A new venture out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has come up with a valuable yet low-cost way to help individuals, communities, business, and government coastal locations get climate-ready and storm-safe. It also enables real estate brokers, home inspection services, and financial institutions that underwrite or package mortgages to improve the quality … [continued]
International leaders, cabinet-level ministers, institutional stakeholders, nongovernmental organizations, business entities, and other representatives gathered this week at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting has played a key role in shaping discussions over financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation. (Video here.) The … [continued]
Picking up where we left off yesterday, the nations that were actually expected to meet this week’s INDC deadline all fall into the “developed” category. I use quotation marks to indicate the fuzzy nature of that concept. A more appropriate term might be “industrialized,” since the world’s concept of what’s developed and … [continued]
Rain and snow have graced the West recently, causing many residents to breathe a sigh of relief about possible easing of the severe drought conditions that have worsened there over the past three-plus years. Complacency about drought and climate change is not warranted, say Dr. Noah Diffenbaugh and his research team … [continued]
The UN’s Lima COP20 conference stands up very well in its final days against those who doubt or scorn international efforts to reduce climate impacts. It’s not just a lot of hot air. The congruence of international climate experts and decisionmakers is allowing organizations public and private, worldwide, to focus … [continued]
Cautious optimism from recent world progress (the US-China agreements, Green Climate Fund pledges, other international commitments) marked the first week of the UN’s COP20 climate change meetings in Peru. Lots of information changed hands as new data and solutions came forth from both governments and nongovernmental institutions. Of course, moments … [continued]
With the release this morning in Copenhagen, Denmark, of the final world Synthesis Report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel, it has become evident that all peoples of Earth need to take action (Sunday, November 2, 2014). Why is this important to Americans? IPCC interfaces on a global scale between science and … [continued]
Almost everyone in the media has taken a stab at summarizing, if not snap-judging, the results of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s one-day UN climate summit last week. The meeting had a real name, but Robert N. Stavins in his New York Times runup to the conference was the only writer I … [continued]
A group of nongovernmental organizations from the United Kingdom has elaborated on the elements it sees necessary for the planned 2015 Paris climate talks among 196 countries to succeed. The group calls for all governments to accelerate their approaches to decarbonization significantly by initiating much stricter emission reductions and pursuing sustainable energy policies, … [continued]
Climate change is bringing many uncertainties, especially to the world of water. No continent will be harder hit by climate change than Africa. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that African river basins will be especially affected by climate change, and are expected to face worse droughts … [continued]
