Australia’s cap and trade system, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), is being reintroduced into Parliament this week, after two rejections in 2009 (see here and here). However, it is almost certain that it will fail again, following decreasing public support for the policy after the Copenhagen conference and Tony Abbott’s ascension to the opposition leadership.

To start with, public support for Prime minister Kevin Rudd’s flagship policy has dived 10 points from 66 … Read More…

The extremely high hurricane season of 2005 highlighted the vulnerability of coastal communities to extreme weather events.  The costliest (Katrina) and the most intense (Wilma) hurricanes were recorded in this season.

Hurricane formation is closely linked to sea surface temperature. Climate models agree that the intensity and frequency of hurricanes will increase over the next few decades as a result of anthropogenic climate change.

This poses important developmental and policy challenges to Mexico.

Developmental challenges

The economic losses associated … Read More…

Back in the mid-2000s China began to experiment with the notion of Green GDP as a new way of accounting for its growth in an environmental context. This was touched on in a previous blog post, but I thought a more in depth look into exactly what Green GDP showed and why it failed would provide some insight.

The Green GDP for 2004 was published in September 2006 which calculated the loss for the … Read More…

The past week has marked Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address, where the president traditionally outlines his agenda and priorities for the coming year, as well as reporting on the condition of the United States. As far as climate change is concerned, Obama seems to be continuing the approach we have seen him taking in the past months – while it is probably important to him, there are apparently many other issues … Read More…

Founded in 1919, Société Générale de Surveillance, commonly known as SGS, are now potentially the world leading Designated Operational Entity (DOE) working within the remit of the United Nation’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

But did they become so well established through raw business acumen, taking the ‘first mover’ advantage in a fledgling industry, or being at the right place at the right time with the right connections?

Experience Always Helps

SGS were fortunate to be in a position … Read More…

Climatico has just released its latest report entitled, “Copenhagen De-briefing: An Analysis of COP15 for Long-term Cooperation”

This report analyses key issues under discussion in Copenhagen including: finance, technology transfer, REDD+, CDM and JI, as well as the ongoing conflicts between Annex I and Non Annex I countries. The Copenhagen Accord is also discussed along with its potential effect on future negotiations.

Download the … Read More…

With the dust barely settled from the Copenhagen talks, critics within Canada have been scathing of its approach to the talks. They note Canada’s failure to take any leadership, its humiliation at the hands of the Yes Men (although there, Canada is hardly alone) in recent times, as well as the recipient of a fossil award, for lack of leadership as an industrialized country. When leaders came out of … Read More…

Guest Author: Bettina Wittneben

The Copenhagen Accord is a beautifully written document and full of good intentions. I encourage everyone to read it. It can be found on the UNFCCC website, is quite short and touches on many of the contentious issues in climate change policy. Unfortunately, it is almost entirely lacking of any consequence or even content. Today, this document is literally empty: it contains two tables that are intentionally blank. Let’s have a closer … Read More…

Authors: Nyla Sarwar & Sabrina Chesterman

As the climate demonstrators started to pack away their banners and the Christmas shoppers descended on a freezing Copenhagen (-7C), over 100 leaders and statesmen headed back to their various countries. Many are left to now ponder about what has actually been achieved, except a huge carbon footprint created by the tens of thousands of people who travelled to Denmark in the anticipation of being part of an expected key … Read More…

Author: Dafydd Elis

On Wednesday at COP15, a side event packed with high-profile representatives of intergovernmental agencies and national governments discussed the prospects for technology transfer over the coming decades.

The session was opened by the chair, UN-DESA’s Sha Zukang. He outlined a vision for technology transfer in three parts.

The issues

First, he said, technology transfer arrangements should adhere to four principles: timeliness (we need to use technologies that are available now, and we must accelerate their diffusion); … Read More…