Wall Street Journal Schizophrenic on This Year’s Climate Catastrophe. Situation Normal.

The famous split between the Wall Street Journal’s news and editorial pages was on brilliant display this week, as front page news in the Journal, like virtually every other news organ on the planet, dealt with what everyone on the planet is talking about, – climate amped extremes of temperature, rain, drought and smoke.
Meanwhile the editorial page blasted US Climate Envoy John Kerry for his attempt to urge China away from it’s coal burning ways.

One of the best bits of media watching advice I ever got was from my Dad, an attorney who taught me to go ahead and read the journal, but bear in mind that the “News” side had to actually get things factual and correct, because so much of the readership were serious investors who need actual accurate information, but the “Editorial” side existed to serve the baser instincts of the more predatory financial interests.
Keep that in mind and you can make good use of a solid resource.

Wall Street Journal (News):

Deadly heat waves are upending daily life in large parts of the U.S., Europe and Asia, as warming oceans and unprecedented humidity fuel one of Earth’s hottest summers on record.

Meteorologists say last month was the hottest June on record and 2023 could be the hottest year ever if July’s record temperatures continue, straining businesses and threatening power grids.

Several factors are contributing to the record heat this summer, said Brett Anderson, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. Among them: Unusually warm oceans are raising humidity levels; several heat domes are trapping warmth around the world for longer than usual; and jet streams are causing deadly storms like the ones in Vermont this month to move slowly.

The hot seas and a recurring warm climate pattern called El Niño are compounding the effects of climate change, which scientists say is contributing to higher global temperatures.

“We are seeing an increasing number and more extremes and this is because of global warming,” said Jose Alvaro Mendes Pimpao Alves Silva, a consulting climatologist for the World Meteorological Organization, referring to extreme heat waves. “These situations are not unprecedented. But as they happen, their intensity is higher.”

Climate change has exacerbated extreme heat events, which have increased sixfold since the 1980s, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Increasing surface temperatures from climate warming make heat waves longer, more intense, and produce the weather conditions that keep them stalled over one place.

Global ocean temperatures hit record highs for the third consecutive month after El Niño conditions strengthened in June, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Wall Street Journal (Editorial):

China said Monday that its economy nearly stalled to a 0.8% growth rate in the second quarter, but never fear, John Kerry is here. The U.S. climate envoy is in Beijing this week to tell Chinese officials that they need to follow America in putting their economy further at risk by moving away from fossil fuels at a rapid pace.

Mr. Kerry said last week that he’ll discuss cuts to methane emissions and coal, among other items. Somehow we doubt his Chinese counterparts will take Mr. Kerry’s advice, though they might do their diplomatic best to humor him. That’s how they’ve strung the world along on climate for years.

China signed the 2015 Paris climate accord, but that deal gave Beijing a pass to increase its emissions until 2030. And that’s exactly what it’s doing. According to the Climate Action Tracker, which monitors national progress under the Paris agreement, “China’s emissions under current policies remain sky high with no sign of substantial emission reductions before the 2030 peaking timeline.” 

The Climate Action Tracker says that between 2015 and 2022 China’s greenhouse gas emissions increased nearly 12%, while U.S. emissions declined some 5%. China’s methane emissions rose about 3% from 2015 to 2021, the latest year with good data, while the U.S. cut them by 5%. 

Mr. Kerry will have an uphill climb on Chinese coal in particular. The Climate Action Tracker says China’s “coal production reached record levels in 2022 for the second year running,” and “coal is set to remain the backbone” of China’s energy system. No kidding: Between 2020 and 2022, China added some 113 gigawatts of new coal-fired power plants, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. The entire world managed to retire some 187 gigawatts of coal plants between 2017 and 2022. 

As of January China had some 306 coal-fired power stations proposed, permitted or under construction, according to Global Energy Monitor, a nonprofit that tracks worldwide coal-fired power projects of 30 megawatts or more. When finished those plants would generate some 366 gigawatts, or about 68% of the world’s total coal capacity under development. 

As of April China also had 180 new coal mines or mine expansions proposed, permitted or under construction, the nonprofit reported. These would produce some 657 million metric tonnes per year upon completion and could release as much as eight million tonnes of methane emissions a year. 

Some of China’s coal plants serve as back-up capacity for renewable energy. But the energy think tank Embernoted in May that coal still accounted for 61% of China’s electricity generation last year. That’s down from 78% in 2000—but China’s “total power sector emissions were five times higher than in 2000 . . . due to rising coal generation to meet soaring power demand,” Ember reported. 

All of this suggests the Communist Party won’t make climate concessions at the expense of economic growth, and you don’t have to take our word for it. In a January 2022 speech, President Xi Jinping said carbon goals shouldn’t come at the expense of the “normal life” of Chinese people or energy or food security, according to a Reuters article citing the state-run Xinhua news service.

Carbon-neutrality goals “can’t be detached from reality,” Mr. Xi reiterated in March, according to a South China Morning Post article citing the state-run People’s Daily. “We can’t toss away what’s feeding us now while what will feed us next is still not in our pocket.”