A summary of Rio+20 + a reminder about COP 18/MOP 8

The bright lights of Doha are waiting for the COP 18/MOP 8 delegates

AP summarizes the UN Rio+20 sustainability conference, attended by 100 heads of state and over 50,000 participants from 193 countries:

"In the end, this conference was a conference to decide to have more conferences."

The never-ending Environmental Circus must go on ...

PS

A reminder to Rio+20 delegates who want to build on the "success" in Rio:

Have you remembered to make your hotel reservations for the COP 18/MOP 8 in Qatar, November 26 - December 7? We hear that suites at Doha´s five star hotels are 
already almost fully booked ... 


There is a whole new world to experience in Qatar according to the COP 18/MOP 8 organizers: 


Visitors can search for bargains along the alleys and stalls of Souq Waquif, wander spellbound among one of the world’s most extensive collections of Islamic art in the I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art or take the family for a stroll along the scenic Corniche or beaches and shops of Katara. For the more adventurous, a short drive yields everything from abandoned forts, archeological sites and old cities along the northwestern coast to singing sand dunes and desert adventures in the south. And that’s just the start. Qatar's natural heritage goes far beyond the desert and camels many expect to find. 


Qatar’s trademark hospitality makes it easy to relax, but we invite you to explore this amazing gem of the Arabian Gulf during your time in the region.


And car rental is a bargain in Qatar: For a liter of unleaded gasoline you pay only 0.23 USD!

Delingpole on the madness of the Rio+20 conference

James Delingpole´s take on the usefulness of the Rio+20 conference is rather damning - and true:  

Like the disastrous Copenhagen, Cancun and Durban  summits before it, the Rio event looks set to be another damp squib, beset by bickering, achieving nothing other than a few vague, non-binding commitments to do something serious some time in the future. 

How much simpler things were in the early Nineties. The Intergovernmental Panel on  Climate Change (IPCC) had just produced its first Assessment Report in which the world’s most expert scientists all apparently agreed that the world was doomed to burn in hellfire unless man amended his wicked ways.

The three IPCC reports since then have confirmed this prognosis with increasingly shrill certainty. 

But, unfortunately, no one outside the Government and the green movement takes  them very seriously any more, because the real world has  stubbornly refused to act in accordance with all the climate scientists’ scary predictions.

Sea levels have not risen dramatically. ‘Threatened’ regions such as Tuvalu, the Maldives and Bangladesh have not drowned. 

Polar bear populations continue to thrive. Arctic sea ice is recovering while the Antarctic ice is expanding. 

But, most damningly of all, global warming stopped at the end of the last century.

And if we’re to believe Fritz Vahrenholt in his bestselling book Die Kalte Sonne (The Cold Sun) it’s in no danger of starting any time soon.

Vahrenholt’s thesis – based on the observations of increasingly respected scientists such as the Danish physicist Henrik Svensmark – is that the main agent  of climate change is not CO2 but solar radiation.

Much of the mild global warming we’ve experienced in the past 150 years (a rise of about 0.8C) was, it would appear, the result of solar activity (detectable in the number of sun spots) which is now slowing down.

We are entering a period of ‘weak’ solar cycles, and this decline in activity is expected  to continue until about 2040, by which time – according to some pessimistic predictions – global mean temperatures will have fallen by 2C.

For many of us, in other words, ‘global warming’ is something we will never experience again in our lifetime. From now on we can expect drabber, wetter summers and colder winters. 

And as if that weren’t depressing enough, here are our political leaders regulating and carbon taxing our economies as if the non-existent global warming problem was still something to fear.

This is madness – and one day future historians will see it as such. They will gasp in astonishment that in 2011 the global  carbon trading market climbed to a record $176 billion (£113 billion) – about the same as global wheat production. 

They will  ask how CO2 could be valued as highly as the essential foodstuff that supplies 20 per cent of the calories consumed by the seven billion people on the planet.

A good place for them to start would be the hysteria and optimism of that original Earth  summit, in which a mix of panic and good intentions were allowed to override common sense. In short, blame it on Rio.

Yes, madness it is indeed, the entire sad story about catastrophic human caused global warming, as MIT professor Richard Lindzen has pointed out: 

“Future generations will wonder in bemused amazement that the early 21st century’s developed world went into hysterical panic over a globally averaged temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree, and, on the basis of gross exaggerations of highly uncertain computer projections combined into implausible chains of inference, proceeded to contemplate a roll-back of the industrial age.”


Professor Richard S. Lindzen of the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gave a seminar to the House of Commons Committee Rooms in Westminster, London on 22 February 2012.

The European Union defines success in Rio: A definition of "green economy"

The European Union is sending a huge delegation to the Rio+ 20 UN mega conference, due to begin in Rio de Janeiro next week. Today EU überwarmist Connie Hedegaard and environment commissioner Janez Potocnik briefed the press about their expectations: 


Hedegaard said that the fact that the concept of the 'green economy' is recognised and is on the international agenda is already an acquis.For Hedegaard, Rio+20 will have to build a strong global vision of what this concept covers.


In response to a question about what would make Rio a success, Potocnik said that binding commitments are not necessarily required. He explained that even though it would only be partial success, he would be satisfied with arriving at the adoption of a document with a clear definition of 'green economy' and concrete targets, along with an agenda on the 'pillars of life'.

Hedegaard, Potocnik and more than 50,000 other politicians and bureaucrats are flying (by private jet or first/business class) to Rio in order to discuss how to define "green economy"! The European Union is "satisfied" if the conference  adopts "a document with a clear definition of "green economy". 

Considering how many hundreds of meetings and conferences in different exotic holiday resorts have preceded the Rio+, the "green economy" document will probably be the most expensive definition ever adopted. 


But that is only the best case scenario. The more likely outcome is that yet another mega conference - or maybe two - is needed before the "green economy" has a definition. All paid for by the taxpayers of the "rich" countries. 

Nobody of any real importance is going to Rio

Nobody of any real importance is going to the (hopefully) last UN mega sustainability/climate change conference about to open in Rio de Janeiro next week.Other, more urgent matters need the attention of world leaders: 


Next week, the world of environmental summitry descends again on Rio de Janeiro, for what is being described as “Earth Summit +20”. But the mood is very different. Barack Obama, David Cameron and Angela Merkel are not expected to attend; Obama’s presence in particular is deemed counter-productive to his re-election bid, as the Democrat president attempts to win over climate-sceptic voters in swing states


Still, among the 50,000 or so global warming/sustainability tourists expected to arrive in Rio, there are a number enviro-fundamentalists who act and speak like nothing would have changed, among them the Scottish minister for climate change, Stewart Stevenson. He seems to live in a parallel universe, full of imaginary "green" jobs and abundant (non-existent) renewable energy:

The aim is to establish the credentials of the “green economy”. The Scottish Government is to form part of the UK’s delegation to the summit, also known as the Conference on Sustainable Development, keen to promote its own credentials as a promoter of low-carbon growth. Stewart Stevenson, the minister for environment and climate change, says: “The low-carbon economy offers a huge opportunity for us, creating tens of thousands of jobs and re-industrialising our economy. And as we create green jobs at home we are helping other countries develop renewable energy, and also tackling the devastating impact of climate change on the world’s poorest. It is this joined-up vision that I will take to Rio.”


Read the article here

Rio+20 - The last UN mega conference?

The Rio+20 conference is about to open in Rio de Janeiro on June 20: 


The hype: 


"Rio+20 is everyone's conference, just as it is everyone's planet. Its goals, aspirations and its outcome will belong to all of us. 

Over 135 heads of state and government and up to 50,000 participants, including business executives and civil society representatives, will be present when the conference opens on Jun. 20. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon calls it "one of the most important conferences in U.N. history". 
Sha Zukang, secretary-general of the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20

The reality: 

The largest-ever United Nations conference, a summit billed as a historic opportunity to build a greener future, appears to be going up in smoke.

U.S. President Barack Obama likely won't be there, and the leaders of Britain and Germany have bowed out.

And with fewer than six weeks to go until the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development, negotiations to produce a final statement have stalled amid squabbling. Logistical snags, too, threaten to derail the event.

--

The average cost of a room in Rio during the conference has risen to $818 per night, according to a report this week by Agencia Brasil, the state-run news agency. And some hotels are taking advantage of the shortage of accommodations by requiring guests to book for an.  entire week, even if they intend to stay for just three or four nights.

 With a total of 33,000 beds for the estimated 50,000-plus visitors expected to flood the city for the June 20-22 summit, the mayor has resorted to asking residents to leave town and rent out their apartments to delegates.

The security:

Brazil will deploy 15,000 security forces for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) to be held here in June, Defense Minister Celso Amorim said on Monday.

According to the plan, the Army and local police forces will patrol the streets, the Air Force and the Navy will patrol airspace and sea, and the Federal Police will be oversee foreign delegates' personal security.

The Army will also be in charge of the security of the People's Summit, a parallel conference to be held in another neighborhood and is expected to gather over 20,000 citizens.

PS

This is the positive scenario: The sheer madness of the entire Rio+20 undertaking could  - and should - make it the last UN mega conference. But, knowing that there are thousands of UN, EU, national and other diplomats and bureaucrats, who´s main occupation is to plan and attend this kind of senseless jamborees (paid for by taxpayers), this hope may be too optimistic. 

Most Rio+20 delegates will be delighted to know that there is at least one place in Rio which will remain free of charge: The Copacabana!


However, if you want to rent a beach chair, be prepared to pay at least five times more than the ordinary R$4.00.

EU to have a huge delegation at the Rio+20 conference

The Copacabana is waiting for the EU high fliers

The European Union is planning to have an "imperial" presence at the United Nations Conference On Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro on June 20 - 22. The Commission alone will be represented by its President José Manuel Barroso and five other commissioners. Hower each of these unelected eurocrats will have their own delegations, consisting of about 20 persons, which brings the total to at least 120 bureaucrats:

The EU executive is flying six top officials plus an unspecified number of aides to June's Rio Summit on sustainable development but plans to tighten spending, a European Commission spokeswoman said Thursday.

Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso will fly to Brazil with commissioners Janez Potocnik (Environment), Connie Hedegaard (Climate), Andris Piebalgs (Development) Maria Damanaki (Fishing) and Dacian Ciolos (Agriculture), said spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen.

Speaking after the European parliament cancelled its participation due to concerns over cost, the spokeswoman said the commissioners would "be accompanied by collaborators, but the make-up of the delegations isn't yet finalised."

"We're very sensitive to costs and are trying to reduce our expenses as much as possible in all fields including travel and accommodation," she said.

"Only collaborators who have a precise role" to play will go to Rio, she added.

A source speaking on condition of anonymity said however that each commissioner's delegation was expected to number 20 people.

There is no information about the size of EU "President" Herman van Rompuy´s delegation. But for prestige reasons alone it will most likely be at least of the same size as the Commission President´s delegation. 

On thing is certain, there will be infighting about who gets a seat (and bed) on the new Falcon 7x super jet, now at the disposal of the EU top executives.

This is how EU´s business jet provider describes their newest plane: 

Our new Falcon 7X will be able to accommodate up to 13 passengers. A total of 6 beds can be fitted for long overnight flights. The cabin is what you can expect from a Falcon jet : top of the range finishing and unbeatable comfort.

This is waiting for Barroso and the Baroness on the way to Rio

The unelected high fliers do not have to think about the reaction of the voters when travelling in style, like MEP:s have to do:

On Wednesday evening, the European parliament cancelled plans to send a delegation of 11 MEPs to the UN Rio+20 summit, citing spiralling hotel costs in particular.

"The huge increase in the estimated cost of attending the summit is simply not justifiable, especially at a time when many Europeans are faced with economic hardship", said Environment Committee Chairman Matthias Groote.

He requested parliament formally register a complaint to the organisers of the conference.


Read the entire article here

When the hundreds of delegates from the various EU member countries are added, the EU will succeed at least in creating a huge carbon footprint. 

(image by wikipedia)

The European Union´s aviation tax: India prepares for trade war

China, U.S. Brazil, Russia - and now also India - are preparing themselves for action against the European Union´s unilateral carbon tax on aviation. The Times of India reports:


After a carbon tax levied on aviation by the European Union, the government is now preparing for a possible trade war with the European Commission imposing a similar levy on shipping business as well - a move that can increase freight rates by 3-15%.


With EU mulling a tax on the shipping industry that will impose a levy based on carbon emissions on ships entering European waters., the Indian government has prepared a policy document to examine impacts of such a move and list measures to retaliate what it sees as a unilateral move.


The government has also asked aviation sector players in India not to communicate with EU on the carbon tax it has imposed. The decision was taken after official meetings with the aviation ministry now empowered to take progressively stronger steps to block the EU move.

Read the entire article here

We have said it before: This is a fight José Barroso´s and überwarmist Connie Hedegaard´s "empire" will loose.