Sunday, December 11, 2011

And While We're On The Topic...

...of the Durban Freakers' Ball, the time has come to assess its relative success/failure.

According to some it was a complete dud, but not to worry, there will be other opportunities.

Durban climate change the agreement explained
"At the end of the gruelling talks the world decided on the "Durban Platform for Enhanced Action". The two-page document commits all countries to cutting carbon for the first time. A "road map" will guide countries towards a legal deal to cut carbon in 2015, but it will only come into affect after 2020."
[---]
"The world has agreed to a help poor countries cope with climate change through a new Green Climate Fund that will hand out around £60bn per annum from 2020. However, again the details of the agreement are very vague. All that has been decided is that a body will be set up to distribute and manage the funds. It is not yet clear how the money will be raised. Possible plans to raise fund from a tax on shipping or aviation have not been signed off."
[---]
"There is still a lot of work to do on the agreement. The next UNFCCC meeting in Quatar [Ed, Qatar?] next year will start negotiations towards the 2015 deal, including the kind of targets each country will sign up to. There will also be discussion of carbon cuts for the EU and a few other countries under the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol."
[---]
"There is still a lot of work to do on the agreement. The next UNFCCC meeting in Quatar [Ed. I think they mean Qatar, another nice warm place where conference attendees can easily be persuaded the earth is getting really hot.] next year will start negotiations towards the 2015 deal, including the kind of targets each country will sign up to. There will also be discussion of carbon cuts for the EU and a few other countries under the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol."
[---]
"India emerged as the villains (sic), after Jayanthi Natarajan, India’s Environment Minister, refused to sign up a deal that would commit the developing world to a strong legal treaty. She was backed by China, who also seemed reluctant to cut carbon at home.

However although the protests by the world’s second and third biggest carbon emitters claimed their concerns are based on "climate justice". They argue that they need to carry on emitting carbon to bring millions of people out of poverty over the next few decades.

The US was unusually quiet throughout the talks, but as the world’s biggest emitter made it clear they were also happy with a weak legal outcome.

The EU are painting themselves as the heroes of the hour for rescuing the talks from collapsing but it could be a bitter victory as the deal is so vague and fails to cut carbon fast enough.

The South Africans were criticised for letting the conference go into extra time for two days but ultimately it has been a success for them by achieving some sort of a deal."
[---]
"This is a major signal to business to start investing in green technology as the world moves towards a low carbon future.

Europe is already cutting carbon but this will increase pressure to increase the target from 20 per cent by 2020 to 30 per cent by 2030. As part of the bloc it will also encourage the UK to increase our targets, although we are already committed to 34 per cent by 2020. The rest of the world will also be encouraged to cut carbon on a voluntary basis at first and as part of the deal in 2020.

It could mean the carbon price increases and carbon markets begin to function better pushing up the price of fossil fuels but ensuring investment in wind and solar. In the UK this could mean ‘green jobs’ for the economy but also costs to the tax payer through energy bills to pay for the new power stations.

The new Green Climate Fund will also be paid for by tax payers. The UK has already spent £3.4bn on helping poor countries fight climate change and will invest around £1bn a year from 2020 as part of the fund. The climate change conference itself costs the UK Government around £500,000 every year."
[---]
"It has been estimated that the carbon footprint for the event could be in the order of 15,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. However this does not include the flights of the 13,000 delegates that is likely to increase the emissions to the annual footprint of a small African country. Durban City Council is offsetting the footprint by through an ecosystem rehabilitation project in the uMbilo catchment west of Durban. It is expected to offset 16,000 CO2e."
I wonder what Qatar will do to offset its increased carbon footprint? Plant a forest of palm trees?

Why do I get the feeling this scam will go on and on for the next thirty to forty years, long after people will have forgotten the dire urgency the warmists have been crying about for the past couple of decades, at least.

Anyway, good news for alternative energy experiments. No one seems to have noticed, or, at least, is willing to acknowledge they have been primarily failures.  Taxpayers to the rescue!! Again!! Investors will be pleased. Certain kinds of investors,  that is.

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