Tunisia ranked first in North Africa in matters of governance: "Tunisia ranked first in North Africa in matters of governance
Tunisia was ranked first in North Africa in matters of governance with a score of 71.5 points out of 100 by the annual report of “Kennedy School of Government,” an academic institution coming under the prestigious American University of Harvard .
Tunisia distinguished itself by its performance in matters of “human development,” “transparency and rule of law” and the “climate of security” prevailing in the country, with scores of 89, 70.5 and 100 points respectively.
Tunisia was ranked ahead of Algeria (7th), Morocco (12th), Egypt (18th) and Libya (21st)."
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The Associated Press: Obama adviser says no climate change law this year
The Associated Press: Obama adviser says no climate change law this year: "Obama adviser says no climate change law this year
(AP) – 23 hours ago
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's top energy adviser says there is no way Congress will be able to pass a bill on climate change this year.
'That's not going to happen,' the adviser, Carol Browner, said Friday.
Browner made the statement at a conference organized by The Atlantic magazine, just days after Senate Democrats introduced a major bill on climate change. In a video posted on the magazine's Web site, Browner was asked about the prospects of enacting climate legislation by the time negotiations on a global climate treaty begin in December in Copenhagen.
'Obviously, we'd like to be through the process, but that's not going to happen,' Browner said. 'I think we would all agree the likelihood you would have a bill signed by the president on comprehensive energy by the time we go early in December is not likely.'
Senate Democrats unveiled a bill Wednesday that aims to cut greenhouse gasses by 20 percent by 2020. The House passed a bill in June that calls for a 17 percent emission cut by 2020.
The Senate bill includes an economy-wide cap-and-trade system that would require power plants, industrial facilities and refineries to cut carbon dioxide and othe"
(AP) – 23 hours ago
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's top energy adviser says there is no way Congress will be able to pass a bill on climate change this year.
'That's not going to happen,' the adviser, Carol Browner, said Friday.
Browner made the statement at a conference organized by The Atlantic magazine, just days after Senate Democrats introduced a major bill on climate change. In a video posted on the magazine's Web site, Browner was asked about the prospects of enacting climate legislation by the time negotiations on a global climate treaty begin in December in Copenhagen.
'Obviously, we'd like to be through the process, but that's not going to happen,' Browner said. 'I think we would all agree the likelihood you would have a bill signed by the president on comprehensive energy by the time we go early in December is not likely.'
Senate Democrats unveiled a bill Wednesday that aims to cut greenhouse gasses by 20 percent by 2020. The House passed a bill in June that calls for a 17 percent emission cut by 2020.
The Senate bill includes an economy-wide cap-and-trade system that would require power plants, industrial facilities and refineries to cut carbon dioxide and othe"
AFP: Climate change hits poor countries hardest: WB
AFP: Climate change hits poor countries hardest: WB: "Climate change hits poor countries hardest: WB
(AFP) – 13 hours ago
ISTANBUL — The developing world will suffer about 80 percent of the damage from climate change despite accounting for only around a third of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the World Bank said on Sunday.
'The damage of climate change, about 75 to 80 percent, will be suffered by developing countries although they only contribute about one third of greenhouse gases,' World Bank chief economist Justin Lin told reporters.
Lin spoke in Istanbul, host city of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings this year, at the presentation of the World Bank's new development report for 2010 entitled 'Development and Climate Change.'
'Climate change is an urgent issue and the needs are enormous and we are waiting and hoping to see an international agreement in Copenhagen,' Lin said, referring to UN-sponsored talks in December aimed at curbing global warming.
Marianne Fay, the World Bank's chief economist for sustainable development, said the costs of mitigating and adapting to climate change would add up to around 300 billion dollars (206 billion euros) a year from 2030.
Following the release of the World Bank report, Caroline Pearce, policy advisor to international aid agency Oxfam, said that"
(AFP) – 13 hours ago
ISTANBUL — The developing world will suffer about 80 percent of the damage from climate change despite accounting for only around a third of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the World Bank said on Sunday.
'The damage of climate change, about 75 to 80 percent, will be suffered by developing countries although they only contribute about one third of greenhouse gases,' World Bank chief economist Justin Lin told reporters.
Lin spoke in Istanbul, host city of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings this year, at the presentation of the World Bank's new development report for 2010 entitled 'Development and Climate Change.'
'Climate change is an urgent issue and the needs are enormous and we are waiting and hoping to see an international agreement in Copenhagen,' Lin said, referring to UN-sponsored talks in December aimed at curbing global warming.
Marianne Fay, the World Bank's chief economist for sustainable development, said the costs of mitigating and adapting to climate change would add up to around 300 billion dollars (206 billion euros) a year from 2030.
Following the release of the World Bank report, Caroline Pearce, policy advisor to international aid agency Oxfam, said that"
Friday, October 2, 2009
Why we need to “Seal the Deal” in Copenhagen
Why we need to “Seal the Deal” in Copenhagen: "Why we need to “Seal the Deal” in Copenhagen
Saturday, 12 September 2009 00:00
Attention: open in a new window. PDFPrintE-mail
Summit on Climate Change banner
On 7 December 2009, representatives from 193 Parties will convene in Copenhagen seeking to seal the deal on a fair, comprehensive and scientifically rigorous climate agreement for the post-2012 period.
This year, we have the opportunity to choose a new path. Copenhagen offers the chance to retool our global economy – to invest in clean energy, boost prosperity and lift millions out of poverty. By sealing the deal in Copenhagen, we can provide a more livable planet for our children and generations to come."
Saturday, 12 September 2009 00:00
Attention: open in a new window. PDFPrintE-mail
Summit on Climate Change banner
On 7 December 2009, representatives from 193 Parties will convene in Copenhagen seeking to seal the deal on a fair, comprehensive and scientifically rigorous climate agreement for the post-2012 period.
This year, we have the opportunity to choose a new path. Copenhagen offers the chance to retool our global economy – to invest in clean energy, boost prosperity and lift millions out of poverty. By sealing the deal in Copenhagen, we can provide a more livable planet for our children and generations to come."
World Bank Says India Right In Resisting Mandatory Emission Reductions : Red, Green, and Blue
World Bank Says India Right In Resisting Mandatory Emission Reductions : Red, Green, and Blue: "World Bank Says India Right In Resisting Mandatory Emission Reductions
Written by Mridul Chadha
Published on May 9th, 2009
3 Comments
Posted in Climate Change, Energy, World
The World Bank has found through a study that it would be impossible for India to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions without adversely affecting its fight to eliminate poverty."
Written by Mridul Chadha
Published on May 9th, 2009
3 Comments
Posted in Climate Change, Energy, World
The World Bank has found through a study that it would be impossible for India to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions without adversely affecting its fight to eliminate poverty."
US Playing Spoilsport at International Climate Negotiations? : Red, Green, and Blue
US Playing Spoilsport at International Climate Negotiations? : Red, Green, and Blue: "US Playing Spoilsport at International Climate Negotiations?
Written by Mridul Chadha
Published on September 30th, 2009
Posted in Climate Change, Editor's Choice, U.S., World
Just as it seemed that differences over contentious issues regarding the next climate treaty were ironing out and all parties moving ahead with a common agenda, the developed countries, US in particular, threatened to stall negotiations until developing countries pledge equal emission reduction measures."
Written by Mridul Chadha
Published on September 30th, 2009
Posted in Climate Change, Editor's Choice, U.S., World
Just as it seemed that differences over contentious issues regarding the next climate treaty were ironing out and all parties moving ahead with a common agenda, the developed countries, US in particular, threatened to stall negotiations until developing countries pledge equal emission reduction measures."
US Back in Spotlight as China, India Increase Pressure by Announcing Aggressive Mitigation Plans : Red, Green, and Blue
US Back in Spotlight as China, India Increase Pressure by Announcing Aggressive Mitigation Plans : Red, Green, and Blue: "US Back in Spotlight as China, India Increase Pressure by Announcing Aggressive Mitigation Plans
Written by Mridul Chadha
Published on September 26th, 2009
Posted in Climate Change, Editor's Choice, U.S., World
About ten weeks from now leaders from nearly 200 countries will meet in Copenhagen to discuss the next climate treaty. During the last two to three years governments around the world moved to and fro over contentious issues like funding, technology transfer, intellectual property rights and emission reduction targets. As the world started to look for a replacement of the Kyoto Protocol, the start was slow with no sign of urgency even as the UNFCCC recommended a 25 to 40 percent reduction in global carbon emissions by 2020."
Written by Mridul Chadha
Published on September 26th, 2009
Posted in Climate Change, Editor's Choice, U.S., World
About ten weeks from now leaders from nearly 200 countries will meet in Copenhagen to discuss the next climate treaty. During the last two to three years governments around the world moved to and fro over contentious issues like funding, technology transfer, intellectual property rights and emission reduction targets. As the world started to look for a replacement of the Kyoto Protocol, the start was slow with no sign of urgency even as the UNFCCC recommended a 25 to 40 percent reduction in global carbon emissions by 2020."
Monday, September 28, 2009
World Environment News - China, South Korea Lead In Green Stimulus Investment - Planet Ark
World Environment News - China, South Korea Lead In Green Stimulus Investment - Planet Ark: "China, South Korea Lead In Green Stimulus Investment
Date: 25-Sep-09
Country: US
Author: Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
WASHINGTON - South Korea and China lead the world's 20 largest economies in the percentage of economic stimulus money they invest in environmental projects, the U.N. Environment Program reported on Thursday.
Other members of the Group of 20 leading economic powers, including the United States, trail behind in percentage of green investment from stimulus money, the agency found.
Almost exactly a year after the global financial crisis began, the U.N. agency found that about 15 percent of the estimated $3.1 trillion in global stimulus funds are 'green' in nature.
But only 3 percent of stimulus funds committed to environmental projects were actually disbursed by the middle of this year, and the total in committed funds is still below 1 percent of global gross domestic product, the amount economists recommend to reduce dependence on carbon and fuel the transition to a greener world economy, the agency said.
The level of funding for renewable energy is not enough to cut carbon emissions and limit average global warming to 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C), the increase above which some of the most severe effects of climate change are predicted.
T"
Date: 25-Sep-09
Country: US
Author: Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
WASHINGTON - South Korea and China lead the world's 20 largest economies in the percentage of economic stimulus money they invest in environmental projects, the U.N. Environment Program reported on Thursday.
Other members of the Group of 20 leading economic powers, including the United States, trail behind in percentage of green investment from stimulus money, the agency found.
Almost exactly a year after the global financial crisis began, the U.N. agency found that about 15 percent of the estimated $3.1 trillion in global stimulus funds are 'green' in nature.
But only 3 percent of stimulus funds committed to environmental projects were actually disbursed by the middle of this year, and the total in committed funds is still below 1 percent of global gross domestic product, the amount economists recommend to reduce dependence on carbon and fuel the transition to a greener world economy, the agency said.
The level of funding for renewable energy is not enough to cut carbon emissions and limit average global warming to 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C), the increase above which some of the most severe effects of climate change are predicted.
T"
World Environment News - Manila Hit Over Aid Delay After Storm Kills 140 - Planet Ark
World Environment News - Manila Hit Over Aid Delay After Storm Kills 140 - Planet Ark: "Manila Hit Over Aid Delay After Storm Kills 140
Date: 29-Sep-09
Country: PHILIPPINES
Author: Rosemarie Francisco
Manila Hit Over Aid Delay After Storm Kills 140 Photo: Erik de Castro
Rescuers assist residents from floodwaters caused by Typhoon Ondoy as they board a rubber boat in Cainta Rizal east of Manila September 27, 2009.
Photo: Erik de Castro
MANILA - Philippine officials scampered to send relief aid Monday to hundreds of thousands hit by weekend floods in and around Manila, while anger mounted over what was seen as an inadequate response from the government.
As the death toll from flash floods soared to 140, analysts said the anger could damage the prospects of Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, the administration's candidate in the May 2010 presidential election.
'His 0.2 percent popularity could be zero by now,' said political analyst and columnist Nelson Navarro, of Teodoro.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, already deeply unpopular in opinion polls, ordered an emergency center be set up in the presidential palace Monday, two days after the floods, highlighting for some the haphazard response to the disaster.
At least 450,000 people were affected, including about 150,000 displaced.
Officials said the economic damage from the worst rains on record"
Date: 29-Sep-09
Country: PHILIPPINES
Author: Rosemarie Francisco
Manila Hit Over Aid Delay After Storm Kills 140 Photo: Erik de Castro
Rescuers assist residents from floodwaters caused by Typhoon Ondoy as they board a rubber boat in Cainta Rizal east of Manila September 27, 2009.
Photo: Erik de Castro
MANILA - Philippine officials scampered to send relief aid Monday to hundreds of thousands hit by weekend floods in and around Manila, while anger mounted over what was seen as an inadequate response from the government.
As the death toll from flash floods soared to 140, analysts said the anger could damage the prospects of Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, the administration's candidate in the May 2010 presidential election.
'His 0.2 percent popularity could be zero by now,' said political analyst and columnist Nelson Navarro, of Teodoro.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, already deeply unpopular in opinion polls, ordered an emergency center be set up in the presidential palace Monday, two days after the floods, highlighting for some the haphazard response to the disaster.
At least 450,000 people were affected, including about 150,000 displaced.
Officials said the economic damage from the worst rains on record"
India sets out ambitious solar power plan to be paid for by rich nations | Environment | guardian.co.uk
India sets out ambitious solar power plan to be paid for by rich nations | Environment | guardian.co.uk: "India sets out ambitious solar power plan to be paid for by rich nations
India plans to generate 20GW from sunlight by 2020, putting green energy targets of developed nations in the shade
* Maseeh Rahman in New Delhi
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 4 August 2009 18.01 BST
* Article history
India has decided to push ahead with a vastly ambitious plan to tap the power of the sun to generate clean electricity, and after a meeting chaired by the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, it wants rich nations to pay the bill.
Although India has virtually no solar power now, the plan envisages the country generating 20GW from sunlight by 2020. Global solar capacity is predicted to be 27GW by then, according to the International Energy Agency, meaning India expects to be producing 75% of this within just 10 years.
Four-hundred million Indians have no electricity and the solar power would help spark the country's development and end the power cuts that plague the nation. It would also, say some analysts, assuage international criticism that India is not doing enough to confront its carbon emissions. It is currently heavily reliant on highly polluting coal for power.
The"
India plans to generate 20GW from sunlight by 2020, putting green energy targets of developed nations in the shade
* Maseeh Rahman in New Delhi
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 4 August 2009 18.01 BST
* Article history
India has decided to push ahead with a vastly ambitious plan to tap the power of the sun to generate clean electricity, and after a meeting chaired by the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, it wants rich nations to pay the bill.
Although India has virtually no solar power now, the plan envisages the country generating 20GW from sunlight by 2020. Global solar capacity is predicted to be 27GW by then, according to the International Energy Agency, meaning India expects to be producing 75% of this within just 10 years.
Four-hundred million Indians have no electricity and the solar power would help spark the country's development and end the power cuts that plague the nation. It would also, say some analysts, assuage international criticism that India is not doing enough to confront its carbon emissions. It is currently heavily reliant on highly polluting coal for power.
The"
Climate change package
Climate change package: "2009 is full of promise
Sunita Narain, January 1, 2009
I spent a week at the climate change conference in Poznan, and realized the world is in deep trouble and deeper denial. Worse, the denial is now entirely on the side of action. It is well accepted that climate change is a reality. Scientists say we need to cap temperature increases at 2°C to avoid catastrophe, which means capping emissions at 450 ppm. We know global average temperatures have already increased by 0.8°C and there is enough greenhouse gas in the atmosphere to lead to another 0.8°C increase. There is still a window of opportunity, a tiny one, to tackle the crisis.
But where’s the action? In the 1990s, when the world did even not understand, let alone accept, the crisis, it was more willing to move to tackle climate change. Today, we are in reverse gear. The rich world has realized it is easy to talk big, but tough to take steps to actually reduce emissions. The agreement was that these countries would reduce so that the developing world could increase. Instead, between 1990 and 2006, their carbon dioxide emissions increased by a whopping 14.5 per cent; even green countries of Europe are unable to match words with action.
So it was that, at the Poznan conference, rich countries aggressively pushed a new climate-tack. They cannot reduce at home, so"
Sunita Narain, January 1, 2009
I spent a week at the climate change conference in Poznan, and realized the world is in deep trouble and deeper denial. Worse, the denial is now entirely on the side of action. It is well accepted that climate change is a reality. Scientists say we need to cap temperature increases at 2°C to avoid catastrophe, which means capping emissions at 450 ppm. We know global average temperatures have already increased by 0.8°C and there is enough greenhouse gas in the atmosphere to lead to another 0.8°C increase. There is still a window of opportunity, a tiny one, to tackle the crisis.
But where’s the action? In the 1990s, when the world did even not understand, let alone accept, the crisis, it was more willing to move to tackle climate change. Today, we are in reverse gear. The rich world has realized it is easy to talk big, but tough to take steps to actually reduce emissions. The agreement was that these countries would reduce so that the developing world could increase. Instead, between 1990 and 2006, their carbon dioxide emissions increased by a whopping 14.5 per cent; even green countries of Europe are unable to match words with action.
So it was that, at the Poznan conference, rich countries aggressively pushed a new climate-tack. They cannot reduce at home, so"
CSE ask: What is the leapfrog option for the South so that it can avoid emission?
CSE ask: What is the leapfrog option for the South so that it can avoid emission?: "What is the leapfrog option for the South so that it can avoid emission?
It is clear that the South needs to catch up a lot on economic development, while avoiding emissions. For a country like India, apart from energy required to run and grow its industries and urban centres, large part of population is still outside the ambit of basic electrification. There is no logic for going into dirty power generation. In fact, the void in electrification can be seen as a great opportunity where the country can leapfrog into state of the art renewables.
One of the biggest opportunity lies in solar power. India has had mixed results with its solar programme. The government is now gearing up to launch several mega schemes to harness this abundant source. This has been highlighted in ‘India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change’. The solar mission aims to do exactly that. Industry has also shown interest in tapping this energy source of the future. Technology and financing, though, remain question marks.
How can India realize its solar dream?"
It is clear that the South needs to catch up a lot on economic development, while avoiding emissions. For a country like India, apart from energy required to run and grow its industries and urban centres, large part of population is still outside the ambit of basic electrification. There is no logic for going into dirty power generation. In fact, the void in electrification can be seen as a great opportunity where the country can leapfrog into state of the art renewables.
One of the biggest opportunity lies in solar power. India has had mixed results with its solar programme. The government is now gearing up to launch several mega schemes to harness this abundant source. This has been highlighted in ‘India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change’. The solar mission aims to do exactly that. Industry has also shown interest in tapping this energy source of the future. Technology and financing, though, remain question marks.
How can India realize its solar dream?"
India can't play the victim on climate change | Kapil Komireddi | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
India can't play the victim on climate change | Kapil Komireddi | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "India can't play the victim on climate change
Its poor may have small carbon footprints, but that is a specious excuse for not taking a global lead on the issue
o Kapil Komireddi
o guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 September 2009 12.00 BST
o Article history
The Copenhagen conference on climate change will most likely fail. And two parties will bear the principal responsibility for its failure: the United States and India. No one should be surprised by President Hu Jintao's pledge to significantly reduce his country's CO2 emissions. Beijing's dictatorship is keen to assuage international anxieties. But Washington and New Delhi cannot indulge international opinion at the expense of alienating their domestic constituencies."
Its poor may have small carbon footprints, but that is a specious excuse for not taking a global lead on the issue
o Kapil Komireddi
o guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 September 2009 12.00 BST
o Article history
The Copenhagen conference on climate change will most likely fail. And two parties will bear the principal responsibility for its failure: the United States and India. No one should be surprised by President Hu Jintao's pledge to significantly reduce his country's CO2 emissions. Beijing's dictatorship is keen to assuage international anxieties. But Washington and New Delhi cannot indulge international opinion at the expense of alienating their domestic constituencies."
Poor face more hunger as climate change leads to crop failure, says Oxfam | Environment | The Guardian
Poor face more hunger as climate change leads to crop failure, says Oxfam | Environment | The Guardian: "Poor face more hunger as climate change leads to crop failure, says Oxfam
• Seasons appear to have shrunk in variety
• Storms and heavier rains more common"
• Seasons appear to have shrunk in variety
• Storms and heavier rains more common"
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Smuggling Europe’s Waste to Poorer Countries - NYTimes.com
Smuggling Europe’s Waste to Poorer Countries - NYTimes.com: "Smuggling Europe’s Waste to Poorer Countries
Article Tools Sponsored By
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: September 26, 2009
ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands — When two inspectors swung open the doors of a battered red shipping container here, they confronted a graveyard of Europe’s electronic waste — old wires, electricity meters, circuit boards — mixed with remnants of cardboard and plastic."
Article Tools Sponsored By
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: September 26, 2009
ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands — When two inspectors swung open the doors of a battered red shipping container here, they confronted a graveyard of Europe’s electronic waste — old wires, electricity meters, circuit boards — mixed with remnants of cardboard and plastic."
Chinese government adviser warns that 2C global warming target is unrealistic | Environment | The Guardian
Chinese government adviser warns that 2C global warming target is unrealistic | Environment | The Guardian: "Chinese government adviser warns that 2C global warming target is unrealistic
China's emissions unlikely to fall low enough because 2C target 'does not provide room for developing countries'
* Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 September 2009 15.13 BST
* Article history
Labourer works at a coking factory in Changzhi
A labourer works at a coking factory in Changzhi, Shanxi province Photograph: STRINGER SHANGHAI/REUTERS
Don't expect China to keep global warming below 2C, a senior government adviser warned in Beijing today at the launch of an influential report on the nation's prospects for low-carbon growth.
Even in a best-case scenario with massive investment in solar energy and carbon capture technology, Dai Yande, deputy chief of the Energy Research Institute, said China's emissions were unlikely to fall low enough to remain below the temperature goal recommended by the G8 and European Union.
Jonathan Watts: 'China says richer countries are more responsible' Link to this audio
His prediction will alarm those governments and"
China's emissions unlikely to fall low enough because 2C target 'does not provide room for developing countries'
* Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 September 2009 15.13 BST
* Article history
Labourer works at a coking factory in Changzhi
A labourer works at a coking factory in Changzhi, Shanxi province Photograph: STRINGER SHANGHAI/REUTERS
Don't expect China to keep global warming below 2C, a senior government adviser warned in Beijing today at the launch of an influential report on the nation's prospects for low-carbon growth.
Even in a best-case scenario with massive investment in solar energy and carbon capture technology, Dai Yande, deputy chief of the Energy Research Institute, said China's emissions were unlikely to fall low enough to remain below the temperature goal recommended by the G8 and European Union.
Jonathan Watts: 'China says richer countries are more responsible' Link to this audio
His prediction will alarm those governments and"
Energy bills 'too low' to combat climate change, Royal Society says | Environment | The Guardian
Energy bills 'too low' to combat climate change, Royal Society says | Environment | The Guardian: "Energy bills 'too low' to combat climate change
Royal Society report says current government policy is not enough to pay for green technology
* Alok Jha
* The Guardian, Monday 29 June 2009
* Article history
Electricity meter
Electricity meter. Photograph: David Sillitoe
Consumers will need to pay more for energy if the UK is to have any chance of developing the technologies needed to tackle climate change, according to a group of leading scientists and engineers.
In a Royal Society study to be published today, the experts said that the government must put research into alternatives to fossil fuel much higher among its priorities, and argued that current policy in the area was 'half-hearted'.
'We have adapted to an energy price which is unrealistically low if we're going to try and preserve the environment,' John Shepherd, a climate scientist at Southampton University and co-author of the report said. 'We have to allow the economy to adapt to higher energy prices through carbon prices and that will then make things like renewables and nuclear more economic, as carbon-based alternatives become more expensive.'"
Royal Society report says current government policy is not enough to pay for green technology
* Alok Jha
* The Guardian, Monday 29 June 2009
* Article history
Electricity meter
Electricity meter. Photograph: David Sillitoe
Consumers will need to pay more for energy if the UK is to have any chance of developing the technologies needed to tackle climate change, according to a group of leading scientists and engineers.
In a Royal Society study to be published today, the experts said that the government must put research into alternatives to fossil fuel much higher among its priorities, and argued that current policy in the area was 'half-hearted'.
'We have adapted to an energy price which is unrealistically low if we're going to try and preserve the environment,' John Shepherd, a climate scientist at Southampton University and co-author of the report said. 'We have to allow the economy to adapt to higher energy prices through carbon prices and that will then make things like renewables and nuclear more economic, as carbon-based alternatives become more expensive.'"
Philippines rescue workers step up search for storm survivors | World news | guardian.co.uk
Philippines rescue workers step up search for storm survivors | World news | guardian.co.uk: "Philippines rescue workers step up search for storm survivors
Government declares 'state of calamity' after tropical storm Ketsana brings worst flooding for four decades
* Associated Press
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 September 2009 12.50 BST
* Article history
Floods in Manila brought by Tropical Storm Ketsana
A Filipino boy is carried to safety through floodwaters in Manila. Photograph: Jay Directo/AFP
Rescuers in the northern Philippines today increased their efforts to rescue people left stranded after a tropical storm brought the area's worst flooding in more than four decades.
The government declared a 'state of calamity' in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces after tropical storm Ketsana brought more than a month of rain in 12 hours yesterday.
The decision allowed officials to utilise emergency funds for relief and rescue, the defence secretary, Gilbert Teodoro, said."
Government declares 'state of calamity' after tropical storm Ketsana brings worst flooding for four decades
* Associated Press
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 September 2009 12.50 BST
* Article history
Floods in Manila brought by Tropical Storm Ketsana
A Filipino boy is carried to safety through floodwaters in Manila. Photograph: Jay Directo/AFP
Rescuers in the northern Philippines today increased their efforts to rescue people left stranded after a tropical storm brought the area's worst flooding in more than four decades.
The government declared a 'state of calamity' in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces after tropical storm Ketsana brought more than a month of rain in 12 hours yesterday.
The decision allowed officials to utilise emergency funds for relief and rescue, the defence secretary, Gilbert Teodoro, said."
Dust storms spread deadly diseases worldwide | World news | The Observer
Dust storms spread deadly diseases worldwide | World news | The Observer: "Dust storms spread deadly diseases worldwide
Dust storms like the one that plagued Sydney are blowing bacteria to all corners of the globe, with viruses that will attack the human body. Yet these scourges can also help mitigate climate change
* John Vidal
* The Observer, Sunday 27 September 2009
* Article history
A dust storm blankets Sydney's iconic Opera House at sunrise
A dust storm blankets Sydney's iconic Opera House at sunrise. Photograph: Tim Wimborne/Reuters
Huge dust storms, like the ones that blanketed Sydney twice last week, hit Queensland yesterday and turned the air red across much of eastern Australia, are spreading lethal epidemics around the world. However, they can also absorb climate change emissions, say researchers studying the little understood but growing phenomenon."
Dust storms like the one that plagued Sydney are blowing bacteria to all corners of the globe, with viruses that will attack the human body. Yet these scourges can also help mitigate climate change
* John Vidal
* The Observer, Sunday 27 September 2009
* Article history
A dust storm blankets Sydney's iconic Opera House at sunrise
A dust storm blankets Sydney's iconic Opera House at sunrise. Photograph: Tim Wimborne/Reuters
Huge dust storms, like the ones that blanketed Sydney twice last week, hit Queensland yesterday and turned the air red across much of eastern Australia, are spreading lethal epidemics around the world. However, they can also absorb climate change emissions, say researchers studying the little understood but growing phenomenon."
New images show 50 years of climate change in the Himalayas | Environment | guardian.co.uk
New images show 50 years of climate change in the Himalayas | Environment | guardian.co.uk: "Captured on camera: 50 years of climate change in the Himalayas
Series of before and after panoramas of Imja glacier taken five decades apart highlights dramatic reduction of Himalayan ice
* Buzz up!
* Digg it (11)
* Felicity Carus
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 4 June 2009 17.00 BST
* Article history
Himalayan glaciers disappear as world warms up: Imja glacierView larger picture
A very deep layer of ice covered the Imja glacier in the 1950s (top photo). Over the next 50 years, small meltwater ponds continued to grow and merge, and by the mid 1970s had formed the Imja lake. By 2007, the lake had grown to around 1km long. Photograph: Erwin Schneider/Alton Byers/The Mountain Institute
When Fritz Müller and Erwin Schneider battled ice storms, altitude sickness and snow blindness in the 1950s to map, measure and photograph the Imja glacier in the Himalayas, they could never have foreseen that the gigantic tongue of millennia-old glacial ice would be reduced to a lake within 50 years.
But half a century later, American mountain geographer Alton Byers returned to the precise locations of the original pictures and replicated 40 panoramas taken by explorers Müller and Schneider. Placed t"
Series of before and after panoramas of Imja glacier taken five decades apart highlights dramatic reduction of Himalayan ice
* Buzz up!
* Digg it (11)
* Felicity Carus
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 4 June 2009 17.00 BST
* Article history
Himalayan glaciers disappear as world warms up: Imja glacierView larger picture
A very deep layer of ice covered the Imja glacier in the 1950s (top photo). Over the next 50 years, small meltwater ponds continued to grow and merge, and by the mid 1970s had formed the Imja lake. By 2007, the lake had grown to around 1km long. Photograph: Erwin Schneider/Alton Byers/The Mountain Institute
When Fritz Müller and Erwin Schneider battled ice storms, altitude sickness and snow blindness in the 1950s to map, measure and photograph the Imja glacier in the Himalayas, they could never have foreseen that the gigantic tongue of millennia-old glacial ice would be reduced to a lake within 50 years.
But half a century later, American mountain geographer Alton Byers returned to the precise locations of the original pictures and replicated 40 panoramas taken by explorers Müller and Schneider. Placed t"
Revealed: the secret evidence of global warming Bush tried to hide | Environment | The Observer
Revealed: the secret evidence of global warming Bush tried to hide | Environment | The Observer: "Revealed: the secret evidence of global warming Bush tried to hide
Photos from US spy satellites declassified by the Obama White House provide the first graphic images of how the polar ice sheets are retreating in the summer. The effects on the world's weather, environments and wildlife could be devastating
* Suzanne Goldenberg and Damian Carrington
* The Observer, Sunday 26 July 2009
* Article history
Satellite images of polar ice sheetsView larger picture
Satellite images of polar ice sheets taken in July 2006 and July 2007 showing the retreating ice during the summer. Photograph: Public Domain
Graphic images that reveal the devastating impact of global warming in the Arctic have been released by the US military. The photographs, taken by spy satellites over the past decade, confirm that in recent years vast areas in high latitudes have lost their ice cover in summer months.
The pictures, kept secret by Washington during the presidency of George W Bush, were declassified by the White House last week. President Barack Obama is currently trying to galvanise Congress and the American public to take action to halt catastrophic climate change caused by rising l"
Photos from US spy satellites declassified by the Obama White House provide the first graphic images of how the polar ice sheets are retreating in the summer. The effects on the world's weather, environments and wildlife could be devastating
* Suzanne Goldenberg and Damian Carrington
* The Observer, Sunday 26 July 2009
* Article history
Satellite images of polar ice sheetsView larger picture
Satellite images of polar ice sheets taken in July 2006 and July 2007 showing the retreating ice during the summer. Photograph: Public Domain
Graphic images that reveal the devastating impact of global warming in the Arctic have been released by the US military. The photographs, taken by spy satellites over the past decade, confirm that in recent years vast areas in high latitudes have lost their ice cover in summer months.
The pictures, kept secret by Washington during the presidency of George W Bush, were declassified by the White House last week. President Barack Obama is currently trying to galvanise Congress and the American public to take action to halt catastrophic climate change caused by rising l"
Monday, September 21, 2009
Australia suggests compromise between rich and poor - COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009
Australia suggests compromise between rich and poor - COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009: "Australia suggests compromise between rich and poor
The way to get a deal in Copenhagen is to accept that the developing countries should not make the same commitments as the rich countries, says the Australian Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong.
Marianne Bom 21/09/2009 14:05
A “one size fits all” approach at the climate negotiations will not succeed. That is why Australia has now come up with a compromise that demands commitment from the developing countries on some areas, like deforestation and renewable energy – but not the same, full package that the rich countries will have to sign.
According to the Australian Climate Minister Penny Wong, presenting the Australian proposal in New York, the developing countries should not be expected to accept binding targets on emissions reductions.
“A one-size-fits-all is not going to get the agreement we need,” she told public broadcaster ABC according to AFP. “We simply won't get the broad participation from major developing economies that the climate needs.”
“[Commitments] will be differentiated, and the actions countries take to fulfil those commitments will be varied in nature, reflecting different national circumstances,” Wong said to Reuters, adding that the UN climate conferenc"
The way to get a deal in Copenhagen is to accept that the developing countries should not make the same commitments as the rich countries, says the Australian Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong.
Marianne Bom 21/09/2009 14:05
A “one size fits all” approach at the climate negotiations will not succeed. That is why Australia has now come up with a compromise that demands commitment from the developing countries on some areas, like deforestation and renewable energy – but not the same, full package that the rich countries will have to sign.
According to the Australian Climate Minister Penny Wong, presenting the Australian proposal in New York, the developing countries should not be expected to accept binding targets on emissions reductions.
“A one-size-fits-all is not going to get the agreement we need,” she told public broadcaster ABC according to AFP. “We simply won't get the broad participation from major developing economies that the climate needs.”
“[Commitments] will be differentiated, and the actions countries take to fulfil those commitments will be varied in nature, reflecting different national circumstances,” Wong said to Reuters, adding that the UN climate conferenc"
Jubilee Debt Campaign UK : Latest news : Climate debt - Bolivia calls for justice
Jubilee Debt Campaign UK : Latest news : Climate debt - Bolivia calls for justice: "Climate debt - Bolivia calls for justice
4 June 2009
Rich countries owe an enormous ‘climate debt’ to the global South, which must be the starting point for any new international climate deal, Bolivia has said.
Climate Justice Now seminar
A Climate Justice Now seminar at UN climate negotiations in Poland in 2008. Photo: Climate Justice Blog
Bolivia's statement came during talks in Bonn to discuss a new global treaty, due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December. The vast majority of global greenhouse gas emissions over the last 200 years have been produced by industrialised countries, it argues, who have an 'emissions debt' to the countries of the global South. These countries are also feeling the brunt of the impacts of climate change, and so they are owed an 'adaptation debt' by the rich countries of the North. Yet rich countries are only offering ‘loans’ and ‘aid’ to developing countries in response to the climate threat.
Bolivia argues that developing countries are not seeking economic handouts to solve a problem they did not cause, but are instead seeking justice for the damage these emissions have done and will do to their people. A recognition of this climate debt, it says, must be at the hear"
4 June 2009
Rich countries owe an enormous ‘climate debt’ to the global South, which must be the starting point for any new international climate deal, Bolivia has said.
Climate Justice Now seminar
A Climate Justice Now seminar at UN climate negotiations in Poland in 2008. Photo: Climate Justice Blog
Bolivia's statement came during talks in Bonn to discuss a new global treaty, due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December. The vast majority of global greenhouse gas emissions over the last 200 years have been produced by industrialised countries, it argues, who have an 'emissions debt' to the countries of the global South. These countries are also feeling the brunt of the impacts of climate change, and so they are owed an 'adaptation debt' by the rich countries of the North. Yet rich countries are only offering ‘loans’ and ‘aid’ to developing countries in response to the climate threat.
Bolivia argues that developing countries are not seeking economic handouts to solve a problem they did not cause, but are instead seeking justice for the damage these emissions have done and will do to their people. A recognition of this climate debt, it says, must be at the hear"
Bolivia’s leader pushes rich nations for climate adaptation funds | Grist
Bolivia’s leader pushes rich nations for climate adaptation funds | Grist: "President Evo Morales of Bolivia never shies away from a scuffle. He was elected as Bolivia’s first indigenous president after toppling the previous government with massive street protests, and he has since legalized the coca leaf, nationalized the mines, and tossed out the U.S. ambassador.
Evo MoralesBolivian President Evo Morales makes an offering to the “Pachamama” (The Mother Earth) during a ritual at the sacred Aymara site of Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Morales has called for rich nations to take on the problem of global warming, noting that the worst effects fall on poor nations.Photo: Noah Friedman-RudovskyThe one-time coca farmer and llama herder is now wading into the ring of global climate negotiations to embark on his grandest crusade to date. His twenty-point list of demands on international climate policy represents the toughest line taken by any national leader, including a call for developed countries to contribute one percent of GDP—close to $700 billion per year—to a compensatory adaptation fund for poor and vulnerable nations.
“Western development has created a deathly wound to our Pachamama,” says Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, using the Aymara term for Mother Earth. “Industrialized countries need to assume their responsibilities.”
If"
Evo MoralesBolivian President Evo Morales makes an offering to the “Pachamama” (The Mother Earth) during a ritual at the sacred Aymara site of Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Morales has called for rich nations to take on the problem of global warming, noting that the worst effects fall on poor nations.Photo: Noah Friedman-RudovskyThe one-time coca farmer and llama herder is now wading into the ring of global climate negotiations to embark on his grandest crusade to date. His twenty-point list of demands on international climate policy represents the toughest line taken by any national leader, including a call for developed countries to contribute one percent of GDP—close to $700 billion per year—to a compensatory adaptation fund for poor and vulnerable nations.
“Western development has created a deathly wound to our Pachamama,” says Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, using the Aymara term for Mother Earth. “Industrialized countries need to assume their responsibilities.”
If"
Climate Change Concerns in Flooded Bolivia
Climate Change Concerns in Flooded Bolivia: "February 25, 2008
Climate Change Concerns in Flooded Bolivia
Bolivian leaders blame floods on global warming and actions of others
by Cynthia English
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For the second consecutive year, floods are wreaking havoc on many parts of Bolivia. In response, the country's leaders are again publicly blaming the floods on climate change and demanding that the international community take action. Gallup finds that nearly all Bolivians who have heard of global warming or climate change consider it a 'somewhat serious' or 'very serious' threat.
Since last year, high-ranking Bolivian officials, including President Evo Morales and most recently Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, have blamed the flooding in their country on global climate change and on those countries that they perceive are most responsible for the problem. Bolivian leaders are demanding that the international community pay for the damage and help with recovery efforts. However, many Bolivians' perception that global warming is a serious threat is not necessarily directly linked to the flooding, as Gallup polling last year fell between the two flood-ridden, rainy seasons, and not at the height of the natural disasters.
Residents in eight South American countries Gallup surveyed in 2007 appear to have a similar sentiment as Bolivians do about the threat of global"
Climate Change Concerns in Flooded Bolivia
Bolivian leaders blame floods on global warming and actions of others
by Cynthia English
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For the second consecutive year, floods are wreaking havoc on many parts of Bolivia. In response, the country's leaders are again publicly blaming the floods on climate change and demanding that the international community take action. Gallup finds that nearly all Bolivians who have heard of global warming or climate change consider it a 'somewhat serious' or 'very serious' threat.
Since last year, high-ranking Bolivian officials, including President Evo Morales and most recently Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, have blamed the flooding in their country on global climate change and on those countries that they perceive are most responsible for the problem. Bolivian leaders are demanding that the international community pay for the damage and help with recovery efforts. However, many Bolivians' perception that global warming is a serious threat is not necessarily directly linked to the flooding, as Gallup polling last year fell between the two flood-ridden, rainy seasons, and not at the height of the natural disasters.
Residents in eight South American countries Gallup surveyed in 2007 appear to have a similar sentiment as Bolivians do about the threat of global"
Blog from Bolivia: Evo Asks a Good Question on Climate Change
Blog from Bolivia: Evo Asks a Good Question on Climate Change: "Monday, February 26, 2007
Evo Asks a Good Question on Climate Change
You could call it Bolivia's Katrina (though with a far more active national government than the one that so terribly botched relief to New Orleans). Whole sections of the country are under water. Thousands are displaced. A huge effort is required to save lives and an even bigger one will be needed to address the economic damage left in the floods wake.
In the midst of the Bolivian relief effort, Bolivia's President, Evo Morales, asked a reasonable set of questions this weekend. What role does global climate change have in Bolivia's massive weather disaster? Who caused this problem? Who bears its brunt? And what will the world do to address it, in all of its consequences both environmental and economic?
I will leave it to climate experts to debate whether the current Bolivian catastrophe is a genuine product of global climate change or just a run-of-the-mill El Nino disaster that would have happened anyway. If Bolivia can't hang the massive floods in its tropics and eastern lowlands on climate change, it can certainly point to other impacts, including the prediction by climatologists that the country's ancient glaciers, remnants of the ice age, may be melted off within 30 to 40 years.
It is not the world's impoveris"
Evo Asks a Good Question on Climate Change
You could call it Bolivia's Katrina (though with a far more active national government than the one that so terribly botched relief to New Orleans). Whole sections of the country are under water. Thousands are displaced. A huge effort is required to save lives and an even bigger one will be needed to address the economic damage left in the floods wake.
In the midst of the Bolivian relief effort, Bolivia's President, Evo Morales, asked a reasonable set of questions this weekend. What role does global climate change have in Bolivia's massive weather disaster? Who caused this problem? Who bears its brunt? And what will the world do to address it, in all of its consequences both environmental and economic?
I will leave it to climate experts to debate whether the current Bolivian catastrophe is a genuine product of global climate change or just a run-of-the-mill El Nino disaster that would have happened anyway. If Bolivia can't hang the massive floods in its tropics and eastern lowlands on climate change, it can certainly point to other impacts, including the prediction by climatologists that the country's ancient glaciers, remnants of the ice age, may be melted off within 30 to 40 years.
It is not the world's impoveris"
BBC NEWS | Americas | Huge Bolivian glacier disappears
BBC NEWS | Americas | Huge Bolivian glacier disappears: "Scientists in Bolivia say that one of the country's most famous glaciers has almost disappeared as a result of climate change.
The Chacaltaya glacier, 5,300m (17,400 ft) up in the Andes, used to be the world's highest ski run.
But it has been reduced to just a few small pieces of ice.
Many Bolivians on the highland plains, and in two cities, depend on the melting of the glaciers for their water supply during the dry season.
The team of Bolivian scientists started measuring the Chacaltaya glacier in the 1990s. Not long ago they were predicting that it would survive until 2015.
But now it seems, the glacier has melted at a much faster rate than they expected.
Photos taken in the last two weeks show that all that is left of the majestic glacier, which is thought to be 18,000 years old, are a few lumps of ice near the top."
The Chacaltaya glacier, 5,300m (17,400 ft) up in the Andes, used to be the world's highest ski run.
But it has been reduced to just a few small pieces of ice.
Many Bolivians on the highland plains, and in two cities, depend on the melting of the glaciers for their water supply during the dry season.
The team of Bolivian scientists started measuring the Chacaltaya glacier in the 1990s. Not long ago they were predicting that it would survive until 2015.
But now it seems, the glacier has melted at a much faster rate than they expected.
Photos taken in the last two weeks show that all that is left of the majestic glacier, which is thought to be 18,000 years old, are a few lumps of ice near the top."
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Carbon addicts and climate debt
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Carbon addicts and climate debt: "Carbon addicts and climate debt
Andrew Simms. Image: Nef
VIEWPOINT
Andrew Simms
The fossil fuel industry is a major source of tax revenue for western nations, which is a disincentive to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, says Andrew Simms in this week's Green Room. But while some of that taxation depends on the huge profits reported by companies like BP and Shell, he argues they would be bankrupt if the taxes they paid reflected the social costs of their emissions.
Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Image: AFP/Getty
The UK appears to be in denial as it becomes more deeply addicted to oil and its profits
Send us your views
The last week has raised a new problem of substance abuse in Britain.
In a world of growing climate chaos and oil scarcity, at least US President George Bush admitted his country's 'serious problem' of fossil-fuel addiction.
But the UK appears to be in denial as it becomes more deeply addicted to oil and its profits, raising the real danger that growing oil revenues could become a big disincentive to cut oil use and tackle global poverty.
Oil magnate J Paul Getty set the template for 20th Century inequality when he declared: 'The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights.'
Based on statistics from the International En"
Andrew Simms. Image: Nef
VIEWPOINT
Andrew Simms
The fossil fuel industry is a major source of tax revenue for western nations, which is a disincentive to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, says Andrew Simms in this week's Green Room. But while some of that taxation depends on the huge profits reported by companies like BP and Shell, he argues they would be bankrupt if the taxes they paid reflected the social costs of their emissions.
Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Image: AFP/Getty
The UK appears to be in denial as it becomes more deeply addicted to oil and its profits
Send us your views
The last week has raised a new problem of substance abuse in Britain.
In a world of growing climate chaos and oil scarcity, at least US President George Bush admitted his country's 'serious problem' of fossil-fuel addiction.
But the UK appears to be in denial as it becomes more deeply addicted to oil and its profits, raising the real danger that growing oil revenues could become a big disincentive to cut oil use and tackle global poverty.
Oil magnate J Paul Getty set the template for 20th Century inequality when he declared: 'The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights.'
Based on statistics from the International En"
Energy efficiency, best option
Energy efficiency, best option: "Energy efficiency, best option PDF Print E-mail
Top News
Written by Jonathan Mayuga / Correspondent
Thursday, 10 September 2009 22:49
DEVELOPING countries should not stop growing just because resources are now in short supply and climate is changing. But to protect the planet, industrial growth must be propelled by clean energy, a top United Nations official said on Wednesday.
Kandeh Yumkella, director general of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido), told Asian trade and environment ministers attending the International Conference on Green Industry in Asia at the Philippine International Convention Center that 2.5 billion people would be condemned to a life of perpetual poverty without growth.
Hosted by the Philippines through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the three-day conference organized by Unido, the United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and International Labor Organization, drew more than 1,200 participants, including 21 trade and environment ministers and senior officials representing 21 countries in Asia, eminent experts and representatives from business, academic and research communities, as well as civic organizations and the media.
With the theme “Managing the Transition to Resource-efficient and Low-ca"
Top News
Written by Jonathan Mayuga / Correspondent
Thursday, 10 September 2009 22:49
DEVELOPING countries should not stop growing just because resources are now in short supply and climate is changing. But to protect the planet, industrial growth must be propelled by clean energy, a top United Nations official said on Wednesday.
Kandeh Yumkella, director general of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido), told Asian trade and environment ministers attending the International Conference on Green Industry in Asia at the Philippine International Convention Center that 2.5 billion people would be condemned to a life of perpetual poverty without growth.
Hosted by the Philippines through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the three-day conference organized by Unido, the United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and International Labor Organization, drew more than 1,200 participants, including 21 trade and environment ministers and senior officials representing 21 countries in Asia, eminent experts and representatives from business, academic and research communities, as well as civic organizations and the media.
With the theme “Managing the Transition to Resource-efficient and Low-ca"
AFP: Rich-poor impasse complicates UN climate talks: US negotiator
AFP: Rich-poor impasse complicates UN climate talks: US negotiator: "Rich-poor impasse complicates UN climate talks: US negotiator
(AFP) – Sep 10, 2009
WASHINGTON — Persistent disagreement between developed and less developed countries in UN climate talks have made an international solution difficult to achieve, the top US negotiator said Thursday.
'Let me say bluntly, that the tenor of negotiations in the formal UN track has been difficult,' Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change, told the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming.
'And yet we must find a way to bridge this developed/developing country divide which is still the heart of the struggle for an international solution,' Stern said three months ahead of the Copenhagen conference.
The December 7-18 talks in Copenhagen, under the 192-nation UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aim to craft a post-2012 pact for curbing the heat-trapping gases that drive perilous global warming.
Developing countries often tend not to see the problem as of their making but feel they are being asked to take part in a solution that could undercut their efforts to improve their people's quality of life.
Highly industrialized countries, however, see climate change as a deeply serious issue with irreversible consequences for the planet, and as an issu"
(AFP) – Sep 10, 2009
WASHINGTON — Persistent disagreement between developed and less developed countries in UN climate talks have made an international solution difficult to achieve, the top US negotiator said Thursday.
'Let me say bluntly, that the tenor of negotiations in the formal UN track has been difficult,' Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change, told the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming.
'And yet we must find a way to bridge this developed/developing country divide which is still the heart of the struggle for an international solution,' Stern said three months ahead of the Copenhagen conference.
The December 7-18 talks in Copenhagen, under the 192-nation UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aim to craft a post-2012 pact for curbing the heat-trapping gases that drive perilous global warming.
Developing countries often tend not to see the problem as of their making but feel they are being asked to take part in a solution that could undercut their efforts to improve their people's quality of life.
Highly industrialized countries, however, see climate change as a deeply serious issue with irreversible consequences for the planet, and as an issu"
C-Questor Carbon Markets and Climate Change News Letter: Clean energy future has humble beginnings
C-Questor Carbon Markets and Climate Change News Letter: Clean energy future has humble beginnings: "Friday, 11 September 2009
Clean energy future has humble beginnings
Reuters, Friday September 11 2009
* Gas and efficiency may win near-term cleantech race
* Avoiding dangerous climate change may need breakthroughs
By Gerard Wynn and Peter Henderson
LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Humble, established technologies including natural gas and energy efficiency are top picks to lead a clean energy race through 2020, policymakers and senior executives told Reuters this week.
But a longer fight to avoid dangerous climate change including droughts, floods and rising seas may require multiple breakthroughs in nuclear power, farming, biofuels, as well as today's top renewables -- solar and wind energy."
Clean energy future has humble beginnings
Reuters, Friday September 11 2009
* Gas and efficiency may win near-term cleantech race
* Avoiding dangerous climate change may need breakthroughs
By Gerard Wynn and Peter Henderson
LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Humble, established technologies including natural gas and energy efficiency are top picks to lead a clean energy race through 2020, policymakers and senior executives told Reuters this week.
But a longer fight to avoid dangerous climate change including droughts, floods and rising seas may require multiple breakthroughs in nuclear power, farming, biofuels, as well as today's top renewables -- solar and wind energy."
UN climate chief calls for bigger greenhouse gas cuts by rich countries to reach global deal
UN climate chief calls for bigger greenhouse gas cuts by rich countries to reach global deal: "UN climate chief calls for bigger greenhouse gas cuts by rich countries to reach global deal
Joe Mcdonald
September 11th, 2009
UN climate chief: Big greenhouse gas cuts needed
DALIAN, China — Rich countries must commit to deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions if they want China and India to sign onto an accord to curb global warming, the top U.N. climate official said Friday.
“We need to see that leadership from rich countries,” said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, at the World Economic Forum. “Without rich country leadership, we will not get developing country engagement.”"
Joe Mcdonald
September 11th, 2009
UN climate chief: Big greenhouse gas cuts needed
DALIAN, China — Rich countries must commit to deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions if they want China and India to sign onto an accord to curb global warming, the top U.N. climate official said Friday.
“We need to see that leadership from rich countries,” said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, at the World Economic Forum. “Without rich country leadership, we will not get developing country engagement.”"
World Bank Publications: World Development Report 2010 Details
World Bank Publications: World Development Report 2010 Details: "World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change
by World Bank
Price: $ 26.00
Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
English Paperback 300 pages 8.5 x 11
Published October 2009 by World Bank ISBN: 0-8213-7987-9 ISBN-13: 978-0-8213-7987-5 SKU: 17987
If you wish to preorder this title please complete our order form and fax it to +1-703-661-1501.
Today's enormous development challenges are complicated by the reality of climate change—the two are inextricably linked and together demand immediate attention. Climate change threatens all countries, but particularly developing ones. Understanding what climate change means for development policy is the central aim of the World Development Report 2010. It explores how public policy can change to better help people cope with new or worsened risks, how land and water management must adapt to better protect a threatened natural environment while feeding an expanding and more prosperous population, and how energy systems will need to be transformed.
The report is an urgent call for action, both for developing countries who are striving to ensure policies are adapted to the realities and dangers of a hotter planet, and for high-income countries who need to undertake ambitious mitigation while supporting developing countries efforts. A climate-smart world"
by World Bank
Price: $ 26.00
Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
English Paperback 300 pages 8.5 x 11
Published October 2009 by World Bank ISBN: 0-8213-7987-9 ISBN-13: 978-0-8213-7987-5 SKU: 17987
If you wish to preorder this title please complete our order form and fax it to +1-703-661-1501.
Today's enormous development challenges are complicated by the reality of climate change—the two are inextricably linked and together demand immediate attention. Climate change threatens all countries, but particularly developing ones. Understanding what climate change means for development policy is the central aim of the World Development Report 2010. It explores how public policy can change to better help people cope with new or worsened risks, how land and water management must adapt to better protect a threatened natural environment while feeding an expanding and more prosperous population, and how energy systems will need to be transformed.
The report is an urgent call for action, both for developing countries who are striving to ensure policies are adapted to the realities and dangers of a hotter planet, and for high-income countries who need to undertake ambitious mitigation while supporting developing countries efforts. A climate-smart world"
Headlines RSS » Brown urges leaders to attend climate talks
Headlines RSS » Brown urges leaders to attend climate talks: "Brown urges leaders to attend climate talks
Posted on September 21st, 2009 by admin
• Extra effort needed to end climate talks deadlock
• Negotiations are so slow ‘deal is in grave danger’
Gordon Brown is to urge his fellow world leaders to agree to go personally to the vital UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December in an attempt to break what is rapidly becoming a dangerous deadlock.
Brown will make his proposals when he joins world leaders in New York and Pittsburgh next week to discuss climate change talks and the world economy.
The UN Copenhagen talks are due to be attended only by environment ministers, but Brown believes the issues are so momentous, so complex and so likely to determine the shape of national economies that the meeting will require the attendance of world leaders in the final set of negotiations in mid-December.
Green groups and his own climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, have been pressing Brown to take the lead and say he is willing to attend the talks.
Writing in Newsweek tomorrow, Brown warns: “The negotiations are proceeding so slowly that a deal is in grave danger.” He ups the ante by becoming the first head of government to say he will go to Copenhagen to try to agree a framework on climate change for the post-2012 era"
Posted on September 21st, 2009 by admin
• Extra effort needed to end climate talks deadlock
• Negotiations are so slow ‘deal is in grave danger’
Gordon Brown is to urge his fellow world leaders to agree to go personally to the vital UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December in an attempt to break what is rapidly becoming a dangerous deadlock.
Brown will make his proposals when he joins world leaders in New York and Pittsburgh next week to discuss climate change talks and the world economy.
The UN Copenhagen talks are due to be attended only by environment ministers, but Brown believes the issues are so momentous, so complex and so likely to determine the shape of national economies that the meeting will require the attendance of world leaders in the final set of negotiations in mid-December.
Green groups and his own climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, have been pressing Brown to take the lead and say he is willing to attend the talks.
Writing in Newsweek tomorrow, Brown warns: “The negotiations are proceeding so slowly that a deal is in grave danger.” He ups the ante by becoming the first head of government to say he will go to Copenhagen to try to agree a framework on climate change for the post-2012 era"
A vital diplomatic trip to boost int'l co-op_English_Xinhua
A vital diplomatic trip to boost int'l co-op_English_Xinhua: "A vital diplomatic trip to boost int'l co-op
www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-21 14:16:11 Print
by Xinhua writer Yang Zhiwang
BEIJING, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao left for New York Monday to attend a string of the United Nations' meetings and then will travel on to the eastern U.S. city of Pittsburgh for the G20 summit.
The trip, during which Hu will expound China's opinions and proposals on big global challenges such as climate change, nuclear disarmament and the financial crisis, is a new vital diplomatic move taken by the Chinese leader this year to boost international cooperation.
The five-day trip has a packed agenda. During his stay in New York, Hu is due to participate in the UN Climate Change Summit, the high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, and the UN Security Council Summit on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament.
It will be the first time that a Chinese head of state attends so many UN summits during a single visit since the restoration of China's legitimate seat at the United Nations in 1971, according to Liu Zhenmin, China's deputy permanent representative to the world body.
This visit, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China, attests the great importance China"
www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-21 14:16:11 Print
by Xinhua writer Yang Zhiwang
BEIJING, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao left for New York Monday to attend a string of the United Nations' meetings and then will travel on to the eastern U.S. city of Pittsburgh for the G20 summit.
The trip, during which Hu will expound China's opinions and proposals on big global challenges such as climate change, nuclear disarmament and the financial crisis, is a new vital diplomatic move taken by the Chinese leader this year to boost international cooperation.
The five-day trip has a packed agenda. During his stay in New York, Hu is due to participate in the UN Climate Change Summit, the high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, and the UN Security Council Summit on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament.
It will be the first time that a Chinese head of state attends so many UN summits during a single visit since the restoration of China's legitimate seat at the United Nations in 1971, according to Liu Zhenmin, China's deputy permanent representative to the world body.
This visit, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China, attests the great importance China"
Energy and Global Warming News for September 11: New York City braces for risk of higher seas; EU environment chief sees 100% chance of deal in Copenhagen « Climate Progress
Energy and Global Warming News for September 11: New York City braces for risk of higher seas; EU environment chief sees 100% chance of deal in Copenhagen « Climate Progress: "Energy and Global Warming News for September 11: New York City braces for risk of higher seas; EU environment chief sees 100% chance of deal in Copenhagen
September 11, 2009
On a day of remembrance for that epic tragedy to hit New York, here’s a story about how New York is preparing for the tragedy ever knows is coming.
NY flooding
New York City Braces for Risk of Higher Seas"
September 11, 2009
On a day of remembrance for that epic tragedy to hit New York, here’s a story about how New York is preparing for the tragedy ever knows is coming.
NY flooding
New York City Braces for Risk of Higher Seas"
Greenpeace: EU is trying to get away with leaving a tip - COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009
Greenpeace: EU is trying to get away with leaving a tip - COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009: "Greenpeace: EU is trying to get away with leaving a tip
Greenpeace and Oxfam International criticize the EU Commission for not being ready to pay Europe’s share of the climate bill.
Marianne Bom 11/09/2009 15:40
It is not enough. EU has to pay more than 15 billion euro (22 billion US dollars) a year to developing countries to fight climate change and its consequences, Greenpeace and Oxfam International agreed in their comments on the EU Commission’s financing proposal, published yesterday.
'The EU is trying to get away with leaving a tip rather than paying its share of the bill to protect the planet's climate,' Greenpeace campaigner Joris den Blanken said to Reuters.
Elise Ford, head of Oxfam International's Brussels office, noted in the Financial Times that the proposal would 'in effect, rob tomorrow's hospitals and schools in developing countries to pay for them to tackle climate change now'.
The 15 billion euro is the maximum proposed by the Commission’s proposal that ranges from two billion euro to 15 billion euro. At the presentation, the Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas stressed that 'the level of funding will depend on how ambitious the Copenhagen agreement turns out to be.' EU wants the developing countries to rein in t"
Greenpeace and Oxfam International criticize the EU Commission for not being ready to pay Europe’s share of the climate bill.
Marianne Bom 11/09/2009 15:40
It is not enough. EU has to pay more than 15 billion euro (22 billion US dollars) a year to developing countries to fight climate change and its consequences, Greenpeace and Oxfam International agreed in their comments on the EU Commission’s financing proposal, published yesterday.
'The EU is trying to get away with leaving a tip rather than paying its share of the bill to protect the planet's climate,' Greenpeace campaigner Joris den Blanken said to Reuters.
Elise Ford, head of Oxfam International's Brussels office, noted in the Financial Times that the proposal would 'in effect, rob tomorrow's hospitals and schools in developing countries to pay for them to tackle climate change now'.
The 15 billion euro is the maximum proposed by the Commission’s proposal that ranges from two billion euro to 15 billion euro. At the presentation, the Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas stressed that 'the level of funding will depend on how ambitious the Copenhagen agreement turns out to be.' EU wants the developing countries to rein in t"
Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change « Canadians for Climate Change Action
Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change « Canadians for Climate Change Action: "Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change
Economic expansion cannot be achieved forever if greenhouse gases are to be curbed, warns the leading economist and author of the UK’s government’s report on climate change"
Economic expansion cannot be achieved forever if greenhouse gases are to be curbed, warns the leading economist and author of the UK’s government’s report on climate change"
Denmark Endorses Indian Attitude On Climate Change
Denmark Endorses Indian Attitude On Climate Change: "Denmark Endorses Indian Attitude On Climate Change
Last Updated: 2009-09-12T10:13:29+05:30
PrintMailRecommend This Site
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has supported India’s attitude towards climate change, but he has also disclosed that he hopes for an all-nation agreement by end of 2009.
'The Indian approach is very ambitious. It goes hand in hand with fighting poverty,' told Rasmussen, who was addressing a meeting organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.
'We cannot ask you in developing countries to take on the responsibilities. You have your obligations,' he said. 'Developed countries must act now.' Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was also a part of the conference.
Both Rasumssen and Ramesh have expressed hope that a decision may be achieved during the Copenhagen meeting on climate change.
India's stand, articulated by Ramesh, was that, “Developing countries cannot be asked to cut their emission levels at the same level as that required by rich nations since the current environmental woes were the result of unchecked practices of the industrialised world”.
'Any agreement, which starts with recognition that India and China are part of the problem, will not succeed,' said Ramesh.
The Indian minister has disclosed t"
Last Updated: 2009-09-12T10:13:29+05:30
PrintMailRecommend This Site
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has supported India’s attitude towards climate change, but he has also disclosed that he hopes for an all-nation agreement by end of 2009.
'The Indian approach is very ambitious. It goes hand in hand with fighting poverty,' told Rasmussen, who was addressing a meeting organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.
'We cannot ask you in developing countries to take on the responsibilities. You have your obligations,' he said. 'Developed countries must act now.' Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was also a part of the conference.
Both Rasumssen and Ramesh have expressed hope that a decision may be achieved during the Copenhagen meeting on climate change.
India's stand, articulated by Ramesh, was that, “Developing countries cannot be asked to cut their emission levels at the same level as that required by rich nations since the current environmental woes were the result of unchecked practices of the industrialised world”.
'Any agreement, which starts with recognition that India and China are part of the problem, will not succeed,' said Ramesh.
The Indian minister has disclosed t"
Urgent: Pay the climate debt | The Jakarta Post
Urgent: Pay the climate debt | The Jakarta Post: "Urgent: Pay the climate debt
Hira P. Jhamtani , Gianyar, Bali | Sat, 09/12/2009 1:50 PM | Opinion
The article 'Urgent: Improved Climate Talks' by Hadi Soesastro (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 5, 2009) provides an interesting insight into the current climate change negotiations on at least two fronts. First is the role of the so-called 'major developing countries or major emerging economies'.
Second, about the relationship between negotiations under the UNFCCC, the official UN body for climate change negotiations, with the many initiatives that are taken outside it. Soesastro's concluding sentence raises an alarm.
He says, 'The UNFCCC process of negotiations may indeed resemble the process of multilateral trade negotiations under the WTO. Kyoto was the first round, Copenhagen the second round, to be followed by further rounds of negotiations that hopefully will take place under a progressively improved climate for negotiations.' This is alarming, as the climate change issue cannot wait for protracted negotiations that are characteristic of the multilateral trade negotiations such as the World Trade Organizations.
Already climate change is creating havoc for the poorest communities, especially in developing countries and even for entire nations such as small island ones. Climate change is not a"
Hira P. Jhamtani , Gianyar, Bali | Sat, 09/12/2009 1:50 PM | Opinion
The article 'Urgent: Improved Climate Talks' by Hadi Soesastro (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 5, 2009) provides an interesting insight into the current climate change negotiations on at least two fronts. First is the role of the so-called 'major developing countries or major emerging economies'.
Second, about the relationship between negotiations under the UNFCCC, the official UN body for climate change negotiations, with the many initiatives that are taken outside it. Soesastro's concluding sentence raises an alarm.
He says, 'The UNFCCC process of negotiations may indeed resemble the process of multilateral trade negotiations under the WTO. Kyoto was the first round, Copenhagen the second round, to be followed by further rounds of negotiations that hopefully will take place under a progressively improved climate for negotiations.' This is alarming, as the climate change issue cannot wait for protracted negotiations that are characteristic of the multilateral trade negotiations such as the World Trade Organizations.
Already climate change is creating havoc for the poorest communities, especially in developing countries and even for entire nations such as small island ones. Climate change is not a"
UNFCCC Secretary: At This Rate, We’re Not Going to Make It « FUTURISM NOW
UNFCCC Secretary: At This Rate, We’re Not Going to Make It « FUTURISM NOW: "UNFCCC Secretary: At This Rate, We're Not Going to Make It
By ShellyT, on September 11th, 2009
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said recently that at the current rate of addressing climate change, we will not make it. “Serious Climate Change is Equal to ‘Game Over’“. It’s assumed by ‘game over’ he means we’ll have to try to survive however we can, but civilization will not be around to help us. These remarks were made at a briefing with the media on the last day of the informal consultations in Bonn, in August 2009. “This is the way to a global disaster,” he said.
Mr. de Boer stressed that “a climate deal in Copenhagen this year is an unequivocal requirement to stop climate change from slipping out of control.
Our next best chance to do something serious: The Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit in New York on September 22, 2009, presents an opportunity for world leaders to provide clear political guidance and to start mapping out a clear plan. A similar article came out yesterday, so we know we are running out of time, and the major Copenhagen meeting is in December. Here are Yvo de Boer’s statements from earlier this week:
“We need to see that leadership"
By ShellyT, on September 11th, 2009
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said recently that at the current rate of addressing climate change, we will not make it. “Serious Climate Change is Equal to ‘Game Over’“. It’s assumed by ‘game over’ he means we’ll have to try to survive however we can, but civilization will not be around to help us. These remarks were made at a briefing with the media on the last day of the informal consultations in Bonn, in August 2009. “This is the way to a global disaster,” he said.
Mr. de Boer stressed that “a climate deal in Copenhagen this year is an unequivocal requirement to stop climate change from slipping out of control.
Our next best chance to do something serious: The Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit in New York on September 22, 2009, presents an opportunity for world leaders to provide clear political guidance and to start mapping out a clear plan. A similar article came out yesterday, so we know we are running out of time, and the major Copenhagen meeting is in December. Here are Yvo de Boer’s statements from earlier this week:
“We need to see that leadership"
David Miliband
David Miliband: "Thursday 10 September, 2009
4 Countries, One Day
Yesterday I was in Poland where 94 per cent of electricity is coal generated, symbolising some of the challenges even for relatively rich countries in engineering a shift to low carbon. But the Poles have the legacy of old Soviet era infrastructure, and so there are some rich pickings for companies serious about energy efficicency.
I now think Europe can forge a common and strong position on climate financing. The Prime Minister's speech from June still sets the bar for detail on sources, quantum and destination for funding. Today in Copenhagen we will see how to take European common ground and drive towards a global consensus."
4 Countries, One Day
Yesterday I was in Poland where 94 per cent of electricity is coal generated, symbolising some of the challenges even for relatively rich countries in engineering a shift to low carbon. But the Poles have the legacy of old Soviet era infrastructure, and so there are some rich pickings for companies serious about energy efficicency.
I now think Europe can forge a common and strong position on climate financing. The Prime Minister's speech from June still sets the bar for detail on sources, quantum and destination for funding. Today in Copenhagen we will see how to take European common ground and drive towards a global consensus."
World Economic Forum - Regions
World Economic Forum - Regions: "New Science Architecture for the Middle East
• Nicolas Cudre-Mauroux • Mazen S. Darwazeh • Mohammad Gawdat
• Gordon Graylish • Upendra Kohli • Imad Kh. Malhas
Moderated by• Samir Khleif
Friday 15 May
18.30-20.00
Scientific discovery elevates the critical thinking of nations, creates an economic engine and enhances quality of life. Despite a rich history of exploration, however, the Middle East now lags behind many other regions of the world. What barriers inhibit scientific progress and which solutions can be implemented to transform the region into a leading actor in global research?
Key Points
• It takes more than a doctorate to become a scientist; a passion for inquiry and a creative mind is also needed. To develop these professionals, societies must embrace a culture of discovery that allows for failures to occur.
• It is not enough to pursue science for its own sake. Rather, science must be pursued because a person, organization or society envisages a new goal or breakthrough.
• When science unites with the implementation of that discovery, innovation is born. A science society creates an implementation culture.
• Stakeholders will be disappointed if they expect immediate results. The shift to a new science arc"
• Nicolas Cudre-Mauroux • Mazen S. Darwazeh • Mohammad Gawdat
• Gordon Graylish • Upendra Kohli • Imad Kh. Malhas
Moderated by• Samir Khleif
Friday 15 May
18.30-20.00
Scientific discovery elevates the critical thinking of nations, creates an economic engine and enhances quality of life. Despite a rich history of exploration, however, the Middle East now lags behind many other regions of the world. What barriers inhibit scientific progress and which solutions can be implemented to transform the region into a leading actor in global research?
Key Points
• It takes more than a doctorate to become a scientist; a passion for inquiry and a creative mind is also needed. To develop these professionals, societies must embrace a culture of discovery that allows for failures to occur.
• It is not enough to pursue science for its own sake. Rather, science must be pursued because a person, organization or society envisages a new goal or breakthrough.
• When science unites with the implementation of that discovery, innovation is born. A science society creates an implementation culture.
• Stakeholders will be disappointed if they expect immediate results. The shift to a new science arc"
World Economic Forum - Regions
World Economic Forum - Regions: "Choosing the Middle East Technology Leap
• Peter C. Brun •Chey Jae-Won • Williem Elfrink • Karim Kawar
• Mohammad H. Omran • Ahmed Elmagarmid • Naguib O. Sawiris
Introduced by • Soumitra Dutta
Saturday 16 May
15.00-16.20
The session addressed challenges and potential areas where the Middle East could best achieve a competitive advantage. Improving education and human capital was highlighted as a top priority, especially fostering creative and critical thinking and a culture of experimentation and discovery. A bold approach to innovation is needed and to thinking strategically in terms of potential areas of competitive advantage.
Soumitra Dutta, Dean, External Relations, and Roland Berger Chaired Professor in Business and Technology, INSEAD, France, noted the critical role of innovation in regional growth and development: “In the midst of all this talk of a crisis, the role of innovation becomes all the more important. We cannot cut costs to come out of this crisis. We must innovate to come out of the crisis.” He also mentioned that innovation has to occur within a local context and meeting local needs. “It is not just about creating the best and the leading-edge technology, but the smart and appropriate application of"
• Peter C. Brun •Chey Jae-Won • Williem Elfrink • Karim Kawar
• Mohammad H. Omran • Ahmed Elmagarmid • Naguib O. Sawiris
Introduced by • Soumitra Dutta
Saturday 16 May
15.00-16.20
The session addressed challenges and potential areas where the Middle East could best achieve a competitive advantage. Improving education and human capital was highlighted as a top priority, especially fostering creative and critical thinking and a culture of experimentation and discovery. A bold approach to innovation is needed and to thinking strategically in terms of potential areas of competitive advantage.
Soumitra Dutta, Dean, External Relations, and Roland Berger Chaired Professor in Business and Technology, INSEAD, France, noted the critical role of innovation in regional growth and development: “In the midst of all this talk of a crisis, the role of innovation becomes all the more important. We cannot cut costs to come out of this crisis. We must innovate to come out of the crisis.” He also mentioned that innovation has to occur within a local context and meeting local needs. “It is not just about creating the best and the leading-edge technology, but the smart and appropriate application of"
World Economic Forum - Regions
World Economic Forum - Regions: "Africa: The World’s Potential Breadbasket?
• Kofi Annan • Paul Kagame • Harish Manwani
• Sylvia Mathews Burwell • Onajite Okoloko
Chaired by • Tumi Makgabo
Thursday 11 June
Despite a host of obstacles – such as a lack of irrigation, inadequate roads and limited access to capital and technology, sub-Saharan Africa has the potential not only to feed its own population but also to become a major food exporter, according to session participants. However, the region’s governments will have to do much more to make this potential a reality.
Session moderator Tumi Makgabo, Founder & Executive Producer, Tumi & Co., South Africa; Young Global Leader, noted that while African governments have committed to spend at least 10% of their general budgets on agricultural and rural developments, only six countries have met that goal. The average level of spending in the region, she added, is closer to 5-6%. Meanwhile, recent increases in global food prices have driven another 28 million Africans into poverty.
However, those dire statistics tell only one side of the story, contended Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations (1997-2006); Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum; Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum"
• Kofi Annan • Paul Kagame • Harish Manwani
• Sylvia Mathews Burwell • Onajite Okoloko
Chaired by • Tumi Makgabo
Thursday 11 June
Despite a host of obstacles – such as a lack of irrigation, inadequate roads and limited access to capital and technology, sub-Saharan Africa has the potential not only to feed its own population but also to become a major food exporter, according to session participants. However, the region’s governments will have to do much more to make this potential a reality.
Session moderator Tumi Makgabo, Founder & Executive Producer, Tumi & Co., South Africa; Young Global Leader, noted that while African governments have committed to spend at least 10% of their general budgets on agricultural and rural developments, only six countries have met that goal. The average level of spending in the region, she added, is closer to 5-6%. Meanwhile, recent increases in global food prices have driven another 28 million Africans into poverty.
However, those dire statistics tell only one side of the story, contended Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations (1997-2006); Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum; Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum"
World Economic Forum - Regions
World Economic Forum - Regions: "Access to Energy: Empowering Africa’s Development
• Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili • António Fernando • Christoph W. Frei • Rory Stear
Moderated by • William Asiko
Friday 12 June
09.00-10.00
Until recently, access to energy has been largely ignored as part of social investment in Africa, said Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili, Vice-President, Africa Region, World Bank, Washington DC. However, this “missing link” is essential of other social investments such as in education or health to achieve their full potential in a continent where only 6% of rural people have access to electricity and where energy poverty or outages cost the African continent 2% of its GDP.
While institutions such as the World Bank place great emphasis on infrastructure, Ezekwisili said that in reality innovative solutions such as those initiated by Energy Poverty Action (EPA) are also crucial. Composite approaches are needed. There can be no single solutions to rural electrification technological, financial or governmental.
António Fernando, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Mozambique, echoed these proposals, pointing out some of the basic ways that rural electrification has helped improve health and education delivery in Mozambique. People can now easily boil water"
• Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili • António Fernando • Christoph W. Frei • Rory Stear
Moderated by • William Asiko
Friday 12 June
09.00-10.00
Until recently, access to energy has been largely ignored as part of social investment in Africa, said Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili, Vice-President, Africa Region, World Bank, Washington DC. However, this “missing link” is essential of other social investments such as in education or health to achieve their full potential in a continent where only 6% of rural people have access to electricity and where energy poverty or outages cost the African continent 2% of its GDP.
While institutions such as the World Bank place great emphasis on infrastructure, Ezekwisili said that in reality innovative solutions such as those initiated by Energy Poverty Action (EPA) are also crucial. Composite approaches are needed. There can be no single solutions to rural electrification technological, financial or governmental.
António Fernando, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Mozambique, echoed these proposals, pointing out some of the basic ways that rural electrification has helped improve health and education delivery in Mozambique. People can now easily boil water"
08 Sept 2009 - Transcript - Copenhagen in the Balance, press briefing by David Miliband and Ed Miliband - Department of Energy and Climate Change
08 Sept 2009 - Transcript - Copenhagen in the Balance, press briefing by David Miliband and Ed Miliband - Department of Energy and Climate Change: "08 Sept 2009 - Transcript - Copenhagen in the Balance, press briefing by David Miliband and Ed Miliband
David Miliband (DM): … for a briefing on the state of the climate change negotiations and also a discussion of some work that I’m going to be doing this week with European Foreign Ministers to try to re-energise the global effort to secure a deal at Copenhagen.
You’ll know that for some time it’s been the position of the British Government that climate change is not just an environmental issue, it’s an economic issue, a, a security issue, and therefore a foreign policy issue. It’s a foreign policy issue because it involves very complex international negotiations but also because of the foreign policy consequences of the sort of climate changes that are underway. And I want to say a few words about that.
But the purpose of this press briefing is actually very simple, and that is reflected in the title that you can see behind me, that the deal that the world needs in Copenhagen is now in the balance. There is a real danger that the talks scheduled for De ...
David Miliband (DM): … for a briefing on the state of the climate change negotiations and also a discussion of some work that I’m going to be doing this week with European Foreign Ministers to try to re-energise the global effort to secure a deal at Copenhagen.
You’ll know that for some time it’s been the position of the British Government that climate change is not just an environmental issue, it’s an economic issue, a, a security issue, and therefore a foreign policy issue. It’s a foreign policy issue because it involves very complex international negotiations but also because of the foreign policy consequences of the sort of climate changes that are underway. And I want to say a few words about that.
But the purpose of this press briefing is actually very simple, and that is reflected in the title that you can see behind me, that the deal that the world needs in Copenhagen is now in the balance. There is a real danger that the talks scheduled for De ...
Global Arab Network | MENA - The Water Balance | Economics
Global Arab Network | MENA - The Water Balance | Economics: "MENA - The Water Balance PDF Print E-mail
Economics - Economics
James Gavin
Sunday, 26 July 2009 12:16
niel_rever
Half of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region consume more water on average than they are receiving in rainfall. Yet the per capita water availability in the region is projected to fall by half by 2050, writes James Gavin...
Such are the precarious fundamentals of the region's water sector. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains the most water-scarce region of the world and in recent years the amount of water available per person has declined dramatically. According to Julia Bucknall, the World Bank's leading natural resources management specialist: 'The MENA region will be seeing a lot more people trying to manage with a lot less water.'
Worldwide, average water availability per person is close to 7,000m3 per year, whereas in the MENA region, only around 1,200m3 per person per year is available. Moreover, with the population expected to grow from around 300 million to around 500 million in 2025, per capita availability will halve by 2050. Water precipitation will also drop by up to 30 per cent by that date.
The picture is far from uniform. Whereas the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and Yemen largely so"
Economics - Economics
James Gavin
Sunday, 26 July 2009 12:16
niel_rever
Half of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region consume more water on average than they are receiving in rainfall. Yet the per capita water availability in the region is projected to fall by half by 2050, writes James Gavin...
Such are the precarious fundamentals of the region's water sector. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains the most water-scarce region of the world and in recent years the amount of water available per person has declined dramatically. According to Julia Bucknall, the World Bank's leading natural resources management specialist: 'The MENA region will be seeing a lot more people trying to manage with a lot less water.'
Worldwide, average water availability per person is close to 7,000m3 per year, whereas in the MENA region, only around 1,200m3 per person per year is available. Moreover, with the population expected to grow from around 300 million to around 500 million in 2025, per capita availability will halve by 2050. Water precipitation will also drop by up to 30 per cent by that date.
The picture is far from uniform. Whereas the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and Yemen largely so"
Global Arab Network | Power Struggles - Supplying Electricity to the MENA Region | Energy
Global Arab Network | Power Struggles - Supplying Electricity to the MENA Region | Energy: "Power Struggles - Supplying Electricity to the MENA Region PDF Print E-mail
James Gavin
Sunday, 26 July 2009 12:24
Electricity_tower
All over the region, rising consumption is testing capacity. In Dubai, the number of electricity customers has doubled in the space of a decade. Saudi Arabia has seen a near 60 per cent increase in electricity customers over the same period.
According to Philipp Lotter, senior vice-president at Moody's Investors Service, power shortages and temporary blackouts have already affected countries with particularly tight supply margins, such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and these are likely to increase, particularly where utilities are unable to fully execute their expansion plans.
The Gulf heads the region in the amount it is prepared to spend to keep the lights on. Estimates suggest that up to $50 billion could be spent in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries by 2015, to add 60GW of capacity. But even more will be needed to modernise the region's transmission and distribution networks."
James Gavin
Sunday, 26 July 2009 12:24
Electricity_tower
All over the region, rising consumption is testing capacity. In Dubai, the number of electricity customers has doubled in the space of a decade. Saudi Arabia has seen a near 60 per cent increase in electricity customers over the same period.
According to Philipp Lotter, senior vice-president at Moody's Investors Service, power shortages and temporary blackouts have already affected countries with particularly tight supply margins, such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and these are likely to increase, particularly where utilities are unable to fully execute their expansion plans.
The Gulf heads the region in the amount it is prepared to spend to keep the lights on. Estimates suggest that up to $50 billion could be spent in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries by 2015, to add 60GW of capacity. But even more will be needed to modernise the region's transmission and distribution networks."
Global Arab Network | Environmental challenges for the Arab world | Economics
Global Arab Network | Environmental challenges for the Arab world | Economics: "Environmental challenges for the Arab world PDF Print E-mail
David Morgan
Saturday, 29 August 2009 01:24
desertification_arab_world
The latest Arab Human Development Report published by the UN gives a detailed assessment of the most significant environmental hazards facing the Arab countries. The report, based on research conducted over two years, considers population and demographic pressures in the context of water shortages, desertification, pollution, and climate change.
A key aspect to these environmental threats is the dynamic, interactive relationship among them. Water shortages, for example, contribute to desertification, while climate change may lead to floods in some areas and to worsened water shortages, drought and desertification in others. Similarly, air pollution is an underlying cause of climate change. All pose Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries, which is the subtitle of the report.
“The environmental issues can only be confronted through scientific research and serious technological development,” says Mostafa Kamal Tolba, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
“Moreover, no one Arab state alone can undertake the tasks single-handedly. A serious beginning thus needs to be ma"
David Morgan
Saturday, 29 August 2009 01:24
desertification_arab_world
The latest Arab Human Development Report published by the UN gives a detailed assessment of the most significant environmental hazards facing the Arab countries. The report, based on research conducted over two years, considers population and demographic pressures in the context of water shortages, desertification, pollution, and climate change.
A key aspect to these environmental threats is the dynamic, interactive relationship among them. Water shortages, for example, contribute to desertification, while climate change may lead to floods in some areas and to worsened water shortages, drought and desertification in others. Similarly, air pollution is an underlying cause of climate change. All pose Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries, which is the subtitle of the report.
“The environmental issues can only be confronted through scientific research and serious technological development,” says Mostafa Kamal Tolba, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
“Moreover, no one Arab state alone can undertake the tasks single-handedly. A serious beginning thus needs to be ma"
Global Arab Network | 60 Ministers from Euro-Med and Gulf to discuss renewable energy cooperation | Energy
Global Arab Network | 60 Ministers from Euro-Med and Gulf to discuss renewable energy cooperation | Energy: "60 Ministers from Euro-Med and Gulf to discuss renewable energy cooperation PDF Print E-mail
Edited by Sarah Khan
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 15:00
renewable_energy
Some 60 Foreign and Energy Ministers are expected to attend a conference on “Renewable energy cooperation between the EU, the Mediterranean and the Gulf countries”, that will address the challenges and possibilities for practical co-operation and projects that could facilitate the development of local renewable energy opportunities.
The conference, to take place in Brussels on 9 October, is hosted by Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner in cooperation with Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, and Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik.
Representatives from international organisations, industry, research institutes and international financial institutions will also attend the ministerial meeting, which, according to an EC announcement, “will provide a unique opportunity to explore the scope for future cooperation on renewable energy”.
The conference will build on ongoing and planned initiatives, such as the Euro-Mediterranean energy market integration project (Med-Emip) ...
Edited by Sarah Khan
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 15:00
renewable_energy
Some 60 Foreign and Energy Ministers are expected to attend a conference on “Renewable energy cooperation between the EU, the Mediterranean and the Gulf countries”, that will address the challenges and possibilities for practical co-operation and projects that could facilitate the development of local renewable energy opportunities.
The conference, to take place in Brussels on 9 October, is hosted by Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner in cooperation with Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, and Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik.
Representatives from international organisations, industry, research institutes and international financial institutions will also attend the ministerial meeting, which, according to an EC announcement, “will provide a unique opportunity to explore the scope for future cooperation on renewable energy”.
The conference will build on ongoing and planned initiatives, such as the Euro-Mediterranean energy market integration project (Med-Emip) ...
Global Arab Network | Sustainable growth in Tunisia – A model for the emerging economies | Economics
Global Arab Network | Sustainable growth in Tunisia – A model for the emerging economies | Economics: "Sustainable growth in Tunisia – A model for the emerging economies PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 19 September 2009 18:56
Mohamed_Ghannouchi_tunisia_PM
Tunisia had spent around 0.6 percent of its GDP in supporting the companies affected by the global financial crisis, Mr Mohamed Ghannouchi , Tunisia's prime minister, said during Emerging Markets Summit in London organized by Economist.
At the beginning of the current year, Tunisia set up a strategy to cope with the international crisis. As part of this vision, measures have been taken to help the national enterprises to preserve the growth of the Tunisian economy, Mr Ghannouchi told Global Arab Network in an interview on the sideline of the summit.
Mr Ghannouchi added: “one more important programme of investments established in order to develop modern motorway, wide railway network, construct 2 power stations of 400 MW each, build an oil refinery in south of the country, launch a phosphate plant and create a deep-waters seaport.”
All these investments were spent with the purpose of boosting local demand and offer better business opportunities."
Saturday, 19 September 2009 18:56
Mohamed_Ghannouchi_tunisia_PM
Tunisia had spent around 0.6 percent of its GDP in supporting the companies affected by the global financial crisis, Mr Mohamed Ghannouchi , Tunisia's prime minister, said during Emerging Markets Summit in London organized by Economist.
At the beginning of the current year, Tunisia set up a strategy to cope with the international crisis. As part of this vision, measures have been taken to help the national enterprises to preserve the growth of the Tunisian economy, Mr Ghannouchi told Global Arab Network in an interview on the sideline of the summit.
Mr Ghannouchi added: “one more important programme of investments established in order to develop modern motorway, wide railway network, construct 2 power stations of 400 MW each, build an oil refinery in south of the country, launch a phosphate plant and create a deep-waters seaport.”
All these investments were spent with the purpose of boosting local demand and offer better business opportunities."
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Nicholas Stern argues that the time for debate on climate change is over | Environment | The Guardian
Nicholas Stern argues that the time for debate on climate change is over | Environment | The Guardian:
The
The point of no return
In an exclusive extract from his new book, Nicholas Stern argues that the time for debate on climate change is well and truly over
- The Guardian, Monday 30 March 2009
How is it that, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, there are still some who would deny the dangers of climate change? Not surprisingly, the loudest voices are not scientific, and it is remarkable how many economists, lawyers, journalists and politicians set themselves up as experts on the science. It is absolutely right that those who discuss policy should interrogate the science, because the implications for action are radical. However, they should also take the scientific evidence seriously and recognise the limitations on their own abilities to assess the science.
Contrary to the narrative that some have tried to impose on the debate, climate change is not a theory struggling to maintain itself in the face of problematic evidence. The opposite is true: as new information comes in, it reinforces our understanding across a whole spectrum of indicators. The subject is full of uncertainty, but there is no serious doubt that emissions are growing as a result of human activity and that more
The last 20 years have seen special and focused attention from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has now published four assessments, the most recent in 2007. With each new report, the evidence on the strength and source of the effects, and the magnitude of the implications and risks, have become stronger. Some people accuse the IPCC of having institutional and procedural structures which predispose it to alarmism. In fact, the IPCC is structurally conservative and requires very tight consensus among scientists from many backgrounds and nationalities.
As a result, statements are muted and it is likely that risks are understated. It mostly confines attention to the period until 2100, when the lags are such that still bigger damages appear later; and it leaves out effects which are likely to be important but on which strong, detailed quantitative evidence has yet to accumulate sufficiently.
Some of the marginally more sophisticated attempts at obfuscation focus only on mean expected temperature increases in the short term, rather than looking at a longer horizon or at the very real possibility of much higher increases. Look, they argue, the IPCC does not expect a temperature increase of much more than 2.5-3C by the end of the century; we can cope with that. This is a classic example of the misuse of evidence to divert attention from the main point - how to control the risk of bigger increases. By focusing on the limited time period and suppressing the uncertainty, the deniers deliberately miss the point: temperature increases of 4-5C and above are likely to be catastrophic. If we act strongly and effectively in the next decade, we can radically reduce the probability of those temperature increases at modest cost.
More recently, others have tried to argue that the warming has stopped because 1998 (a so-called El Niño year, with warmer surface temperature of oceans) was a little warmer on average than 2007 (a La Niña year, with cooler surface temperature of oceans). This confuses cycles with trends, peaks with troughs and sea temperatures with land temperatures. Further, it ignores that the last decade was the hottest since records began and that the trend is clearly upwards. But this is the kind of nonsense that some would try to peddle. There are many more half-baked attempts to try to naysay the science, but they always unravel on careful inspection. And the same has been true of more sophisticated attempts, such as those involving changing structures of humidity in the atmosphere.
Oliver Tickell: As Nick Stern says, we can turn the economic downturn into an environmental success story | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
Oliver Tickell: As Nick Stern says, we can turn the economic downturn into an environmental success story | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "
Green shoots before the recovery
Speaking in Copenhagen, Nicholas Stern explained how we can use the economic downturn to tackle climate change and poverty
o Oliver Tickell
o guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 March 2009 15.45 GMT
o Article history
Nick Stern hit the nail on the head today in Copenhagen when he argued that the current economic depression gives the world a unique, unrepeatable opportunity to tackle climate change and poverty. The resources that we need to transform the global economy, he explained – raw materials, skilled labour and industrial capacity – are now far more available, and at a far lower cost, than they were during the boom years, and we should use them.
Green shoots before the recovery
Speaking in Copenhagen, Nicholas Stern explained how we can use the economic downturn to tackle climate change and poverty
o Oliver Tickell
o guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 March 2009 15.45 GMT
o Article history
Nick Stern hit the nail on the head today in Copenhagen when he argued that the current economic depression gives the world a unique, unrepeatable opportunity to tackle climate change and poverty. The resources that we need to transform the global economy, he explained – raw materials, skilled labour and industrial capacity – are now far more available, and at a far lower cost, than they were during the boom years, and we should use them.
Some may be dismayed at his prediction that the economy will remain depressed for two, three or more years. But seen another way, this gives us longer to make the profound changes that are needed before economic recovery takes off once again – and to make that recovery genuinely sustainable, from both an environmental and an economic perspective.
One thing we do not need is an early recovery which raises demand for fossil energy, creating new spikes in the price of oil, gas and coal, so sowing the seeds of its own destruction. For the high price of fossil fuels was surely one of the triggers that created this global depression in the first place. That is why we need to to bring about huge investments in renewable energy technologies and the associated infrastructure – such as a European supergrid that even stretches across the Mediterranean to include the huge solar power resources of
Not to forget
What we lack at present is a mechanism to bring this about, and this will be something for the G20 to consider carefully when they meet in
Nicholas Stern: Green routes to growth | Comment is free | The Guardian
Nicholas Stern: Green routes to growth | Comment is free | The Guardian: "Green routes to growth
Recession is the time to build a low-carbon future with the investment vital for economy and planet
* Nicholas Stern
* The Guardian, Thursday 23 October 2008
* Article history
There are two crucial lessons we must learn from the financial turbulence the world has been facing. First, this crisis has been 20 years in the making and shows very clearly that the longer risk is ignored the bigger will be the consequences; second, we shall face an extended period of recession in the rich countries and low growth for the world as a whole. Let us learn the lessons and take the opportunity of the coincidence of the crisis and the deepening awareness of the great danger of unmanaged climate change: now is the time to lay the foundations for a world of low-carbon growth.
High-carbon growth - business as usual - will by mid-century have taken greenhouse gas concentrations to a point where a major climate disaster is very likely. We risk a transformation of the planet so radical that it would involve huge population movements and widespread conflict. Put simply, high-carbon growth will choke off growth. To manage the climate, we must cut world emissions by at least 50% by 2050, as recognised by the G8 earlier this year. Given that rich countries' emissions are far above the world average, their cuts should be at least 80%, acknowledged in Europe and the UK, with the adoption of that target last week.
Recession is the time to build a low-carbon future with the investment vital for economy and planet
* Nicholas Stern
* The Guardian, Thursday 23 October 2008
* Article history
There are two crucial lessons we must learn from the financial turbulence the world has been facing. First, this crisis has been 20 years in the making and shows very clearly that the longer risk is ignored the bigger will be the consequences; second, we shall face an extended period of recession in the rich countries and low growth for the world as a whole. Let us learn the lessons and take the opportunity of the coincidence of the crisis and the deepening awareness of the great danger of unmanaged climate change: now is the time to lay the foundations for a world of low-carbon growth.
High-carbon growth - business as usual - will by mid-century have taken greenhouse gas concentrations to a point where a major climate disaster is very likely. We risk a transformation of the planet so radical that it would involve huge population movements and widespread conflict. Put simply, high-carbon growth will choke off growth. To manage the climate, we must cut world emissions by at least 50% by 2050, as recognised by the G8 earlier this year. Given that rich countries' emissions are far above the world average, their cuts should be at least 80%, acknowledged in Europe and the UK, with the adoption of that target last week.
Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change | Environment | guardian.co.uk: "Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change
Economic expansion cannot be achieved forever if greenhouse gases are to be curbed, warns the leading economist and author of the UK's government's report on climate change
* Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 September 2009 18.04 BST
* Article history
Sir Nicholas Stern
Lord Stern wrote the government's review on the economic costs of climate change in 2006
Rich nations will need to reconsider making growth the goal of their societies, according to the leading economist who wrote the government's report on climate change.
Lord Stern said that although robust expansion could be achieved until 2030 while avoiding dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions, rich nations may then have to consider reining in growth.
'Will other restraints kick in? Probably, they will,' said the former World Bank chief economist and author of the 2006 Stern review on the economic costs of climate change. 'At some point we would have to think about whether we want future growth. We don't have to do that now.' The priority, he told the Guardian"
Economic expansion cannot be achieved forever if greenhouse gases are to be curbed, warns the leading economist and author of the UK's government's report on climate change
* Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 September 2009 18.04 BST
* Article history
Sir Nicholas Stern
Lord Stern wrote the government's review on the economic costs of climate change in 2006
Rich nations will need to reconsider making growth the goal of their societies, according to the leading economist who wrote the government's report on climate change.
Lord Stern said that although robust expansion could be achieved until 2030 while avoiding dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions, rich nations may then have to consider reining in growth.
'Will other restraints kick in? Probably, they will,' said the former World Bank chief economist and author of the 2006 Stern review on the economic costs of climate change. 'At some point we would have to think about whether we want future growth. We don't have to do that now.' The priority, he told the Guardian"
African Peoples Movement on Climate Change | Mobilization for Climate Justice
African Peoples Movement on Climate Change | Mobilization for Climate Justice: "African Peoples Movement on Climate Change
PostDateIcon September 11th, 2009
Confronting the Climate Crisis: Preparing for Copenhagen and Beyond
Nairobi, Kenya, 30 August 2009
We, the leaders of various people's movements, Community Based
Groups, Academia, NGOs and Civil Society Organizations meeting in
Nairobi under the banner of Peoples Movement on Climate Change (PMCC)
to discuss strategies to confront the Climate Change Crisis for
Copenhagen and beyond from 27 to 28 August 2009,
Do hereby affirm that:
Irresponsible and unaccountable consumption concentrated in the
Industrialised North, and some countries of the South has and
continues to cost Africa by creating an ecological crisis;
The people of Africa, as well as other developing nations are
creditors of a massive ecological debt;
This ecological debt continues to accrue today through the continued
plunder and exploitation of Africa's resources, its people, labor,
and economies;
The groups most affected by climate change are indigenous peoples,
women, especially poor women in the rural areas, noting that the
phenomenon has a connection with resources such as land or water, and
related farming and business activities that they are specifically
engaged in;"
PostDateIcon September 11th, 2009
Confronting the Climate Crisis: Preparing for Copenhagen and Beyond
Nairobi, Kenya, 30 August 2009
We, the leaders of various people's movements, Community Based
Groups, Academia, NGOs and Civil Society Organizations meeting in
Nairobi under the banner of Peoples Movement on Climate Change (PMCC)
to discuss strategies to confront the Climate Change Crisis for
Copenhagen and beyond from 27 to 28 August 2009,
Do hereby affirm that:
Irresponsible and unaccountable consumption concentrated in the
Industrialised North, and some countries of the South has and
continues to cost Africa by creating an ecological crisis;
The people of Africa, as well as other developing nations are
creditors of a massive ecological debt;
This ecological debt continues to accrue today through the continued
plunder and exploitation of Africa's resources, its people, labor,
and economies;
The groups most affected by climate change are indigenous peoples,
women, especially poor women in the rural areas, noting that the
phenomenon has a connection with resources such as land or water, and
related farming and business activities that they are specifically
engaged in;"
AFP: S.Africa must lead efforts to avert climate change: EU
AFP: S.Africa must lead efforts to avert climate change: EU: "S.Africa must lead efforts to avert climate change: EU
(AFP) – 2 days ago
KLEINMOND, South Africa — The EU on Friday urged South Africa to lead emerging powers such as China and India to commit to cutting carbon emissions, as world leaders grapple ambitious targets on global warming.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Friday opened a summit with South Africa emphasising 'the great importance of the role of South Africa in this issue ... for the rest of Africa but also for the rest of big emerging countries.'
'It (climate change) is man-made but it can also be thwarted by man by a different way of living. Everybody is affected. Already in Africa we can see the impact of climate change,' said Reinfeldt whose country is the current holder of the revolving European Union presidency.
The debate over who should bear the brunt of the responsibility to cut carbon emissions is a major sticking point in the lead-up to the Copenhagen climate summit in December which hopes to thrash out a new climate treaty.
Coal-reliant South Africa on Thursday said it was unrealistic to expect developing nations to set targets for cutting harmful carbon emissions as this would hamper economic growth.
(AFP) – 2 days ago
KLEINMOND, South Africa — The EU on Friday urged South Africa to lead emerging powers such as China and India to commit to cutting carbon emissions, as world leaders grapple ambitious targets on global warming.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Friday opened a summit with South Africa emphasising 'the great importance of the role of South Africa in this issue ... for the rest of Africa but also for the rest of big emerging countries.'
'It (climate change) is man-made but it can also be thwarted by man by a different way of living. Everybody is affected. Already in Africa we can see the impact of climate change,' said Reinfeldt whose country is the current holder of the revolving European Union presidency.
The debate over who should bear the brunt of the responsibility to cut carbon emissions is a major sticking point in the lead-up to the Copenhagen climate summit in December which hopes to thrash out a new climate treaty.
Coal-reliant South Africa on Thursday said it was unrealistic to expect developing nations to set targets for cutting harmful carbon emissions as this would hamper economic growth.
"We think it is unrealistic for us at this stage to set targets. Setting targets now would definitely hamper growth. Developed nations in our view have a much greater responsibility of reducing their emissions," government spokesman Themba Maseko told journalists after a cabinet meeting.
Reinfeldt said the EU would like to see developed nations reduce emissions by 25 to 40 percent from 1999 levels, and developing nations cut 30 percent from current levels.
South Africa relies heavily on coal for its energy requirements, and power giant Eskom is embarking on an ambitious project to build more power stations to fuel the country's growing but energy-strapped economy.
Widespread blackouts last year and regular load-shedding revealed an energy crisis as ailing infrastructure failed to keep pace with growth.
The continental powerhouse is among the world's worst offenders in terms of gas emissions and joins nations such as India and China in pushing for wealthy, industrialised nations to lead the drive in cutting emissions.
Copenhagen is tasked with finding a successor to the 1997
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
Ecological Debt - EVO MORALES to the AWG-LCA under the UNFCCC
Ecological Debt - EVO MORALES to the AWG-LCA under the UNFCCC: "EVO MORALES to the AWG-LCA under the UNFCCC E-mail
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Submission by *Republic of Bolivia *to the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the [UN Framework Convention on Climate Change] (AWG-LCA) evo_unfccc
The climate debt of developed countries must be repaid, and this payment must begin with the outcomes to be agreed in Copenhagen. Developing countries are not seeking economic handouts to solve a problem we did not cause. What we call for is full payment of the debt owed to us by developed countries for threatening the integrity of the Earth’s climate system, for over-consuming a shared resource that belongs fairly and equally to all people, and for maintaining lifestyles that continue to threaten the lives and livelihoods of the poor majority of the planet’s population. This debt must be repaid by freeing up environmental space for developing countries and particular the poorest communities.
There is no viable solution to climate change that is effective without being equitable. Deep emission reductions by developed countries are a necessary condition for stabilising the Earth’s climate. So too are profoundly larger transfers of technologies and financial resources than so far considered, if emissions are to be curbed in developing countries and they are"
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Submission by *Republic of Bolivia *to the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the [UN Framework Convention on Climate Change] (AWG-LCA) evo_unfccc
The climate debt of developed countries must be repaid, and this payment must begin with the outcomes to be agreed in Copenhagen. Developing countries are not seeking economic handouts to solve a problem we did not cause. What we call for is full payment of the debt owed to us by developed countries for threatening the integrity of the Earth’s climate system, for over-consuming a shared resource that belongs fairly and equally to all people, and for maintaining lifestyles that continue to threaten the lives and livelihoods of the poor majority of the planet’s population. This debt must be repaid by freeing up environmental space for developing countries and particular the poorest communities.
There is no viable solution to climate change that is effective without being equitable. Deep emission reductions by developed countries are a necessary condition for stabilising the Earth’s climate. So too are profoundly larger transfers of technologies and financial resources than so far considered, if emissions are to be curbed in developing countries and they are"
Time to Pay our Climate Debt - STWR - Share The World's Resources
Time to Pay our Climate Debt - STWR - Share The World's Resources: "16th July 2009 - Published by Share The World's Resources
Last week’s G8 meeting presents a worrying model of how climate talks will play out in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit in December. While rich countries fail to grasp the scale of the solution required to deal with climate change, larger developing countries are blamed for a lack of ambition.
While the very richest can’t agree on meaningful, let alone ambitious, targets for reducing their own emissions, one of Ed Milliband’s key challenges for the year is to get developing countries to “move away from business as usual”.
The hypocrisy springs from an inability or unwillingness to grasp the nature of the environmental problem. Meanwhile, countries like Bolivia are proposing real solutions, and ones which terrify Western leaders: you can’t, they believe, deal with climate change unless you accept that rich countries are in significant debt to the poorest and embrace the concept of redistribution.
Their argument is simple and based on a premise which isn’t disputed. The rich world has gobbled up far more than its fair share of the earth’s atmosphere in order to develop. In essence, industrialised countries colonised the atmosphere, in the same way they did other resources.
Last week’s G8 meeting presents a worrying model of how climate talks will play out in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit in December. While rich countries fail to grasp the scale of the solution required to deal with climate change, larger developing countries are blamed for a lack of ambition.
While the very richest can’t agree on meaningful, let alone ambitious, targets for reducing their own emissions, one of Ed Milliband’s key challenges for the year is to get developing countries to “move away from business as usual”.
The hypocrisy springs from an inability or unwillingness to grasp the nature of the environmental problem. Meanwhile, countries like Bolivia are proposing real solutions, and ones which terrify Western leaders: you can’t, they believe, deal with climate change unless you accept that rich countries are in significant debt to the poorest and embrace the concept of redistribution.
Their argument is simple and based on a premise which isn’t disputed. The rich world has gobbled up far more than its fair share of the earth’s atmosphere in order to develop. In essence, industrialised countries colonised the atmosphere, in the same way they did other resources.
Those rich countries now owe poorer countries a two-fold ‘climate debt’: first for over-using the Earth’s capacity to absorb greenhouse gases and thereby denying atmospheric space to those who need it most. Second for the destruction that those emissions are causing.
The solution: rich countries need to ‘pay’ through redistributing a fairer share of limited atmospheric space, as well as helping poorer countries adapt to the mess they find themselves in. Environmental justice is little different from other forms of economic justice – redistribute resources so that those who’ve lost out from a specific model enjoy the same benefits as those who’ve done well from it.
But ‘those who’ve done well’ often don’t see things in the same way. The limited and hazy agreements made by the G8 go nowhere near a fair distribution of the earth’s atmosphere. Right up to 2050, even if an 80% cut in emissions were to be implemented, the G8 will consume far more of the earth’s limited resources than they deserve, such is the scale of their current over-use.
The G8 could get away with cutting emissions by less than they should because they are demanding steep developing country cuts as well – recognising the need for overall emissions to shrink. In effect developing countries would ‘subsidise’ the necessary reduction which rich countries should really be taking, thereby preventing the developing world accessing the environmental space they need to build decent standards of living.
The climate debt of the rich world would just keep getting bigger. But rather like the banks who gambled with the future of millions of people, the richest propose that many of their debts to the poor simply be written off.
Payment of the other part of the debt – to help clean up the mess – is even further ‘off track’, with tiny amounts of money committed to helping developing countries adapt and develop (or share, through relaxed intellectual property rights) new technologies to help their lower-carbon growth. Instead, proposals on the table to date include large quantities of new loans (so the real creditors become the debtors in economic terms) run through the
So the battle lines are drawn. Developing countries will not sit idly by while the rich go on consuming their dwindling chances for development and justice. They don’t see why they should make the first move – sacrificing their own development before the rich pay off their debts.
That’s why Bolivia has received substantial support for its proposals from a range of developing countries. It has also received support from civil society across the world, especially the
Developed countries will spend the next six months in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit trying to marginalise these countries – doubtless with a good bit of bribery and arm-twisting along the way, helping them to meet the ‘ambition’ the rich feel that the poor somehow owe them.
Of course, achieving a just outcome would not be easy. Predicting the future impacts of climate change is very difficult. Moreover, it would mean big changes to the way those who currently run the world live, and more political vision than we’ve seen for many decades. But the principles are clear: that the polluter pays for the excessive consumption of the rich, not the poor, and that in a civilised society redistribution is a critical way of righting historical injustice.
The developing world has set out its ambitious agenda. It’s for us to move away from business as usual if we’re to come close to meeting it.
IDN-InDepthNews - TOWARD COPENHAGEN: Rich Nations Owe Two-Fold 'Climate Debt'
IDN-InDepthNews - TOWARD COPENHAGEN: Rich Nations Owe Two-Fold 'Climate Debt': "TOWARD COPENHAGEN: Rich Nations Owe Two-Fold 'Climate Debt'
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Credit: Wikimedia Commons BY JAYA RAMACHADRAN
IDN-InDepthNews Service
BRUSSELS (IDN) - Rich industrialised countries owe a ‘climate debt’ for causing global warming that is mostly impacting the poor and vulnerable of the world. This view is gaining ground as the international community heads for the United Nations climate change conference Dec. 7-18 in Copenhagen.
The concept of a debt related to climate change has been advanced by Bolivia and other countries in several rounds of United Nations climate negotiations. It is finding support of an increasing number of heads of state, government ministers, officials, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social movements -- representing indigenous peoples, development and gender activists, organised labour – as well as environmental and social justice groups in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America.
The climate debt of developed countries comprises ‘emissions debt’ and ‘adaptation debt’. They have run up an emissions debt todeveloping countries for over-using and substantially diminishing the Earth’s capacity to absorb greenhouse gases (GHGs), denying it to the developing countries that most need it in the course of their development.
The industrialised nations have also accumulated an adaptation debt to developing countries for the adverse effects of excessive GHG emissions contributing to the escalating losses, damages and lost development opportunities confronting developing countries.
RSS-Feed Bookmark and Share
Credit: Wikimedia Commons BY JAYA RAMACHADRAN
IDN-InDepthNews Service
BRUSSELS (IDN) - Rich industrialised countries owe a ‘climate debt’ for causing global warming that is mostly impacting the poor and vulnerable of the world. This view is gaining ground as the international community heads for the United Nations climate change conference Dec. 7-18 in Copenhagen.
The concept of a debt related to climate change has been advanced by Bolivia and other countries in several rounds of United Nations climate negotiations. It is finding support of an increasing number of heads of state, government ministers, officials, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social movements -- representing indigenous peoples, development and gender activists, organised labour – as well as environmental and social justice groups in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America.
The climate debt of developed countries comprises ‘emissions debt’ and ‘adaptation debt’. They have run up an emissions debt to
The industrialised nations have also accumulated an adaptation debt to developing countries for the adverse effects of excessive GHG emissions contributing to the escalating losses, damages and lost development opportunities confronting developing countries.
Sign-on letter calling for repayment of climate debt
Sign-on letter calling for repayment of climate debt: "SIGN-ON LETTER CALLING FOR REPAYMENT OF CLIMATE DEBT
[ENGLISH] [SPANISH] [FRENCH]
As the the climate negotiations intensify on the road to Copenhagen, a key issue that has occuppied much attention is the issue of mitigation and the burden-sharing between developed and developing countries.
In this regard, these past few months, issues have been raised about the Earth’s limited carbon budget and how there should be fair shares in the use of this environmental space for enabling sustainable development. Issues of historical responsibility, fair effort sharing and the repayment of a climate debt have been advanced by several developing countries, including the Heads of States of several Latin American Countries, Bolivia, Sri Lanka, China, Algeria and others. Indigenous peoples and civil society groups have also been highlighting this. Please see below this message quotes from the various governments and of social movements and civil society that are evidence of this.
These issues are key in ensuring that there is equity, justice and fairness in any climate deal.
Many members of civil society and social movements globally have already supported the call for the repayment of the climate debt and to advance these calls in the climate negotiations."
[ENGLISH] [SPANISH] [FRENCH]
As the the climate negotiations intensify on the road to Copenhagen, a key issue that has occuppied much attention is the issue of mitigation and the burden-sharing between developed and developing countries.
In this regard, these past few months, issues have been raised about the Earth’s limited carbon budget and how there should be fair shares in the use of this environmental space for enabling sustainable development. Issues of historical responsibility, fair effort sharing and the repayment of a climate debt have been advanced by several developing countries, including the Heads of States of several Latin American Countries, Bolivia, Sri Lanka, China, Algeria and others. Indigenous peoples and civil society groups have also been highlighting this. Please see below this message quotes from the various governments and of social movements and civil society that are evidence of this.
These issues are key in ensuring that there is equity, justice and fairness in any climate deal.
Many members of civil society and social movements globally have already supported the call for the repayment of the climate debt and to advance these calls in the climate negotiations."
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Carbon addicts and climate debt
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Carbon addicts and climate debt: "Carbon addicts and climate debt
Andrew Simms. Image: Nef
VIEWPOINT
Andrew Simms
The fossil fuel industry is a major source of tax revenue for western nations, which is a disincentive to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, says Andrew Simms in this week's Green Room. But while some of that taxation depends on the huge profits reported by companies like BP and Shell, he argues they would be bankrupt if the taxes they paid reflected the social costs of their emissions.
Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Image: AFP/Getty
The UK appears to be in denial as it becomes more deeply addicted to oil and its profits
Send us your views
The last week has raised a new problem of substance abuse in Britain.
In a world of growing climate chaos and oil scarcity, at least US President George Bush admitted his country's 'serious problem' of fossil-fuel addiction.
But the UK appears to be in denial as it becomes more deeply addicted to oil and its profits, raising the real danger that growing oil revenues could become a big disincentive to cut oil use and tackle global poverty.
Oil magnate J Paul Getty set the template for 20th Century inequality when he declared: 'The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights.'
Andrew Simms. Image: Nef
VIEWPOINT
Andrew Simms
The fossil fuel industry is a major source of tax revenue for western nations, which is a disincentive to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, says Andrew Simms in this week's Green Room. But while some of that taxation depends on the huge profits reported by companies like BP and Shell, he argues they would be bankrupt if the taxes they paid reflected the social costs of their emissions.
Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Image: AFP/Getty
The UK appears to be in denial as it becomes more deeply addicted to oil and its profits
Send us your views
The last week has raised a new problem of substance abuse in Britain.
In a world of growing climate chaos and oil scarcity, at least US President George Bush admitted his country's 'serious problem' of fossil-fuel addiction.
But the UK appears to be in denial as it becomes more deeply addicted to oil and its profits, raising the real danger that growing oil revenues could become a big disincentive to cut oil use and tackle global poverty.
Oil magnate J Paul Getty set the template for 20th Century inequality when he declared: 'The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights.'
Based on statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA), an average US citizen will in a single day generate as much of the chief greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, as someone in China does in more than a week.
For someone in Tanzania to generate the same amount would take a staggering seven months.
Such inequality is a major barrier to agreement on international environmental action.
The UK and the US became rich by burning more than their fair share of a finite inheritance of fossil fuels. 
Shell: In profit only because of 'fantasy economics'?
Now the profits of oil companies like Exxon, Shell and BP are breaking records and worsening the addiction.
The consequence is a creeping climate chaos that disproportionately affects some of the world's poorest and most vulnerable places like
To halt this climate chaos, we must reduce burning of fossil fuels; yet our global economy depends on them for about 80% of its primary energy.
Rising growth, increasing demand for fossil fuels, climate concerns; the outcome will be higher prices. The poor, already deprived of their equitable share of the world's energy, are likely to see their share shrink even further, just as they bear the biggest burden of climate change.
In a carbon-constrained world, the energy pie can only shrink; who gets what becomes the crucial question.
Trickle down, flood up
Virtually all conventional economists say economic growth is the answer to poverty.
But more growth means more greenhouse gas emissions, and in turn more rapid climate change which then hurts the poorest most.
If growth brought other benefits to the poorest, this might still be a path with merit. But our latest research at Nef, the New Economics Foundation, shows that wealth is not trickling down, it is flooding up. 
Between 1990 and 2001, just 60 cents of every $100 of extra global income from growth went to reduce poverty for those living on less than $1 a day.
In the previous decade, the figure was $2.20 per $100.
In the 1990s, then, it took an extra $166 of production and consumption - with all its associated environmental damage - to generate each $1 of poverty reduction.
In environmental terms, it is a suicidally low level of
Climate change becomes an ecological debt.
Tax and burn
So what are the chances of western governments such as Britain's, which have standing commitments on eradicating poverty, linking their programmes in this arena to their policies on curbing greenhouse gas emissions?
Not good, it would appear; not only do our homes, transport, and food system rely on fossil fuels, but so does the public purse.
Our new calculations from research in progress with WWF, based on Treasury statistics, show that UK government income from the fossil fuel sector - conservatively estimated at £34.9bn ($61bn) - is greater than revenue from council tax, stamp duty, capital gains and inheritance tax combined. 
For someone in Tanzania to generate the same amount of CO2 as the average American generates in a day would take a staggering seven months 
Policies aimed at reducing
But even this level of revenue from the fossil fuel sector does not reflect the true cost of its environmental impact.
Treasury estimates suggest that the environmental damage per tonne of carbon dioxide could be around £20 ($35).
Combining the emissions that stem from BP's direct activities and the sale of its products leads to 1,458m tonnes of CO2-equivalent entering the atmosphere, with a damage bill of £29bn ($51bn).
Subtracting that from the £11bn ($19bn) annual profit it has just reported puts it £18bn ($31bn) in the red; effectively bankrupt.
The same calculation puts Shell £4.5bn ($8bn) in the red, even as it reports an annual profit of £13bn ($23bn).
That is how unsustainable the economy has become.
Fossil-fuelled fantasy
The way we view economic success in the UK has become a fossil-fuelled fantasy.
No accounting system with a hint of common sense would view profiting from the liquidation of a never-to-be-repeated natural asset as a good thing, even less so when it leads to global warming.
Yet the UK's economic addiction to oil is set to deepen. There is talk of a windfall tax; and in his pre-Budget report, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced measures that will increase revenues from North Sea oil by £3.9bn ($6.8bn) during this financial year, and a further £2.6bn ($4.5bn) next year. 
The only possible justification will be if these amounts go towards a major economic detox diet to cure the UK of its fossil fuel habit, following Sweden's recent lead.
This would pay for a huge roll-out of clean renewable energy technologies, and to redesign the UK's hopelessly inefficient energy system and national grid in favour of a more decentralised power supply.
We could also pay up our shamefully overdue contributions to special funds set up to help poor countries adapt to climate change.
The economic detox diet would mean Gordon Brown and Tony Blair delivering on three key issues:
- putting human well-being at the heart of the political agenda instead of growth
- implementing aggressive plans to cut our own emissions
- pushing for the next phase of the
Kyoto Protocol to cap global emissions at a safe level, and givedeveloping countries their fair and equal share of the greenhouse gas emissions pie.
Anything less will mean the UK as an addict slipping into potentially fatal decline. 
Andrew Simms is policy director of the New Economics Foundation (Nef) and author of Ecological Debt: the Health of the Planet and the
The Green Room is a series of environmental opinion articles running weekly on the BBC News website
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