#UK: Scotland's Parliament May Consider Petition To Ban Meat By 2040

[world politics news]

The Scottish Parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will consider a new petition that calls for a countrywide meat consumption ban by 2040.

Roger Green submitted the petition. He is a member of Vote With Your Fork, a campaign that seeks to move the world towards a meat-free future. The petition sets out environmental reasoning behind the idea, alongside concerns about animal welfare.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#FRANCE: Pres. Macron's Climate Change Bill Watered Down By Parliament

[world politics news]

President Emmanuel Macron's promise to enshrine the fight against climate change in the French constitution via a referendum appeared moribund on Tuesday after the upper house watered down the ambitious wording of a government-sponsored bill. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#BELGIUM: Climate Action Group Sues Gov't For Inaction

[world politics news]

In a class action lawsuit, about 60,000 Belgians are suing their government for their alleged inaction in the fight against global warming. The case was filed in a civil court in Brussels. 

Launched in 2015 by the association Klimatzaak (the climate case, in Dutch), the procedure follows a similar one in the Netherlands that led to a ruling against the Dutch government.

The cases attack governments for not respecting the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

In the Belgian case, the accusation alleges that Belgium failed to reduce its overall carbon emissions by “40% or at least 25%” by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, the updated thresholds linked to the Paris pact. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#RUSSIA: Putin Commits To Lowering Emissions

[world politics news] 

Pres. Vladimir Putin has signed an executive order to reduce emissions by 30% from 1990 levels by 2030. Environmentalists note that this is the more ambitious end of its existing target but still allows emissions to rise significantly, as Russia’s emissions plummeted following the collapse of the Soviet Union and remain at about half the level they were in 1990.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#EU: Parliament Votes To Include Shipping Industry in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System In 2022

[world politics news] 

The European Parliament has voted to include greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by the shipping sector into the EU’s Emissions Trading System.

GHG emissions from ships over 5,000 gigatons will now be included in the Trading System by 1 January 2022. In addition, parliament wants firms to cut ships’ annual average CO2 emissions by more than 40% by 2030.

The vote also confirms the position held by the EU parliament’s environment committee in July when adopting a draft legal report for a regulation on monitoring, reporting and verification of CO2 emissions from shipping.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#EU: France, Ireland Threaten To Block EU/South American Trade Deal Over Rainforest Destruction

[world politics news]

Members of the European Parliament from France and Ireland are threatening to block a trade deal between the Europe and South America's trading blocs over rampant destruction of the rainforests in Brazil.

Environmentalists accuse Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of cutting protection to the area deemed crucial to combating climate change. The rainforests are being clear cut for farming at a record pace, say environmentalists. NASA, however, has said that overall fire activity across the Amazon basin this year has been close to the average compared to the past 15 years.

For now,E officials are defending the deal, which has taken 20 years to hammer out with the Mercosur trading bloc, because they say it ties them into honoring the Paris Agreement's environmental rules.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CANADA: Trudeau Gov't To Impose Federal Carbon Tax; If Alberta Repeals Theirs

[world politics news]

The Federal government has announced that the federal carbon tax will go into effect on January 1st, in part as a reaction to Alberta's plan to end its provincial carbon tax. Since his election earlier this year, Alberta’s Premier Jason Kenney has tabled legislation to do away with the province’s own self-imposed carbon tax which sat at $30/ton.

Since Kenney and his United Conservative Party of Alberta promised to end the carbon tax, the federal government, led by Liberal Justin Trudeau, has warned that it would level the federal-level tax on the provinces. Now the federal government has followed through with that threat, telling the provinces that the federal levy will go into effect on January 1, 2020.

Conservatives note that the tax is contingent on Trudeau's Liberals winning re-election this October, with the national Conservative Party vowing to oppose New carbon taxes.

Pictured: Environment & Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#FRANCE: Pres. Macron Condemns "Yellow Vest" Riots Over Fuel Tax Hikes; Promises Talks With Protesters

[world politics news]

Violent riots continue to rock Paris as yellow vest-wearing protesters demonstrate against Pres. Emmanuel Macron's fuel tax hikes. Police believe both Leftist and Right-wing parties are taking advantage of the riots, sparked by the increasingly unpopular Macron's attempt to tackle 'climate change' by hiking fuel prices to discourage the use of carbon-based fuels. France already has among the highest priced fuel in Europe. Macron said last week that he understood the anger people felt over the rise in fuel tax. He promised three months of national talks on how to transform France into a low-carbon economy without penalizing people on low incomes who had to drive to work, who are among those who would be hardest hit by the tax increase.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#BRAZIL: Gov't Of Newly-Elected Climate Skeptic Bolsonaro Won't Host World Climate Conference in 2019

[world politics news]

Brazil has withdrawn its offer to host the annual UN climate summit next year, citing budgetary constraints and the transition to a new government. The U-turn follows last month’s election of Jair Bolsonaro as president, ushering in an administration skeptical of globalism and man-made climate change.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#GERMANY: Possible Coalition Partners Reportedly Abandon 2020 CO2 Targets

[world politics news]

Preliminary grand coalition talks have just restarted, but already, the parties involved have given up the 2020 climate goals. Some politicians in Berlin are alarmed by reports of a cancellation of the climate goals for 2020 by a possible future new government. That would amount to deceiving voters, the opposition says. But other reports note that opposition parties, including the Social Democrats, don't want to "punish" factory workers and other natural allies with the severe cuts that would result from implementing it.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#EU: EuroParl Supports New Carbon Cuts For Europe

[world politics news]

Following a debate on the announced US withdrawal from the Paris agreement, members of the European Parliament at the their plenary meeting on June 14 backed plans for new compulsory greenhouse gas cuts under the Paris agreement. The law covers close to two third of EU carbon emissions. These cuts, they believe, will help deliver on the EU’s overall target for 2030 on all policies – a 40% cut from 1990 levels, the European Parliament said in a press release, adding that the EU is committed to these cuts in the framework of the Paris Agreement.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#EU: European Parliament Passes "Watered Down" Pollution Law

[world politics news]

The European Parliament has passed a new draft law on air pollution that the European Commission and several members of parliament argue is not enough to cut emissions to World Health Organization standards. The law seeks to cut in half the number of premature deaths caused by air pollution and targets many EU states already violating existing air pollution limits.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#THENETHERLANDS: Parliament Vote To Close All Coal-Fueled Power Plants By 2030

[world politics news]

In a close 77-72 vote, parliament has supported government plans to close all of the nation's coal-fired power plants by 2030. The move seeks to cut CO2 emissions by 55% compared to 1990 levels. The move seeks to meet Paris climate change targets. Economics Minister Henk Kamp, of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, said the nation would be "crazy" to shut down the stations, which he says are the cleanest in Europe.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#USA: Virgin Islands Atty. Gen. Backs Down From Prosecution Threats Against Global Warming "Deniers"

[world politics news]

Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude E. Walker has withdrawn his subpoena of the Competitive Enterprise Institute after a rash of criticism over his investigation into climate change dissenters. For the meantime, however, the free-market think tank is still seeking sanctions against Walker, one of a 17-member coalition of attorneys general pursuing fraud accusations against climate skeptics.

#AUSTRALIA: US Embassy in Canberra Advised Obama Against "Hostile" Climate Speech

[world politics news]

Australian Foreign Min. Julie Bishop has accused Pres. Obama of
"speaking in ignorance" on Climate Change

Pres. Obama ignored the ­advice of his Ambassador to Australia to attack on PM Tony Abbott's climate policies during the recent G20 Summit, where Obama ripped into Abbott's response to "Global Warming" especially policies protecting the Great Barrier Reef. Foreign Min. Julie Bishop accused Pres. Obama of "speaking in ignorance."

#UN: World Ldrs #Merkel, #StephenHarper, #Tony Abbott Skipping "Climate Change Summit"

[world politics news]

The leaders of Canada, Australia, India, China, and Germany are among those skipping the UN/US "Climate Change Summit" in New York, neatly designed to coincide with a UN General Assembly Meeting, spelling trouble for Climate Change advocates and the concept itself, say outspoken critics like Anthony Watts.