Posted in Comment on 06/01/2009 09:22 am by Stephen Tindale
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.
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Posted in Comment on 10/01/2009 12:56 pm by Stephen Tindale
I was preparing the statistics page on Indonesia yesterday, when I heard the dreadful news about the two earthquakes in Sumatra. Earthquakes are not caused by climate change and, obviously, dealing with the consequences of these ones is currently more important than anything else. However, because the speech on Tuesday by President Yudhoyono, in which he announced plans to cut his country’s emissions by more than a quarter by 2020, was bold and progressive, it deserves to be highlighted.
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Posted in Comment on 12/14/2010 05:47 pm by Stephen Tindale
The Cancun climate summit made some progress in three important areas: forests, funding and CCS. None of these was dramatic, but at least the direction was right.
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Posted in Climate Answers' projects, Comment on 10/15/2009 11:18 am by Stephen Tindale
“Think global; act local” – the phrase often used by of Friends of the Earth – is an excellent philosophy. Since most of us do not have the power to influence international events, we should focus more on taking practical steps in our own localities. Climate change is the ultimate global issue and it does not matter where greenhouse gases are emitted. So global thinking is needed. However, practical measures are more important than yet more thought and discussion or international targets. Copenhagen is important, but must not be the only focus at the moment.
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Posted in Comment on 12/16/2011 09:35 am by Stephen Tindale
Durban was better than Copenhagen and a bit better than Cancun. However, it was basically just an agreement to keep talking. Policy makers must not allow international negotiations to exclude progress on national and regional measures.
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Posted in Comment on 08/17/2009 12:00 pm by Stephen Tindale
Japan seems to have come out of recession and its economy is, once again, growing. This is potentially bad news for the climate, but need not be.
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Posted in Comment on 07/02/2009 03:47 pm by Stephen Tindale
Sweden has taken over the six-month presidency of the EU. It was also president when Bush withdrew the US from the Kyoto Protocol and was central in rescuing this treaty. Therefore, the arrival of Swedes is good news for the Copenhagen Conference later this year.
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Posted in Comment on 10/20/2009 03:28 pm by Stephen Tindale
Most international discussion about climate change this week has been about finance, not targets. This is good news. Targets are important, but mainly for focussing attention.
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Posted in Comment on 12/21/2009 12:24 pm by Stephen Tindale
Yes, just. The Copenhagen Accord is vague and, having been negotiated by a small number of countries led by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa, was only “noted” by the Conference, not formally adopted. Some progress was made on finance and some on forest protection – though not nearly enough on either. None was made on targets.
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Posted in Comment on 04/22/2010 01:19 pm by Stephen Tindale
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.
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Posted in Comment on 09/22/2009 09:30 pm by Stephen Tindale
Today, there is a UN Climate Summit, which Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called to inject momentum into the Copenhagen negotiations. And later this week, there will be intensive climate discussions between developed and rapidly developing nations at a G20 meeting. So, by the weekend, we will have a clearer idea of whether world leaders are serious or not about controlling climate change.
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Posted in Comment on 10/23/2009 06:46 pm by Stephen Tindale
On Thursday 22 and Friday 23, I went to Clingendael, the Netherlands Institute for International Relations, for a seminar on how to meet the EU 20% renewables target. It certainly felt ironic for an Englishman to be invited to go and tell the Dutch what to do about renewable energy.
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Posted in Comment on 06/05/2009 03:30 pm by Stephen Tindale
The Netherlands and UK voted yesterday to elect new members of the European Parliament, and the other countries will vote on Sunday. The European Parliament has significant powers over EU legislation, shared with the Council of Ministers (that is the National Governments), and the EU has a good set of binding climate targets, to be met by 2020.
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Posted in Comment on 10/07/2011 07:03 am by Stephen Tindale
The EU has long prided itself on leading international efforts to control climate change. Today, the issue is nowhere near the top of the EU’s agenda, having been eclipsed by the economic downturn and the eurozone debt crisis.
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Posted in Comment on 09/07/2009 04:56 pm by Stephen Tindale
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.
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Posted in Behaviour, Policy, Technology on 06/05/2009 11:06 am by Stephen Tindale
Agriculture is only directly responsible for a small percentage of carbon emissions, but it is responsible for a higher percentage of total greenhouse gas emissions due to emissions of methane (particularly from cows) and nitrous oxide (from the use of manure and artificial fertilizers). As far as forests are concerned, as well as being beautiful, vital for biodiversity and home to millions of people, they are crucial carbon sinks.
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Posted in Comment on 03/30/2009 01:54 pm by Stephen Tindale
LONDON, ENGLAND. I am sorry to report that I didn’t have access to the Internet on the ship, so I was unable to blog as promised. However, here is a summary of what I experienced and learnt.
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Posted in Policy on 09/07/2009 04:39 pm by
Climate change could soon trigger an early election in Australia.
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Posted in Policy on 08/27/2009 11:56 am by Stephen Tindale
The Labour Party came to power in 1997 committed to devolving powers to Scotland and Wales, and re-creating a London-wide government. It was also determined to improve the political situation in Northern Ireland and was willing to use devolution to achieve this. Therefore, the last 12 years have seen considerable change to the constitution of the UK. Climate change was not a driving force behind any of this, but, nevertheless, the new tiers of government have had significant impact on what the UK is doing.
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Posted in Policy on 12/17/2009 12:07 pm by Stephen Tindale
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.
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Posted in Policy on 08/21/2009 06:06 pm by Stephen Tindale
Spain is a strong example of how government can shape the energy system in progressive ways.
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Posted in Policy on 10/20/2009 10:15 am by Stephen Tindale
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.
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