Emissions created by traffic in Switzerland have risen, not fallen
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland is turning to energy certificates from outside the country to make its CO2 quota for 2008-2012, and environmental group WWF is not happy about it.
The Swiss Federal Council announced Tuesday 17 January that it is signing a new contract with the Climate Cent Foundation to increase its engagement by one ton. The foundation as a result will be reducing CO2 by a total of 5 tons, allowing Switzerland to meet Kyoto objectives by financing CO2 reduction projects outside the country. The WWF reacted angrily, with energy and climate director Patrick Hofstetter calling the federal energy reduction plan “a disaster from start to finish” and qualifying the government’s new move as “maddening, dishonest and incomprehensible”.
Bern notes that without the new agreement Switzerland would not meet its objectives, mainly as a result of increased traffic: statistics for 2010 show CO2 from traffic at 12.9 percent above figures for 1990, when Switzerland is committed to decreasing this by 8 percent.
For the WWF, the move means that Switzerland is not only not meeting emission reduction goals because Bern is not applying the law, but it is also not respecting the spirit of Kyoto by buying more certificates than are authorized. In addition, argues the WWF, important sums are being spent abroad, using money that could be applied to reducing CO2 at home and to reducing Swiss dependence on oil, while creating jobs.
Seventh annual Greenhouse Gas Report 3 main gases continuing to rise
Aletsch glacier, seen from the Jungfrau in August 2011; Swiss researchers are tracking Alpine permafrost changes (photo ©2011 Ellen Wallace)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Planet Earth’s three main greenhouse gases continue to rise significantly, says the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva.
It released the seventh annual World Greenhouse Bulletin Monday 21 November, showing that N2O, nitrous oxide, is now the third most important greenhouse gas, accounting for 6 percent of gases in the atmosphere. N2O plays an important role in the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer which protects us from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun,” according to the WMO.
It is increasing far more rapidly than carbon dioxide (CO2), which accounts for roughly 80 percent and methane, roughly 18 percent.
The Bulletin “reports on atmospheric concentrations, and not emissions, of greenhouse gases. Emissions represent what goes into the atmosphere. Concentrations represent what remains in the atmosphere after the complex system of interactions between the atmosphere, biosphere and the oceans.”
Measurements are made by a network of stations in more than 50 countries which make up the WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch Programme. The measurement data are quality controlled, archived and distributed by WMO’s World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases, hosted by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
World’s growing use of fertilizers, including manure behind N2O rise
Nitrous oxide “is emitted into the atmosphere from natural and man-made sources, including the oceans, biomass burning, fertilizer use and various industrial processes,” the report states.
“The atmospheric burden of nitrous oxide in 2010 was 323.2 parts per billion – 20% higher than in the pre-industrial era. It has grown at an average of about 0.75 parts per billion over the past 10 years, mainly as a result of the use of nitrogen containing fertilizers, including manure, which has profoundly affected the global nitrogen cycle. Its impact on climate, over a 100 year period, is 298 times greater than equal emissions of carbon dioxide.”
Northern permafrost loss a concern as methane levels rise again
Scientists are also concerned about the rise again of methane, after a period of temporary relative stabilization from 1999 to 2006, according to the report. “Since 1750, it has increased 158%, mostly because of activities such as cattle-rearing, rice planting, fossil fuel exploitation and landfills. Human activities now account for 60% of methane emissions, with the remaining 40% being from natural sources such as wetlands.” Researchers are looking into the reasons for the new increase, “including the potential role of the thawing of the methane-rich Northern permafrost and increased emissions from tropical wetlands.”
Carbon dioxide remains largest contributor to “climate forcing”
(CO2) is the single most important man-made greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Monday’s report shows that it”
“contributes about 64% to total increase in climate forcing by greenhouse gases. Since the start of
the industrial era in 1750, its atmospheric abundance has increased by 39% to 389 parts per million
(number of molecules of the gas per million molecules of dry air). This is primarily because of
emissions from combustion of fossil fuels, deforestation and changes in land-use.
Between 2009 and 2010, its atmospheric abundance increased by 2.3 parts per million – higher than
the average for both the 1990s (1.5 parts per million) and the past decade (2.0 parts per million).
For about 10,000 years before the start of the industrial era in the mid-18th century, atmospheric
carbon dioxide remained almost constant at around 280 parts per million.”
Some improvement offset by other increases: CFCs
There is one bright spot in the report: some halocarbons are slowing decreasing, notably chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), widely used only a few years ago as refrigerants, propellants in spray cans and solvents but now widely banned. “However, concentrations of other gases such as HCFCs and HFCs, which are used to substitute CFCs because they are less damaging to the ozone layer, are increasing rapidly. These two classes of compounds are very potent greenhouse gases and last much longer in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.”
BERN, SWTIZERLAND – The Swiss government is distributing CHF180 million francs, collected as tax on fossil fuels such as heating oil, to Swiss companies. The money is being sent out in June; the first payments have already been made. They take the form of AVS, or social security, reductions and the amount is based primarily on the amount paid out in salaries in 2009. The amount paid is CHF64.40 per CHF100,000.
Households are also received payments, through a CHF48.60 deduction from health insurance, for each person.
One-third of the tax collected will be used to make government buildings more energy-effcient.
The tax has been collected since 2008 as part of Switzerland’s Kyoto commitment to reduce greenhouse gases by 8 percent by 2012. The fee charged is not on use, but is instead an incentive “tax” to encourage companies to become more fuel-efficient.
Greenland and the Arctic circle
(video) Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The main greenhouse gases rose 1 percent from 2008 to 2009 and 27.5 percent from 1990 to 2009, the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva. The higher levels reflect the “rising atmospheric burden of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide”, the three main gases, which, together with other gases “have reached their highest levels recorded since pre-industrial times”. They are now 158 percent higher than in 1748.
The report was published Wednesday 24 November and is the sixth since the series was begun in 2004. The material is gathered by the Gaws (Global Atmosphere Watch) programme, part of the WMO. Its appearance five days before the start of a major climate change meeting of governments in Cancun, Mexico, could spark further debate over the measurement systems and science used by governments when making decisions about climate change.
Also disquieting, the report notes: emissions of methane from Arctic permafrost and wetlands areas rose despite the global economic downturn. Their rise is a growing concern, it says, and more attention is being focused on gathering information that will allow better understanding of the phenomenon.
Nasa, the US space administration, will be sending five new measuring tools into space shortly as part of a weather and climate satellite programme, part of the growing international effort to increase and improve measurements.
video: Monitoring Greenhouse Gases, with Len Barrie, WMO research department
The WMO report details changes for the main gases:
Geneva Motor Show 2010: how green it is might depend on where you're driving (photo ©2010 Peter Brodbeck)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A Swiss study commissioned by the Federal Environment Office has concluded that hybrid cars are the greenest in cities and natural gas cars are the best on autoroutes, with both out-performing diesel- and petrol-fuelled cars. The study run by Empa engineers concludes that
“A comparison with gasoline and natural gas fuelled vehicles concludes that hybrid vehicles are the cleanest during inner-city driving whilst natural gas fuelled cars do best on the motorway. When driven in rural areas, both types do equally well. Under mixed conditions (that is real, everyday driving) vehicles based on both concepts offer reductions of up to 25 per cent in CO2 emissions compared to conventional gasoline fuelled automobiles. Hybrid drive systems and natural gas engines therefore represent an important technical measure for reducing CO2 emissions which can be put to use immediately, as do vehicles powered by renewable fuels such as biogas and ethanol derived from waste matter.”
Link: how the tests were carried out, Empa (research arm of EPH, Zurich federal polytechnic institute)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – EPFL is creating a new research chair to look for solutions to the problem of long-term storage underground of CO2, or more precisely, “geological sequestration of the greenhouse gas.” The chair is being funded by a CHF2.5 million donation by Petrosvibri, a company that is studying the possibility of exploiting natural gas from Lake Geneva.
The chair will be part of the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering. The post has been opened to candidates and the person who fills it will start in 2011.
China will improve energy efficiency 40-45 percent by 2050, compared to 2005, Chinese officials announced 26 November, without offering any details. By improving energy efficiency, China also reduces CO2 emissions.Chinese leaders almost immediately cautioned that their energy goals were domestic, and asked the world to trust them. Xie Zhenhua, the Chinese climate policy expert who announced the goals said, “Although this is a domestic voluntary action, it is binding. As we’ve made this commitment, well, Chinese people stick to their word.”
US experts have welcomed the move, saying that China now joins other major economic powers in announcing plans for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the Copenhagen conference on climate change that opens 7 December.
Some experts warn that the Chinese will not want to be held to account, and point out the difficulties in measuring, reporting and verifying progress on those commitments.
Not just H2O in those clouds
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government is committed to cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of 20 percent compared to 1990, and a proposed new law sent to Parliament 28 August outlines how it wants to achieve that goal.
The measures proposed are to:
China is the world’s third largest economy and now the “world’s top greenhouse gas emitter,” notes Reuters, as Todd Stern, the US official with responsibility for climate change policy, visits Beijing, the latest in a series of meetings designed to move closer to agreement on gas emissions. China is grappling with balancing strong growth and reducing emissions. A Chinese official quoted by Reuters, Gao Guangsheng, says that “bridging disputes on basic principles will probably push talks to the wire” in December in Copenhagen meeting. Ministers from several countries will be meeting then to replace the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Xinhua
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Fuel consumption by cars on Swiss roads fell by 3.9 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, to 7.14liters/100km on average, but the it was still short of the consumption target of 6.4l/100km by the end of 2008. A voluntary agreement between the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (Detec), signed with car importers in 2002, set the target. Detec released the figures Thursday 7 May.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch), The Federal Council yesterday rejected calls to extend the carbon tax to gasoline and diesel fuel, but said it would commit to a 20 percent reduction of greenhouse gases over 1990 levels by the year 2020, in line with the European Union. The decision is part of the council’s recommendations to Parliament to revise Swiss energy laws.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao opened a conference on climate change in Beijing by insisting that rich nations must reduce pollution, sparking anew a debate over who should pay how much to reduce carbon emissions. Wen called for rich countries to end their unsustainable lifestyle and to help poorer nations obtain pollution reduction technology. While China now has the highest level of carbon emissions it lags far behind the US and other countries in the per person level of CO2 emissions. Reuters
Swiss forest, Valais: improved forest management and greater use of wood for buildings and heating fuel are helping reduce CO2.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland will likely meet its 2012 obligations for reducing CO2 that are part of the Kyoto Protocol, which it ratified in 2012. It should also be able to meet the country’s stricter CO2 Act obligations.
The global carbon budget, a method for calculating carbon added to the atmosphere, the “underpinning of human induced climate change,” indicates that CO2 emmissions have been growing four times faster since 2000 than during the previous decade. The budget, a project involving several universities and research organizations around the world, was published late Thursday night by Global Carbon Project (2008) Carbon budget and trends 2007.
