Is global warming just hot air? World temperatures have risen by just 0.29C in the last two decades



'Green' policy burdens will cost families £267 a year extra by 2030

World temperatures have remained almost stagnant in the last two decades, new figures have revealed.

Temperatures across the globe rose by around a third of a degree last year from the average of 14 degrees Celsius recorded between 1961 and 1990.

In some years, temperatures rose by just 0.29 degrees C while in others they rose by .53 degrees.

Global warming: A retreating glacier in Alaska USA. But despite alarmist theories, temperatures have barely risen in the past 20 years

The findings come as consumers feel the full force of a raft of environment policies introduced by the coalition and the previous Labour government in the name of climate change.

By 2030, ‘green’ policy burdens could cost families an extra £267 a year and have already raised current energy bills by £78 annually.

The figures on global temperatures were published by Environment Minister Gregory Barker in a parliamentary answer to Tory MP Anne Main.

Mrs Main said it raised questions about whether vulnerable people should be made to make the choice between heating and eating.

She said: ‘These figures show that the cost to domestic energy bills from these policies will be significant and is a cause for concern.

‘I understand the Government is trying to mitigate the increase with the Green Deal and by encouraging people to insulate their homes.

‘However in areas like St Albans that have many listed properties, often owned by elderly people where they cannot benefit from energy efficiency schemes; mitigation may not be the answer and energy bills will rise.

Cold comfort: The news that world temperatures have risen by just 0.29C in 20 years will do little for Britons drenched by rain - with a hosepipe ban here to stay

‘I am worried that the most vulnerable in my constituency could be hardest hit by these policies; the Government needs to take this into account if bills are to be kept down.’

The figures were unveiled as an environmental guru and maverick scientist admitted that he may have been ‘alarmist’ about climate change.

James Lovelock, who warned that billions would die before the end of this century and only the Arctic would be fit for human habitation, said: ‘The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened.’

The 92-year-old told MSNBC in America: ‘The climate is doing its usual tricks. There’s nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now. The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time… it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising.’

The scientist is writing a new book in which he will say climate change is still happening, but not as quickly as he once feared.