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Climate action game changer, Part 1: Is there a lot more natural gas than previously thought?
I have been researching what may be the single biggest game changer for climate action in the next two decades — U.S. natural gas supply. Last week I attended a workshop where some of the country’s leading gas experts presented the remarkable new projections for near- and medium-term supply and then answered questions from some […]
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Part 3: Draft negotiating text proposed for Copenhagen agreement
I’ve discussed in part 1 — shared vision and developed country emissions reduction commitments — and part 2 — developing country emissions reductions and the incentives to encourage them to go further — key proposals that have now been produced in a new draft negotiating text for the Copenhagen agreement. I’ll now discuss the last […]
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U.S. climate envoy heads to China to seek bilateral climate deal
Negotiations on a new international climate pact are underway in Germany this week, but the United States’ top climate envoy is headed in the opposite direction with a planned trip this weekend to China. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern on Wednesday said he hopes the world’s two biggest polluters can reach consensus on […]
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Three crucial steps to fixing climate change in cities
I was just in Boston at the excellent Living Cities Green Boot Camp, which was focused on what it will take to actually start hugely and radically retrofitting existing buildings in cities. Cities are, as you all know, a huge lever in solving climate change. Big cities have big climate footprints, and the bulk of […]
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90 months and counting
This piece was written for The Guardian by Andrew Simms, policy director of the New Economics Foundation in Britain. Ten months have passed since pointing out that we have, at best, 100 left before a new, far more dangerous phase of global warming begins. The “chatter” of concern is getting louder. But at the same […]
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Melting ice could lead to massive waves of climate refugees
As the earth warms, the melting of the earth’s two massive ice sheets—Antarctica and Greenland—could raise sea level enormously. If the Greenland ice sheet were to melt, it would raise sea level 7 meters (23 feet). Melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise sea level 5 meters (16 feet). But even just partial […]
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Part 2: Draft Negotiating Text Proposed for Copenhagen Agreement
As I discussed in my previous post, the draft negotiating texts for the Copenhagen agreement are now out. With the release of these texts the world now begins the serious work to get an agreement in Copenhagen — marking them up and getting agreement. As in the other post, I’ll briefly discuss how the American […]
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Nicholas Stern’s heresy: conceding the West’s climate burden
Nick Stern is a relatively recent recruit to the battle against climate change, but he has rapidly become one of its most formidable champions. A former Chief Economist at the World Bank and top official at the British Treasury, Baron Stern of Brentford (to pay him due deference) is very much an establishment figure, far […]
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Think of the children, or think of your ski trip: Two ways to tell the climate story
Forty-five million people go hungry or undernourished because of droughts and disasters wrought by climate change, according to a recent report by the Global Humanitarian Forum. Climate change leads to 300,000 deaths a year, the organization concludes, a toll that will reach 500,000 by 2030. Many of those who starve will be children. Of course, […]
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Cheerleading for Waxman-Markey — not!
Gimme a ‘B’ … B! Gimme a ‘minus’ … Minus! What’s that spell? My friend A. Siegel wrote on his blog last week (and republished on DailyKos and Grist): Joe Romm, who has been cheer-leading Waxman-Markey recently (despite much on-the-record work that provides a basis for highlighting its inadequacies), says that it might (MIGHT) give […]
