United Nations
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Yvo de Boer of U.N. climate convention says 350 ppm is pipe dream
“I don’t think there is a hope in hell that people will agree to 350 in Copenhagen. I think we’ll get 2 degrees.” — Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, speaking at a recent meeting with NGO officials. “350” refers to the goal of reducing the concentration […]
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The computer has spoken: Copenhagen will be a failure
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita uses game theory to predict all sorts of geopolitical and business outcomes. Don’t ask him about global warming…Courtesy NYUCancel your plans for flying to Denmark this December. Send the polar bear suits back to the costume shop, and quit boning up on all those U.N. acronyms (IPCC … UNFCCC … AWG-LCA […]
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Despite Ban Ki-Moon’s complaint, G8 summit produced climate progress
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) greets Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy at the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy.UN Photo/Mark GartenUnlike some of his predecessors, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon seems to be a brave man, for he has had the courage to chide his most powerful paymasters for failing to do enough to combat climate […]
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Raining on the climate parade
At the Bonn climate talks, environmental groups showed their displeasure with Japan’s proposed carbon emissions cuts by comparing Prime Minister Aso with former U.S. president George W. Bush.Climate Action Factory via FlickrEven the skies wept last week when the latest cold front slammed into the ongoing effort to draft a new international climate treaty. The […]
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The case for carbon speed limits
If the earth was a car, it would come with an operating instructions not to drive faster than 350 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, like an unruly teenager, humanity – with the United States in the drivers seat – has already revved up the engine and broken all speed limits – […]
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Adaptation: Something old, something new, now some money is also due
At the climate negotiations here in Bonn, the main discussions on adaptation have come to a close after a “second reading” of the draft negotiating text. Ecosystem-based adaptation, which we blogged about last week, has gained strong support from country delegations and is included in the text that is coming out of these meetings. But […]
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At Bonn climate talks, it’s a dialogue of the deaf
Climate protesters march in Bonn on June 6.Courtesy Oxfam Germany via Flickr BONN, Germany — Beethoven’s birthplace stands just a few stops down one of Bonn’s speedy tramlines from the conference center hosting the latest session of the international climate negotiations. A modest yellow-painted house with dark green wooden shutters, it is now a museum […]
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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 […]
