Until recently, China and India have been cast as obstacles, at the very least reluctant conscripts, in the battle against climate change. That reputation looks very much out-of-date now that both countries have greatly accelerated their investments in cost-effective renewable energy sources — and reduced their reliance on fossil fuels. It’s America — Donald Trump’s America — that now looks like the laggard. According to research released last week at a United Nations climate meeting in Germany, China and India should easily exceed the targets they set for themselves in the 2015 Paris Agreement signed by more than 190 countries. China’s emissions of carbon dioxide appear to have peaked more than 10 years sooner than its government had said they would. And India is now expected to obtain 40 percent of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2022, eight years ahead of schedule. Every one of the Paris signatories will have to reduce emissions to ward off the worst consequences of global warming — devastating droughts, melting glaciers and unstoppable sea level rise. But the tangible progress by the world’s number one producer of greenhouse gases (China) and its number three (India) are astonishing nonetheless, and worth celebrating. There is also a lesson here for the United States. Piece by piece, agency by agency, the Trump administration seems determined to destroy or undermine every initiative on which President Obama based his pledge in Paris to substantially reduce America’s greenhouse gases: his plan to close old, coal-fired power plants, his proposals to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas wells, his mandates for more fuel-efficient vehicles. The excuse given in every case is that these rules would cost jobs and damage the economy — the same bogus argument once used by Vice President Dick Cheney to persuade President George W. Bush to renege on his campaign promise to combat global warming. China and India are finding that doing right by the planet need not carry a big economic cost and can actually be beneficial. By investing heavily in solar and wind, they and others like Germany have helped drive down the cost of those technologies to a point where, in many places, renewable sources can generate electricity more cheaply than dirtier sources of energy like coal. In a recent auction in India, developers of solar farms offered to sell electricity to the grid for 2.44 rupees per kilowatt-hour (or 3.79 cents). That is about 50 percent less than what solar farms bid a year earlier and about 24 percent less than the average price for energy generated by coal-fired power plants. The shift from fossil fuels has thus been much faster and more pronounced than most experts expected. China has reduced coal use for three years in a row and recently scrapped plans to build more than 100 coal power plants. Indian officials have estimated that country might no longer need to build new coal plants beyond those that are already under construction. One other heartening fact: Electric vehicle sales in China jumped 70 percent last year, thanks in large part to generous government incentives. India is much further behind in this area, but the country’s minister of power said last month that all cars sold in the country should be electric by 2030. China and India’s enthusiasm for cleaner energy arises in part from a wish to reduce the terrible air pollution that afflicts cities like Beijing and New Delhi; any move away from coal would make a big difference in public health. Investments in cutting-edge energy and transportation technologies would also bolster the economy as a whole. There are, of course, formidable challenges, not least developing batteries to store the excess electricity generated by solar farms on sunny days and wind farms on windy days. And there are emissions from industry and agriculture to worry about. Still, Beijing and New Delhi — not, embarrassingly enough, Washington — are showing the way forward. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/...-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0
Oil Giant Shell Warns U.S. Not To Withdraw From Paris Accord On Climate “I cannot see where the upside is,” Royal Dutch Shell CEO says. Royal Dutch Shell has issued its starkest warning yet to the Trump administration to not pull out of the Paris Agreement addressing climate change. The Anglo-Dutch oil behemoth said withdrawing from the historic 2015 deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions “would be unhelpful on a number of fronts,” sacrificing diplomatic leverage in international trade deals and impeding U.S. companies. “What I think would happen as a consequence of [withdrawal] is that the U.S. would weaken its own hand by basically uninviting itself from a number of [negotiating] tables,” Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told the Financial Times in an interview published Monday morning. President Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail to “cancel” the pact, signed by all but two countries. The White House is split on whether to move ahead with that promise, but sources told HuffPost earlier this month he is leaning toward withdrawal. He could announce a decision by next month, after the conclusion of a G7 summit of the world’s most industrialized democracies. U.S. departure from the Paris Agreement would weaken the accord, despite pledges by other countries, including China, to forge ahead, van Beurden said. “The U.S. has a major crop of companies that deliver technologies that are going to be relevant in the energy transition, and one way or another they will also find themselves probably more disadvantaged than advantaged by the U.S. pulling out” of the agreement, he said. “So I cannot see where the upside is.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...4b094cdba55ba51?c6p&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
We should do what big oil says. What's good for Shell is good for the world. Do it Shell's way and no one gets hurt. We're going to build a pipeline and China and India will pay for it. Finally, Trump has brought both sides together and unified them.
What is your position on the opposite trends depicted in two search returns above? What results would you expect for each of the two approaches?
Ricter said: Things have changed since 2017, Q: what's the point? A: The point is to elicit a response from informed individuals. If you fit that profile, then please respond. If not, then you could start with responses to the following questions. Does that make sense Richter? What is your position on the opposite trends depicted in two search returns above? What results would you expect for each of the two approaches?
You just a big bundle of nothing, Richter. LOL If you got nothing, why not just admit it and step aside sonny boy?