Is peak oil good news or bad news? Much depends on your perspective. The gloomier prognostications about peak oil – living in a world where oil supplies are limited and expensive – suggest that it will be a bigger problem than climate change, and arrive sooner. On the other hand, if we’re forced to cut back on our usage of oil and gas as fuel for energy and transport, we might have a better chance of stabilising atmospheric carbon dioxide at levels low enough to limit the damage from climate change. The IPCC’s high-end scenarios typically assume that there’s plenty of fossil fuel – coal, oil and gas – to get us to double pre-industrial concentrations and beyond. What happens if the oil runs out?
Tag: carbon
$275 million for carbon farming in NZ
According to the Herald, Credit Suisse and Sustainable Forestry Management (SFM), a London-based ethical investment fund, have got US$200 million to invest in permanent forests in New Zealand. They want to farm carbon:
“We have the equity capital lined up,
Carbon up, and not going away
From the department of bad news: global carbon dioxide emissions are speeding up, and one of the world’s largest natural carbon-absorbing sinks, the ocean to the south of New Zealand, is showing signs of becoming saturated.
National sets climate goal: 50 in 50
As outlined by Colin James last week, John Key has announced that National will now support Kyoto, and legislate to achieve a 50 percent cut in emissions by 2050. Speaking at National’s Northern Regional Conference in Whangarei, Key said:
“I will set the achievable emission reduction target for New Zealand. Here it is: A 50 percent reduction in carbon-equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. In shorthand: A 50 percent cut by 2050. 50 by 50. If I am Prime Minister of New Zealand I will write this target into law.
NZ emissions increase
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 2.8% to 77.2m tonnes CO2e in 2005, mainly due to an increase in the proportion of thermal power generation in a dry year for hydro, according to the Ministry For The Environment. Details here, and NZ Herald story here.
The Herald points out the obvious:
In 2005 emissions were 24.7 per cent above the levels of 1990, and Treasury has estimated that at the end of February New Zealand’s liability under Kyoto was $567 million. The National Party claims the figure is actually closer to $1.8 billion.
The figures don’t (yet) include any information on how our carbon sinks performed, or any projection for the 2008-2012 Kyoto commitment period, when we either meet our target (100 percent of 1990 emissions) or buy credits. The government estimated in 2005 that we’ll overshoot our target by 36.2m tonnes over the five years. With the current EU trading price at about $37 per tonne, the cost of covering those emissions would be $1.34bn. Not quite what National (and the Greens, to be fair) were suggesting, but still a lot more than the government is admitting to.