The Week That Was: 2026-06-13 (June 13, 2026)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “In scientific debate, it is neither power nor authority that should carry decisive weight, but only scientific truth itself” — Ferenc Deák, 1803−1876, Hungarian Stateman [H/t István János Kovács]
Number of the Week: $642,239,465.00 – 2026 Quarter 2
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This TWTW begins with part of an essay by William Happer. TWTW discusses additions and corrections of the last TWTW. TWTW then discussed the problem of estimating sea level rise from using satellite measurements alone. TWTW discusses a major omission noted by Carbon Brief in the Global Energy Review by Ember. TWTW discusses the concept of Climate Justice and then concludes with the problem of getting rid of unneeded water in oil and gas drilling.
*********************
Canary in a Climate World: The Daily Sceptic had an unusual essay by AMO physicist William Happer. The introduction stated:
“Our guest post today is an excerpt from Canary in a Climate World: Climate Realism vs. the Net Zero Myth, a newly released book bringing together 38 Climate Canaries from across science, climatology, geology, engineering, economics, medicine, law, journalism, public policy and independent research. The chapter below, by Princeton physicist Professor William Happer, is one of many thought-provoking contributions examining climate science, energy policy, Net Zero and the wider climate debate. Filled with fascinating essays, scientific discussion, investigative analysis and thought-provoking perspectives, Canary in a Climate World is now available on Amazon.”
Key parts of Harper’s essay include:
“Many people with inadequate scientific knowledge are convinced that Planet Earth is in mortal danger from global warming due to humans. If Planet Earth were really in great danger from humans, any means to protect it would be justified. Some extremists propose reducing Earth’s eight billion population of people to no more than one billion. How this is to be done has always been a bit vague. Genghis Khan made a good start by slaughtering some 40 million people in the 13th century. In our day, Prince Philip, father of King Charles III of the United Kingdom, opined that: ‘If I were reincarnated, I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.’
The climate alarmism of our time is a malignant alliance of ignorant fanaticism, like that mentioned above, and opportunism: the lust for power, fame and wealth. Like all fanatical movements, climate alarmism is doing great collateral damage, most notably to the reputation of my own profession of science. Generous research grants from governments and private foundations have created a new discipline of ‘climate science’. Traditional, rigorous disciplines like atmospheric physics, atmospheric chemistry, meteorology or paleontology were quick to cash in by renaming themselves with some variant of ‘Centre for Saving the Planet’. They were generously rewarded with research grants, new laboratories, professorships, elections to learned societies, prizes and other tokens of gratitude.
This largess came with strings. If your research did not show that the planet needed to be saved, you would be expelled from the elect. Many credible scientists made no public mention of doubts they had about the party line. But a few refused to accept this new ‘science by consensus’ and remained faithful to the traditional criterion: the validity of a scientific theory is how well its predictions agree with all available observations, and how successfully it predicts previously unobserved phenomena. In the laconically accurate words of Karl Popper: ‘One can sum up all this by saying that the criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability.’ By this criterion, climate alarmism is not a scientific theory, since it has made many alarming predictions and none have turned out to be true. Rather climate alarmism is more like astrology or the cargo-cult science described so graphically by Richard Feynman. [Boldface was italics in original]
Climate alarmism is centered on the dogma is that ‘carbon dioxide is the control knob of Earth’s climate’. This dogma is false, but because of frenzied propaganda for over half a century…
Many of the songsters of this collection, especially those from academia, will recall being the targets of fanatical hatred, similar to that experienced by Bruno and Galileo, for suggesting that carbon dioxide is not the control knob of climate.
The dogma that CO₂ is the control knob of Earth’s climate has the ring of plausibility. Similarly, an immobile Earth, with celestial speres rotating around it seemed obvious to Ptolemaic astronomers. CO₂ is a greenhouse gas, that is, a gas that is nearly transparent to shortwave, visible and near-visible sunlight, but partially opaque to the longwave infrared radiation that dumps excess heat from the Earth into the cold darkness of outer space. Greenhouse gases do little to hinder the heating of the Earth by sunlight, but they readily absorb and re-emit thermal infrared radiation, making it harder for Earth to release thermal radiation directly from its surface to space, and requiring higher temperatures to get rid of the heat than would otherwise be needed if there were no greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
But the most important greenhouse gas is water vapor, H₂O, not CO₂. When the effects of clouds are included, water in all of its phases, vapor, liquid and solid, has a much bigger influence on radiative transfer of heat than CO₂. And radiative transfer is only part of what controls Earth’s climate. Huge amounts of heat are transported by air and ocean currents from the tropics, where maximum sunlight is absorbed, to polar regions, where much more thermal radiation is released to space than is absorbed from the Sun. [Boldface added]
In fact, the climate of the Earth has no single control knob, and all theoretical and empirical evidence points to CO₂ being a relatively unimportant factor. The most important influences on Earth’s climate are the Sun and cloud cover. Neither the Sun nor clouds are understood as well as they should be. What understanding we have has been set back at least 50 years by the manic focus on greenhouse gases.
A particular irony of the demonization of CO₂ is that increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ are benefitting life on Earth. Satellite measurements show a clear greening of Earth, especially of arid areas, due to the modest increases in CO₂ that have already occurred. CO₂ really is plant food, one of the three key ingredients of photosynthesis: sunlight, water molecules, H₂O, and CO₂ molecules. More CO₂ has contributed to the agricultural abundance that has characterized the past 50 years.”
TWTW comment: It is critical that we understand that water in all its phases is a vital determinant in stabilizing Earth’s temperatures. We simply do not understand these complex relationships sufficiently well to be able to model them, particularly the role of clouds. The repeated claim that carbon dioxide is the control knob of Earth’s climate is totally false. When the claim that carbon dioxide was the control knob of Earth’s climate was repeated by members of NASA-GISS, the government funded organization destroyed its own credibility. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
*********************
Additions and Corrections: Reader Clyde Spencer pointed out that in the discussion of the amount of water vapor the atmosphere absorbs with a 1 ℃ increase in temperature, the correct estimate is for maximum potential water vapor absorbed, not what is actually absorbed. (This relationship is described by the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, which illustrates how the saturation vapor pressure rises with temperature and it is about 7%). If there is no water available, such as in the hot dry Saharah and cold dry Gobi deserts as well as Antarctica, an increase in temperature of 1 ℃ will not result in an increase in water vapor of 7%. This illustrates a further failing in the calculations of the global climate modelers. Potential is not actual. In any case, if a 1ºC surface temperature rise actually caused a 7% increase in H2O vapor, the radiative forcing would only be about 0.8 W/m2, not even enough to warm the surface by 0.2ºC.
In questioning why does TWTW express that greenhouses gases delay (block) the cooling of Earth rather than cause warming, several other readers asked if there is a scientific difference between warming and delaying cooling? According to the second law of thermodynamics thermal energy (heat) flows only in one direction, from hot to cold. Put simply, Greenhouse gases do not heat Earth or trap warming, they retain part of the flow of energy from the heated Earth’s surface to cold space. For example, if a house is cold and has a furnace, adding insulation will delay nighttime cooling so the furnace will not need to go on as frequently to keep the house warm. Adding insulation to a cold house without a furnace does little.
[However, to be more correct, Earth’s surface radiates about 400 W/m2, but only about 240 W/m2 goes to space. If it were a simple matter of delay, eventually about 400 would go into space. A balance occurs when the heat radiated to space equals the heat absorbed from the sun. The atmosphere reduces the heat emitted by the surface to the heat emitted to space. So, the atmosphere retains (or what better word?) heat in the amount of approximately 160 W/m2, due to the GHGs and clouds.
Now, imagine increasing that heat retention to 165 W/m2, and with no change in the albedo. Less heat would flow to space, and the surface would start to warm up. With increased temperature, the surface would radiate more, and more heat would go to space. The eventual situation would be 405 radiated from the surface, 165 would be retained, and 240 would go to space. Notice the sequence: greenhouse gases (GHGs) up, then gradual warming, then balance again.]
[Woking on a different principle than greenhouse gases, refrigerators, air conditioners, etc. work on the principle of phase change that absorbs or releases energy. In a refrigeration system, the low-pressure side of a compressor draws in vapor of refrigerant from the cooling chamber, and the high-pressure side compresses the gas to a high-pressure, hot vapor, running it through a radiator to send the heat to the environment as it cools down to a liquid state. That liquid is forced through a small orifice into the low-pressure cooling chamber, where it cools things down as it evaporates.]
*********************
Changing Seas: For centuries sea level rise has been measured by tidal gauges. These gauges often reflect local conditions. In the Gulf of Bothnia (between Sweden and Finland) sea levels are falling because the land is rebounding from being depressed from the weight of ice during the Ice Age. Along the coastal US and Gulf of Mexico, sea levels are rising dramatically due to land subsidence, primarily from extracting groundwater.
Even geologically stable areas can show dramatic changes in sea levels. The Newlyn Tidal Observatory, Cornwall England, was built over 100 years ago as a reference benchmark because it is geologically stable. Yet due to changing prevailing winds, periods of increasing and decreasing sea level rise have been recorded. The effects of shifts in the prevailing winds applies to other areas as well, particularly in the western Pacific such as in the South China Sea where winds from the East can have a reach of thousands of miles piling up water. Thus, long-term observations are needed to draw any conclusions of accelerating or slowing sea level change.
Unfortunately, alarmist publications have used certain satellite measurements as a demonstration of increasing sea level rise. Writing in Climate Realism, Anthony Watts explains the issue well. In addressing an article in Science Alert based on a paper in AAAS Science, Watts writes:
“The ScienceAlert article ‘Sea Level Rise Is Accelerating, And We Now Know The Biggest Reason Why‘ claims that sea-level rise is not only accelerating but that scientists have now ‘closed the budget’ and identified ocean thermal expansion as the dominant driver. This is false. Direct, long-term tide gauge measurements around the world do not show the dramatic acceleration implied in the satellite-based narrative.
The distinction between satellite altimetry and tide gauges is critical. Satellite measurements of global mean sea level began in 1993. That record spans about 30 years and involves multiple satellite missions stitched together over time. Each transition between satellites requires calibration adjustments. Even small offsets can introduce artificial curvature into the record, creating the appearance of acceleration.
By contrast, tide gauges measure sea level directly at specific coastal locations, in many cases for more than a century. For example, in Figure 1 below, the Battery tide gauge in New York City has operated since 1856. It shows a steady rise of about 2.8 to 3.0 millimeters per year, with no statistically significant acceleration over more than 160 years.
Figure 1. The relative sea level trend is 2.95 millimeters/year with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.09 mm/yr based on monthly mean sea level data from 1856 to 2025 which is equivalent to a change of 0.97 feet in 100 years. Source: NOAA Tides and Currents.
Many other long-term gauges around the world display similarly linear trends.
This matters because tide gauges measure what actually affects people, sea level at the coast. Satellite altimetry measures global averages across the open ocean. When the two datasets diverge in character, the longer, directly observed tide gauge record deserves greater weight.
The pattern in the Pacific Ocean known as El Niño causes sea level rise by changes in prevailing winds piling up water in the eastern Pacific Ocean, seen in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2. This satellite image of Pacific sea surface heights from Jason-2 (left) differs slightly from one 18 years ago from Topex/Poseidon (right). In Dec. 1997, sea surface height was more intense and peaked in November. This year the area of high sea levels is less intense but considerably broader. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
That bulge of water makes it into the global satellite sea level record but does not reflect what happens on coastlines.
[By starting the record in 1993, near the beginning of a strong El Niino cycle, that choice naturally increases the likelihood of seeing curvature in the trend the] article leans heavily on the ‘global mean sea level budget‘ concept and emphasizes acceleration from 2005 to 2023. It should be pointed out that ‘budgets’ are a human creation and that nature pays no attention to such things. But this budget conclusion depends primarily on the satellite era, which is short and subject to calibration uncertainties. When evaluating acceleration, the window of time chosen can dramatically influence the result. Starting in 1993, near the beginning of a strong El Niño cycle, naturally increases the likelihood of seeing curvature in the trend.
The Climate at a Glance sea level analysis shows that sea-level rise has been ongoing since the end of the Little Ice Age in the 1800s and remains modest and largely linear in long-term observational records. The rate today is not unprecedented compared to earlier 20th-century values.
The article also asserts that thermal expansion accounts for roughly 43 percent of recent rise. That may be true within the assumptions of their model budget closure. But again, this depends on reconciling satellite altimetry with Argo float temperature data and other modeled components. Budget closure is not the same thing as independent measurement confirmation. It is an internal accounting exercise constrained by the datasets selected.”
See links under Changing Seas
*********************
Omissions: Ember is an independent energy think tank located in the UK. It publishes an annual Global Electricity Review which is politically influential. The website Global Electricity Review 2026: Solar surge halts fossil generation rise as clean power meets all demand growth and renewables overtake coal.” The executive summary states in part:
“The world is entering an era of clean growth and exiting the era of fossil growth in the power sector. Abundant clean electricity is enabling the electrification of other sectors such as transport, reducing fossil fuel dependence across the economy.
This structural shift is happening at a key juncture in the global energy system as the world reels from two major fossil shocks in just four years. First, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and more recently, the US-Israel war with Iran, have laid bare the vulnerability of a global energy system dependent on volatile fossil fuel markets.
For emerging and mature economies alike, this moment makes the case for anchoring economic growth on a secure, domestic energy base. Those scaling clean power the fastest will be best placed to reduce fossil fuel dependence in the short term and support economic growth in the long term. With solar, wind and battery storage now cost-competitive, multiple technological developments have converged at scale to fundamentally transform the global energy system and offer a permanent route to energy security.”
TWTW has been unable to find any modern city, county, or country that is dependent only on “solar, wind and battery storage.” How part time electricity is a permanent rout to energy security is a mystery. Using figures in Ember’s monthly and annual electricity data for Asia, Carbon Brief has followed up on Ember’s publication with “Analysis: Solar overtakes gas power in Asia for first time ever.” The article states in part:
“Solar has overtaken gas power in Asia to become the continent’s third-largest source of electricity, according to new analysis by Carbon Brief.
Coal and hydropower remain Asia’s largest sources of electricity, generating roughly 52% and 12% of the continent’s power each year, respectively.
Asia’s solar expansion has been driven largely by China, which accounts for nearly three-quarters of the growth in the region’s output since 2020.
China also dominates global solar supply chains, hosting more than 80% of solar manufacturing capacity.”
To its credit Carbon Brief closes with:
“The figures in the chart [not shown here] are based on Ember’s definition of Asia, which covers the following countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
This does not include some countries that are part of the continent of Asia and that use relatively large amounts of gas, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Russia.” [Boldface added]
Ember’s definition of Asia omits about 20% of the continent that is heavily dependent on natural gas? See links under Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind.
*********************
Climate Justice? Academics are fond of inventing concepts that may or may not have little bearing in the physical world. The false claim that human emissions of carbon dioxide are causing dangerous global warming (climate change) has resulted in a group of social scientists to form the World Inequality Lab. These social scientists have undertaken an activity they call the “Global Justice Project.” The project has produced a “The Global Justice Report: A Plan for Equality & Prosperity Within Planetary” which states in part:
“The Global Justice Report attempts to set out a new vision for global progress in the 21st century: grounding human development and equality in planetary habitability. It explores the conditions under which the world could move toward this horizon and traces an economically and ecologically consistent transition path from 2026 to 2100.
Its main conclusion is simple: it is possible to reconcile planetary habitability and high well-being for all, but only if the transformation rests on three pillars simultaneously. Fast decarbonization of energy systems is necessary. But we also need a major shift toward sufficiency – understood as a sharp reduction in labor hours and material footprint and large changes in consumption patterns, food habits, land use, and forest cover. In addition, neither decarbonization nor sufficiency can be financed and politically sustained without a drastic reduction in inequality of income, wealth and power, both between countries and within them. The compression of global inequality is not only compatible with deep decarbonization; it is a necessary condition for shared prosperity on a finite planet.” [Boldface in original]
According to its website, the World Inequality Lab is primarily funded as follows:
“34% of our resources are provided by several grants from the European Research Council (ERC): one Advanced Research Grant, one Synergy Grant, and one grant from the European Commission Horizon 2020 program.
22% is financed by the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and its partner institutions (in particular the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and the Ecole Normale Supérieure)
16% is provided by the universities, research centers and statistics offices hosting the WID Fellows.”
The program declares it is following UN IPCC guidelines in the Sixth Assessment Report. Tilak Doshi and Eric Worrall of WUWT, independently wrote about the program to reduce human prosperity to “save the world.” See links under Defending the Orthodoxy.
*********************
Getting Rid of the Water: Directional drilling and deep underground hydraulic fracturing produces large amounts of saline water that is largely unusable. In “Water, Water Everywhere: Maximizing Oil Field Produced Water Use in West Texas” Scott W. Tinker suggests a possible approach to address this issue. In part, he writes:
“Associated with oil and gas, each day the Permian basin produces over 20 million barrels of salty water! North Dakota, Oklahoma, Appalachia and other regions also produce significant water along with oil or natural gas. In Texas, industry reuses what it can, then transports and disposes the remainder into deep or shallow rock formations, which changes subsurface pressure conditions and can induce earthquakes.
A decade ago, as the State Geologist of Texas, I worked with the Texas Legislature, industry, and academics to create TexNet at the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG). BEG maintains over 200 seismometers tracking earthquakes across Texas and makes the data publicly available.
The Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates oil and gas activity, uses TexNet to help mitigate earthquakes, while still allowing for production of oil and gas.”
*********************
SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD — THE JACKSON
SEPP is conducting its annual vote for the recipient of the coveted trophy, The Jackson, a lump of coal. Readers are asked to nominate and vote for who they think is most deserving, following these criteria:
• The nominee has advanced, or proposes to advance, significant expansion of governmental power, regulation, or control over the public or significant sections of the general economy.
• The nominee does so by declaring such measures are necessary to protect public health, welfare, or the environment.
• The nominee declares that physical science supports such measures.
• The physical science supporting the measures is flimsy at best, and possibly non-existent.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, was the 2025 recipient. Past recipients are not eligible. See list at https://www.sepp.org/april-fools-award.cfm.
The committee that makes the selection prefers a candidate with a national or international presence. The voting will close on JULY 1 NOT JULY 31 as previously announced. Please send your nomination and a brief reason why the person is qualified for the honor to Ken@SEPP.org.
*********************
Number of the Week: $642,239,465.00 – 2026 Quarter 2 According to its website:
“The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a cooperative effort among the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont to cap and reduce power sector CO2 emissions.
RGGI is composed of individual CO2 Budget Trading Programs in each participating state. Through independent regulations, based on the RGGI Model Rule, each state’s CO2 Budget Trading Program limits emissions of CO2 from electric power plants, issues CO2 allowances and establishes participation in regional CO2 allowance auctions.”
The program is cap and trade. It caps the allowable carbon dioxide emissions and sells the allowances at a quarterly auction. The total proceeds for the June 8, 2026, auction were $642,239,465.00 which go to renewable energy and other projects to “combat climate change.” Consumers who pay for these proceeds through higher energy bills receive nothing.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-fossil-fuels/
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming/
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer
The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, Mar 3, 2023
Dependence of Earth’s Thermal Radiation on Five Most Abundant Greenhouse Gases
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, December 22, 2020
Net Zero Averted Temperature Increase
By Richard Lindzen, William Happer, and William A. van Wijngaarden, CO2 Coalition, June 2024
Radiation Transport in Clouds
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Klimarealistene, Science of Climate Change, January 2025
Challenging the Orthodoxy
The Climate Cult
By William Happer, The Daily Sceptic, June 17, 2026 [H/t Ron Clutz]
Science shows climate science is exaggerated
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 10, 2026
Link to paper: Divergence in Climate Change Communication: LLM-Based Evidence from the IPCC and the Press
By Sebastian Galiani, Franco Mettola La Giglia & Raul A. Sosa, National Bureau of Economic Research, May 2026
The abstract begins with: Public summaries of IPCC climate assessments lean toward the more severe end of the technical evidence. The pattern appears at two stages: the IPCC’s lead authors and member governments produce the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) from the Technical Summary (TS), and newspapers then cover the SPM.
From Robson: There were three main findings.
“First, the TS-to-SPM stage reweights severity upward in every Assessment Report from 1990 to 2023.”
That’s right, folks. The IPCC’s SPM process has been generating biased summaries since the IPCC began. Government delegates have been twisting the science in the alarmist direction for over thirty years.
“Second, the SPM-to-media stage shows the same upward reweighting across the four cycles we measure, AR3 (2001) through AR6 (2021 to 2023).”
That’s right, folks. To no one’s surprise, the media has been amplifying the bias further since 2001 (and probably earlier but the data weren’t available).
“Third, across the panel of ten outlets, left and right-leaning groups show similar patterns. At both stages, the shift comes mainly from emphasizing higher-impact magnitudes within reported ranges, less from uncertainty compression, and almost none from selecting worst-case emissions scenarios.”
That’s right, folks. Even the right-leaning outlets have also gone in for alarmist bias, at least since 2007. Indeed, the media’s bias converged in size and direction over time, as shown in this chart [not presented here].
The Moist-Adiabatic Theory vs. Reality
By Andy May, WUWT, June 8, 2026
25 Years Since the Diuron Mangrove Claims – 15 Years Since Our Rebuttal, Still No Correction
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, June 12, 2026
Link to paper: Has the Herbicide Diuron Caused Mangrove Dieback? A Re-Examination of the Evidence
By John Abbot and Jennifer Marohasy, Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, September 2011
From the abstract: Only when the herbicide is applied in experimental investigations at many orders of magnitude higher than measured in rivers has an impact on A. marina been demonstrated. Evidence from field studies suggests burial of pneumatophores, the plant’s breathing roots, following flood events is a more likely causal factor in mangrove dieback, whereas any contribution from Diuron remains unproven.
From Marohasy: What makes the continued sidelining of a 2011 paper that I published with John Abbot so consequential is not simply that one study was overlooked, but that it has allowed a myth to be perpetuated.
Do we really want to live in such a society, where deceit is rewarded and honest scientific research ignored?
Defending the Orthodoxy
Indicators of Global Climate Change 2025: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence
By Piers M. Forste, et al. (about 50 authors), Earth System Science Data, June 11, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Opening sentences of abstract: In a rapidly changing climate, evidence-based decision-making benefits from up-to-date and timely information. We track twelve key sets of indicators of the state of the climate system, closely following Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment report (AR6) methods, to produce our fourth annual publication.
A Statistical Evaluation of the Whining of Climate Scientists as Political Activists
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, June 8, 2026
Link to paper: Caught in the Fray. How Climate Scientists Navigate the Public Sphere
By Victor Avramov, et al., Environmental Communication, May 28, 2026
From introduction: Climate change researchers find themselves at the center of one of the most mediatized and politicized issues of our time. While the question of whether the changing climate is caused by humans is mostly settled within science (Lynas et al., Citation2021), climate change remains one of the most politically divisive subjects in many countries, making climate policy and action highly polarizing issues (e.g. (Herold et al., Citation2023; Pew Research Center, Citation2020)).
Cited work: Greater than 99% consensus on human caused climate change in the peer-reviewed scientific literature
By Mark Lynas, Benjamin Z Houlton and Simon Perry, Environmental Research Letters, Oct 19, 2021
Abstract begins with: While controls over the Earth’s climate system have undergone rigorous hypothesis-testing since the 1800s, questions over the scientific consensus of the role of human activities in modern climate change continue to arise in public settings. We update previous efforts to quantify the scientific consensus on climate change by searching the recent literature for papers skeptical of anthropogenic-caused global warming. From a dataset of 88125 climate-related papers published since 2012, when this question was last addressed comprehensively, we examine a randomized subset of 3000 such publications.
[SEPP Comment: The issue is not human contribution to warming, but the extent of that contribution.]
Claim: Large Scale Wealth Redistribution is Required to Tackle Climate Change
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 7, 2026
[SEPP Comment: See link immediately below.]
Piketty’s Eco-Marxist Utopia: Why Degrowth and Global Redistribution Will Trap the Poor in Poverty
By Tilak K. Doshi, Real Clear Energy, June 11, 2026
Link to: The Global Justice Report: A Plan for Equality & Prosperity Within Planetary
By Staff, Global Justice Project by the World Inequality Lab. Accessed June 11, 2026
Link to Global Justice Project
By Lucas Chancel, et al. (over 25), World Inequality Lab, Accessed June 12, 2026
Link to: The Global Justice Report: A Plan for Equality & Prosperity Within Planetary
By Staff, Global Justic Project, Accessed June 12, 2026
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
New paper shows overlooked pollutants are responsible for about 15% of current global warming
Leading scientists call for incorporating “indirect greenhouse gases” into climate policy
Press release, EurekAltert!, AAAS, June 11, 2026 [H/t Willie Soon]
Link to paper: Integrating indirect greenhouse gases into climate frameworks
These substances have minimal direct climate effects but trigger chemical reactions that can lead to warming
By Ilissa Ocko, et al., AAAS Science, June 11, 2026
[SEPP Comment: The authors fail to mention that terrible gas that (according to global climate modelers) doubles all warming, regardless of source – water vapor!]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 10, 2026
Scientific American laments “What if we never find dark matter? Dark matter has turned out to be more elusive than physicists had hoped” …But if the science is so unsettled here, as in so many places, might it be time to admit that it’s not rock-solid on climate either? Einstein later called the cosmological constant his “biggest blunder”. Maybe that kind of humble admission would be in order here too.
Is it hot in there?
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 10, 2026
There’s also this, and it’s far more important. Vanishing cloud cover causes heating but is not caused by GHGs. This mysterious decrease in the early 21st century, and if CO2 absorbs clouds nobody told us, does appear to have been essentially global.
Alaska’s Fish Wars Are About More Than Fish
By Rick Whitbeck, Real Clear Energy, June 10, 2026
Across the country, complex resource challenges are increasingly being reduced to simple stories of victims and villains. Whether the issue is energy development, mining, forestry, water management, data centers, infrastructure, or fisheries, public debate is drifting away from tradeoffs, measurable outcomes, and adaptive management and toward narratives designed for political mobilization.
Energy & Environmental Review: June 8, 2026
By John Droz, Jr. Master Resource, June 8, 2026
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Climate Alarmism’s Reset And The Policy Reckoning It Demands
By Vijay Jayaraj, WUWT, June 12, 2026
A quiet technical decision in climate science should trigger one of the most consequential policy corrections of this decade.
Deep within the bureaucratic machinery of global climate research sits an obscure modeling group called the Scenario Model Intercomparison Project. It is a foundational component of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project organized by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), which was established in 1980 under the joint sponsorship of the World Meteorological Organization and the International Council for Science.
Put on your wishful thinking cap
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 10, 2026
Like the economists who have predicted seven of the last four recessions, they do sometimes get something right. But not because of their exceptional vision, in either sense. Indeed, when it comes to eyesight they have other problems than motes and beams.
Billionaires are leaving the room with excuses — Bezos says “AI will solve climate crisis”
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 9, 2026
Back in 2020 nothing was more important than climate change. Swept away by the crisis, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos set up a $10,000 million dollar fund to ‘fight climate change and protect nature’. It was the largest piece of atmospheric philanthropy known to mankind. But it’s become a bit of a ghost account.
The money was supposed to be spent by 2030, but six years in, 72% of the funds still haven’t been allocated.
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
The effect of additional CO2 on Chinese Seabuckthorn
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 10, 2026
From the CO2Science.org archive.
Measurement Issues — Surface
ENSO: Recent Evolution, Current Status and Predictions
By: Climate Prediction Center / NCEP, June 8, 2026
Summary: ENSO Alert System Status: El Niño Watch
ENSO-neutral conditions are present.
Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are mostly above average across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
El Niño is likely to emerge soon (82% chance in May-July 2026) and continue through Northern Hemisphere winter 2026-27 (96% chance in December 2026 February 2027).
First Major Weather Organization Declares El Nino Onset As Food Inflation Risks Intensify
By Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, June 11, 2026 [H/t SJ Cvrk]
Bloomberg commodity expert Javier Blas wrote on X, “The Japanese Meteorological Agency becomes the first major weather body to formally call the onset of El Niño phenomenon in the Pacific.”
Some crops benefit from El Niño. Higher rainfall in California, for example, is good for avocado and almond yields. However, many staples, including rice, wheat, palm oil, coffee and sugar, are produced in areas likely to face drier and hotter conditions.
Beyond the impact on land, El Niño can disrupt ocean fisheries.
[SEPP Comment: See link immediately above.]
Proposed New El Niño Index to Measure El Niño strength
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, June 11, 2026
[SEPP Comment: Questioning the Proposed New El Niño Index.]
Measurement Issues — Atmosphere
Global Temperature Report: May 2026
By The Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, June 9, 2026
Text: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/data/aosc/Global_Temperature_Report/2026_Reports/GTR_202605.pdf
Map and Graph: https://www.uah.edu/aosc/data-products/global-temperature-report
Changing Weather
Meteorological Roller Coaster
June is an interesting weather month in the Northwest.
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, June 9, 2026
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Glaciers have advanced and retreated before
By Kelvin Kemm, CFACT, June 6, 2026
What has happened is that melting ice has revealed thousands of ancient artefacts which have been a bonanza for historians and archaeologists. For example, 10,000-year-old Atlatl spear-throwing hunting darts have been found in the Rocky Mountains and the Canadian Yukon.
Intact arrows have been found in a Norwegian mountain pass dating to 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. They have quartzite arrowheads secured by animal sinew and Birch-bark glue. A 1,700-year-old Roman-style shoe was also found in Norway. In the Schnidejoch pass in the Swiss Alps, leather trousers, shoes, and birch-bark arrows were found, dating back to 3,000 to 4,000 BCE.
Changing Earth
New Study: Significant CO2 Fluxes From Non-Volcanic Sources Are Largely Neglected In Carbon Budgets
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, June 10, 2026
Link to paper: On Geological CO2 Emissions: What we know and what we don’t know about
By István János Kovács, Science of Climate Change, Accepted Feb 20, 2026
Changing Seas
Wrong, ScienceAlert: Sea Level ‘Acceleration’ Isn’t What the Measured Data Show
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, June 12, 2026
Link to press release: Sea Level Rise Is Accelerating, And We Now Know The Biggest Reason Why
By David Nield, Science Alert, June 8, 2026
Link to paper: Improved closure of the global mean sea level budget from observational advances since 1960
By Huayi Zheng, et al., AAAS Science Advances, May 20, 2026
Scientists Have Detected Something Deeply Alarming at the Bottom of the Ocean
“It has implications for extreme weather events in North America and Europe.”
By Joe Wilkins, Futurism, June 10, 2026 [H/t Paul deWitt]
Link to press release: Ocean, atmosphere equally responsible for Atlantic ‘cold blob,’ scientists find
By Matt Carroll, Penn State U. News. June 30, 2026
Link to paper: Subpolar North Atlantic cooling reinforced by colder, drier atmosphere with a weakening Atlantic meridional overturning circulation
By Yifei Fan, et al., AAAS Science Advances, June 4, 2026
[SEPP Comment: Another Climate Tipping Point just like heat blobs were before? Heat blobs were probably caused by undersea volcanos.]
Plankton Production Same As 20 Years Before–Climate Scientists Panic!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 12, 2026
Link to paper: Decline in satellite-derived primary production in the north-east Atlantic driven by changes in sea surface temperature and mixed layer depth
By Gavin H. Tilstone and Peter E. Land, Frontiers in Remote Sensing, June 4, 2026
From Homewood: There is no mention in any of this either of the accuracy or otherwise of the satellite data fed into their models. Tucked away in the main body of the paper is the admission that:
“These studies show that when the NPP model is applied to SeaWiFS and MODIS-Aqua the differences over these regions are between 15% and 35%.”
In other words, the error margins are massive and make any conclusions virtually worthless.
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Global rice production has nearly doubled over 50 years despite climate change
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 11, 2026
Link to press release: Global rice production has nearly doubled over 50 years despite climate change
By Lois Yoksoulian, Phys.org, June 10, 2026
Link to paper: Management practices and elevated atmospheric CO2 levels helped to sustain a high level of global rice production
By Tzu-Shun Lin & Atul K. Jain, Nature, Scientific Reports, June 3, 2026
From Worrall: An interesting contrast – the study abstract (admittedly in draft) mentions CO2 fertilization in the title, but you have to read down to the 4th paragraph in the phys.org article to learn CO2 played a significant role. Almost like phys.org are reluctant to tell their audience CO2 can do anything good.
The Cost Of The Grain That Feeds Half The World Just Posted Biggest Monthly Surge Since 2008
By Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, June 2, 2026
Asian rice prices logged their biggest monthly gain in nearly two decades in May, as a Gulf energy shock collides with an expected El Niño event later this year.
[SEPP Comment: See link immediately above. According to Durden’s chart, premium Thailand White Rice 5% prices hit over 650 US Dollars per Metric Ton in 2024 and now hit 478. This indicates that the lack of fertilizer and liquid fuels reaching Asia are more the problem than weather.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
An inconvenient attitude
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 10, 2026
We come to bury RCP8.5 not to praise it
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 10, 2026
Biased Seth Borenstein (AP) Award Night
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, June 9, 2026
Confirmation bias is needed more than ever for a cause that is losing steam even among Left Progressives. Expect this and little more tonight at the National Press Club.
Dear Bloomberg: Trump Can Be Against Deforestation in the Amazon While Still Thinking Climate Change is Overblown
By Linnea Lueken, WUWT, June 11, 2026
Crackpot Christians Worried About GB News!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June10, 2026
From The Guardian:
“The co-owner of GB News, a British TV channel accused of broadcasting climate change denial, has donated £28m to influential Church of England institutions that support climate action.
This raises ‘serious questions’, say Christian leaders, given that Sir Paul Marshall’s views on the climate crisis and those frequently broadcast on the TV channel are ‘in direct opposition’ to the Church of England, which believes that ‘responding to the climate crisis is an essential part of our responsibility to safeguard God’s creation and achieve a just world’.”
From Homewood: The Guardian headline refers to “Christian leaders”. In fact, Operation Noah is nothing of the sort, it is just a small charity (their own description”), and do not reflect the policies and beliefs of the C of E.
They are just another climate lobby group, set up in 2004 “in response to the (so-called) climate crisis”.
No, New York Times, Climate Change Is Not Making Tennis Players Ill
By Linnea Lueken, Climate Realism, June 8, 2026
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
Sierra Club Floods the Climate Zone (alarmism or bust!)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, June 10, 2026
MasterResource previously announced the launch of “Climate Truth Tellers” by the Sierra Club to flood social media with comments on climate and energy issues from the alarmist, statist, Climate Industrial Complex perspective. “Climate disinformation is rampant on social media,” the project stated, “but the volunteers of Sierra Club’s Climate Truth Tellers team are fighting back by uplifting positive, fact-based posts.” The “trolls” (like me) must be winning!
About That Climate Emotions Study
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, June 11, 2026
Link to paper: Do climate emotions matter? Investigating their role in pro-environmental behavior
By Paula Blumenschein, et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology, August 2026
From abstract: Climate emotions are widespread affective responses to the progressing climate crisis. While mainly positive associations between pro-environmental behavior and selected emotions, such as climate anxiety or climate anger, have been observed, research following a multidimensional understanding of climate emotions is scarce. [Boldface added]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
How Climate Fear Took Over a Generation
19 Minute Video featuring Anika Sweetland, The Heartland Institute, Via WUWT, June 7, 2026
Massive Curriculum Changes Required for UK School Geography After Met Office Climate Projections Ruled “Implausible”
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, June 9, 2026
In a trawl of A-level physical geography textbook climate chapters, AI notes that statements are often made that draw on UKCP18. These include the 5°C warmer summer claim, wetter winters with 30% more rainfall and sea level rises of up to one metre by 2100 (current rise, three thousandths of a metre a year).
Communicating Better to the Public – Protest
Lawmakers Warn China May Be Fueling US Data Center Backlash as Local Bans Spread
Voters in a California city ban AI data center construction, plans for Utah data center shrinking over backlash, Seattle issues one-year prohibition on center construction.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, June 6, 2026
Women Climate Scientists Being Harassed, Insulted By Skeptics, Claims Berkeley Earth Researcher
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, June 9, 2026
According to Euronews, climate scientists are annoyed about what they call “targeted disinformation about heatwaves” on the Internet.
Questioning European Green
The Backlash Against Net Zero is Gathering Steam Across Europe
By Ben Pile, The Daily Sceptic, June 11, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
The then Labour government believed that the planet’s first ‘legally-binding’ emissions-reduction policy would lead the world, but there’s a catch. Laws can require emissions reduction, but they cannot compel the wind to blow or the sun to shine. If the rest of the world was watching Britain’s ‘leadership’, then what they have seen since 2008 is deindustrialization, GDP per capita stagnation and the democratic deficit widening into a traumatic repolarization of politics.
[SEPP Comment: The Yookay is a slang word used to refer to the United Kingdom, specifically to describe the multicultural British society which emerged as a result of migration in the country and to set it apart from the “traditional” British culture.]
Green Jobs
Miliband’s Green Jobs Mirage
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 8, 2026
So we are left looking at 113,200 jobs which can be directly linked to Net Zero.
…Most of these jobs only survive because of subsidies. Higher energy prices simply take spending power away from people, which reduces GDP in the rest of the economy.
The reality is that the number of jobs created in recent years in the Net Zero sector is tiny in comparison with the numbers lost through higher energy costs and Net Zero regulation.
Litigation Issues
What’s Up With The Endangerment Finding Litigation?
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, June 8, 2026
EPA and other Regulators on the March
Politico’s Climate News Site Shutters A Year After Gov’t Turned Off Taxpayer Spigot
By Ireland Owens, Daily Caller, June 8, 2028
Politico on Monday announced plans to shutter E&E News and introduce two new energy-focused newsletters in September, Semafor first reported. The move comes after Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in February 2025 that the agency “will not be renewing our membership with Politico and Politico E&E, saving the American taxpayers $458,919 per year.”
Two costly Endangered Species Act permitting boondoggles
By David Wojick, CFACT, June 11, 2026
For preparing the application, the claimed average labor is a mere 3 hours. This is undoubtedly very low because the application requires getting copies of a lot of documents, plus understanding the regulations, etc. But this is nothing compared to doing the HCP.
The official FWS applicant labor estimate for preparing the Habitat Conservation Plan is a staggering 2,080 hours. That is precisely a full person-year of work.
Trump opens up Pacific marine national monuments to commercial fishing
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, June 11, 2026
“We’re officially reopening nearly half a million square miles — wow — of water around [the] northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa,” he said, adding that the move would also lower seafood costs.
Energy Issues – General
Airline fuel costs jump 78 percent in past year amid war with Iran
By Max Rego, The Hill, June 8, 2026
Energy Issues – Europe
Euronews *Almost* Admits German Economic Problems are Caused by Energy Policy
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 10, 2026
The cynicism of the Secretary of State
By Andrew Montford, Net Zero Watch, June 10, 2026
Ed Miliband’s decision, announced towards the end of last year, to move three quarters of the cost of Renewables Obligation subsidies to general taxation was a move of profound political cynicism. In this post, I’ll try to explain why.
Miliband Wants To Cut Emissions by 74% by 2040
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 8, 2026
The cut of 87% is measured from 1990 levels, but in practical terms it means a reduction of 74% from current emissions.
Far from “continuing to reap the benefits of the clean energy transition”, as DESNZ claim, we all face a poorer, colder, more miserable future as a result of this plan.
Q&A: How UK’s seventh carbon budget will deliver ‘£865bn’ in economic benefits
By Simon Evans, Carbon Brief, June 3, 2026
The Labour government wants to cut UK greenhouse gas emissions to 87% below 1990 levels by 2040, which it says will deliver £865bn in economic benefits
It says that investing 1.2% of GDP in meeting the seventh carbon budget would not mean the UK’s GDP being 1.2% lower. On the contrary, it says the impact on GDP could be positive. It says:
“The investment in home-grown clean energy and electrification and the reduced reliance on fossil fuels has the potential to generate positive impacts on GDP over time.”
It goes on to compare this figure with the cost of the 2022 global energy crisis, which it says hit the economy by around 2-3% of GDP, including taxpayer-funded bill support of £42bn.
Citing recent analysis by the CCC and its own modelling, it says the seventh carbon budget would leave the economy around £90bn better off, if a fossil-fuel price shock were to hit again in 2040.
In addition, the assessment notes figures from the OBR, suggesting that climate damages resulting from global warming of 3C could wipe around 8% off UK GDP.
Notably, the government assessment of net abatement costs is significantly higher than the equivalent figure published by the CCC, of just 0.2% of GDP. It says this reflects two main factors.
First, the government’s reduced emphasis on behavior change, which as noted above results in a greater need for expensive CO2 removal technologies. Second, it says the CCC “expects a more rapid decline in the costs of technology” than the government assumes.
For example, whereas recent government analysis has assumed that EVs will never be cheaper to buy than petrol cars, the CCC assumes that “price parity” will be reached within a few years. In fact, the latest data indicates that EVs are already cheaper to buy than petrol cars, on average.
Energy Issues – Australia
New report shows renewables are a drag on our national productivity
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 12, 2026
From The Australian:
Australia’s falling productivity levels have been driven down by the replacement of coal-fired power plants with billions of dollars in renewable energy projects, the Productivity Commission has declared, as it warns governments to make only the most efficient, cost-effective investments.
The Craziest eco laws against Farmers. Let’s check that science
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 6, 2026
Below is the craziest environmental rule Peter Ridd has come across, and below that, a strategy to deal with it.
For some reason no one can explain, the catchments for the Burnett and Mary rivers are included in the Great Barrier Reef protection legislation. These rivers don’t even flow into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, they empty to the south of it and get swept away by the giant East Australian Current which heads south away from the reef.
The amount of water moving there is so vast that the entire annual flow of the Burnett and Mary Rivers passes in just two minutes.
Aussie Renewable Turning Point or Imminent Economic Contraction?
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 6, 2026
Now greens have started celebrating Australia in the same way they used to celebrate Cuba, lets just say this doesn’t fill me with confidence about the economic future of my country.
Well, how convenient. AI data centers have arrived to be the fall guy for the Energy Minister
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 10, 2026
If the grid breaks, remember it’s all AI’s fault!
New data centers in Australia may use as much as 6% of the electricity demand by 2030. (That’s a whole six percent increase in demand four years from now. Call the ambulance, eh!).
Energy Issues — US
America’s Energy Future Is Being Decided in Obscure Utility Commission Races
By Elizabeth Gianini, Real Clear Energy, June 11, 2026
These regulatory bodies decide how electricity is generated, how transmission infrastructure is built, how quickly power plants retire, how new resources are integrated into the grid, and ultimately how much Americans pay for electricity and whether the lights stay on when the system is under stress.
What makes this debate so misleading is that activists frame it as a choice between renewable energy and the dispatchable generation still required to keep the grid reliable, affordable, and resilient.
It is not.
Many radical climate activists have shifted their messaging from climate targets to affordability. Affordable electricity means very little if policymakers sacrifice reliability in pursuit of political timelines.
Policymakers Have a Decision to Make: What Will the Cost of Energy Be for American Families?
By Karen Harbert, Real Clear Energy, June 08, 2026
Implications of the Quarter 2 2026 RGGI Auction
By Roger Caiazza, WUWT, June 9, 2025
I believe that RGGI now poses unacceptable affordability and reliability risks and needs immediate, fundamental revision. The RGGI states must acknowledge the enormity of the risks and engage regulators, system operators, and state lawmakers to consider substantive changes rather than the incremental tinkering contemplated in recent RGGI communications.
Everyone Wants Affordable Energy. Nobody Wants to Cut the Ribbon.
By Gordon Tomb, WUWT, June 12, 2026
In the Texas Permian Basin, where natural gas is a byproduct of oil-well drilling, the price of gas sometimes is driven so low by the pipeline shortage that producers must pay to have it taken away.
Electricity prices in New England are 55 percent higher than Pennsylvania’s thanks to limited access to natural gas. However, affordability issues are softening northeast governors who have long opposed pipelines.
[SEPP Comment: Yet the politicians in Virginia joined the high energy price states under the claim of affordability.]
Meet the Six States Celebrating America 250 by Raising Your Gas Tax
By Larry Behrens, Real Clear Energy, June 09, 2026
Beginning July 1, drivers in California, Washington, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, and Mississippi are scheduled to see higher state gas taxes.
For U.S. Security, Opposition to Data Centers Must Give Way to the Realities of the New World
By Gary Abernathy, Real Clear Energy, June 09, 2026
Data Centers Are Not Driving Up Your Electric Bill
By Shon R. Hiatt, Real Clear Energy, June 08, 2026
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Water, Water Everywhere: Maximizing Oil Field Produced Water Use in West Texas
By Scott W. Tinker, Real Clear Energy, June 09, 2026
Return of King Coal?
Global coal investment reaches 14-year high
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 6, 2026
As I commented at the time, like it or not, the world still needs coal. The demand that Asia, in particular, would give it up and return to their peasant lifestyles of the past was not only absurd but contemptible.
Coal Power and National Security
By Andrew Montford, Net Zero Watch, June 9, 2026
Link to paper: Thinking the Unthinkable: Coal Power and National Security
By Andrew Montford, Net Zero Watch, June 9, 2026
In this paper, Net Zero Watch director Andrew Montford considers the UK’s looming firm generation capacity crisis and the difficulties of obtaining replacement gas-turbines and asks whether it is now necessary to think the unthinkable, and return to coal-fired power.
Nuclear Energy and Fears
U.S. Nuclear Acceleration Effort Hits Milestone with Antares Criticality Test
The first time in roughly four decades that a privately developed, non‑light‑water advanced reactor has gone critical in the U.S.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, June 8, 2026
At Idaho National Laboratory, Antares Nuclear’s Mark-0 microreactor achieved zero-power criticality under the Department of Energy (DOE) Reactor Pilot Program (RPP), becoming the first advanced reactor to meet the ambitious July 4, 2026, deadline set by President Trump’s 2025 executive order to accelerate next-generation nuclear deployment.
This milestone, while not yet producing electricity, confirms the reactor’s core physics and safety behavior in the real world, not just in modeling, and sets the stage for operational microreactors expected as early as 2027.
[SEPP Comment: A microreactor may produce 1 to 20 megawatts of electricity; a small modular reactor may produce 20 to 300 megawatts. The USS Nautilus produced 10 megawatts.]
Africa’s nuclear future is small (modular reactors)
By Duggan Flanakin, CFACT, June 12, 2026
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Analysis: Solar overtakes gas power in Asia for first time ever
By Multiple Authors, Carbon Brief, June12, 2026
Link to Ember report: Global Electricity Review 2026
By Nicolas Fulghum, et al., Ember, April 21, 2026
Safety fears raised over plug-in solar
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 8, 2026
It is worth remembering that Miliband’s decision to roll these plug-in panels out did not make them legal – they already were. It was to allow them to be installed without a qualified electrician.
Which is precisely why the electrical standards people are ringing the alarm bells now.
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Storage
Bonfires of the Batteries
By Richard Ellenbogen, WUWT, June 9, 2026
When the May 31 paper was written, I had no knowledge of the East Hamton lawsuit and the “hazardous plume” was only a theoretical, if highly likely, outcome of a BESS Fire. Unfortunately, for the people of Suffolk County, the highly likely outcome is now their reality, and government agencies are apparently trying to suppress the truth by silencing first responders that fought the fire.
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Miliband’s New Net Zero EV Targets Are Not Credible, Warn Carmakers
By Will Jones, The Daily Sceptic, June 6, 2026
Ed Miliband’s new Net Zero targets requiring the tripling of electric vehicle sales in just three years are not credible, carmakers have warned.
The seventh carbon budget, backed by Miliband on Tuesday, sets a target to reduce Britain’s total emissions by 87%, compared with 1990 levels, by 2040. It is based on modelling by the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC).
Canadian Wins “Lemon Law” Right to Return an EV Wrecked by Winter Temperatures
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 7, 2026
According to the report, EV company lawyers unsuccessfully argued the vehicle was never meant to be parked outside in winter.
From Worrall: A word of caution – I haven’t found official records corroborating this story. Usually in cases like this I like to present a link to the court case or whatever. I don’t know what public records are available in arbitration cases, so there might not be any records to find, or the story could be a fabrication.
[SEPP Comment: Similar stories appeared in autoblog.com and Breitbart.]
Carbon Schemes
Drat that carbon
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 10, 2026
As we warned, various magical proposals to make carbon go away so we could have our economies and eat them too are not working out.
Carbon capture capers
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 10, 2026
It bears repeating that if climate change is the existential crisis the Al Gore’s and pre-jihadi Greta Thunbergs of this world tell us, we probably have to expect massive harm to our well-being from abandoning fossil fuels. If. But what’s the evidence that it is?
Oh Mann!
Michael Mann Celebrates China’s “Hub of Technological Innovation” Forced Labor Green Economy
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 8, 2026
Other Scientific News
Beginnings of the 1957/1958 International Geophysical Year
By Ronan Connolly, His Post, Accessed June 10, 2026
On that evening Loyd Berkner, Sydney Chapman, J. Wallace Joyce, Ernest Vestine, and S. Fred Singer were hosted by the Van Allens and they decided that it was time for the international scientific community to properly start monitoring the Earth.
Other News that May Be of Interest
ISS Leak Scare Underscores Why NASA Is Ready to Send the Aging Outpost to a Fiery End
Five astronauts ordered to take shelter and prepare for evacuation for roughly two hours as Russian crew attempted to fix a crack on its portion of the orbital laboratory,
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, June 9, 2026
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Here Comes the Super Mega Ultimate Hyper Giga Godzilla El Niño
Charles Rotter, WUWT, June 10, 2026
Sainsbury’s ditches brown eggs in net zero drive
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 6, 2026
Poultry Farmer Debunks Sainsbury’s Brown Egg Ban
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 12, 2026
[SEPP Comment: See link immediately above.]
ARTICLES
1. Climate Standard Setter SBTi Sets New Rules for Companies Seeking Net Zero
Carbon removals and environmental credits will now be considered in decarbonization efforts
By Yusuf Khan, WSJ, June 11, 2026
TWTW Summary: The article begins with:
“The world’s leading corporate climate standard-setting group will allow companies to count purchased environmental credits in their carbon footprint calculations, as part of new rules it says are aimed at acknowledging the difficulty in eliminating certain emissions.
The Science Based Targets initiative said it has made ‘an explicit choice to recognize that companies do not control everything, and that pretending otherwise does not serve anyone,’ in its long-awaited update to its corporate net-zero rulebook.
The new rules are ‘built on a best-efforts framework,’ the U.K.-based nonprofit said. ‘The expectation is clear: Set targets based on science accompanied by reasonable implementation plans, deploy every lever within your control, be transparent about where barriers have limited what was possible, and demonstrate what you are doing to address those barriers over time.’
Up until now, the SBTi has said companies should focus on decarbonization within their own supply chain—by using renewable electricity on site to power their operations, for example. Market-based mitigation efforts, such as the purchase of sustainable-aviation-fuel credits to offset emissions, are actions outside the supply chain of a company. Such efforts weren’t previously allowed to be counted in calculations toward reaching SBTi-approved climate targets. Now, such methods can be considered core to a company’s net-zero strategy.
Companies also will be allowed to use carbon-removal technologies, which could include direct air capture or reforestation credits, to help achieve carbon neutrality when faced with emissions that are impossible or nearly impossible to eliminate. This rule will only come into effect from 2035 to cover the last remaining emissions after all other steps have been taken.
SBTi’s chief executive, David Kennedy, said the new standard remains science-based but can work with a company’s overarching goals and be implemented as part of strategy. ‘It reflects opportunities and challenges that companies have, and it’s got a focus on implementation, and it reframes the corporate transition as a continuous improvement journey,’ he said.
Kennedy said physical decarbonization remains the key focus, and companies should do everything in their power to lower emissions.”
TWTW Comment: There is no physical science basis for claiming that decarbonization is needed.
