In The News

After Copenhagen: Climate Action Goes Local

R. Sean Randolph January 29, 2010
A large consensus has formed that developing countries, China and India in particular, hamstrung the Copenhagen Climate Conference. While these countries may have refused to submit to certain emissions targets, this does not mean they are not making vast strides in attempting to avert climate change, according to President & CEO of the Bay Area Council Economics Institute R. Sean Randolph....

Europe and an Inscrutable China

January 26, 2010
Only a few years ago, some of Europe's most respected thinkers and leaders called for increasing ties between the European Union and China, championing the EU's supranational and cooperative structures as a potential attraction to China. Now, as China has proven unwilling to cooperate with European approaches to international issues, Europe is reconsidering its stance. For example, in...

Climate Of Politics

Nayan Chanda January 22, 2010
The Copenhagen conference seemed to reveal more about the current global balance of power than to resolve how to mitigate climate change. The US turned its back on Europe to get a chance to measure developing countries’ emission reduction efforts. While Europe’s attempt to mandate a 50 percent emissions cut was blocked principally by China, supported by India, Brazil, and South Africa. The reason...

Cold War Offered Odd Benefit – It Limited Species Invasions

January 11, 2010
For supporters of globalization, isolationism is usually thought to have negative consequences. But for Eastern Europe, cut off during the Cold War, such isolation had a positive impact on preventing environmental damage that can occur from the influx of invasive species – birds, in this case. A study conducted by scientists at Oregon State University found that Eastern Europe saw its non-...

Fallout from Copenhagen: Has the EU Lost Its Global Relevance?

Jean-Pierre Lehmann January 5, 2010
The first decade of the 21st century is still garnering many monikers. But Professor Jean-Pierre Lehmann believes that it may soon be considered Europe’s swan song as a global power. From a storied constitution to lack of a consistent trade policy to a failure to effect global policy on climate change, the EU demonstrated throughout the decade that it cannot act in a coherent fashion and that its...

Copenhagen: Yet Another Giant Beginning with an Uncertain End

Scott Barrett December 21, 2009
As feared by many, the UN conference on climate change has produced a lame document which can, most charitably be described as a beginning. As environmental economist Scott Barrett notes, previous meetings on the environment were also called a beginning but have not ended in anything tangible. Despite a long period spent on negotiations, the final outcome is a short text that reflects a lowest-...

World's Top Polluter Emerges as Green-Technology Leader

Shai Oster December 15, 2009
China’s low cost labor, government support, and cheap capital may help the country become one of the largest providers of clean technology. The country’s solar panels and wind turbines have already received much press, but now there is a chance that China may find an economic solution to reducing carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. Known as carbon capture, various technologies exist to...