Climate expert says global warming will be major priority of Obama presidency

THE ISSUE of climate change will be a major political priority during the presidential term of Barack Obama, one of the world…

THE ISSUE of climate change will be a major political priority during the presidential term of Barack Obama, one of the world’s leading academics on atmospheric science said last night.

Prof Michael McElroy, professor of environmental studies at Harvard University, said he was optimistic about President Obama’s administration making huge advances. He pointed to the new president’s “astonishing set of appointments” in the policy areas of climate change and energy.

He said Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu had been selected as energy secretary, a position that traditionally was allotted to a “political appointee”.

Prof McElroy was appearing with Minster for Energy Eamon Ryan during a public interview in the Royal Irish Academy last night. The session was chaired by Dick Ahlstrom, science editor of The Irish Times.

READ MORE

Prof McElroy said Mr Obama had already sent a message that the era of cheap energy was not going to last and that Americans needed to be ready for the next phase. He instanced the decision of the federal government to finance the bailout of the automotive industry but only if it produced more energy-efficient cars.

He also referred to the commitment given by the new president to invest in renewable energy and the infrastructure for renewable energy.

Prof McElroy said he suspected this might take the form of a coast-to-coast DC (direct current) network for renewable energy. It would complement the existing “piecemeal” electricity network in the US, the component parts of which were operated by 3,000 companies.

“President Obama is convinced that climate change and energy security are linked to national security.... they are all part of a continuum. You have to deal with all three.”

The Belfast-born Queen’s University Belfast graduate has worked with former US vice-president Al Gore for over 20 years on the issue of climate change.

He chaired a group of scientists that advised the administration of former president Bill Clinton on the issue at the interface of the environment and national security.

Speaking in front of over 200 guests, Prof McElroy said he was a little sceptical about emissions trading or cap-and-trade schemes.

He said one of the problems was that companies with older plants in full ownership and without debts may be considered an efficient producer even when paying a premium for carbon.

He said that, politically, on a global scale it would be hard to imagine the US buying emissions rights from China and India.

“I do not know that it would be politically acceptable given that the funds involved are enormous.”

He said the biggest uncertainty when it came to modelling future patterns of climate was the treatment of cloud reflectivity (the presence of more clouds may reduce the impact of greenhouse emissions).

However, he continued that all the models agreed that the earth would get warmer but that the details differed from model to model.

He pointed to the fact that in summer the Arctic Ocean is almost ice-free and that one can no longer see multi-layers of ice.

He said another factor of concern was in the Antarctic where rain now fell during the summer rather than snow.

Harry McGee

Harry McGee

Harry McGee is a Political Correspondent with The Irish Times