In The News

US Opinion Turns Against the Globalism of its President

Bruce Stokes December 10, 2009
All of President Obama’s internationalist and multi-lateral policies may come to naught if he cannot convince Americans that such a strategy is in their best interest. Moreover, if American public opinion cannot be reversed, an insular country could erode US international standing and weaken its ability to obtain a consensus on a wide range of issues, according to columnist Bruce Stokes....

The Forecast is Gloomy

Nayan Chanda December 7, 2009
The prospects for a successor climate change treaty to the Kyoto protocol coming out of the Copenhagen summit are grim. And while the US and China have recently announced new targets, cynics may conclude that such measures are simply ploys to avert blame for failing to commit to stemming climate change. Indeed, Obama’s proposed 17 percent emission cut is closer to four percent when compared to...

Where the Wild Things Were

Steven Sanderson December 2, 2009
With the run up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit, cap-and-trade and lowering emissions have somewhat overshadowed discussions about the loss of biodiversity. But Wildlife Conservation Society President Steven Sanderson shows how they are all linked. Indeed, regions of high biodiversity, like rainforests, not only support endangered species, but also function as a carbon sink – vast, natural...

Awaiting Climate Accord, Governments Toy With Dubious Measures

Doaa Abdel Motaal November 6, 2009
In the lead up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December, developed and developing nations are already preparing themselves for the outcome, a multilateral deal or not. This approach is bound to harm the prospects for reversing global warming, for fostering free trade, and for ensuring competition, according to World Trade Organization Counselor Doaa Abdel Motaal. Many countries plan to enact...

More Carrot and Less Stick Needed to Fight Global Warming

Emmanuelle Ganne October 28, 2009
With the convention on climate change in Copenhagen in December fast approaching, countries tend to be focusing on measures that punish carbon users. As 2009 Yale World Fellow and trade specialist Emmanuelle Ganne puts it, governments favor a stick approach. But while popular, such policies place significant costs on households and create an image of fighting climate change as a burden. They do...

Shifting the World to 100 Percent Clean, Renewable Energy as Early as 2030 – Here Are The Numbers

Louis Bergeron October 22, 2009
The key to reducing fossil fuel energy use in the future is to switch to renewable sources of energy that generate electricity instead of relying on combustion to drive vehicles or generate power. Two scientists argue that this difficult task is possible with already-existing forms of technology and walk through the numbers of how to get there. Switching to these renewable sources of energy –...

Beyond Copenhagen: How to Cool the Planet

Peter Heap, Barry Carin, Gordon Smith October 21, 2009
At this stage, it looks unlikely for the climate change convention in Copenhagen in December to achieve much in terms of lowering greenhouse gases. Moreover, there are many technical aspects to concluding a climate accord that replaces, let alone surpasses, the Kyoto Protocol that still need to be hammered out. Indeed, getting 192 signatories to agree on a multi-sectoral plan seems unlikely,...