GWPF Newsletter: World’s Largest Corn Harvest In History Expected

 

Best Indian Rainfall Since 1901 Raises Hopes For Record Harvest

In this newsletter:

1) World’s Largest Corn Harvest In History Expected
World Grain News, 31 August 2020
 

2) Best Indian Rainfall Since 1901 Raises Hopes For Record Harvest
Economic Times of India, 31 August 2020
 
3) After Public Fury, BBC Ordered To Scrap 'Ridiculous' TV Licence Fee 
Daily Express, 1 September 2020
 

4) Green Plans At Risk As EU Sounds Alarm On Critical Raw Materials Shortages
Financial Times, 31 August 2020
 

5) EU Divided Over ‘Green Deal’
Petroleum Economist, 28 August 2020
 
6) Solar Energy Projects Face Extinction As Subsidies Run Out
Check 24 News, 28 August 2020

 
7) New Study: 90% Of Energy Companies Prioritise Fossil Fuels Over Renewables
BBC News, 1 September 2020

8) Anthony Browne: Extinction Rebellion’s Plan For Eco-Soviets
The Spectator, 29 August 2020
 
9) And Finally: Are Forests The New Coal? Global alarm Raised Over Biomass Burning
Eco-Business, 1 September 2020

Full details:

1) World’s Largest Corn Harvest In History Expected
World Grain News, 31 August 2020

The largest corn harvest in history is among the reasons the International Grains Council (IGC) is forecasting record total grains production in 2020-21.


 
According to the IGC’s Grain Market Review, released Aug. 27, total global grains production will reach 2.230 billion tonnes this marketing year, up 50 million tonnes from the July forecast and 9% higher than the previous year (2.181 billion tonnes).
 
A record world wheat crop also is expected at 763 million tonnes, topping the previous mark of 762 million tonnes set last year.
 
Largely on an upgraded outlook for the United States, global soybean production is projected to set a record in 2020-21 at 373 million tonnes, up 8 million tonnes from the July forecast and 9% higher than last year’s total of 339 million tonnes.
 
Soybean exports are estimated to reach a peak during the recently completed marketing year.
 
“Tied to continued heavy shipments from South America, chiefly Brazil, the Council’s forecast for global soybean trade in 2019-20 is lifted to a peak of 163 million tonnes, the 7% year-on-year increase primarily stemming from bigger dispatches to China,” the IGC said.
 
Global rice production is projected to rebound by 2% year-on-year to a record 505 million tonnes in 2020-21, on bigger crops among leading exporters.
 
Total grains consumption is seen climbing by 41 million tonnes over the previous year to 2.222 billion tonnes, led by gains for feed (18 million tonnes) and industrial uses (12 million tonnes).
 
“Amid record supplies, corn demand is seen rising the most, up by 33 million tonnes year on year,” the IGC said.

Full story
 

2) Best Indian Rainfall Since 1901 Raises Hopes For Record Harvest
Economic Times of India, 31 August 2020

New Delhi: The monsoon has roared back in August with excess rain of 26%, and is likely to be among the wettest since 1901, when the weather office started recording official data. 

Rainfall is already at a record in India’s mid-latitude states including Mahrashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Odisha. This region, which the weather office categorises as ‘central India’, has received an all-time high of 482.8 mm rainfall this month. 

The surge in rainfall, following a weak July, has raised hopes of a record harvest of summer-sown, or kharif, crops, although there are concerns about floods, particularly in Madhya Pradesh, which is an important area for oilseeds and pulses. 

From a shortage of 2% at the start of the month, monsoon rainfall since June 1 now stands at 10% above normal, spearheaded by the southwest monsoon remaining active in western India throughout the month. Rains in north India were also normal, after a disastrous July that saw the region suffer a 26% rain deficit. 

Full story
 
3) After Public Fury, BBC Ordered To Scrap 'Ridiculous' TV Licence Fee 
Daily Express, 1 September 2020

THE BBC has been ordered to scrap the mandatory TV licence fee as the corporation comes under fire from furious Britons.

Over recent weeks, the BBC has faced backlash after scrapping free TV licences for over-75s and the decision to axe Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory from the Last of the Night of the Proms.

A total of three million households are now forced to pay £157.50 for a colour licence and £57 for a black and white licence.

The decision by the BBC has been heavily condemned by pensioners, politicians and UK charities, who fear many over-75s will struggle to pay the charge.

The BBC has also come under fire this week for its decision to perform Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory without lyrics at the Last Night of the Proms. [...]

“The TV licence is now an outdated concept, as kids we were told we needed a licence for our radios to receive the signal, that has changed to us supporting a bloated biased corporation, who now dictate our very lives.

“And to be criminalised for non-payment is nothing short of Draconian.

“The BBC needs an extremely radical overhaul from top to bottom - it is no longer fit for purpose.”

Full story
 

4) Green Plans At Risk As EU Sounds Alarm On Critical Raw Materials Shortages
Financial Times, 31 August 2020

The EU’s over-reliance on imports of critical raw materials threatens to undermine crucial industries and expose the bloc to supply squeezes by China and other resource-rich countries, the European Commission will warn member states this week.

Shortages of elements used to make batteries and renewable energy equipment could also threaten the bloc’s target of becoming climate neutral by 2050, a report by the Brussels executive will say.

The document is part of an urgent focus in Europe on security of imports of vital goods, as the coronavirus pandemic triggers transport disruption and growing tensions between western capitals and Beijing.

“The pandemic has revealed Europe’s dependencies in certain products, critical materials and value chains,” Thierry Breton, EU industry commissioner, told the Financial Times.

“The era of a conciliatory or naive Europe that relies on others to look after its interests is over.”

The emerging strategy prioritises securing the supply of a list of raw materials critical to European industries through exploration, investment and improved recycling.

The EU estimates that to meet its climate neutrality goal, it will need up to 18 times more lithium and five times more cobalt in 2030. The forecasts rise to 60 times more lithium and 15 times more cobalt by 2050. 

The list has been expanded to 30 materials from 27 in 2017, adding four metals while removing the gas helium, the FT has learnt. 

Full story (£)
 

5) EU Divided Over ‘Green Deal’
Petroleum Economist, 28 August 2020

The German presidency of the EU Council aims for a recovery fuelled by renewables, but there is disagreement among member states over key climate targets 

Germany’s energy and climate ambitions appear to be increasingly aligned with those of the European Green Deal, but the country faces the challenge of convincing more reluctant member states before the end of its six-month presidency of the Council of the EU in December.
Berlin is hoping to conclude negotiations on a climate law that will legally enshrine the bloc’s 2050 climate-neutrality ambition and raise the emission reduction target for 2030 from the current 40pc below 1990 levels to 50-55pc. The file is a key priority for the presidency, but reaching an agreement may prove challenging.
 
“The European Parliament is working flat out on the climate law, while EU governments are still at the beginning of the discussion,” says Michael Bloss, a German MEP and shadow rapporteur for the file. The economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic may further distract national governments from committing to longer-term green initiatives, with a looming no-deal Brexit potentially wreaking further havoc on Berlin’s political agenda.”The European Parliament is working flat out on the climate law, while EU governments are still at the beginning of the discussion” Bloss, European Parliament

Beyond Germany, 12 other member states, predominantly in western Europe, appear to favour a 55pc target for 2030. But some coal-reliant central and eastern European countries are more reluctant—with Poland potentially set to repeat its vote against the otherwise-unanimous 2050 climate-neutrality goal in the European Council last December.
 
Divisions among member states on the technologies for reducing emissions are also likely to resurface, with some pushing for the inclusion of nuclear power and gas. A letter to the European Commission from Bulgaria, Romania and the Visegrad Four (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) called for its climate target plan and associated impact assessment “to not exclude any technologies that might be used to reach the target”.
 
Full story
 
6) Solar Energy Projects Face Extinction As Subsidies Run Out
Check 24 News, 28 August 2020
 
From 1 January 2021, thousands of private solar energy projects in Germany are threatened with extinction. The reason is that the subsidies set for 20 years run out at the end of this year.



If these solar projects go offline, it would be a step backwards for Germany’s green energy transition.
 
From 2021, many solar operators will no longer receive feed-in tariffs. If there are no new subsidies and new regulations, a total of 18,000 solar projects from private households and small businesses could be disconnected from the grid by next year, because without the ‘Renewable Energy Subsidy (EEG), the projects are no longer economic for many operators. Anyone who built their solar projects in 2000 has received 50 cents for each kilowatt hour. However, this feed-in tariff will no longer apply from 2021. Since most private households produce more solar power than they need themselves in the summer months, the question arises of what happens to the excess electricity.
 
In addition to the feed-in tariff, system operators will no longer have the right to feed self-produced solar power into the grid from next year. As of January, anyone who gives their electricity to the grid for free is even liable to prosecution. So far, the only solution for solar operators would be to market the solar power themselves through intermediaries. However, the bureaucratic effort is very high.

The photovoltaic industry is hoping for new EEG subsidies, which may be passed by the federal government in autumn. Until then, it remains unclear what will happen to the self-produced solar power that is urgently needed for Germany’s green energy transition.
 
Translation GWPF

Full story (in German)

 

7) New Study: 90% Of Energy Companies Prioritise Fossil Fuels Over Renewables
BBC News, 1 September 2020

New research suggests that power companies are dragging their feet when it comes to embracing green energy sources such as wind and solar.
 
Only one in 10 energy suppliers globally has prioritised renewables over fossil fuels, the study finds.
 
Even those that are spending on greener energy are continuing to invest in carbon heavy coal and natural gas.
 
The lead researcher says the slow uptake undermines global efforts to tackle climate change.
 
In countries like the UK and across Europe, renewable energy has taken a significant share of the market, with 40% of Britain’s electricity coming from wind and solar last year.

But while green energy has boomed around the world in recent years, many of the new wind and solar power installations have been built by independent producers.
 
Large scale utility companies, including many state and city owned enterprises, have been much slower to go green, according to this new study.
 
The research looked at more than 3,000 electricity companies worldwide and used machine learning techniques to analyse their activities over the past two decades.
 
The study found that only 10% of the companies had expanded their renewable-based power generation more quickly than their gas or coal fired capacity.

Full story

8) Anthony Browne: Extinction Rebellion’s Plan For Eco-Soviets
The Spectator, 29 August 2020

It is very rare (although not unprecedented) for law breakers to attempt to be law makers. But Extinction Rebellion is trying to do both, simultaneously.
 
This weekend they are planning to illegally blockade airports and Parliament, reportedly launch cyber-attacks, while pushing a new law to be laid before Parliament when it reopens this week by Caroline Lucas, the sole Green Party MP. It is called the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill. I have huge sympathy for the objectives of Extinction Rebellion – we have an absolute moral duty to pass on a sustainable world to the next generation, and it must be a political priority for which tough decisions need to be made. But I do not agree with their methods. It is not just their law-breaking I oppose, but also their proposed law-making.
 
While the CEE Bill has a few good things, it shows a revealing anti-technology prejudice in rejecting carbon capture and storage – and the hypocrisy of law breakers demanding laws for others. But the real problem is that it shows the group’s contempt for democracy. Extinction Rebellion would create an eco-oligarchy, empowered to impose laws on the country against the wishes of both the government and the electorate. If ever there was a proposal for an environmental dictatorship, this is it.

At the heart of the Bill is a proposed ‘Citizens’ Assembly on the Climate and Ecological Emergency’. Citizens’ Assemblies are tried and tested – they can be a good way both to engage the public and develop policy, as has been shown in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. But the power to change policy is always left with those who are elected. Except for this Citizens’ Assembly.

This bill would create a Citizens’ Assembly with actual power – if over 80 per cent of its members supported a policy, the government would have to implement it whether or not it wants to, and irrespective of the consequences (with the only exception being if the policy disburses public funds or imposes charges on people). So the Citizens’ Assembly could, for example, impose an immediate ban on the sale and use of petrol and diesel cars or make flying illegal, despite the opposition of the overwhelming majority of voters, as well as government. The only thing the government could do is immediately repeal the Bill and so abolish the Assembly, which rather undermines the whole point of it.

Given the extraordinary powers of the Citizens’ Assembly, it is critical who sits on it. On this, the Bill is suspiciously quiet, although it does stipulate they will be paid. It requires only that the Government has a tendering process for a ‘reputable, independent body’ to establish the Assembly. It would not be elected, so ordinary voters would have no say, and the Assembly members would not have to care about what they think. It would inevitably be dominated by the most extreme climate activists (no doubt Extinction Rebellion members), who could easily get drunk on their power. But however unpopular its extremist measures, there would be no point in voters complaining to their MPs about it: the Assembly would hold ultimate power, until Parliament voted to abolish it. It could quite feasibly lead to anti-environmental civil unrest. Good intentions often have an extraordinary effect of blinding otherwise intelligent people as to their consequences.

There is absolutely no chance that MPs will hand over the power to make environmental law to an unelected, unaccountable Citizen’s Assembly. Or to put it another way: we already have a Citizen’s Assembly to pass environmental laws, it is called Parliament. It is disturbing that Extinction Rebellion not only openly break the law, but they want to grab power and undermine democracy. Ultimately, it shows that they don’t believe they bring the general population with them to achieve their aims. We can and must tackle climate change, but we have to bring the people with us rather than impose it on them. Otherwise ,there will be an almighty backlash, far greater than the Gilets Jaunes in France, that will open the way to a populist, anti-environmental movement. The problem with Extinction Rebellion is that their ignoble extremism undermines their noble cause.

Anthony Browne is the Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire.
 
The Origins of 'Citizen Assemblies': A Warning From History
https://www.britannica.com/topic/soviet-government-unit
 
9) And Finally: Are Forests The New Coal? Global alarm Raised Over Biomass Burning
Eco-Business, 1 September 2020
 
As the forest biomass industry is booming, so is the frequent cutting of standing forests to supply wood pellets to be burned in converted coal power plants, say experts.

The forest biomass industry is sprawling and spreading globally — rapidly growing in size, scale, revenue, and political influence — even as forest ecologists and climatologists warn that the industry is putting the planet’s temperate and tropical forests at risk, and aggressively lobbying governments against using wood pellets as a “renewable energy” alternative to burning coal. (Click here for an interactive map of the hundreds of major bioenergy burning power plants now operating worldwide.)

“We have repeatedly pointed out that… the large-scale substitution of coal by forest biomass [to produce electricity] will accelerate climate warming, and will increase the risks of overshooting Paris [Climate Agreement] targets,” Michael Norton, environmental director of the Science Advisory Council of the European Academies, said in a December 2019 statement issued to European Union countries.

“The reason is simple: when the forest is harvested and used for bioenergy, all the carbon in the biomass enters the atmosphere very quickly, but it will not be reabsorbed by new trees for decades. This is not compatible with the need to tackle the climate crisis urgently,” said Norton.
 
As the forest biomass industry expands rapidly in the US, Canada, Russia, Vietnam and Eastern Europe, so too does the threat to untold acres of natural forests and their biodiverse ecosystems needed for carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation in those same nations and regions, even as global warming is poised to set punishing new records in 2020.
 
“Our two biggest global environmental challenges — climate change and biodiversity loss — are inextricably linked, so keeping forests standing must be a priority of all governments,” said Natural Resource Defense Council Senior Advocate Sasha Stashwick, in an interview with BioEnergy Insight.

“Much of the wood burned in UK power plants is cut down and shipped from ecologically sensitive forests in the US Southeast. Those forests are efficient and powerful carbon-capture systems and support unique wildlife found nowhere else in the world,” said Stashwick. But they can’t serve that important purpose if the trees are cut and turned into wood pellets, and don’t grow back for decades.
 
Full story

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.