Guest essay by Eric Worrall
“We’re Not on Track” – According to UN Climate chief Patricia Espinosa, governments need to try harder to meet their climate goals.
Governments ‘not on track’ to cap temperatures at below 2 degrees: U.N.
Amy Sawitta Lefevre
BANGKOK, (Reuters) – Governments are not on track to meet a goal of the 2015 Paris agreement of capping temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) before the end of the century, a United Nations official said on Sunday ahead of climate-change talks in Bangkok this week.
Patricia Espinosa, head of the Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which steers the climate talks, said both the public and private sector need to act with urgency to avoid “catastrophic effects”.
The Paris climate agreement, adopted by almost 200 nations in 2015, set a goal of limiting warming to “well below” a rise of 2 degrees C above pre-industrial times while “pursuing efforts” for the tougher goal of 1.5 degrees C.
“1.5 is the goal that is needed for many islands and many countries that are particularly vulnerable to avoid catastrophic effects. In many cases it means the survival of those countries. With the pledges we have on the table now we are not on track to achieve those goals,” Espinosa told Reuters in a telephone interview on Sunday in Bangkok.
…
The week long extra session in Bangkok was organised to help bring people together, after talks in Bonn broke down last May.
Perhaps expert delegates attending this month’s Bangkok conference will take the opportunity to advise Thai authorities about their city’s ongoing soapy massage eco-disaster. The Thai capital is rapidly sinking into the swamp, due in part to excess groundwater drawn illegally by megabrothels seeking to avoid large utility bills.
It’s already worked, arctic ice is growing and ships are being trapped and sunk in the northwest passage.
Job accomplished. Well done everyone!
Now on to real matters of making a real difference for humanity. Instead of greed and virtue signalling.
Substitute “Climate” for “Chess”:
I couldn’t help but notice the elephant walking the street. What’s that about?
That’s climate reality no one’s talking about.
I just knew it was something like that.
Not just that, but the same elephant was walking across the street the last time we had an article about Bangkok.
Isn’t that poor elephant getting tired by now?
He works for peanuts….
The day us skeptics are really in trouble is when the 1st elephant dies from anaphylactic shock. Of course it will be CO2’s fault.
Obviously a climate refugee. Otherwise if it is male following up what he heard on the jungle telephone about hot chicks
Those brothels must be popular to cause that much subsidence. Perhaps some of the attendees of the Climate Conference could find alternate employment?
No, but you can be sure who the customers were.
Bangkok: UN Climate Chief demands governments do more to feed avaricious UN bureaucrat pigs waiting hungrily at the feeding trough.
https://ssrn.com/abstract=2794991
I like all the nifty places climate worriers get to fly off to visit. The following list of 2018 conference stops is impressive:
Hague Feb 2019
Munich Feb 2019
Jordan
Katowice, Poland
Paris
Wageningen, Netherlands
Geneva
San Francisco
New York
Tokyo
Singapore
Brussels
Cape Town
Quebec
Brussels
Stockholm
Bonn
New York
Chapel Hill, NC
Abu Dhabi
Brasilia
Santo Domingo
Graz, Australia
Kuala Lumpur
Tours, France
Link: https://www.newclimateforpeace.org/thematic-reading/list-of-events
I am starting to think that the tourist industry are colluding with the climate scamsters on this global warming scam. The amount of dollars wasted on all these bodies flying all over the world to meetings is mind boggling.
If the Tourist Industry isn’t colluding, they should be!
That’s a lot of travel for a lot of bureaucrats. Must cost a lot of money just to get from place to place. I’m sure glad none of my tax money is going towards paying for all these vacations any more.
Graz is in Austria not Australia. We have kangaroos. I am devastated we were left off the tour list (not!)
Oh your English is great for someone whose native language is Austrian! Or are you an ex-pat from one of the 57 US states?
/ohBummer-sarc
They go to these far flung destinations and attempt to squeeze 6 hours work into the 8 day stay.
So when will the UN get on China’s case about not only being the leading CO2 producer but also negating any CO2 mitigation made by those countries that are dumb enough to fall for the scam?
Obviously he’s not talking about us…or to us….the USA
Must be talking to China, Russia, India, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the 100 something countries who’s emissions have gone up
…and, thanks to Trump, accounts receivable (AKA expectations for US taxpayer dollars) have gone down
I could have misread what you meant.
China and India, quite reasonably, want their billions to have a standard of living to match the West, cars, air-conditioning, freezers, jet around the world on holiday and so on. They have no intention of cutting emissions until they have achieved that.
…or cutting pollution
Kevin
Nor can we blame them.
I am cheering for China on this one. The atmosphere needs more CO2 NOT less.
UN… climate chief… uh, who cares?
Do you mean that a uniform standard for everyone might be politically incorrect ? Oh, dear!
“The Paris climate agreement, adopted by almost 200 nations in 2015” – most who had everything to gain, and nothing to lose by signing said agreement – and what was it you were saying?
but it was democratic
….180 countries get paid
20 countries pay
Let’s vote on it…and then we’ll vote to move as much of our manufacturing to all those countries that have to do nothing about it
That’s how democracy always work, the masses vote to take stuff from the minority.
Yeh, we know, nothing is “on track” for the “climate goals”. All of which sets us up for POPCORN TIME this December in Katowice! That is what I keep trying to tell people. The time for popcorn futures is NOW, people. Don’t wait, or you’ll be sorry.
Butter buy now, before the market pops!
Butter futures too! Thanks for reminding me.
Bruce Cobb
With your name, I would be running for the hills. You might get covered in butter and eaten! 🙂 🙂
Perhaps expert delegates attending this month’s Bangkok conference will take the opportunity to well lets just leave it there.
Meanwhile Espinosa, real message is ….send more money .
So “delegates” are doing the same thing in Bangkok as they do to their own taxpaying citizens.
Loved that comment!
Governments – are not on track – can that possibly mean – gasp – that governments aren’t actually on board – gasp – that they are simply playing the game – gasp – that they don’t actually BELIEVE, that they are only in it for the MONEY?! PERISH the thought! Government has only ever had our best interests at heart. History tells us so. / SARC. As if it’s necessary.
Bruce Cobb
Take a deep breath, Bruce. Of course it doesn’t mean any of the above. You were having a bad nightmare.
It simply means money from the USA taxpayer has not arrived…and never will. Ha ha tee tee gasp, giggle had-de-har-har. Whahoo!
RE: “Governments ‘not on track’ to cap temperatures at below 2 degrees: U.N.”
The USA is not concerned with ‘capping temperatures at below 2 degrees’. Natural climate cycles don’t need human intervention. We are capping future financial contributions to UN climate change fraud, after President Trump shot (cap’d) a huge hole in the Paris Climate Accord.
USA to UN: “How copy? Over.”
Patricia Espinosa, head of the Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), stated:
“1.5 (degrees C) is the goal that is needed for many islands and many countries that are particularly vulnerable to avoid catastrophic effects. In many cases it means the survival of those countries. With the pledges we have on the table now we are not on track to achieve those goals,” Espinosa told Reuters in a telephone interview on Sunday in Bangkok.”
Actually Ms. P, you ARE on track, because climate sensitivity to atmospheric CO2 is no more than about 1C/(2xCO2), and doubling of CO2 due to human activities is highly unlikely.
Reference:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/09/02/the-hot-mess-of-the-pbs-video-about-global-warming/#comment-2446493
Do the REAL math, Ms. P.
Problem solved.
“.Soapy massage…” What are they compaining about, sounds like a happy ending to me. Maybe Algore can enlighten them regarding the non soapy release of inner shakras.
LOL.
“We of the United Nations demand that the Big Countries of the World, the Wealthy countries, the Militarily important countries, the countries producing just about everything that the other countries are consuming … we proclaim that Y’all are NOT doing enough. Repent! Do more! Reduce CO₂ emissions! … and send more money!”
Ahem.
Right.
Ummm… so, yo: Late breaking news… we ARE. We are reducing out per-capita energy expenditures … especially if the accounting is done reckoning how much we produce for export as part of those energies. We have converted most of our skyscrapers to LED lighting, saving at least 50% of the electricity burned just 20 years ago. We continue to improve things.
ACTUALLY… what I see — increasingly — is that the “gap” between what-the-First-World “can do” and what the Third World can NOT do is broadening. Take for example, “making lumber”. You or I, armed with not much more than an 18th century double-man longsaw, could chop down trees. With a smart bloke amongst us, we could contrive a frame to hold the felled wood in, and to laterally saw the wood — again by hand — into long planks. Outfitted with a few “squares and a bit of charcoal”, lines could be scribed on the planks to trim them up to standard widths.
With — again in the same vein — little more than a local blacksmithy and some water wheels… we could employ the power of water to make a sawmill. Multiply the effort of a few roughnecks by a hundred-fold. Produce planks as they did in the 1600s and 1700s to be flat and straight, fixed widths. Planed by hand, but still relatively splinter free. And hand-hammered square nails … employing the plethora of able-bodied and otherwise unoccupied local boys for a bit of trade in tobacco and beer.
THE POINT is not so much to recall our rustic — and not-very-long-ago — past, but also to note that it was the deployment of POWER tools, that became the people-pulling-saws multiplier. The mule on a circular track could give “1 horsepower” for a half bale of hay a day. The poor critters mightn’t have lived very long, but as motors went they weren’t so bad: they could pull their equipment as well as provide the engine. And in the woods, they’d “refuel” themselves right up.
TODAY … we have the power of computers employed nearly ubiquitously to better the deployment of power and its economic use. My uncle’s last-model CNC 5 axis machine is a wonder to behold. He can make things “at the push of a few buttons” that master machinists of only 20 years ago could only dream about. And the young bucks that work for him … in turn have imaginations of things yet-to-machine that they can’t even explain to Uncle Bud. But he employs them … for tobacco and beer money … and time on the CNC machines “for free” to forward their apprentice-ship. In return, he is blessed with marvels.
And where in this is the Third World, the burgeoning global villages of humanity? Well… sadly… they’re barely removed from where they were a generation or two ago. Granted, their “generations” move pretty fast by comparison to our kids. 20 years is the generation cycle there. Here, its more like 33 or more.
So that then is my point: if the teeming Third World is aiming high, and wants to attain a kind of passable middle-class living standard nearly universally, there is going to be a LOT more power consumed. A lot more power means a LOT more fossil fuel burned. Because it is surprisingly cheap, for what it produces.
GoatGuy
Now *I* want a CNC 5 axis machine. I’m willing to wait for the price to drop to a more affordable range, however… probably another 5 years when they’ll be available at most hardware stores. Eventually it’ll end up next to my assorted power tools, gathering dust, just waiting for that next big project. 😉
“GoatGuy
My uncle’s last-model CNC 5 axis machine is a wonder to behold. He can make things “at the push of a few buttons” that master machinists of only 20 years ago could only dream about.”
I programmed and used a Cincinnati Milacron in the early 80’s, only 3 axis CNC to +/- 2 microns (Base plates and actuator arms for hard disk drives). I have watched YouTube videos on these machines and I agree, they are true wonders to see in action.
Does anybody have a handle on what % of each country’s domestic consumption of energy is due to fossil fuels? In Canada it is only 63% because of hydro which is 26%. So since the world needs more CO2 NOT less, in Canada we are real laggards in the CO2 race.
Lighting was never more than about 5% our electricity demand. Even if 100% of all light bulbs were incandenscent, converting all bulbs to LED would result in a 4% drop in electricity demand. Since not all bulbs were incandescent and not all bulbs have been converted, the actual drop in demand is more like 1 or 2%
So how are they going to reduce climate? Put gigantic umbrellas stratigically between the Sun and Earth? Or let’s just cause all the Yellowstone Super Volcanoes to blow up… Wait a minute… They may actually do that with a nuke.
Bangkok: UN Climate Chief Demands Governments Do More to Tackle Climate Change
============
translation: we need someone to pick up the tab so we can order another round. (hic, burp) And honey if you could just rub a bit more over there, that would be great.
I really don’t care what the UN says about climate change…or what they think we should do about it.
For a start, since “climate change” is so terrible, please tell me what people could have done to have prevented the medieval warm period, the little ice age, and the submergence of the monolith off the coast of Sicily that was on land and is now about 130 feet below sea level. Next, please define what is the “normal” average (mean, median, mode) temperature for the Earth, BUT, must use time units of not less than 1,000 years and subsets of not less than 100 years per millennium. To me, the answers should be easy for so many experts with “true” “scientific” “minds”. I trust the knowledge of the people on Watts Up With That more than Gore et al..
Algore has more hands-on (so to speak) knowledge of massage parlors than (most?) of us on this blog. Unfortunately for Al, so did his then-wife.
Seems to be all getting a bit desperate.
Brexit kicked off the revolt against global governance.
Trump kicked off the revolt against the Paris accord.
Now Australia is kicking off the revolt against renewables.
Germany’s energy policy is falling flat on its face.
Perhaps we could have a computer model to define who’s next.
Not that the alarmist computer models ever predicted anything correctly so best we find another.
Interesting times as the unanticipated domino’s begin to tumble.
“Now Australia is kicking off the revolt against renewables.
”
Ditto Ontario and Alberta.
“HotScot
Now Australia is kicking off the revolt against renewables.”
I disagree. If anything, there are calls to accelerate the demise of coal and increase the rise of renewables. No power generator will every build a coal fired power station. For a start, they won’t get the finance for it. Australia is doomed to be the winner in the race to the bottom. The political pantomime that has been raging in Australia these last few weeks will see the LNP (Right/Conservative) party fail to win the federal election next year leaving the ALP/Greens (Left/Socialist) to gain power. Shorten, the ALP leader, has vowed to increase the mix of renewables to 50%.
Australian politicians had better watch what is happening to immigration and property prices.
Patrick MJD
Interesting. We are getting different messages here in the UK. Perhaps Booker is enhancing some of the things said by Aussie pollies to put some pressure on our own government.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com
That does not surprise me at all. It’s a good summary of what lead to Malcom Turnbull’s demise however, they are politicians and they are 8 months or less away from a federal election. They’ll say whatever gets them a win, but they won’t win, not by a long shot. Turnbull has destroyed any trust conservative Australians has in LNP politicians. He’s not nicknamed Turncoat for nothing.
From your link;
“Taylor has made it clear that he is not remotely interested in reducing Australia’s “carbon emissions”, or in pouring ever-larger subsidies into the wind farms which were one of the previous government’s chief obsessions.”
Given that Alex Turnbull, Malcom’s son, is heavily invested in wind power, it’s not a surprise Taylor is saying what he’s saying. I don’t see it happening though. Most voting Australians, however misinformed, want “action” on climate change and the political solution on the offing is a tax on energy and more renewables all the while Australia exports it’s energy resources (And jobs and emissions) to China and India. That’s the crazy situation in the lucky country.
Yah, see, the problem is, Trump doesn’t take kindly to UN “demands”. But thanks for playing. What do we have for the UN “Climate Chief”? Anything?
Bruce Cobb
“What do we have for the UN “Climate Chief”? Anything?”
Middle digit?
Yes. Good choice! 🙂
“What do we have for the UN “Climate Chief”? Anything?”
Middle digit?
Let’s be generous and give the middle digit from both hands.
‘Governments are not on track to meet a goal of the 2015 Paris agreement of capping temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) before the end of the century, a United Nations official said on Sunday’
Rilly? Adults think Man controls the weather?
Patricia Espinosa says “Governments ‘not on track’ to cap temperatures at below 2 degrees: U.N.”
I say “Good we need more UN defying government! Who do they think they are, ‘The World’s Government’ or what?”
They never were on track.
The Paris agreement was a voluntary fun fest where delegations agreed to guarantee optional goals.
In spite of hand waving claims, every government delegation was there to solely agree… Not, commit their countries to implacable goals.
John Kerry is an excellent example of that dubious agreement.
Only Kerry’s specific Paris mission was a mandate to avoid sentences requiring Senate agreement or vote. Kerry’s Paris mission was to avoid definite commitments and phrases that even hint of a treaty.
Leaving the Paris agreement as massive dealing from the bottom of a marked deck, where no country got a card higher than deuce.
An old mate of mine lives in Thailand. He assures me not one person he knows is worried about climate change.
Is the same Bangkok that is famed for its traffic jams? No wonder they needed an extra week. Just think of all that fuel wasted.
No doubt many of UNFCCC delegates are quite pleased to have an all expense paid trip to Bangkok. (Queue up an Elon Musk tweet).
“…2 degrees C above pre-industrial times …”. Would “industrial times” include the thermometer industry and its continuing development of temperature gauges, leading to much improved, more accurate, reliable, and precise scientific equipment that we have today? Or were magical thermometers from the future brought back to the past by time travelers, like the ones who [were pruned]?
[edited for content. .mod]
The first mercury thermometer was made in the early 18th century. So it is conceivable that they had accurate thermometers in industrial times. But the exact phrase in the Paris Accord is, above pre-industrial ‘levels’, not times. Note the plural, ‘levels’, which gives rise to the question: Which levels? How many levels? Can we choose a level?
also what does “pre-industrial” mean? Industry existed before the industrial revolution started to to much of the donkey work out of production. For example, the tin mining industry of Cornwall was a major source of tin for the Phoenicians.
When Al Gore published “Earth in the Balance” in 1992 he stated that scientists believed “almost unanimously” that the science was settled and the world was warming dangerously.
In fact, the scientists, meteorologists etc. believed almost unanimously that warming was natural.
He thundered , “ The science of global warming will never be disproved……..the time to act is now.”
So the time to act was a quarter century ago and none of the biblical catastrophes have since eventuated.
I am sure that Katowice, Poland, COP 24 will again be the”Last Chance Saloon”, but if it proves not to be, could we have some more chances at COP 25 and following?
If we can’t make the 2 degrees reduction by 2050, let’s try for 2060 or 2070.
–“We’re Not on Track” – According to UN Climate chief Patricia Espinosa, governments need to try harder to meet their climate goals.–
They should use graphs to indicate how well or poorly each nation is on track.
The governors of Washington, Oregon and California have already dealt with the problem. Germany also.
No further action is needed.
The planet has been saved.
Does sound a novel way to drain the swamp -“excess groundwater drawn illegally by megabrothels”.
Someone should tell Trump.
“Capping temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) before the end of the century”
What does it mean, ‘capping temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius’?
It means those who claim they can control the Earth’s atmosphere and weather are delusional, and living in a fantasy land.
“1.5 is the goal that is needed for many islands and many countries that are particularly vulnerable to avoid catastrophic effects. In many cases it means the survival of those countries.”
Translation:
Oh crap! It looks like natural warming is going to fall short of 2 degrees and socialism-building is at risk if the problem doesn’t exist. Quick, move the goalposts — 1.5 degrees is the new catastrophe!
Coming soon, 0.9 degrees is the limit! An igloo in Nunavut might sublime faster and require frequent repairs.
Seem to remember that global temperatures have dropped substantially since the Paris agreement was signed. Something like .5 C. I’m surprised they aren’t taking credit for it.
“I’m surprised they aren’t taking credit fo it.”
The alarmists are only focused on temperature increases right now. After all, CO2 is increasing so the temperatures must be increasing, too. Right? Actually no, but that’s what alarmists are thinking. No room for temperatures decreasing in that mode of thinking.
Way back I advised delegates where to go in Bangkok
From the article: “Governments ‘not on track’ to cap temperatures at below 2 degrees: U.N.”
How will governments ever be on track to cap temperatures (lol) at below 2 degrees if they allow India and China to produce as much CO2 as they need?
Browbeating the other nations is an exercise in futility if you don’t get India and China to stop increasing their output.
What a fiasco this CAGW promotion has turned into! And they keep beating this dead horse.
About eighteen years ago on business I stayed in a decent hotel in Bangkok. A sign in the room said “Don’t drink water from the cold tap. Water from the thermos is safe.” (“Thermos” was their term for hot water heater.) So even the piped city water was not bacteria-free, in a good hotel, so consider the quality of this illegally “pumped” groundwater. Most areas of Bangkok smell at least faintly of a septic tank. Yeesh.
When has any government, anywhere, done anything on time, on budget, or for the correct reasons.
USA, Jornada del Muerto desert, July 16, 1945, Manhattan project.
Let’s start by eliminating the UN and all the energy used by members to fly around and complain that people are using too much energy.
Speak to China and India. They are the big polluters. The other 195 are in it for money so they don’t have to work – just dance and eat bananas.