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The Carbon Brief Interview: Prof Dame Julia Slingo
OBE
In an in-depth interview with Carbon Brief, Prof Dame Julia
Slingo, the Met Office's chief scientist, talks about the
reliability of climate models, El Nino, the UK's winter flooding in
2013/14, the Met Office's new supercomputer and dealing with
personal attacks by climate sceptics.
Carbon Brief
Countries fail to set shipping climate
target
Countries rejected the opportunity to place a global
emissions reduction target on the shipping industry at a meeting of
the International Maritime Organisation in London this week.
Proposed by the Marshall Islands, this would have been the first
time that a cap was placed on the sector.
Carbon Brief
Climate and energy news
NASA finds Antarctic ice shelf a few years from
disintegration
A new study suggests a remnant of the so-called Larsen B Ice
Shelf in Antarctica, which partially collapsed in 2002, will likely
disappear completely in the next few years. The news comes just
days afteranother study found its sister
shelf, Larsen C, is also vulnerable to collapse. The
Daily Mail also has the story.
Reuters
Energy secretary Amber Rudd plans to 'unleash
solar revolution'
The new energy secretary, Amber Rudd, has indicated she will
back the expansion of household solar panels. Describing her new
responsibility to "keep the lights on and carbon emissions down",
Rudd said she also wanted to "shout loud about the benefits of
switching energy tariffs" and to improve home insulation. Boris
Johnson, Mayor of London, predicts the new Conservative government
will be the "greenest ever", telling BusinessGreen, "Huskies are go".
The Telegraph
IMO sinks plan to limit shipping
emissions
The International Maritime Organisation has shelved calls to
introduce a cap on greenhouse has emissions from shipping.
Campaigners have condemned the UN body's decision not to adopt new
regulations - a motion proposed by the low-lying Marshall Islands -
as "shameful" for failing in its obligation to tackle climate
change. The meeting's chair said the IMO would reconsider marine
emissions "at an appropriate date".
BusinessGreen
El Niño almost certain to last through summer:
U.S. climate center
US forecasters announced yesterday a 90% chance that the El
Niño brewing in the Pacific will stick around through the Northern
Hemisphere summer, though scientists say they are only expecting a
"weak to moderate event". El Niño can cause price spikes in
commodities but investors may be hesitant to react just yet after
the false alarm in 2014, says The Financial Tines. Conditions in
Spring last year the imminent arrival of El Niño, but
it failed to materialise.
Reuters
Fracking produces air pollution that increases the
risk of breathing problems and cancer, study
claims
The Mail reports on a new US study suggesting that fracking
releases compounds into the air responsible for breathing problems
and increased cancer risk. Based on the results from 23 air
samplers near active shale gas wells in Maryland, people living
within three miles of a fracking site could be exposed to
significantly higher pollution levels than the Environmental
Protection Agency deems safe, the study suggests. Though the risk
to an individual will vary with location, extraction technique and
exposure time, the researchers note.
Mail Online
Climate change: New claims 'murky' global warming
statistics are 'GUESSED AT'
As part of its investigation into global
temperature data, Lord Lawson's climate skeptic lobby group, The
Global Warming Policy Foundation, says it is particularly concerned
about the difference between ground measurements of temperature and
those taken by satellites several kilometres high
in the atmosphere. The latter show a warming trend but don't show
2014 as the hottest year on record. The group says it will be
scrutinising the reliability of the ground data but not satellite
data, as that is "beyond the scope of this inquiry".
The Daily
Express
Climate and energy comment
Political inertia must not strangle climate deal:
island minister
The Marshall Islands' foreign minister, Tony de Brum, has
urged countries to do more to tackle climate change. The small
island nation, which plans to achieve zero net carbon emissions by
2050, has said it will push for a strong deal in Paris later this
year to keep global warming under 2C. The thought of collectively
giving up and letting climate change take hold is "repugnant", De
Brum tells RTCC.
Laurie Goering, Reuters
How will the world react to Pope Francis's
encyclical on climate change?
Expectations for forthcoming Papal encyclical on climate
change - due for release this summer - are huge, says Neil Thorns,
director of advocacy at the Catholic aid agency Cafod. People are
looking to the Pope to drive momentum and create an atmosphere
where world leaders will act on climate change, looking beyond
national borders and our immediate generation, says Thorns.
Neil Thorns, The Guardian
Former FSA chief warns of carbon bubble threat
from climate change
The long-term investment industry is poorly equipped to deal
with the economic risks posed by climate change, says Lord Turner,
former chairman of the Financial Services Authority. Warning of "a
major set of problems" looming, Turner called for an urgent review
of the industry to steer economies, banks and businesses away from
prioritising short-term returns over long term risks.
Simon Bowers, The
Guardian
New climate science
Atmospheric changes through 2012 as shown by
iteratively homogenized radiosonde temperature and wind
data
A new study finds evidence of strong warming in the upper
troposphere, known as the 'tropospheric hotspot'. The researchers
used publicly available temperature and wind data for the upper
troposphere extending from 1958 to 2012. The hotspot has been an
expected aspect of human-caused climate change and appears in many
global climate models, the researchers say.
Environmental Research
Letters
Projected 21st century changes in the length of
the tropical cyclone season
The length of the tropical cyclone season is expected to get
longer in the North Pacific Ocean, but shorter in the South
Pacific, a new study finds. Researchers used climate models to
compare the length of cyclone season at the end of the 20th century
with projections for the end of the 21st. Ultimately, there is not
yet an overall global pattern on how season length will change as a
result of human-caused emissions, the researchers conclude.
Journal of
Climate
Other stories
Continental Resources' chief vows shale will
bounce back
The Financial Times
Couple spent life savings on turbine they couldn't
use
The Times
India's green record shames the West, says Modi
economic chief
RTCC
University of Edinburgh has failed to lead in the
fight against climate change
The Guardian
Charlize Theron: Mad Max landscape awaits unless
we tackle climate change
The Guardian