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Obama gives his first real climate speech — really

Was the U.N. Climate Summit held in a marble bathroom?Photo: U.N./Marco Castro It was no barnburner of a speech, but President Obama’s address at the U.N. Climate Summit Tuesday morning amounted to the boldest climate change speech of his presidency. That’s because it was essentially the only climate change speech of his presidency. Until now, […]

The clean-energy investment agenda

This post was co-authored by Center for American Progress Vice President for Energy Policy Kate Gordon, Senior Fellow Bracken Hendricks, and Policy Analyst Benjamin Goldstein. It was cross-posted from Wonk Room. The United States is having the wrong public debate about global warming. We are asking important questions about pollution caps and timetables, carbon markets […]

“It’s too expensive to price carbon,” the entrenched interests like to say

Once the pending climate legislation gets active in the Senate, Americans can look forward to another outpouring of concern about low-income families. What’s especially fun is that we’ll get to hear it from political players who aren’t usually too concerned about equity — from record-breaking profiteers like Exxon to the same elected officials who slash social services. Now […]

Greg Craven’s new book retools the climate debate

In his speech at the U.N. Summit on Climate Change today, President Barack Obama admonished world leaders that their nations “cannot allow the old divisions that have characterized the climate debate for so many years to block our progress.” Yet, during this week-long summit to lay the groundwork for the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen […]

Obama’s climate speech to the U.N.

President Barack Obama spoke to the U.N. General Assembly on the morning of Sept. 22, as part of the U.N. Summit on Climate Change. Here are his remarks (and video is embedded below): President Obama addresses the U.N. on climate.U.N. WebcastGood morning. I want to thank the Secretary-General for organizing this summit, and all the […]

Sen. Ben Cardin answers Grist’s questions on public transit and mountaintop removal mining

Beltway observers of all stripes owe Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) a debt of gratitude. In 2006, after 20 years in the House of Representatives, he ran for Maryland’s newly vacant Senate seat against then-Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Steele’s defeat put him on a trajectory to become chair of the Republican National Committee, where he has […]

Connecticut v. AEP: Public nuisance ruling may boost chances of EPA CO2 regulations

The Second Circuit’s recent decision in Connecticut v. AEP, in which a coalition of state attorneys general sued electric power producers to cap and then reduce their carbon emissions, allows the public nuisance case to proceed and gave the environmental plaintiffs virtually everything they wanted. It should also give pause to those of us tempted […]

People pressure is key to action on climate change, say two climate movement leaders

Kumi NaidooKumi Naidoo and Lord Nicholas Stern couldn’t be more different when it comes to climate action. One is chair of a worldwide citizen activist coalition; the other an economist and academic. But each is a cautious optimist when it comes to international action on climate change: While it may not be probable that world […]

Morocco’s beaches may become launching point for climate refugees

A Saharawi fisherman on the beach north of Tarfaya in Morocco, just 70km from the Canary Islands.Tim Bromfield Uniformed men patrol the beaches of southern Morocco at night. Their torches are trained on the Atlantic Ocean searching for boats overflowing with economic migrants heading for the Canary Islands. From the beach just north of Tafaya, […]

Inside Newsweek’s new green corporate rankings

Cross-posted from GreenBiz. On Monday, Newsweek magazine unveiled its first annual Green Rankings, the fruits of a near-Herculean endeavor: rating and ranking the environmental performance, achievements, and reputation of the S&P 500. The list, published today in a 12-page special section in the magazine as well as online, is the culmination of an 18-month journey. […]