Climate Politics

All Stories

  • We need real relief, not a junk shot, to solve the energy problems that led to the BP blowout

    BP couldn’t stop the oil gusher with a junk shot of golf balls and tire shards and Congress can’t solve the energy problems that are the root cause of the gusher with a junk shot of unenforceable goals and unfunded subsidies. Eventually the gusher will be plugged by drilling a new well that can be […]

    Dan Lashof Politics

  • G20 may punt on fossil-fuel subsidies in Toronto

    Among the highlights of last fall’s G20 summit in Pittsburgh was a joint pledge to phase out wasteful fossil-fuel subsidies (which amount to a dizzying $550 billion worldwide). Now ClimateWire reports that change may not come as fast as greens would like: President Obama and other heads of state are poised to water down a […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Politics

  • The real options for U.S. climate policy

    The time has not yet come to throw in the towel regarding the possible enactment in 2010 of meaningful economy-wide climate change policy (such as that found in the Waxman-Markey legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in June, 2009, or the more recent Kerry-Lieberman proposal in the Senate). Meaningful action of some kind […]

    Robert Stavins Politics

  • Hoping for a shakeup at the G8/G20

    I arrived in Toronto yesterday and, along with thousands of activists, media, and government officials arriving for the upcoming G8 and G20 summits, was promplty greeted by an unusual earthquake centered a few hours away outside of Ottawa.  Unfortunately, if our Canadian hosts have their way, that could be the only groundbreaking event I’ll witness […]

    David Turnbull Politics

  • California: Jerry Brown kicked off clean energy revolution once, aims to do it again

    Jerry Brown, then and nowTrivia questions for energy geeks: Which state approved the country’s first energy-efficiency standards for appliances? The first green building codes? The first big wind farms? And who was governor when all those fine things happened? The answer is California under Gov. Jerry Brown — aka Governor Moonbeam — who just happens […]

    Kate Galbraith Politics

  • Fannie and Freddie attack clean-energy plan

    Few new ideas brighten the faces of clean-energy advocates as much as Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, the Berkeley-born financing tool that’s spreading quickly throughout the country. The three-year-old model has put rooftop solar panels, high-efficiency furnaces, and other home improvements within reach of thousands of American homeowners, and there’s hope it could reach […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Politics

  • G20 leaders to meet and discuss global warming … but only a little bit

    G20 leaders meet at the 2009 London summit.Photo: Downing Street via Flickr On June 26-27, leaders from the 20 largest economies will meet in Toronto, Canada, as a part of the Group of 20 summit. These countries represent 85 percent of the world’s global warming pollution and 83 percent of the world’s economic output. So […]

    Jake Schmidt Politics

  • Judge who ruled against offshore drilling moratorium invests in oil industry

    The federal judge who overturned Barack Obama’s offshore drilling moratorium appears to own stock in numerous companies involved in the offshore oil industry — including Transocean, which leased the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig to BP prior to its April 20 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico — according to 2008 financial disclosure reports. So Yahoo […]

    Joseph Romm Politics

  • California’s climate law in peril, Governator pissed

    California’s pioneering climate law, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, is officially under threat in this November’s election. The ballot initiative known as the California Jobs Initiative, which “would halt enforcement of the Global Warming Solutions Act until the state’s unemployment rate falls to 5.5 percent or less,” on Tuesday received the necessary qualifications […]

    Ashley Braun Politics

  • Presidents keep failing to get us off oil, but Americans aren’t helping

    Who’s to blame for America’s 40-some years of stagnation on energy policy — cowardly politicians or a lazy public? Time‘s Bryan Walsh finds some fault with both in a new post. The case against politicians: Energy is one of those bipartisan issues that any politician can dust off — usually whenever gasoline prices have gotten […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Politics