UN Summit Bringing World Leaders Together To Reach International Climate Agreement

NY Times: United Nations Climate Summit In Paris “Began A Multinational Effort” To Forge Climate Agreement. The New York Times reported:

One of the largest gatherings of world leaders in history began a multinational effort Monday toward forging what many called the planet's last, best hope to stave off the worst consequences of climate change.

“Never have the stakes of an international meeting been so high, since what is at stake is the future of the planet, the future of life,” President François Hollande of France told a packed United Nations plenary session at a convention center in this suburb north of Paris. [The New York Times, 12/1/15]

French Government Will Offset All Emissions Of Participants' Travel, Conference Facilities, And Local Operations

France Plans To Fully Offset The Summit's Carbon Footprint. WIRED recently estimated that the Paris climate talks will result in 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. But the UN has spelled out how the French government is working to both reduce emissions from the source and “offset all emissions from travel of registered participants, as well as those from the conference facilities and local operations”:

Various actions have been taken to reduce COP 21's emissions from the source. These include:

• hybrid shuttles between the RER station at Le Bourget or line 7 (Fort Aubervilliers) and the conference site;
• distribution of 20 000 Navigo passes to registered participants;
• a gas fired boiler instead of an heating oil boiler (-20% in terms of CO2);
• short distribution channels and local sourcing for catering;
• zero waste and 100% reuse;
• welcome bags made with recycled clothing;
• recycled paper and vegetable-based inks

Greenhouse gas emissions produced on the conference site that cannot be reduced from the source will be evaluated.

[...]

The French government will offset all emissions from travel of registered participants, as well as those from the conference facilities and local operations, through CERs from projects under the clean development mechanism (CDM). The carbon neutrality of the COP should be completed by March 2016.

It should also be noted that the UNFCCC secretariat will offset all emissions from staff travel. Some delegations also have a policy to offset their climate footprint. For everybody else, it is voluntary.

As a result, the French government intends to increase efforts to actively encourage all participants not covered by offsets by the government or UNFCCC secretariat to offset their own emissions.

The UN further noted that all emissions were offset by the host governments at previous UN climate conferences in Lima, Copenhagen, and Bali, and most emissions were offset by the host governments at the UN climate conferences in Doha and Durban. [WIRED, 11/29/15; UNFCCC.int, 11/23/15]

Fox Hosts Decrying Summit's Carbon Footprint Previously Denied Climate Change Is Happening Or That Man-Made Carbon Pollution is Causing It

Fox News Host Sean Hannity On The UN Summit: “A Whopping 300,000 Tons Of Carbon Dioxide Will Be Churned Out ... So You're Willing To Burn Up The Climate?” On the December 1 edition of his radio show, Fox News host Sean Hannity invited progressive radio host Betsy Rosenberg and the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Chris Horner to discuss the UN climate summit. When Rosenberg correctly noted that Horner was recently paid $18,600 by the coal industry, Hannity cut her off, saying, “it's my turn to talk,” then rattled off statistics about the summit's carbon footprint:

SEAN HANNITY: A whopping 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide will be churned out during the two week climate change summit in Paris as an estimated 50,000 people including the media, world leaders, gather to discuss ways to wean the world off fossil fuel.

BETSY ROSENBERG: Yeah, and they're all shills, they all believe the hoax.

HANNITY: I'm not finished yet. While the carbon dioxide increase from the summit amounts to less than 1 percent of what New York City emits in a year, according to industry insiders, President Obama's flight to Paris emitted roughly 189 tons of carbon alone, burning 19,275 gallons of jet fuel according to the Daily Caller, his entire trip will send more carbon dioxide into the air than the combined emissions from 31 US homes over the span of a year. Now, a one-night stay in the hotel and restaurants and meal service, well that emits 73.5 pounds of carbon dioxide per room per day, according to the EPA.

ROSENBERG: And none of that changes the real threat, the urgency of the climate crisis.

HANNITY: So you're willing to burn up the climate and have these guys spend more, emit more carbon than New York City emits in a year? [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 12/1/15; The Wall Street Journal, 10/15/15]

Previously, Hannity Said Efforts To Reduce Carbon Pollution Were Based On “The Phony Science On Global Warming”:

• Hannity once argued against cap-and-trade legislation that would have reduced carbon pollution, saying it was based on “the phony science of global warming.” He also declared: “We breathe carbon dioxide. You know? There's nothing wrong with the automobile.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 5/20/09]
• In response to Betsy Rosenberg pointing out a study showing that over 9,100 scientists accept human-caused climate change during the January 29, 2014 edition of Hannity's radio show, Hannity said: “I don't care what your liberal friends say ...  I think global warming is a hoax, there's nothing you're going to say here today that's going to convince me otherwise. ” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 1/29/14; DeSmogBlog, 1/8/14]
• Hannity asserted: “The latest prediction coming from the climate science community is that the Earth and the global warming phase is now over. We're now about to enter a period of prolonged global cooling.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 8/7/13]

The Five Co-Host Eric Bolling Touted “Carbon Footprint” Of UN Summit. On the November 30 edition of Fox News' The Five, after co-host Dana Perino said the carbon footprint in the U.S. “has actually been shrinking over the last 15 years,” Eric Bolling declared, “the carbon footprint of that climate change summit, 300,000 tons of CO2 emitted”:

PERINO: Our carbon footprint in the United States has actually been shrinking over the last 15 years while ISIS, their footprint is growing. And that is where they're able to plot and plan attacks that could actually hurt people today. So I do think they could have done two things at once.

BOLLING: Couple of stats while you bring it up -- the carbon footprint of that climate change summit, 300,000 tons of CO2 emitted. [Fox News, The Five, 11/30/15]

Previously, Bolling Agreed Global Warming Is A “Scam”:

• Citing climate science denier Patrick Moore, Bolling once proclaimed: “There's no science to global warming! And one of the most liberal [people], I guess you could call him liberal in the day when he founded Greenpeace, agrees that there's no science to global warming. When are the rest of you liberals going to come around and say there is no science and we need more time and the IPCC may be wrong?” [Fox News, The Five, 2/28/14; Media Matters, 2/27/14]
• In response to co-host Bob Beckel stating that “there's a lot of the right-wing of the Republican party that does not believe the science of global warming,” Bolling said, “what's wrong with that?” He then cited the faux-scandal “climategate” as supposed “proof that there is no basis” to global warming. Beckel then asked Bolling, “Is there global warming?” Bolling replied: “Yes, and there's global cooling, about every 30 years the globe warms and cools.” [Fox News, The Five, 8/22/14; Media Matters, 8/8/11]
• When Beckel asked Bolling why “most scientists believe that there is global warming and you don't,” Bolling answered: “Because if most scientists said ... it's normal fluctuations in temperature, there's no story there, there's no reason for them to get billions upon billions of dollars to fund their research projects.” Beckel then asked, “So you think this is all a scam?” and Bolling responded: “Absolutely.” [Fox News, The Five, 1/3/14]

The Five Co-Host Greg Gutfeld Introduced Segment On Climate Summit With Carbon Footprint Statistic. The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld led in the December 1 edition of the show by stating: “Did you know that the Paris climate talks emit 300,000 tons of CO2? Here's some of that gas.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 12/1/15]

Previously, Gutfeld Said Climate Science Deniers “Were Right All Along.” Gutfeld has claimed that “climate predictions were wildly exaggerated” and that climate science deniers “were right all along.” Gutfeld also claimed that President Obama was “denying science” by issuing warnings about global warming. [Fox News, The Five, 1/25/13]

America's Newsroom Anchor Martha MacCallum Said UN Summit Causing “Massive” Pollution, Has “Quite A Carbon Footprint.” From the December 1 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:

MACCALLUM: We have a side note in this conversation for you here as the climate talks come with a little bit of irony. World leaders in Paris working on ways to cut down on greenhouse gases reportedly causing a massive amount of pollution just in their travel plans. According to “Wired” magazine, the 50,000 attendees in Paris will travel an average of 9,000 miles apiece. That's quite a carbon footprint. About 300,000 tons of CO2, which is more than 23,000 times the carbon emissions of an average American in an entire year. That's something to think about. [Fox News, America's Newsroom, 12/1/15]

Previously, MacCallum Claimed Climate Change Is Largely Caused By “Nature.” From the May 7 edition of Fox News Radio's Kilmeade & Friends:

MACCALLUM: I mean the climate has changed over the course of the thousands and thousands of years that the Earth has been in existence, it has changed, you know, by several degrees up and down over the course of it. I just don't think that there is convincing evidence that the presence of man has altered that more dramatically than, say, the earth being covered with volcanoes emitting, you know, naturally noxious gases.

ALISYN CAMEROTA: So you're saying that it's cyclical? Brian wouldn't even go that far, by the way.

MACCALLUM: Yeah. I'm saying that it's nature. [Fox News Radio, Kilmeade & Friends, 5/7/14]

Fox & Friends Co-Hosts Steve Doocy And Elisabeth Hasselbeck Agreed UN Summit Is Not “Reduc[ing] Carbon.” From the December 1 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

Hasselbeck: When you look at what the actual climate change conference is leaving in terms of footprint, here --

Doocy: The carbon footprint?

Hasselbeck: Yeah.

Doocy: The whole idea of this thing is to reduce carbon.

Hasselbeck: Well, they're not doing that really. 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide were used during this two-week conference and president Obama's flight used 189 tons of carbon from burning 19,275 gallons of jet fuel. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 12/1/15]

Previously, Doocy Denied That Global Temperatures Are Rising:

• Doocy falsely asserted the average global temperature “for the most part [has] stabilized or gone down a little bit” over the past couple of decades. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/30/15; Washington Post, 7/9/13]
• Doocy promoted National Review Editor Rich Lowry's attempts to paint “advocates of limits on carbon emissions” as “deniers.” Doocy proclaimed that based on our carbon emissions “you would think it would be 900 degrees right now on planet Earth, but instead, over the last 15 years or so, we have been flat temperature-wise.” [Media Matters, 4/5/13]

And Hasselbeck Wondered If Climate Change Is A “Product” That's “Being Sold -- Sold To The American People.” Raw Story reported:

In preparation for next week's annual Earth Day, Hasselbeck and the other hosts of Fox & Friends asked Fox Business personality John Stossel why he was promoting fossil fuels. “Because that's the only way that poor people -- and there are billions still in poverty -- can lift themselves out of poverty,” Stossel explained. “The other stuff isn't good enough.”

“It's all symbolism without solution, right?” Hasselbeck opined.

[...]

For his part, Stossel agreed that the Earth was warming, but he insisted that humans were not causing it, and there was nothing humans could do about it.

“Is it a product?” Hasselbeck asked. “I'm saying, is it something that's being sold -- sold to the American people, sold when scientists do their research.”

“I guess you could think of it that way,” Stossel nodded. “It's sort of a movement. It's a give-government-more-power movement, and let us manage your life.” [Raw Story, 4/14/14]