The Trump presidency: UN climate bureacracy still in a state of denial

I was curious about how the vast UN climate brureacracy has reacted to Donald Trump´s election:
A search for "Trump" on the COP22 site produces an empty page!

http://newsroom.unfccc.int/search.aspx?search=Trump

The UN climate change establishment is obviously still in a state of denial, but they will soon wake up to the hard reality ...

Here is e.g. what is going to happen to the US energy policy, according to the Trump team:

Energy Independence

The Trump Administration will make America energy independent.  Our energy policies will make full use of our domestic energy sources, including traditional and renewable energy sources.  America will unleash an energy revolution that will transform us into a net energy exporter, leading to the creation of millions of new jobs, while protecting the country’s most valuable resources – our clean air, clean water, and natural habitats. America is sitting on a treasure trove of untapped energy. In fact, America possesses more combined coal, oil, and natural gas resources than any other nation on Earth. These resources represent trillions of dollars in economic output and countless American jobs, particularly for the poorest Americans.
Rather than continuing the current path to undermine and block America’s fossil fuel producers, the Trump Administration will encourage the production of these resources by opening onshore and offshore leasing on federal lands and waters. We will streamline the permitting process for all energy projects, including the billions of dollars in projects held up by President Obama, and rescind the job-destroying executive actions under his Administration.  We will end the war on coal, and rescind the coal mining lease moratorium, the excessive Interior Department stream rule, and conduct a top-down review of all anti-coal regulations issued by the Obama Administration.  We will eliminate the highly invasive "Waters of the US" rule, and scrap the $5 trillion dollar Obama-Clinton Climate Action Plan and the Clean Power Plan and prevent these unilateral plans from increasing monthly electric bills by double-digits without any measurable effect on Earth’s climate.  Energy is the lifeblood of modern society. It is the industry that fuels all other industries.  We will lift the restrictions on American energy, and allow this wealth to pour into our communities. It’s all upside: more jobs, more revenues, more wealth, higher wages, and lower energy prices.
The Trump Administration is firmly committed to conserving our wonderful natural resources and beautiful natural habitats. America’s environmental agenda will be guided by true specialists in conservation, not those with radical political agendas.  We will refocus the EPA on its core mission of ensuring clean air, and clean, safe drinking water for all Americans.  It will be a future of conservation, of prosperity, and of great success.

The UN organizes another wasteful high carbon footprint photo opportunity for "some 60 world leaders"

The UN has announced another wasteful and totally useless global warming photo opportunity:

Bonn, April 7, 2016 - The Paris Climate Change Agreement opens for signature on 22 April 2016 during a high-level ceremony convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York, marking an important international push on the way to the agreement’s timely entry into force.
Over 130 countries have confirmed to United Nations headquarters that they will attend the signing ceremony, including some 60 world leaders, amongst them President Francois Hollande of France.

PS

One wonders why the greenies are not voicing a strong protest against this high carbon footprint tourism paid for by ordinary taxpayers in "over 130 countries"? ...

The problem with today´s politicians: " If no one is in charge, no one can be held accountable"

Markus Somm has written an excellent article in the German blog Die Achse des Guten.

Here is my quick translation of part of it:

Perhaps nothing has made more clear what´s wrong with the present day politicians, than the refugee crisis. Maybe it took this tragedy to open the eyes of the citizens of Europe. Too many politicians enjoy being generous, to help people and to save the world, mostly with money that is not theirs, mostly with decisions the consequences of which they must never wear because they lie far in the future. They often say 'yes, rarely say no.That as so many politicians in the refugee crisis almost instinctively call for international coordination, makes one suspicious. It is symptomatic. When something is "coordinated", as it is always said, it means that a great number of people take part in the decision making - or not - in any case so many that nobody longer understands who has decided what. In other words, who is responsible for what. The present generation of politicians have masterfully managed to blur responsibilities: therefore they are so happy to avoid the decision-making processes of the nation state, where they are clearly seen as rulers, and take refuge in the higher spheres of the supranational, where all and no one are responsible. Who decided? Who's to blame?Nobody knows. Is it the EU? The Commission, the Council of Ministers, the UN and the OECD, or the G-8? Or is it the parliament? If no one is in charge, no one can be held accountable. Borders determine a territory, but they also show where the responsibility lies. Therefore borders are less popular with some politicians. In the EU the view, to know no limits, under the heading Schengen, was made almost a raison d'etre. The more difficult it is now to defend these borders, even the Schengen external borders that had never been lifted on paper.

How true!

If you speak German, you can read the entire article here.

The UN mega climate jamboree in Lima ends (fortunately) without reaching any kind of real agreement

The UN mega climate jamboree in Lima is about to close (fortunately) without any kind of real agreement. One can only wonder how long this madness is allowed to continue? Some sane people (e.g. in the new U.S. Congress) should put an end to this enormous waste of taxpayers´ money:

World leaders and delegates converged on Lima, Peru two weeks ago and the world watched, once again, as the spectacle of the United Nation’s climate change talks devolved into grandstanding and protests with little substance being the norm. The goal of this COP20 meeting was to create a framework for world nations to build a deal that would replace the accords met in 1997, commonly called the Kyoto Protocols. It appears that the effort has failed, as is the norm at most U.N. climate talks.

Somehow, 10,000 or so delegates from 190 different countries, plus celebrity speech givers such as John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, couldn’t come to an agreement on climate change mitigation. Talks went into overtime Friday night, as reported by the Inquisitr, after the expected announcement of a deal Friday afternoon was not forthcoming. The climate change talks extended into today, but it doesn’t appear anything will come of it.
The sheer number of people involved in COP20 this year was staggering. About ten thousand delegates and hangers-on arrived in Lima by jet, airplane, and bus. More people arrived via boat, train, and plane to surround the talks with protests and activism. Others arrived to protest the protesters and still more were there to call into question the whole point of climate change and the science behind it. The amount of carbon expelled just to rant about climate change itself was likely in the tens of thousands of tons.

(Former) socialite Bianca Jagger adds some glamour to the Lima climate jamboree: "Time is running out"!

Bianca Jagger, the former socialite, now appearing as a global warming promoter, has told the Lima climate jamboree participants that time is running out:

“Climate change will affect everyone, everywhere, in every nation, in every echelon of society, in the developing world and the developed world,” Jagger said. “We will all suffer the catastrophic consequences of rising sea levels, ocean acidification, food scarcity and political unrest. But some of the most vulnerable communities in the world are bearing a disproportionate burden of the harm without having significantly contributed to the cost. This is a terrible injustice.”
Noting that climate experts predict that 2014 will become the hottest year on record, Jagger warned: “Time is running out. Inaction will lead to severe and irreversible damage

Time may be running out, but fortunately the former socialite still has time for some serious shopping. Here is a recent example:

On Bianca (left): Dolce & Gabbana gold-tone Swarovski crystal coin headband, $2,485; net-a-porter.com; Valentino silk-crepe split-back jumpsuit, $3,690; modaoperandi.com; Tamara Mellon fringed jersey halterneck dress, $1,695; net-a-porter.com; Jimmy Choo charm disco mirror box clutch, $1,050; saksfifthavenue.com; Charlotte Olympia Octavia sandal, $1,020; farfetch.com

"Thousands of diplomats" gather in Lima in order to fight global warming (which stopped 18 years ago)

It is difficult to imagine a better example of how public money, provided by hard working taxpayers, is wasted:

"For the next two weeks, thousands of diplomats from around the globe will gather in Lima, Peru, for a United Nations summit meeting to draft an agreement intended to stop the global rise of planet-warming greenhouse gases."

(New York Times)

Daniel Payne: "We should be entirely skeptical of the ceaseless predictions of climate catastrophe"

Daniel Payne´s article "The United Nations Is A Parody Of A Doomsday Prophet" in the Federalist is well worth reading. Here are a couple of excerpts:

the UN World Meteorological Organization recently came out with a series of “imagined weather forecasts” predicting the state of climate in the year 2050. “Miami South Beach is underwater,” announced one forecast; another predicted a mega-fatal “mega-drought in Arizona.” Never mind that the average weatherman can barely predict whether or not it’s going to rain tomorrow: instead, think about the fact that the United Nations is so hard-up for climate-change material that they’ve looked 36 years into the future to create fictional accounts of what the weather may be like. The tsunamis, the blistering drought, the Beginning of the End—all this stuff was supposed to be here years ago. The global climate chaos has never materialized, so the “experts” have set their sights on the future, doing some educated guessing on what the weather’s going to be like four decades hence.

Maybe we should just ignore them.

In a sense it’s not difficult to understand where the “climate experts” are coming from when they start moving the goalposts nearly half a century into the future. As Anthony Watts pointed out recently, climate science predicted in 2009 that the world would “warm faster than predicted in [the] next five years,” a process that would doubtlessly “silence global warming sceptics.” Well, the world did not “warm faster”; as a matter of fact, it didn’t warm at all, and the “skeptics” have been anything but “silenced,” if only because we’re able to observe the difference between the climate lobby’s grandiose disaster predictions and the unremarkable reality of the climate itself. Climate science is the only field in which you’re derisively considered a “skeptic” or a “denier” by forming your judgment based upon the facts. The solution is to move the “facts” as far into the future as possible in order to delay the inevitable judgment. --

The average global temperature has been effectively flat for 19 years—not simply rising more slowly than predicted, mind you, but flat. Paused. Nobody predicted this; the climate models failed to even consider it. Climate science should be a subject marked by humility, skepticism, and cautiousness. Instead, it’s a topic overpopulated by blowhards, self-aggrandizing megalomaniacs, and environmentalists more interested in authoritarianism than anything else. We should be entirely skeptical of the ceaseless predictions of climate catastrophe–and we should be completely wary of the senseless alarmists and the little tyrants that peddle them.

UN high priest of global warming Christiana Figueres describes her job as "sacred"

Part of Christiana Figueres's "sacred" job is to enjoy the sights and sounds of Davos.

UN global warming boss Christiana Figueres has taken a high carbon footprint flight to the exclusive Swiss ski resort Davos, where she has declared that her job is "sacred":

The top climate official at the United Nations has described her role in pushing nations to contain the Earth's shifting climate as a "sacred" job.
"We are truly defining the quality of life for our children," Christiana Figueres, the U.N.'s executive secretary for climate, told USA TODAY on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "We have to do everything we can because there is no plan B because there is no planet B," she said.
"I fully intend my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be able to live on this planet. This job is a sacred responsibility," Figueres said.
Figueres' comments to USA TODAY come as assembled leaders in the Swiss ski resort are being urged to invest more extensively in cleaner energy sources in order to obviate the most pernicious effects of climate change.
"Cumulatively we have already invested over a trillion dollars into renewable energies such as solar and wind but that is still far from where we need to get. We need to be investing a trillion every year," Figueres said.

It will be interesting to see, whether Figueres chooses to perform her tear act before she leaves this gathering of the business jet set. Maybe it will be part of her Grand Finale tomorrow?:

Ban and current UN climate chief Christiana Figueres will address delegates at Davos on Friday, designated as ‘climate day’ by the event’s organisers.

Another useless UN report on the cost of "containing rising temperatures to safe levels"

Bloomberg/Businessweek has got a copy of another useless UN global warming "report":

The cost of containing rising temperatures to safe levels may reach 4 percent of economic output by 2030, according to a draft United Nations report designed to influence talks for a global-warming treaty.
Most scenarios that meet the 2-degree Celsius (3.6-degree Fahrenheit) cap on global warming that world leaders endorse require a 40 percent to 70 percent reduction in heat-trapping gases by 2050 from 2010 levels, according to the third installment of the UN’s biggest-ever study of climate change. The world would need to triple the share of renewables, nuclear power and carbon-capture and storage to meet that.
“This report shows that 2 degrees is still technically possible and ought to remain the primary policy target” for climate negotiations that intend to produce a global agreement in 2015, said Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics

PS

The good thing is of course, that this enormous waste of (taxpayers') money will never happen. By 2030 people (including climate scientists) will laugh at this pseudo-scientific UN nonsense. Unfortunately, before that, more than enough money will most likely be wasted on senseless global warming "projects".

How the European Union bribed the group of 48 Least Developed Countries to support the Warsaw COP 19 deal

UK Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey on the EU
bribes to the group of 48 Least Developed Countries:
"UK and EU achieved our aims, building alliances with our friends across the world"
 

The European Union has been celebrating the empty deal reached at the UN global warming "summit" COP 19 in Warsaw. UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey was cheerleading the European "success":

 "All nations have now agreed to start their homework to prepare for a global climate change deal in 2015. The world now has a work programme, with timetables. While the long negotiations in Poland showed there are many tough talks ahead of us, the determined diplomacy of the UK and EU achieved our aims, building alliances with our friends across the world."

(Wow, "a work programme, with timetables"!)

The reality behind this European "success story" is this: The European Union as a matter of fact bribed the group of 48 Least Developed Countries, which had come to the conference with demands for unlimited "loss and damage" claims.

When the group of 48 realized that their demands would be ignored, they settled for the next best thing - new promises of funding from their traditional paymasters in the European Union:

The European Union and its Member States – which together are the biggest donor of Official Development Assistance and the leading provider of climate finance to developing countries - showed in Warsaw that they are delivering on climate finance and will continue to do so in the future.

Last year the EU and a number of Member States announced voluntary contributions totalling around €5.5 billion, and a recent assessment shows they are on track to deliver this in 2013. In Warsaw the EU and several Member States announced new climate finance for 2014. The indicative contributions to developing countries are expected to be at least at the same level as in 2013. In particular, EU Member States have contributed well over half of a US $100 million addition to the Adaptation Fund requested by developing countries.

The European "trick" (Der Spiegel) worked - the group of 48 Least Developed Countries switched sides, making the empty deal in Warsaw possible. But how long will European taxpayers - struggling with low or no growth, high unemployment and constantly rising energy prices - be prepared accept this madness?

PS

This is what EU taxpayers can look forward to, unless Connie Hedegaard and her colleagues in Brussels are stopped:

At least 20% of the entire European Union budget for 2014-2020 will be spent on climate-related projects and policies, following the European Parliament's approval today of the 2014-2020 EU budget. The 20% commitment triples the current share and could yield as much as €180 billion in climate spending in all major EU policy areas over the seven-year period.
The EU’s development policy will contribute to achieving the 20% overall commitment, with an estimated €1.7bn for climate spending in developing countries in 2014-2015 alone. This is on top of climate finance from individual EU Member States. This budget marks a major step forward in transforming Europe into a clean and competitive low-carbon economy and helping developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.
 

At last some good news from the UN climate jamboree in Warsaw: The COP 19 is "is on track to deliver virtually nothing"

At last, some good news from the UN global warming jamboree COP 19 in Warsaw.

Today's and yesterday's walk outs are a clear sign that the eco-fundamentalist "green groups" - Greenpeace, WWF, Oxfam, ActionAid, the International Trade Union Confederation and Friends of the Earth - now have to admit that their indoctrination campaigns in the developing countries have been useless and counterproductive. The "rich" industrialized countries are not going to accept unlimited  "compensation" payments for "loss and damage" due to (non-existent human induced) global warming:

Developing countries including the Philippines and economic superpower China walked out of one of the most critical negotiations of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland on Wednesday, November 20, over the issue of climate finance.
The walkout, which happened 3:55 am on Wednesday, was led by Bolivian negotiator Juan Hoffmaister who was representing the G77+China group in a closed night-time session on loss and damage.
It was motivated by the developing nation bloc's frustration over the unwillingness of developed countries like Australia and Norway to discuss a mechanism for compensating poor nations for loss and damage due to climate change impacts like storms. --

"Codifying loss and damage issues in an agreement could lead to claims of legal liability, which would be problematic, to say the least," Robert Stavins, director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program, told Agence France-Presse.

Read the entire article here

Six green groups walked out of UN climate negotiations on Thursday, November 21, declaring that the ailing talks were "on track to deliver virtually nothing".
"Organizations and movements representing people from every corner of the Earth have decided that the best use of our time is to voluntarily withdraw from the Warsaw climate talks," they said in a statement.
"The Warsaw climate conference, which should have been an important step in the just transition to a sustainable future, is on track to deliver virtually nothing."
The signatories were Greenpeace, WWF, Oxfam, ActionAid, the International Trade Union Confederation and Friends of the Earth.

Read the entire article here

The Lutheran World Federation delegation at the COP 19 is back at the laden tables after one day "hunger strike"

The Lutheran World Federation, with 142 member churches in 79 countries, has opted to join the Church of Global Warming. That's why this Swiss based organization has a large delegation at the UN global warming jamboree COP 19 in Warsaw.

Somebody at the LWF came up with the idea, that joining the Philippine lead negotiator Yeb Sano, who is fasting "until a meaningful outcome is in sight", might result in some good publicity.

That's why the Lutheran World Federation's "official delegation" fasted yesterday:

LWF General Secretary, the Rev Martin Junge, and President Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan, along with vice-presidents from Asia, Europe and North America are joining the action on 15 November 2013.
The LWF is inviting member churches to participate in this initiative to fast for one day during the course of the conference in solidarity with the poor and vulnerable adversely affected by extreme weather events, and to call for a meaningful outcome to the climate change negotiations.

The "delegates" from Lutheran World Federation, based in Geneva, Switzerland, are of course used to a certain standard of comfortable living. That's probably why they opted for only a one day "hunger strike".

Today these merry people are again back at the tables laden with the best of Polish Cuisine in Warsaw ...

COP 19 - Another record breaking season for the UN Global Warming Circus

(image Wikipedia)

The travelling UN global warming circus COP (19), now performing at the Warsaw National Stadium, is set for another record breaking season. The circus management has proudly announced that that precisely 10,106 are registered to attend as performers, which is 1002 more than showed up last year in Doha.

Over 10% annual growth during this time of economic austerity! Not many businesses are able to produce that kind of growth figures. Congratulations UNFCCC!

PS

Unfortunately the COP is a somewhat one dimensional act - for years now, only clowns have been invited to perform.

The international Red Cross (IFRC) has sent a "30-strong delegation" to the UN global warming jamboree in Warsaw

This is one reason why I have stopped supporting the Red Cross financially:

The IFRC ( International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) has sent a 30-strong delegation to COP 19 in Warsaw, with members drawn from 15 National Societies with an interest in climate change, and technical specialists from the secretariat and the Climate Centre, headed by Evgeni Parfenov, the IFRC Europe zone’s Head of Operations. The IFRC has been actively engaged in the COP process for at least a decade in an effort to highlight the effects of climate change on vulnerable communities around the world.

It would be interesting to know what the total cost of this huge delegation (and their assistants) adds up to. During the COP19 the even normally high Warsaw hotel prices have gone up considerably, and the Red Cross people are used to staying in rather good hotels.

Instead of sending tens of bureaucrats on useless and costly trips to the Warsaw global warming jamboree, the IFRC should be putting all available resources on relief operations, in the Philippines and elsewhere.

PS

Another good reason for not donating any money to the Red Cross is this:

The American Red Cross is one of the nation's most venerable and largest charitable organizations, founded in 1881, with revenues of $3.5 billion in 2010. That year, Red Cross CEO Gail J. McGovern took home total compensation of $1.04 million.

(Just for comparison: US President Barack Obama's salary is $400,000 annually)

And this:

Sir Nick Young, the chief executive of the British Red Cross, saw his pay jump by 12 per cent to £184,000 since 2010, despite a one per cent fall in the charity’s donations and a three per cent fall in revenues.

(UK Prime Minister David Cameron earns £142,500 a year)

Philippines lead negotiator at the COP 19 in Warsaw puts the blame for super typhoon on global warming

COP 19, the annual UN global warming mega jamboree has opened in Warsaw. The lead negotiator for the Philippines, Yeb Sano, was one of the first speakers:

1145 - There is now a three minutes silence for the tragedy in the Philippines. Delegates are on their feet. Some are joining Sano in shedding tears for the loss of lives that occurred during the typhoon.
1141 - Yeb Sano announces he will not eat during the conference, until a meaningful agreement has been achieved.
1125 - Yeb Sano, the delegate from the Philippines, is up now. This is a more emotional speech than most – the Philippines are currently suffering in the aftermath of an enormous typhoon that has left the Filipino delegation reeling in shock. All of the other countries have expressed their sympathy to the Philippines, with many wearing flowers to express their sympathy. He cracks up as he references the fact that he is speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves, having perished in Typhoon Haiyan.

Here is an excerpt from Sano's speech:

What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness.
We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw.
It is the 19^th COP, but we might as well stop counting, because my country refuses to accept that a COP30 or a COP40 will be needed to solve climate change. And because it seems that despite the significant gains we have had since the UNFCCC was born, 20 years hence we continue to fail in fulfilling the ultimate objective of the Convention.  Now, we find ourselves in a situation where we have to ask ourselves – can we ever attain the objective set out in Article 2 – which is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system? By failing to meet the objective the Convention, we may have ratified the doom of vulnerable countries.--

I speak for my delegation. But more than that, I speak for the countless people who will no longer be able to speak for themselves after perishing from the storm. I also speak for those who have been orphaned by this tragedy. I also speak for the people now racing against time to save survivors and alleviate the suffering of the people affected by the disaster. We can take drastic action now to ensure that we prevent a future where super typhoons are a way of life. Because we refuse, as a nation, to accept a future where super typhoons like Haiyan become a fact of life. We refuse to accept that running away from storms, evacuating our families, suffering the devastation and misery, having to count our dead, become a way of life. We simply refuse to. We must stop calling events like these as natural disasters. It is not natural when people continue to struggle to eradicate poverty and pursue development and gets battered by the onslaught of a monster storm now considered as the strongest storm ever to hit land. It is not natural when science already tells us that global warming will induce more intense storms. It is not natural when the human species has already profoundly changed the climate.

Of course we all express our sympathy to the Philippines. The typhoon that hit the island state was a terrible disaster, and the international community should be ready to offer all possible assistance to the people in need.

However, the Philippines lead negotiator who spoke in Warsaw, does not deserve our sympathy. To blame the tragic natural disaster on human caused global warming/climate change - as the Yeb Sano did in Warsaw - is preposterous and totally unfounded. There is not a shred of evidence for his claim. Instead of grandstanding in Warsaw, Mr. Sano should start eating and take the first flight home in order to join the rescue and support efforts.

Next UN global warming jamboree to begin in Warsaw amid signs of some real progress

“If you look at the emissions that the Kyoto Protocol has cut in Europe, it is around 200m tonnes of CO2 a year, and we are leaders? In the US, which has half the population, they have reductions from the switch to shale gas of 500m tonnes a year. We have a tendency to say we are leaders, but we are not”

Martin Korolec
President of the COP19, Polish Minister of Environment



Another UN global warming mega jamboree, COP19, is opening next week in Warsaw bringing together 40,000 attendees. All previous meetings have been useless, but this time there are some signs of real progress:

Tony Abbott's new government has will not send its environment minister to Warsaw:

It is official: Australia’s new government denies global warming.  The Coalition Government will not send its environment minister to the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which will kick off  in Warsaw, Poland from 11-22 November 2013.

Climate observers said this will send a wrong signal of Australia walking away from its commitment on climate action and it may set a precedent for other countries to backslide.

Indeed, one can only hope that Australia sets an example here. Heads of state and government of the major countries have already long ago dropped the COPs from their agenda. Why should the ministers of environment waste their time on these completely useless gatherings? There are more than enough of real environmental problems to keep them busy for years.

For those still in attendance, the President of the COP19, Polish Minister of Environment Marcin Korolec, may have something meaningful to offer:

Marcin Korolec prides himself on not being like other politicians. Indeed, he prides himself on not being a politician at all, defining himself as a civil servant. Yet he is Poland's environment minister and he has accordingly been masterminding Poland's preparations to host international climate talks that begin in Warsaw next week.

He therefore has the same role as Connie Hedegaard in the 2009 climate talks, when, as Denmark's minister for climate and energy, she presided over the Copenhagen climate change summit. For her, it was the prelude to becoming the European commissioner for climate action.

It is a safe bet to say that Korolec will not be pursuing the same career trajectory. Indeed, environmental campaigners are horrified at Korolec's influence over this year's climate-change talks. They see him as the chief obstacle to the European Union adopting a more ambitious approach to climate change.

In March 2012, it was Korolec who exercised Poland's veto at a meeting of the EU's council of environment ministers preventing adoption of a low-carbon roadmap. Poland objected to the long-term emission-reduction milestones suggested.

Afterwards he told Polish journalists: “The problem of the EU environment ministers is that they rarely discuss issues carefully and in detail, considering the wide range of opinions and positions.” He said his experience as a civil servant in an economics ministry gave him a different understanding.

Another useless UN global warming study: "Some of the women noted that they have trouble with the weather"

“It is misleading and just plain incorrect to claim that disasters associated with hurricanes, tornadoes, floods or droughts have increased on climate timescales either in the United States or globally,”

“It is further incorrect to associate the increasing costs of disasters with the emission of greenhouse gases.”

Statement in a Congressional hearing by Professor Roger Pielke Jr.
Environmental Studies Program, University of Colorado



The United Nations University has released the second volume of "Pushed to the Limit", a study "that examines evidence of loss and damage caused by climate change from the perspective of affected people in nine vulnerable countries".

The lead author and scientific author of the study, Dr Koko Warner (who also is a Lead Author for IPCC´s 5th Assessment Report, Working Group 2 on Adaptation) describes the study:

Our job was to go and find out what loss and damage is, what kinds of problems people are experiencing now, what they do if they have too little or too much rain, or if they have floods, or hurricanes, cyclones, sea level rise. What they are doing, and what do they need in order to be able to adjust or adapt better. The countries that we came up with were Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Kenya, Micronesia, Mozambique, and Nepal. So as you can see African countries, island countries, mountain countries.--

I was in Bangladesh recently, doing fieldwork, and had a chance to sit down with women and children. Some of the women noted that they are having trouble with the weather, some of these particular women had lost their farms because of river bank erosion.

Some of the families had other relatives in the area so they went and lived with relatives. One of the women said, it's really hard because I lost my farm and the impact of that is we don't have enough food to eat and we don't have enough income, but what's really hard is that I don't have work to do during the day. People's work and their livelihoods are really a part of their identity.--

In the Satkhira district in Bangladesh, they had trouble with salt in the water and in the soil. Pregnant women were consuming the water - what else can you do, you have to drink water. They were having trouble with waterborne diseases because of flooding and cyclone activity, but they were also having trouble with their reproductive health, in part because of the high saline in the water that they were drinking. Children were having trouble with malnutrition, there were problems with eyesight and skin lesions, a whole number of health problems that they attributed to higher salt content in the water and in the soil, that had both to do with the cyclone that came through, and maybe as well incremental sea level rise - those things working together. --

When you look at all of this evidence, you see that the things that we care about the most, our identities, our cultures, poverty reduction, food security, livelihood security, safety and integrity of rural and urban areas where we live, are compromised by loss and damage that's related to climate change, and that's happening now.

Next week in Warsaw, countries will come together and discuss that big challenge for humanity. How do we avoid dangerous climate change, and what do we do about it? Because we see that loss and damage is already happening, it creates greater urgency. If we don't avoid dangerous climate change, the things that we care about most could be compromised.

It is easy to feel sympathy for the suffering people Dr Warner and her colleagues have met on their numerous trips to nine underdeveloped countries. However, Dr Werner and the United Nations University "scientists", who have wasted a lot of tax payers' money on this pseudo scientific "study" deserve no sympathy.

They must know there is no proof that global warming is causing more extreme weather, but still they choose to peddle their alarmist propaganda to weak and vulnerable people in the third world.

Ban Ki-moon visits world famous Copenhagen Tivoli Gardens - "Fairy tale like experiences for all ages"

UN Secretary General  Ban Ki-Moon and his travelling circus earlier week visited the world famous Copenhagen Tivoli gardens as guests of the Danish government:

"The Tivoli Gardens - fairy tale like experiences for all ages"
(official UN photo)

Oh, yes, while enjoying the sights and sounds of the Danish capital, the busy Secretary General also found some time to deliver his standard "tipping point" warning:

"The world is at a 'tipping point,' and how it produces, distributes and uses energy will determine if sustainable development succeeds."

Ban's UN speechwriter had written an almost poetic end line for his boss's Copenhagen "keynote speech":

“With focus, resolve and ambition, we can lower the global thermostat and raise the level of economic opportunity for all – from the poorest households to the largest enterprises.”

Ban made the statement at the launch of the Sustainable Energy for All Energy Efficiency Hub at the UN City in the Danish capital.

The Danes were perhaps lucky to have Ban as the keynote speaker. Had it been the UN's climate boss Christiane Figueras, tears could not have been avoided ...

 

The UN Green Climate Fund reports "huge progress": The search for a logo continues

Global warming has stopped, but the huge UN climate bureaucracy continues like nothing would have happened. The fact that the UN Green Climate Fund so far has been able to raise only $ 7.5 million  of its promised US$100 billion per year for climate finance by 2020 does not seem to bother the army of climate bureaucrats, who are full of praise for their "achievements":

"The huge progress we have made on the Fund's business model framework during this Board meeting moves the Fund much closer towards operationalization".

Zaheer Fakir, Green Climate Change Fund Co-Chair

The "huge progress" Mr Fakir was talking about was apparently this:

"Calling for nominations from developing countries of national designated authorities (NDAs) or focal points that will help ensure that country ownership and a country-driven approach are core operational principles of the Fund"

(Green Climate Fund press release on June 28)

The most important concrete issue the UN climate bureaucrats are dealing with seems the be the logo of the Green Climate Fund:

At the Paris (where else?) meeting in June the Green Climate Fund Board made a decision about the "constitution of a logo selection panel to judge the outcome of the Fund's international logo competition".

After a number of meetings (in Paris or some other inspiring venues?) the Panel and the Board were apparently not pleased with the "outcome":

"The Fund's Board decided in October 2013 (decision B.05/09, see Annex) to contract a professional designer who will design the logo of the Fund and requested the Fund's Secretariat to issue a call for tender"

This call for tender supersedes and replaces the logo competition which was previously announced by the Fund, and which did not deliver a result meeting the Board's expectations.

That competition is now cancelled by the Board, as allowed for under the competition's terms and conditions."

Which means that the ground breaking work carried out by the Green Climate Fund enters another decisive stage: The search for the missing logo continues!

Following the decision of the Fund’s Board from October 2013, the Secretariat is seeking to contract a professional designer who will design the logo of the Fund.

The tender is open to any professional designer who would be able to work as an independent consultant with the Fund.

Individuals wishing to respond to this call are invited to do so by 3 November 2013. Responses should be made by email to: logo(at)gcfund.net following the instructions from the Terms of reference downloadable below.

 

No doubt, the question of the new logo will keep the Green Climate Fund secretariat and Board busy for at least another year, with a number of meetings in Paris (or similar locations). The most important item on the next Board meeting will probably be, whether the 7.5 million so far raised, will cover the cost of the logo ...

Don't cry for me Christiana!

Costa Rican-born UN climate boss Christiana Figueres should consider a career in movies. The ability to captivate audiences through tearful performances, like the one at a climate conference in London, is a highly rated asset in Hollywood. However her tears in London do not yet quite qualify her for an Oscar:

Speaking to the BBC on the sidelines of a climate conference at Chatham House in London, Ms Figueres became tearful when she reflected on the impact that climate change might have on coming generations.

"I'm committed to climate change because of future generations, it is not about us, right? We're out of here," she said.

"I just feel that it is so completely unfair and immoral what we are doing to future generations, we are condemning them before they are even born."

"We have a choice about it, that's the point, we have a choice. If it were inevitable then so be it, but we have a choice to change the future we are going to give our children."

Christiana's London appearance was not a first for her. You can watch another of her tear acts here.