Region: International
The Evolution of Climate Policy in Russia
The Russian government has gone from joking about fur coats to catching up with global trends.
A prevalent perspective from the early 2000s among some Russian officials held that climate change could actually benefit the country by opening up Arctic shipping routes, expanding agricultural zones, and reducing winter heating costs. Russian President Vladimir Putin once joked about the prospects of Russians not needing their fur coats in a warmer climate. For …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Science Under Attack, in the Name of Global Equity
Equity for whom: The fossil fuel producers or the most vulnerable?
In the name of global equity, a coalition of carbon producers and high emitters is trying to delay the next report of the IPCC, the UN body in charge of synthesizing the world’s climate research. The report on the physical science of climate change is due in 2028, but China, India, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, and Russia want to stall into the next year. All these countries are major producers of coal, oil, or gas
CONTINUE READINGThese 3 Numbers Explain Earth System Interventions in 2026
Concerns about passing 1.5C and ‘global dimming’ are driving attention to the prospect of large-scale interventions in Earth systems.
On October 12th and 13th, more than 250 people gathered in Reykjavik, Iceland, for the “Global Risk and Stabilization Summit,” to talk about the new level of risk the planet is facing as we pass 1.5C degrees and potential ways to address it. UCLA’s ESI Project, which I help direct, was a convening partner of …
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CONTINUE READINGOur Powerful ‘Eye in the Sky’ Just Multiplied
The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
Next month, scientists and diplomats from all over the world will arrive in Antalya, Türkiye for the UN climate conference known as COP31. The host country wants to make global progress on reducing planet-warming methane from landfills, which could be a big deal. So, UCLA’s STOP Methane used satellite data to create a Top …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Endhó Dam: One of the World’s Least Known Sacrifice Zones
It’s well past time to end sacrifice zones, including the area that has been treated as “Mexico’s toilet bowl” for decades.
Last week, about halfway down the New York Times’ Monday morning newsletter, there was a video titled “Living Next to Mexico’s Toxic Reservoir.” I watched it, appalled not only by the dangerous conditions described in the video and accompanying article, but also by the fact that I had never heard of this enormous environmental justice …
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CONTINUE READINGFrom Desert to Oasis?
Xi Jinping’s Tree-Planting Toast and the Future of U.S.-China Environmental Cooperation
Last week, China’s President Xi Jinping shocked retired American teacher Ron Sakolsky by mentioning him in a toast at a White House state dinner as a “shining example of friendly exchanges” between Chinese and American people. Sakolsky found himself in unexpected company: Xi’s brief history of U.S.-China friendship included George Washington’s purchase of Chinese porcelain; …
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CONTINUE READINGBy Our Powers Combined, We Are Captain Planet
Facing climate disasters, the GCF Task Force is putting the network theory of governance into practice.
I don’t need to tell you that the last several months have seen an increasing number of climate-related disasters, including severe heatwaves throughout Europe and droughts that are impacting water supply and reducing ship passages through the Panama Canal. This year’s super El Niño has exacerbated the ongoing fires across Indonesian Borneo. It is projected …
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CONTINUE READINGUCLA Law Clinics File Brief in the “Mecheros” Case
UCLA’s Human Rights Litigation Clinic and Environmental Law Clinic represent experts in a long-running case that seeks to stop harmful gas flaring in Ecuador.
Guest Contributors Incia Haider and Enrique Garcia are J.D. candidates of UCLA School of Law, ‘27. This month, the Human Rights Litigation Clinic and the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic at UCLA School of Law filed an amicus brief with the Constitutional Court of Ecuador on behalf of a group of law professors and international legal scholars: our own Kate Mackintosh of UCLA Law, …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Overlooked Fast Track for Cutting Planetary Warming
Guest contributors V. Ram Ramanathan, Durwood Zaelke, and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco write that we can cut the rate of warming by 30% to 50% within 15 years. “And we must.”
This guest post is authored by V. Ram Ramanathan, Durwood Zaelke, and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco and is informed by a presentation that Ramanathan is set to give at the Vatican on September 26. Among the three of us, we have 15 decades of high-level experience in climate science, policies and actions, and we have never been …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Bottleneck in Forest Monitoring Isn’t in Orbit
Groups on the frontlines fighting deforestation are held back by institutional constraints – not just technological barriers – according to a new study from UCLA, NYU, World Resources Institute, and the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force.
There are 16,000 satellites circling the Earth right now, and a growing share of them capture images of our planet in unprecedented detail at every moment of the day. One of the many things they measure, monitor, and observe are forests. Being able to measure forests is the foundation for protecting them and for decades …
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