Al Gore: The Dangers of "Sub-Prime Carbon" (UN Summit on Climate Risk)

by Janet Ritz

Cross-posted on Reuters, Fox

Al Gore, addressing a United Nations summit on green investment, warned business leaders about the consequences of investment in technologies that did not reduce the carbon footprint, given the associated costs to both society and business of climate change:

UNITED NATIONS - Al Gore advised Wall Street leaders and institutional investors Thursday to ditch businesses too reliant on carbon-intensive energy — or prepare for huge losses down the road.

"You need to really scrub your investment portfolios, because I guarantee you — as my longtime good redneck friends in Tennessee say, I guarandamntee you — that if you really take a fine-tooth comb and go through your portfolios, many of you are going to find them chock-full of subprime carbon assets," the former vice president said.

Gore's remarks took place at the under-reported but significant United Nations Investor Summit on Climate Risk where leading United States and European institutional investors released their climate change action plan:

Co-hosted by the United Nations Foundation, Ceres and the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships, the event was attended by over 450 investors, financial and corporate leaders from around the world. The signatories to the action plan included state treasures, controllers, pension fund leaders, asset managers and foundations, collectively managing over $1.75 trillion in assets. Press Release.

The Summit included commitments to direct significant and growning portions of investment funds into green technologies and included Denise Nappier, State Treasurer, Connecticut, Alex Sink, Chief Financial Officer, Florida, Bill Lockyer, State Treasurer, California, John Chiang, State Controller, California, Donald MacDonald, Pension Trustee Director, British Telecom...

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Bali Climate Change Talks at Risk: Compromise Negotiations Underway

by Janet Ritz
with Stormchaser John

The same day that the University of East Anglia reports that 2007, despite the cooling effects of La Nina, has been the seventh warmest year on record, word came from the U.N. Climate Conference in Bali that the talks were in danger of breaking down:

European leaders and environmental campaigners reacted angrily yesterday after the United States rejected guidelines for reducing greenhouse gas emissions intended to check global warming.

The proposal, supported by the members of the European Union as well as Brazil, would have set out in writing an ambition to cut greenhouse gases produced by industrialised countries by up to two fifths in the next 13 years.

-snip-

The row has undermined the hopes of environmentalists for a strong and detailed statement of agreement among the 190 governments attending the United Nations climate change conference on the Indonesian island of Bali. Link.

This has lead to a proposal for a compromise deal. If they cannot come to agreement, participants have threatened to to bypass next month's Bush Administration's climate meetings set for Hawaii.

Al Gore, speaking before the gathered representatives, acknowledged this:

"My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali. We all know that. But my country is not the only one that can take steps to insure that we move forward from Bali with progress and with hope. "

From Jennifer Morgan of the Climate Action Network (who did not mince words): "There is a wrecking crew here in Bali, led by the Bush Administration and its minions. Those minions continue to be the governments of Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia and others..."

And from Yvo De Boer, UN Climate Chief: "I'm very concerned about the pace of things. If we don't manage to get the work done in time on the future, then the whole house of cards basically falls to pieces."

The battle is about the EU's request for a non-binding agreement on carbon emissions. You read that correctly. The "wrecking crew" is balking at a non-binding agreement. There is concern that, if this cannot be resolved, the statement that comes out of Bali will be so anemic as to be useless in furthering the implementation of climate goals in the years ahead.

The U.S. representative, Under Secretary of State, Paula Dobriansky, dismissed that, saying that "we don't have to resolve all of these issues here in Bali." She called instead for a "solid Bali road map, one that sets the stage for robust, constructive and ground-breaking negotiations in the months ahead."

The EU and other member nations disagree, as does the U.N., which put out this robust and constructive road map in February of 2007.

The negotiations for the compromise deal has extended the conference:

The EU has been pressing for the final text to include a specific commitment that industrialised nations should cut their emissions by 25-40% by 2020.

The US and Canada oppose firm cuts - a draft text circulating around contains no figures for 2020.

The Indonesian hosts have been trying to bridge the gulf between the sides. Link.

The Director of Friends of the Earth reports that the pressure on the U.S. from the EU is "immense" right now to agree to the EU 25-40% emission reductions proposed for 2050. It is not known whether the Bush Administration will agree or if the target number will be left out. Friends of the Earth reports that it is not the American people or American business that disagrees, but only the Bush Administration that is standing in the way of the deal.

The conference is set to conclude today.

Gore's Nobel Prize: The Bigger Issue

by Janet Ritz

There has been a great deal of focus today, both within the media and the blogosphere, about the possibility of Al Gore running for president following the announcement that he is to share the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) for their work on the environment.

"I'm of course deeply honored to receive this award. ... It is even more significant because I am sharing it with the IPCC, which is the world's preeminent scientific body focused on improving our understanding of the climate crisis and it's made up of individuals who have tirelessly and selflessly worked on this for so many years. ... I will accept this award on behalf of all of those who have been working so long and so hard to try to get the message out about this planetary emergency." Al Gore, Oct. 12, 2007

Gore went on to say that he will be donating 100% of his proceeds from the prize to The Alliance for Climate Protection to support their work to bring and understanding of the urgency of the climate crisis to the world. He added that he would use the news of the award to help to bring the news of the increasing rate of climate change to the world community.

While it is understandable that there would be strong interest in the political possibility of Gore's presidential aspirations (or lack thereof) following the announcement of the award, the bigger issue is that the Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to the two most prominent advocates for climate change. This focus on the two recipients, a political campaigner and a group of scientists assembled to validate the fact of climate change can only be taken as a signal from the Nobel officials that climate change and peace or war are inexorably linked.

But then, that should be obvious, shouldn't it? War and the availability of resources have always gone together. The fight over the limited advantages that the delicate balance our earth has to offer has been the catalyst for many conflicts and for many more as the increase in climate refugees, driven out by drought or crop failure or flood or disease, strains the resources of their neighbors dealing with their own loss of resources.

It is a recipe for war, not peace and, therefore, the Nobel Committee's focus on climate change as an issue of peace or war is absolutely appropriate for our time, this year, now, as the reports of the approaching tipping point grow ever more of concern.

So, congratulations Al Gore, the IPCC and to the Nobel Committee for their choice this year.

It couldn't be more timely.

Nobel to Go Green?

by Janet Ritz

The Nobel Prize announcements next week may go green this year with Al Gore and other climate change campaigners on the short list for the 1.5 million dollar prize:Will Gore get Nobel next week? Some think so:

Award watcher thinks he'll share it with Canadian climate activist

OSLO, Norway - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and/or another climate campaigner are likely to be awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize next week, according to a seasoned award watcher... [more]

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Nobel to Go Green?

by Janet Ritz

The Nobel Prize announcements next week may go green this year with Al Gore and other climate change campaigners on the short list for the 1.5 million dollar prize:

Will Gore get Nobel next week? Some think so

Award watcher thinks he'll share it with Canadian climate activist

OSLO, Norway - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and/or another climate campaigner are likely to be awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize next week, according to a seasoned award watcher.

If a campaigner against global warming carries off the accolade, it will accentuate a shift to reward work outside traditional peacekeeping and reinforce the link between peace and the environment. Link.

The Canadian climate campaigner is Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who recently won the Sophie Environment Prize at Oslo. Another possible winner is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which could be awarded through its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, as are the more traditional nominees for the Peace Prize through their humanitarian work, which include entrants from Finland, China, VietNam and Russia. Therefore, while the prize is anticipated to go to one or more climate change campaigners this year, it is possible it will follow the more traditional model.

The head of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, a potential nominee, however, does think it will go to a climate campaigner: "I have a feeling it will go to Al Gore, and I think he deserves it. He certainly has done a remarkable job of creating awareness on the subject and has become a crusader."

The Peace Prize will be announced on October 12th.

Al Gore's Four Warning Signs and Ten Suggestions from Today's Hearings

by Janet Ritz

Al Gore presented four warning signs and ten suggestions at today's Joint Climate Change Hearings. Here are his four top warning signs (his suggestions are below):

1. New evidence that's come out shows that this may be worse than described. Arctic ice cap is melting more rapidly than predicted. Could disappear in summertime in 34 years. This problem is burning a hole at the top of the world.
2. Earth is shaking because of Greenland - glacial earthquakes - 1993 there were 7, 1999, 14, last year, 32.
3. Frozen methane in the tundra, billions of tons, 23 times more powerful than C02, need to turn the thermostat down before that melts.
4. Fires in the west, Russia, Australia (1000 year drought) correlates with warming temps and earlier spring.

Gore went on to say that there are many other signs, that we do not have time to play around with this and that we do not have the luxury for politics as usual.

Here are his ten suggestions:

1. Immediately freeze C02 emissions in US, reach 90% reductions by 2050.
2. Start using the tax code to reduce taxes on employment and make up the difference with pollution taxes. We're discouraging work and encouraging the destruction of the planet. Carbon pollution not presently priced into the marketplace. Air and water are part of that, must be revenue neutral tax shift.
3. Portion of those revenues must be earmarked for lower income groups who will have a hard time making shift.
4. Strong global treaty. Kyoto has been demonized. Work for defacto compliance. We ought to move forward the starting date of the next treaty from 2012 to 2010 so whoever is sworn in in 2009 can use political mandate to work toward defacto compliance and then ratify a new, tougher treaty. Build more confidence with China, India to bring them to participate.
5. Congress should issue moratorium on any new coal plant not compliant with carbon capture
6. Like the initiative to build the Internet, this congress should develop an Electranet, a smart grid. A law that allows homeowners and businesspeople to put up their own generators, sell electricity into the grid without caps at a rate that is not determined by the utility, but as a tariff.
7. Raise CAFE standards, cars, coal and buildings.
8. Along with tax system and treaty, use regulatory power. Set a date for ban on incandescent light bulbs.
9. Buildings: pass a law - Connie Mae, carbon neutral mortgage association.
10. SEC should require disclosure of carbon emission in corporate reporting.

Again, here's the link to the House Science Committee.

The link to the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee