"Lord Stern, who originally warned the Government about climate change, has admitted that global warming has been “fairly flat” for the last decade."
"The peer, who first warned the Government of the cost of climate change in his 2006 Stern Report, said that for the last decade global warming has remained stable.
“I note this last decade or so has been fairly flat,” he told the Telegraph
Hay Festival audience.
He said the reasons were because of quieter solar activity, aerosol pollution
in certain parts of the world blocking sunshine and heat being absorbed by
the deep oceans.
.
.
Lord Stern pointed out that all these effects run in cycles or are random so
warming could accelerate again soon. “In the next five to ten years it is likely we will see the acceleration
because these things go in cycles,” he warned.
He also pointed out that 1998 was an extremely hot year because of the El Nino weather pattern and that this decade is still hotter relatively than previous decades. Lord Stern said that carbon emissions are rising faster than ever and that global temperatures are more likely to rise by 4C over the long term than 2C, meaning floods and droughts.
He said it was an “illusion” to claim that the short term flat line in global warming means that global warming is no longer a threat. “It is a dangerous extrapolation of the short term phenomenon into a long term trend when the underlying responses for long term trends in terms of rising greenhouse gases are well understood and clear.”
Lord Stern also said he has written to the Prime Minister urging him to introduce a target to decarbonise electricity by 2030 as part of the Energy Bill, currently going through Parliament.
He said investors need the policy clarity in order to build the infrastructure Britain needs in future.
He also said green electricity will be a key part of meeting emissions targets by running cars, heating and other power generation instead of fossil fuels. "We desperately need clarity. People making big investments need as much clarity as possible. Government induced policy risk deters investment.”
His comments come as Ed Davey, the Climate Change Secretary, said Europe should commit to a tough new target to halve emissions by 2030. He wants Brussels to set an emissions reduction target of 50 per cent on 1990 levels by 2030 within an international deal, or go it alone with a 40 per cent goal if an agreement cannot be struck.
This will mean the UK making its own contribution by cutting emissions by 50 per cent by 2025.
But Mr Davey said each country should be able to cut their own emissions how they choose, for example nuclear, rather than having to do it all through switching to renewables.
As a consequence he was against a European Union wide renewable energy target because it is "inflexible and unnecessary," he added.
“We want to maintain flexibility for member states in how they meet this ambitious emissions target. There are a variety of options to decarbonise any country's economy.
"In the UK, our approach is technology neutral and our reforms will rely on the market and competition to determine the low carbon electricity mix. We will therefore oppose a renewable energy target at an EU level as inflexible and unnecessary."" via Junk Science
.
No comments:
Post a Comment