GWPF Newsletter: Theresa May Resigns As Green Tories Face Existential Crisis

EU Elections: Brexit Party Forecast To Win The Most Votes

In this newsletter:

1) Theresa May Resigns As Green Tories Face Existential Crisis
The Daily Telegraph, 24 May 2019
 
2) European Elections Polls: Brexit Party Forecast To Win The Most Votes
The Daily Telegraph, 24 May 2019

 
3) Climate Change? What Climate Change? Labor Government Says Adani Coal Mine Could Be Approved Within Weeks
The Epoch Times, 24 May 2019
 
4) India’s Coal Output To Grow 4.3% Annually For The Next 10 Years
Press Trust of India, 22 May 2019
 
5) EU Split On Climate Change Measures
Petroleum Economist, 24 May 2019
 
6) Another Defeat: European General Court Throws Out Climate Lawsuit
Climate Home News, 22 May 2019
 
7) Alberta To Scrap Carbon Tax
OilPrice.com, 23 May 2019
 
8) College Professors Are The Reason Students Are Crazy People
The Federalist, 24 May 2019
 
9) And Finally: Young People Blame Climate Change For Rejecting Saving Money  
Market Watch, 23 May 2019

Full details:

1) Theresa May Resigns As Green Tories Face Existential Crisis
The Daily Telegraph, 24 May 2019

Theresa May has confirmed that she will resign as leader of the Conservative Party on 7 June in order for a leadership election to take place this summer.

Following a widespread revolt over her ‘new Brexit deal’, the Prime Minister has finally caved to growing calls from her MPs to step down.

Her decision follows a meeting with Sir Graham Brady, the leader of backbench Tories, in Downing Street this morning.

Mrs May said that the process of electing her successor would begin the week after she finally stepped down as Conservative leader.

She said she had informed the Queen that she would continue to serve as Prime Minister until that process was complete.

In an emotional statement on the steps of Downing Street, she said she had “done my best” to get her Withdrawal Agreement Bill through Parliament but acknowledged she had failed to do so.

Full story

2) European Elections Polls: Brexit Party Forecast To Win The Most Votes
The Daily Telegraph, 24 May 2019

With the public having voted in the European Parliament elections on Thursday, the last polls (taken before voting day) show that Nigel Farage's Brexit Party was likely to gain the most votes in the UK.

Although the vote took place in the UK on Thursday, the results are not expected until Sunday evening due to most other EU member states casting their votes that day.

The Conservatives are on course for their lowest ever share of the vote in a nationwide ballot and could even slip into fifth place behind the Greens.

Establishment parties are expected to suffer across the EU, both at the hands of the populist-Right as well as resurgent liberal parties.

The result is likely to be a more fragmented European Parliament, with the centre-Right EPP and centre-Left S&D forecast to lose their combined majority.

Full story

3) Climate Change? What Climate Change? Labor Government Says Adani Coal Mine Could Be Approved Within Weeks
The Epoch Times, 24 May 2019

The Queensland premier is celebrating a “breakthrough” that could see her government’s two-year stand-off with mining giant Adani resolved within weeks.



Annastacia Palaszczuk says firm deadlines have been set for two state approvals needed for the India-based company’s Galilee Basin coal mine to proceed.

There should be a decision on Adani’s plan to protect an endangered finch by May 31, and on its groundwater management plan by June 13.

The premier reacted in earlier this week to federal Labor’s bruising defeat in regional Queensland electorates that voted that they want the jobs associated with the mine.

Palaszczuk reassured voters on May 22 that she represented a working class electorate and understood the needs and aspirations of families.

“At the end of the day, it’s about putting food on the table, making sure that your children can aspire to be whatever they want to be,” she said.

She told voters she was “really sorry that Labor let you down” and reaffirmed her commitment to jobs in the state.

Palaszczuk said she was fed up with delays in the approvals process and acknowledged regional Queenslanders were too.

On May 24, she hailed the deadlines as a breakthrough.

Full story

4) India’s Coal Output To Grow 4.3% Annually For The Next 10 Years
Press Trust of India, 22 May 2019

New Delhi: Fitch Solutions Tuesday said India’s thermal coal output is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 4.3 per cent by 2028.

“In absolute volume terms, China and India will have the largest impact on the global coal market balance,” Fitch Solutions Macro Research said in a report.

It further said the surge in Chinese imports that occurred over 2015-2017 as a result of dramatic domestic production curbs was a temporary phenomenon.

“We forecast thermal coal production in China to stagnate at 0.5 per cent growth per annum from 2019 onwards, but not decline, as new coal mines in Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces offset mine closures in the rest of the country,” it said.

Full story

5) EU Split On Climate Change Measures
Petroleum Economist, 24 May 2019

The European Union's drive to attain carbon neutrality by 2050 is routinely acknowledged by the continent's energy companies when discussing their long-term strategies. But the political process through which that goal needs to be achieved is being disrupted by factional fighting that has thus far blocked agreements on binding targets.

In November 2018, the European Commission published A Clean Planet for All, a long-term strategy document, which said "immediate and decisive climate action" was essential. It reiterated that the EU would need to be carbon neutral by 2050, as part of efforts to meet the Paris climate change accord's objective of keeping global warming "well below" 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while trying to limit it to 1.5°C, if possible.

Climate neutrality implies that the EU would need to achieve annual zero net man-made greenhouse gas emissions. This would require either balancing carbon emissions against measures to remove carbon from the atmosphere, or eliminating carbon emissions altogether.

"The status quo is not an option," the Commission said. "Countries should act together to protect their citizens against climate change. Delivering on the transformation towards a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy thus requires early long-term planning, improving knowledge of the opportunities for transforming our entire economy and building trust within our society and all economic actors that this change is possible and opportune."

However, the commission's strategy does not involve legislation or a firm commitment to achieving climate neutrality by 2050, notes David Robinson, an energy and climate change policy expert at Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES).

At a meeting of the European Council — the bloc's political strategy forum — at the end of March, leaders confirmed that the EU should submit an ambitious long-term strategy for climate by 2020, with the objective being to "strive for climate neutrality, while preserving specificities of the EU countries and the competitiveness of European industry". But that meeting also achieved little in terms of agreeing a firm date for such measures to be implemented.

Council divided

"There are definitely divisions within the Council, with some countries being very supportive of the European Commission proposals, such as the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Slovenia, Portugal and Finland. These push for an ambitious 2050 long-term target," says Klaus Rohrig, EU climate and energy policy co-ordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe.

But others, including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria — mainly countries with an economic dependence on coal or heavy industry — are more hesitant and do not even support targets already agreed by the bloc, Rohrig adds.

In Spain, the government "sees benefits from more aggressive climate action, partly due to the potential for reduced importation of fossil fuels and because Spain has excellent solar, wind and other renewable resources," says OIES's Robinson. "Poland will want to move slowly, especially because of its heavy reliance on domestic coal and not wanting to depend on Russian gas as an alternative."

Europe's largest economy, Germany, is also facing divisions on climate change at the national level. While the country has invested heavily in solar and wind energy, the decision to wind down coal and nuclear power programmes is leading to a rise in the use of natural gas in power stations, and, while it is cleaner than coal, gas is still a carbon emitter.

It may prove difficult to displace gas in the power mix. "Industrial lobbies relying heavily on fossil fuels, especially natural gas, have a powerful influence on government policy in Germany," says Robinson. […]

Brexit doubts

The UK's attempts to leave the EU provide another element of uncertainty, heightened by the country's role as one of the bloc's leaders in terms of pushing the climate change agenda.

"The UK was mostly a force standing for a more progressive position within the European Council, so its departure is concerning from this point of view," says Rohrig.

The UK government, on its website, insists there will be no change after Brexit to its "deep commitment to domestic and international efforts to tackle climate change", as the UK's Climate Change Act is domestic legislation and will be unaffected by exiting the EU.

In addition, the UK will "remain a party to international climate change agreements" and will "continue to take ambitious steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions".

The precise nature of the UK's future links to EU climate change policy will depend on talks determined by future relationship with the bloc.

The most problematic outcome would be if the UK leaves the bloc without an agreement over how it will trade with the EU in the future — the so-called "no-deal" option. That could mean the UK leaving the European emissions trading scheme (ETS) for good. The UK was suspended from the ETS in January 2019, pending the outcome of the Brexit talks.

Full story

6) Another Defeat: European General Court Throws Out Climate Lawsuit
Climate Home News, 22 May 2019

The European General Court has thrown out a lawsuit that pressed for stronger 2030 EU climate targets.

Ten families and an indigenous group filed the “People’s Climate Case” in May 2018, arguing the EU’s “inadequate” goal of 40% emissions cuts from 1990 levels threatened their human rights.

The court found the plaintiffs had not shown they were uniquely impacted by climate change and therefore did not satisfy the criteria for a substantive hearing.

The judges’ order said: “It is true that every individual is likely to be affected one way or another by climate change, that issue being recognised by the European Union and the Member States who have, as a result, committed to reducing emissions. However, the fact that the effects of climate change may be different for one person than they are for another does not mean that, for that reason, there exists standing to bring an action against a measure of general application.”

Full story

7) Alberta To Scrap Carbon Tax
OilPrice.com, 23 May 2019

Staying true to their promise from the campaign trail, Alberta’s Conservatives have introduced a bill to repeal a carbon tax introduced by their predecessors at the helm of the province, the New Democratic Party.

Reuters reports that the repealment of the carbon tax was planned to be the first piece of legislation to be tabled by the new Conservative government of Jason Kenney, but adds that it would automatically enact a federal law on carbon taxes that targets provinces that do not have their own legislation to this effect.

“The carbon tax has been all economic pain and no environmental gain. If Justin Trudeau’s government then seeks to impose a federal carbon tax in Alberta, we will see him in court,” Alberta’s Premier told media. This will add Alberta to three other provinces that have taken the federal government to court over the carbon tax: Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The last of these provinces lost its case in a win for the federal government.

According to the Alberta government, repealing the tax will bring more than a billion dollars into the provincial coffers and create as many as 6,000 new jobs—a sensitive issue in the energy industry-dependent province that has yet to fully recover from the 2014 oil price crisis.

The carbon tax repealment effort is just part of Jason Kenney’s agenda. The new Premier came to power pledging to help the industry recover and so far he has been following his priorities in this respect.

As soon as it became clear who won the elections in Alberta, Kenney threatened British Columbia to turn the gasoline tap off “within an hour” of taking office if it continues to try and stop the Trans Mountain expansion. While he didn’t do that, he did immediately table the pipeline issue at talks with the Premiers of both British Columbia and Quebec once he took office earlier this year.

Full post

8) College Professors Are The Reason Students Are Crazy People
The Federalist, 24 May 2019

For too long, parents have allowed their children to be indoctrinated and corrupted by radical leftist professors—now they need to fight back.

Bring together immature adolescents with leftist professors and the inevitable outcome is the current crisis in higher education. The conditions on most American campuses should not surprise any people who are aware of the nature of adolescence. The educators running them, however, seem particularly ignorant. They condone incivility, tolerate infantile behavior, and encourage such silliness as “redefining gender.” They cave under threats and apologetically submit to the most outrageous student demands.

Contemporary educators are curiously insensitive to one aspect of adolescent development in particular. When immature youths with fragile impulse control get no help (e.g., firm limit-setting) from adults in authority, their control over their sexuality and aggression worsens, and they act on their impulses more often.

This behavior reflects not only diminished self-control, but also an attempt to locate desired boundaries. However, neither meeting the developmental needs of students nor providing them a liberal education are primary concerns of many American academics. More important to them is inculcating students with the leftist political and cultural ideology they champion.

Institutes of higher education not so long ago acted in loco parentis. American colleges and universities once took on some of the functions and responsibilities of parenting the students entrusted to their care. Curfews were imposed, dormitories were sex-segregated, alcohol use was strictly regulated, and rules of conduct governed relationships between the sexes. This campus culture aided young people in a most difficult task of adolescence and young adulthood—the control and mastery of a compelling, and often unruly, sexual drive.

Now, except in some conservative religious institutions, the old rules don’t apply. On many campuses, anything goes. When adolescents and immature young adults are given free license without responsibility, chaos inevitably ensues. Casual, alcohol-fueled sex, with its inevitable morning-after recriminations, is common. Gone are the standards of morality, respect, and decorum that traditionally governed relations between the sexes.

Racial, class, and sexual identity politics roil campuses, which typically abound with student activist groups stridently espousing passionate causes. This is accompanied by hostility toward those with non-conforming views and demonization of others with accusations of bigotry and hatefulness.

Especially in our most elite and prestigious colleges and universities, a pervasive contempt also exists for more traditional institutions and beliefs such as patriotism, religion, family, democracy, and the military. These foundational principles have historically been intergenerational transmitters of social and cultural values, and sources of national pride.

Immature adolescents are simply acting out what their professors fervently believe, model, and teach. The activists who disrupt campus life, prevent those with dissenting ideas from speaking, and seize control from faculty and administrators are doing their exemplars one better. Rather than just calling people names, as their mentors model the tactic of demonizing dissenters, they act out their anger. This represents not just their own aggression, but that of their teachers as well, whose vicarious gratification is not lost on students.

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9) And Finally: Young People Blame Climate Change For Rejecting Saving Money  
Market Watch, 23 May 2019

Many young people today think civilization may not exist when they’re of retirement age. Engulfed in a constant barrage of depressing news stories, two-thirds of millennials have nothing saved for retirement.



Lori Rodriguez, a 27-year-old communications professional in New York City, is not saving for retirement, and it isn’t necessarily because she can’t afford to — it’s because she doesn’t expect it to matter.

Like many people her age, Rodriguez believes climate change will have catastrophic effects on our planet. Some 88% of millennials — a higher percentage than any other age group — accept that climate change is happening, and 69% say it will impact them in their lifetimes. Engulfed in a constant barrage of depressing news stories, many young people are skeptical about saving for an uncertain future.

“I want to hope for the best and plan for a future that is stable and secure, but, when I look at current events and at the world we are predicting, I do not see how things could not be chaotic in 50 years,” Rodriguez says. “The weather systems are already off, and I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to be a little apocalyptic.”

Mental-health issues affecting young adults and adolescents in the U.S. have increased significantly in the past decade, a study published in March in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology found. The number of individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 reporting symptoms of major depression increased 52% from 2005 to 2017, while older adults did not experience any increase in psychological stress at this time, and some age groups even saw decreases. Study author Jean Twenge says this may be attributed to the increased use of digital media, which has changed modes of interaction enough to impact social lives and communication. Millennials are also said to suffer from “eco-anxiety,” according to a 2018 report from the American Psychological Association, with 72% saying their emotional well-being is affected by the inevitability of climate change, compared with just 57% of people over the age of 45.

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The London-based Global Warming Policy Forum is a world leading think tank on global warming policy issues. The GWPF newsletter is prepared by Director Dr Benny Peiser - for more information, please visit the website at www.thegwpf.com.