IPCC needs a rethink, say academics

IPCC needs a rethink, say academics

http://ipccreport.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/ipcc-needs-a-rethink-say-academics/

A new paper, Towards a Reflexive Turn in the Governance of Global Environmental Expertise. The Cases of the IPCC and the IPBES (open access) looks into the organisation of the IPCC. It’s written by a large team of environmental and social science researchers from many countries, including Mike Hulme and others from the UK. It results from a meeting held in Leipzig last year.
The paper makes some criticisms of the IPCC, but some of these are rather odd:
“The IPCC has also largely failed to engage with alternative forms of expertise such as local knowledge, or to evaluate and facilitate more radical forms of civic action”.
I don’t think facilitating radical civic action is really within the IPCC remit.
There are some interesting remarks about climategate, the IAC review and the issues of transparency and public trust. They also comment on the aim for consensus and the consequent exclusion of minority views. This paragraph near the end of the section on the IPCC sums up their concerns:
The events surrounding “climategate” demonstrated that public trust cannot be reduced to a function of the quality of science or the breadth and depth of consensus on science alone, as the IPCC had assumed. They showed that trust in science is related to the performance and persuasive power of the people and institutions who speak for science – and that not all countries interpret or trust the IPCC in similar ways (Hajer 2012). The IPCC’s chosen style of risk assessment and communication has also contributed to a unitary approach to representing scientific consensus as a single voice. Not acknowledging or inviting diverse voices to speak will fail to assuage the sense of mistrust. In response, the IPCC plenary has not yet adopted a process of full public disclosure, and it continues to rely upon its existing knowledge-making processes mediated by national delegations. In addition, current discussions about the future of the IPCC continue to be conducted largely behind closed doors, even if the formal positions of countries are somewhat more transparent. It is very likely that in the future the panel will be exposed to scrutiny from more diverse and lively publics and that it will have to respond to forms of distributed or uninvited public participation”
Unfortunately, although the paper raises some interesting questions, there are no clear proposals for improvement of the IPCC …

Watch Now: Morano on TV on Aussie PM undermining Obama’s climate plan: ‘I am jealous of the leadership of Canada & Australia. It is so sad being in America’ – ‘The rest of the world is abandoning carbon pricing as the U.S. is jumping right in’

Watch Here. 

‘The Source’ – W/ Ezra Levant – Sun News Canada

Climate Depot’s Marc Morano: ‘I am jealous of the leadership of Canada and Australia. It is so sad being in America with what is going on with climate. Bypassing Congress. They could not get cap-and-trade through Congress or get ratified UN treaties in Senate.

Americans are looking with great hope and admiration at Stephen Harper and Tony Abbott…

Aussie Prime Minister Abbott is launching an effort to get Canada, UK, New Zealand and India and other center right countries to abandon CO2 pricing. I should have brought some champagne and wine glasses. This is a big deal.

Maybe the U.S. will join the coalition someday.

The UN is having a one day conference in September in New York City and I would love to see these countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, etc.), join in with Russia and China and oppose CO2 pricing. The rest of the world is abandoning carbon pricing as the U.S. is jumping right in. We in the U.S. have it backwards, hopefully this is an anomaly, we will see what happens in the next election. I don’t have a lot of hope for the Republican Party, they are very weak on this issue and very weak on environmental issues.

Related Links: 

Cheers! Aussie Prime Minister seeks alliance of ‘like-minded’ countries to ‘dismantle’ Obama’s climate policy – Tony Abbott is seeking a conservative alliance among “like-minded” countries, aiming to dismantle global moves to introduce carbon pricing, and undermine a push by US President Barack Obama to push the case for action through forums such as the G20.’

Cheers! Tony Abbott, who said “Climate change is absolute crap” will become Australia’s 28th prime minister after a decisive victory

Marc Morano on Canadian TV: Americans are jealous of Abbott and Harper

USA Today: Planned coal-power closings won’t cut CO2 much – ‘Will do almost nothing to reduce’ CO2

Coal-fired facilities are a particular target, because many are old — the average age is 42 — and dirty. They account for three-fourths of all CO2 emitted by U.S. power plants, which are the largest source of the nation’s carbon pollution…

The rule could have a major impact on jobs. The coal industry could lose 35,000 to 38,000 “job years” — the equivalent of a full-time job for one year — by 2030, but more than 100,000 could be created in the energy-efficiency sector, according to the EPA’s impact analysis. Where in the country these jobs will be lost or added remains to be seen…

The upcoming unit retirements, slated to occur by 2021, are clustered in a few states, EIA data show. Ohio has the most, nearly one-sixth of the total, followed by Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Alabama and West Virginia…

The top 100 emitters — all coal — account for only 2% of generating units but 25% of total plant emissions. They are located predominantly in five states. Texas has the most, 19, followed by Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Alabama and Georgia.

The top 10% of emitters, which include 475 generating units that are mostly coal-fired, account for a much bigger share of carbon released from power plants — 69%.