Doug Koplow. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I'm the founder of Earth Track in Cambridge, Mass., which focuses on increasing visibility of environmentally harmful subsidies. This visibility comes through direct analysis, consolidation of research from around the world, and descriptive materials understandable by general audiences. Subsidies transfer value from the public sector to private interests, sometimes in cash, but more often via complex and hard-to-track methods. A good general observation is the quicker your eyes glaze over reading eligibility requirements, the bigger the subsidy is likely to be. At an estimated trillion dollars per year globally, these subsidies …

ExxonMobil says it's taking climate change seriously -- seriously Guess who said this about climate change: "We know enough now -- or, society knows enough now -- that the risk is serious and action should be taken." No, not some dirty hippie, but an executive from oil behemoth ExxonMobil. (Ow, our jaw!) Greenhouse-gas reduction has become a theme of Exxon's advertising, and the company is participating in an analysis by green think tank Resources for the Future of government options for addressing climate change. An Exxon spokesflack declares that the company's position on climate change has been "widely misunderstood," but …

Clean-energy investments add jobs, moolah to Silicon Valley Remember the U.S. excuse for not adopting green policies, the one about hurting the economy? Yeah, that's out the window. A new report says Silicon Valley added 33,000 jobs in 2006 after five years of job losses, thanks in large part to gigantarific investments in green technologies. "There's a lot of excitement about the green economy," says Doug Henton of Collaborative Economics, which produced the report. "I think it's real." Normally Doug's word is enough for us, but check out these actual numbers, too: "cleantech" funding increased from $141 million in 2005 …

Blair, McCain lead pep rally at World Economic Forum Let's start the week with a bit of rhetorical optimism. In a high-profile speech this weekend at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland -- a gathering of leading politicians and businessfolk from around ye olde globe -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair offered a hopeful outlook for climate action. "I believe we are potentially on the verge of a breakthrough," he told a packed hall, pledging to support nuclear energy and to work toward a new, binding international emissions agreement that is "more radical than Kyoto and more comprehensive, one …

Big-box British retail chains are going green Watch out, Wal-Mart! Last week, British mega-retailers Tesco and Marks & Spencer both announced forward-thinking sustainability plans. Tesco even plans to begin labeling all products on its shelves with information about the amount of carbon generated during their production and transport. As Brits face the "Is it OK to support a big-box store if it's trying to go green?" conundrum, Gristmill contributor Peter Madden theorizes on the motives behind the supermarket sustainability scramble.

Peter Madden, chief executive of Forum for the Future, writes a monthly column for Gristmill on sustainability in the U.K. and Europe. British supermarkets are now competing to go green. Two big retailers have just launched initiatives to tackle climate change. Marks & Spencer, which sells food and clothing to Britain's middle classes, promised this month to cut waste, sell fair-trade products, and make the company carbon neutral within five years. Environmentalists praised its 100-point "eco-plan." Greenpeace U.K. said, "If every retailer in Britain followed Marks & Spencer's lead, it would be a major step forward in meeting the challenge …

This year, World Economic Forum can't avoid climate change Every year, some 2,000 business and political leaders descend on snowy Davos, Switzerland, for an unrivaled meeting of minds and money. As the five-day World Economic Forum kicks off today, attendees will tackle an issue of great concern: how to get Bono's autograph. Also, some of them will address climate change. In a survey, twice as many participants as last year say environmental protection should be a priority for world leaders, and 17 climate-related sessions are planned. "By putting climate change at the top of the [agenda, the WEF] has focused …

Will January 2007 prove to be a tipping point for U.S. climate-change policy? Already this month we've seen a barrage of high-profile activity -- and President Bush hasn't even given his State of the Union address yet. Are we at a tipping point? First there was a rapid-fire succession of four major climate-change bills proposed in the Senate, all of which call for mandatory caps on greenhouse-gas emissions. Then, like a clashing of cymbals after a drumroll, 10 major corporations representing the energy and chemical industries, among others, joined with a handful of major environmental groups in a call for …

Corporations join green groups to push for U.S. climate action Quivering under the bed was an option, but 10 major corporations have bravely formed a coalition with four U.S. green groups instead, calling for a national limit on carbon emissions. Their aim is a 10 to 30 percent cut over the next 15 years, using a cap-and-trade system that would allow over-emitters to buy credits from those who fall under the cap. The United States Climate Action Partnership, which wins today's kinda-clever acronym award, includes heavy-hitters like GE, BP, Alcoa, and Duke Energy. Such companies are motivated by fears of …

DR: Bush's token response to global warming is to argue for clean coal and nuclear power. To the extent he's involved in any international discussion, it's the Pacific pact, a trade deal with these emerging markets for old coal and nuclear technology. TT: Bush jumps in a long list of presidents of both parties who have not been able to deal with the [nuclear] waste issue in any meaningful fashion. And talk about a subsidized industry! Once upon a time we thought it would be too cheap to meter, and now we understand that it's an enormous cost. Yes, look, …