The Week That Was: 2022-06-11 (June 11, 2022)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” ― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology [H/t Jerry Bowyer]
Number of the Week: $100 Million for Political Lobbying
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: Jim Steele concludes his discussion of the Big 5 Natural Causes of Climate Change with “Clouds the Moderators of Warming and Extreme Heat.” He examines the enormous uncertainty of clouds. No one has developed a solid theory of cloud formation. As long as a solid, physical validated theory does not exist, long term projections from climate models are grossly misleading.
Writing for UK’s Net Zero Watch, David Whitehouse asks: “Have climate models outlived their usefulness?” He asserts that: “Outside of their academic fascination, looked at in terms of their contribution to climate policy, it seems that we may have reached the useful limit of computer climate modelling.” He comes to the same general conclusions as Steve Koonin, Christopher Essex, and others. They should not be used for government policy.
As US gasoline prices exceeded $5 per gallon for the first time in history, in part thanks to the administration’s energy policies, the Biden administration called for censorship of climate change misinformation, declaring climate change misinformation is a public health issue. Misinformation from Washington is a public health issue: cold kills more people than heat. As Donn Dears discusses, the current US energy policies are leading to more blackouts, endangering the public.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has posted a long essay outlining why the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Climate Disclosure Risk Proposal is probably unconstitutional. By implementing it, the SEC assumes powers that properly belong to Congress. TWTW believes that it asserts a pretention of knowledge that is beyond that established by physical science. It requires false financial statements of imaginary risk from private corporations under SEC’s regulatory authority and erodes SEC’s integrity and credibility.
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A Cloudy Issue: There is no solid, empirically tested theory of cloud formation. Further, clouds form in volumes of air smaller than the grid squares used in climate models. In “Clouds, the Moderators of Warming and Extreme Heat,” Jim Steele discusses the great uncertainties in estimating the influence of clouds on global warming and cooling. Steele begins:
“Welcome everyone to the final part of the Big 5 Natural Causes of Climate Change – here I examine the impacts of changing cloud cover.
“On balance, clouds cool our climate
“Conversely, fewer clouds will produce global warming, as well as extreme local heat waves.
As climate scientist Kevin Trenberth explained in 2009, ‘Global warming is mainly caused from increases in absorbed solar radiation due to decreasing cloud cover.’
“Most climate scientists admit, the great difficulties in estimating cloud effects have caused significant uncertainty regards global warming calculations.”
Steele uses a simple diagram indicating the difference between high clouds and low clouds in allowing incoming solar radiation to reach the earth’s surface.
“Because the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere rapidly declines with altitude, High clouds are usually thin and reflect a minimum of sunlight, but still have a greenhouse effect. Whereas low clouds are denser and will significantly reduce the solar radiation absorbed at the earth’s surface.
“According to calculations in wild 2019, on average clouds reduce about 54 watts per meter squared of the sun’s energy.
“One quick side note here: Non-scientists are often put-off by the unfamiliar measurement used by all climate scientists of watts per meter squared. But it is just a measure of energy flowing each second into and out of the earth. For our purposes, all one needs to understand is the greater the number of watts, the greater the energy flow.
“To determine if humans are disrupting the earth’s energy balance, scientists construct energy budgets as illustrated here. But the amount of information is so dense, it readily confuses the general public. To help clarify, I’ll guide you through the important points.
“It is also important to pay attention to the plus or minus numbers that reflect how uncertain each calculation is.”
Not shown here, Steele uses a commonly used diagram on Earth’s Energy Balance, this one from Stephens (2012)
“For example, here they calculate that the earth’s surface absorbs just 6 tenths of a watt more than it emits back to space with that imbalance causing the earth to warm. But being good scientists, Stephens (2012) also published that their calculations could be 17 watts too high or 17 watts too low, reflecting just how unsettled the science is. So, beware of the scientists’ illustrations that do not accurately publish their uncertainty. [Boldface added.]
“Some estimates are very accurate. Satellite measurements of solar radiation have very little uncertainty. After averaging for day and night, and differences between the equator and the poles, energy budgets begin with an average solar input of 340 watts per meter squared at the top of our atmosphere.
“After subtracting estimates of the energy absorbed by the atmosphere and reflected by clouds or the earth’s surface, they estimate each square meter of the earth’s surface absorbs on average between 159 and 165 watts.
“What confuses most people is why isn’t the earth cooling if the surface absorbs about 160 watts of solar energy, but then releases more than twice that energy away as infrared?
“The confusion arises due to the greenhouse effect. Primarily water vapor and clouds, plus carbon dioxide and other minor greenhouse gases readily absorb most infrared energy. But in less than a microsecond, greenhouse gases immediately lose that energy either via a collision with O2 and N2, or emit that energy, with half that energy being directed back towards the surface and recycled. The recycling of infrared energy is called greenhouse warming, but it would be more accurately called delayed cooling. The more energy that is recycled the slower the surface cools.
“Click-bait mainstream media and politicians greatly mislead the public when suggesting CO2 traps heat energy. Each time heat energy is recycled back towards the surface, the earth quickly emits 10% to 30% of that energy as infrared energy in wavelengths that greenhouse gases cannot absorb. So, with every recycling of downward infrared energy, 10 to 30% leaks back to space uninhibited and it exits at nearly the speed of light.
“Clouds increase the amount of greenhouse heat that gets recycled, and according to Wild 2019 on average clouds re-direct 28 watts per meter squared back to the surface.
“However, because clouds reflect away twice as much solar energy as they recycle, on balance, clouds cool the earth by 26 watts per meter squared.
“Eventually it is estimated that 239.7 watts per meter squared, and an uncertain plus or minus 3.3 watts, escape to space. The claim that CO2 is causing a warming crisis by creating a heating energy imbalance of 0.6 watts per meter squared is questionable simply due a level of uncertainty that is 5 times greater than their claim
“Furthermore, when compared to the IPCC’s estimated 2.5 watts of added greenhouse gas warming, reduced cloud cover can also amplify solar heating. A cloudless sky can have 10 times the heating effect of CO2.”
The part boldfaced above goes to a real problem in climate modeling – the range of the error of the estimate may be thirty times the value of the estimate. With such huge errors in estimates, it is absurd to assert the science is settled, as many politicians do. These huge ranges in errors demonstrate why the simplifications made by Howard Hayden in his essays on Basic Climate Physics were so important in understanding the limited effect of increasing greenhouse gases.
Steele goes on to discuss the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), (he discussed the importance of the shifting of the ITCZ in a previous video). Steele brings up the differences in temperature between daytime and nighttime in the desert, as much as 75°F (42°C) with cloudless skies, the formation of heat domes (falsely attributed to CO2), different types of cloud formations and Richard Lindzen’s postulated “iris effect,” a negative feedback allowing more infrared radiation to escape to space. Also, Steele states:
Adding to the complexities of cloud science is the diversity of cloud life cycles, with most individual clouds growing and dissipating in less than one hour. Their varied lifetimes are being better determined by geo-stationary satellites. The Madden Julian Oscillation, first discovered in 1971, is a natural climate dynamic causing growing and dying clouds to move across the tropical ocean at speeds between 14 to 19 kilometers an hour, creating alternating regions of heavy rains and marine heat waves.
Heated waters of the Indian ocean warm pool initiate rising convection that gives birth to a cumulonimbus cloud. As the cloud grows, it reduces the amount of infrared heat that escapes to space. However, it also increasingly blocks solar heating, and on balance causes the ocean surface to cool which initiates the clouds decay.
After the moisture rained out of the rising air in the growing cloud, the remaining dry air descends further to the east suppressing convection. The cloudless skies beneath the descending air causes intense solar heating of the ocean surface. According to Wirasatriya (2017) 60% of the equatorial hot events with sea surface temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius for 6 to 30 days, are associated with this phase of the MJO. Eventually surface heating initiates a new region of convection and new cumulus cloud formation
The intense convection of the Madden Julian oscillation also initiates other wave trains of rising and sinking air that stretches across the hemisphere. The wave train’s high-pressure areas can create heatwaves as far away as the Atlantic.
The greatest amount of solar heat flux into the ocean happens along the equatorial Pacific, and that heat then gets transported across the globe and warms the earth. The cloudless areas of intense solar heating during the Madden Julian Oscillation’s hot events contribute to the increased heat flux into the western and central Pacific. But due to upwelling of colder waters in the eastern Pacific, the Madden Julian oscillation doesn’t reach that region.
As detailed in part 3 of this series, it is the clearer skies in the eastern Pacific associated with La Nina like ocean conditions that enables the greatest amount of heat flux into the eastern Pacific.
Not only do La Nina like conditions in the Pacific increase ocean heating, La Ninas and the related negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation, expand the Hadley circulation’s region of reduced clouds and increased solar heating
And same as the Madden Julian Oscillation, La Nina’s center of intense convection in the western Pacific, initiates hemispheric wave trains and alternating regions of high and low pressure. The descending air under one high pressure region resulted in clear skies, increased solar heating and calm winds that reduce evaporative cooling, and produced a notorious long-lived heat wave in the north-eastern Pacific dubbed “The Blob”
Every 3 to 7 years an El Nino causes an eastward flow of warm water, that increases cloudiness and reduces heat flux into the eastern Pacific. The first extreme El Nino of the 21st century happened in 2015 and 2016. [resulting in significant atmospheric warming]
That El Nino shifted the center of intense convection eastward, which also produces different wave train pathways. Accordingly, the 2016 El Nino’s new wave train ended the hot Blob’s existence.
Coral reefs of Fiji, Tonga & Rarotonga have recorded 150 years of ocean warming and are sensitive to temperature changes caused by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
La Nina-like conditions during each negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) phase reduce clouds in the eastern Pacific. Accordingly, during each negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation phase, ocean heat content has increased.
El Nino-like conditions dominate during each positive PDO phase, generating a cloudier eastern Pacific & reduced ocean heating.
Throughout the video, Steele gives excellent diagrams illustrating the various concepts. Joe Bastardi of WeatherBELL Analytics has been placing greater emphasis on the Madden Julian Oscillation and its influence on North American weather. Steele concludes:
“When the causes of natural climate change are fully accounted for, as good rigorous science traditionally demands, it constrains to what degree warming effects can be attributed to rising CO2. Constrained by natural climate change, CO2 can only contribute much smaller amounts of heat than what’s repeated by the narratives of alarmists seeking to control energy policies. Clearly when you follow all the science, there is no climate crisis.”
See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy and http://www.sepp.org/science_papers.cfm.
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No Longer Improving? David Whitehouse discusses the problem no one in the global climate modeling wishes to discuss – the lack of improved results from the models. He begins:
“The first computers built in the 1950s allowed climate scientists to think about modelling the climate using this new technology. The first usable computer climate models were developed in the mid-1970s. Shortly afterwards the US National Academy of Sciences used their outcomes to estimate a crucial climate parameter we still calculate today – the Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS) – how much the world would warm (from ‘pre-industrial’ levels) with a doubling of CO2 — and concluded that it had a range of 1.5 – 4.5°C. [The Charney Report] Since then, computer power has increased by a factor of more than a quadrillion yet, one could argue, climate models have not much improved on that original estimate. Their range of projections has not narrowed significantly, and consequently the contribution they make to climate policy hasn’t improved concomitantly.”
After discussing the results in various reports by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Whitehouse concludes:
“The lack of improvement in computer models as they become increasing complex is possibly telling us that most of the small-scale details and processes are irrelevant to the outcome and perhaps not worth computing. This is an unpopular viewpoint in these days of institutions and university departments basing their existence on making the case for bigger and bigger computers and more complex models to ‘improve’ the results sometime in the future that has yet to arrive.
“If a simple model, considered ‘unrealistic’ by the standards of today’s climate modelers and their behemoth codes, does a better job or equivalent of climate prediction that a modern more ‘realistic’ one then what does it say about the progress of this field and its diminishing scientific and financial returns?
“The search for climate reality simulated by a computer model uncertainties have uncovered an underlying truth about this process. The models are disintegrating into uncertainty, and no one is telling the decision makers who base their entire policies on these forecasts. The media haven’t noticed and continue to write articles praising computer models as being more accurate than we thought! [Boldface added]
“There is as much uncertainty and ‘wriggle room’ in climate models as there was decades ago. Outside of their academic fascination, looked at in terms of their contribution to climate policy, it seems that we may have reached the useful limit of computer climate modelling.”
To this, TWTW would add that the initial estimates ECS were far too high, and global climate modelers do not have the integrity to say so. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Censorship: For the first time in history, average US gasoline prices hit $5 per gallon in every state. According to the US Energy Information Administration, in 2020 US consumption of petroleum was 18.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) and US production was 18.4 mb/d, net imports were below zero. In 2008, oil production was 7.8 mb/d. The impressive increase in oil production was driven by the shale revolution, headed by small- and medium-sized independent companies.
Since 2020, the hostility expressed by Washington in retowards the US oil and gas industries has been stunning. The independent companies are not responding to demands by Washington to increase production. There is no reason they should.
On Thursday, White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy, a recipient of the SEPP April Fools Award, declared “that the spread of false information about climate change is ‘absolutely’ a threat to public health.” Yet government policies about climate change are creating high gas prices and subsidizing wind and solar which threaten the grid with unstable electricity. Questioning these policies is a threat to public health? Because the government knows all?
As Donn Dears addresses, government policies led to a failure of the grid that killed people during the Texas cold wave. Questioning policies that kill and the false certainty of the science behind them is a threat to public health? Certainly, labeling policies that promote blackouts as a form of environmental justice is absurd. Such policies are more oppression of the poor. See links under Censorship. Energy Issues – US, and https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/imports-and-exports.php#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20was%20a,row%20since%20at%20least%201949.
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Integrity and Credibility: The work of Steele and Whitehouse described above, and the work of many others clearly show that the work of the IPCC and its followers have glaring errors such as attributing natural variation to human CO2 emissions. Yet, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC), headed by Gary Gensler, has proposed Mandatory Climate Risk Disclosures. TWTW doubts Mr. Gensler understands natural variation in climate change and the greenhouse effect.
The SEC website states: “The mission of the SEC is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets and facilitate capital formation. Under Vision the website states: “The SEC strives to promote a market environment that is worthy of the public’s trust and characterized by transparency and integrity.” Under Values it lists: “Integrity, Excellence, Accountability, Effectiveness, Teamwork, and Fairness”
There is no integrity in modeling efforts that do not test the results of the models against all physical evidence and report the results of those tests to the public. One can go on from there, but the proposed requirement by the SEC is a mockery of values. To meet the risks perceived by the SEC, a private company would have to mislead the public in claiming it believes a science that produces results that are wrong. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy and Science, Policy, and Evidence.
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SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD – THE JACKSON
SEPP is conducting its annual vote for the recipient of the coveted trophy, The Jackson, a lump of coal. Readers are asked to nominate and vote for who they think is most deserving. The entire Biden Administration won in 2021, so individuals in it are still eligible.
The voting will close on July 30. Please send your nominee and a brief reason the person is qualified for the honor to [email protected]. The awardee will be announced at the annual meeting of the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness on August 14 to 16 at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Registration: https://aaps.wufoo.com/forms/qb79fo31o62uh1/; Hotel: https://be.synxis.com/?adult=1&arrive=2022-08-14&chain=6903&child=0¤cy=USD&depart=2022-08-15&group=DOC0811&hotel=11548&level=hotel&locale=en-US&rooms=1
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Number of the Week: $100 Million for Political Lobbying. According to an article in The Hill:
“Climate groups coordinating $100M in ad spending ahead of midterms.”
“The initiative, the Climate Votes Project, will comprise groups including Climate Power Action, Climate Reality Action Fund, Environmental Defense Fund Action Vote, League of Conservation Voters Victory Fun, Natural Resources Defense Council Action Votes and NextGen PAC.”
“Despite advancements such as rejoining the Paris climate accords, Maysmith [senior vice president for campaign at the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund] told The Hill, ‘we’re still pushing forward on climate policy happening through reconciliation … that needs to happen not just for political reasons, because of science, because of justice, because of lived experience.’”
Such massive political financing for the anti-energy policies of this administration and the Green New Deal should eliminate claims that these groups are underfunded, underdogs fighting greedy corporations, which happen to deliver reliable energy. But it means nothing to mainstream media and those who promote energy poverty as well as those who believe a science with imaginary evidence. See links under Environmental Industry.
Top Biden aide prods big tech to crack down on climate change misinformation
By Ben Geman, Axios, June 9, 2022
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/09/climate-gina-mccarthy-misinformation
[SEPP Comment: The major source of misinformation on climate change in the US is demanding others crack down on misinformation?]
White House climate adviser says misinformation ‘absolutely’ a public health issue
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, June 9, 2022
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://store.heartland.org/shop/ccr-ii-fossil-fuels/
Download with no charge:
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/
Download with no charge:
https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Global Sea-Level Rise: An Evaluation of the Data
By Craig D. Idso, David Legates, and S. Fred Singer, Heartland Policy Brief, May 20, 2019
Big 5 Natural Causes of Climate Change part 5: Clouds the Moderators of Warming and Extreme Heat
By Jim Steele, A Walk On the Natural Side, June 7, 2022
Transcript: https://perhapsallnatural.blogspot.com/2022/06/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiQ6bLiWNmw
Link to one paper: The cloud-free global energy balance and inferred cloud radiative effects: an assessment based on direct observations and climate models
By Martin Wild, et al, Climate Dynamics, 2019
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00382-018-4413-y
Have climate models outlived their usefulness?
By David Whitehouse, Net Zero Watch, June 10, 2022
Outside of their academic fascination, looked at in terms of their contribution to climate policy, it seems that we may have reached the useful limit of computer climate modelling.
The SEC’s Costly Power Grab
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Climate Disclosure Risk Proposal Threatens an End-Run around Congress on Climate Policy
By Richard Morrison, CEI, June 2, 2022
https://cei.org/studies/the-secs-costly-power-grab/
The Climate War will never be the same: it was a lame Cold War substitute until real War returned
Ted Nordhous argues powerfully that Climate Change is simply not the main event anymore, and the climate punters are shellshocked.
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 7, 2022
“Resentment runs deep. For decades, Western environmental and other NGOs, often with the tacit or direct support of governments and international development institutions, have broadly opposed large-scale energy and resource development, from dams to mines to oil and gas extraction.
“China and Russia, by contrast, have no such qualms and have leveraged investments in energy, resource extraction, and infrastructure to advance their geopolitical interests. Their intent is to create dependency in ways that advance Moscow’s and Beijing’s economic priorities while creating international leverage. Since the Ukraine invasion, the efficacy of this strategy is now plain for all to see.”
Zero Carbon False Pretenses
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, June 9, 2022
“Since we do little to cause it, we can’t fix it by changing what we do. The climate will not stop changing because we put a price on carbon. And the sun will rise despite the cock going on strike to protest global warming.”
The Global War on Air Conditioning
By Ben Lieberman, Human Progress, June 7, 2022
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Aerosols from burning fossil fuels are masking global warming, UW researchers find
By Nicholas Turner, The Seattle Times, June 8, 2022
Link to paper:
Estimating the timing of geophysical commitment to 1.5 and 2.0 °C of global warming
By M. T. Dvorak, et al. Nature Climate Change, June 6, 2022
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01372-y
From the abstract: “Here we use an emissions-based climate model (FaIR) to estimate temperature change following cessation of emissions in 2021 and in every year thereafter until 2080 following eight Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs)”
[SEPP Comment: No measurements, just speculation using a climate model that fails when tested against atmospheric temperature data. Aerosols are a major problem in urban areas of developing countries and better filtration is needed. But that is not a global issue.]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Pain is real but you ain’t seen nothing yet!..unless
By Joseph D’Aleo, CCMm ICECAP, June 6, 2022
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/joes-blog/pain_is_real_but_you_aint_seen_nothing_yet1/
“Furthermore, we must not fall victim to false prophets of doom nor be misled by politicians that want to control the populace ‘by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.’” (H.L. Mencken)
More On Energy Fantasy Versus Reality In Woke-Land
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, June 5, 2022
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2022-6-5-more-on-energy-fantasy-versus-reality-in-woke-land
Link to: 2022 Annual Energy Paper
By Michael Cembalest, Chairman of Market and Investment Strategy for J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management, 2022
By Menton: “To sequester just 15%-20% of US CO2 emissions via traditional carbon capture and storage, the volume of US carbon sequestration (1.2 billion cubic meters) would need to exceed the volume of all US oil production in 2019 (858 billion cubic meters)/ That’s a LOT of infrastructure that does not exist.
“Gathering and storing 25% of global CO2 through direct air carbon capture could require 40% or more of global electricity generation, even when assuming the presence of waste heat to power the carbon capture, requiring ~1,200 TWh per Gt of CO2. This is clearly an absurd proposition.’”
What grass and other vegetation tell us about our wildfire future.
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, June 9, 2022
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2022/06/what-grass-and-other-vegetation-tell-us.html
“What does the current grass situation suggest for California this summer?
“The difference from normal for the amount of grass is shown below for the state. Because of the dry winter/spring resulting from La Nina, most of California has below-normal amounts of seasonal grass, which will work against the fire threat. But you can bet there still will be fires.”
Selling Global Warming to Eskimos
By Russell Cook, American Thinker, June 8, 2022
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/06/selling_global_warming_to_eskimos_.html
[SEPP Comment: Exceptional essay with great examples.]
Elon Musk calls ESG a “scam”
But in reality, it is something far worse
By Jerry Bowyer, World, June 2, 2022
https://wng.org/opinions/elon-musk-calls-esg-a-scam-1654166891
“ESG is an ideological virus injecting toxic politics into every aspect of our financial markets. Scams just take your money, but coercive utopian philosophies try to take all of you.”
Change in US Administrations
Biden’s climate crusaders: What planet do they live on?
By Craig Rucker, Washington Times, June 8, 2022
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jun/8/bidens-climate-crusaders-what-planet-do-they-live-/
Biden increasingly relies on DPA, drawing GOP scorn
By Alex Gangitano and Morgan Chalfant, The Hill, June 7, 2022
[SEPP Comment: The Defense Production Act (DPA) was enacted during the Korean War to assure the military had necessary material to fight the war. Using it for a war on climate is absurd.]
Energy & Environment — Biden administration announces new oceans moves
By Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk, The Hill, June 8, 2022
“The Biden administration announced a raft of ocean-related conservation efforts on Wednesday, World Oceans Day, including ending the use of single-use plastics on federal lands and a proposed marine sanctuary off the coast of New York.”
[SEPP Comment: Will the ban include Federal buildings that use plastic plumbing?]
Hurricane Joe – A Category Five Economic Calamity
By Brian C. Joondeph, American Thinker, June 6, 2022
Climate Change Weekly #437: Persistent Lies about Green Powe
By H. Sterling Bernett, Environment & Climate News, June 9, 2022
Joe Biden’s ‘Green Energy’ Dreams: Enriching Friends, Crushing the Working Class
By Levi Russell, Real Clear Energy, June 08, 2022
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
Elevated CO2 and the Enhancement of Plant Medicinal Properties
By Craig D. Idso, Master Resource, June 9, 2022
Problems in the Orthodoxy
India’s Coal Proliferation Contradicts Global Climate Drama
By Vijay Jayaraj, Real Clear Energy, June 09, 2022
Seeking a Common Ground
Political Economy Energy Terms
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, June 7, 2022
“The terms below will be referred to in future posts here at Master Resource given the current energy emergencies and habit of government to expand rather than contract.”
Call for Public Comment on the Draft U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031
A Notice by the Science and Technology Policy Office on 05/26/2022, Federal Register, May 26, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Comments due July 15.]
The U.S. Desperately Needs To Revamp Its Energy Policies
By Robert Rapier, Oil Price.com, Jun 04, 2022
“The world is grappling with energy supply constraints and demand continues to soar.
“The United States has taken a number of missteps that have led to the current high price climate.
“It may be time for the country to rethink its energy policies and add further support for the oil and gas industries.”
The U.S. Forest Service Should be more Careful with Matches
By Gary Schiff, American Thinker, June 9, 2022
Model Issues
Model vs Model: Is the North Atlantic Current Collapsing?
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 7, 2022
Changing Weather
June 9, 1953 Tornado Outbreak
By Tony Heller, His Blog, June 9, 2022
https://realclimatescience.com/2022/06/june-9-1953-tornado-outbreak/
[SEPP Comment: Love to see the CO2-caused probability calculation by World Weather Attribution on the Worcester, Mass, tornado where tornadoes rarely occur and when “everyone knew” US atomic testing was causing cold weather.]
Tree Rings Reveal Unmatched 2nd Century Drought in the Colorado River Basin
By Subhrendu Gangopadhyay, et al., Geophysical Research Letters, June 9, 2022 [H/t WUWT]
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022GL098781
Pielke Jr. on hurricanes
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 8, 2022
Link to: What the media won’t tell you about hurricanes
Let’s take a look at what the IPCC and official data really say
By Roger Pielke Jr., Substack.com, June 1, 2022
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/what-the-media-wont-tell-you-about?s=w
“With hurricanes often placed front and center as the most visible manifestation of climate change, accurate representation of the current, complex state of understandings can be difficult. Can you find an expert or a study to confirm whatever you want to believe on hurricanes? Sure you can — the topic is a cherry-picker’s dream. And I see advocates and polemicists feasting on cherries all through hurricane season.”
Analysis Of Data Going Back 40 Years Shows CO2 Has No Effect On Forest Fires,…Burned Area Plummets Since 2000
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, June 8, 2022
[SEPP Comment: A decline in area burnt from 2011 to 2018.]
One of the Wettest Springs in Northwest History is Getting Wetter
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, June 11, 2022
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2022/06/one-of-wettest-springs-in-northwest.html
Expert scientists wrong again: Bumper snow season kicks off in Australia
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 11, 2022
“As Jennifer Marohasy says, they’ve closed long standing stations, and set limits of minus 10.4 C so if Australia were to break our long time cold records we’ll never even know it. Charlottes Pass in Australia reached minus 23 in 1994. How can we even measure that with thermometers that ‘stop’ at minus ten?”
Record Cold In Australia
By Tony Heller, His Blog, June 10, 2022
https://realclimatescience.com/2022/06/record-cold-in-australia/
A comment on the article: “Mother Nature has a great sense of humor. Australia just elected a government committed to addressing global warming. Mother Nature is helping.”
Changing Seas
Lessons from the past: How cold-water corals respond to global warming
New MARUM study: Food and oxygen have the greatest impact on survival
Press Release, Marum, June 7, 2022 [H/t WUWT]
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/955196
Link to paper: Major environmental drivers determining life and death of cold-water corals through time
By Rodrigo da Costa Portilho-Ramos, Plos Biology, May 19, 2022
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001628
From the abstract: “Cold-water corals (CWCs) are the engineers of complex ecosystems forming unique biodiversity hotspots in the deep sea. They are expected to suffer dramatically from future environmental changes in the oceans such as ocean warming, food depletion, deoxygenation, and acidification. However, over the last decades of intense deep-sea research, no extinction event of a CWC ecosystem is documented, leaving quite some uncertainty on their sensitivity to these environmental parameters.”
[SEPP Comment: Contrary to myths spread by NOAA, etc., warming from atmospheric infrared radiation does not penetrate beyond on millimeter, and is not a threat to corals.]
CDN by the sea: Kigiliah, Russia
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 8, 2022
South America’s Sea Levels Were Multiple Meters Higher And SSTs 2-5°C Warmer Until Recent Centuries
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, June 9, 2022
Link to one paper:
Beach ridge evolution during the Holocene Climatic Optimum at Río de la Plata estuary, Argentina: Former answers for future questions?
By Sebastian Richiano, Quaternary International, Feb 18, 2022
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618222000271
Link to second paper emphasizing sea levels: Paleo-sea levels, Late-Holocene evolution, and a new interpretation of the boulders at the Rocas Atoll, southwestern Equatorial Atlantic
By Rodolfo José Angulo, et al. Marine Geology, May 2022
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025322722000512
[SEPP Comment: Based on the abstract of the second 2022 paper, an increase in strong wave action may erroneously be believed to be sea level rise.]
Changing Earth
PETM: Good Science Meets Science Journalism in the Gulf of Mexico
By David Middleton, WUWT, June 7, 2022
“Of course, the really cool thing about geology, is that we almost never have unique solutions. This is why Chamberlin’s Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses is so important.”
Lowering Standards
You just can’t win with these people, hurricane edition
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 8, 2022
Link to: What the media won’t tell you about hurricanes
Let’s take a look at what the IPCC and official data really say
By Roger Pielke Jr. Substack.com, June 1, 2022
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/what-the-media-wont-tell-you-about?s=w
“According to NOAA, the above-average activity in 2022 could be attributed to several climate factors including the presence of an ongoing La Niña event in the tropical Pacific Ocean, warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, an enhanced west African monsoon and weaker tropical Atlantic trade winds.”
Are English Springs Getting Drier?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 10, 2022
From BBC: “Scientists say the recent weather in the UK has been unprecedented and astounding.
“Professor Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, told BBC News: ‘We’ve swung from a really unsettled spell with weather systems coming in off the Atlantic to a very, very settled spell.
“‘It’s unprecedented to see such a swing from one extreme to the other in such a short space of time. That’s what concerns me. We don’t see these things normally happening with our seasons.
“‘It’s part of a pattern where we’re experiencing increasingly extreme weather as the climate changes.’”
Germany’s DWD National Weather Service Just Can’t Say Good Bye To Old, Cooler 1961-1990 Reference Period
By Die kalte Sonne, Via No Tricks Zone, June 4, 2022
More evidence of things not seen
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 8, 2022
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
BBC accused of institutional alarmism as new report reveals long list of climate misinformation
Press Release, Net Zero Watch, June 9, 2022
Link to report: Institutional Alarmism: The BBC’s Disastrous Climate Complaints
By Paul Homewood, Net Zero Watch, 2022
More Miscommunication from The Seattle Times
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, June 7, 2022
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2022/06/more-miscommunication-from-seattle-times.html
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Zap, you’re heat pumped
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 8, 2022
“It’s remarkable how many people involved in public policy discussions generally, and definitely including climate, seem unsure of the answer to Thomas Sowell’s book title question ‘Is Reality Optional?’ For instance, Canary Media, who we were just nice to the other week, now publishes a guest essay saying “A new bill could speed up American electrification by 20 years”
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Hiding Australia’s Hot Past
By Tony Heller, His Blog, June 10, 2022
https://realclimatescience.com/2022/06/hiding-australias-hot-past-3/
[SEPP Comment: Hot temperatures prior to 1910 erased by Bureau of Meteorology and similar alterations by NASA]
NOAA: “The world is trying to reduce [CO2] emissions, and you just don’t see it”
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 5, 2022
Alarmists: Clouds May ‘Disappear Forever’ With Warming. Observations: Clouds Increase As It Warms.
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, June 6, 2022
Expanding the Orthodoxy
China ruins Antarctic Treaty attempt to enact special protection status for Emperor penguins
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, June 5, 2022
My scientific blog posts contributed to the failed Antarctic Treaty bid to protect Emperor penguins
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, June 8, 2022
New panels want to talk ethics, rules of climate tinkering
By Seth Borenstein, AP, June 6, 2022
https://apnews.com/article/climate-politics-science-and-environment-f336496afcb0af423da2572c9c88ff7e
“On Thursday, the newly formed Climate Overshoot Commission — which includes the former presidents of Mexico, Niger and Kiribati, a former Canadian prime minister, the ex-chief of World Trade Organization and other national minister level officials — will have its first meeting in Italy in a 15-month process to come up with governance strategy on pulling carbon dioxide out of the air, lowering temperatures by reflecting sunlight with artificial methods and adapting to climate change. This month, the American Geophysical Union, the largest society of scientists who work on climate issues, announced it was forming an ethics framework for ‘climate intervention’ that would be ready for debate during the major international climate negotiations in November in Egypt.”
[SEPP Comment: Do they understand that ethics include moral principles such as honesty, and not recognizing contradictory physical evidence is not honest.]
Questioning European Green
Top producer Albemarle risks shutting German plant if EU declares lithium a hazard
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 9, 2022
“The Greeniacs want us to abandon fossil fuels, but don’t want the alternatives to be produced in their backyard!”
Green New Deal Working As Designed
By Tony Heller, His Blog, June 10, 2022
https://realclimatescience.com/2022/06/green-new-deal-working-as-designed/
“Britain’s food supply is now ‘vulnerable’ after spiralling energy bills prompted the permanent closure of one of only two major fertiliser plants, farmers have warned.
“The company said it could no longer afford to keep the plant open amid spiralling gas prices and high environmental taxes. Production has been suspended since September.”
German Economics expert Sees 6 Formidable Problems With Germany’s Green Energy Push
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, June 10, 2022
“Sinn wraps up his presentation with a warning for Europe: ‘Europe’s unilateralism with climate policy will undermine the competitiveness of its industries, initiate its downfall and thus discourage other countries from following the European – and especially the German – approach.’”
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Green Rope-a-Dope: China Watches as America Greens
By Joel Kotkin, National Review, May 30, 2022
LA is banning most gas appliances in new homes. Get ready for electric stoves
By Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2022
Funding Issues
Biden administration seeks additional funding for energy transition in Latin America
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, June 9, 2022
The Political Games Continue
House Republicans to introduce climate change strategy with eye on midterms
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 7, 2022
Litigation Issues
Welcome to the Unreliables: Town sues over $4m Geothermal Failure that never delivered a single Watt
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 5, 2022
“Ultimately, the man-in-the-street needs to know that ‘free energy’ is everywhere but it’s not free to collect. People are being sold a field of dreams and fluffy hope.”
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
Carbon Fees Miss the Mark and Hurt American Families
By Kilian Laverty, Real Clear Energy, June 07, 2022
New Zealand Introduces a Climate Change Meat Tax
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 9, 2022
Energy Issues – Non-US
South Africa: Warmism Creates Blackouts
By Vijay Jayaraj, WUWT, June 6, 2022
“South Africa — supposedly one of Africa’s advanced economies — is reeling under severe power shortages and daily rolling blackouts — some for as long as eight hours.”
Energy Issues – Australia
The Energy Crisis in Australia gets deeper
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 6, 2022
“Shh. The Renewable Crash Test Dummy is at work”
“Not another Government committee solution to a government committee problem…”
Cold snaps and blistering electricity prices downunder — where one state burnt $2.4b in electricity in May
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 10, 2022
EnergyAustralia (a Chinese company) tells Government we need a plan to end Australian coal
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Aug 11, 2022
The Why, of Why Blackouts?
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, June 8, 2022
“We know there is a real problem, because of the widespread blackouts in Texas and the NE-ISO’s near blackout experience in the winter of 2018. Blackouts are a life-threatening reality. At least 100 people died in the Texas blackout.”
[SEPP Comment: Is killing the poor with blackouts environmental justice?]
The Naked Truth about Energy Transitions
By Jeanne Donovan, American Thinker, June 5, 2022
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/06/the_naked_truth_about_energy_transitions.html
Hochul Blames Utilities for Costs of State Climate Policies
By James E. Hanley, Empire Center, May 31, 2022 [H/t ICECAP]
Washington’s Control of Energy
Biden review jeopardizes more than 2,000 oil and gas leases
By Nicole Pollack, Casper Star-Tribune, June 4, 2022
Joe Biden’s Progressive Energy Agenda Is Soaring Prices
By Mark Brnovich, Real Clear Energy, June 08, 2022
Offshore Obstructionism: Letter to Biden (July 1, 2022, deadline nears)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, June 10, 2022
What Do Biden’s New Ethanol Mandates Mean For You?
By ZeroHedge, Oil Price.com, Jun 06, 2022
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/What-Do-Bidens-New-Ethanol-Mandates-Mean-For-You.html
“The move to blend more ethanol into gasoline has been met with mixed responses.
Farmers are cheering for the move, though consumers could face higher food prices while seeing very little relief at the pump.”
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Oil Prices Are ‘Nowhere Near’ Peak Yet, Says Key OPEC Member UAE
By Salma El Wardany and Mohammad Tayseer, Bloomberg News, June 8, 2022
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/oil-prices-are-nowhere-near-peak-yet-says-key-opec-member-uae-1.1775982
We could afford to ditch fossil fuels if only gas prices weren’t so high
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 8, 2022
Link to study: Can Canada Avoid Europe’s Energy Crisis?
By Murphy, Yunis, Aliabari, The Frazer Institute, May 31, 2022
“Many have observed that President Biden is cancelling domestic drilling leases while calling for more production. And begging Saudi Arabia to pump more oil in return but won’t approve a pipeline from Canada even if his midterms depended on it. And we note his enthusing that high gas prices are part of ‘an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger.’ Yet none of the world leaders who have pushed said transition are looking particularly strong themselves.”
“As Henry Hazlitt wrote in Economics in One Lesson a discouraging 76 years ago now: ‘the whole of economics can be reduced to a single sentence. The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.’”
Return of King Coal?
Thermal coal demand to increase to 1,500 million tonnes by 2040- India’s Coal Minister
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 8, 2022
“For instance, my analysis in February, here, suggested that India’s emissions would be 50% higher in 2040.
“There are of course vague promises to cut emissions thereafter, but these should be treated with a large pinch of salt.”
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Biden’s Not-So-Bright Idea on Solar Power
Invoking wartime powers to show favoritism to “clean” energy is not the way to secure American interests.
By Nate Jackson, Patriot Post, June 7, 2022
Biden To Waive Tariffs On Some Solar Panel Imports To Boost Stalled Projects
By Tsvetana Paraskova Oil Price.com, Jun 06, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Regardless of tariffs, solar power is a highly subsidized industry generating unreliable power.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
EPA delivers mixed results on biofuels blending requirements
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, June 3, 2022
Multicoloured Fantasies of a World High on Hydrogen
By Peter Smith, Quadrant, June 4, 2022
The Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH): “Envisaged is 2500 square miles of wind turbines and solar panels, a desalination plant to produce water in sufficient quantities and purity to support electrolysers of vast industrial scale, supplemented with Haber-Process plant(s) to convert the hydrogen produced to ammonia, for safer transport. What could possibly could go wrong; particularly when so many powerful corporations are backing it?”
Successful Deployment of Hydrogen Technology Will Require Clear Regulations and an Efficient Permitting Process
By Bud DeFlaviis, Real Clear Energy, June 09, 2022
“There are reasons to be optimistic that the United States can still achieve big things; financing at least four major hydrogen hubs with $8 billion in funding would be a huge accomplishment. But Congress also needs to clarify federal regulatory responsibility to enable a clean hydrogen economy – and we need government leaders to rise to the occasion, and act with the urgency that these issues deserve. “
[SEPP Comment: $8 billion for a technology that fails to produce energy?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Chevy Volt Short-Circuit: Virtue-Signalling GM Exec Gets Owned on Clean Energy
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 9, 2022
Amusing brief Video
US infrastructure is nowhere near ready for Biden’s electric vehicle timeline
By Mark Barrott, The Hill, May 26, 2022 [H/t Paul Homewood]
California Dreaming
‘Calif. Dilemma: Fight Climate Change and Keep on the Lights’ (energy reality at E&E)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, June 8, 2022
Environmental Industry
Climate groups coordinating $100M in ad spending ahead of midterms
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, June 6, 2022
Other News that May Be of Interest
2022 Monarch Butterfly Update
By Kip Hansen, WUWT, June 8, 2022
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
YouTube Mocks Themselves
By Tony Heller, His Blog, June 10, 2022
https://realclimatescience.com/2022/06/youtube-mocks-themselves/
Three-minute video of forty years of “last dire warning of world ending.”
3,2,1, Panic: Climate change could make humans shrink
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 8, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Academics for absurdity?]
Extinction promotion
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 8, 2022
“A man in Ladysmith, B.C. has become so fearful that climate change is going to kill him that he has gone to a doctor seeking medically assisted suicide. We probably shouldn’t laugh but we’re going to anyway. Especially since he’s an activist with Extinction Rebellion and he doesn’t seem to grasp the irony.”
Ketchup At Risk, Squeeks Telegraph!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 8, 2022
“Ketchup is made from so-called processing tomatoes which are predominantly cultivated in California, Italy and China, all areas which are at-risk from global warming.”
[SEPP Comment: Tomato is a C3 plant which greatly benefits for increased CO2.]
Or you can just eat it
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 8, 2022
ARTICLES
1. Why Energy Companies Won’t Produce
They expect the war on fossil fuels to resume when the current crisis ends.
By Wayne Stoltenberg and Merrill Matthews, WSJ, June 8, 2022
TWTW Summary: The former chief financial officer of Vine Energy writes:
“President Biden has urged oil and natural-gas companies to ramp up production, and you’d think, given the current high prices, that it would be in their interest to do so. But the industry has been slow to respond, with some justification. Companies expect that as soon as the current turmoil subsides, the Biden administration will shift back to hostile rhetoric, anti-energy legislative proposals, and oppositional regulatory policies.
“Oil and gas prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange are at five-year highs. But many publicly traded producers are pursuing a strategy that looks like ‘orderly liquidation’—only maintaining or modestly increasing production volumes. Meanwhile, they are returning significant cash to shareholders in dividends and share repurchases.
“Devon Energy recently issued guidance for 2022 that refers to capital spending in the range of $1.9 billion to $2.2 billion on new-well drilling and completing activity, and a production target of 570,000 to 600,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. That’s a modest increase in capital spending, from $1.85 billion in 2021, and a modest decrease in production, from 611,000 in the fourth quarter of 2021. Devon also anticipates increased cash returns to shareholders for 2022.
“Like many in the industry, Devon obviously believes it’s better to return capital to its shareholders than to reinvest in the business. The reason is the left’s incessant demonizing of the fossil-fuel industry, leading to near pariah status, which has succeeded in driving capital away from the industry. Small and midsize producers rely more on outside capital than larger companies such as Exxon to increase their production.”
The author then gives specific examples of hostility toward fossil fuel companies such as the proposed Fossil Free Finance Act and excess profits tax. Then he concludes:
“There was a time when most people understood that if you want less of something, tax it, and if you want more, subsidize it. Even though Democrats’ more radical legislation is unlikely to pass, the message to participants in the highly regulated financial markets is clear: We want to see less, not more, capital flowing to domestic oil and gas production.
“Unsurprisingly, many larger intuitional investors have heard the message and are touting their support for clean energy and opposition to fossil-fuel production.
“Oil and gas producers are subject to many of the same supply-chain roadblocks and price increases that hinder other industries. If they can’t find willing long-term capital providers, it is difficult for them to ramp up production. And they can’t find that funding primarily because they’ve been the target of a multiyear mission to defund and destroy the industry.
“If investors and producers are acting as though they don’t hear the current administration’s demands for more drilling now, it’s in large part because they heard their condemnations for drilling in the past.”
****************
2. Carbon-Removal Industry Draws Billions to Fight Climate Change
Nascent technology to pull carbon from atmosphere is fastest-growing area in climate finance
By Amrith Ramkumar, and Ed Ballard, WSJ, June 8, 2022
The reporters write:
“In the past two months, businesses and investors have pledged roughly $2 billion to back emerging technologies that promise to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is seen as crucial to limiting climate change.
“The commitments to the nascent industry of carbon removal have boosted its financial backing by about 30 times. The promised cash is turning carbon removal into a hotbed of technical and financial innovation.
“One company raised more than the entire industry in its history. Carbon removal is growing its funding at a faster rate than any other climate sector, a Wall Street Journal analysis of PitchBook data shows.
“Sucking carbon out of the atmosphere and permanently storing it underground eliminates some of the greenhouse gases that have driven Earth’s temperature higher. That process has never been done on a large scale.
In the past few months, tech giants like Google and Facebook, consulting firms McKinsey and BCG, financial firms UBS and Swiss Re, plus the royal family of Liechtenstein, have promised to pay generously for carbon that is removed from the atmosphere and stored.
“By committing in advance to pay companies that succeed, the backers are creating the same types of incentives used to fund research for vaccines for diseases like malaria and for big-dollar infrastructure projects like liquefied-natural-gas terminals.
“The plans to boost carbon removal address the fact that efforts to reduce carbon emissions have fallen short of what is necessary to prevent dangerous changes to Earth’s climate. The current scramble for fossil fuels caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made clear that a transition to renewable energy is a long way away.
“Carbon-removal technologies suck carbon out of the open air in order to lock it away for centuries. There are a jumble of names for efforts to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. Direct-air capture, a common description of the strategy, is one type of carbon removal. Carbon capture, which grabs carbon from smokestacks and other denser sources of greenhouse gases, is related but seen as a different process. Carbon removal is more technologically demanding because the carbon dioxide is more diffuse in the atmosphere.
“Companies are willing to pay for carbon removal to meet the goal of becoming carbon neutral. Many companies try to get there by buying carbon credits, which are usually generated by renewable energy and forest preservation. Many companies have decided that directly removing carbon is more effective.
The reporters give details on those committing financial resources in such schemes that have not been demonstrated to be successful on a utility scale or needed.
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