Many American Presidents find their terms in office defined by one event: if we think of Nixon it was Watergate, Clinton it was the Monica Lewinsky affair and George Bush it was the war in Iraq. Whilst many Americans may think that Obama’s Presidency will be defined on whether he succeeds in reforming health care … Read More
United Nations
Obama Attacked Over “Ambition Gap” on Climate
There is a first time for everything. Tomorrow the world’s attention will be on the Chinese President Hu Jintao when he becomes the first top Chinese leader to address a United Nations conference on climate change. Whilst many will see this as a positive step, there is no indication that Hu will announce any change … Read More
A “Critical Month” for Climate Change
Welcome to December. It is being dubbed a “critical month” for action on climate change. Firstly, there is the latest round of UN Climate talks, this time taking place in Poznan in Poland. An estimated 9,000 delegates from 185 nations will meet for the next two weeks to try and work at a Post-Kyoto deal … Read More
World Bank’s “Slightly Cleaner Technology Fund”
At a briefing today on the Stategic Framework on Climate Change and Development, a World Bank official conceded that the proposed “Clean Technology Fund” might better be called the “Slightly Cleaner Technology Fund,” but said she would not go so far as to call it the “Dirty Technology Fund.” Addressing Members of the UN Permanent … Read More
“Biofuels Branson” is UN’s Special Guest at Climate Meeting
Why does the UN continue to take Richard Branson seriously when it comes to climate change? Here is a man whose fleet of airplanes continues to promote transanatlantic travel, who is investing in space tourism for the super rich at the same time as promoting biofuels as the solution to climate change, which will just … Read More