Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Robert Lachlan, Distinguished Professor of Applied Mathematics at Massey University, has accused the New Zealand climate commission of using dubious accounting tricks to exaggerate New Zealands progress towards achieving emissions reduction goals.
Why the Climate Change Commission’s targets are so weak
Robert McLachlan
05:00, Mar 13 2021OPINION: Of all the many things the Climate Change Commission has been asked to advise on, the emission budgets are the most important. These describe the total amount of all greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.
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They admit that simply meeting the global average isn’t enough (we’re a rich country whose historical contribution to climate change is about six times the world average). And yet, the proposed budget of 628m tonnes is higher than 564m tonnes. They invite the public to comment – submissions close on March 28.
But it’s worse than that. These figures reflect the particular carbon accounting methods which have been applied by the commission. The choices that have been made make our contribution – “a 30 per cent reduction on 2005 levels by 2030” – look far better than it really would be.
The first of these is called “gross-net accounting”. The 2030 target is for netemissions: we get to subtract off the carbon stored in trees from our gross emissions from burning fossil fuels and agriculture. Yet, it’s compared to gross emissions in the baseline year. This artificially bumps up our past emissions, making the future targets look better.
The second is shifting the base year. Many climate targets use a base year of 1990. For example, the EU has a target of reducing emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030 compared to 1990. (That works out to at least a 41 per cent reduction over 2018–2030.)
By shifting the base year to 2005, we are letting ourselves off the hook for our rapid increases in emissions in the 1990s. Again, choosing higher baseline emissions in the past makes the targets look better.
The third is the treatment of forestry. Here there are two main choices, Greenhouse Gas International (GHGI) accounting and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) accounting. The first is used by all countries in their annual reports to the UN, the second arose out of the Kyoto Agreement.
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Read more: https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/124520105/why-the-climate-change-commissions-targets-are-so-weak
If professor McLachlan’s analysis is correct, in my opinion, “cheating” is a reasonable description of New Zealand’s questionable carbon target accounting tricks.
I’m a bit shocked. I thought the New Zealand government was completely nuts for planning on sacrificing their economy on the altar of the carbon god, but I thought they were making a genuine effort to achieve their emissions reductions. It never occurred to me that they were also planning to cheat.
You weren’t supposed to notice.
What, that they (the targets) are too weak? Sneaky governments, tsk, tsk. Ya just can’t trust them to do the right thing, even the quite good ones.
Socialists, Communists, Nazis. Fascists, Democrats cheat?
Wow, so totally unexpected.
Just as climate alarmists have learned to go from trough to crest when trying to convey an ever continuing temperature “rise,” climate feel-gooders are learning to go from crest to trough in trying to convey their country’s “success” at reducing their contribution to CO2 increase.
Further, in the case of NZ they include methane (CH4) as a greenhouse gas which like CO2 it is not but also the actual radiation absorption at wavelengths over 8.0 microns is actually zero and not more than CO2 which has some absorption at a wavelength of 14.8 micron. The so called calculation on CH4 assumes it burns in the atmosphere to give 1 mole of CO2 and 2 moles of H2O (which does absorbs radiation) but it does not burn. NZ wants to get rid of their farming of cows and sheep which give the main exports. to the country.
It’s all a ruddy great scam!
There are four major groups involved in all of this:
Group #1: sees this as a dire environmental emergency and wants to see genuine CO2 emissions reductions.
Group #2: wants to redistribute wealth by seeing the West’s high energy prices drive businesses to developing countries. (they don’t care about CO2 levels, and that offshoring factories creates more CO2.)
Group #3: wants to make money off of government subsidies, utility payers, and by offshoring factories (they don’t care about wealth redistribution, carbon emissions or global governance)
Group #4: wants to use the issue to usher in an era of “global governance”. (they don’t care about wealth redistribution, carbon emissions or who makes or loses money)
So, the bottom three groups “fudge the numbers” in order to placate Group #1; to keep the green movement going. But sooner or later, folks like Robert Lachlan and Michael Moore start to probe under the hood and that causes real trouble. The biggest danger would be a resurgence of “old school” environmentalism, where you actually measure real environmental impacts vs reductions in invisible gases.
——–
I find it paradoxical that the Michael Moore types, who discover fraud in one area, don’t go on to question the whole premise, including the science. If I had found what Michael Moore found, the assumption I would operate under is that if they are lying about one aspect they must be lying about the others (until conclusively proven otherwise). Oh well…
If this bloke is a “Distinguished Professor of Applied Mathematics”, he must have done the math to see just what CO2 is capable of doing in the atmosphere. In that case he knows that global warming is nothing but a scam, so what is his motive for this bull dust?
Group #1: sees this as a dire environmental emergency and wants to see genuine CO2 emissions reductions.
I believe group 1 has 2 separate divisions
1A) Those that believe and have purchased Full Battery EVs, installed Solar Panels, replaced their gas fired furnaces, water heaters and ranges with electric AND have installed Tesla Powerwall batteries
1B) Those that claim to believe but want all others to be FORCED to follow THEIR beliefs before they will be willing to act
The NZ government knows only too well that the whole point of the exercise is to signal virtue , in order to keep the trade channels open.
The EU is not the only outfit that is erecting trade barriers / tariffs etc on the basis of perceived “climate compliance” TM.
It stands to reason that we would therefore use totally bogus calculations to comply with totally bogus edicts based on totally bogus climate predictions and totally bogus emissions reduction requirements.
What’s not to like?
AND the Climate Commission has refused to release its workings . . . as you do .
Didn’t you know, requiring folks to show their work and get the correct answer is racist?
Math, it’s turn has come.
You know we see these kind of things in every country, state/province, and city/town where the left is in control. Is it a law of nature that leftist lie, cheat, steal, corrupt, and try to destroy everything on the conservative side? Perhaps the worst thing they do is develop a double standard where few leftists are accused of impropriety or crimes, and at the same time the moderates and conservative side are accused and convicted of anything the left doesn’t like.
If you’re looking for morality, ethics or simple common sense from the Left, you’re wasting your time. There is no up side to socialism. It just doesn’t work so it requires lots of cheating.
+1: “It stands to reason that we would therefore use totally bogus calculations to comply with totally bogus edicts based on totally bogus climate predictions and totally bogus emissions reduction requirements.”
Well, yes, but consider that Jacinda is a full on Fabian Socialist, as was Helen Clark before her. Fabian Socialists self declared objective, for a century, is a Global State. Everything else is just a useful lever
New Zealand has a population of 4.9 million. They can all increase CO2 emission 100% or decrease CO2 emission by 100% and no one will ever be able to tell the difference at Mauna Loa anyway. So the whole exercise is a scam to begin with.
The idea that a tree that is cut down , and made into , say, a piece of furniture which could last a couple of hundred years before it is burnt, will instantaneously release all its oxidised carbon at the precise instant that the chainsaw completes its cut, is so obviously an utter scam in the carbon emissions accounting, that any government anywhere is completely justified in using any accounting tricks that it likes in order to feign compliance .
Makes sense to me.
Dooman
What?.
Why do you believe that humanity controls , or can control the level of atmospheric CO2 ?
That looks like superstition to me. Especially since we cannot accurately measure carbon fluxes.
If your livelihood depends on going along with this conjecture , then perhaps you will say so , because then we will understand.
“Why do you believe that humanity controls , or can control the level of atmospheric CO2 ?”
If you are asking that question then you really are just starting out.
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2004/12/how-do-we-know-that-recent-cosub2sub-increases-are-due-to-human-activities-updated/
If you are submitting that as proof then you really don’t know how science works.
You have to show that all of the other possible sources of CO2 are not causing the increase.
You cannot do that , so you fall back on pseudo -science.
OK so you didn’t read what was in a very informative, accurate article. I could send you numerous pieces from a variety of sources that give the same information. But clearly your mind is closed. If you don’t read it then you don’t have to think. And if you don’t think then there is no chance you could change your mind. People here whine and grizzle about the term “denier” but it is 100% accurate for people like you.
That’s your proof?
Read the article. I have put it in your lap. Would you like me to come and read it for your bed time story?
Oh… the GULLIBILITY and IGNORANCE of simple simon…. .. it burns. !!
Tell us what we DENY that you can provide actual evidence for , simple simon. !!
Lies are not informative
Yawn. Before you can say it is a lie, you need to say why? Is it a lie that carbon from the burning of fossil fuels has it’s own isotopic finger print? If you say that is false then let’s see your evidence? Saying it is a lie does not make it so.
There’s nothing even remotely useful over at the hockeyteam.org. It’s doubtful if Gavin Schmidt can even spell science, let alone grasp something as complex as climate. You really must be a keen neophyte if you look to that site for real facts.
No, he’s a green/Marxist ideologist
You are right -I saw in a blog he was asked about the Schmidt number. I replied with misunderstanding what was in Wiki under that topic and then disappeared from the site. He has no idea of of the engineering subject of Heat & Mass transfer
”CO2 produced from burning fossil fuels or burning forests has quite a different isotopic composition from CO2 in the atmosphere. This is because plants have a preference for the lighter isotopes (12C vs. 13C);”
That is from your link, so if that is the case, why then is it an accepted fact the planet is getting greener???
Poor simon,
I’m really glad you think the world needs to reduce CO2 emissions..
Because IT AIN’T GUNNA HAPPEN 🙂
https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2181011-china-firstquarter-power-use-may-rise-by-20pc-update
https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/coal/chinas-coal-consumption-seen-rising-in-2021-imports-steady/81310295
Did you know that China added more than three times as much new coal power capacity as all other countries combined in 2020.
All that LUVLY EXTRA PLANT FOOD CO2..
And there is absolutely nothing all the mindless AGW yapping can do about it 🙂
G’day Simon,
Interesting article. Yes, I read the entire article, and the comments. When I got to the end it struck me, the article is strictly about the quantity of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The only place “global warming” is mentioned is in the comments. (I used ctl-F to double check.)
So, just what are we discussing here, carbon dioxide, or warming? Correlation, causation?
The Southern Hemisphere’s atmosphere completely mixes with the Northern Hemisphere’s in just a couple of years. That’s why, despite the vast majority of anthropogenic CO2 being emitted in the Northern Hemisphere, both hemispheres have essentially the same CO2 concentration.
So why does the Paris Accord allow each country to set their own CO2 emission cuts? For example, China is allowed to grow their emissions, Pakistan has only committed to reach a peak at some unspecified point in the future, but New Zealand is required to cut theirs?
“So why does the Paris Accord allow each country to set their own CO2 emission cuts?”
Because we live in a world where not all countries have an equal ability to cut emissions and a blanket direction would have certainly resulted in countries pulling out.
Is that why some countries aren’t cutting their emissions at all? Some, like China, have committed to increase emissions not decrease. China has the world’s greatest share of CO2 emissions (double the U.S.) and they’re increasing emissions through 2030 (which was their plan before the Paris Accord). With China increasing emissions and the U.S. decreasing China is on track to almost tripling the U.S. in a decade. You know why? China still gets 58% of their power from coal and they’re completing a new coal plant every ~2 weeks.
Many other countries haven’t done very little, if anything, to meet their commitments.
I agree, if the Paris Accord had imposed cuts across the board, many countries would have pulled out. What does that tell you about how phony the Accord is?
Kerry was ordered to avoid negotiated reductions.
Negotiated reductions are a treaty and require Senate approval; which Obama did not have that level of Senate support.
Without the USA negotiating agreed reductions, the onus was removed from the rest of the countries.
Instead, it stated that each country would volunteer their reductions.
Reductions that the majority of countries have ignored. Which is why the USA is one of the largest reductions due to increasing use of natural gas.
China flatly refused to volunteer ‘reductions’. Instead they stated their plan was for increased emissions, at least until 2030. At which point China would review their progress and decide if they would reduce emissions…
Keep in mind that China explicitly increases emissions right up to 2030. Does anybody other than delusional simple religious zealots expect a country that willfully builds coal plants and increases emissions will suddenly start closing those new coal plants?
Thanks for showing us that the Paris accords are a piece of POLITICAL FAKERY !
They are aimed ONLY at bringing western civilisations down to a lower level.
Remember, simple simple.. You will always be at the very bottom of any heap
In other words, Simon and the AGW leaders know the whole thing is a scam, that’s why they are willing to let each country decide on it’s own how much, or as is more often the case, how little they are going to do.
Yep, that has been OBVIOUS for a long time, to anyone with their eyes and mind open.
Simple Simon seems to have FINALLY waken up to that FACT.
You mean the two largest economies in the world get treated completely differently ?
” … in just a couple of years … ”
The mixing is known to be around 10% p.a.
” … both hemispheres have essentially the same CO2 concentration ..”
Then how do you explain the massive difference between the hemispheres reported by the OCO2 satellite? (They only reported one year’s cycle, but that was enough to show their expectations were bogus.)
Consider the extent of ocean in the Southern Hemisphere compared to the Northern.
See the difference?
Not true, Martin.
The CO2 concentration has been measured at both Mauna Loa and the South Pole for over 60 years. The concentration measured at the South Pole today is the same as it was at Mauna Loa just 2 to 3 years ago. The only way that could happen is if complete mixing between the hemispheres is about 2 years.
I’m curious, where did you come up with that complete nonsense?
You are not correct. There is less CO2 in the Southern Hemisphere as there is more ocean. The highest level of CO2 is in equatorial areas. Satellites can pick up slightly higher amounts of CO2 over China, Europe and USA but these areas do not exceed those around the equator. The lowest CO2 is around Antarctica where no one lives there are no trees and the water is cold absorbing CO2
No Proeng, the Southern Hemisphere has almost the same CO2 concentration as the Northern. See plot above, and that’s for the South Pole. 90+% of Anthropogenic CO2 is emitted in the NH but the concentration is almost the same in the air over the South Pole as over Mauna Loa in the NH. If it isn’t atmospheric mixing, do you really think that it’s absorbed by plants in the NH spring (that’s what causes the annual dips in the Mauna Loa data, but not at the South Pole), decays in the NH fall (notice the steep annual rise at Mauna Loa, but not at the South Pole) dissolved in the Northern oceans, then carried by ocean currents to the SH without any mixing into deeper layers of the ocean, re-emitted by the *colder* Southern Oceans (colder means lower emission as you said), and then make it to the South Pole in a ~year? Seriously?
1) Nobody said it was. Please re-read, this time concentrate on comprehension.
2) CO2 is a net benefit.
Simon will not deny that he is a beneficiary of this scam.
He is committed to seeing it continue.
“Simon will not deny that he is a beneficiary of this scam.”
You think I am profiting from having to pay more at the pump? What a twat.
Simon,
Don’t compare yourself to something useful & pleasurable.
Then deny it.
Happy to. I make no money from my interest and passion about this topic.
I bet there are a few on here who would be lying if they said that.
So , not employed in the field of Climate , Environment or Sustainability . Is that your statement?
I am not employed in the field of Climate , Environment or Sustainability . Is that your statement? I make no money from the field in any way.
You?
Answer the question exactly, don’t obfuscate
For people like Simon, seeing those despise suffer is all the justification they need.
What has “passion” got to do with science or policy development?
Both of these challenges require nothing but dispassionate rationality and reasoning.
N.B., that simple did not respond to your direct question.
What has “passion” got to do with science or policy development?
Both of these challenges require nothing but dispassionate rationality and reasoning.
Stupid comment.
So what’s your answer Simon?
What has “passion” got to do with science or policy development?
For goodness sake passion has everything to do with anyone wanting to do well in their field. Ask Roy Spencer if he is passionate about the field he chose to dedicate his life to? I be you he would answer most certainly. You think scientists can’t have passion? Just a dumb statement.
Passion is emotion.
Emotion clouds rational thinking and actions.
Rationality is all that distinguishes homo sapiens sapiens from other animal species.
I have no doubt that Dr. Roy is DEDICATED to his work, and that he also dispassionately and rationally analyzes temperature data.
Poor simple slimon..
You have just admitted that you follow the AGW scam out of “BLIND BELIEF”
Its really sad you are incapable of letting go of your brain-wash ignorance.
simon’s response is sophistry.
N.B. simon’s previous comment:
Simple simon swapped paid advocacy for his profit from “pay more at the pump” red herring.
It’s a classic logical fallacy that simon loves to use against others in it’s comments.
Then WHY are you supporting this scientific and political SCAM, simple simon ?
Its nothing to do with you having any actual evidence.. because you don’t
So I’m guessing you treat it much the way a child treats belief in Santa Clause.
Is it IGNORANCE or GULLIBILITY or BOTH ??
Simon apparently hasn’t heard of China and it uncapped emissions pledge.
It doesn’t matter which country it is, they’re all just posturing and virtue signalling. No one in power truly believes that CO2 is controlling our climate. It’s all now just a means to manipulate the tax payers with scary stuff that only government can solve. It’s all about redistributing wealth, nothing more.
https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2181011-china-firstquarter-power-use-may-rise-by-20pc-update
Wherever you want to measure it, makes no difference
Simon
What?.
Honestly, I just wish this climate ’emergency bullshit’ would just stop.
It’s a never ending onslaught of hysteria, and it’s wearing thin.
Taxpayers are going to (and already are) bear the cost (economic and standard of living – wise), and our leaders seem intent on inflicting it upon us.
I’d like to think they don’t have evil in their hearts, but the more it continues the less sure I am about that.
(A Kiwi)
But you know as well as I do that this “climate emergency” and the covid horse manure “pandemic emergency” , and the soon to be announced “economic emergency” are all just about compliance with the edicts to curtail freedoms.
That’s the only real emergency . . . the freedom is hereby cancelled emergency.
Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, declared “I never lie”. For a politician that is the first and greatest lie, right there.
It’s OK. She crossed her fingers when she said “I never lie.”
No politician, Left, Right or Central will ever tell the truth; they spin a mix of truth & lies in a concoction that suits them at the time.
And if they get found out, they always have sacrificial ‘advisers’ to take the fall.
The sheeple are amazingly tribal & loyal to their ‘chosen one’ no mater what BS the ‘chosen one’ feeds them.
“You know how stupid the average person is !
…well 50% are stupider than that !!! ( Geo Carlin)
Kiwis need to stop voting in these a-hole, they indoctrinated by the very system that thinking they doing great work for the masses, but really they have owners and they own you, bring back Geogre Carlin.He would have something to say to this knew snowflake government big multi national corp interest spoon feed babies.
Women never lie. They truly believe what they tell you. Jacinda is no different.
But only while they are saying it.
Yeah, well that’s a given. I’nt it?
I knew cankles couldn’t be a woman…
Brutal.
There are just two types of liars in the world. those who lie and those who say they don’t lie.
You know what? Thinking about this there are 4 types of liars.
In order of how loathsome these types are:
1 Those who lie
2 Those who say they don’t lie
3 Climate modellers
4 Politicians
And I’m not sure about the order of the last two types.
Eric, hasn’t the whole AGW perfidy been a rolling “thimbles & pea” trick since the get-go?
And NZ’s capacity to influence their own climate(s), let alone the world’s, is a joke.
(Mind you, they do have a goodly number of volcanoes and thermal vents. Maybe they could reduce the activity levels of these inconvenient fixtures?)
And while I’m on the subject of flaws in Princess Jacinda’s governance – why hasn’t she yet apologized to the world and canceled that historic reference to Aotearoa as “The Land Of The Long WHITE Cloud”?
You have to admit that the appearance of the Long White Cloud is a damn fine navigational aid when you’re trying to make landfall on a voyage from the Marquesas or the Society Islands to the last bit of land before Antarctica. Don’t miss it.
As my Irish antecedents would say about travel routes –
“If I was goin’ to Antarctica, I wouldn’t be leavin’ from Marquesas or Society”
The New Zealand government should be commended. Rampant cheating is the only.way emissions reduction goals can possibly be achieved, and economical too.
You beat me to it – we are going to see ever increasing “creative carbon accounting” – as the only way to achieve their stated objectives it to lie about it.
That won’t compare to the cheating that will go on by those selling carbon offset credits, getting kickbacks for issuing them, or for positive evaluations, with every level of government complicit either as “sharks” or “useful idiots”. We already have cases of companies selling offset certificates for shutting down production of fluorocarbons that they weren’t supposed to be producing to start with….only possible with a rubber stamped procedure.
We should welcome this ray of light. Those who realize that pretending to achieve emissions reductions will have the same real world effect as actually achieving emissions reductions should welcome this win-win-win outcome. Governments only need the appearance, ‘sharks’ will provide plausible data, and rent seeking offset credit providers will be much less destructive and costly than actual offsets. Climate sceptics should be praising the huge advances governments have already made in emissions reduction, especially if fictional.
I think you are onto something…..
New Zealand’s Climate Commission has a plan to reduce emissions with the minor side impact of destroying the country’s economy.
The good Professor is complaining that that destruction will not come fast enough.
The paper “Stuff” that published this material has an editorial position supporting only alarmists and their teaching. They publish three to four alarmist articles daily.
Evidence or opinion that even suggests there is no climate emergency will not be published (by them).
Public submissions on the climate commission report close on March 28, but the models, workings, and calculations will not be available until after submissions have closed. Even Treasury opinion on the report is not fully available until after the final report and almost certainly any resulting legislation. (Economist Eric Crampton has the details at Offsetting Behaviour).
Note that we already have an effective ETS, and all the industries covered have a cap on emissions. Agriculture is not covered, BUT we have recently learned in a new report published January this year that our agricultural production is the most emission efficient in the world so the proposed reduction in production will actually reduce NZ emssions sure, but increase global emissions, while being economically crippling for the economy.
The whole green driven Climate Commission device to legitimise wealth destroying legislation, without any measurable impact on climate, is utterly absurd.
Massey is beautiful.
By the way Eric (in a word) is 88E a good bet?
No idea sorry Warren.
Thanks anyway Eric!
Being so isolated, does NZ get credit for the transport time for any CO2 they emit against the residency time of anthropogenic CO2?
For that matter, do nations in the Southern Heminsphere get a ‘discount’ because their CO2 can only affect (if any effect) fewer people given the smaller population and the long transport time to global distribution across the ITZ?
the saner ones know that if they attempt to reach a 40% reduction by 2030, that means the GDP would shrink by at least 1/3. That would do two things.
1) unleash a fury and wrath of the voters,
2) if they succeed and not get thrown out by voters, they’ll be presiding over a country at the mercy of China’s industrial output for survival as their middle class shrivels into poverty.
The EU is doing the same thing with their preferred date of 1990. This was the end of Soviet era power stations and industry in East Germany. The European emissions dropped rapidly after that time and they don’t want to lose that advantage in virtue signalling.
Canada has the 2nd largest Boreal forest on the planet next to Russia, but the governments does not include the forest in their national carbon emissions calculations. That’s 338 billion trees that they just happen to omit. Neat huh?
We’re also being told that our “climate” is warming X times faster than anywhere else on the planet. If it is, no one knows why, because we actually have a negative carbon footprint.
There is no science connected with the “climate change crisis” fraud.
I thought EVERYWHERE is warming X times faster than anywhere else on the planet these days!
Oh … that too. It’s a crisis, I tell you. Run away.
(BTW … doesn’t it all ring a bell; like the “hell fire and damnation” of past religious fanatics?)
Klem,
even worse, the official line is that “Canada’s managed forests” are net CO2 emitters…..which is totally ludicrous because the trees certainly emit oxygen and grow and extend their range every year….and the 300 Billion trees weren’t even there 80 centuries ago…so they must be a CO2 sink since at least the last glaciation.
Thank goodness New Zealand is cheating on its ‘Global Warming’ targets as it will enable them to keep up with all the other countries who are doing exactly the same thing to stave off economic ruin and civic rebellion.
“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”.
New Zealand is not unique in adopting creative carbon accounting. Its big cousin Australia gave a masterful rendition of the art via the so called ‘Australia Clause’ incorporated into the 1997 Kyoto Protocol document. But I daresay there would be few countries, if any, who have signed up to subsequent reduction targets (e.g. the Paris Accord) who have not had a plan on how to fiddle the books, hidden in their back pocket. Here is a Link to a Submission made to Australia’s Climate Change Policy review in 2017: https://web.archive.org/web/20181005144202/http://www.environment.gov.au/submissions/climate-change/review-climate-change-policies-2017/bill-burrows.docx .
It is a teaser to how Australia is playing the game and suggests possible solutions for accurate reporting of fully integrated sources and sinks (true net emissions) in that country. But if we leave it to politicians and bureaucrats to tell us how it is, the smart operators (= nations) will take the rest of the world to the cleaners every time.
Why do they even bother? If New Zealand never produced another molecule of CO2 it would have no affect on the future of the earth’s climate. Same if they doubled or tripled their output.
So in addition to chief environmental officers, chief sustainability officers, and chief diversity officers, we also need specialty climate auditors.
We’re going to have higher emissions just from the overhead cost of the BS administrative costs and their associated elitist travel rewards.
So if forests are clear cut in the U.S. to ship low value wood pellets to the UK to burn, does that mean we need to ding the Brits in these pseudo accounting statements for raping the land, even if it’s on another country’s books? Is there an extra penalty charge for doing it with tax incentives on both ends of the production and consumption sides.
Somebody has to ask these questions as the Climate Crusade marches by.
This Professor MacLachlan is into maths yet he can not work out the most simple and obvious fallacies with carbon accounting .
New Zealand’s emissions are dominated by methane from our farmed animals as this professor should know as he is based at Massey University which focuses on agriculture .
If this man can work out any thing he would soon realize that enteric methane is a closed cycle and this methane can never cause any problem in the future .
As I have stated before global methane levels were stable from 1999 till 2008 and so was world coal production at around 4.7 billion tonnes .
Then from 2009 till now coal production use in Asia has soared to reach over 8 billion tonnes and global methane levels have increased ,
Nothing to do with animals .
New Zealands agricultural exports have the lowest carbon footprint ( including shipping ) to nearly every country in the world .
Our forestry exports are also counted as our emissions which defies logic as our pine trees are grown and harvested in around 28 years and are then generally replanted .
They are a carbon sink as when the next rotation is harvested a great deal of timber used in construction and fencing is still in pristine condition with timber treatment .
Cannot this (esteemed Professor of applied maths ) work out something so simple .
The stupidest calculation around emissions is that New Zealand produce enough food to feed 25 million in other countries ,yet we have to account for all emissions ,not the people who consume the food .
Sorry, but cows, cattle, in fact, all livestock, is CARBON NEUTRAL
It cannot, chemically or physically, put out more carbon that it takes in.
Ah that’s true , but magically , methane has to be given additional weight , otherwise NZ would escape all penalties. Euro trash won’t wear that.
And NZ farmers’ trees on farms are disqualified from earning credits.
Because they are not forests.
And, of course, it continues to be ignored that New Zealand practices Pastoral farming – and leads the world in pasture management. Properly managed pasture increases the amount of A horizon (topsoil) in a continuous process, and in doing so sequesters an enormous amount of carbon annually. Non of which is taken into account by the very myopic Kyoto protocols
As does, I might add, properly managed plantation forest.
“Properly managed pasture increases the amount of A horizon (topsoil) in a continuous process,”
The american bison proved that it is possible to do that without ploughing; it’s just not so rapid.
Fred250.
Read what I wrote .
“Enteric methane is a closed cycle” and that means that farmed livestock are carbon neutral and they also sequester carbon in the soil of permanent pasture land which does not happen in continuous vegetable cropping .
The rules of carbon accounting make absolutely no sense .
The clowns in charge here in New Zealand tell us that we have drained extensive peat swamps and as these swamps dry out CO2 is released .
That is correct but all swamps or as they are now called wet lands emit large amounts of methane from decomposing vegetation .and there is now a movement to restore wetlands ,bogs and swamps .
Thats OK according to the clowns the same as rice paddies emit millions of tonnes of methane and that is treated as natural , but farmed animals are considered a threat .
Enteric methane was introduced at the Kyoto Accord and was accepted without question and has never been scientifically scrutinized like a lot of other beliefs with global warming .
Speaking of Crazy Carbon Accounting..
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2021/03/13/gazprom-delivers-first-carbon-neutral-lng-to-europe-and-shell-believe-them/
Carbon Neutral LNG !! 🙂
Ignoring for a moment that the Southern Ocean acts as a sink for more emissions than NZ can make, the commission is penalizing the agricultural sector by not exporting it’s immissions along with its agricultural products to be consumed overseas, but importing immissions of products processed or manufactured overseas.
Perhaps they brought in Bill Belichick as a consultant.
jacinda ardern & AOC same mold
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.xqt-41OVzO5EUl1BLcLt0gHaEq%26pid%3DApi&f=1
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.wV49QFMM4WV9-dZ6KUtPtgHaJQ%26pid%3DApi&f=1
It is all virtue signalling bullshit.
@Simon
“I am not employed in the field of Climate , Environment or Sustainability . Is that your statement?”
I make no money from the field in any way.”
You?
Reply : I am definitely in the environment , and I’m definitely employed.
In fact I’m a religiously irreligious biodynamic farmer.