This report describes the insights of the American climatologist James Hansen from his trips to England, Germany, and Japan where he called for a moratorium on coal-fired power plants - unfortunately without success.

Germany

My “Dear Chancellor” letter was translated to German and about to be published in a German paper, but, upon advice of John Schellnhuber, science adviser to the German government, I removed the letter from my web site and withheld it from publication in Germany, instead accepting an invitation to speak with the Minister of the Environment, Sigmar Gabriel. That meeting occurred in June, with Schellnhuber and Stefan Rahmstorf in attendance.

I am grateful for Minister Gabriel’s generosity with his time, and I have no doubt about his sincerity in dealing with climate change. However, we did not come to a common understanding about the implications of geophysical boundary conditions on fossil fuels. The stark policy implication of the data, I assert, is urgency for a moratorium on coal-fired power plants. (more…)