International Climate Conferences

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COP-18, which ended this past Saturday, would surely have been considered a failure if it had not extended Kyoto commitments. Advancing the Durban process, however, was potentially much more important. The Durban Platform, adopted at COP-17 in late 2011, calls for a new multilateral agreement to be completed by 2015 and to take effect in 2020. How did our national and international representatives do in advancing this goal?[read more]

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Finally late on Saturday, COP18 came to an end. Two weeks of discussion and negotiation had barely moved the needle, so the challenge to bring the conference to a useful conclusion and at least move the agenda forward somewhat fell on the Qatari President of the COP, H.E. Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah – which is what he did, despite the objections of some parties. The outcome could be described at best as administrative. But a final agreement on "loss and damage" may well shape the pathway ahead.[read more]

From many perspectives, China is a global powerhouse. China is the world’s second largest economy in terms of GDP, the world’s largest energy consumer, and a global leader in renewable energy investment. China is also the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter. It is no surprise, then, that when it comes to global climate change negotiations, many nations are looking for China to step up and play a role more in line with its global economic and emissions status.[read more]

by Rebecca Lefton and Andrew Light: This year’s UN climate negotiations have once again deadlocked. Negotiators and observers in the hall are concerned that this meeting could end with no outcome, much like the long-stalled Doha trade negotiations. We’re tracking the major sticking points in the three tracks of the meeting and make recommendations on how to move forward. Those interested can tune in here, and look for which sessions are going on live in plenary room one or two.[read more]

After a week of talks in Doha at COP18, it is difficult to draw a clear conclusion about how the conference might conclude. Certainly there is an active discussion underway, but progress is slow and many of the historical divisions have resurfaced, despite the apparent progress made in Durban last year. Like many of these conferences, the last moments of the second week may well see a rapid push for concluding text.[read more]

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Most of us recognize certain behavior as inherently risky, and so we seek to avoid it. But the relationship of the three Rs - risk reward, and resources - matters. The Climate Conference now underway in Doha is a great example, redesigning our power supply is another, addressing our soaring national debt yet another - all are cases of overwhelming risks that push us into denial and risk tolerance over risk avoidance.[read more]

The UN climate talks currently taking place in Doha will decide the future of the Kyoto Protocol, which is the world’s only legally binding climate treaty.  Although the protocol’s impact on global emissions has been limited, it is still necessary to keep the policy infrastructure associated with it intact.  CAP has been...[read more]

The next high-level gathering of parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change started this week in Doha, Qatar, and will continue until December 7. In this column we provide an overview of the upcoming talks and discuss what the results of U.S. elections may mean for the Obama administration’s positions during these...[read more]

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This week sees the start of the 18th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, or COP18 for short, in Doha, Qatar. This should be a busy transitional COP, with much on the agenda to resolve and important steps forward being taken toward a long term international agreement. But procedural issues, agenda disagreements and fundamental sticking points could still dominate, leading to a two week impasse. Let’s hope not.[read more]

The nine planetary boundaries developed by the Stockholm Resilience Centre have become a useful metric, but the complexity of the subject has been a challenge. A further challenge to simplify the structure has been posed back to The Centre. They have taken up this challenge and revisited the approach, reducing it to three critical metrics.[read more]

 Protesters in Bangkok outside the UN climate talks. The U.N. climate talks featuring delegates from 190 nations, that have been ongoing for the last week in Bangkok, Thailand, and which conclude today, have produced few concrete results. The talks were happening against a backdrop of record Arctic ice melt, recent flooding in...[read more]

Last week the US EIA released the latest greenhouse gas emission figures and they show that the country is well on track to meet its emission reduction pledge following the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009, even though there is no formal program in place to ensure delivery.[read more]

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In a recent speech, US Lead Climate Negotiator Todd Stern caused some consternation in the media by opening up the subject of the global two degree Celsius target. Bylines such as “US Abandons 2° Target” appeared soon after, But really, he had outlined a negotiating strategy which might bring nations to the table and actually get them to agree on something.[read more]

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For an international climate agreement to be truly effective, it would need to strike an appropriate balance among three parameters: environmental effectiveness (or the ambition of its environmental objectives), participation of major-emitting countries, and the degree of expected compliance on the part of countries that do participate.[read more]

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Politicians, bureaucrats and scientists from around the world met in Brazil this summer for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Many attendees called for greater government control over our economic lives in order to preserve more of earth’s resources for future generations.Sadly, their efforts are sorely...[read more]