timesonline.co.uk — The World Bank is spending billions subsidising new coal-fired power stations in developing countries despite claiming that burning fossil fuels exposes the poor to catastrophic climate change. It says the world must reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, but it is funding several giant coal-burning plants that will each emit millions of tonnes...
Sep 16, 2009 View in Crawl 4
angryredplanetSep 17, 2009
"Coal power isnt going anywhere anytime soon..."Particularly so if we don't start changing the game.
jgzmanSep 17, 2009
Then the only real option is for 'developed' countries to fund, without reward, the development of some 3/4 of the world to our current state of progress.Who wants to start?
angryredplanetSep 17, 2009
So what... shall we cut our throat to spite our face?
angryredplanetSep 17, 2009
Denial - the new religion.
poitsplaceSep 17, 2009
So we should have them use intermittent and sources of power that are so expensive even the developed nations can't use them and where there is no existing infrastructure to take the load when the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing for a while? Seriously, even assuming the warming rate of the 80's and 90's would continue (about 2C total anomaly by 2100 although the actual rate is only about .5C/century when you factor in the natural cycles clearly visible in the record) the developing nations are STILL better off using coal for now than they are using unreliable, expensive renewables that require lots of additional infrastructure. If they were healthier, perhaps they could even manage to run fast enough to escape the 3mm/year of rising oceans that everyone claims will kill them.
Closed AccountSep 17, 2009
The science is subjective, no hard science proves it, not to mention heavily politically driven.
prakash1234Sep 17, 2009
Where were you when Bush was in power? So now western countries have started the green policy after they are tired of driving SUVs and destroying IRAQ. Now that their finances have crumbled, they start the Green policy to do 'carbon trading' and squeeze the blood of poor nations.Let developing countries decide when to decide they want to embrace the green policy. Their priority now is coming out of Poverty, getting education and finally affording a car in their life.US military empire is single largest consumer of hydrocarbons. Asian countries have large populations to keep their economies alive and have nuclear power to ward off occupations.So lets create companies, provide jobs and get people out of poverty.
angryredplanetSep 17, 2009
@OpiateFirst, what part of the science do you believe as subjective and how can you demonstrate this claim?Second, the policies regarding solutions must be politically driven as in a free market, companies will do what is cheapest to reduce overheads and increase margins. They need some sort of public governance with regard to the environmental health they are inadvertently affecting. We eventually get to the point where one must ask "who will baby-sit the babysitters"? We have no choice here as the responsibility for maintaining global health and national stability lies with each government and the overall goals cannot be achieved without international cooperation.All of this, however, does not and cannot change the outcomes of the science. If it did, then all of humanity's scientific breakthroughs will have been "politically tainted".@prakash1234"...western countries have started the green policy after they are tired of driving SUVs and destroying IRAQ."I don't know who "they" are but "they" are not me, specifically. I don't own or drive an SUV and I was certainly not a supporter of the war in Iraq."...they start the Green policy to do 'carbon trading' and squeeze the blood of poor nations.""They" started carbon policies because they now realise that they can't carry on down the unsustainable path they are on. They also know that developing nations with fossil derived power will be stressing the same climate systems. There are better ways."Let developing countries decide when to decide they want to embrace the green policy. Their priority now is coming out of Poverty, getting education and finally affording a car in their life."If things stay the same, business as usual, we are soon no longer going to have a choice regarding green policy. We have already been warned by climatologists, we have already been warned by economists, we have already been warned by agronomists. It's very clear, we can't continue to go down this path as it will cost us all."US military empire is single largest consumer of hydrocarbons."This is very true but the US military is not the ONLY consumer of hydrocarbons."So lets create companies, provide jobs and get people out of poverty."I agree 100%, but we should look to do it in a sustainable way. I think it would be better for the developing nations to start things with a solid foundation.
cybergijoeSep 20, 2009
The World Bank is an evil organization. How does putting a developing country into a debt help them? It's scary how much power money wields.