Europe Slips On Greenhouse Targets (Kyoto?)

BBC ^ | 5-6-2003 | Alex Kirby

[blam]

Europe slips on greenhouse targets

By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent

Emissions of greenhouse gases from the European Union increased in 2001 for the second year running.

Cold weather boosted fuel consumption

The European Environment Agency (EEA) estimates they were 1% greater than in 2000.

The EU as a whole is committed to reducing emissions by 8% on their 1990 levels by between 2008 and 2012.

On present trends, it appears to stand almost no chance of keeping its promise.

The 8% cut is the commitment made by the EU under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement on tackling climate change.

Not enough signatories have yet ratified the protocol to allow it to enter into force.

Two years ago President Bush said the US would not ratify it, and Australia has followed suit.

Lukewarm leaders

There are now doubts about the willingness of Russia to do so, because some of its prominent scientists apparently believe climate change could be beneficial to the country.

It is organising a world climate conference in Moscow in late September, to re-examine the science of climate change.

Hydropower faltered in 2001

The Europeans have all along been the protocol's most enthusiastic supporters, and their faltering performance will be deeply embarrassing to them.

EU emissions of the principal gas covered by the protocol, carbon dioxide (CO2), rose by 1.6% from 2000 to 2001.

Germany, France and the UK saw the biggest CO2 rises from homes and small businesses.

The EEA says the main reasons for the 2001 increase in all six gases were a colder winter in most EU countries, which meant householders burnt more heating fuel.

Coupled with this were higher emissions from transport, and greater use of fossil fuels in electricity and heating.

On the wrong track

The agency says its emissions inventory "represents best estimates and is subject to annual revision".

It says the big 2001 increases in Austria (up 4.8%) and Finland (7.3%) were caused partly by the cold winter, but also by lower rainfall.

The future for a warmer Europe?

This cut hydropower production, and also limited Finnish electricity imports from other Nordic countries.

The EEA says: "The latest figures show that 10 of the 15 member states are heading towards overshooting their agreed share by a wide margin - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain."

Although the EU as a whole is committed to an 8% greenhouse gas cut, individual member states have their own targets.

Up not down

Some of the less developed countries are actually allowed to emit more rather than less: Ireland, for example, is permitted a 13% emissions increase.

The agency says the three countries furthest from keeping to their share of the overall target are Spain, Portugal and Ireland: its emissions in 2001 were 31% higher than in 1990.

Luxembourg showed the biggest reduction of all, cutting emissions by 44% between 1990 and 2001.

It is on course to keep its Kyoto promise, as are Germany, Sweden and the UK. France looks at present likely to fail by a very narrow margin.

The prominent UK global warming sceptic Professor Philip Stott commented: "One of the most galling things about the whole climate change debate has been European duplicity.

"While lecturing everybody else, especially America, on the morality of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it has been abundantly clear from the start that most European countries didn't have a snowflake in hell's chance of meeting their own Kyoto targets."

[blam]

"While lecturing everybody else, especially America, on the morality of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it has been abundantly clear from the start that most European countries didn't have a snowflake in hell's chance of meeting their own Kyoto targets."

[GATOR NAVY]

Cold weather boosted fuel consumption...

The irony here is hilarious.

[Tacis]

It is grossly unfair to measure Eurinal performance by what they do. They choose to be evaluated on what they say, not what they do. Further, the only proper place for the blame on anything having to do with Kyoto is, of course, Mr. Bush. The Eurinals said so.

[SubMareener]

I am SHOCKED and SADDENED that the EU is not making good on its commitment under the Kyoto Protocol! I am equally SHOCKED that cold weather is interfering with global warming! This is just not fair! It must be George W. Bush's fault. ;-)

[Between the Lines]

So the EU did worse than the US on greenhouse-gas emissions?

The Globe and Mail Wednesday, April 23, 2003:

Environment Canada released figures yesterday showing that the United States' greenhouse-gas emissions fell 1.2 per cent in 2001, nearly as much as Canada's.

Reuters Tue Apr 22:

Canadian emissions of greenhouse gases fell 1.3 percent, mirroring a 1.2 percent decline in the United States. But Canadian emissions remained 26 percent above the 2012 target level set under the Kyoto Protocol. The United States, though it has refused to sign Kyoto, was faring better than Canada. Its emissions in 2001 were 11.9 percent higher than in 1990.

Interesting.......

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Professor Philip Stott Bump and Link

[Risa]

>>also note that this is not a straight 'science' site, but rather one aiming to deconstruct environmentalist constructions of knowledge<<

I'll definitley read his stuff--but what does he mean by the above statement? Does he mean that he does not employ scientific method in his deconstruction?

Is he a scientist?

regards,
risa

[Risa]

I wonder why the retired professor Stotts is never published within peer-reviewed, scientific journals. Also, he uses a lot of fallacious reasoning in the construction of his arguments, and he never seems to debunk any actual data, which is what I wish to see.

To me, he is not a good resource for valid scholarly data pertaining to these very complex issues.

risa

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The damn French again!

Global Warming Hoax :

To find all articles tagged or indexed using Global Warming Hoax , click below:
	click here >>>	Global Warming Hoax	<<< click here
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

[Mike Darancette]

Cold weather boosted fuel consumption.

Let me see if I understand; only warmer Winters will allow them to hope to meet their goals, but it is warmer Winters that they are trying to forestall?

This is comical.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

He's a Professor Emeritus of Biogeography at the University of London.

Biogeology covers all aspects of interaction between the Earth's biotic, hydrologic and terrestrial systems. Biogeolgist explore the earliest form of life on Earth, biologic records of the Earth's climate and oceans, and other biologic effects on geologic systems.

As to the "straight 'science'" statement I have no idea, perhaps it has an English meaning that is lost on us. Perhaps Mad Ivan can comment on that.

[ancient_geezer]

The EEA says the main reasons for the 2001 increase in all six gases were a colder winter in most EU countries, which meant householders burnt more heating fuel.

No problem! Nuclear winter will nullify global warming!

 

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The reality is a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration over current levels, that the IPCC "story line" pretends, even if true, could not induce significant temperature change whatever its source.

Mankind's impact is only 0.28% of Total Greenhouse effect

" There is no dispute at all about the fact that even if punctiliously observed, (the Kyoto Protocol) would have an imperceptible effect on future temperatures -- one-twentieth of a degree by 2050. "

Dr. S. Fred Singer, atmospheric physicist
Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia,
and former director of the US Weather Satellite Service;
in a Sept. 10, 2001 Letter to Editor, Wall Street Journal

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---

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CO2-Temperature Correlations

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Red Planet Warming;

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plus astronomical & geophysical events affecting surface & atmospheric albedo.

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by Richard A. Muller

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