A summary of the Doha COP18 climate "summit"

By now the Doha COP18 climate festival should be over by now. However, it is difficult to find anything about the end of the conference in mainstream media. Peter Forster's summary in the Financial Post just about says it all:

We can expect the usual last-minute “agreement” — to keep talking — from the UN climate conference in Doha, which comes to a close Friday evening. These massive Conferences of the Parties (COPs), of which this is the 18th, have descended into ritual farce, as naked money-grabbing on behalf of poor countries contrasts with finagling impossible solutions to what is likely a much-exaggerated problem. We may be sure that one issue that has not had much play at the conference is the absence of global warming for the past 16 years, which undermines the computer models on which alarmism is based.

The head of China's delegation in Doha displays sense of humor

There is a widely held belief that China's communist apparatchiks lack a sense of humor. This misconception is refuted by Xie Zhenhua, head  of the Chinese delegation at the UN COP18 climate festival  in Doha:

China said developing nations would need support worth $1 trillion from richer nations, 10 times the $100 billion a year pledged for 2020 from the U.S., European Union and their industrial allies.

“The level of funding is not sufficient,” Xie Zhenhua, the head of China’s delegation, told reporters in Doha. He also sounded an optimistic note, saying, in “finance there has been some progress -- we do see some hope.”

Read the entire article here

Doha COP18: Qatar offers crumbles to the global warming establishment

While nothing of any importance (fortunately) will come out of the UN COP18 global warming festival, a warmist Guardian reporter, entrenched in his luxury hotel, takes some solace from the view:

From my hotel window, I can see 14 monster buildings being built, each to a much higher energy standard than the law demands in the US or most of Europe. Down the road is a new $70m (£43m) test-bed for carbon capture, the beginnings of a 200 megawatt solar power station, a $1bn photovoltaic manufacturing plant, new waste treatment plants, a pilot project to grow food in the desert with saltwater, and a fledgling construction industry with waste plastic.

Yes, the sheiks, bathing in oil riches, are offering crumbles to the global warming establishment, which gratefully accepts the new extremely well paid - of course taxfree - jobs for its carefully chosen high priests: 

The thirst for what Qatar, Abu Dhabi and other oil-rich states call a new "knowledge economy" would partly explain why Qatar on Wednesday committed to set up a global climate change centre in Doha with the German Potsdam Institute. It will employ around 200 researchers and sit beside a dozen other prestigious US, British and other academic centres, including Imperial College, which is now at Doha.

The founder of the institute, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, spelled out what was at stake: "Qatar is the only true desert state in the world with no surface water and 500km of flat coastline, where temperatures are already 45C in summer. With sea level rise expected to be up to 90cm by 2100 in the Gulf region and temperatures expected to rise [by] 5-8C, this place will be unlivable [if climate change is not brought under control]."

The Gulf states' change of direction, he suggested, is being undertaken not out of any desire to be green but sheer pragmatism. What happens here could shape all our futures, says the adviser. "The next stage of modern civilisation can be blueprinted here. Qatar can be a role model for the region and the whole planet."

Read the entire article here

People - and media - have lost interest in the UN annual climate festival

The annual UN festival of climate alarmism continues in Doha, but almost unnoticed. The Edmonton Sun columist Lorne Gunter explains why:

But the lack of international interest may also be a sign that, at least subconsciously, more scientists are recognizing that the climate isn’t changing as rapidly or dramatically as predicted.

Certainly the alarmists, both within the scientific community and among environmentalists — the Al Gores and David Suzukis — are as vocal as ever in their predictions of imminent doom. They still insist that every study that calls into doubt their “settled science” is a plot by Big Oil and climate “deniers” to ignore reality.

But take, for instance, what is sometimes called the “Arctic refreeze.” It’s true that this summer more northern sea ice melted that at any time since the record low of 2007. But less well-publicized is the fact that since Oct. 1 there has been a record return of ice in polar regions, or that Antarctic sea ice has been growing for 30 years.

The destruction caused by Superstorm Sandy has been used repeatedly in Doha as “proof” extreme weather is intensifying.

Yet as Chris Landsea of the U.S. National Hurricane Center pointed out this week, there has been no increase in the intensity of landfalling hurricanes since 1900. While 2004 and 2005 were the two most intense hurricane years in the last century, 2006 to 2011 were the five least intense.

Britain is this year predicting its coldest, snowiest winter in a century, following 2011-12 which was the coldest, snowiest in 70 or 80 years. Europe and Alaska are in the grips of early cold snaps and Moscow has had one of its snowiest Novembers on record.

Global temperatures have been flat for nearly 15 years and northern Hemisphere winter temperatures have fallen significantly in the past two years, despite predictions that global warming would be most felt in northern climates, in winter.

It’s true that many alarmist scientists objected when the U.K.’s Daily Mail newspaper ran stories two months ago claiming global temperatures have flatlined since 1997. But the fact is, the Mail was only using temperature statistics provided by the U.K. Met Office, a very pro-warming government agency.

Even more convincing is a chart compiled by researcher Paul Vaughn for the blog Tallbloke’s Talkshop (tallbloke.wordpress.com) that shows sea level and sea surface temperatures rise and fall with the activity of the sun — not emissions.

Deutsche Welle on the Doha climate "summit"

The Deutsche Welle has done some research about the only real result of the Doha climate "summit":

The megalomaniac Green Climate Fund

The annual UN mega climate jamboree, due to begin on November 26 in Doha is - fortunately - not expected to produce any tangible "results". However, it is going to formally endorse the Korean city of Incheon as the host city for the headquarters of the so called Green Climate Fund. 

The bureaucrats in charge of the fund and the Korean hosts seem to have megalomaniac plans for this totally useless (taxpayer funded) organisation, which will distribute cash to developing countries (dictators of the third world can't wait to lay their hands on the money!), supposedly suffering from human caused global warming:  

Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Mexico and Namibia had all vied to host GCF, an entity often referred to as the World Bank of the environmental sector. GCF’s first full year of operation will be 2020. By that time it is expected to be funded at $100 billion. If GCF expands according to current plans — which calls for core member nations to raise more capital — the fund will grow to $800 billion by 2027.

“The GCF organization will steadily expand in the future and it will have more and more affiliated groups as well,” President Lee Myung-bak told the press Saturday.

“I think it’s a blessing for the Korean people,” Lee added. “For the first time in our history, we will host one of the biggest international organizations.”

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The Songdo district is on reclaimed land in western Incheon linked to Incheon International Airport by the 7-mile long Incheon Bridge. The Incheon City government, which has run up a large deficit in developing Songdo International Business District (IBD), has been struggling to bring it to life by attracting foreign investments. The city has pledged to provide 15 floors of the district’s 33-story I-Tower building to the GCF secretariat. Once fully staffed the GCF headquarters will expand out into considerably more space.
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The GCF could ultimately become bigger than the IMF or the World Bank if member nations meet their fundraising commitments, said Kim Sang-hyup, senior presidential secretary for green growth.

I am afraid that President Lee Myung-bak - or at least his successors - will be in for a great disappointment. If there is any sanity left in the western paymaster countries the Green Climate (scam) Fund will never get the $800 billion - ore even a fraction of it. And neither will there be any need to "expand out into considerably more space" in the struggling Songdo International Business District. But even the first hundreds of overpaid international climate bureaucrats expected to fill the 15 floors in Songdo, are far too many. 

The U.S. Congress should and could play a major role in making the life span of the Green Climate Fund as short as possible. 

Great news: Greenpeace will be invisible at the COP18 in Doha

The annual UN global warming hoax mega jamboree COP 18 is due to begin in Doha on November 26. One piece of good news can be reported already now: Greenpeace will be invisible during the conference. 

Greenpeace says it will not organise protests during the United Nations conference about climate change (COP-18) that will take place in Doha from November 26 to December 27. During COP-17, held in Durban (South Africa) in 2011, the organisation occupied the conference centre where UN climate talks were being held.

Hoda Baraka, Communications representative of the Arab World Project of Greenpeace Mediterranean, told The Peninsula that “due to practical challenges in a country where we have no local office, we have finally decided not to organise visual events in Doha in the way that we have had at many previous Conference of the Parties”.

The representative of Greenpeace added that “we did explore in detail the possibilities of doing so, but found that we could not carry out activities with sufficient impact at reasonable cost”. For that reason, the presence of Greenpeace will focus on lobbying with the delegations and interacting with the media. 

Nevertheless, the Greenpeace official stated that “of course we still take the opportunity of COP-18 very seriously, and we are sending a large delegation of climate policy experts and communications specialists”.

The lack of an office in Doha did not prevent Greenpeace from sending its flagship to the Doha WTO meeting in 2001:

Greenpeace will dock its flagship Rainbow Warrior outside the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Doha from November 9-13 to push environmental causes, the group said Monday. Representatives of local communities from the five continents whose livelihoods may be affected by WTO decisions will be among about 35 people on board, Greenpeace political director Remi Parmentier told AFP. He said permission was granted to berth the vessel in full view of the conference hotel during a meeting with Qatar's Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani in Doha on Sunday.

Could it be that the Qataris this time did not allow free parking for the Greenpeace new luxury yacht in front of the brand new Qatar National Convention Centre, the venue of the COP18? Or maybe the new yacht is too modest accomodation for the present generation of Greenpeace top brass? Instead Kumi Naidoo and his "large delegation" of "climate policy experts" and "communications specialists" seems to have opted to stay invisible, most probably in the cosy comfort of one of the many Doha five star hotels.

Could the Torch be the preferred choice for Kumi and his band of greenies?:

"At 300m high and with 360° panoramic views across the whole of Doha, The Torch is haven for the discerning traveller be they sports enthusiasts, business leaders or health and wellness seekers. The hotel is ideally situated midway between the major diplomatic area of West Bay, Qatar Foundation and 14 minutes away from Qatar National Convention Centre. Guests at the hotel have private walkway access to Villaggio mall."

President of UN climate talks: Shale gas will ensure global energy security for the next 300 years

Al-Attiyah: Shale gas will ensure global energy security for the  next 300 years.

Finally, the UN Climate Change talks have a President - Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, deputy Prime Minister of Qatar - who seems to know what he is talking about:

The President of the forthcoming UN Climate Change Summit in Qatar says shale gas is “good news” and will ensure global energy security for the next 300 years.

“It’s good news because it gives the world trust and confidence in gas,” he told a TV reporter at the 2012 Oil and Money Conference.

“A few years ago there was uncertainty about enough supply to the world – today the gas will give the world 300 years of security. I believe this is good news and it will give the consumer more trust in gas.”

The greenies are of course furious:

Reacting to these comments, WWF-UK’s International Climate Change Policy Advisor Kat Watts said it was vital all Parties heading to Doha realised the world needed to move away from oil and gas as a source of energy.

“All governments need to realize that the future cannot be not fossil fuelled. There are massive greenhouse gas emissions in both production and consumption of coal, oil, gas, and the only way to minimize the climate crisis is to keep them in the ground,” she said.

If Al-Attiyah stays the course and ignores the alarmists, something good might for the first time come out of a UN mega climate change jamboree ....