UN Climate Chief: Pledges are Just Greed — Not to Save the Planet

“Greed” is the term used for “economic self-interest” when discussing corporations. And economic self-interest is what Figueres says is the basis of every country’s pledge for Paris. Leaders gathered in Paris to forge a deal on climate change are acting out of economic self-interest, not a desire to “save the planet,” U.N. Climate Chief Christiana Figueres […]

Is the Paris climate deal meaningless?

This article is by a conservative who may just want to cause trouble. None-the-less, it contains a lot of accurate information, although sometimes with a nasty spin. But that’s no excuse for hiding our heads in the sand. One point that is relevant to the analysis on this website is the the Lawrence Berkeley National […]

Why scientists say the Paris climate summit will fail

The upcoming Paris climate talks would be much more successful if the rules of the game weren’t so faulty, a number of scientists believe. All that it would take is for the UN to observe one simple concept: reciprocity.

India to Increase CO2 by 3.5 Gt/year by 2030

India argues that it cannot simply decide between renewable and non-renewable power – it needs both. So a breakneck dash for coal is taking place across the country, where on average one new mine is opening every month. As a result, India’s carbon dioxide emissions, are expected to rise from 1.7bn tonnes in 2010 to […]

Even Greenpeace Gets Fooled

When Greenpeace becomes a bunch of wide-eyed optimists about a treaty that even OPEC likes, you know we’re in trouble. They list 5 things to know about COP21, and get 4 1/2 of them wrong. Such touching naiveté. “They’re meeting in Paris to try and agree a global legally binding climate treaty.” They say “legally […]

UN: Paris INDC pledges Make 2C Scenarios Nearly Impossible

The UNEP released the Executive Summary of its 6th annual Emissions Gap Report. These track how far short the climate pledges are falling relative to the 2°C goal. Basically it says, many models say that the INDCs make the 2°C scenarios impossible to meet, and the other models say it’s possible with a massive cost increase.

China Is Least Concerned about Climate Change

About seven-in-ten Chinese (71%) support an international treaty to curtail emissions, yet just 18% of the public expresses intense concern about climate conditions. This is the lowest concern of any of the 18 countries surveyed. Since the Chinese contribution to the treaty is entirely focussed on reducing their horrendous local pollution from coal, it is […]

Christiana Figueres takes swipe at Barack Obama

“China is now leading the world when it comes to fighting climate change – handily beating the US’s efforts under Barack Obama,” said Figueres, according to the Guardian. This is not just mean-spirited, but also highly misleading. Between 2000 and 2014 China increased its CO2 emissions 178% while the US decreased its emissions by 6%. China’s CO2 […]