Citizens from small island nations in the Pacific Ocean have known for decades that their geographic isolation, heavy coastal infrastructure, population dispersion across many islands, and low-lying atolls only meters above sea level make them the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world. However, now changes in the global climate are accelerating, and [...]

Author: Daniela Rey, ClientEarth Recent reports indicate that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is not slowing down. In fact, it has jumped almost six-fold in the March-April period of this year, according to satellite images taken by the National Institute of Space Research. One factor which is contributing to this rise is the increasing demand for agricultural land [...]

This week marked a significant milestone of the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). A wind power project in Inner Mongolia, China, has become the 3,000th project registered under the world’s largest international offsetting mechanism. There is no doubt that the process is speeding up: it took 18 months to register the first 1,000 projects; [...]

You would be forgiven if you looked at a map of Canada’s May 2 election results and did not see much evidence of Canada’s multi-party system, modelled on the United Kingdom’s Westminster style of government. The results from the election – the country’s fourth federal election in seven years – are historic on a number [...]

Article by Guest Contributor: David Holyoake Article provided by ClientEarth and reprinted with permission. Despite their pledge to be the ‘greenest government ever’, close analysis of the UK government’s proposed design of CO2 emissions performance standards for fossil fuel generation (‘EPS’ – limits on the amount of pollutants released into the air) risks being an [...]

Opinion Piece by Guest Contributor: Alex Bexon Over recent years, conventional approaches to tackling climate change have typically centred on international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the drive to develop and use alternative and renewable energy technologies, and global environmental organisations, such as WWF and Greenpeace, encouraging us to lead more sustainable and environmentally-conscious [...]

The current round of Climate negotiations under the UNFCCC in Bangkok comes to a close tomorrow, but do this week’s developments inspire new hope for reaching a binding international agreement on emissions reductions? The ‘first commitment period’ of the Kyoto Protocol binds 37 industrialised countries to collectively reduce their overall greenhouse gas emissions by an [...]

Financial assistance and green collar apprenticeships are two of the pillars of regional policy in New South Wales (NSW) aimed at encouraging the education and training people will need to succeed in the emerging green economy. In my previous post on skills shortages, I noted that we do not have time to wait for favourable [...]

As oil prices continue to spike with the unrest in the Middle East, consumer anger has inevitably increased along with it – and so has the political rhetoric. Though it was intended to create calm, Obama’s speech outlining his “Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future” on Wednesday at Georgetown University added more anger, from both [...]

As the earthquake rescue and recovery comes to an end, Christchurch is shifting its attention to reconstruction. Given the scale of damage wrought by a series of earthquakes, the city is faced with big questions about its future form. Initial estimates suggest that up to half of the inner city will have to be demolished. [...]