Willie Soon* and David R. Legates**
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Towards a Global Carbon Regulatory Trading Scheme
In December 2009, lawmakers and representatives from around the world, along with scientists, numerous journalists, and various celebrities flew to Copenhagen, Denmark. For the most part, their goal was to promote a regulatory scheme aimed at controlling human carbon emissions by declaring the element a tradable commodity and establishing laws and regulations to govern the trade.
The proposed regulations were premised on the flawed notion, articulated by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),[1] that increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations will change climate dramatically and thereby cause major ecological and economic damage.
While many scientists, including us, have observed some changes in climate, the hypothesized dangerous consequences of rising atmospheric CO2 are too speculative for responsible regulatory policy. In analyzing climate policy, decision makers should be cognizant of three key considerations regarding the impact of projected rises in atmospheric CO2: (1) policy choices likely will have no measurable effect on the occurrence of severe weather; (2) positive effects on ecosystems and biodiversity are likely and should be weighed against the negatives; and (3) carbon trading schemes (such as the one touted in Copenhagen) are unlikely to lead to a reduction in atmospheric CO2.
Given these considerations, policy makers must carefully consider their objectives and the potential impacts, both positive and negative, of carbon emission control. If climate change regulation proceeds unchecked, it will likely produce policy that is out of touch with both the real world and objective science and will likely impose large costs on society that benefit only a small cadre of “climate entrepreneurs” and provide no meaningful effect on the Earth’s climate.
Consideration #1: Policy Makers Must Judge Humanity’s Ability to Control Global and Regional Climate Change.
It is true that a plethora of researchers have studied changing patterns in local, regional, and global temperatures, as well as rainfall, animal and plant life, and sea levels, and that many have drawn the conclusion that rising greenhouse gases (GHGs) are, to some degree, to blame for observed and/or forecasted changes in the climate. Policy makers, however, should not jump to conclusions. They have a responsibility to carefully consider the limitations of these studies and the impacts of factors other than manmade CO2. It would be wrong to attribute all observed impacts to climate change—even more so to GHGs—and even further to levels which could be controlled by humans. Herein lies our first consideration for policy makers: that rising atmospheric CO2 will not produce adverse weather and changes to climate beyond what will occur due to natural variation.
Policy makers should consider that the IPCC’s assumptions regarding future harm from rising atmospheric CO2 are contradicted by evidence, especially recent data that suggests the “global warming” narrative of climate change is seriously flawed. For example, the latest global temperature and ocean heat-content data[2] are both at odds with the claims of disastrous consequences. While researchers often select time periods to support their dangerous-warming hypothesis, it is now apparent that forecasts of continued surface and atmospheric warming and oceanic heat accumulation have been at odds with the observations for the last decade.[3] Similarly, computer modelers are having difficulty explaining the significant discrepancies between the increases in ocean heat content predicted on the basis of the dangerous CO2 hypothesis, and the observed ocean heat content data.[4]
Similar caution should be exercised when determining whether causes other than GHGs may be responsible for observed effects. Arctic temperature data from coastal stations in Greenland and averages over the Arctic Pacific, North Atlantic, Greenland-Iceland, and the entire circum-Arctic are noted to be at odds with this dangerous manmade warming hypothesis.[5] Such data indicates abrupt warming and cooling every few decades that fit well with natural fluctuations in solar activity.[6] By contrast, the steady rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the past century, including especially the last fifty years, does not explain the variability in surface temperatures in and around the Arctic, further suggesting that the effect may be caused by something other than GHGs.[7] Similarly, evidence of warming in cities has indicated that warming and hydrological changes result directly from the “heat island effect” of urbanization and changing landscape cover, rather than from atmospheric CO2 concentration.[8] Consequentially, policy makers would be wise to also consider alternative causes for the observed effects.
While some researchers, including us, argue that factors other than GHGs are responsible for observed climate changes, many do not. Policy makers need not accept either camp’s findings, but should be aware of these alternative views and give them due consideration when making their decisions.
Policy makers also need to reconcile scientists’ failure to find a CO2 greenhouse-warming signal despite extensive and objective scouring of climate records from around the globe over the last century.[9] We and other scientists have reached a very simple conclusion: atmospheric CO2 is not an important driver of weather and climate.[10] This hypothesis lies in very sharp contrast to the speculations from computer climate models, which are predicated on a strong relationship between atmospheric CO2 and air temperature.[11] Such findings indicate that simulated computer modeling may be inherently limited in its ability to make accurate predictions regarding a system as complex as the global climate. This is not to suggest that computer research is a trivial pursuit; but rather, that it is not developed enough to generate reliable prognoses for policy making.
Policy makers owe it to their constituents to make informed decisions weighing all of the observed climate data rather than relying on outputs from the artificial worlds of computer climate models.
Consideration #2: Policy Makers Must Weigh Both Potential Benefits and Potential Costs of a Changing Climate.
Commentators and political activists often negatively characterize climate change as an unnatural process that is bound only to bring disaster. Unfortunately, some of these characterizations have become embodied in law through judicial decisions and legislative actions, which have caused a misunderstanding about the nature of climate change.[12] To avoid these shortcomings in the next round of climate change action, reasonable policy makers should reject the notion that a changing climate is completely one-sided. Instead, they should use the best scientific data available to weigh the potential positive effects of climate change against the negative effects and costs of policy intervention to determine which course of action to take. Thus, in evaluating the chemical and biological influences of rising atmospheric CO2, special attention should be paid to our second consideration for policy makers: that the negative effects on ecosystems and biodiversity of increases in atmospheric CO2 must be properly weighed against the benefits.
Policy makers must be careful to avoid the mistakes of turning scientifically inaccurate definitions into laws and regulations. In 2007, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court held that greenhouse gases fit within the Clean Air Act’s capacious definition of “air pollutant,”[13] creating a legal definition that does not match the science. Rather than being an “air pollutant,” atmospheric CO2 is the basic building block for all photosynthetic organisms: green plants, fresh- and ocean-water algae and photosynthetic bacteria.[14] It forms the basis of most food chains and is vital t o biological life. Legal definitions at odds with science make it difficult to enact sensible policy.
Imprecise language can also lead to exaggerations about the potential dangers of CO2 that could cause policy makers to misjudge the urgency of the situation. For example, today’s level of atmospheric CO2—about 390 ppm (0.039 percent or the equivalent of about four cents in $100)—is not “dangerously high” from the perspective of photosynthetic organisms.[15] In fact, 390 ppm is far below the nutrient saturation level for these organisms and below the optimal level for growth.[16] This means more CO2 could enhance some critical ecosystems; yet few scientists, politicians, or “climate entrepreneurs” consider the positive benefits to these plants under elevated CO2 levels. Furthermore, some marine organisms may actually grow better and be more productive as a result of ocean acidification caused by dissolving CO2 in seawater.[17] As a consequence, some of the fast biological responses—most likely involving the positive synergistic interactions among changes in temperature, solar radiation, and bicarbonate—are likely to stimulate marine life and food production in the world’s oceans. Biologist and oceanographer Dr. Debora Iglesias-Rodriguez, summarized her findings on this topic this way:
Increased CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere is causing some microscopic ocean plants to produce greater amounts of calcium carbonate—with potentially wide-ranging implications for predicting the cycling of carbon in the oceans and global climate modeling. . . . Our research has also revealed that, over the past 220 years, [single-celled algae and phytoplankton] have increased the mass of calcium carbonate they each produce by around 40 percent. These results are in agreement with previous observations that [single-celled algae and phytoplankton] are abundant throughout past periods of ocean acidification, such as that which occurred roughly 55 million years ago.[18]
An examination of the procedures used in studies that come to contrary findings regarding the effects of CO2 on marine organisms[19] reveals that they have inappropriately claimed to examine the ocean acidification issue by adding hydrochloric acid to seawater, rather than taking the trouble to bubble CO2 through the water to more faithfully simulate natural conditions. The former procedure of adding acids or bases directly to the water bypasses the key involvement of CO2 with the carbonate and bicarbonate geochemical cycling in the ocean, which is why it generates an opposite conclusion from studies that properly bubble CO2 through water. It is clear that there will be both losers and winners in relation to ocean acidification; as such, relying exclusively on negative effects would be a poor recipe for a well-informed policy making.[20]
Recently, some ecologists and geologists have cautioned about the dangers of carbon myopia—of seeing and examining only the alleged dangers of rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere while ignoring the potential harmful effects of managing for CO2. Moreover, Putz and Redford cautioned that carbon-based conservation can be bad for biodiversity and harmful to both plants and animals.[21] They note that carbon-based discrimination will adversely affect non-arboreal plants, result in shorter tree species, and put non-forested ecosystems at risk[22] and that “tree planting among carbon investors could create perverse incentives leading to major biodiversity losses.”[23]
Apart from a few species required for pollination and seed dispersal, “most vertebrates and invertebrates are superfluous, if not nuisances, in forests managed for carbon,” Putz and Redford conclude.[24] That means incentives to sustain and preserve those species will be limited, if not actually prove detrimental, when policy makers focus exclusively on reducing atmospheric CO2.
Clearly, there will be winners and losers in a changing climate, but policy makers must weigh the costs of the negatives (with the costs of trying to maintain status quo) against the positives. Not all biological, chemical, and ecological responses to rising atmospheric CO2 portend doom and gloom. Policy makers should focus their discussions on balancing the pros and cons, rather than pursuing a one-sided strategy of CO2 reduction.
Consideration #3: Policy Makers Must Recognize the Possibility that Carbon Trading Schemes May Not Lead to a Reduction in Atmospheric CO2.
Recent failures of carbon emission trading, both in the Chicago Climate Exchange and in the E.U. Emission Trading Market, confirm the simple but harsh reality that carbon trading is an artificial and unworkable system that will likely cause more harm than good, since there are simply too many potential cheaters, too many opportunities to cheat and get away with it, and too many opportunities to make big profits by cheating. Professor Roger Pielke Jr. has critically remarked that “very complex policies full of accounting tricks, political pork and policy misdirection”[25] are now being devised to create the false promise of an international climate-solution. Even Science magazine reluctantly agreed on October 23, 2009 that:
The accounting now used for assessing compliance with carbon limits in the Kyoto Protocol and in climate legislation contains a far-reaching but fixable flaw that will severely undermine greenhouse reduction goals. . . . For example, the clearing of long-established forests to burn wood or to grow energy crops is counted as 100 percent reduction in energy emissions, despite causing large releases of carbon.[26]
This leads to our third consideration for policy makers: that carbon trading will not lead directly to a reduction in atmospheric CO2.
There is a dangerous paralysis creeping into our modern era as a consequence of unscientific carbon myopia. This paralysis is illustrated by the nightmare of carbon budget accounting, where the
offset of carbon dioxide emissions can be achieved through additional storage and protection of carbon pools located in human settlements. Human settlements store carbon in natural pools such as vegetation and soil as well as in anthropogenic pools. Anthropogenic carbon pools encompass buildings, printed materials, landfills, clothing and living organisms.[27]
Those who have not followed the trading price of carbon emissions at the Chicago Climate Exchange will be intrigued to learn that carbon began trading at the modest price of $1 per metric ton in January 2004. [28] Prices then fluctuated wildly, reaching a peak value of $7 per metric ton in May/June 2008.[29] However, as public interest waned (most likely due, in part, to a lack of correlation between the extreme scenarios that have been posited and observations in the real world), the trading price of carbon emissions fluctuated around a low of $0.10–0.20 per metric ton between October and December of 2009.[30]
An initial investor in carbon emission reductions back in January 2004 has now lost 90 percent of his or her original investment on what has amounted to a tax on a gaseous atmospheric component that is essential for all life—and on the hydrocarbon energy that powers 85 percent of the U.S. economy. Speculators who entered the carbon market on May 30, 2008 have lost 98.6 percent of their investments.
In a similar fashion, trading at the E.U. Emission Trading Market has collapsed. Trading peaked around €30 in April 2006, dropped to less than €1in February 2007, and eventually reached €0.03 in December 2007[31]—a fall to 0.1 percent of its peak value. Ironically, at least part of the reason for the fall was that too many carbon emission credits were allocated relative to actual emissions. Moreover, E.U. emissions have actually increased over the same time period—by 10–54 percent in some countries—during this first phase of the E.U. carbon trading experiment.[32] For example, emissions as of the end of 2007 for both Greece and Ireland were 25 percent above their 1990 levels; Portugal’s emissions were 38 percent above and Spain’s were 54 percent above.[33] These, of course, are the very outcomes that carbon trading was supposed to prevent.
The second phase of E.U. trading also is not promising, as new hurdles and questions have arisen. This is exemplified by the September 2009 decision of the European Court ruling against the European Commission’s plan to cut emission quotas for Poland and Estonia. The court held that the two countries could not be compelled against their will to abide by lower emission quotas imposed by the European Commission subsequent to the acceptance of the Kyoto Protocol.[34]
As further proof of the disconnect between the world imagined by the politicians and scientists who rushed to Copenhagen and the real world in which we live, the Australian government is proposing to trade carbon under its own emission trading scheme, at a set price of A$10 per ton per year, until July 2012, at which time the cost and price will be dictated by market forces.[35] We are willing to bet that its value will be much less than A$10 by December 2012 if a free market is allowed to prevail.
Given the problems associated with carbon trading systems—namely the potential and opportunity for cheating to occur and the precipitous drop in value that has been observed in carbon credits—policymakers should carefully consider the negatives before enacting carbon trading systems.
Conclusion
Prudent policy makers should not get swept up by the shortsightedness of the alarmist media coverage of human-induced global warming. Rather, given the potential costs and impacts, they should be suspicious that advocates have subverted science to further their own causes.[36] Understandably the extent of uncertainty regarding the role and impact of rising atmospheric CO2 may come as a shock to those swept up by the fanaticism. Given the uncertainty involved, policy makers should consider the scientific data carefully.
Decision makers should consider the following questions: Do we really want a future based on the grievous misunderstanding engendered by carbon myopia? Can humanity really afford to ignore the real harm that would be caused by adhering to these fallacies about carbon? We must have the courage to stand against climate alarmism and stand for rational stewardship and for reliable, affordable energy. We urge political leaders of the world to do the right thing and to reject any deal that would tax or restrict carbon emissions. Only in that way can they protect the jobs, health, welfare, economic opportunities, environmental quality, living standards, and civil rights that depend so critically on hydrocarbon energy.
* Dr. Soon is an astrophysicist at the Solar, Stellar and Planetary Sciences Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Dr. Soon has written and lectured extensively on issues related to the sun and other stars and climate. The views expressed by Willie Soon are strictly his and do not necessarily reflect those of Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution, or the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
** Dr. Legates is an Associate Professor at the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware and his views are given as a university faculty member under academic freedom rights. He also serves as the Delaware State Climatologist.
[1] See, e.g., Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis (Susan Solomon et al., eds. 2007).
[2] The phrase “global temperature” and “heat” are used here in laymen sense rather than in the correct manner as properly founded in physics.
[3] See, e.g., Kevin E. Trenberth, An Imperative for Climate Change Planning: Tracking Earth's Global Energy, 1 Current Opinion in Envtl. Sustainability 19 (2009); see also Willie Soon & David Legates, Answering 3 Simple Questions, Quadrant Online, Aug. 3, 2009, at fig.1(plotting Hadley Centre/UEA air temperature data from 1995 to 2009 and atmospheric CO2).
[4] See Josh K. Willis et al., In Situ Data Biases and Recent Ocean Heat Content Variability, 26 J. Atmospheric & Oceanic Tech. 846, fig.4 (2009); David H. Douglass & Robert S. Knox, Ocean Heat Content and Earth’s Radiation Imbalance, 373 Physics Letters A 3296 (2009); see also Bob Tisdale, OHC Linear Trends and Recent Update of NODC OHC (0-700 Meters) Data, Feb. 5, 2010, at fig.2.
[5] For a more complete discussion of this issue, see Willie Soon, Solar Arctic-Mediated Climate Variation on Multidecadal to Centennial Timescales: Empirical Evidence, Mechanistic Explanation, and Testable Consequences, 30 Physical Geography 144 (2009).
[6] See Alexander Ruzmaikin & Joan Feynman, Solar Influence on a Major Mode of Atmospheric Variability, 30 J. Geophys. Res. 4209 (2002); Willie Soon, Variable Solar Irradiance as a Plausible Agent for Multidecadal Variations in the Arctic-Wide Surface Air Temperature Record of The Past 130 Years, 32 Geophys. Res. Lett. 16712 doi.10.1029/2005GL023429 (2005); Willie Soon, Solar Arctic-Mediated Climate Variation on Multidecadal to Centennial Timescales: Empirical Evidence, Mechanistic Explanation, and Testable Consequences, 30 Phys. Geo. 144 (2009).
[7] See Igor Polyakov et al., Observationally Based Assessment of Polar Amplification of Global Warming, 29 Geophys. Res. Lett. 1878 doi.10.1029/2001GL011111 (2002), Igor Polyakov et al., Variability and Trends of Air Temperature and Pressure in The Maritime Arctic, 1875-2000, 16 J. Climate 2067 (2003); Igor Polyakov et al., Arctic Ocean Freshwater Changes Over the Past 100 Years, 21 J. Climate 364 (2008).
[8] See Roger A. Pielke Sr. et al., Unresolved Issues With The Assessment of Mutidecadal Global Land Surface Temperature Trends, 112 J. Geophys. Res. D24S08 doi.10.1029/2006JD008229 (2007); Souleymane Fall et al., Impacts of Land Use Land Cover on Temperature Trends Over The Continental United States: Assessment Using the North American Regional Reanalysis, Int’l J. Climatol. doi.10.1002/joc.1996 (2009); Cynthia Rosenzweig et al., Mitigating New York City’s Heat Island: Integrating Stakeholder Perspectives and Scientific Evaluation, 90 Bull. Am. Meteorological Soc’y 1297 (2009); John R. Christy et al., Surface Temperature Variations In East Africa and Possible Causes, 22 J. Climate 3342 (2009); John R. Christy et al., Methodology and Results of Calculating Central California Surface Temperature Trends: Evidence of Human-Induced Climate Change?, 19 J. Climate 548 (2006).
[9] See Christopher Essex, What Do Climate Models Tell Us About Global Warming?, 135 Pure & Applied Geophysics 125 (1991); Willie Soon et al., Moderling Climatic Effects of Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Unknowns and Uncertainties, 18 Climate Res. 259 (2001); Richard S. Lindzen, Taking GreenHouse Warming Seriously, 18 Energy & Env’t 937 (2007); David H. Douglass et al., A Comparison of Tropical Temperature Trends With Model Predictions, 28 Int’l J. Climatol.1693 (2008); Demetris Koutsoyiannis et al., On the Credibility of Climate Predictions, 53 Hydrological Sci. 671 (2008); Philip J. Klotzbach et al., An Alternative Explanation for Differential Temperature Trends at the Surface and in the Lower Troposphere, 114 J. Geophysical Res. doi.10.1029/2009JD011841 (2009).
[10] Id. For further discussion and evidence of the secondary role of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane on the large glacial-interglacial climate transition of the past 1 to 2 million years, see Willie Soon, Implications of the Secondary Role of Carbon Dioxide and Methane Forcing In Climate Change: Past, Present, and Future, 28 Phys. Geo. 97 (2007).
[11] See Richard S. Lindzen & Yong-Sang Choi, On The Determination of Climate Feedbacks From ERBE Data, 36 Geophys. Res. Lett. doi.10.1029/2009GL039628 (2009) (explaining how climate feedbacks, rooted in the fast processes of hydrology and clouds in the tropics amplify the small warming from greenhouse effect of added atmospheric CO2, were incorrectly represented in frequently cited current climate models).
[12] Mass. v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007).
[13] Id. at 528–30.
[14] Sherwood B. Idso, Carbon Dioxide and Global Change: Earth in Transition 67–68 (1989); see also Adip Said, Carbon Dioxide and Life, Biology Cabinet, Jan. 13, 2007; Nasif Nahle, Carbon Dioxide and Health, Biology Cabinet, Jan. 13, 2007, available at http://biocab.org/Carbon_Dioxide_CO2.html.
[15] See, e.g., Arthur B. Robinson et al., Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, 12 J. Am. Physicians & Surgeons 79, fig.23 (2007) (republishing Keith Idso & Sherwood Idso, Plant Responese to Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment in the Fact of Environmental Constraints: A Review of The Past 10 years Research, 69 Agric. & Forest Meteorology 153, fig.6 (1994)). It should be noted that Stephen P. Long et al., Food for Thought: Lower-Than-Expected Crop Yield Stimulation with Rising CO2 Concentrations, 312 Sci. 1918 (2006) is often cited for his interpretation of Robertson’s data (shown in Robinson et al., supra note 15, at fig.23) indicating a negative plant response to CO2, which he hypothesized could be disastrous to crops. Francesco Tubiello et al., Crop Response to Elevated CO2 and World Food Supply: A Comment on “Food For Thought . . .” by Long et al., 26 Eur. J. Agronomy 215 (2007), have reconfirmed Robinson’s applicability, while suggesting Long’s findings grossly exaggerated. In recent literature, it is surprising to find Long et al. often cited without reference to the strong criticism offered by Tubiello et al. It should also be noted that Long et al. has not responded to this criticism.
[16] Tubiello, supra note 15.
[17] See, e.g., Frederic Bessat & D. Buigues, Two Centuries of Variation in Coral Growth in a Massive Porites Colony from Moorea (French Polynesia): A Response of Ocean-Atmosphere Variability from South Central Pacific, 175 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 381 (2001). The growing body of similar scholarship published after the 2007 UN IPCC report is also useful. See, e.g., M. Debora Iglesias-Rodriguez et al., Phytoplankton Calcification in a High-CO2 World, 320 Sci. 336 (2008); Herfort et al. 44 J. Phycology 91 (2008); Y. Feng et al., Interactive Effects of Increased pCO2, Temperature and Irradiance on the Marine Coccolithophore Emiliania Huxleyi, 43 Eur. J. Phycology 87 (2008); Philippe Tortell et al., CO2 Sensitivity of Southern Ocean Phytoplankton, 35 Geophys. Res. Lett. doi.10.1029/2007GL032583 (2008).
[18] Interview with M. Debora Iglesias-Rodriguez, ScienceWatch.com, April 2009.
[19] Iglesias-Rodriguez et al., supra note 17, at 336 (observing that “[m]ost of these experiments used semi-continuous cultures, in which the carbonate system was modified by the addition of acid and/or base to control pH”); Elizabeth Pennisi, Calcification Rates Drop in Australian Reefs, 323 Sci. 27 (2009) (summarizing the research of Alina Szmant, a coral ecologist: “[Szmant] faults previous lab studies because they used hydrochloric acid, not carbon dioxide, to lower the pH of the water in the calcification studies”).
[20] See, e.g., Justin B. Ries et al., Marine Calcifiers Exhibit Mixed Responses to CO2 –Induced Ocean Acidification, 37 Geology 1131 (2009) (both negative and positive responses are found when a wide range of marine calcifiers were examined).
[21] Francis E. Putz & K.H. Redford, Dangers of Carbon-Based Conservation, 19 Global Envtl. Change 400 (2009).
[22] Id.
[23] Id.
[24] Id.
[25] Roger Pielke Jr., Understanding the Copenhagen Climate Deal: the Fix is In, 23 Bridges, Oct. 2009.
[26] Timothy D. Searchinger et al., Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting Error, 326 Sci. 527 (2009).
[27] Galina Churkina et al., Carbon Stored in Human Settlements: the Coterminous United States, 16 Global Change Bio. 135, 136 (2009).
[28] Chicago Climate Exchange, CCX Carbon Financial Instrument (CFI) Contracts Daily Report (last visited Jan. 25, 2009).
[29] Id.
[30] Id.
[31] See Henrik Hasselknippe, Carbon 2006 Towards a Truly Global Market, Point Carbon, Feb 28, 2006, at 25; Analyse van de CO2-markt (Analysis of Carbon Market), Emissierechten, Nov. 2007. Wikipedia also has a surprisingly robust discussion. European Union Emission Trading Scheme, Wikipedia (last visited Jan. 25, 2010).
[32] European Env’t Agency, Annual European Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990–2007 and Inventory Report 2009: Submission to the UNFCCC Secretariat 9, tbl.ES.2 (2009).
[33] Id.
[34] See Cort Mortished, Court Delivers Severe Blow to EU Carbon Prices, The Australian, Sept. 24, 2009.
[35] See Ben Sharples, Australia’s Biggest Companies Lack Investment Plans for Carbon, Bloomberg, Oct. 7, 2009.
[36] See Richard Lindzen, Climate Science: Is It Currently Designed to Answer Questions?, paper prepared for meeting in San Marino from 29-31 Aug. 2008 (discussing the cultural, organizational, and political factors that influence objectivity in Climate Science grants and research).
Copyright 2009 Willie Soon and David R. Legates. All rights reserved.
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Dear Prof. Burns,
Your comment is scornful in tone (“Egads, where does one start with this piece?) but weak in argumentation.
1. You state that the argument that the “IPCC can't explain the fact that temperatures haven't been rising for a decade is a canard”. Perhaps it’s useful to have two comments from scientists closely associated with the IPCC. As you can see in the interview last month with the BBC, IPCC Lead Author Dr. Phil Jones, (who has stepped aside from heading the Climatic Research Unit (CRU), one of the three main temperature collecting organizations) agrees the warming since 1995 to the present, while positive, has not been statistically significant. Nor has the 1975-2009 warming been very different from the range of the warming rate of 1860-1880 or 1910-1940 (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8511670.stm In e-mails evidently leaked from the CRU, Dr. Keith Trenberth, who has been a lead author of IPCC chapters, noted in October last year “The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t”. In a follow on e-mail to another scientist, Dr. Trenberth says “How come you do not agree with a statement that says we are no where close to knowing where energy is going or whether clouds are changing to make the planet brighter. We are not close to balancing the energy budget. The fact that we can not account for what is happening in the climate system makes any consideration of geoengineering quite hopeless as we will never be able to tell if it is successful or not!”. In the paper cited by SL10 (see http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/Trenberth/trenberth.papers/EnergyDiagnostics09final2.pdf ) Dr. Trenberth reiterates his surprise that the temperatures have not been rising and indicates he believes with better observations it may be possible to account for “hidden warming” but there is also evidence that recently no heat is seen accumulating in the upper 700 meters of ocean (see http://www.ncasi.org/publications/Detail.aspx?id=3152 ) which is a much more important heat storage mass than the atmosphere .
As noted in Prof. Jones BBC interview referenced above, there has been a cooling trend since 2002 (-0.12C per decade but not statistically significant). You mention “the IPCC has consistently emphasized that natural variability means that there will be years, maybe even up to a decade, in which temperatures might not rise, or even fall slightly” but I wonder if you can provide one citation of such a prediction by the IPCC from say 10 years ago, which projected the current lack of warming increase.
Actually, almost no intelligent skeptic ignores the “elemental fact that greenhouse gases trap heat, and rising levels will result in further temperature increases” (however with each additional molecule contributing less effect). The question is, whether such increases will be noticeable or even measurable over natural climate variation.
2. The issue of ocean acidification and the possible effects on various sea organisms has been rather extensively studied (see http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/acid_test.html, as well as http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/co2_coral_warming.html and the citations therein). As cited in SL10, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found mixed results (i.e., some species gain shell mass and other lost) even at very high CO2 levels (10 times pre-industrial) (see http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/37/12/1131 ) You do not cite any scientific study or arguments overturning any of these analyses.
3. You don’t seem to like the work of Dr. Idso, but perhaps you have not seen the update by Prof. Long and others on the effect of CO2 on crops. It’s worthwhile to quote the conclusions:
a) elevated CO2 stimulates photosynthetic carbon gain and net primary production over the long term despite down-regulation of Rubisco activity
b) elevated CO2 improves nitrogen use efficiency and,
c) decreases water use at both the leaf and canopy scale
d) elevated CO2 stimulates dark respiration via a transcriptional reprogramming of metabolism
e) elevated CO2 does not directly stimulate C4 photosynthesis, but can indirectly stimulate carbon gain in times and places of drought
f) the stimulation of yield by elevated CO2 in crop species is much smaller than expected
(Abstract http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/60/10/2859 )
4. Finally Dr. Burns, you seek to undermine a previous work by Dr. Soon and Dr. Legates. They did publish a piece in 2003 (with other co-authors) which concluded “thermometer warming of the 20th century across the world seems neither unusual nor unprecedented within the more extended view of the last 1000 years. Overall, the 20th century does not contain the warmest or most extreme anomaly of the past millennium in most of the proxy records” (see http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.124.3216&rep=rep1&type=pdf ) This study and another published in the journal Climate Research (co-authored with Dr. Baliunas, then also of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) were indeed attacked in EOS (the “newspaper” of the American Geophysical Union, not a peer-reviewed research journal) by Dr. Michael Mann (of Hockey Stick fame) and co-authors (M03). Using “proxies” to measure temperature of the past 1000 years is subject to many uncertainties and calibration issues. M03 raised some of these issues but primarily their objection was the conclusion noted above. M03 stated “the conclusion that late-20th century hemispheric-scale warmth is anomalous in a long-term (at least millennial) context, and that anthropogenic factors likely play an important role in explaining the anomalous recent warmth is a robust consensus view”, citing Dr. Mann’s own work and the 2001 IPCC assessment (of which Dr. Mann was the lead author for the paleoclimate section).
What has happened in the meantime? Most people following these issues closely will be aware of a review for Congress of Dr. Mann’s studies by a panel headed by Prof. Wegman, who was then the chair of the Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a professor of statistics, among other positions. This committee concluded, primarily due to improper handling of statistics, “that the assessments that the decade of the 1990s was the hottest decade in a millennium and that 1998 was the hottest year in a millennium cannot be supported by the MBH98/99 analysis” (see http://www.uoguelph.ca/~rmckitri/research/WegmanReport.pdf ) The review pointed out major flaws in statistics and data handling (in a paper that had been critical in forming the “consensus view” mentioned by Dr. Mann himself).
The uncertainties in trying to accurately estimate temperatures prior to thermometers have been often under estimated. In a comment on another recent paper by Dr. Mann, experts in statistics noted the confidence intervals shown in the paper were “unjustifiably narrow” and by normal statistical rules “finite confidence intervals cannot be defined before ~1800” (see http://www.pnas.org/content/106/6/E10.full ). No one denies there has been some warming since the Little Ice Age (thankfully), but as shown in the statement from Dr. Phil Jones, the current warming is not appreciably different than in the period before significant CO2 emissions, which would seem to support the idea that warming in the past 40 years can be mainly natural as in the earlier periods.
5. The resignation of Dr. Hans von Storch as editor-in-chief of the journal Climate Research raises issues too detailed to deal with here, but see the statements by Dr. von Storch himself (http://coast.gkss.de/staff/storch/CR-problem/cr.2003.htm and http://profdavidkaroly.activepathway.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/CR.editorial-VonStorch.pdf ), and the statement of the publisher http://www.int-res.com/articles/misc/CREditorial.pdf ). As anyone can see, the issue was not whether the conclusions of Dr. Soon and Dr. Baliunas were true or false, but whether the description of the method was sufficient to support the conclusions about the Medieval Warm Period versus the present. Would that the editors of Nature and Geophysical Research Letters (who published the MBH papers) and all editors whose journals have published articles with conclusions not clearly supported by the study itself would follow this example, but I fear there would be few editors left.
Naturally you are completely free to voice any opinions you wish, but if you want them to be accepted you will need better evidence.
Posted by: Geoff Smith | April 06, 2010 at 03:06 PM
Another irony of this piece is its conclusion, that political factors have subverted the science. At the same time, we're supposed to indulge the fiction that the climate denialists, many of whom are fueled by money from the fossil fuel industry, aren't at all influenced by this largesse. This includes the authors of this piece, and that link is well established.
Posted by: Dr. Wil Burns | March 01, 2010 at 04:22 PM
Egads, where does one start with this piece?
1. The argument that the IPCC can't explain the fact that temperatures haven't been rising for a decade is a canard. 1998 was the warmest year in recorded history, but 2005 was very, very close, and this has still been the warmest decade in history. And the IPCC has consistently emphasized that natural variability means that there will be years, maybe even up to a decade, in which temperatures might not rise, or even fall slightly, due to factors, e.g. ocean currents, solar variability, and other factors. For example, Solomon's excellent analysis in Nature of why the "drying" of the upper atmosphere has resulted in a (temporary) abatement of rising temperatures, demonstrates why there may be transitory abatement of temperature rises, but it doesn't undercut the rather elemental fact that greenhouse gases trap heat, and rising levels, will result in further temperature increases. Also, if you ignore the silliness of looking at snapshots of warming and use statistical smoothing methods, you see steadily rising temperatures over the course of the last century, as predicted by the models;
2. The ocean acidification analysis here is laughable. I've read more than 150 studies on ocean acidification in the last year, and while there are a few species that may "win" from rising levels of oceanic CO2, the vast majority, including some keystone species e.g. pteropods and copepods, lose under a scenario of a 0.3-0.7 drop in pH levels, not to mention coral reef ecosystems. This is the kind of cherry picking that Soon and Legate are notorious for;
3. It's almost laughable that the authors chide Long for allegedly not responding to criticisms of his research (which, incidentally, he has). They cite Idso's work, which has almost been universally criticized for failing, for example, to account for impacts like root rot on species, or for selectively finding benefits for certain species at temperature thresholds far below what we're likely to experience this century.
And finally, let's look at Soon & Legate's track record. They published a piece in 2003 that sought to discount temperature increases in the 20th Century vis-a-vis the Middle Ages. There were a barrage of studies in journals e.g. EOS and Science that summarily discredited the study, ultimately resulting in the publisher, Otto Kline admitting that “[the conclusions drawn] cannot be concluded convincingly from the evidence provided in the paper”.
Also, Soon and Baliunas published another article arguing that warming was due to solar variation) in Climate Research that led to protests from 13 of the authors cited that their work had been misrepresented and misused. Subsequently the new editor-in-chief, Hans van Storch, resigned along with two other editors when the publisher refused to print an editorial about improvements in the journal review process.
Posted by: Dr. Wil Burns | March 01, 2010 at 12:52 PM
The authors' concern about the ability of carbon markets to deliver reductions in atmospheric CO2 ("consideration #3) is well placed. Unfortunately, however, their discussion relies on several factually inaccurate claims.
After drawing a general conclusion from low prices in the Chicago Climate Exchange (a small, voluntary initiative closer to a greenwashing club than a nationwide, mandatory cap and trade program), the article says that the price of carbon in the EU ETS (the cap and trade program Europe uses to implement its Kyoto obligations) "has collapsed." Yet the prices they cite to support this proposition are more than two years old. While the price of carbon in the EU ETS did fall in late 2007 as the first, experimental compliance phase of the ETS program drew to a close and firms realized that they would hit their targets, it has been back up above 10 euros per tonne throughout the second phase, which corresponds to the actual Kyoto compliance period of 2008-2012. In fact, the article from the Guardian that the authors themselves cite indicates prices of over 8 euros in early 2009. A quick google search would have been enough to reveal to the authors that the current price is about 13 euros.
Even more curiously, having just finished criticizing the ETS and CCX for price volatility, the authors then criticize Australia's decision to address that volatility with a price floor. The authors are "willing to bet" that the medium-term market price of carbon is below 10 euros. They will be happy to know, then, that they will find plenty of willing counterparties to this bet in the burgeoning carbon derivatives market. Buying a put option at their desired strike price on the European market should not be difficult.
These oversights are particularly disappointing because the authors provocative, heterodox view on the conventional wisdom about climate change deserves to be heard. Unfortunately, the careless way they support their position makes their article look like another politically motivated and scientifically unfounded denial of global warming.
Posted by: Tyler | March 01, 2010 at 10:29 AM