Degrees of Change

At the risk of banging on and on about it: another research article just out today from the prestigious journal Nature has used satellite-based measurements to show that the thinning of glaciers that are draining the Greenland and key parts of the Antarctic ice sheet is increasingly widespread. A quote from the abstract: “We … Read More

A Dutch research team has analysed the effect of agricultural trade liberalisation on global greenhouse gas emissions. Their study finds that a full liberalisation of agricultural trade (ie, removal of all trade barriers, quota and subsidies globally) would result in a 6% increase in global greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. Most … Read More

It’s exactly two decades since the first scientific warning in 1989 that global warming should be limited to no more than one or two degrees. Every year since then, the scientific evidence for climate change has become firmer and the message that greenhouse gas emissions have to be reduced substantially to … Read More

This is a re-post of an article that appeared in the Dominion Post on 18 September, co-authored with Ralph Chapman, Judy Lawrence and Jonathan Boston.  — The deal between National and the Maori party over the emission trading scheme raises serious questions about strategic policy making in New Zealand. The agreement has positive features — a … Read More