By Charlotte Streck Over the last three decades, climate change has graduated from an environmental concern to a matter of geopolitics in the twenty-first century. The political and socio-economic environment in which international climate negotiations take place has seen remarkable changes. The problem of climate change has become more urgent and its effects more visible. […]

By John Barrett While there have been a number of papers that calculate consumption-based GHG emissions, we were keen to present a paper [now published in Climate Policy Journal, Vol. 13, issue 4] that documents its application to climate policy, recognising the uncertainty in the calculations and presenting the future research challenges. In this blog […]

By David Levy A milestone on the road to catastrophic climate change was reached last Thursday, May 9th, when the Mauna Loa research center in Hawaii recorded atmospheric CO2 levels above 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time. The level during pre-industrial times was around 280 ppm, and has been rising at an […]

By Robert Gampfer Over the past two decades, civil society organizations (CSOs) have become integral to global climate negotiations. In 2011, 1490 organizations were accredited as observers; most of which were environmental groups, research institutions, and business associations. Moreover, 70% of national delegations to the COPs (2011) included CSO representatives among their members. Both activists […]

Some reflections on the Climate Policy Special Issue  (vol 13, supp 01, 2013) “Low carbon drivers for a sustainable world”. 

By Dana R. Fisher and Joseph Waggle November 2012 was a fantastic time to be a progressive American. On 6 November, the citizens of the United States of America voted in favor of marriage equality for same-sex couples in four separate states, they legalized marijuana in two more, and elected a record number of female […]

By Frank Jotzo At the Doha COP, Australia announced it will come on board Kyoto 2, with a commitment to reduce national emissions to an average of 99.5% of the 1990 level during 2013 to 2020. Does it matter, and is it a meaningful commitment? 

By Guri Bang, Jon Hovi and Detlef L. Sprinz Since 1990, there has been a build up of 13 MEAS that successive US Presidents have signed, but which have still not been been ratified.  Four of these,  famously including the Kyoto Protocol,  have never even been submitted to the Senate at all. Why this tendency […]