The European Parliament’s delegation to Copenhagen has its reputation in tatters after it has emerged that the far-right, racist leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin will be part of the official delegation. For anyone who may have heard Griffin’s repugnant racist views on immigration or the holocaust, it will come as no surprise … Read More
Copenhagen Conference
Copenhagen: Watch Out for the Small Print
You are going to start having to be a skilled mathematician and serious spinwatcher to wade through the political commitments being made before Copenhagen. Take China’s announcement –which is being hailed as significant as it is the country’s first ever carbon reduction commitment. The country’s Cabinet has pledged to reduce CO2 per unit of gross … Read More
Obama off to Copenhagen, but is it too little too late?
President Obama has ended weeks of speculation by finally announcing that he is going to Copenhagen. For that he has to be congratulated. The fact that he is the first American President to attend the US climate meetings is also a positive step too (although it does not say much for his predecessors).
Sceptics and oil lobbyists “putting world at risk”
Slowly there is some political progress as we edge towards Copenhagen. Some sixty five world leaders will attend the Copenhagen climate talks, although whether Obama actually attends is still anyone’s guess. Moreover over the last fortnight, three big countries have made major new pledges to cut their carbon emissions.
A Medal for Exactly What, Mr. President?
Increasingly it looks like Barack Obama will make only one trip to Scandinavia next month – and that is not going to be to Copenhagen and the climate talks. Instead he will be going to Oslo to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize. And, although its only an hour by plane to Copenhagen, where dozens … Read More
“We’re at the top end of the IPCC scenario”
Whilst most people are trying to keep rising temperatures to 2°, the bad news is that we are on course for the worst case climate change scenario of massive 6° by the end of the Century. Such a rise – which would be much higher nearer the poles – would be totally and utterly catastrophic … Read More
The Angry Mermaid Strikes Back
All the news reports this morning are that a deal at Copenhagen is dead. Barack Obama has said that we had run out of time to secure a deal in December. This will please the corporate lobbyists no end. The longer they can delay action on climate the better. But now Copenhagen’s iconic mermaid is … Read More
No Climate Deal for Over a Year
Well you didn’t really believe that a global climate deal was on the cards at Copenhagen did you? Despite all the warnings that such is the urgency of the problem that a deal had to be made in Copenhagen, there will be no deal. Not for a year anyway. And maybe never.
Copenhagen Talks Spell Trouble for the Tar Sands
Critics of the oil industry’s relentless expansion into the Canadian tar sands have been pointing out for a while something that they thought was obvious: the multi-billion investment strategy is completely flawed. They have repeatedly pointed out that exploiting the highly polluting and energy intensive tar sands is extremely financially risky in a carbon constrained … Read More
“The clock has almost ticked down to zero …”
We can bail out the bankers – But we can’t bail out ourselves. That is the ironic situation we find ourselves in with the clock ticking towards the crucial climate talks in Copenhagen. This morning the last diplomatic negotiations before Copenhagen started in Barcelona, Yvo de Boer, the head of the UNFCCC said: