[TheClimate.Vote] Feb 21, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News for All -
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Tue Feb 21 09:53:50 EST 2017
/February 21, 2017 /Dubai unimpressed by Trump
<http://www.dw.com/en/dubais-bid-to-cash-in-on-climate-change/a-37632398>
http://www.dw.com/en/dubais-bid-to-cash-in-on-climate-change/a-37632398
Dubai's bid to cash in on*climate change*
<http://www.dw.com/en/dubais-bid-to-cash-in-on-climate-change/a-37632398>
Deutsche Welle -3 hours ago
During the 5th World Government Summit in Dubai, the government set
out a bold vision for how adapting to climate change could form the
basis of an industry worth billions to the country....
On the surface, this commitment to combating climate change may seem
surprising given the region and country's dependence on oil. Around
25 percent of UAE's GDP is based on oil and gas output, primarily
thanks to the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi. While recent efforts
at economic diversification have reduced this share, oil remains a
key pillar of the economy.
*Yet the realities of today's Middle East make climate change
increasingly difficult to ignore. *The arid region is already
experiencing some of the hottest summers on record. Meanwhile,
increases in food prices related to climate change are thought to
have played catalytic roles in the Syrian civil war and other
regional uprisings and conflicts.
There is also growing awareness that, as much due to economics as
environmental science, *the end of the oil era is approaching and
the time to prepare is now.*
"I think countries in this region are realizing this is a strategic
issue for them, after all the fall of oil prices now looks to be
systemic not just cyclical," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth
Institute at Columbia University, told DW at the World Government
Summit.
"Countries in this region need to diversify and that is what the
Emirates is doing, moving from an economy based mainly on oil and
gas to one that is based on a trading center, a vacation spot, a
business hub, a transport hub and also deploying the renewable
energy that this region has. It has solar energy galore."....
...On the surface, this commitment to combating climate change may
seem surprising given the region and country's dependence on oil.
Around 25 percent of UAE's GDP is based on oil and gas output,
primarily thanks to the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi. While recent
efforts at economic diversification have reduced this share, oil
remains a key pillar of the economy.
Yet the realities of today's Middle East make climate change
increasingly difficult to ignore. The arid region is already
experiencing some of the hottest summers on record. Meanwhile,
increases in food prices related to climate change are thought to
have played catalytic roles in the Syrian civil war and other
regional uprisings and conflicts.
*There is also growing awareness that, as much due to economics as
environmental science, the end of the oil era is approaching and the
time to prepare is now.*
"I think countries in this region are realizing this is a strategic
issue for them, after all the fall of oil prices now looks to be
systemic not just cyclical," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth
Institute at Columbia University, told DW at the World Government
Summit.
"Countries in this region need to diversify and that is what the
Emirates is doing, moving from an economy based mainly on oil and
gas to one that is based on a trading center, a vacation spot, a
business hub, a transport hub and also deploying the renewable
energy that this region has. It has solar energy galore."
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/02/20/californias-biggest-security-threat-climate-change-says-former-adviser/
California's Biggest Security Threat? Climate Change,...
<https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/02/20/californias-biggest-security-threat-climate-change-says-former-adviser/>
KQED -10 hours ago
Former National Security Adviser Richard Clarke warns of serious
security problems if sea level rise results in the dramatic
displacement of people...
Clarke also stressed that the United States' federal budget will be
hit hard...
"You are going to be spending huge amounts of money on flood control
and reconstruction of infrastructure," he said...
"So much so, that you won't continue to have money to continue to
afford a large defense establishment like we have now."
https://phys.org/news/2017-02-ponds-climate.html
Warming ponds could accelerate*climate change*
<https://phys.org/news/2017-02-ponds-climate.html>
Phys.Org -3 hours ago
Such effects are known as "positive feedbacks" - where the effects of
global warming on components of the biosphere lead to changes that
further*climate change*. "The amplified effects of experimental warming
we have observed in ponds are different to ...
https://sojo.net/articles/scientists-ponder-how-talk-faithful-about-climate-change
Scientists Ponder How to Talk to the Faithful About*Climate Change*
<https://sojo.net/articles/scientists-ponder-how-talk-faithful-about-climate-change>
Sojourners -6 hours ago
After sessions on gravitational waves, nuclear forensics, and artificial
intelligence, one of the world's largest general science conferences
invited attendees to hear from an Episcopal priest.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/20/climate-change-us-solutions-dangers-series
*Climate change*in the US: the dangers and the solutions – about
this series
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/20/climate-change-us-solutions-dangers-series>
The Guardian -11 hours ago
This Guardian US series of articles and films on climate change will
focus on people already impacted, displaced or threatened by sea
level rise, and will examine how the threat can be tackled,
including with clean energy..
http://www.eenews.net/tv/videos/2203
*(video) EPA Environmental groups gear up for litigation ahead of Pruitt
vote <http://www.eenews.net/tv/videos/2203>*
With a confirmation vote on U.S. EPA administrator nominee Scott
Pruitt expected within days, environmental groups are strategizing
ahead of what will likely be a busy and significant period of
litigation. During today's OnPoint, Josh Stebbins, managing attorney
at the Sierra Club Environmental Law Program, discusses the future
of environmental law and the impact Supreme Court nominee Neil
Gorsuch could have on key rulemakings.
(Transcript) http://www.eenews.net/tv/videos/2203
<http://www.eenews.net/tv/videos/2203>
Josh Stebbins: "Actually, the economics have been part of the
promulgation of these rules, and time and again, the economic and
analysis shows that these rules derive greater benefits than they do
have cost. I would be very comfortable in having an honest
discussion about economics and the economic benefits this delivers
to the American public. One thing to keep in mind, though, is also
where do those benefits and costs get distributed? Well, I can tell
you that the public health safeguards that are achieved under our
environmental statutes and our environmental regulations, they're
felt by all of America. They're felt by mainstream Americans,
they're felt by families, particularly they're felt by children and
elderly and infirm. And those are parts of our society that we have
to be there to protect."
"I don't want to speculate too much about anything specific, but he
(Pruitt) certainly does have an anti-regulatory approach. He's got a
track record of trying to block public health safeguards that EPA's
put in place. So my expectation would be that his activities as a —
as the administrator of EPA, should he become the administrator of
EPA, would be in keeping with that, which is really protecting
polluters and not the public."
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/02/20/stories/1060050315
*EPA Pruitt wants 24/7 bodyguards
<http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/02/20/stories/1060050315>*
Robin Bravender <http://www.eenews.net/staff/Robin_Bravender>, E&E
News reporter
Published: Monday, February 20, 2017
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt — one of President Trump's most
controversial Cabinet-level picks — was expected to request an
around-the-clock security detail from his agency, according to an
internal agency email obtained by E&E News. Such protection would
mark a dramatic increase from security given past administrators and
could curtail resources available for EPA's criminal enforcement,
according to former agency officials.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2017/0220/Science-activism-continues-its-rise-with-Boston-rally
Science activism continues its rise with Boston rally
<http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2017/0220/Science-activism-continues-its-rise-with-Boston-rally>
Christian Science Monitor -2 hours ago
Faced with the possibility of cuts to research agencies and what appears
to be suppression of data, attendees at Sunday's rally added their
voices to a growing chorus of concerned scientists.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170220085126.htm
More warm-dwelling animals and plants as a result of*climate change*
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170220085126.htm>
Science Daily -3 hours ago
The most obvious increases occurred among warm-dwelling birds,
butterflies, beetles, soil organisms and lichens according to a new study.
https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/02/18/fossil-fuel-companies-telling-investors-enough-risks-climate-change
*Are Fossil Fuel Companies Telling Investors Enough About the Risks of
Climate Change?
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/02/18/fossil-fuel-companies-telling-investors-enough-risks-climate-change>*
Prior to President Donald Trump taking office, there was a push to
require oil and gas companies to inform their investors about the
risks of climate change. As governments step up efforts to regulate
carbon emissions, the thinking goes, fossil fuel companies' assets
could depreciate in value over time....
The Securities and Exchange Commission, for example, was probing how
ExxonMobil discloses the impact of that risk on the value of its
reserves. ....
Now that Republicans control Congress and the White House, will the
SEC reverse course? And should it?...
The Trump administration's apparent skepticism regarding climate
change may portend such a change in direction. And Congress'
decision to roll back transparency rules for U.S. energy companies
in the Dodd-Frank Act suggests transparency policy more broadly is
being loosened....
The terms of this debate, however, remain premised on the notion
that investors don't have enough information to accurately assess
the impact of climate change on company value.*A growing body of
academic research, including our own, suggests they already do and
that a compromise path that improves the terms and conditions for
voluntary disclosure might be optimal.*
"Stranded" Assets -- Such a change in direction would be good news
for ExxonMobil in its fight with the SEC over climate change
disclosure....
Last year, ExxonMobil announced that 4.6 billion barrels of oil and
gas assets — 20 percent of its current inventory of future prospects
—*may be too expensive to tap*. *That would be the largest asset
write-down in its history. *So far, the company has written down
US$2 billion in expensive, above-market cost natural gas assets.
More write-downs — this time possibly oil sands — may be forthcoming...
It's not clear how much of that are tied to the risks of climate
change, but some took it as evidence that the fossil fuel industry
is not doing enough to inform investors about those risks....
Disclosure advocates in the United States and Europe have been
urging oil and gas companies to say more about the potential for
their booked assets to become "stranded" over time. Stranded assets
are mainly oil and gas reserves that might have to stay in the
ground as a result of a combination of new efficiency technologies
and policy actions that seek to limit greenhouse gas emissions...
The collapse in coal equities last year highlighted that concern.
Intensifying price competition from cleaner energy sources such as
natural gas and solar energy and the increasing cost of developing
cleaner coal overwhelmed the industry's already declining revenue...
Whatever policy direction the SEC takes on climate risk, it
is*unlikely to deter those investors who believe the present system
of voluntary and mandatory disclosure has failed to provide them
with sufficient information on the risks of climate change.* And
some market participants, such as *Bank of England Governor Mark
Carney, worry that the underreporting of climate change information
is creating a big risk for financial markets — a carbon bubble —
that could lead to a major market failure.*
Currently, the SEC requires mandatory disclosure of all "material"
information, while everything else is voluntary. This system has
created a vast amount of publicly available information on the costs
and risks of climate change.
But as the recent ExxonMobil revelations highlight, the market
clearly does not have all information. There are good reasons for
this. For competitive reasons and business survival, certain company
information is kept confidential and private.
The courts and the SEC have always acknowledged a company's right to
privacy regarding certain information. Companies, moreover, argue it
could be harmful to shareholders if disclosed prematurely. An
appropriate balance is required.
*Costs of Carbon-- Our own research confirms that financial markets
already price climate risk into oil and gas company stocks based on
company reports and other data available from public and proprietary
sources*. These data allow investors to estimate reasonably
accurately the effects of climate change on companies, including the
expectation of write-downs....
For example, our work suggests that investors first began pricing in
this kind of data as early as 2009, when the scientific climate
change evidence about stranded assets first became known. Our latest
research, soon to be published in Contemporary Accounting Research,
shows that the share price of the median company in the Standard &
Poor's 500 reflects a penalty of about $79 per ton of carbon
emissions (based on data through 2012). This penalty considers all
S&P 500 companies, not just oil and gas firms. Importantly, this
research also shows that investors are able to assess this penalty
from company disclosures and the noncompany information available on
climate change risk.
This penalty comprises the expected cost of carbon mitigation and
the possible loss of revenue from cheaper energy sources.
Exxon, for its part, says it prices the cost of long-term carbon
internally at $80 a ton, matching our market model.
The Right Mix -- All this begs the question of what level of
additional mandatory disclosure is needed to improve the "total mix
of information available" for investors on which to base decisions.
With climate change a pressing concern, investors certainly have a
right to demand more disclosure, and we agree with that. But at what
cost?
Indeed, the cost of disclosure can be significant, and it's not just
the direct out-of-pocket costs that policymakers should consider
when drawing up new regulations. Indirect costs, such as forcing oil
and gas companies to disclose vital confidential information to
rivals, could be particularly burdensome to particular companies.
And society could pay a heavy price if new rules lead companies to
make unwise operating or investment decisions or postpone investment
unnecessarily. Energy costs could increase or supplies decrease
because of miscalculations.
Additionally, the private sector is trying to fill the gap on its
own.*Moody's Investor Service, for example, announced in June that
it will now independently assess carbon transition risk as part of
its credit rating for companies in 13 sectors, including oil and gas.*
SEC Voluntary Disclosure Program -- Given these and other factors,
rather than mandate any new disclosures now, we urge the SEC to
first implement a voluntary program along the lines of its
successful 1976 program for the disclosure of sensitive foreign
payments (like bribes). The SEC's report on this program showed no
harm to the stock prices of participants after they disclosed payments.
In fact, it is often the lack of participation that invites a
negative stock price response, as markets often view nondisclosing
businesses as those with something to hide.
This voluntary program also helped pave the way for the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which formalized the accounting
requirements for bribery payments to foreign officials.
We would hope that a voluntary disclosure program for climate change
would achieve a similar goal: that is, formal SEC disclosure
requirements that consider the interests of all parties.
Such a program could initially target a defined group, such as the
50 largest SEC-registered oil and gas firms. That would give the SEC
and private organizations like Moody's the additional hard data and
experience needed to examine the costs, benefits and financial
market impacts of climate change risk disclosures.
Doing this would pave the way for more permanent rule-making to
better serve the needs of investors, companies and, ultimately, the
public.
/Paul Griffin is Professor of Management at the University of
California, Davis and Amy Myers Jaffe is Executive Director for
Energy and Sustainability, University of California, Davis. This
article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the
original article. The Conversation/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-carbon-air-pollution-climate-change-edit-0221-md-20170216-story.html
A better remedy for*climate change*: Less government and less
pollution
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-carbon-air-pollution-climate-change-edit-0221-md-20170216-story.html>
Chicago Tribune -4 hours ago
To conservatives, climate change looks like a blank check written to
"Big Government." Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump's nominee to head the
Environmental Protection Agency, is one of those conservatives...
But Americans don't have to choose between a free, thriving economy
and a healthy planet. A new plan comes from the Climate Leadership
Council, which includes George Shultz and James Baker, who
respectively served as secretary of state under Ronald Reagan and
George H.W. Bush, as well as Martin Feldstein and N. Gregory Mankiw,
who headed the president's Council of Economic Advisers under Reagan
and George W. Bush. It's an ingenious effort to satisfy Democrats
and Republicans, free-market stalwarts as well as devoted
environmentalists...
The centerpiece is a tax on carbon dioxide emissions that would
start low and rise over time. At $40 a ton, the initial rate, it
would raise gasoline prices by about 36 cents a gallon — a modest
increase, but big enough to affect business and consumer decisions...
Making fossil fuels more expensive would stimulate conservation,
speed the shift of power plants from coal to natural gas and make
renewable fuels more price-competitive. The result would be a steady
reduction in carbon emissions, which in turn would put a brake on
global warming.
///http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/santorum-and-climate-change-theology/
/*This Day in Climate History February 21, 2012
<http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/santorum-and-climate-change-theology/>
- from D.R. Tucker*/*
*/
/**/Conservative blogger Steven L. Taylor calls out GOP presidential
candidate Rick Santorum for his repeated denials of climate change:
"[C]onservatives ultimately see any attempt at environment
regulation as really not about the environment anyway, but about an
excuse for increased government control. Not only does this pay
into general concerns about 'big government' but this strand of the
argument asserts that all this researchy/sciencey talk is just a
ruse: those guys aren't really scientists interested in
understanding the environment. No! They are Marxists in lab coats
looking to fool you all into socialism!
"Now, understand: I do not consider myself an expert on climate
change. I do not even have especially strong views on the subject,
although I do accept the rather overwhelming scientific consensus
that we have a climate change problem. What this means in terms of
policy is another issue. However, I find it problematic when
politicians hand-wave over serious issues [due to] some inherent
belief that they understand topics that would otherwise require a
lifetime of study to understand...Further, while I understand
concerns over taxes and regulations, that doesn't make issues like
pollution go away.
"In short: if one is going to make arguments on this topic (and
seek to influence policy in this arena) I would like to see more
than appeals to the Biblical creation story and fear mongering about
government control."
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/santorum-and-climate-change-theology/
/*
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