Region: International
The Year Ahead
Nine key developments to watch for on the environmental front.
2020 was a tumultuous year. Hopefully, 2021 will be balmier. Widespread use of vaccines will hopefully tame the COVID-19 pandemic, and maybe the political world will settle down a bit too. Here are nine key things to watch for in terms of environmental policy. The Georgia runoff elections. Currently, the Republicans look likely to control …
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CONTINUE READINGEveryday Christmas: The Gift of the Commons
Clean air. Clean water. We receive these public goods every day without payment
One of the Christmas classics is the Jimmy Stewart movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. Stewart is despondent about his life but then learns how much he has unknowingly helped others and how grateful they are. There’s a flip side to that story: the need to remember how much others have contributed to our own lives. …
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CONTINUE READINGWe Cannot Keep Global Warming within 1.5°C without Geoengineering
A new report from German green left groups heroically try do so, but fail
I emphasize the importance of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies and solar geoengineering research because keeping global warming within the internationally agreed-upon 2°C goal through reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone is extremely difficult, and limiting it to the 1.5°C aspirational target is now essentially impossible. All options to reduce climate change that are consistent with …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Global Convergence of Disaster Law and Climate Law
Two very distinct areas of international law are finding more and more in common.
International climate negotiations may seem to have little to do with the work of such international relief organizations as the Red Cross. On the national level, EPA and FEMA are two very different agencies that historically have had little connection. The same has been true at the international level. But disaster and climate authorities are …
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CONTINUE READINGIs the Paris Agreement’s Ambitious 1.5°C within Striking Distance?
A new analysis highlights the dangerous seduction of long-term targets
A new briefing (and PDF) from Climate Action Tracker opens with, “The recent wave of net zero targets has put the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C within striking distance.” Big, if true. But is it? In the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, countries agreed to keep global warming within 2°C and to “pursu[e] efforts” to keep …
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CONTINUE READINGEngineering Biological Diversity
In a new paper, I introduce the international governance of synthetic biology, gene drives, and de-extinction for conservation.
In addition to climate change — the primary topic of my academic writing — biodiversity loss is the other major global environmental challenge. Like climate change, efforts over the last three decades keep failing to meet agreed-upon objectives. And like climate change, scientists and others are considering novel technologies that would intervene in natural systems …
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CONTINUE READINGThe IPCC Misses the Mark on Solar Geoengineering
The Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change poorly portrays the “institutional and social constraints to deployment related to governance”
Not long ago, I re-read the top-level messages from the Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change (IPCC) on solar geoengineering’s governance issues. The Summary for Policymakers of most recent broad report, Global Warming of 1.5°C (SR1.5), says, in full: Solar radiation modification (SRM) [i.e. solar geoengineering] measures are not included in any of the available assessed pathways. …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat’s At Stake
Here’s a quick crib sheet on the climate change and the election
Here’s a quick reminder about the environmental stakes in the election. I’ve tried to stick with the facts here — you’re free to decide which way the cut. ISSUE TRUMP BIDEN Problem of climate change ” I don’t know that it’s man-made… I don’t wanna give trillions and trillions of dollars.” Biden “has long appreciated …
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CONTINUE READINGHow Climate Disruption May Undermine Climate Policy
The long-term harms from climate change over the next decades may undermine support for efforts to reduce emissions
Almost two straight months of wildfires and smoke in California are a tangible sign of the impacts of climate change on our lives and our world. This article from the New York Times a couple of weeks ago does a good job of laying out why the wildfires in California are only one example of …
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CONTINUE READINGChina’s New 2060 Carbon Neutrality Target
New climate pledges from China and the EU make the U.S. the only jurisdiction among the top three emitters without a carbon neutrality target
The biggest climate policy announcement of the week was not California Gov. Newsom’s Executive Order to ban the in-state sale of gas-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035, although this move is a major advance for climate policy. Rather, the most important climate news was China’s announcement of an “aim” of achieving carbon neutrality by …
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