German government is preparing a law to fight climate change, but many of its elements have now been cut or scaled back, the Spiegel magazine has reported. The news comes ahead of an Extinction Rebellion rally. German officials have cut the goal to limit national CO2 emission by 2040, according to the Sunday report. —Deutsche Welle, 7 October 2019
Environment ministers agreed on Friday (4 October) to “update” the EU’s current emission reduction pledge next year but fell short of saying by how much. Ten countries blocked attempts by the others to commit outright to an increase there and then. —EurActiv, 7 October 2019
Poland plans to prioritise curbing its reliance on Russian energy — and so continuing its dependence on coal — over signing up to the EU’s net zero emissions target, in a move that is set to put Warsaw on a collision course with Brussels over climate policy. Energy security is higher priority than EU emissions goals, says government official. —
Financial Times, 2 October 20191) Climate Rebellion: Ten Countries Block EU Climate Target Change
EurActiv, 7 October 2019
2) German Government Waters Down Climate Bill
Deutsche Welle, 7 October 2019
3) Poland Defies EU By Vowing To Stick To Coal
Financial Times, 2 October 2019
4) The Apocalyptic Death Cult We Should Ridicule Out Of Existence
Brendan O’Neill, Spiked, 7 October 2019
5) Electric Vehicles Are Being Outpaced By The Growth Of SUVs
Nick Butler, Financial Times, 7 October 2019
6) Chinese Electric Cars ‘Worthless’ When It Comes To Resale
Asia Times, 29 September 2019
7) Dominic Lawson: The Sheer Folly Of Today’s Eco-Protests
Daily Mail, 7 October 2019
8) Nuclear Fusion Research In The United Kingdom
Dr John Constable: GWPF Energy Editor, 6 October 2019
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1) Climate Rebellion: Ten Countries Block EU Climate Target Change
EurActiv, 7 October 2019
Environment ministers agreed on Friday (4 October) to “update” the EU’s current emission reduction pledge next year but fell short of saying by how much. Ten countries blocked attempts by the others to commit outright to an increase there and then.
At an environment council meeting in Luxembourg, the EU’s 28 national delegates gave their blessing to a joint position ahead of the UN’s annual climate conference in December.
Ministers agreed to a text that again says the Council will complete its work on a pending climate-neutrality goal for 2050 by the end of the year. But the final conclusions on the EU’s 2030 target were watered down.
Under a first draft of the text, the EU would increase its so-called Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of 40% “in a manner that represents a progression of ambition beyond the current one and that reflects the EU’s highest possible ambition”.
That part was ultimately cut from the final version, which now simply reads “in 2020, the EU will update its NDC as agreed in Paris”.
EU climate chief Miguel Arias Cañete said in a press briefing afterwards that “under the Paris Agreement parties have to ‘update’ or ‘communicate’. Here, we’ve chosen ‘update’.” He also quoted the draft conclusions, labelling the final version a “progression of ambition”.
Ten countries – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Romania – blocked efforts to include more explicit language. Of those ten, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland are the last hold-outs on the 2050 deal.
“A long-awaited decision to massively scale up EU emission cuts has been delayed yet again at a time when millions of people take to the street to protest against government inaction,” said Wendel Trio, head of environmental group CAN Europe.
He added that “the EU needs to commit to a much higher target in early 2020 to encourage other countries to do the same”.
Incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to increase the NDC to 50% and to bump it up to 55% when appropriate. Cañete reiterated on Friday that current EU policies mean the bloc is de facto on course to hit 45%.
While Germany and Eastern European countries continue to oppose raising the EU’s 40% emission reduction target for 2030, a new analysis insists the bloc will actually manage at least 50% cuts under a business-as-usual scenario taking into account the latest coal phase-out pledges.
Not a bad result
EU diplomats were not overly disappointed with the result of the council though and even praised the fact member states had come to an agreement ahead of COP25 in Chile, which was the main objective of the meeting.
According to officials contacted by EURACTIV the lack of unanimity on ratcheting up the target at this stage was expected but they warned that patience with countries still dragging their feet is beginning to wear thin.
The Czech Republic and Poland in particular refuse to commit to new targets until the costs of ditching fossil fuels are explained fully. Polish energy officials last week insisted that the idea of going carbon neutral by 2050 is “a fantasy”.
Full story
2) German Government Waters Down Climate Bill
Deutsche Welle, 7 October 2019
German government is preparing a law to fight climate change, but many of its elements have now been cut or scaled back, the Spiegel magazine has reported. The news comes ahead of an Extinction Rebellion rally.
Climate activists have been camping out in front of Angela Merkel’s office
The final draft of the new climate protection law, set to be adopted by Germany’s government this week, has been significantly watered down from earlier proposals, Spiegel magazine reported.
German officials have cut the goal to limit national CO2 emission by 2040, according to the Sunday report.
Also, the latest version of the bill drops the pledge that Germany would reach greenhouse-gas neutrality by 2050. Instead, it only says this goal should be “pursued.”
Another change considers the national climate council, the body of experts appointed by the government. The final draft removes the demand for the council to produce a yearly evaluation report. Also, the experts would no longer be required to provide advice to ministries on adjusting their CO2 rate to keep them on track.
However, the bill keeps the goal for Germany to reduce its CO2 emissions by 2030 to a level corresponding to 55% percent of what the nation’s output was in 1990.
Conservatives opposed
The partners in Germany’s ruling coalition, Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc and the center-left SPD, debated on a new climate protection bill in March. The proposals circulated at the time envisioned a much deeper change than the law’s current iteration seen by Spiegel. Even so, climate activists and political opponents slammed the original draft as insufficient.
The conservative bloc has since pushed for the law to be scaled back, according to sources inside the ruling coalition cited by the magazine.
Full story
3) Poland Defies EU By Vowing To Stick To Coal
Financial Times, 2 October 2019
Energy security is higher priority than EU emissions goals, says government official.
Poland’s coal basins
Poland plans to prioritise curbing its reliance on Russian energy — and so continuing its dependence on coal — over signing up to the EU’s net zero emissions target, in a move that is set to put Warsaw on a collision course with Brussels over climate policy.
Piotr Naimski, Poland’s chief strategic energy adviser, told the Financial Times that it was “not possible and not feasible” for Poland to meet the EU goal of cutting net carbon emissions to zero by 2050. Instead, he said, coal would still generate up to half the country’s electricity in two decades’ time.
“Responsibilities for the planned EU target should be shared among EU states, taking into consideration every country’s situation and possibilities,” he said.
“The cost of this idea rises to hundreds of billions of dollars. Politicians trying to proceed with such a process, they are not living on the ground.”
Mr Naimski’s comments come as the EU is pushing its members to adopt an ambitious goal for carbon neutrality by 2050 and cast doubt on hopes that all EU states will sign up to the target by December’s COP25 climate summit in Chile.
Full story
4) The Apocalyptic Death Cult We Should Ridicule Out Of Existence
Brendan O’Neill, Spiked, 7 October 2019
Extinction Rebellion is a reactionary, regressive and elitist movement whose aim is to impose the most disturbing form of austerity imaginable on people across the world.
Yesterday, in London, I witnessed an eerie, chilling sight: I saw a death cult holding a ceremony in public.
The men and women gathered outside King’s Cross station and formed a circle. They swayed and chanted. They preached about End Times. ‘What will you do when the world gets hot, what, what?’, they intoned, conjuring up images of the hellfire they believe will shortly consume mankind. They sang hymns to their god – science. ‘We’ve got all the science / All that we need / To change the world / Hallelujah’, they sang, rocking side to side as they did so.
They demanded repentance. ‘Buy less, fly less, fry less’, said one placard. Catholics only demand the non-consumption of meat on Fridays, as an act of penance to mark the day of Christ’s death. This new religion demands an end to meat-consumption entirely, as penance for mankind’s sins of growth and progress.
And like all death cultists, they handed out leaflets that contained within them ‘THE TRUTH’. The leaflets foretell floods and fire: ‘We are in trouble. Sea levels are rising… Africa and the Amazon are on fire.’ The only word that was missing was locusts. They can’t be far behind these other ghastly visitations to sinful mankind.
And if you question their TRUTH? Then, like those heretics who were hauled before The Inquisition 500 years ago, you will be denounced as a denier. A denier of their revelations, a denier of their visions. ‘Denial is not a policy’, their placards decreed. Spotting me filming their spooky, apocalyptic ceremony, one of the attendees waved that placard in my face. A warning from the cult to a corrupted outsider.
This was, of course, Extinction Rebellion. Let us no longer beat around the bush about these people. This is an upper-middle-class death cult.
This is a millenarian movement that might speak of science, but which is driven by sheer irrationalism. By fear, moral exhaustion and misanthropy. This is the deflated, self-loathing bourgeoisie coming together to project their own psycho-social hang-ups on to society at large. They must be criticised and ridiculed out of existence.
Yesterday’s gathering, like so many other Extinction Rebellion gatherings, was middle-aged and middle-class. The commuters heading in and out of King’s Cross looked upon them with bemusement. ‘Oh, it’s those Extinction freaks’, I heard one young man say. It had the feel of Hampstead and the Home Counties descending on a busy London spot to proselytise the cult of eco-alarmism to the brainwashed, commuting plebs.
It was a gathering to mark Extinction Rebellion’s week of disruption. The group is asking people in London and other cities around the world to ‘take two weeks off work’ and join the revolt against the ‘climate and ecological crisis’. You can tell who they’re trying to appeal to. Working-class people and the poor of New Delhi, Mumbai and Cape Town – some of the cities in which Extinction Rebellion will be causing disruption – of course cannot afford to take two weeks off work. But then, these protests aren’t for those people. In fact, they’re against those people.
Extinction Rebellion is a reactionary, regressive and elitist movement whose aim is to impose the most disturbing form of austerity imaginable on people across the world. One of the great ironies of ‘progressive’ politics today is that people of a leftist persuasion will say it is borderline fascism if the Tory government closes down a library in Wolverhampton, but then they will cheer this eco-death cult when it demands a virtual halt to economic growth with not a single thought for the devastating, immiserating and outright lethal impact such a course of action would have on the working and struggling peoples of the world.
Extinction Rebellion says mankind is doomed if we do not cut carbon emissions to Net Zero by 2025. That’s six years’ time. Think about it: they want us to halt a vast array of human activity that produces carbon. All that Australian digging for coal; all those Chinese factories employing millions of people and producing billions of things used by people around the world; all those jobs in the UK in the fossil-fuel industries; all those coal-fired power stations; all that flying; all that driving… cut it all back, rein it in, stop it. And the people who rely on these things for their work and their food and their warmth? Screw them. They’re only humans. Horrible, destructive, stupid humans.
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