It just goes to show you that sometimes, consensus in science amounts to a “whole lot of nothing” as this story from Robert Mendick in The Sunday Telegraph tells us.
Growing crops to make “green” biofuel harms the environment and drives up food prices, IPCC admits in dramatic U-turn
The United Nations will officially warn that growing crops to make “green” biofuel harms the environment and drives up food prices, The Telegraph can disclose.
A leaked draft of a UN report condemns the widespread use of biofuels made from crops as a replacement for petrol and diesel. It says that biofuels, rather than combating the effects of global warming, could make them worse.
The draft report represents a dramatic about-turn for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Its previous assessment on climate change, in 2007, was widely condemned by environmentalists for giving the green light to large-scale biofuel production. The latest report instead puts pressure on world leaders to scrap policies promoting the use of biofuel for transport.
The summary for policymakers states: “Increasing bioenergy crop cultivation poses risks to ecosystems and biodiversity.”
Full story (subscription required)
Al Gore and Palm Oil is a prime example of one such mess that once looked like a good idea: Al Gore’s palm oil train wreck gets worse
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Finally. So can the DRAX plant go back to using coal and stop the Southeastern forests from being further denuded?
To give Gore his due (IIRC), he did admit that his tiebreaking vote to allow Archer Daniels Midland to ramp up tortilla prices throughout Mexico by turning corn into gasoline was a mistake.
“To give Gore his due (IIRC), he did admit that his tiebreaking vote to allow Archer Daniels Midland to ramp up tortilla prices throughout Mexico by turning corn into gasoline was a mistake.”
Such admissions are always snuck in, a holiday weekend, back of page 9 middle of the page, not reported on by MSM, wait for a big tragedy for cover of darkness, so many tricks to use… all cowardly.
This may be in time. I read the other day some UN Secretary is pushing for some 119. Countries to sign on to the Man-Made Global Warming Hoax in 2015. A couple more years of Global Cooling could turn them on their heels.
TX Anthony. Major break through. Their biggest Argument is 26,000 Scientists in agreement on Man Made Global Warming. How Dangerous.
Paul
If these people would just listen to sceptics once in a while, they could avoid these mistakes and actually help preserve, rather than, destroy, the environment and people’s lives & livelihoods..
I guess to them, making claims unsupported by evidence and trying to deny a platform to those who point out their many errors is more fun than doing useful work though..
If you control the media you control the information investors base their decisions upon. You are one step ahead of cycles of boom and bust. You buy-in before the palm-oil-boom and sell-out before the palm-oil-bust. In glee you clap your hands and smack your lips over all the loot you heap, until one day you look up from your bank statements, and out the window you see a devastated landscape.
Greed can make people who know better do the most stupid things.
“to allow Archer Daniels Midland to ramp up tortilla prices throughout Mexico by turning corn into gasoline was a mistake.”
Please explain exactly how ADM managed to increase tortilla prices in Mexico by growing feed corn in the US.
Well duh!
Boy!! the Brazilians (and Greenies) will be ######## angry. They practically cut down 20% of the Amazon rainforest to plant biofuels according to IPCC directives in the 90’s LOL
Lance Wallace says:
March 24, 2014 at 12:10 am
“Finally. So can the DRAX plant go back to using coal and stop the Southeastern forests from being further denuded? ”
Please don’t! I’d like to see how the Brits stack all those shredded trees and prevent the entire heap from exploding.
Subscription to The Telegraph isn’t required, just block their cookies in your browser.
You don’t actually think this will influence the hard core green crusaders? Expect to hear soon about how the oil industry is buying off the council, while big Agra-business continues to lobby for more government money to subsidize ethanol and more mandates insisting it is used.
I don’t know if this is part of the same reversal of the IPCC, but Spiegel reports that IPCC backpedals from their warning of a Global Warming induced mass extinction.
German:
http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/artensterben-ipcc-report-zum-klimawandel-zieht-vorhersagen-in-zweifel-a-960136.html
Spin, spin like the Wind, IPCC!
The price of U.S. gasoline increases because of …
wait for it …
http://onlineathens.com/national-news/2014-03-23/us-average-gas-price-rises-5-cents-gallon
We have a price increase, not for the feedstock material to produce gasoline, but due to an increase in the price of ethanol.
The ADM check must have bounced.
A. Scott says: March 24, 2014 at 12:49 am
Please explain exactly how ADM managed to increase tortilla prices in Mexico by growing feed corn in the US.
40% of US corn is going for not for feed, but for ethanol production, which is mandated to be added to gasoline. Demand for corn goes up, prices go up. Mexico gets much of its corn from the US, so tortillas cost more.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/opinion/corn-for-food-not-fuel.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_ethanol
@ur momisuglyCaleb
No, most certainly you can see a lovely landscape looking out of your window. But beyond that there is double barbed wire fence with guard towers and devastation starts only on the other side. However, you can never know when your own armed guards decide to come for you and confiscate all your riches at gunpoint. And there will be no wide &. proud middle class out there whatsoever to stand up for your property rights, your right to pursuit of happiness, liberty or life itself. Happened multiple times in history.
on tour, in Australia, Ben Caldicott & his Stranded Down Under Tour – are fossil fuels bankrupting Australia financially and ecologically?
350.org: Stranded Down Under – are fossil fuels bankrupting Australia financially and ecologically?
CANBERRA
ANU evening forum: 18:00-19:30, Tuesday 25th of March, full details here and flyer here.
Crawford School lunchtime panel: 12:30-14:00, Tuesday 25th March, Acton Theatre, full details here.
SYDNEY 19:00-20:30, Thursday 27th of March, full details here and flyer here.
MELBOURNE 18:00-19:30, Tuesday 1st of April, full details here and flyer here.
BRISBANE 18:00-19:30, Thursday 3rd of April, full details here.
http://act.350.org/signup/strandeddownunder_aus/?ak_proof=1&akid=.1243095.XQe29O&rd=1&t=2
350 Queensland Facebook:
You’re invited to Stranded Down Under – Are fossil fuels bankrupting us financially and ecologically? with Oxford University and Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Ben Caldecott on April 3rd at Southbank Tafe.
Hosted by the UQ International Energy Centre.
(Bookings can be made through the links below)
https://www.facebook.com/350Queensland/posts/1469367683278942
ABC & Fairfax Media in Australia are promoting Caldecott’s ANU Canberra appearance, but not asking who is funding the tour, nor are they reporting his Bloomberg connection:
16 July 2013: Bloomberg: Caldecott joins Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Ben Caldecott, one of the UK’s thought-leaders on energy and climate change issues, is joining research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Caldecott, who spent the last four years as head of policy for investment bank Climate Change Capital, will take on a new role at Bloomberg New Energy Finance as head of government advisory. His focus will be on helping to build the company’s engagement with governments and international institutions, working closely with chief executive Michael Liebreich, as well as Chief Editor Angus McCrone and global head of policy Ethan Zindler.
Caldecott’s experience includes periods on secondment to the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, and to the Conservative Party’s Implementation Unit before the 2010 General Election. He is also programme director and research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, a role he will continue to hold.
ABOUT BLOOMBERG NEW ENERGY FINANCE
Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) is the definitive source of insight, data and news on the transformation of the energy sector. BNEF has staff of more than 200, based in London, New York, Beijing, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Munich, New Delhi, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Washington D.C., and Zurich.
BNEF Insight Services provide financial, economic and policy analysis in the following industries and markets: wind, solar, bioenergy, geothermal, hydro & marine, gas, nuclear, carbon capture and storage, energy efficiency, digital energy, energy storage, advanced transportation, carbon markets, REC markets, power markets and water.
http://about.bnef.com/press-releases/caldecott-joins-bloomberg-new-energy-finance/
Wikipedia: Climate Change Capital
Climate Change Capital (CCC) is a private asset management and advisory group authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. CCC was founded in 2003 with a mission to channel capital into the solutions to climate change and resource depletion…
The asset management business, which was established in 2005, includes: a carbon finance fund that invests in emission reduction projects, predominantly in developing countries; a Private Equity fund that invests in late stage technology and services companies headquartered in Europe and a property fund that buys commercial green buildings or retrofits existing commercial properties in the United Kingdom.
The company’s think tank was established in 2009 to promote discussion of how capital can be deployed to mitigate and adapt to climate change…
In April 2012, Bunge Ltd acquired 100% of Climate Change Capital Group Limited. The parent company of Climate Change Capital, Bunge Ltd is a global agribusiness and food company founded in 1818 with over 35,000 employees in more than 40 countries.
Climate Change Capital’s Chairman is James Cameron, a member of General Electric ‘s ecomagination board, Vice-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Measuring Sustainability and its Advisory Board of the Global Competitiveness Index, a trustee member of the UK Green Building Council and the Carbon Disclosure Project . He was also a member of the UK Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group (2010-2012) and the Green Investment Bank Commission (2010).
Climate Change Capital’s Chief Executive Officer is Alfred Evans. He is also responsible for the Bunge Environmental Markets team. Prior to joining Bunge, Alfred was employed by GE Energy Services, Cargill’s Financial Markets Group and Clifford Chance and the US Environmental Protection Agency .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Change_Capital
ABC summarised the following thus:
AUDIO: 24 March: ABC Breakfast: Australian coal investments at risk of becoming ‘stranded assets’
But is proposed investment in new Australian coal projects at risk of becoming a series of ‘stranded assets’?
Chief Executive of the Minerals Council of Australia Brendan Pearson offered this response:
‘Coal is a critical export resource for Australia generating hundreds of thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in export revenue and billions of dollars in taxation for State and Federal Governments. It will remain a critical component of the Australian economy for the foreseeable future and help lift the developing world out of poverty.’
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/australian-coal-investments-at-risk-of-becoming-stranded-assets/5340188
however, the entire item is an interview with Ben Caldecott by ABC’s Fran Kelly, leading Ben to repeat & repeat the mantra “coal is a stranded asset”. Minerals Council/Brendan Pearson’s response is not broadcast at all.
to Fairfax, Ben is just an “oxford academic”:
24 March: SMH: Angela Macdonald-Smith: Coalminers starting to count the cost of activist pressure on funding
Campaigns to get banks and big funds to drop their support for fossil fuel enterprises are gathering momentum and are likely to increasingly lead to reputational damage for coal miners, says an Oxford academic.
The campaigns are also likely to lead to increased financing costs for fossil fuel projects, according to Ben Caldecott, director of the Stranded Assets Program at Oxford University…
http://www.smh.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/coalminers-starting-to-count-the-cost-of-activist-pressure-on-funding-20140324-35dbe.html
This is a good development.
Once again skeptics are right: Bio-fuels are a waste of resources, solves nothing in the climate, hurts the environment, and enriches a few insiders.
They still have that ‘could’ in the text. I won’t hold my breath for this leaked document to become official. — John M Reynolds
“The latest report instead puts pressure on world leaders to scrap policies promoting the use of biofuel for transport.”
Pressure? How?
peter says:
March 24, 2014 at 1:57 am
I agree. This changes nothing. For now, at least.
In reply to:
“Referring in part to deforestation, it says any benefit of biofuel production on carbon emissions “may be offset partly or entirely for decades or centuries by emissions from the resulting indirect land-use changes”. On biofuel production from corn, it adds: “Resulting increases in demand for corn contribute to higher corn prices and may indirectly increase incidence of malnutrition in vulnerable populations.”
An IPCC spokesman said she could not comment until the final report is published on March 31.”
William: It is criminal neglect that it has taken the IPCC and EU this long to do the necessary back of the envelope calculations which indicates biofuel is a scam that does not significantly reduce CO2 emissions and will result in higher and higher food prices, massive loss of rainforest habitat, and worldwide environmental damage.
Vast amounts of agricultural land are being diverted from food crops for human consumption to biofuel The immediate consequence of this is a dramatic increase in the cost of basic food such as a 140% increase in the price of corn. Due to limited amounts of agricultural land vast regions of virgin forest are being cut down for biofuel production. The problems associate with this practice will become acute as all major Western governments have mandated a percentage of biofuel.
Analysis of the total energy input to produce ethanol from corn show that 29% more fossil fuel input energy is require to produce one energy unit of ethanol, if the fuel input to harvest the corn, to produce the fertilizer, and to boil the water off to distill ethanol/water from 8% ethanol to 99.5% ethanol (three distillation processes, energy required can be reduced by using vacuum distillation however the cost of the equipment is too high and it is hence not used, calculations used to justify the scam ignore or under estimate energy inputs) to produce 99.5% ethanol for use in an automobile, produces more green house gas than is produced than the production consumption of conventional gasoline. The cost of corn based ethanol is more than five times the production cost of gasoline, excluding taxes and subsides. Rather than subsiding the production of corn based ethanol the same money can be used to preserve and increase rainforest or to install nuclear power plants that due reduce CO2 emission. The loss of rainforest is the largest cause of the increase in CO2.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/313699/news/world/singapore-demands-action-from-indonesia-on-haze
The illegal burning of forest on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, to the west of Singapore, to clear land for palm oil plantations is a chronic problem, particularly during the June to September dry season.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22998592
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/forests/palm-oil
At 2:32 AM on 24 March, Mike McMillan had written:
Beyond their direct purchases of American corn (“maize” in Britspeak), there’s also the fact that the world markets in most forms of feed grain (“corn” in Perfidious Albion) are all affected by U.S. prices for corn.
When the prices of U.S. corn are bid up by the fuel ethanol producers, that raises the prices of corn sought in the international as well as the domestic (American) commodities markets, as well as the prices of foodstuffs and other commodities throughout the world economy.
Er, has anybody reading here been looking at beef prices in the supermarkets lately? How about the prices of milk and eggs and cheese and even semolina-flour pasta?
This last because if the prices of corn are bid up, then more arable land, more labor, more petrochemical fuels are devoted to growing corn, displacing the growth of wheat and rye and sorghum (another variety of cattle feed) and soybeans and…..
Aw, hell. Gotta be a buncha other “flyover country” guys like me visiting this site, right? Not everybody in these United States spends his whole goddam life in the cities and suburbs, and wouldn’t know whether a field was planted in clover or canola.
Kill the fuel ethanol boondoggle, and prices for friggin’ everything produced by the agricultural sector of the U.S. economy will to down. Not just here in God’s Country but all over the planet.
The big agribusinesses – not just Archer Daniels Midland but also Monsanto and megatons of other very generous campaign contributors who’ve been renting professional politicians in Mordor-on-the-Potomac – are going to receive this report like a load of buckshot discharged in their figurative collective crotch.
Big changes in the commodities futures markets.
Austrian school economic theory isn’t popular with either the politicians or the megacorp clowns, but then neither are all the other aspects of reality.