Region: International
Post-Mortem on Copenhagen
Der Spiegel has a story based on tapes of the behind-the-scenes meetings of world leaders. The headline says it all: The Copenhagen Protocol: How China and India Sabotaged the UN Climate Summit. As usual, the French assessment was the most eloquent: The words suddenly burst out of French President Nicolas Sarkozy: “I say this with …
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CONTINUE READINGChina’s Growth in Energy Usage Truly Alarming
Cara blogged earlier this week about the fact that U.S. emissions were down “a whopping 7 % in 2009.” Just when you might have been thinking that we are headed in the right direction on the climate change front, today’s New York Times has a distressing story about Chinese emissions. The take home point: Coal-fired electricity …
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CONTINUE READINGInteresting Lessons from the EU Cap and Trade Scheme
In a really interesting recent post by Sandbag, a UK-based organization that buys and retires credits from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the organization analyzed newly released 2009 data about drops in the emissions covered by the EU scheme. On the good news front, emissions that are covered by the EU scheme have dropped 17 …
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CONTINUE READINGChina, Energy and the Economy
The New York Times reported — with seeming alarm — this weekend that China is now leading the world in the manufacture of wind turbines and solar panels. Yet shouldn’t we view this news as good for efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Action by the U.S. to reduce emissions, while absolutely necessary for geopolitical …
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CONTINUE READINGUS reportedly submits Copenhagen Accord pledge today
Reuters is reporting that the US has officially notified the UN today of its intention to associate itself with the Copenhagen Accord negotiated at last month’s FCCC Conference of Parties. No surprises in the content of the pledge: Todd Stern, the top U.S. climate negotiator for the Obama administration, also gave notice that, as expected, it will …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Top 10 Environmental Developments of 2009
10. Cass Sunstein becomes regulatory czar. Sunstein is a true believer in cost-benefit analysis, the bête noire of many an environmentalist. Obama’s appointment of Sunstein to oversee health and environmental regulations may put the brakes on regulatory initiatves. 9. California passes AB 758. The first mandate for energy efficiency standards for existing buildings. 8. Water …
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CONTINUE READINGCopenhagen– The NRDC View
David Doniger, of NRDC, has posted his assessment of the Copenhagen Accord. It’s more positive than a lot of what we heard right after the conference ended. His conclusion: So give up the sour and grudging reviews. The Copenhagen Accord is a significant breakthrough that signals a new era of effective cooperation between all major …
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CONTINUE READINGCopenhagen in a Nutshell
Rob Stavins has a good, concise overview of the session and the outcome on the Belfer Center website. Not as negative as some other observers, he highlights the extraordinary procecess that resulted in the Copenhagen Accord: It is virtually unprecedented in international negotiations for heads of government (or heads of state) to be directly engaged …
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CONTINUE READINGAfter Copenhagen — Where Do We Go From Here?
Copenhagen was a letdown, and it would have been a complete disaster without President Obama’s last-minute efforts. Where do we go from here? How do we get the climate change effort back on track? We’ll be holding a conference at Berkeley on January 28 to explore those issues. “Beyond Copenhagen: Forging a Global Response to …
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CONTINUE READINGCopenhagen: The Story Isn’t Over Yet
For those who are interested, the text of the accord can be found here. There’s an important feature that does not seem to have gotten much attention, found in paragraphs 4 and 5. Paragraph 4 says: Annex I Parties commit to implement individually or jointly the quantified economy-wide emissions targets for 2020, to be submitted …
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