climate change negotiations
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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 […]
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What's Next for Climate Change Negotiations?
COP 15 and the Copenhagen Accord were widely criticized and a successor Protocol by 2010 is unlikely. Regardless of what happens at Cancun, climate change will be addressed in one form or another. Prior to Copenhagen, the Bali Action Plan proposed several objectives; only “limiting global temperature increase to 1.5-2° Celsius” appeared in the […]
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Enemies of the Earth
It is extremely disheartening that serious climate change policy appears unlikely to pass Congress this year, and may very well not be on the agenda for years to come (if ever). I blame Obama for not making comprehensive energy reform a serious priority, and not using the disaster in the Gulf to make a forceful […]
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How Bolivia celebrates Earth Day
This morning my email inbox was full of advocacy groups commemorating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. As the ecological systems that support life are reaching their brink, there is certainly a good reason to use this opportunity to shine a spotlight on a range of issues and challenges. But activist organizations aren’t alone in […]
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The people speak at the world people’s climate summit
Cochabamba, Bolivia — The voice of Evo Morales cut through the autumn heat, no problem: “The principle causes of climate change are from capitalism,” the Bolivian president told attendees at his country’s alternative climate summit, the first World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. It was time, said Morales, for […]
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Walking on Two Legs
Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 19, 2010 At the end of my third day in Cochabamba and after the first day of the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, it has become very clear that “walking on two legs” is very much what is taking place and will be taking place. […]
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Copenhagen Accord is the priority, says U.S. climate envoy. But what about a binding treaty?
U.S. Climate Envoy Todd Stern.A month after he rode herd at Copenhagen’s COP15 climate talks, Todd Stern is exhorting participants to make the outcome of the conference meaningful. “Life needs to be breathed into the Copenhagen Accord,” the State Department’s special envoy for climate change tells Grist. He insists that the three-page document represents a […]
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The Copenhagen Accord: A Big Step Forward
The Copenhagen climate deal that President Obama hammered out Friday night with the leaders of China, India, Brazil and South Africa broke through years of negotiating gridlock to achieve three critical goals. First, it provides for real cuts in heat-trapping carbon pollution by all of the world’s big emitters. Second, it establishes a transparent framework […]
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With climate agreement, Obama guts progressive values, argues McKibben
The President of the United States did several things with his agreement today with China, India, and South Africa: He blew up the United Nations. The idea that there’s a world community that means something has disappeared tonight. The clear point is, you poor nations can spout off all you want on questions like human […]
