Climate change
Ets: gas effetto serra in calo del 7,4%
Le emissioni italiane contabilizzate in Ets (emission trading scheme) continuano a calare: nel 2014 – secondo il report di Ecoway, il principale operatore italiano della gestione e del trading della commodity CO2 – si registra un -7,4% rispetto al 2013, quando il calo era stato dell’8,2% rispetto al 2012. Anno su anno c’è un lieve “calo del calo” che potrebbe essere confermato anche per il 2015: i dati finora raccolti risultano abbastanza allineati. (altro…)
Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change
The issue can be overwhelming. The science is complicated. Predictions about the fate of the planet carry endless caveats and asterisks. We get it. And so, as the Paris climate talks get underway, we’ve provided quick answers to often-asked questions about climate change. You can submit your own questions here.
Climate change and cities: a prime source of problems, yet key to a solution
Cities are home to half the world’s population and produce around 75% of the world’s GDP and greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, between 65% and 75% of the world population is projected to be living in cities, with more than 40 million people moving to cities each year. That’s around 3.5 billion people now, rising to 6.5 billion by 2050; a huge and singular event in human history. (altro…)
COP21 In Paris Doesn’t Define Climate Change Action
As we get closer to the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) in Paris in November and December, the thought pieces, blogs, and public lectures have been piling up. What will success at COP21 look like? What will it mean for global climate efforts? What if it is a failure? But is all this time, energy, and media scrutiny misplaced? As someone who has been working in the Australian climate change adaptation space for the past four years, I believe so. (altro…)
The Tough Realities of the Paris Climate Talks
IN less than a month, delegates from more than 190 countries will convene in Paris to finalize a sweeping agreement intended to constrain human influence on the climate. But any post-meeting celebration will be tempered by two sobering scientific realities that will weaken the effectiveness of even the most ambitious emissions reduction plans that are being discussed. (altro…)
Business Could Deliver Two-Thirds of Emissions Cuts for 2°C Goal
The President and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Peter Bakker, has launched a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers showing that the ambitions set out in WBCSD’s Low Carbon Technology Partnerships initiative could deliver 65% of all the carbon emission reductions needed to meet the UN target of keeping global warming to under 2°C. However, for this target to be met, the right policy framework needs to be created by governments around the world. (altro…)
Bonn: the negotiations resume
Working basis
Five meticulous days to work on the shortened text of 20 pages published on 5 October 2015 by the ADP* Co-Chairs, Ahmed Djoghlaf (Algeria) and Daniel Reifsnyder (United States). The aim of this last negotiating session is to improve the text, identify compromises, decide on options and set out the parameters of an ambitious agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (altro…)
First Draft of New Climate Change Agreement Presented to Governments
Bonn, 5 October 2015 – Work towards a new universal climate change agreement was today strengthened through the issuance of the first comprehensive draft of the agreement. The Co-Chairs of the Ad hoc working group on the Durban platform (ADP), the body tasked with negotiating the agreement, prepared the draft, which contains the basis for negotiation of the draft Paris climate package. In addition to the agreement, the package contains a draft of the decision that will operationalize the agreement from 2020 and a draft decision on pre-2020 ambition. (altro…)
Limited Progress Seen Even as More Nations Step Up on Climate
The pledges that countries are making to battle climate change would still allow the world to heat up by more than 6 degrees Fahrenheit, a new analysis shows, a level that scientists say is likely to produce catastrophes ranging from food shortages to widespread extinctions of plant and animal life. Yet, in the world of global climate politics, that counts as progress. (altro…)
China to adopt cap and trade system to limit carbon emissions
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday will announce a nationwide cap-and-trade program to curtail carbon emissions, adopting a mechanism most widely used in Europe to limit greenhouse gases, Obama administration officials said. Expanding on a pilot project in seven Chinese cities, the cap-and-trade program will impose a nationwide ceiling on emissions from the most carbon-intensive sectors of the Chinese economy and require companies exceeding their quotas to buy permits from those that have sharply reduced emissions. (altro…)