GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Earth in the Balance

Are the global consequences of climate change worsening? Are cap-and-trade schemes the best way to reduce CO2 emissions? With a global recession looming, does the path to economic recovery lead through low-carbon technologies? Can we fight climate change and improve energy security at the same time?

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No Time to Put Climate Science on Ice

Achim Steiner Series: Earth in the Balance

2010-02-05

The science of climate change has been on the defensive in recent weeks, owing to an error that dramatically overstated the rate at which the Himalayan glaciers could disappear. With some strident voices even dismissing climate change as a hoax on a par with the Y2K computer bug, the time has come for a reality check.... read

Comments: 3 Recommended: 3 Read: 2628

Redesigning European Energy Security

William Martin and Jonathan Gillman Series: Earth in the Balance

2010-01-22

Every year, it seems, starts with the return of a noxious tradition: the annual dispute between Russia and Ukraine over energy, a dispute that left millions of Europeans shivering last winter. The EU can no longer afford its fragmented energy-supply system and lack of political cohesion, which undermines its ability to forge a long-term energy strategy.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 1904

Can Energy Be Governed?

Ann Florini Series: Earth in the Balance

2010-01-11

Energy lies at the heart of the world’s most pressing global governance challenges. Yet at both the global and national levels, energy governance is far from being able to bring about the desperately needed transition to a system of secure and sustainable provision of energy services.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 2 Read: 2427

Rendezvous with Africa on Climate

Jean-Michel Severino Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-12-03

African countries' decision to act as a bloc at the Copenhagen climate-change summit is an important step forward. But Africa and its partners will now have to unite to win the adoption of measures that ensure the sustainable exploitation of Africa’s vast environmental potential in the interest of us all.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 3209

Playing Russian Roulette with Climate Change

Mikhail Gorbachev and Alexander Likhotal Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-12-03

Decision-makers have not faced up to just how close the world may be to the climate “tipping point.” According to the latest science, the current proposals for an international climate-change agreement will result in warming of more than 4°C during this century – double the 2°C maximum endorsed by the G-8 and other leaders.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 5232

Consumers Against Climate Change

Meglena Kuneva Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-11-25

There is a forgotten player in the global efforts to limit CO2 emissions: the consumer. Research shows that many people are willing to do their bit for the environment, but they do not always have the opportunity to consume in environmentally friendly ways, because low-carbon choices are more expensive and harder to find.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 3095

Green Buildings’ Bottom Line

Mark L. Clifford Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-11-23

Politicians have spent years bickering over who should bear the costs of reductions in carbon emissions in order to fight climate change. But policymakers should embrace one of the cheapest ways of cutting the pollution that lies at the root of the problem: making buildings more efficient. ... read

Comments: 1 Recommended: 1 Read: 2262

Seize the Energy Opportunity

Anders Eldrup Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-11-11

Securing reliable energy supplies was the key energy challenge of the 20th century. The other big energy challenge is climate change. Add the two global challenges, and you have a Gordian knot: We have to produce much more energy with much less CO2. This is a challenge, but it is also a huge business opportunity.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 1605

Our Low-Carbon Future

Nicholas Stern Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-10-07

If we continue with business-as-usual emissions from activities such as burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests, the probable rise in global average temperature relative to pre-industrial times will be 5˚C or more. If we begin to address the problem now, we stand to enter the most dynamic and innovative period in economic history.... read

Comments: 1 Recommended: 1 Read: 6025

Green Money

Jomo Kwame Sundaram close

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No Time to Put Climate Science on Ice

Achim Steiner Series: Earth in the Balance

2010-02-05

Comments: 3 Recommended: 3 Read: 2628

China in Action on Climate Change

Zhenhua Xie Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-05-22

The world must understand that China’s national circumstances, particularly the continued prevalence of dire poverty, demand that it keep developing quickly. But the world also should be certain of this: China will, within its capacities, continue to make active efforts to mitigate climate change.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 9189

The Way Ahead on Climate Change

Gro Harlem Brundtland, Ricardo Lagos, Festus Mogae and Srgjan Kerim Series: Earth in the Balance

2008-12-09

The financial crisis will be uppermost in the minds of many at this week’s United Nations climate change conference in Poznan, Poland. Yet, however high the price of a global bail-out, we know one thing: it pales next to the enormous costs – and profound human consequences – of delaying action on climate change. ... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 14128

A Global Green New Deal

Achim Steiner Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-02-03

With unemployment soaring, bankruptcies climbing, and stock markets in free-fall, it may at first glance seem sensible to ditch the fight against climate change and put environmental investments on hold. But this would be a devastating mistake of immediate, as well as inter-generational, proportions.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 12951

Less Carbon Can Mean More Growth

Jeroen van der Veer Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-01-29

Although the global recession is serious and its duration uncertain, the world must nevertheless continue to focus on the far-reaching threat of climate change. Indeed, if we are smart, public policy can serve the twin goals of stimulating growth and fighting global warming.... read

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Four Essential Steps to the Copenhagen Agreement

Yvo de Boer Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-03-23

In order to enter into force around the world before 2013, the Copenhagen agreement must meet the political requirements of all participating countries. This requires immediate clarity on four key points: emission targets for industrialized countries, developing countries' responsibilities, financing for international cooperation, and democratic governance of the agreement.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 9243

China in Action on Climate Change

Zhenhua Xie Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-05-22

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The Truth About Climate Change

John Theodore Houghton Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-04-22

Strong vested interests have spent millions of dollars on spreading misinformation about climate change, first denying its existence, and more recently claiming that its impacts will not be great, that we can “wait and see,” and that in any case we can always fix the problem if it turns out to be substantial. The scientific evidence does not support such arguments.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 9158

Shaping the Post-Carbon Economy

Jeremy Oppenheim and Eric Beinhocker Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-04-24

Moving to a model in which carbon emission levels fall and growth accelerates may start with global agreements in Copenhagen this year to reduce carbon in the air. But this model of a post-carbon economy can succeed only if we embark now on an agenda to boost natural resource productivity more broadly and on a more integrated basis.... read

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The Coming Global Energy Revolution

Fatih Birol Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-07-22

Humanity’s future depends on how we tackle two central energy challenges: securing reliable supplies of affordable energy, and switching to efficient low-carbon energy. The transformation that this will require implies a heavy burden on both the public and private sectors, but the current financial crisis should be viewed as an opportunity, rather than a barrier, for launching it.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 7258

The Climate Imperative

R K Pachauri Series: Earth in the Balance

2009-06-22

International action on climate change is urgent and essential. Indeed, given that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has established climate change as a reality beyond scientific doubt, there can no longer be any debate about the need to act.... read

Comments: 1 Recommended: 1 Read: 7192

Our Low-Carbon Future	Nicholas Stern
If we continue with business-as-usual emissions from activities such as burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests, the probable rise in global average temperature relative to pre-industrial times will be 5˚C or more. If we begin to address the problem now, we stand to enter the most dynamic and innovative period in economic history.... read
Why Cutting Carbon Emissions is not Enough	Achim Steiner
Twenty years ago, governments adopted the Montreal Protocol, a treaty to protect the Earth’s ozone layer from emissions of destructive chemicals. Not only has the protocol proven highly effective, but it has also spared humanity a significant level of climate change, because the gases that it prohibits also contribute to global warming.... read

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