climate change

UK energy policy – clearer but incomplete

April 15, 2013 10:59 am by Nick Butler

Burbo Bank Wind Farm, River Mersey
Finally, the UK’s energy policy is taking shape after months of confusion. At its heart is a realisation that, while some decisions are urgent, others can wait. Time and timing matter. The approach is practical as well as political but it won’t suit everyone. And it leaves the biggest issue of all – climate change – unresolved. Read more

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Posted in Emissions, Gas, Nuclear |

Climate change: time for Plan B

February 11, 2013 11:30 am by Nick Butler

How will Barack Obama tackle climate change? Getty Images

The comments in President Obama’s second inaugural speech on climate change have encouraged campaigners to think that something substantive is about to happen. It is always good to be optimistic, but the hard question is what exactly is he going to do and what will it achieve. Read more

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Posted in Climate, Policy |
From FT.com January 22, 2013

Fires rage in Australia following record high temperatures. Getty Images

A few days after Typhoon Bopha tore through the Philippines in December, leaving hundreds dead and thousands homeless, a representative from the battered country began to speak at the UN climate talks in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Naderev Saño, the Philippine climate change commissioner, broke down as he made a plea to his fellow delegates, in what turned into one of the conference’s most riveting moments. Read more

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Posted in Environment |

What future for the Climate Change Committee?

December 27, 2012 8:00 am by Nick Butler

What does 2013 hold for the UK’s Climate Change Committee? This worthy body was established in 2009 and is responsible for advising the government on emissions targets and reporting to parliament on the progress being made on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The remit sounds reasonable but the reality is that the committee has been written off in Whitehall. The committee’s advice is blatantly ignored and its chief executive, despite his obvious knowledge and capability, has been dismissed by no less than the prime minister as too inexperienced and unqualified to be appointed as permanent secretary of the energy department. For a serious public servant that is pretty damning. Read more

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Posted in Climate, Emissions, Policy, Politics |
From FT.com November 18, 2012

President of the World Bank. Getty

Jim Yong Kim, World Bank president, has made an urgent plea for action to address the “devastating” risks of climate change as the development body releases a stark assessment of the potential impact of rising global temperatures.

“It is my hope that this report shocks us into action,” Dr Kim said in the foreword of a study the bank commissioned to look at what would happen if the world warmed by 4°C from pre-industrial levels.

 Read more

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Posted in Climate |
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