The Climate Change Act 2008 has committed the UK to reach a target of 20% renewables by 2050, whilst at the same time the UK has pledged to achieve 15% of this by 2020 as part of the European climate deal. However, whilst such plans to catalyse the renewables industry are generating further interest from [...]

The economics of reducing greenhouse gas emissions are a complicated business. And this is especially true when you want to set up a domestic cap and trade system in a carbon-dependent economy, a process both the USA and Australia are in the process of beginning to work through. At the outset there are the problems [...]

India’s strong position on climate change was reaffirmed this year at COP-14. It remains staunchly focused on a ‘common but differentiated’ principle, whereby those who are historic emitters of GHGs should be the mitigators under an international climate policy regime. As a result, India refuses to take on emissions caps or cuts. So what is [...]

  Last week, ministers from 53 African countries gathered at a FAO summit in Libya, entitled “Water for Energy and Agriculture in Africa: the Challenges of Climate Change”. It was timely. Irrigated land forms 38% of all land in Asia, but only 7% in Africa, and Africa’s food needs will triple by 2050 if population [...]

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) produced a policy brief earlier this month concerning the integration adaptation into development planning. This is an issue which has formed much of the adaptation discourse of late. Should we make adaptation a separate box to be ticked in every initiative? The pro argument is “Yes, because [...]

For those not acquainted with the Bush Administration’s latest pastime I should probably introduce the concept of the ‘midnight ruling’.  Late in a presidency, an administration will often issue rulings that are unpopular but uphold the President’s worldview.  President Bush’s recent midnight rulings have predominantly been concerned with environmental deregulation.  The latest of these concerns [...]

Yesterday, Obama appointed John Holden as his Chief Science Advisor and Jane Lubchenco to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which carries out most of the government research on climate change. Both have advocated greater government action on climate change. “This is a superb appointment,” Sir David King, former UK chief scientific advisor, [...]

In Bali last year, the ICC and WBCSD, as representatives of global business at the climate talks, named their one-day side event “Tri Hita Karana”, a proverb taken from a Balinese philosophy which emphasizes that happiness can only be attained if the Creator, people and nature live in harmony with each other. This year, the [...]

The European Parliament has this week approved the EU ETS Directive, which means that only a rubber stamp from the Council is required for it to become law. By approving the Directive, the European Parliament has created a market that will probably be worth tens of billions of Euros annually from 2013 to 2020. So [...]

Last week the World Bank released a report on Latin America’s responses (or possible responses) to the challenge of climate change with the promising title: Low Carbon, High Growth – yet, beyond providing some informative analysis of the costs of climate change and distribution of responsibilities in the Latin American region, the policy conclusions rest on [...]