Guest essay by Eric Worrall
According to CNBC India has just saved the world, by forcing everyone to accept the deletion of the centrepiece of COP26, replacing the “Phase Out” of coal with the much weaker phrase “Phase Down”.
Countries strike deal at COP26 climate summit after last-minute compromise on coal
PUBLISHED SAT, NOV 13 20212:53 PM ESTUPDATED 31 MIN AGO
Sam Meredith @SMEREDITH19
- The announcement comes several hours after the scheduled Friday evening deadline.
- Delegates had struggled to resolve major sticking points, such as phasing out coal, fossil fuel subsidies and financial support to low-income countries.
- The U.N. meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, was billed as humanity’s last and best chance to keep the all-important goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive.
Negotiators from nearly 200 countries at the COP26 summit on Saturday reached an agreement to try to prevent progressively worse and potentially irreversible climate impacts.
The announcement comes several hours after the scheduled Friday evening deadline.
Delegates had struggled to resolve major sticking points, such as phasing out coal, fossil fuel subsidies and financial support to low-income countries.
India, among the world’s biggest burners of coal, raised a last-minute change of fossil fuel language in the pact, going from a “phase out” of coal to a “phase down.” After initial objections, opposing countries ultimately conceded.
In an emotional address to assembled delegates, the U.K.’s COP26 President Alok Sharma said he was “deeply sorry” for the way the process had unfolded. “I understand the deep disappointment. It’s also vital we protect this package,” Sharma said.
The U.N. meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, was billed as humanity’s last and best chance to keep the all-important goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive. This temperature threshold refers to the aspirational target inscribed in the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement.
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What can I say – please accept a big thank you from WUWT, Prime Minister Modi.
I have Indian friends who speak of Prime Minister Modi with reverence. As an economic rationalist, Prime Minister Modi rose to power after a spectacularly successful term as chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat. Wikipedia seem to hate Modi, in my opinion with a similar level of venom as they display towards President Trump, which gives you a pretty good idea what kind of politician Modi is. Modi’s party, the BJP, are right wing India first nationalists.
The phrase “Phase out coal” could have sent an instant chill through the energy market, raising the perception of risk for those people still willing to invest in coal.
“Phase down” will be interpreted by many as a signal that it is business as usual, that the COP26 climate agreement is just another empty international greenwashing exercise.
Update (EW): Video of COP26 President Alok Sharma with tears in his eyes, after India ambushes and wrecks the end of coal centrepiece near the end of the conference.
The rears demonstrate the issues are not technical, not about science, but about a religious fervor, of the Green genuflecting before the new God, Gaia.
Can you imagine tears when discussing a military campaign that hasn’t yet won the war? Nah. Not about reality. About religion.
“COP26: World at one minute to midnight over climate change – Boris Johnson”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59114871
So COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheik will be 59 seconds to midnight?
And COP28 in the UAE will be 58 seconds to midnight?
So only 57 COPs left?
UAE ……. UEA? Hmmmm?
This is the 26th last chance, and I confidently predict that next year will also be the last chance.
And possibly the year following that will be a last chance.
I really wish that there was a bookmaker who would take that bet.
The COP president was visibly sobbing on stage. This is because 1.5 degrees has been lost and we are on the 2.4 degrees path. This is climate catastrophe, if we believe the models, so I don’t know why we are even carrying on. It’s game over for civilisation isn’t it?
Is “Phase Down” a witty Indian play on the material properties of coal in a furnace?
Greta sez COP 26 was a Big Cop Out….Al Gore sez his Algoreithim will help monitor any cheaters….I ask when windmills/solarpanels can be phased out?
India supplied me with Ivermectin and saved me from freezing to death the great white North. India is doing some very helpful things lately. Thank you.
Modi is the saviour of the day. I’d shout him a beer any day . .
Overlooked by so many, if Wind & Solar Power was actually cheaper than coal generated power, the developing countries would be building Wind & Solar rather than coal power plants
And why don’t the developed countries give the developing countries the $100 billion/yr promised in the Paris Climate Accord for new Wind & Solar?
Why don’t the developed countries give the developing countries the $100 billion/yr? Because it was always a scam – developed (rich) countries only agreed to pony up the dosh so that developing countries would buy green technologies with it from the same developed countries. The developing countries have suggested that they’d rather have the dosh to spend on stuff at home and not buy the technologies which wasn’t what the developed countries had signed on for – they thought they were getting the dosh back. So nobody really wants to give the money to countries that aren’t going to hand it straight back – it was always a scam.
Seems to me that most of these countries don’t really believe there is any sort of crisis
I guess they can read.
On to the next stop in the circus snd the last last LAST last chance.
Some years ago I listened to an interview with one of the canadian negotiators at Kyoto.
As they came down to the wire with nothing to show for it the organizers kept everyone up for two straight days until they got an agreement.
This negotiator laughed about how they were all in a daze and would have agreed to anything, once completed they went to the airport, fell onto the plane and slept for 14 hours.
If you do that to a terrorist it’s called sleep deprivation and is considered torture and a war crime.
This is how these people work.
Thank the sweet baby Jesus for Modi
I will let me my Gujarati business friends know to give him a figurative high 5
“It’s also vital we protect this package,” Sharma said.
That’s going to be one gigantic cup.
Boris has another bad day, week, month, year .
Probably threw millions at it expecting a result in his wifes mind .
The global warming extremists are saved by the coal phase down. They have known all along that 1.5C increase in temperature is a purely made up number and if the average global temperature did rise by 1.5C and the world didn’t end then even their most ardent followers would have questions. As it is they can now carry on as usual by moving the goal to 2C at the same time taking credit for saving the world. It is only by their efforts that we survived the 1.5C increase and with more financial support they can keep us from a 2C increase and certain annihilation. They make me sick.
I have suggested before that we skeptics need to run the numbers and show what the realistic effect of increasing CO2 has on earth’s average global temperature. It damn sure isn’t the number the extremists are using in their models.
My son is a builder in Australia, on the weekend he told me that in wealthier high value real estate suburbs many clients are prepared to pay thousands of dollars premium for carbon credits so that they can brag that their new home renovation/extension is carbon neutral.
I add, “Carbon (C)” neutral?
It boggles the mind that people smart enough to get wealthy (lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, etc) are stupid enough to deal out real money for carbon credits that will pretend to reduce CO2.
The Conference of Parties and their associated gleeclubbers are pleased to announce the arrival of the next last best chance at Platform Egypt in 12 months’ time. This is a through train to the next last best chance at COP 28. In fact, this train has no terminus as the passengers thoroughly enjoy having a good old jaunt once a year at taxpayers’ expense.
Modi is the champion for his country . .
EXCERPT from:
WIND AND SOLAR TO PROVIDE 30 PERCENT OF NEW ENGLAND ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION BY 2050
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/wind-and-solar-provide-50-percent-of-future-new-england
China, India, etc., to Continue High Levels of Coal Burning
Each year, China burns about 4 BILLION metric ton of coal, more than the rest of the world combined. China is planning to build 43 new coal-fired power plants and 18 new blast furnaces. Do you really believe that China can afford to stop burning coal? Do you think they want to? Of course not.
Chinese reliance on coal is increasing, and it is expanding its mines to produce an additional 220 million Mt of coal in 2021, up almost six percent from 2020.
The Chinese and the Indians are not going to throw away their economic progress on the altar of global warming. The Indians made it perfectly clear at the beginning of the Glasgow COP26, the developed nations should de-industrialize first, before asking developing countries to follow suit.
India: India declared it would not sign the statement of COP26 goals regarding coal burning. Instead of reading “close down coal by 2030”, India insisted on “phase down unabated coal”. Unabated refers to the common practice of Indian households, etc., cooking over open fires with coal, a major source of local air pollution. It would be phased down (no time limit was stated).
All this means, the burning of coal in power plants, with air pollution abatement systems, would be unaffected (no time limit was stated). The major coal burning countries, such as China, India, Australia, Brazil, the US, etc., would continue to burn coal in power plants.
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/cop26-caves-on-coal-phase-down-rather-than-phase-out
China: Despite various RE boosters, such as financial adviser Bloomberg, bragging about China’s wind and solar efforts, the reality is, almost 80% of China’s electricity growth is from fossil fuels, almost entirely coal.
Because China is so big, that fossil growth is worsening its own air pollution, plus the air pollution around the world; the soot falls on snow/ice-covered areas; melting of snow/ice is much quicker.
In one year, China added 460.2 TWh of fossil electricity, which is 3.9 times the annual electricity supply of NE, or 76.7 times the annual electricity supply of Vermont.
From third qtr. 2020, to third qtr. 2021:
Total electricity production growth was 586.9 TWh, up 10.7%, of which 460.2 TWh, or 78.4%, was from fossil fuels, mostly coal.
Wind growth was 89 TWh, up 28.4%, from a low base
Solar growth was 12.6 TWh, up 10.2%, from a low base.
Nuclear growth was 33.2 TWh, up 12.3%, from a low base
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/11/03/china-still-burning-more-more-coal/
https://chinaenergyportal.org/en/2021-q3-electricity-other-energy-statistics/
China plans to build 200,000 MW of near-zero-CO2 nuclear plants; about 150 units, each 2,350 MW, at about 75 sites, at a cost of $440 billion, by 2035
Amortizing the capital cost at 3.5%/y over 60 years would be ($17,556,485,920/y) / (200,000 MW x 8,766 h/y x 0.90, CF) = $0.01113/kWh, about one third the cost of EU and US nuclear plants.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/uranium-stocks-soar-market-discovers-chinas-plans-150-nuclear-reactors
https://www.myamortizationchart.com