Author: |Posted: 10:35 am on 23/11/09
Category: Copenhagen: Deal or No Deal?, Snowblog
I am standing on the top of one of downtown Sao Paulo’s tallest buildings.
In a panoramic sweep of the city a forest of tower blocks intersperse with the low level splash of orange roofed shanty towns (favelas) stretches in every direction.
It’s late evening and gradually the outline of the towers seeps away to leave their outlines in the lit windows of the homes of 19 million people who live here.
Author: |Posted: 6:57 pm on 06/11/09
Category: Copenhagen: Deal or No Deal?, Faisal Islam on Economics
ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND – In the grounds of St Andrews’ famous Fairmont hotel there are some acclaimed championship golf courses. I doubt very much that the G20 finance ministers and central bankers arriving here tonight will be teeing off.
Having “saved the world economy” in Act 1, Act 2 appears to be the no less thorny task of saving the world itself.
The Chancellor has forced climate finance to the top of the agenda at breakfast tomorrow. The UK/EU plan is for finance worth $100bn per year from 2020, half of which will be raised from the private sector through carbon market mechanisms. read more
Author: |Posted: 9:48 am on 06/11/09
Category: Copenhagen: Deal or No Deal?
BARCELONA, SPAIN – So it’s official. There will be no legally binding treaty in Copenhagen.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer says so; a senior EU negotiator says so; even the genially optimistic Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband says so – telling the Commons: “The UN negotiations are moving too slowly and not going well.”
As one European delegate at this last round of talks before Copenhagen told me: “We’re out of time to agree a fully worked-up treaty.” read more
Author: |Posted: 5:07 pm on 27/10/09
Category: Copenhagen: Deal or No Deal?
Don’t be fooled by the environ/political herd mentality because “The Day After Tomorrow” scenario cuts both ways.
More than one thing is happening to this little planet because of humankind. Yes – it seems to be heating up because of carbon/methane emissions. But consider our old friend oil for a moment, beyond being a culprit in that story.
read more
Author: |Posted: 4:18 pm on 22/10/09
Category: Copenhagen: Deal or No Deal?
Retiring to the Mediterranean might turn out to be a very bad idea according to this latest offering from the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Met Office. read more
Author: |Posted: 12:35 pm on 21/10/09
Category: Copenhagen: Deal or No Deal?
Jane Deith blogs:
Gordon Brown has warned of “climate catastrophe” unless the world can come to some sort of agreement to tackle global warming.
In the East Midlands town of Kettering people don’t need convincing climate change is real, they’ve woken up and smelled the carbon.
The United Nations came to Kettering to ask 100 of its ‘global citizens’ what kind of climate deal they want the world to cut in Copenhagen.
Their verdict was harsh, but fair. read more
Author: |Posted: 12:35 pm on 17/10/09
Category: Copenhagen: Deal or No Deal?
For there to be a substantive deal in Copenhagen there must be numbers. Numbers that spell out the commitments rich, developed countries make to cut their greenhouse gas emissions; and numbers for how much money they’re prepared to give to developing countries to help them develop low-carbon economies.
Developing countries – from those with big, fast-growing economies like China and India to tiny Pacific island states that might vanish if sea levels rise – want the wealthy Western economies like America and Europe to demonstrate they accept responsibility for their historic fossil-fuelled industrial growth that’s caused the rise in greenhouse gas emissions we’ve seen so far.
So they want the rich countries to make legally-binding commitments to reduce their emissions significantly. And they want to see the numbers. read more
