Prospects look bright for the Paris Climate Summit. The sole fact that this year’s COP (Conference of the Parties) will start with the government leaders meeting instead of finishing with it, as was usual in the past, is promising, writes Rolf de Vos of Ecofys. According to De Vos, if the more than 80 world leaders who will gather in Paris, including Obama, Xi Jinping, Modi and Putin, will get the Summit off to a good start, the work of two … [Read more...]
Most countries need to at least double their efforts on climate
Developed nations need to double or triple their current efforts to limit global warming to a “safe” level of 2⁰C, write Anita Talberg and Malte Meinshausen of the University of Melbourne. That’s the finding of a study published on 26 October in Nature Climate Change assessing countries' post-2020 climate pledges ahead of December’s international climate summit in Paris. … [Read more...]
China announces national emission trading scheme – experts react
China will launch a national emission trading scheme. In a joint US-China climate statement, issued as part of President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States, China said its new trading sytem will cover “key industry sectors such as iron and steel, power generation, chemicals, building materials, paper-making, and nonferrous metals”. On The Conversation, four experts react to this news. "How interesting that China the communist country … [Read more...]
China and US: new climate commitments, common vision
US President Obama and Chinese President Xi announced far-reaching new climate policy proposals on 25 September during Xi's state visit in Washington DC. Ahead of the UN Climate Summit (COP21) in Paris in December, they came out with several new pledges in areas such as climate finance and energy efficiency standards. Moreover, China announced the launch of a national emission trading system in 2017 and the implementation of a new green dispatch … [Read more...]
We need INDCs from industry too!
Countries across the world are making climate pledges for 2030 through their INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions). Why can’t industrial sectors do the same? Industries are afraid that climate measures will hurt their international competitiveness, but this problem could be avoided if they agreed on international sectoral pledges. Rolf de Vos of Ecofys proposes a new mechanism: Intended Sectorally Determined Contributions (ISDCs). … [Read more...]
Obama’s Clean Power Plan: a modest proposal with revolutionary implications
President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, designed to cut carbon emissions from power plants, seems pragmatic and moderate, certainly by European standards. Yet for US observers it “makes history”, because it is the first time the federal government puts limits on “carbon pollution”. … [Read more...]
EU kicks off final phase of controversial carbon market reform
On 15 July, the European Commission unveiled its long-awaited proposals for a deep and meaningful reform of Europe’s carbon market from 2021-30. It neatly turns into law political decisions by EU heads of state and government last October. NGOs have lambasted it for lack of ambition while industry is screaming blue murder about a declining pot of free carbon allowances. Welcome to the start of a two-year battle that is probably the last chance … [Read more...]
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