Can NDCs reconcile objectives of ensuring universal access to affordable energy services, energy security, and fostering sustainable energy systems?

The case of North Africa: Given increasing population, urbanization and improvement in living standards in the North African countries, energy demand from households, industry, service and transport will increase by 2030. This will directly affect energy supply and the overall energy system. Regional electricity demand in particular is predicted to rise significantly, leading to an […]

NDCs to integrate sectors using the Nexus Approach? Linking Brazil’s agricultural exports to action against deforestation

As the threats to the Amazon forest grow in intensity, it is becoming clear that Brazil’s plans for the ‘development’ of the Amazon region seem to be accelerating deforestation. The rainforest loss from August 2018 to July 2019 is up to 30% compared with the same period in the previous year. This is the highest […]

THE 10 MOST DOWNLOADED PAPERS OF 2019

The readership and impact of the Climate Policy Journal continued to grow in 2019, with article downloads reaching over 240,000. Here, we showcase 2019’s most downloaded papers. Check out our website for all our papers and the latest download figures. Article Title Authors Downloads in 2019 Social impacts of climate change mitigation policies and their […]

On both sides of the Atlantic, voters want rapid action on climate change

Recent climate assessments have stressed two key messages. First, to avert irreversible damage from climate change, ambitious measures need to be taken not just sometime –implementation needs to start immediately. Second, as investments in cleaner sources of energy and innovative modes of transportation become mainstream, we must start actively terminating the use of carbon dioxide-emitting […]

Transformation as liberation: what the world needs now more than ever is courageous leadership

Transformation is a term we often hear. It highlights the deep changes required in the organization of economics, technology and society if humanity is to live with a changing climate and continue to thrive. But what does transformation mean? What or who is to transformation, and who decides? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines […]

Blue COP parties should look to Antarctic Blue Carbon for vision of non-market cooperative approach to emission reduction

From 2 to 13 December 2019, the international community will meet for the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Madrid, Spain, under the Presidency of Chile. As with previous COPs, this will involve an intense international negotiations across a wide range of issues. However, there […]

Putting equity into practice

Equity is important when we take stock of action on climate change. Equity and ambition go together, because the climate is a global commons. The temptation is to ‘free ride’, but if you know that others are doing their fair share, you will also be more likely to push a little harder. At least that […]

Climate policy integration in the Mexican energy sector

How can transformative policies be designed and implemented across sector boundaries? Scholars have compared the quest for policy coordination and coherence with the quest for the philosopher’s stone. This is especially true for national climate policy making, since integrating all sectors really is the key: no sector remains untouched by the impacts of climate change […]

Trump will not stop the Death Spiral for U.S. coal

US President Donald Trump has claimed that environmental and climate policy were to blame for the decline of U.S. coal – or in his words: “Regulations that shut down hundreds of coal-fired power plants and block the construction of new ones — how stupid is that?”. After 1.5 years in office he analyzed, in summer […]

Should renewable energies be subsidised even when CO2 emissions are covered by an Emission Trading System?

In many jurisdictions worldwide, CO2 emissions from electricity generation are covered by an emission trading system (ETS), while renewable electricity generation receives public subsidies. This is the case in many European countries, in some US states, in South Korea and in some Chinese provinces and cities. As long as CO2 emissions are determined by the […]