Payal Parekh's blog

A new study appeared in the scientific journal Environmental Science and Technology that has documented significant methane emissions from a temperate hydropower reservoir in Switzerland.  The field and modeling study found that the 90-year-old Wohlen See reservoir in central Switzerland is a very significant source of methane, almost entirely due to bubbling sediments. The total methane emission from Lake Wohlen was on average > 150 mg methane m²/day, the highest ever documented for a midlatitude reservoir.
 

While there has been a lot of attention on whether Washington will pass climate legislation soon, the state of California did back in 2006. Assembly Bill 32 (A.B. 32) requires greenhouse gas emissions to return to 1990 levels by 2020 in the state. This target is much weaker than what climate science  calls for, but it is a start and the bill does have some good provisions in it.  For example, the bill focuses on policy measures to achieve the  majority of the reductions, such as clean energy, clean transportation and efficiency standards.  Market-based cap and trade is only responsible for 20% of reductions.

Investigative reporter Mark Schapiro's most recent article, "Conning the Climate" provides an inside look into how Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects are validated and verified, as well as the many problems that arise.

(Florencio Quintero)Yet again a project by AES, one of the world's largest power companies, didn't manage to make it past the validation stage in the CDM approval process. International Rivers is very pleased, as this project, the Changuinola Dam in Panama, is particularly damaging.  The project is located in the buffer zone for the La Amistad UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and has resulted in the forcible displacement of 1,000 Ngobe people. If this project would have been registered, it would have legitimized a project rife with social and environmental abuses. The fact that this project is being built without receiving any income from the CDM shows that it is clearly not additional  (see the extensive comments submitted to the CDM from International Rivers and  others).

Demands for Climate Justice (Ben Powless)

The disappointing conclusion of the climate negotiations in Copenhagen reinforced how little rich countries, which have caused climate change, are willing to do to ameliorate its impacts and limit warming. Essentially the United States cut a deal with a handful of nations and then shoved this deal down the rest of the world's throat. Even during President Obama's press conference, he admitted that it wasn't legally binding and that it wasn't enough to limit warming to under 2 degrees Celsius (we should note that over 100 countries are calling to limit warming to under 1.5 degrees).

Here in Copenhagen, a lot of the discussion has been around the lack of ambition coming from developed countries.  There has been little discussion of long-term finance to meet the mitigation and adaptation needs of developing countries. With regards to the emission reduction targets, they are adding up to a mere 11-17% below 1990 levels, despite the fact that the most recent science is calling for emission reductions of at least 40% below 1990 by developed countries. A leaked draft of a document prepared by the UNFCCC secretariat found that the current pledges commits the world to a 3 degree warming. It also found that developing countries will actually reduce emissions more than developed countries!

At the Bella Center, home of the COP15 negotiations (http//:www.international-club-copenhagen.blogspot.com/)

It's halftime at the climate negotiations in Copenhagen. Thus it is a good opportunity to analyze what happened last week and discuss what we can expect in the coming week, with a focus on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and new proposed trading schemes.

The big story of the first two days at the climate negotiations in Copenhagen has been the leaked Danish text. It is a secretly negotiated draft agreement that only a few countries had a hand in drafting, including Denmark and the United States. Developing countries are up in arms, as it serves the interest of developed countries. 

Creators of the “Story of Stuff” released a great video entitled the “Story of Cap and Trade.” It takes a critical look at this market-based mechanism, which is incorrectly touted as the solution to climate change.

Cap and trade schemes are based on setting a limit to pollution. Allowances to pollute are distributed to industries. At the end of the year, industries must turn in pollution allowances equivalent to the amount they polluted. Those that polluted more than the number of allowances they received at the start of the year can purchase additional allowances from entities that polluted less (where the trade comes in). It sounds reasonable enough, but the devil is in the details. The caps are often set too high due to industry pressure, allowances are given away rather than auctioned, and they include a major loophole, offsets.  The use of offsets allow polluters to emit above the cap!

3Gorges Reservoir Sat (The Three Gorges Dam during construction viewed from a satellite in July 2003. Photo © European Space Agency (http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id)

A new study that appeared in the Journal of Geophysical Research found that marshes created by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam emitted methane, a greenhouse gas twenty five times more potent than carbon dioxide. The emissions potential of created marshes hadn't been investigated until then.