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Posts in April 2009

• Labour to Bump-Start Electric Vehicle Revolution

  Andy Rowell

  Apr16

  Elsewhere in Europe, politicians have introduced a scrappage tax, whereby consumers are given incentives to scrap their vehicles and buy a newer, cleaner model. Although the motor industry is trying to say this has major environmental benefits, any detailed cost benefit analysis – including the cost of making the new car – seriously calls this…
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• Poll: Majority of Scientists Believe 2C Rise Inevitable

  Andy Rowell

  Apr15

  For many scientists and politicians a 2 degrees centigrade rise is the threshold which we cannot afford to cross. For example, the IPCC has long argued that climate impacts will significantly increase, if and when, global temperatures rise 2 degrees C or more above pre-industrial levels. Based on the science, the EU’s stated political objective…
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• The Anti-Renewable Revolution

  Andy Rowell

  Apr09

  Everywhere there are signs of political momentum on climate change. There is no doubt that an Obama White House has reinvigorated the debate on energy and climate and the international push for an agreement in Copenhagen this December. The Democrats are calling for a different energy path and even Gordon Brown is now talking green….
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• Brown Promises to Go Green

  Andy Rowell

  Apr08

  Flush from his “successful” summit at the G20, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is now preparing for his next test: his budget in two weeks times. His room for manoeuvre is limited with the pot of money largely seen as being empty. Even still Brown is promising a green Budget month to kick start moves…
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• An Industry on Life-Support

  Andy Rowell

  Apr07

  Who would be a car-maker these days? The days of excessive glamour, speed and size are over and numerous global giants are limping along on life-support. The Obama Administration may have forced GM’s chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, late last month, but there are still rumours that GM might have to file for bankrupty.

• A Message from Antarctica

  Andy Rowell

  Apr06

  As the politicians pontificate about climate change and the crucial Bonn negotiations come to a close on Wednesday, nature has sent its very own stark message to the conference. An ice bridge that held the vast Wilkins Ice Shelf in place shattered at the weekend. Its collapse could herald a larger break-up of the Ice…
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• G20 a “Wasted Opportunity”

  Andy Rowell

  Apr03

  World leaders were quick to call the G20 Summit a success yesterday. Barack Obama hailed the summit “a historic turning point” in the pursuit of world economic recovery. Gordon Brown celebrated the “success”, saying it had announced the creation of a “new world order”. But do you ever get a sense of dreadful déjà vu?

• Bonn, not London, is the Important Meeting

  Andy Rowell

  Apr02

  As the world watches and waits to see what happens at the G20 today, but if you are worried about climate, you are looking at the wrong place. You should be looking to see what happens at Bonn instead. Anything meaningful on climate will happen in Bonn not London. This is where a 10-day UN…
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• Lukewarm Response to “Centrist” Clean Energy Bill

  Andy Rowell

  Apr01

  As President Obama has breakfast with Prime Minister Gordon Brown,  and demonstrators start taking to the streets to protest at the G20, we should not forget the events of yesterday. Congressman Henry Waxman and Ed Markey released a discussion draft of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 – a massive 648-tome that…
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