New Survey: Climate Change Is Dividing Britain Like Brexit
In this newsletter:
1) New Survey: Change Is Dividing Britain Like Brexit
Sky News, 28 November 2019
2) Europe’s Climate Emergency Success: Mercedes-Benz To Slash More Than 10,000 Jobs
The Daily Telegraph, 29 November 2019
3) Audi To Cut 9,500 Jobs To Go Green
BBC News, 26 November 2019
4) UK Car Industry Fears For Future As Output
Financial Times, 28 November 2019
5) Germans Face €44 Billion Bill For Electricity Alone In 2020
Global Warming Policy Forum, 29 November 2019
6) China’s Renewed Coal Boom
Robert Hunziker, City Watch, 27 November 2019
7) China Demands $100 Billion From Western Nations And Says Developed Countries Lack 'Political Will' On Climate Goals
Business Times, 28 November 2019
8) And Finally: UN Climate Summit Host Spain Struggles On Environment
AFP, 28 November 2019
Full details:
1) New Survey: Climate Change Is Dividing Britain Like Brexit
Sky News, 28 November 2019
Combating climate change could be emerging as a new political fault line in the UK, a Sky Data survey has revealed.
* Over half of Remainers agreed it mattered a great deal as a policy priority
* Just over a quarter of Leave voters said they agreed
* 67% of Leave voters said prioritising tackling climate change mattered only a little or not at all
Some 58% of those who voted Labour at the last election said it mattered “a great deal” that the party they support makes tackling the issue a priority – compared to just 30% of their Conservative counterparts.
But it is not just a simple split between parties – it’s also split between Remain and Leave voters….
Full story
2) Europe’s Climate Emergency Success: Mercedes-Benz To Slash More Than 10,000 Jobs
The Daily Telegraph, 29 November 2019
Daimler, the German company that makes Mercedes-Benz cars, will slash at least 10,000 jobs worldwide in a major cost-cutting drive to help finance the switch to electric cars.
"The total number worldwide will be in the five-digits," said personnel chief Wilfried Porth. More than 1,000 managers stand to lose their jobs.
The company said it wanted to save €1.4bn (£1.2bn) in staff costs as it invests billions in the cars of the future.
"The automotive industry is in the middle of the biggest transformation in its history. The development towards CO2-neutral mobility requires large investments," Daimler said.
Along with other manufacturers, Daimler is scrambling to get ready for tough new EU emission rules taking effect next year, forcing it to accelerate the costly shift to zero-emissions electric cars and plug-in hybrids.
Full story
3) Audi To Cut 9,500 Jobs To Go Green
BBC News, 26 November 2019
Carmaker Audi is to cut 9,500 of its 61,000 jobs in Germany between now and 2025 to make more money available for electric vehicles and digital working.
The cuts - which aim to save €6bn (£5.1bn) - will be achieved through an early retirement programme.
But the Volkswagen-owned firm also said its move into electric cars would mean the creation of up to 2,000 jobs.
It comes less than a fortnight after Daimler said it would cut more than 1,000 jobs by the end of 2022.
The car industry is facing a downturn in key markets, including China, as well as increased costs as it meets tougher European Union emissions regulations and the costly switch to electric vehicles. Audi saw falling sales, revenues and operating profits in the first nine months of 2019.
Full story
4) UK Car Industry Fears For Future As Output Falls
Financial Times, 28 November 2019
UK’s global competitiveness is ‘under threat’, says SMMT
The competitiveness of Britain’s car industry is “under threat” after production fell again last month, the industry body has warned.
Output declined by 4 per cent during October to 134,000 compared to the same month a year earlier, and has now dropped for 16 out of the past 17 months, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders data showed on Thursday.
Production this year is down by 14 per cent on the same period in 2018. The only month to rise was August, when output was artificially raised because many plants were shut in the same month a year earlier.
“Yet another month of falling car production makes these extremely worrying times for the sector,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.
Full story (£)
5) Germans Face €44 Billion Bill For Electricity Alone In 2020
Global Warming Policy Forum, 29 November 2019
Germany’s green energy taxes and levies on electricity have reached their highest level ever and will rise to 44 billion euros in 2020
More than 340,000 German households had their electricity turned off last year because they couldn’t pay their electricity bills. A mother is sitting with her son in her darkened apartment in Hanover (Source: DPA)
While wholesale electricity prices in Germany have increased by about 13 percent in 2019, taxes and levies on electricity have reached their highest level ever and will cost German families and consumers a staggering 44 billion euros in 2020.
The rise in electricity prices means that the rather minute reduction in Germany’s renewables surcharge will have no effect on the continuing rise in prices.
Wholesale power prices only account for 25% of the electricity price for consumers, while more than half of their bills is due to taxes, levies and surcharges, which will increase once again next year.
Full post (in German)
Benny Peiser: Energy Poverty in Europe (video)
see also GWPF coverage of extreme energy poverty
6) China’s Renewed Coal Boom
Robert Hunziker, City Watch, 27 November 2019
China’s failure to kick a long-standing addiction to coal has thrown a knockout punch to the Paris Agreement of 2015, including its 195 signatories. Suddenly, out of the blue, the world has turned upside down!
Sixteen months ago July 16th, 2018: “China and the European Union on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris climate change pact and called other signatories to do the same, saying action against rising global temperatures had become more important than ever.” (Source: China and EU Reaffirm Paris Climate Commitment, Vow More Cooperation, Reuters, July 16, 2018)
At the time, Greenpeace congratulated China and the EU by contrasting it with Trump’s refusal to commit the United States to the Paris climate accord: “What gets the pair together isn't just Trump – China and the EU understand the opportunities offered by a clean and climate-safe world.”
Oops! Hold your horses! All bets are off! According to a BBC news headline d/d November 20, 2019: “Climate Change: China Coal Surge Threatens Paris Targets.”
Astonishingly, over the past 18 months China has added enough new coal-based electricity generation (43GW) to power 31 million homes. King coal has returned. Not only that, China is also financing 25% of all new proposed coal plants outside of its own borders, e.g., South Africa, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. They’ve gone coal gaga.
In less than two years, China is once again immersed in a vast “coal boom,” similar to its “one new coal plant per week” 2006-2015 commitment, resulting in air pollution so thick it could be cut with a knife, now replenished as new coal power plant construction is planning an additional 148GW, a number that equals the current total coal generating capacity of the EU.
Full post
7) China Demands $100 Billion From Western Nations And Says Developed Countries Lack 'Political Will' On Climate Goals
Business Times, 28 November 2019
Beijing. CHINA on Wednesday accused developed countries, including the US, of doing too little to curb global warming, ahead of a UN summit discussing controversial issues including climate compensation.
China is the world's second-largest economy and the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, but has repeatedly argued that developed nations should lead on tackling international climate obligations.
"Developed countries' insufficient political will to provide support" is the "biggest problem" currently facing international climate efforts, said Zhao Yingmin, Vice-Minister of ecology and environment, at a press conference on Wednesday.
An environment ministry report released at the briefing also criticised the US - currently in the process of pulling out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on global warming.
“These unilateral behaviours seriously harm the global community's willingness and trust in tackling climate change together," the report says.
The US generated more oil and gas than any other nation last year and is the world's number two coal producer after China.
Mr Zhao called for developed countries to honour financial commitments including providing US$100 billion to poorer states harmed by climate change.
The US$100 billion - which China has said it is entitled to part of - was a non-binding accompaniment to the Paris Agreement, and was the annual amount that rich countries pledged to muster by 2020.
Full story
8) And Finally: UN Climate Summit Host Spain Struggles On Environment
AFP, 28 November 2019
Madrid: Spain wanted to make a splash on the international scene by agreeing to host next month's COP25 climate summit at the last minute after Chile pulled out.
But experts say green issues have not been a priority in the country, which has a poor environmental track record. Only 2.3 percent of all Spaniards consider the environment as one of the country's main problems, according to the latest survey by the state-run Centre for Sociological Studies (CIS). That compares to 56.9 percent who listed unemployment and 21.2 percent who said corruption were major concerns.
Like other southern European nations, Spain does not have a significant green party and environmental issues were not in focus during the campaign for the November 10 general election. They were not even among the themes addressed during the only TV debate held before the polls.
"Environmental problems are not a priority in the political agenda," said Claudio Cattaneo, an environmental sciences professor at the Autonomouns University of Barcelona. "Social inequalities are very high in Spain so the political demands (of the left) are more oriented towards the right to housing than to ecology."
The environment accounted for just 0.44 percent of the debate in parliament between 2011 and 2016, according to a tally kept by the Spanish Society of Ornithology, an NGO dedicated to protecting birds and their habitats. ….
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.
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