Guest Author • Jan 11, 2016 •
Stuart Capstick, Cardiff University and Adam Corner, Cardiff University There’s a curious paradox at the heart of climate change. Despite scientists asserting the need for urgent action and the widespread acceptance of the reality of climate change by people worldwide, it is a subject that we tend not to talk about with … Read More
Mr February • Dec 22, 2015 •
New Zealand’s new Minister for Climate Change, Paula Bennett, has just confirmed New Zealand will be “carrying forward” 127 million “Hot Air” emissions units (or offsets) under Kyoto Protocol rules. These units mostly do not represent a tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent reduced somewhere else and yet the Government intends to use them to allow New Zealand’s greenhouse … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 17, 2015 •
Matthew Powers, University of Washington Earlier this fall, Greenpeace announced it was hiring a team of journalists and making investigations a pillar of its advocacy work. Now the public is beginning to see the fruits of that investment, as well as some of the questions that get raised when advocacy groups utilise some of journalism’s more controversial … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 16, 2015 •
Harriet Hawkins, Royal Holloway Something needs to be done about climate change, that much at least 196 countries agree on. But as the next weeks, months and years see politicians, scientists and industry thrashing out what the “first comprehensive global treaty to combat climate change” means in practice, we collectively face some tough questions. The wrangling … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 16, 2015 •
Richard Fairchild, University of Bath and Baris Yalabik, University of Bath The Paris climate talks have been heralded as a historic deal. But while they have been praised for the very feat of reaching an agreement and for setting an ambitious aim to keep warming below 2℃ and endeavouring to limit it to 1.5℃, the … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 15, 2015 •
Steffen Böhm, University of Essex The Paris Agreement has mostly been greeted with enthusiasm though it contains at least one obvious flaw. Few seem to have noticed that the main tool mooted for keeping us within the 2℃ global warming target is a massive expansion of carbon trading, including offsetting, which allows the market exchange of credits between … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 13, 2015 •
Simon Lewis, UCL The UN climate talks in Paris have ended with an agreement between 195 countries to tackle global warming. The climate deal is at once both historic, important – and inadequate. From whether it is enough to avoid dangerous climate change to unexpected wins for vulnerable nations, here are five things to help understand … Read More
Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Dec 13, 2015 •
Overnight the Paris agreement was settled upon, with a goal to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. It has taken two weeks of intense negotiations, but the decision has been made not just to aim for a target of 2°C, but to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. Countries will be … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 13, 2015 •
Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation; James Whitmore, The Conversation; Michael Hopkin, The Conversation, and Wes Mountain, The Conversation On December 12, 2015 in Paris, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change finally came to a landmark agreement. Signed by 196 nations, the Paris Agreement is the first comprehensive global treaty to … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 12, 2015 •
Katja Frieler, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research At the Paris climate summit, delegates are deciding on a global goal for temperature rise. At the time of publication, the latest draft text calls for the world to “hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2℃ above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts … Read More