Menata Kelola Program Biogas untuk Transisi Energi

Pemerintah Indonesia menargetkan 23% bauran energi terbarukan pada 2025 untuk mendukung climate action, dan tahun 2018, Indonesia telah mencapai 12,5%. Salah satu kontribusi bauran energi terbarukan berasal dari biogas, yang dihasilkan oleh fermentasi kotoran hewan dan manusia, limbah domestik, dan limbah organik lainnya. Menurut riset Fakultas Peternakan Universitas Gadjah Mada, biogas dapat memenuhi 13,3% kebutuhan bahan bakar memasak dan listrik di Indonesia. Strategi desentralisasi melalui biogas mendukung ketahanan dan kemandirian energi daerah untuk mendukung pembangunan rendah karbon, membantu capaian target elektrifikasi, dan mengembangkan energi serta ekonomi desa hingga Rp 64,3 triliun/tahun.

Namun, saat ini pemanfaatan dan penyebaran biogas masih di angka 1,24%, meskipun potensi limbah organik mencapai 39 juta ton/hari. Padahal, optimalisasi pemanfaatan biogas penting untuk membantu transisi energi lokal untuk mengurangi impor elpiji dan penggunaan kayu bakar. Sementara itu, subsidi pemerintah untuk elpiji terus bertambah setiap tahunnya, mencapai 6,6 miliar metrik ton pada 2018.

Indonesian Journal of Energy: Vol 1 No 2 (2018)

I published two papers in the Indonesian Journal of Energy: Vol 1 No 2 (2018). The first paper is entitled; Enabling Community Participation for Social Innovation in the Energy Sector; and the second one is Multiple Challenges and Opportunities for Biogas Dissemination in Indonesia.
Full papers can be downloaded through this link;  http://www.ije-pyc.org/index.php/IJE

Pembangunan (lingkungan) berkelanjutan di Indonesia

Memperingati Hari lingkungan hidup, sejumlah kalangan aktif melakukan berbagai kegiatan bertema ramah lingkungan; rendah emisi, hemat energi, kurangi polusi dan bersih sampah. Semua kegiatan tersebut berpayung pada visi global pembangunan berkelanjutan. Selama empat dekade terakhir, Indonesia telah menjadi mitra dunia untuk aksi lingkungan.

Tahun 1987, PBB merilis ide tentang pembangunan berkelanjutan sebagai respon terhadap krisis lingkungan. Indonesia mendukung ide tersebut sejak satu dekade sebelumnya. Tahun 1978, Indonesia membentuk Kementerian Pengawasan Pembangunan dan Lingkungan, enam tahun setelah Konferensi Stockholm tentang Lingkungan. Sejak itu, manajemen lingkungan telah menjadi bagian dari program pembangunan di Indonesia. Hari ini, kementerian tersebut menjadi Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan (KLHK) dan bertugas sebagai badan koordinasi untuk manajemen lingkungan dan pembangunan berkelanjutan dari berbagai sektor.

Pada Rio Earth Summit (RES) 1992, Indonesia kembali hadir dan mendukung Agenda pembangunan berkelanjutan dalam memastikan bahwa tujuan ekonomi, lingkungan dan sosial bangsa saling terkait secara keseluruhan. Setelah RES, Indonesia mulai menerapkan prinsip pembangunan berkelanjutan dalam agenda pembangunan nasional. Tahun 1997, Indonesia meraih sejumlah pencapaian melalui implementasi Konvensi Keanekaragaman Hayati, Perubahan Iklim dan Prinsip-Prinsip Konservasi Hutan.

What do Journalists need to write powerful stories about Climate Change?

Summary for the tips: https://infograph.venngage.com/ps/3vtjZFT4v4U/storytelling-in-climate-change

I have been working in the last four years on the topic of climate change. I found that many journalists have been telling people about the effects of climate change, such as the rise of temperatures, chaos in weather patterns, and drought that causes crop failures. Then these stories are used to be followed with the sentences; “we need to take action seriously towards reduction and reversal of global warming” Many articles only showed the problems from climate change with general or wide coverage, such as sea level rise and drought. Telling these stories make people think that “the climate change problem is really big and nothing I may be able to do to solve it”. Some people even think that the problem is exaggerated.

Now I am studying this hottest environmental topic in the best university for environmental science. I found that climate change is a statistical phenomenon that is difficult to be experienced directly, it presents a unique challenge for the human brain. Showing people long-term trends in the average global temperature simply does not carry the same weight in their decisions as the type of strong emotional reactions formed through (negative) experiences. Affective cues—fast and associative judgments of things people like and dislike—are formed through everyday experiences, and they help people make judgments and decisions, especially about risks. People brains are equipped with a biologically hard-wired alarm system that motivates responses to immediate environmental threats. The problem is that because they cannot readily see, hear, or experience the risk of climate change, so their risk warning system is not activated. So, how the journalists can activate it?

PPIW 2.0 : Home (for) initiatives and innovation

It is time to implement the (policy and governance) science or to play people-policy interface.

Menimba ilmu di rantau, memupuk rasa rindu terhadap tanah air. Maka dari itu, kemudian rasa sepenanggungan ini membuat mahasiswa Indonesia di luar negeri berkumpul di bawah 'Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia' (PPI). PPI Wageningen berdiri (PPIW) sejak 1987, banyak hal telah dicapai untuk memberikan 'rumah' bagi para perantau pelajar Indonesia, dan juga kontribusi lainnya bagi Indonesia serta komunitas lain di sekitar Wageningen.

Global change membuat fungsi PPIW juga terus bertransformasi, tak hanya sebagai 'paguyuban' Indonesia, tapi juga bisa menjadi hub bagi ide-ide inovasi para mahasiswa Indonesia, untuk menjadi cikal bakal 'think tank' bagi isu strategis di tanah air dan membuka potensi untuk kerjasama internasional (Fig 1). Transformasi ini yang diharapkan menjadi PPIW 2.0.

Figure 1. Integrated programmes

Social innovation for energy transition

Last month, Ignasius Jonan, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources released the statement that Indonesia may not be able to achieve target for the energy mix 2025. He said that existing policies are already more than enough to attract investor, but the problem is competition with traditional fuels which is comparatively cheaper. He also argued that despite the price is lower and the technology is available, the development of renewable energy would still take time. Then what we can do to contribute to the acceleration of the renewable energy transition?
 

Beside economic issues, societal acceptance topic is also important in the renewable energy transition. The energy transition includes macro-level innovations that often consist of a series of technological advancements. This is usually followed by changes in societies, their economic and social domains. Therefore, it requires social innovation. 

Promoting sustainable learning for cacao farmers

Concept of farmers' labs

Many provinces could be turned into major cacao producing areas through an intensification program. However, a sustainable agriculture concept should be adopted so that the intensification program would not harm the environment.

Sustainable practices are applied by some farmer groups in Indonesia. Yet many farmers still use the traditional approach to agriculture, which harms the environment and brings little benefit. Immediately after harvesting, they strive to sell their cacao beans to middlemen in order to get quick money, without considering the sustainable market for their product and enhancing their own income.

The main barrier to pro-environmental and sustainable practices is the personal attitude of the farmers. They do not put much effort into gaining knowledge about the negative impacts of their agricultural practices, which can result in a more vulnerable situation for their livelihood. The mind-set of the farmers makes them act and react based on the experiences of their forefathers, not based on knowledge and science. This value creates perceptions among the farmers that their forefathers who used old farming practices for a long time are more reliable than the knowledge that comes from external actors.

Why do we need social scientists in environmental research?

Risk governance framework

There are many environmental challenges which are threatening ecosystem and global biodiversity. Environmental issue is an interdisciplinary topic which has complex interaction between human with nature system. It has substantive uncertainty and strategic-institutional uncertainty among the stakeholders. Scientific research is required to manage risk of the uncertainties. Scientists have to collaborate in interdisciplinary research to solve wicked environmental problems. Interdisciplinary research generally refers to the process of coordination, collaboration, or investigation by researchers are combined into a public issue with sharing, invention, and knowledge mix between disciplines.

The social sciences research produces strong output that contributes to environmental studies. Social scientists are studying humans in some form or another, this output is required to produce various kinds of socially robust knowledge to address environmental issues. Consequently, it creates potential for knowledge transfer and scalability, praxis planning and policy-making bridges to implement solution for the problems. Scientific research on societal environmental issues requires a full collaborative role of social scientists. 

Fragmented climate governance in Indonesia

Fragmentation theory focuses on interaction among different institutions on the architecture of an institutional setting. Competition among different national entities resulting in fragmentation reflects the persistence of domestic power relations.

This situation is happening with climate governance in Indonesia, which includes different cases from various institutions and platforms. One such case is the biogas program as one of the climate change mitigation strategies in the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action. This climate governance involves NGOs, local and national governments, businesses and international development organizations. 

Dilemma of energy used for cooking in Indonesia

Indonesia still relies on imports to cope with a shortage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is expected to worsen in the coming years because of surging demand. Indonesia’s consumption of LPG rose to 6.67 million metric tons last year, up 1.5 percent from 2015, according to the data from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. The domestic production of LPG, however, dropped to 2...

Read more http://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2017/04/06/dilemma-of-energy-used-for-cooking-in-indonesia.html

Enabling opportunities to diversify farmers' livelihoods: Blending adaptation and mitigation practice

It is not difficult to source biogas technology. BIRU programmes in partnership with the government and private sector are currently expanding their effort to deliver the biogas to the last mile in order to enable local farmers to increase their adaptive capacity.

Biogas acts as a means of waste alleviation and management, preventing pollution, and enabling a healthy environment for farming communities. The biogas produced from anaerobic digestion can be used in this concept with manure as main feedstock, since this technology is already widely distributed. Bioslurry can also be produced as a side product of the biogas, and can be used as an organic fertilizer on the coffee plantation. A positive impact of this approach is that it reduces reliance on artificial fertilizers, resulting in more sustainable agricultural practice. With the help of the coffee community to increase demand, the concept can make biogas more accessible and make a real, positive impact on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Transition pathways and risk analysis for Bioenergy in Indonesia

Governing almost 260 million people dispersed on hundreds of Islands leads to institutional complexities. Indonesia’s form of government is a presidential system where the president is elected directly by the people and draws up legislation together with the parliament (Kawamura 2010) (Kawamura, 2010). There are 34 ministries at national level. The decentralisation policies of the past led to a total of 34 provinces and 82,330 local government units, which all retain certain policy making power(GRAPHIQ, 2016).

The policy architecture itself is also complex. When it comes to climate policy, there is the NDC of Indonesia which sets a 26% emissions reduction target (41% with international help) by 2020 compared to business as usual (Republic of Indonesia, 2015). Nationally, this has been translated into the National Action Plan for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction (RANGRK) which confirms the objectives stated in the NDC. In the energy sector, the flagship project of the government is the 2014 National Energy Policy (NEP 14) which sets out, amongst other things, a target for the national energy mix. By 2025, 30% of energy should be sourced from coal, 25% from gas, 23% from Renewables and 22% from oil (IEA, 2016). In addition, Indonesia has set an interim target of a 19% share of renewable energies by 2019 (Mittal, 2015).

Encouraging private sector participation in climate finance

The demands of mitigation and adaptation policies are important to understanding a country’s climate change preparation by providing microfinance in the agricultural sector. This could be seen as a strategy to fight against the challenges of future food security. In 2014, Indonesia established climate change adaptation policies. This legislation aims to pave the way for making actions on climate change adaptation mainstream in national and local development planning. Public and private finance have supported the implementation of the climate actions. However, most funding is still used for mitigation. Adaptation finance needs support, especially in agriculture. This research paper studies opportunities for microfinance to play a role together with existing resources in supporting climate change adaptation in Indonesia.  The data was acquired and analysed through a literature review, analysis of case studies and interviews with stakeholders in the climate change-related financial sector. The central findings regarding the opportunity for microfinance to contribute to the existing schemes in Indonesian climate change adaptation finance for agriculture are worthy of the result. This study found that adaptation finance is mostly used for indirect activities. Meanwhile, local communities, and farmers in particular, need directly targeted measures to adapt to climate change. An alternative approach is providing microfinance, insurance and capacity development for farmers to produce high quality agricultural products. This would contribute to optimizing the agri-food value chain, which supports socio-economic development of stakeholders, especially farmers. Hence, microfinance appears to be one potential solution to support direct climate change adaptation actions for the agricultural sector. However, this may not be strong enough to finance the entire needs for agricultural climate actions. Adaptation is contextual, so it has to be grounded in the needs of local communities.  Microfinance needs public sectors support as well as other resources from the private sector. In the case of rapid response to disasters, which often destroy the agricultural sector, microfinance should be advantageous in supporting adaptation. However, in reality, it does not work, as it is prevented by regulations. So, this can be an area the public sector can support as a risk-taker as well as by providing initial funds and resources for scaling up efforts.

Full paper will be published in Future of Food: Journal on Food, Agriculture and Society. Volume 4 Number 3.

Climate-smart agriculture not an oxymoron

“Is climate-smart agriculture [CSA] an oxymoron?”, Lisa Schipper, a researcher, questioned in regard to a new farming concept outlined in the 5th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum in Sri Lanka recently.

The concept of CSA was invented by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2010 to sustainably increase productivity, resilience (adaptation), reduce/remove greenhouse gases (mitigation) and enhance national food security and development goals.

The concept has been introduced with a more sophisticated political approach, through a new initiative called the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture. In a new twist, the Global Alliance provides for new ways of green washing “climate-smart” industrial agriculture, with the active involvement of private corporations such as Syngenta, Yara, Kellogg’s and McDonald’s.

The scheme may let agriculture remain a parking lot for poor farmers in Africa and South Asia, but it should not to be continued in the ASEAN region.

Investment planning for energy-agriculture nexus

15th WREC (World Renewable Energy Congress) took place at the Jakarta International Convention Center in Indonesia on 19-23 September alongside the Indonesia Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Summit 2016. It was attended by 457 participants, comprising Indonesians and foreigners from 68 countries. As many as 122 scientific papers on renewable energy are presented at the congress. Some of them are discussing energy-agriculture nexus through bioenergy, geothermal and solar. Participants from Indonesia gained knowledge and network about business, policy and technological developments in the energy-agriculture sector, from from overseas businessmen and experts in the congress.

Renewable energy interventions in an agriculture-food enterprise include the introduction of renewable energy technologies or of energy efficiency measures, which can result in improvement in energy intensity. Each step of agriculture value chain presents different challenges to ensure that the relevant energy services are provided efficiently, cost effectively and minimizing the reliance on the fossil fuel market. Applying the value chain approach, it becomes evident how the value of food products tend to increase as more processing occurs and more inputs (energy, water, packaging materials) are consumed. The energy interventions considered span from solar-power irrigation systems to cooling and cold storage facilities, and from the use of residues for energy production to geothermal energy for food processing. These concepts were explored in the WREC.

Adaptation with respect to water resources

Java is being most heavily populated but having a small percentage of the Indonesia’s water, the island is predicted to face a clean water crisis. Java has less than 10 percent of the country's water, whereas more than 140 million people live on the island, nearly 60 percent of the country's population. The 2015 estimation by Robert Wahyudi Triweko, an expert on engineering and the management of water resources, disclosed that water demand on Java reached 164.672 million cubic meters per year, while the availability of water was only 30.569 million cubic meters per year, leaving a big deficit gap of 134.103 million cubic meters per year. Meanwhile, Kalimantan has 30 percent of Indonesia's water and only inhabited by six percent of Indonesia's population.

Water demand increase is triggered by urbanization. At the same time, it is also affected by climate change. It is started from sea level rise and increasing rainfall, as well as higher peak flood runoff which affected by urbanization. Those occurences increase flood volume in wider risk area. Finally, it becomes new problem which is increasing flood damage in more houses which builded due to urbanization. Therefore, improvements in water management and related infrastructure are important for solving the problems which threatening future economic success. 

Risma dan pembangunan-berkelanjutan

Kondisi yang membutuhkan pembangunan strategis

Seiring dengan mendekatnya Pemilihan Gubernur (Pilgub) DKI Jakarta 2017, perhatian publik yang digiring media terhadap topik ini pun semakin meningkat. Tak Cuma partai politik (parpol), aliansi masyarakat sipil beserta sejumlah organisasi pun turut serta meramaikan bahasan ini dengan mengusung sejumlah calon. Hal ini semakin menjadi-jadi setelah Basuki Tjahja Purnama (Ahok), calon incumbent, menetapkan untuk maju melalui jalur parpol. Keputusan ini membuat sejumlah pihak yang tidak menginginkan Ahok sebagai gubernur lagi, menjadi cemas dan langsung ribut memaksa calon lain yang tak kalah kuat, salah satunya adalah Tri Rismaharini (Risma), Walikota Surabaya saat ini yang berprestasi.

Sejumlah seruan dan bujukan untuk Risma menjadi calon gubernur Jakarta sontak menggeliat dimana-mana. Mulai dari masyarakat sipil, warga Kelurahan Kalianyar, Jakarta Barat dan warga Jatinegara Ilir beberapa waktu lalu menggelar deklarasi mendukung Risma menjadi calon gubernur (Cagub) DKI. Alasan warga tersebut adalah karena ingin Jakarta dipimpin figur yang lebih merakyat dan mengedepankan dialog. Kemudian disusul oleh pernyataan sejumlah Alumni Institut Teknologi Sepuluh November Surabaya (ITS) yang juga menyatakan Risma pantas didukung untuk maju menjadi Cagub DKI melawan Ahok.

Tak cuma itu, media massa pun turut berkonspirasi menggiring berita seolah-olah Risma akan maju jadi Cagub DKI. Sebuah pidato Risma di Surabaya yang menyatakan permintaan maaf akibat ia tidak menghadiri sebuah acara di Surabaya, di-framing menjadi permintaan maaf untuk maju jadi Cagub DKI. Tampaknya media pun sangat memanfaatkan topik ini untuk meningkatkan popularitas portalnya.

Kenapa 230 juta populasi hanya dapat satu emas?

Brasil akhirnya meraih medali emas di Olimpiade Rio 2016 untuk cabang sepak bola putra setelah mengalahkan Jerman. Namun tim putri Jerman sebelumnya mengobati kekalahan ini, untuk kali pertama, mereka meraih medali emas Olimpiade seusai mengalahkan Swedia di final. Hal ini akhirnya membuat kedua negara masuk dalam daftar negara peraih medali emas untuk sepakbola di olimpiade.

Negara peraih gelar juara sepakbola olimpiade terbanyak bukanlah Brasil, Argentina, Jerman atau negara sepakbola yang lain, melainkan adalah Hungaria. Hungaria merupakan tim dengan raihan medali emas Olimpiade terbanyak, bersama Britania Raya dengan tiga gelar. Hungaria menjadi juara pada Helsinki 1952, Tokyo 1964, dan Mexico City 1968. Ada pula Rusia yang menjadi juara Olimpiade dua kali ketika masih bernama Uni Soviet. Mereka melakukannya pada 1956 dan 1968.

Sementara itu, Argentina menjadi negara tersukses di abad 21 dengan kesuksesannya meraih medai emas pada tahun 2004 dan 2008. Pada tahun 2008, di bawah komando Lionel Messi, pemain terbaik asal Barcelona tersebut sukses mempersembahkan medali emas bagi negaranya. Negara lain yang berhasil meraih medali emas di abad ini adalah Kamerun (2000), Meksiko (2012), dan terakhir, Brazil.

Yang menarik, faktanya sejak sistem timnas u-23 diperkenalkan di Atlanta 1992 hanya Spanyol satu-satunya negara Eropa yang berhasil menjadi kampiun. Selebihnya, medali emas dikuasai oleh Nigeria dan Kamerun dari CAF (Afrika), lalu Argentina dua kali dari CONMEBOL (Amerika Selatan), juga Meksiko dari CONCACAF (Amerika Utara dan Tengah)

Lalu pertanyaan klasiknya, mengapa negara-negara tersebut yang juara? Dan jawaban klasiknya tentu karena negara tersebut punya banyak pemain berkualitas yang dapat bekerjasama dalam tim yang juga baik. Berikutnya bagaimana mereka bisa mendapatkan dan melahirkan pemain-pemain tersebut? Negara-negara di atas memilih para pemainnya, Brazil dari 200 juta penduduknya, Jerman dari 80 juta jiwa dan Hungaria dari 10 juta penduduknya di tahun 1968, terakhir kali mereka meraih emas sepakbola di olimpiade. Lalu Argentina, Kamerun dan Meksiko, masing-masing berturut dari 39 juta, 15 juta dan 120 juta jiwa, saat mereka meraih juara.

Dari fakta di atas, hanya Brazil negara yang memiliki jumlah populasi lebih dari 200 juta dan berhasil meraih emas sepakbola di Olimpiade, akhirnya di 2016. Lalu bagaimana dengan raihan Brazil di olahraga lain pada olimpiade saat ini? Per 22 Agustus lalu, dari 471 atletnya Brazil meraih 7 emas dan berada di posisi 13. Adalah deretan angka-angka yang menarik, statistik menunjukkan bahwa negara berpopulasi besar yang bahkan sudah mengirim ratusan atlet di olimpiade, namun masih sulit setidaknya berada dalam posisi sepuluh besar.

Investasi alternatif energi terbarukan

Biogas rumah di Bali

Beberapa waktu lalu Wakil Presiden Jusuf Kalla menilai bahwa menurunnya produksi energi fosil di Indonesia harus dilihat sebagai peluang untuk mengembangkan sumber-sumber energi baru terbarukan (EBT). Indonesia termasuk salah satu negara dengan tingkat pertumbuhan konsumsi energi terbesar di dunia, mencapai 7 persen per tahun. Sementara itu, produksi minyak Indonesia terus mengalami penurunan rata-rata 2,1 persen per tahun periode 1992-2013. Dan kini laju penurunannya semakin tajam, sehingga mendorong pemerintah untuk mencari solusi energi.

Dengan kata lain, pemerintah harus segera mempercepat pembangunan dan mendukung investasi di sektor EBT. Misalnya, dengan memberikan insentif menarik, dukungan regulasi yang berpihak pada investasi tersebut, dan juga fasilitas fiskal memadai, mengingat nilai investasi sektor EBT sangat besar. Saat ini Indonesia memiliki potensi energi baru dan terbarukan mencapai 176,01 Gigawatt. Angka itu terdiri dari energi bayu/angin sebesar 950 Megawatt, tenaga surya 11 Gigawatt, tenaga air 75 Gigawatt, energi biomasa 32 Megawatt, biofuel 32 Megawatt, energi laut 60 Gigawatt dan panas bumi 29 Gigawatt.

Kementerian Energi dan Sumber Daya Mineral (ESDM) memperkirakan realisasi investasi di sektor EBT pada 2016 akan melebihi target US$ 1,37 miliar. Direktur Jenderal Energi Baru Terbarukan dan Konservasi Energi Kementerian ESDM Rida Mulyana mengatakan, meski terjadi perlambatan perekonomian global dan beberapa hambatan, iklim investasi sektor energi baru terbarukan di Indonesia tetap menarik. Sampai akhir Juni lalu, realisasi investasi di sektor ini mencapai US$ 867 juta atau 63,5%  dari target. Realisasi investasi di sektor panas bumi tercatat sebesar US$ 56 juta atau 58,3% dari target US$ 96 juta, bioenergi sebesar US$ 28,9 juta atau 93,2% dari target US$ 31 juta dan aneka energi baru terbarukan lainnya hanya US$ 180 ribu atau 18% dari target US$ 1 juta.

Pemerintah optimistis investasi sektor energi baru terbarukan ini dapat digenjot pada semester kedua 2016 ini. Di Sumatra Barat, sektor energi terbarukan menjadi incaran investor untuk menanamkan modalnya dikarenakan potensi sektor energi daerah itu yang terbilang besar. Gubernur setempat menyebutkan sejumlah perusahaan sudah menunjukkan minat untuk berinvestasi di daerah itu dengan melakukan eksplorasi. Namun, ketergantungan pada investor besar mungkin bukan solusi berkelanjutan bagi pengembangan EBT di Indonesia.

What is (br)exit for climate change?

It has been more than a month after the popular vote of Brexit in the United Kingdom (UK) moved to detach the country from the European Union (EU). Brexit affects many aspects, including climate change. Theresa May, New UK Prime Minister decided to abolish the UK’s climate change department, funding for some combined heat and power schemes is cut with just three weeks' notice, causing outrage among the renewable energy industry and farmers. The decision is potentially a major downgrade for climate as a government priority. In long-term period, it will be a disaster for the climate, both physical and political, on both sides of the Atlantic.

The climate movement is expected to slow markedly. Most obvious are all of the direct impacts will have on environmental policies outright. Brexiteers don't care much for the caps on carbon and free markets, and they are eager to cut through the EU "red tape" of environmental regulations. Worst, many Brexiteers also happen to deny temperatures are rising at all, setting them apart even from Tory comrades. One recent study found that Brexit voters are nearly twice as likely as their "Remain" counterparts to deny the existence of man-made climate change -- with two out of three thinking the media are guilty of exaggerating scientific consensus on the matter. One of them even called wind energy as the biggest collective economic insanity.