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Oil Companies Look to Join Climate Debate

ENLARGE Environmental activists have focused much of their effort on trying to rein in the use of oil companies’ bread and butter: carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Photo: Getty Images Oil companies are ratcheting up their involvement in the debate over climate change as governments, activists, churches and some big investors gear up for a global summit on the issue at the end of the year in Paris. The stated goal of the summit is to keep man-made warming limited to two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, but governments remain far apart on how to achieve it. Meeting such a goal will require far-reaching changes in energy-consumption patterns and likely efforts to put a cost on carbon use, many experts believe. Activists have long focused much of their effort on trying to rein in the use of these resource companies’ bread and butter: carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Pope Francis is also planning […]

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Oil Giants Band Together to Add Voice to Climate Debate

Europe’s largest oil companies are banding together to forge a joint strategy on climate-change policy, alarmed they’ll be ignored as the world works toward a historic deal limiting greenhouse gases. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA, BP Plc, Statoil ASA and Eni SpA are among oil companies that plan to start a new industry body, or think tank, to develop common positions on the issues, according to people with knowledge of the matter. So far the largest U.S. companies — Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. — have decided not to participate, the people said, asking not be named before a public announcement expected as early as next month. Efforts to reduce fossil-fuel investments and spur renewables such as solar and wind power have gathered pace in the past two years with oil companies sitting largely outside the debate. One aim of the European producers will be to push […]

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Germany, France to Push for Ambitious U.N. Climate Agreement at Paris Summit

ENLARGE Environmental activists wear masks featuring French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images BERLIN—Germany and France said on Tuesday that they would push for an “ambitious, comprehensive and binding” global agreement on cutting carbon emissions this year, seeking to create impetus for a broad deal despite resistance from some developing countries. In a joint statement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande said they aim to “decarbonize fully the global economy over the course of this century” and will “commit ourselves to contribute our fair share.” Industrialized countries are leading the push to curb carbon-dioxide emissions to fight climate change. But many developing economies want a freer hand to boost energy consumption amid rapid domestic growth, as well as money to help offset economic sacrifices that might be necessary to reduce their emissions. The German […]

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The Greatest Water Crisis In The History Of The United States

US Drought Monitor May 5 2015 What are we going to do once all the water is gone?  Thanks to the worst drought in more than 1,000 years, the western third of the country is facing the greatest water crisis that the United States has ever seen.  Lake Mead is now the lowest that it has ever been since the Hoover Dam was finished in the 1930s, mandatory water restrictions have already been implemented in the state of California , and there are already widespread reports of people stealing water in some of the worst hit areas.  But this is just the beginning.  Right now, in a desperate attempt to maintain somewhat “normal” levels of activity, water is being pumped out of the ground in the western half of the nation at an absolutely staggering pace.  Once that irreplaceable groundwater is gone, that is when the real crisis will […]

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El Nino has emerged, Asia braces for crop damage

SINGAPORE In 2009, the El Nino brought the worst drought in four decades to India. It razed wheat fields in Australia and damaged crops across Asia. Food prices surged. A closely watched forecast by Japan on Tuesday confirmed its return this year. A strong El Nino will roil economies that are heavily dependent on agriculture, particularly India which is already reeling from bad weather. It would also unhinge supply chains of commodities such as rice, corn and palm oil. In fact, the heat is already up in some places in the Asia Pacific. "We’ve already been hit by a three-month dry spell. We could not plant anything since January. All of us here in Taculen are praying for more rains," said Benny Ramos, a rice farmer in North Cotabato in southern Philippines. Prayers for rains in Asia, however, may not be answered as weather forecasts show an intensifying El […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Could drought slow America’s most vibrant economy?

It is a tantalizing question facing the future of the American West: What would happen if the Colorado River dried up? The scenario, though unlikely anytime soon, is a stark way to consider the growing effects of climate change and drought on the region. And when researchers at Arizona State looked into it this year, they found a story of economic disaster. The seven states that rely on the Colorado for at least some of their water supply — from Wyoming down to Southern California — would lose 16 million jobs, many in health care, high technology and arts and recreation. The fewest job losses would come in agriculture. Nonetheless, in the West, it’s agriculture that still gets the lion’s share of the water. That’s the great tension for Western states — and the U.S. economy — as global temperatures rise and drought intensifies in coming years. This region […]

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Big Oil’s Disruptive Climate Change

ENLARGE A drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil’s rally back above $60 a barrel does little to dispel the industry’s long-term worries. Photo: Dario Lopez-Mills/Associated Press Even as oil rallies back above $60 a barrel, obituaries are being drafted. Oil majors face questions from shareholders concerned the threat of climate change means some of the reserves underpinning the companies will never be produced. In a recent report, HSBC HSBA 1.04 % urged investors to plan for this risk of “stranded assets.” The risk is real—and doesn’t just boil down to efforts to curb climate change. One warning: Saudi Arabia’s decision to keep pumping despite the drop in oil prices. Apart from taking market share back from higher-cost rivals, the country’s oil minister has indicated concern about long-term demand in the face of technological and regulatory threats. Almost 1,400 climate policies had been enacted globally by 2013, according […]

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Global CO2 in Atmosphere Highest in a Million Years, NOAA Says

Emissions billow from the NTPC Ltd. Badarpur power station at dusk in Delhi, on April 28, 2015. Photographer: Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg The amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere averaged more than 400 parts per million globally for the first time ever in March, according to U.S. government measurements. The recording was based on air samples taken from 40 sites around the world, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement Wednesday. It’s the highest level of the gas in at least a million years . Increasing CO2 emissions are blamed for global climate change that causes stronger storms, melting Arctic ice and rising sea levels, according to scientists. This is the first time the emissions have reached that level on a global basis — sites in the Arctic and Hawaii recorded CO2 concentrations over 400 ppm in 2012 and 2013, respectively. “This marks the fact that […]

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In China, a tug of war over coal gas: Cleaner air but worse for the climate

HEXIGTEN, CHINA — Amid the rolling grasslands of northern China, a gleaming new industrial complex offers a beguiling vision for the nation’s leaders. Here, on a sandy plain among scattered flocks of sheep, a flagship plant promises to use China’s surplus coal while simultaneously delivering cleaner skies over its crowded eastern cities. Modeled on a similar and much older plant in North Dakota, the Hexigten complex in China’s Inner Mongolia transforms coal into methane by treating it with heat, steam and oxygen. It then pipes the supposedly cleaner gas to Beijing to heat and power the capital’s homes. In the past two years, with anger over the country’s smoggy skies rising and demand for coal declining, China has enthusiastically embraced coal gasification. It has proposed to build more than 50 plants like this in its sparsely populated north and west and to create by far the largest synthetic natural […]

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California Adopts “Unprecedented” Restrictions On Water Use As Drought Worsens

Early last month we warned that California’s drought was approaching historic proportions and that if climatologists were to be believed, the country may see a repeat of The Dirty Thirties as experts cite “Dust Bowl” conditions. Governor Jerry Brown has called for statewide water restrictions aimed at reducing consumption by 25%. Now, the conservation calls are getting much louder as the state’s water regulators have approved “unprecedented” measures aimed at curtailing the crisis. Via AP : California water regulators adopted sweeping, unprecedented restrictions Tuesday on how people, governments and businesses can use water amid the state’s ongoing drought, hoping to push reluctant residents to deeper conservation. The State Water Resources Control Board approved rules that force cities to limit watering on public property, encourage homeowners to let their lawns die and impose mandatory water-savings targets for the hundreds of local agencies and cities that supply water to California customers. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple