India or North Korea or Iran? The Security Council nations must be terrified of prosecution.

      Then they should prosecute the USA, Israel, Saudi Arabia as well for having nuclear weapons. Yes Saudi they got them from ‘guess who’…

      20

  • #
    ExWarmist

    Maybe the UN doesn’t care, as long as they get to keep doing the theatre on $200K+ per year

    “The show must go on!”

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    • #
      TdeF

      Of course the UN doesn’t care! Organizations do not care. People care.

      In fact the UN is an organization with no mind and no heart, a swarm of self interested people and like all organizations expected to grow and grow without restraint until it runs out of everyone’s money. An infestation, like the EU. Hopefully a cyst and contained. Imagine if Kevin Rudd was the activist genius heart and soul of the organization. The consequences would be deadly, a world run on thought bubbles. Malcolm Gillard as well. You can only hope that such organizations as the UN and EU are benign and ineffectual. The last thing you want is for a government or body like this to actually do something. Unfortunately organization like to have power as well as money, like Denthor Steward of Gondor, Tolkien’s model administrator. That did not end well. England was so incredibly lucky to have Winston Churchill, faults and all.

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  • #
    Andrew McRae

    Speaking of global laws… (how’s my segué game) …
    …we may be seeing the emergence of a new Law of climate change.
    I’m calling it: The Global Warming Law of Polar Opposites.

    As it requires two points to draw a straight line, we’ve been waiting since Chris Turney’s vain voyage for a new episode in climate disillusionment to establish the trend and that day may have just arrived.
    The Polar Ocean Challenge is trapped by ice.
    http://realclimatescience.com/2016/08/vodka-and-wine-and-vodka/

    The definition? The Global Warming Law of Polar Opposites states that every time a global warmist crew visits a polar region of Earth expecting melting ice they will actually be inconvenienced by the opposite.

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      Oh dear. How sad. Never mind. And in the hottest months in the Northern Hemisphere as well – who would have thought.

      Let’s look on the bright side … they might get home for Easter.

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  • #
    pat

    a bit of fun with 2 comments at time of posting mocking CAGW:

    2 Aug 9.10pm: Australian: Sam Buckingham-Jones: Jenolan Caves: Dozens stranded in heavy snow
    Around 80 people have been stranded in freezing conditions near the Jenolan Caves in NSW’s Blue Mountains after their vehicles were bogged in heavy snow.
    The seven buses and seven cars the tourists were travelling in were stranded after they slid off the thick snow on the road.
    Police and State Emergency Services volunteers are confident easing conditions will help free the sightseers, who have been trapped since around 5pm this afternoon…
    No injuries have been reported, and emergency services are expecting to free the vehicles in the next few hours…
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/jenolan-caves-dozens-stranded-in-heavy-snow/news-

    1 Aug: The Hill: Devin Henry: Green mega-donor takes on oil industry over Calif. clean air law
    Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer is taking on California’s oil industry as lawmakers there grapple with the future of the state’s cap-and-trade program.
    State legislators returned to work on Monday with an eye toward extending the state’s cap-and-trade law by the end of the month…
    The industry has opposed the cap and trade plan and the oil reduction measures, the Bee reports, because they see them as unrealistic. Some lawmakers also question where the revenue from the cap-and-trade program is going…

    31 Jul: Sacramento Bee: Wenonah Hauter: Trade in cap-and-trade for real climate solutons
    California’s cap-and-trade program is in peril – but that’s a good thing.
    The centerpiece of the state’s global climate change policy is plagued by challenges to its very legality, along with a glut of emissions allowances that continues to grow because polluters aren’t buying them.
    This precariousness gives leaders an opportunity to stop wasting time and resources on an approach that does little to curb greenhouse gases – but does much to entrench pollution by protecting industries’ imaginary “right” to emit greenhouse gases by insidiously turning those emissions into revenue streams…
    Alarmingly, the Air Resources Board continues to consider an ill-advised and poorly timed expansion of cap-and-trade to include international offsets under a controversial United Nations program to reduce emissions from tropical deforestation – while pollution continues in California communities…
    http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article92204802.html

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  • #
    Roy Hogue

    It’s a mystery to me why, when the official climate change actions agreed on by all the parties who say they’re so concerned about climate change are coming unglued at every seam, as in the glaringly obvious unwillingness to ratify the Paris agreement, the actions of those same nations like the United States, Australia, the UK and so on who fail to ratify, nevertheless continue to become more stringent and restrictive than ever.

    Doesn’t one hand talk to the other anymore? I’m buried in climate change hysteria these days, yet officially my country hasn’t been able to muster up the courage to ratify Paris.

    The very controversial, indeed, contradictory nature of all that’s gong on and not going on, ought to be telling people in high office that they’re getting something wrong, getting it desperately wrong in fact. But somehow it doesn’t. And I’m left thinking that my left handed chimp could at least manage to be consistent.

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      It is because the agreed actions are, “coming unglued at every seam”, that there is an unwillingness to go further.

      Politicians may not be all that bright, but they are universally cunning. They will let somebody else go first, to wash their socks in the river, to see if there are any crocodiles about.

      The important thing is the message, and the stronger the message, the more effective it is, with the lay people. And the more scared the lay people are, the more they will seek somebody to save them from the horrible scenarios presented, and of more importance, the more the lay people will be prepared to pay, for such salvation.

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      Hmm, hit the wrong button …

      I was just going to add the point that, national politics, in most western countries, is moving back towards national issues, and leaving the “bigger” issues to the UN. So we see the same can, being kicked down the same road, but now it is being kicked by a bigger, and more untouchable, kid.

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      • #
        Glen Michel

        That is why the concept of the Nation State has to be reinvigorated.I know there has- and perhaps always will be problems concerning viral nationalism but here’s drinking to détente.This U.N world order stuff has gone too far.This is not the progress of man when unelected bodies make laws unbeknown to others.

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      • #
        Roy Hogue

        There’s big trouble in letting more and more go uphill to the United Nations instead of downhill to the individual countries. The UN has far exceeded its mandate. It has metastasized like a cancer with tentacles that now go everywhere. “Bigger” issues don’t necessarily translate into being handled better by the UN.

        You’ll probably remember that I’m the fanatic who believes the smaller entity can govern itself better than the larger. I’m not very popular with the UN for that opinion I suppose. And maybe I don’t see something beneficial where it exists. But history tends to bear me out nonetheless.

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  • #
    Ruairi

    The Paris agreement could die,
    If the big states don’t soon ratify,
    As only a fraction,
    Have responded by action,
    With most being loath to comply.

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  • #
    Olaf Koenders

    I think all the non-ratified countries are trying desperately to figure out how they can be seen as a developing nation so they get paid, rather than pay out.

    When this climate change chicken is finally cooked, think of all the registered logos containing “CC” or “CCC” that will have to be binned because they’re an embarrassing laughing stock. Better keep them safe until then, so we can shove them back in their faces forever more.

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  • #
    RobK

    I’m not sure that the UN boffins have thought this through very well. If the agreement is invoked by just getting over the 55% of anthropogenic emissions, then it’s likely within a short time the non participants will produce extra CO2 to make up for those that choose to hamstring their economy by off-shoring carbon based prosperity. What happens when the signatories no longer represent 55%? The deal is off again? I can see the dodgy art of creative accounting remaining in the forefront of UN skills.

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  • #
    Olaf Koenders

    Obama’s Wasteful Climate Conference Trip Cost Taxpayers $4,165,068.40

    It takes a lot of taxpayer cash and jet exhaust to fly a president to a “climate change” meeting in Paris.

    We have obtained records from the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of the Air Force detailing the costs of Obama’s trip to attend the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference. Secret Service charges for Obama and his staff to attend the Conference cost taxpayers $1,324,171.60. Flight expenses cost $2,840,896.80, bringing the total expenditure for the conference to at least $4,165,068.40. To date, Obama’s known travel expenses total $83,795,502.33.

    Barack Obama’s appointees didn’t volunteer this information. We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for these documents on January 6, 2016. Our request wasn’t answered, so we had to sue this past May (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:16-cv-00863)). Only then did we get the documents.

    Here are the Secret Service expenses for Obama’s ideological Paris junket:

    $82,991.60 for air and rail travel.
    $706,065 for Parisian hotels.
    $531,598 for rental vehicles.
    $10,820 in overtime pay.
    Cell phone rentals were $2,562.
    Cell phone usage cost of $679.
    A copier rental for $652.
    $624 in “miscellaneous” expenses.

    The Secret Service detail stayed in a number of Parisian hotels. The most money was spent at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand, a historic hotel built in 1862 that is called a “luxury” hotel that “defines historic grandeur,” according to its website. Accommodations were also booked at the Hilton Astor, Marriott Ambassador, Marriott Rive Gauche, and Mercure Tour Eiffel.

    According to Air Force documents, at least two planes were used for the trip to Paris, Air Force One and a C-32A (which is generally used by either the secretary of state or the first lady):

    Air Force One travelled a total of 14.4 hours @ $180,118 per hour for a total of $2,593,699.20.

    The C-32A travelled 15.6 hours @ $15,846 per hour for a total of $247,197.60.

    Other expenses for additional cabinet members’ travel and catering, Secret Service meals, meeting rooms, etc. are not included in these totals.

    The controversial Paris Climate Conference, also known as COP21, lasted from November 30, 2015, to December 12, 2015. Travel to the conference reportedly burned 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide, seemingly defeating the purpose of the meeting of world leaders. Critics also contend President Obama’s executive action implementing the Paris Climate Agreement circumvents the constitutional requirement that treaties become law only after ratification by the U.S. Senate.

    This junket is another example of wasteful and unnecessary presidential travel that abuses the taxpayers, the military, and the U.S. Secret Service. It’s pure folly and we should demand that the next president (and Congress) put an end to it.

    SOURCE

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    toorightmate

    Tim was right, wasn’t he?
    Warragamba dam will never fill again.
    Snowed in at Jenolan – only global warming will save them.

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      Graeme No.3

      If they’re Greens then they will love living in the cave, provided it has a reliable source of electricity.

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    • #
      Dennis

      100 to 150mm of rainfall here on the NSW Mid North Coast falling at present.

      Tom Foolery would have noticed it if he is in his Hawkesbury River property and adjoining rental property just north of Sydney, the low arrived there yesterday.

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      • #
        el gordo

        Another east coast low in the offing, further proof that regional cooling has begun.

        I feel in my water that this is going to be a bad flood year, similar to the mid 18th century.

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    Neville

    In this video Lomborg explains why AGW should come last on a list of the world’s biggest problems. It is simply a bloody awful investment and we can make SFA difference to temp or climate etc by 2100. See 6 minutes 10 secs on video. Since this video he has looked at Paris COP 21 and found that these donkeys hope to waste 100 trillion $ by 2100 for PERHAPS 0.05 C to 0.17 C drop in temp.
    IOW NO MEASURABLE DIFFERENCE OVER THE NEXT 84 YEARS.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtbn9zBfJSs

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    Neville

    It almost beggars belief that we’ve become so stupid since Hansen’s Washington stunt in 1988. This 100 trillion $ mitigation fra-d is so easy to understand, yet we’ve carried this corruption and deception along for decades. And our stupid media have applied the gag.
    Dr Roy Spencer has just written a good article at his blog highlighting the clueless use of Solar energy. He covers most of our stupidity pursuing this idiocy and there are many links to back up his claims. It took Harry Markopolas nearly 10 years to expose the 55 billion $ Madoff Ponzi scheme fra-d and yet he understood it was a con after checking the DATA for only 5 minutes. Why doesn’t some media organisation pursue this mitigation fra-d with a vengeance?
    Lomborg has tried for years but it never seems to grab the MSM headlines.
    Here is Dr Spencer’s article.

    http://www.drroyspencer.com/2016/07/solar-impulse-poster-child-for-the -impracticality-of-solar-power/#comments

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    • #
      Olaf Koenders

      If you really want to see waste, just a quick thumb through the Guinness Book of Records describes human inanity in detail, feverishly doing all manner of “stuff” and contributing nothing to boot. Sounds like CAGWism to me.. 😉

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      Olaf Koenders

      I should add that it’s no wonder aliens won’t visit us anytime soon, with such stupidity on constant display by so-called “elected” leaders.

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    Graeme No.3

    If Trump wins then copies of the Paris Accord can be recycled as toilet paper. No wonder Tom Steyer is buying the Democratic Party, and how appropriate that it’s symbol is a jackass.

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    Neville

    Of course the entire Co2 emissions reduction mess is an easily understood fra-d. Here’s the Obama govt’s EIA forecast for Co2 emission increases by 2040. See page 3 of their latest report forecasts a 34% increase. Can’t these people read their own 2016 report? Here’s the link.

    https://www.eia.gov/pressroom/presentations/sieminski_05112016.pdf

    “With current policies and regulations, worldwide energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rise from about 32 billion metric tons in 2012 to 36 billion metric tons in 2020 and then to 43 billion metric tons in 2040, a 34% increase”

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      43 billion metric tons .. alot of those billions will be absorbed back into the oceans and taken up by plants! Good for plant growth. So the idiotic idea that CO2 will continue to increase by that amount is delusional anyway. And compared to the total mass of the atmosphere is microscopic.

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    handjive

    They don’t believe in the climate scam?!:

    $1.49bn coal-fired power plant for Bangladesh

    A coal-fired power plant development is set to be the biggest project yet under the bilateral cooperation between Bangladesh and India.
    The project construction is expected to commence in three to four months and will be completed in 2019.
    ~ ~ ~
    About $1 billion in Japanese funding that Japan claimed was part of a UN initiative to help developing countries take action against [Global Warming] went, unnoticed, towards Japanese companies for the construction of three coal-fired power plants, the Associated Press reported Monday.

    U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres was apparently unaware of where those funds wound up until it was brought to her attention by the AP.

    But the U.N. has no formal definition of what constitutes legitimate climate finance, nor does it have a watchdog agency to ensure climate dollars end up in appropriate places.

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    Athelstan.

    The world signed up to agree to do nothing and nothing is what they’ll do. Obama, grinding his teeth tried his level best and to secure his legacy, and this agreement it echoes his 8 fallow years in the White House, wasted, mind you his golfing handicap is down.

    Like Obama……………..Green is gone, Trump will see to it.

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  • #

    Hopefully the Clexit campaign will grow on the back of a global wake up call on political correctness. The Sun is a major driver of climate that will be accepted gradually as the current solar grand minimum drags on.

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    Dennis

    The MSM should be exposed for this nonsense, this from The Australian today;

    9:00AMGRAHAM LLOYD
    The State of the Climate report confirms 2015 surpassed 2014 as the warmest on record and set a new high in sea levels.

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    • #
      el gordo

      ‘The State of the Climate report confirmed 2015 had surpassed 2014 as the warmest year on record since at least the mid-to-late 19th century.’

      Lloyd knows 1878 was the warmest year but decided to leave that out, shame on him.

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  • #
    pat

    CAGW hypocrites? what’s new about that?

    1 Aug: iNews: Josh Loeb: Norway accused of hypocrisy over eco-friendly image
    Its government subsidises the e-car industry and it has already spent $1 billion saving Brazilian rainforests. But Norway remains one of the world’s biggest exporters of oil and was one of the few Western countries to see a rise in domestic carbon emissions last year…
    In addition, controversial tax breaks for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic have encouraged Norwegian vessels to sail into pristine areas of wilderness in search of fossil fuels…
    “We know there is a paradox,” Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s climate and energy minister, has now admitted. “We have been living well from oil and gas. But there is no country in the world that has done more to undermine the oil and gas industry than Norway.”
    ***The many Teslas driven by oil workers are seen as evidence that enticements like zero import duty, low sales tax and exemption from most road tolls are hastening the move away from petrol-powered cars…
    Meanwhile, environmental activists are furious at exploration permits handed out to 13 oil companies in May to drill in a new area of the Norwegian Arctic.
    While companies pay 78 per cent tax on hydrocarbons they produce in Norwegian waters, they can claim back the same amount on costs for exploration…
    https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/world/norway-accused-hypocrisy-eco-friendly-image-emissions-rise/

    1 Aug: Reuters: SolarCity accepts Tesla’s $2.6 billion offer; both shares fall
    By Paul Lienert and Liana B. Baker
    SolarCity Corp agreed to Tesla Motors Inc’s (TSLA.O) $2.6 billion offer to buy the solar panel installer, the companies said on Monday, clearing one obstacle in the way of Elon Musk’s ambitious plans for a carbon-free energy and transportation company.
    Tesla’s offer represented about half of SolarCity’s value a year ago, a tumble reflecting the solar company’s slowing growth, complex financial structure and the increased scrutiny of government incentives for rooftop solar…
    Standard & Poors said Monday it put Tesla’s credit ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications “to reflect the significant risks related to the sustainability of the company’s capital structure following the proposed transaction.”…
    SolarCity shares shed 7.4 per cent on Monday to close at $24.72, a level that suggests most shareholders are betting the deal will be approved. Tesla shares closed down 2 percent at $230.01.
    The company on Monday cut its forecast for full-year installations by 10 percent from prior guidance…
    “SolarCity’s cost of capital is higher than the individual in most cases,” Musk said on a call Monday, adding SolarCity could focus on selling systems to homeowners, financed through their mortgages…
    Both companies have been burning through cash, although they have projected achieving positive cash flow later this year…
    The company’s outlook has darkened as government policies that underpinned the rooftop solar sector’s expansion in recent years face increased scrutiny in many U.S. states.
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-solarcity-m-a-tesla-idUSKCN10C26O

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    pat

    2 Aug: Australian: Graham Lloyd: Australia committed to protection of rainforests: Josh Frydenberg
    In his first international performance as environment minister (at the Asia Pacific Rainforest Summit in Brunei), Mr Frydenberg would urge regional leaders to use the global momentum of the Paris Agreement to drive forward meaningful country-owned action on forests in the Asia-Pacific…
    “We must recognise, welcome and encourage the critical role of the private sector in scaling-up these efforts to improve outcomes in our forests,” he said.
    Mr Frydenberg said Australia was still grappling with how to place a monetary value on the biodiversity and ecosystem services provided by lands and forests…
    ***We had also been working in partnership with Norway and the United States, through the Global Forest Observations Initiative, to work with more countries in our region…
    Mr Frydenberg said a core tenet of the Paris Agreement was the need for both governments and the private sector to invest in activities that lower greenhouse gas emissions and develop climate resilience…
    Mr Frydenberg said this was changing and ***institutional investors were beginning to turn their attention to sustainable development because they could see a shift was taking place…
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/australia-committed-to-protection-of-rainforests-josh-frydenberg/news-story/a0e48eefaf317288c84abb597c16c7f2

    29 Jul: Bloomberg: Rebecca Kern: As U.S. Nuclear Plants Close, Carbon Emissions Could Go Up
    Carbon emissions will rise in parts of the country when natural gas and ***coal plants replace electricity provided by nuclear plants that are scheduled to close, analysts and climate change experts predict.
    “In the near term, emissions are going to increase,” Doug Vine, a senior energy fellow at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank focused on climate change, told Bloomberg BNA…
    Total carbon emission increases as a result of the expected seven nuclear plant closures could range from 32 million to 46 million metric tons, according to analysis compiled for Bloomberg BNA by Energy Venture Analysis Inc. and the Energy Information Administration, respectively. This would be the equivalent of annual carbon emissions from approximately 7 million to 10 million cars in the U.S., representing as much as 2 percent of the total U.S. carbon emissions from the electricity sector…
    Fisher agreed that closing nuclear plants will have implications for overall U.S. compliance with the Paris agreement…
    Another consideration is a projection by the Energy Information Administration and other analysts that natural gas prices will increase from lows of $2 per million BTU to as high as $3.20 per million BTU next year. This could lead regional transmission operators to rely on coal plants instead if their prices are cheaper than natural gas…
    http://www.bna.com/us-nuclear-plant-n73014445640/

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    pat

    China takes notice:

    2 Aug: SouthChinaMorningPost: AP: The Norwegian paradox: it reaps huge oil income, but is eliminating petrol cars and plans carbon neutrality
    The west coast town is the hub of an offshore industry that has made Norway the world’s eighth biggest exporter of oil and third biggest exporter of natural gas. Norway’s US$875 billion oil kitty is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, and hydrocarbons account for 40 per cent of Norwegian exports…
    It has already spent US$1 billion saving trees in Brazil and is committed to spend up to US$350 million a year preserving trees in places like Indonesia and Guyana.
    But Norway is accused of environmental hypocrisy, grandstanding overseas with environmental projects while allowing its domestic oil and gas industry to pump ever larger quantities of carbon into the atmosphere. Plans for carbon neutrality involve buying credits for helping reduce emissions abroad…
    In fact, Norway was one of the few Western countries to see a rise in domestic carbon emissions in 2015…
    “The plan has always been to buy carbon credits to allow us to continue polluting as a country,” says Lars Haltbrekken, chairman of the Norwegian chapter of Friends of the Earth, an environmental advocacy group.
    “That is why we don’t think carbon neutrality is the most important factor in combatting climate change,” he says. “We can buy credits in developing countries. It doesn’t require us to reduce emissions here in Norway.”
    A tougher European Union scheme will set emissions reduction targets within the next two years. But Norway, which is not an EU member, will still be able to trade emissions credits with European neighbors to reach its reduction quota.
    Meanwhile, environmental activists bristle at exploration permits handed out to 13 oil companies in May to drill in a new area of the Norwegian Arctic…
    http://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1998092/norwegian-paradox-it-reaps-huge-oil-income-eliminating-petrol-cars

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    pat

    2 Aug: WSJ: Dan Molinski: Exxon Official Says a Ban on Fossil Fuel is Unrealistic
    Commercial adviser for oil company speaking at conference, says comments are his personal opinion
    SAN ANTONIO—An Exxon Mobil Corp. official on Tuesday dismissed the growing calls by some nations to sharply curtail the use of fossil fuels, or even ban them altogether, as unfeasible.
    “They can sit around in the dark and talk about how it worked out,” Ken Golden, commercial adviser for Exxon, said from the podium at an oil conference in San Antonio. He prefaced his comment by saying it was his personal view, and that it wasn’t Exxon’s official response…
    The Exxon official said the company is concerned about the risks climate change poses, and that it encourages the use of renewable and other alternative fuels. But he said, for example, that even while the use of wind and solar power will rise faster than any other energy source through 2040, those two will still amount to less than 3% of total energy use.
    “There are billions of people who need to read, need to learn, need to improve their standard of living,” he said. “You simply cannot do this without fossil fuels.”
    The fossil fuels of oil, coal and natural gas are expected to provide about 80% of global energy through 2040, Exxon said…
    ***Even oil-producing nations like Norway have discussed banning fossil-fuel-powered cars over the coming years…
    Mr. Golden said that while Exxon’s 2040 outlook expects coal use to decline sharply, “oil will remain the world’s primary energy fuel,” and demand for oil and other liquids will grow by 20% from 2014 to 2040, it said.
    That rising oil demand will come entirely from developing nations, he said, led by China and India. For example, while there are currently two cars per 100 people in India, this will quintuple to 10 cars per 100 people by 2040, he said. In the U.S., there are 60 cars for every 100 people…
    http://www.wsj.com/articles/exxon-official-says-a-ban-on-fossil-fuel-is-unrealistic-1470155507

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    pat

    2 Aug: Fox News: Rep. Lamar Smith: Dear EPA, stop acting like a bully and start following the rule of law
    Recent EPA rules will cost billions of dollars and place a heavy burden on American taxpayers. These egregious EPA rules will diminish the ability of businesses throughout the United States to compete globally…
    The House Science Committee’s investigations have revealed an EPA that intentionally chooses to ignore sound science. EPA cherry-picks the science that fits its agenda and ignores the science that does not support its position. When the science falls short of EPA’s predetermined outcomes, the agency resorts to a propaganda campaign designed to mislead the public…
    A glaring example is the president’s so-called Clean Power Plan. This plan is nothing more than a “power grab” to give the government more control over Americans’ daily lives. The regulation stifles economic growth, destroys American jobs, and significantly increases energy prices. That means costs will rise – from electricity to gasoline to food, disproportionately hurting low income Americans.
    The non-partisan Energy Information Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy has independently found that the Clean Power Plan will reduce economic growth, increase electricity costs, and result in almost 376,000 jobs lost over the next 15 years.
    EPA’s own data shows that this regulation would reduce sea level rise by only 1/100th of an inch, the thickness of three sheets of paper. The Clean Power Plan represents massive costs without significant benefits. In other words, it’s all pain and no gain…
    The Paris Agreement is a bad deal for the American people that will shrink our economy without any recognizable benefits. Even if all 178 countries meet their promised reductions of carbon emissions for the next 85 years, that will reduce temperatures by only 1/6 of one degree Celsius!…
    The EPA should stop acting like a bully, follow the rule of law, and allow science rather than politics to drive its regulatory agenda.
    http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/08/02/rep-lamar-smith-dear-epa-stop-acting-like-bully-and-start-following-rule-law.html

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    Analitik

    Ross Garnaut has the solution for South Australia and anywhere else having issues deploying renewables – grid scale batteries since they are a “mature technology” that will provide an “immediate” solution to integrating increasing amounts of grid-connected wind and solar and preventing future electricity price spikes.

    An immediate answer is grid-scale batteries, which are being deployed in other developed countries to balance increasing volumes of wind and solar energy

    Batteries can respond to the need to add or absorb power in less than a second – much more quickly than gas generators.

    If optimised to maximise value in provision of grid stability services, the battery can store surplus power from excess generation from the midday sun or overnight wind for use in the evening and morning peaks at total costs that are lower than the prices of wholesale hedge contracts, or than exposure to the wholesale market at these times

    http://www.afr.com/business/energy/electricity/batteries-included-fixing-the-gaps-in-renewable-energy-20160802-gqizoq (paywalled)

    Thanks Ross – no wonder we have faith in you after your bang up assessment on climate change
    Your involvement with battery provider,Zen Energy, would have nothing to do with your recommendation, of course.
    http://www.zenenergy.com.au/about-us/our-people/board-of-directors/ross-garnaut/

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    Owen Morgan

    One of my sisters is an archaeologist and worked, some years back, on a site in Cheshire. They were looking for Anglo-Saxon stuff, but found a dead cow, from much more recent times. They had to vacate the site, while the deceased bovine was tested for anthrax. There was no sign of persistent anthrax, although I suppose that may well have been why the cow was buried.

    If it was, indeed, common practice to bury animals that died of anthrax, there ought to be loads of cases from around the globe, with or without “global warming”. In Siberia, specifically, there is permafrost (not something known in Cheshire for a few thousand years) and you can’t bury anything very low down. It doesn’t take much of a thaw to bring something buried to the surface.

    Russian explorers in Siberia started to discover extraordinarily well-preserved mammoths in the nineteenth century. They didn’t need any “global warming” to help them.

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    theRealUniverse

    “(1% of man-made CO2)” There is literally NO clue, evidence or measurement, how much of CO2 is ‘man made’ an absurdity anyway.
    AND stop calling CO2 gas CARBON! it is NOT CARBON C is an element not a gas! The gas form is CO2. Otherwise we should be banning diamonds!

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    Duke Silver

    As with Obamacare, I think you’ll see that nearly all who have signed on the dotted line are those who stand to receive funding rather than send funding.

    10