It will be cheaper to control climate change than not to control it, as the Stern Review memorably said. However, that does not mean that it will be cheap.
read more »Canada is responsible for only 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions and also 2% of the historic contribution. However, it uses a third more energy per unit of GDP than the USA, has per capita annual emissions of 23 tons and is developing tar sands – a wasteful way (from the point of view of energy and water) of getting oil from tar, which is notable for being an even more polluting energy source than coal.
read more »This summarizes a seminar held by Climate Strategies and the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations on why the EU should strengthen its climate and energy policies.
read more »On Saturday, I was on a panel at the World Science Festival in New York, with James Hansen of NASA and three others. Hansen’s position on nuclear can be summarised simply: it’s better than coal.
read more »President Obama has done more to control climate change than President Bush ever did. However, that is hardly setting the bar very high.
read more »Key quotes from, and a few of my comments on, the excellent Lancet Commission report
read more »Whatever the outcome of the Durban discussions, the EU should give priority to agreeing its draft energy efficiency directive, which will be good for human health and energy security as well as climate protection. It should also strengthen the Emissions Trading System by setting a floor price for the carbon permits.
read more »Today is the fortieth Earth Day, so it is an appropriate time to consider what the environmental movement has achieved globally over the last four decades.
read more »President Obama has again asked the US Congress to agree a budget which cuts the more than $40 billion in tax breaks for oil, gas and coal producers over the next decade. The president’s budget proposals are sensible and should be passed by Congress. But they won’t be. The left-right divide on climate in US politics is unnecessary.
read more »Yesterday’s UK Budget wasn’t that bad for climate protection, although it wasn’t nearly as good as it should have been. Announcements on energy and the promised Green Investment Bank were quite good, but those on transport were awful.
read more »The European Commission should focus on proposing specific policies, rather than modelling different scenarios. It has done well with its energy efficiency proposal; now it should propose strengthening the ETS and setting a 2030 renewables target.
read more »Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and adviser to the European Commission and several European governments, says that the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December should focus, not on targets and constraints, but on a climate business plan.
He is right.
read more »Philip Lowe, the Director General, Energy in the European Commission, has responded to my criticism of the EU’s Energy Roadmap.
read more »The Copenhagen Climate Summit starts today. Prospects are looking better than they were a few weeks ago and the fact that President Obama has decided to attend the final negotiating session, rather than just for a token visit at the start, is excellent.
read more »One of Kevin Rudd’s first acts on becoming Australian prime minister was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which his predecessor refused to do. Now, he is trying to introduce a cap-and-trade system to help deliver up to a 25% reduction in Australia’s emissions by 2020. This isn’t enough, but it is certainly better than denying the reality of climate change, as many of his opponents still do.
read more »UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, today gave his pre-budget report to parliament. This included some good climate measures.
read more »
So climate change has claimed a political victim in Australia and you don’t know whether to laugh or cry…
read more »
Our website, Climateanswers.info, is broadly split up into three: technological answers, political answers and behavioural answers.
Why have we done this?
Well, this site is really about actions and not prohibitions – what we can do, rather than just what we shouldn’t. We do not wear hair shirts at Climate Answers and we are born optimists!
read more »My comments to the European Commission, saying that it should approve the UK government’s application to sign a contract with EDF energy to build a new nuclear power station.
read more »
Much has been talked about ‘carbon offsetting’ in recent years and it is now a well known expression. But what is it and is it desirable?
Well, it is easy to define in three distinct ways, but whether it is a good idea depends on what is actually meant.
read more »
How well have Obama and Energy Secretary Chu done so far on promoting energy efficiency, renewables, CCS and electric vehicles? A very positive assessment is made by the Center for American Progress.
read more »
Question: Why don’t we introduce a fiscal-neutral carbon tax, like that proposed by Prof James Hansen?
Alessandro De Maida
read more »
In 1992, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) was signed at the first World Summit on Sustainable Development, which was held in Rio de Janeiro. The Convention did not set targets, but provided the framework for negotiations about targets. These were agreed in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
read more »