Environment

Over the past year, climate campaigners didn’t grow tired of claiming that the fossil fuel industry received “a whopping $5.2 trillion in subsidies” in 2017, equivalent to 6.5 percent of global GDP. Quoting an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report that suggests the US alone wastes $649 billion annually, Rolling Stone declared that “the United States has spent more subsidizing fossil fuels in recent years than it has on defense spending.“

Min kronik 17. november havde tre pointer:

1) Danmarks nye 70 pct. klimareduktion i 2030 vil koste mindst 842 mia. kr. over 30 år.
2) Fordelen kan estimeres ved at bruge et studie, der hen over alle skadesmodeller og FNs fem hovedscenarier viser, at et ton CO₂ reduceret i 2030 medfører en skadesreduktion på 31 dollar. Det betyder, at Danmarks bidrag gør tre øre godt for hver krone.
3) Danmarks reduktion vil ifølge FNs klimapanels vurdering reducere den globale opvarmning med en titusindedels grad i 2100.

Az emberi történelem azt mutatja, hogy az energia rendszerek átalakítása - főleg nagy gazdaságok esetében - hosszú időt, akár 50-100 évet is igénybe vesz. Az EU előtt álló 30 év nagyon kevésnek tűnik, hogy ezt a teljes változást végre lehessen hajtani és a célként kitűzött nettó nulla üvegház hatású gáz emissziót elérje a 28 tagállam. Ráadásul először fordul elő az emberiség története során, hogy a kibocsátás csökkentése a cél és nem kizárólag az, hogy javítsunk az energiarendszer hatékonyságán.

Switch to energy-efficient light bulbs, wash your clothes in cold water, eat less meat, recycle more, and buy an electric car: we are being bombarded with instructions from climate campaigners, environmentalists, and the media about the everyday steps we all must take to tackle climate change. Unfortunately, these appeals trivialize the challenge of global warming and divert our attention from the huge technological and policy changes that are needed to combat it.

Jeg pointerede i min nylige kronik (17. november) at regeringens klimaløfte, der skal skære 70 pct. i 2030, vil koste mindst 842 milliarder kroner og reducere den globale temperaturstigning i år 2100 med en titusindedel grad.

The UN climate summit is underway in Madrid, and activists are sounding their usual calls for world leaders to achieve carbon neutrality as fast as possible. It’s a fool’s errand.

From California to France to Chile, environmentalists laud leaders for already making the promise, and sometimes even passing legislation, to stop putting more greenhouse gases into the air than they take out.

Histórias alarmantes da comunicação social que distorcem os factos sobre o aumento do nível do mar são perigosas porque assustam desnecessariamente as pessoas e pressionam as autoridades a tomar medidas excessivamente caras para reduzir as emissões de gases de efeito estufa.

The latest alarming news about climate change is that huge swaths of densely inhabited land will be underwater by 2050, with their cities “erased.” These reports – which appeared in The New York Times and many other media outlets – are based on a good research paper by scientists at Climate Central, but they get the story wrong.

This is part of a damaging pattern. Climate change is a man-made problem that we need to tackle, but many of the news stories about its purported effects are scaring us without justification and misleading us about how to act.

Al ser cada vez más obvio que las respuestas políticas al calentamiento global, como el tratado de París, no están funcionando, los ambientalistas nos instan a considerar el impacto climático de nuestras acciones personales. No comer carne, no conducir un coche con motor de gasolina y no viajar en avión, proponen. Pero estas acciones individuales, además de no suponer una diferencia sustancial para nuestro planeta, desvían la atención de las soluciones que se necesitan.

A principios de este mes, el Parlamento británico declaró que el planeta enfrenta una “emergencia climática”; el Reino Unido es el primer país que emite una declaración en ese sentido, después de ciudades como Los Ángeles, Londres, Vancouver y Basilea.