Greenhouse gases are changing the atmosphere and causing more energy from the sun to be trapped here upon earth, which results in the phenomena known as global warming. CO2 is probably the most famous of the greenhouse gases, but methane is also one of the largest contributors to climate change. A new report in the journal Nature Geoscience offers some of the strongest proof that large amounts of methane are escaping from the Arctic as the ice melts.It is generally accepted that old organic material, from as far back as the last ice age, is trapped…

Read more…

• Share1
• Email

• Terry Macalister
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 May 2012 14.23 BST


A wind farm in Morecambe Bay. Statkraft says it will not go ahead with the £30bn Dogger Bank project until ongoing ‘uncertainty’ ends. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

Two large overseas investors in the UK energy market have joined the chorus of criticism of the government’s new energy bill.

The German-based E.ON, one of the big six electricity providers in Britain, said national subsidy schemes for renewables such as Britain’s contracts for difference had helped “bust” key European carbon reduction initiatives.

And Norway’s Statkraft, said on Wednesday it would not be able to press the button on a giant £30bn offshore wind farm on the Dogger Bank until ongoing “uncertainty” was lifted.

Speaking at a climate change symposium in Svalbard, Norway, E.ON’s chief executive, Johannes Teyssen, said: “We started the ETS [emissions trading system] with a lot of noise but we never took care of it. National policies took over and the ETS is bust.” He pointed to Britain’s “contracts for difference” scheme introduced by the energy bill as an example of how national governments were going their own way.

Teyssen said renewable energy regimes throughout the EU should be made “coherent and consistent” with ETS so that the cap and trade scheme can be revitalised. There was no investor anywhere who would put money into wind or solar schemes on the basis of the ETS, he said, adding that the collapse in the price of carbon in that scheme had left power companies burning coal as much as possible.

Germany last year produced more electricity from renewable power sources than ever before – 20% of the total. “But guess what?” Teyssen said. “How much less was the CO₂ output? It was 6m tonnes more because of all the coal being burned as the 80% got dirtier and dirtier.”

Teyssen said the way forward was for the EU to set clear goals for carbon reduction 50% by 2050 and then work backwards down to goals for next year. The ETS should then be reinvigorated by auctioning off carbon certificates designed to achieve those goals.

Hans van Steen, head of renewable energy regulation at the European commission, said he did not accept the ETS was “bust”, but admitted at the same symposium that “something needs to be done”.

Christian Rynning-Tønnesen, chief executive of Statkraft, said a lot more detail would be needed before the wind farm developer could decide whether to make enormous new investments in projects such as the deep water Dogger Bank scheme planned with fellow big six utility firm SSE and others.

“There is still uncertainty in the market over contracts for difference. The mechanism has been described but what exactly is going to be the price. That remains to be seen.

“Also it is not clear in the proposals what regime will be available [in schemes such as Dogger] far out to sea.

Statkraft is putting the final touches to its £1.2bn Sheringham Shoal facility off the coast of Norfolk.

But the giant Dogger Bank project will be the real test of whether Britain can proceed with the deep water Round 3 projects. With 9,000 megawatts of power planned, it would produce more than double the output of Britain’s biggest power station Drax.

• Share12
• Email

• Suzanne Goldenberg US environment correspondent
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 May 2012 01.48 BST


Billboards in Chicago paid for by The Heartland Institute Photograph: The Heartland Institute

The ultra-conservative Heartland Institute admitted it was in financial crisis on Wednesday, with the flight of corporate donors making it difficult to pay staff or cover the costs of its annual conference aimed at debunking climate science.

In a speech at the close of this year’s climate conference, Heartland’s president, Joseph Bast, acknowledged that a provocative ad campaign comparing believers in human-made climate change to psychopaths had exacted a heavy cost.

However, Bast also attributed Heartland’s current problems to his weakness in financial management.

“These conferences are expensive, and I’m not a good fundraiser so as a result I don’t raise enough money to cover them. We really scramble to make payroll as a result to cover these expenses,” Bast said.

“If you can afford to make a contribution please do. If you know someone, if you’ve got a rich uncle or somebody in the family or somebody that you work with, please give them a call and ask them if they would consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the Heartland Institute.”

The organisation has lost at least $825,000 in funds from corporate donors although Heartland also claims to have attracted 800 new small donors. Heartland also came in for bruising criticism from its own allies – a number of whom faulted Bast for failing to consult Heartland’s colleagues or board members about the ads in advance.

Among ultra-conservative activists, the billboard controversy has shaken confidence in Heartland’s ability to serve as the hub of the climate contrarian network. It has also raised doubts about Bast’s leadership. Bast is listed on Heartland’s website as its earliest employee. His wife is also employed at Heartland.

But Heartland was facing a cash crunch even before the Gleick expose.

Nine employees were due to be laid or take pay cuts in 2011, according to the budget documents obtained by Gleick.

This year’s conference was a drastically shrunken version of earlier Heartland gatherings, which attracted up to 800 attendees and ran several concurrent sessions. Those events were also lucrative for Heartland, accounting for half of its non-fundraising events revenue, according to documents obtained through deception by the scientist Peter Gleick.

At this year’s gathering in Chicago, fewer than 170 turned up for the gala opening banquet, and the conference only managed to eke out one session at a time, and brought in relatively few outside speakers.

And the only member of Congress to attend this year, conservative Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, used his speech to criticise Heartland for the billboard.

“We can continue to win these debates out of the strength of our arguments without recourse to unsavoury tactics that only serve to distract from our message,” he said. “Let’s not get off message.”

Heartland initially had not even planned to hold a conference. But after the organisation was shaken last February by the internet sting exposing its donor list and fundraising strategy, Heartland changed its mind.

However, Bast said Heartland may stop putting on the conferences. “I hope to see you at a future conference, but at this point we have no plans to do another.”