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  • Top U.S. climate negotiator to speak on China and the global climate challenge

    Is any question more central to averting climate catastophe than “the challenges and the opportunities of working with China in the context of our broader climate and clean-energy policy”? On Wednesday, 10:30 to 11:30 EST, the Center for American Progress will be hearing from Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change on that very […]

  • The Climate Post: Something wrought in the state of Denmark?

    The word “Copenhagen” hangs over climate discussions everywhere from Washington to Wagga Wagga. That’s because in December the world travels to the Danish capital for the 15th Conference of Parties meeting, affectionately referred to as COP15. There, nations large and small hope to reach a new international agreement that would ratchet down global emissions beginning […]

  • Congressional leaders head to China to make nice on climate

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.XinhuaHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in China this week leading a congressional delegation to discuss, among other things, climate change and environmental protections. But despite the public displays of unity on climate, there remain some strong divisions between the two countries on what needs to happen in […]

  • Counting the real progress on climate action

    This piece was co-written by Nina Hachigian and Julian Wong of the Center for American Progress. —– We are now entering the six-month period before the U.N. climate change negotiations in Copenhagen, which are intended to hammer out a successor treaty to the Kyoto protocol that expires in 2012. Progress on climate policy domestically will […]

  • The Climate Post: The House at the center of the world

    Lately, every week is the most consequential in the history of climate change. This week was no exception. A House of Representatives committee slogged through its potentially game-changing climate bill. The White House struck a deal with auto manufacturers and California to raise fuel efficiency – and consequently reduce carbon emissions. Uneven signals from China […]

  • Exclusive: Have China and the U.S. been holding secret talks aimed at a climate deal this fall?

    For those of us who believe that maintaining a livable climate pretty much depends on a U.S.-China deal on greenhouse gas emissions (see here), the Guardian’s story Monday was a bombshell: China and US held secret talks on climate change deal • Negotiations began in final months of Bush administration • Obama could seal accord […]

  • You can’t build a new foundation with dirty energy

    Building a new foundation requires a lot of heavy machinery. Bulldozers to clear the land, extractors to dig the foundation, concrete-mixers to pour the cement, and trucks to haul the raw materials. So perhaps it’s appropriate that Jim Owens, the CEO of Caterpillar will be at the White House tomorrow for the first meeting of […]

  • Is China ready to act on climate? Part 2

    Part 1 looked at the “Rise of the Green Dragon?“ Yet, even as China aggressively pursues world leadership in key clean technologies like solar and wind, it has also announced plans to keep expanding coal use at a pace so rapacious it would single-handedly finish off the climate no matter what we and the other […]

  • Changing the climate with China’s military

    When I heard President Obama call for more regular dialogue between the Chinese and American militaries, my first thought was, “Why not the environment?” Perhaps it is not a front-burner issue for both institutions — but that is exactly the point. If dialogue is to improve understanding, build ties, and lower the prospects for confrontation, […]