UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has presented some thoughts on why he cares so much about the climate issue: “First, like any grandfather, I want my grandchildren to enjoy the beauty and bounty of a healthy planet. And like any human being, it grieves me to see that floods, droughts, and … [continued]
Late on Friday, July 24, Algerian diplomat Ahmed Djoghlaf and US envoy Daniel Reifsnyder, who co-chair the group that will finalize a universal UN climate change agreement in Paris at the end of the year, issued a long-awaited new version of the draft agreement. It comes closer to setting all … [continued]
The United Nations hosts another high-level event today Monday, June 29, in New York to help steer a widening coalition of global efforts to limit the damage and adapt to the challenges of ongoing climate change. This end-of-June meeting is not part of the critical negotiation process that will culminate … [continued]
A ten-day meeting to hone the draft text of the Paris 2015 universal climate agreement has begun in Bonn, Germany. Presidents of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Lima COP20 (Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, the deft and diplomatic Environment Minister of Peru) and the upcoming Paris COP21 meetings (Laurent Fabius, who is … [continued]
The European Union reprised its trendsetting role in world climate negotiations on Thursday by committing the first Intended Nationally Determined Contributions to the planned Paris climate agreement at the end of this year. Also on Thursday, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change issued the official “Paris Accord” negotiating text from … [continued]
Countries are preparing climate action pledges for the post-2020 period. Here’s a look at what INDCs are and why they’re important to curb climate change.
Despite grindingly slow progress in the United States with decarbonization by means of energy adaptation, the world has actually moved a few steps ahead in the past year. That makes it time to revisit the simplest mechanism for greenhouse gas reversal: a phased-in, revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend strategy. “Fee” rather … [continued]
The big news we’re hearing about Barack Obama this weekend has nothing to do with climate change: it’s that he’s cutting short his trip to India to pay final respects from the United States to Saudi Arabian King Abdullah. He’ll also meet with Salman, the late monarch’s brother and former … [continued]
Festival colors adorn Manila, the most densely populated city on earth, for the Pagbisita ni Pope Francis. Twelve million people in the 16-city capital metro are taking off from now through January 19. A very special visitor has just arrived: Pope Francis, spiritual leader for one-sixth of the world’s population, … [continued]
The announcement this morning by President Obama of a revised target for US methane emissions is not just another gimmick to shackle the American oil and gas industry. Nor is it new. Back in 1971, the world’s scientists thought that methane directly affected neither the climate nor the biosphere and … [continued]
