Paris agreement
Good News From India
While we’ve been obsessing about Trump, India has made great strides in renewable energy.
We get so focused on the problems in our own country that it’s easy to lose track of what’s happening globally. It turns out that while we’ve been mired in our own travails, India has been making remarkableprogress on renewable energy. What happens in India has tremendous significance. It is now the most populous country …
Continue reading “Good News From India”
CONTINUE READINGAnother Scary Election (But Not Here)
An election next Sunday has implications for the entire planet.
I hate to give you something else to freak out about in our current Age of Anxiety, but there’s a very worrisome presidential election next Sunday. No, I haven’t completely lost it – the presidential race isn’t here, it’s in Brazil. The election pits a dangerous populist against a highly competent but colorless Establishment candidate. …
Continue reading “Another Scary Election (But Not Here)”
CONTINUE READINGA Major Challenge for Avoiding Climate Change Hides In Plain Sight
If we probably cannot keep global warming within agreed-upon limits by reducing emissions alone, how could we?
Next week, the international body responsible for assessing climate change will release a special report on the 1.5°C target, an ambitious, international goal to limit global warming that became part of the Paris Agreement in 2015. The report might mark a significant turning point for how policy makers, the scientific community, and others think about …
Continue reading “A Major Challenge for Avoiding Climate Change Hides In Plain Sight”
CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger Ken Alex: California’s Global Climate Action Summit, September 12-14, 2018
The Final Post in a Series on California Climate Policy by Ken Alex, Senior Policy Advisor to Gov. Jerry Brown
[This is the final post in a series expressing my view of why California’s actions on climate change are so important and how they will change the world. The introductory post provides an overview and some general context.] Under the Paris Agreement, countries must evaluate progress towards their nationally determined commitments to reduce emissions every five years, …
CONTINUE READINGPineapples and Preparing for the Future at COP23
Guest post by Eric Sezgen, UCLA Law student
As Alex’s previous blogpost states, there was a sense of urgency at this COP. Urgency had observable consequences all around the conference and was not only embraced but enhanced by Fiji’s presidency. You could see this even in the COP’s logo. Whereas the COP logo is usually a sleek and trendy design to look good …
Continue reading “Pineapples and Preparing for the Future at COP23”
CONTINUE READINGA Sense of Urgency at COP 23
Guest post by Alexandra Gay, UCLA Law student
Christiana Figueres, the former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC who is widely credited with the success of COP 21 in Paris in 2015, launched a global initiative earlier this year called Mission 2020. The overall goal of the initiative is to ensure that global CO2 emissions reach a “turning point” by 2020 and begin to …
Continue reading “A Sense of Urgency at COP 23”
CONTINUE READINGDispatch from the Bonn UN Climate Conference
So what’s up with the Paris Agreement now that the U.S. has announced its intent to withdraw? The main annual UN conference on climate change is underway in Bonn, Germany, and UCLA Law is on the ground here. We’ll be reporting this week on what we see and hear. This conference, which serves as the …
Continue reading “Dispatch from the Bonn UN Climate Conference”
CONTINUE READINGRenewables and Republicans in the Rustbelt
Republican Governors in Ohio and Michigan have given support to renewables. Indiana, not so much.
When people think of the rustbelt, they think of places like Cleveland, Gary, and Detroit. Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan form a cluster of states under solid Republican control, Republicans controlling the governor’s mansion and both houses of the legislature. All three states went for Trump, with varying margins. The three states also have commonalities in …
Continue reading “Renewables and Republicans in the Rustbelt”
CONTINUE READINGEnergy & Climate Are Hot News
Some of it is bad news — but despite Trump, there are many positive signs.
Climate and energy issues have been hot topics in the news. Consider yesterday’s issues of the NY Times and the Washington Post. Of course, both papers have featured coverage of the G20 conference. They emphasized that the U.S. is isolated internationally by its decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Trump was unable to get …
Continue reading “Energy & Climate Are Hot News”
CONTINUE READINGDid Trump Just Accidentally Endorse Climate Action?
There’s a hidden zinger in the G-20 statement about curtailing greenhouse gases.
It escaped everyone’s notice, possibly including the U.S. delegation, but buried in the G-20 Declaration is an endorsement of the need to cut greenhouse gases. This paragraph precedes the two reflecting disagreements about the Paris Agreement, and this particular paragraph purports to reflect the views of all twenty leaders, including Trump. There are three paragraphs …
Continue reading “Did Trump Just Accidentally Endorse Climate Action?”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
