CCR: COP24: Capricious foes, Big Sister and high-carbon plutocrats

"If you ignore rising emissions from aviation and shipping along with those related to the UK’s imports and exports, a chirpy yarn can be told. But then why not omit cars, cement production and other so-called “hard to decarbonise” sectors? In reality, since 1990 carbon dioxide emissions associated with operating UK plc. have, in any meaningful sense, remained stubbornly static.[1] But let’s not just pick on the UK. The same can be said of many self-avowed climate-progressive nations, Denmark, France and Sweden amongst them. And then there’s evergreen Norway with emissions up 50% since 1990.
Sadly the subterfuge of these supposed progressives was conveniently hidden behind the new axis of climate-evil emerging in Katowice[2]: Trump’s USA; MBS’s Saudi; Putin’s Russia; and the Emir’s Kuwait – with Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, quietly sniggering from the side-lines. But surely no one really expected more from this quintet of regressives. It’s the self-proclaimed paragons of virtue where the real intransigence (or absence of imagination) truly resides. When it comes to commitments made in Paris, the list of climate villains extends far and wide – with few if any world leaders escaping the net."

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#carbonemissions  #Sweden  #France  #aviation emissions  #cementproductionemissions

The Guardian: The Guardian view on COP24: while climate talks continue, there is hope

"The first thing to say about the compromise struck at climate talks in Poland at the weekend is that it came as a relief. Ever since President Trump’s announcement in 2017 that the US would withdraw from the Paris agreement, the question has been whether the UN process could continue to work. Much like the communique that came out of the recent G20, the agreement on a set of rules to implement promises made in Paris shows that while multilateralism has been damaged, it is not dead. Flawed and inadequate though it is, the process that has developed since the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed in Rio in 1992 is still the best hope we have of staving off the most terrifying impacts of global warming. 

The sticking point of carbon credits, with new demands from Brazil regarding the treatment of forests, was pushed back to next year. But the agreement on how governments will measure and report on emissions cuts is important. The dynamic that previously pitted developing against developed countries has significantly shifted."

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See also

UN climate accord 'inadequate' and lacks urgency, experts warn

#summitinPoland #carbonprice #forests #greenhousegaspollution #climatedeniers #carbon #unitednationsclimatetalks

BBC News: Climate change: COP24 fails to adopt key scientific report

"Attempts to incorporate a key scientific study into global climate talks in Poland have failed. 

The IPCC report on the impacts of a temperature rise of 1.5C, had a significant impact when it was launched last October.

Scientists and many delegates in Poland were shocked as the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait objected to this meeting "welcoming" the report."

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Related: Australia's silence during climate change debate shocks COP24 delegates

BBC: Climate change: 'World at crossroads' warning as key talks begin

Four senior figures behind efforts to limit climate change have warned that the planet "is at a crossroads" as key talks opened a day early in Poland. 

"In a rare move, four former presidents of the United Nations-sponsored talks called for decisive action.

The meeting in Katowice is the most critical on climate change since the 2015 Paris agreement. 

Experts say that drastic cuts in emissions will be needed if the world is to reach targets agreed in Paris."

Go to BBC site