Author: Sabrina Chesterman As the high level plenary rolls on, countries are disaggregated in their commitments, divided in their sovereign requirements and the bottom line remains, the COP still is no closer to a firm climate agreement. An agreement needs to be founded in confidence and credibility, a momentous task considering over 100 different states …
The clock is ticking. The UNFCCC’s Copenhagen summit is just 7 days away, and recent reports have been encouraging. Shortly after China and the US made announcements on commitments to reduce their GHGS, Commonwealth leaders backed a $10bn Climate Change fund. Proposed by UK PM Gordon Brown, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the fund seeks …
“Unless we see an advance on ambitious industrialised country targets and significant finance on the table, it is very difficult for negotiators in this process to continue their work in good faith” – that’s how Yvo de Boer summarised the current situation today. But what’s frustrating de Boer (and I’m inclined to agree) is that …
Manmohan Singh recently argued that annex 1 countries should provide 0.5% of GDP to help developing countries reduce emissions, and that India would not collaborate with inspection of their emissions unless this rose to 0.8%. It seems that conditional bargaining chips are all the rage these days in climate negotiations, after the EU’s offer of …
Wednesday saw Chancellor Alastair Darling announce the first official UK carbon budget to tackle the problems of climate change, which is designed to finance existing policy commitments to achieving a low carbon future. Darling announced that: – £405 million will be provided to finance the development of low-carbon energy and advanced green manufacturing sectors. – £375 …
2 April was a big day for the international community; the leaders of the Group of 20 countries (the G20) had a dramatic one-day gathering at the ExCel Centre in London. The goals of the meeting were three-fold: 1. Reach an agreement on global stimulus measures to halt the economic slide; 2. Develop new parameters …
