United Nations

common but differentiated despondencies

Rich countries halt Barcelona climate talks with inaction; Africa walks out 4
Posted 4 days, 9 hours ago African negotiators at the U.N. climate talks in Barcelona refused to continue formal discussions about all other issues until wealthy countries live up to their legal and moral responsibility to commit to deep emissions reductions.
religious power

Religion gets behind fight against climate change 1
Posted 5 days, 7 hours ago Leaders from nine major faiths meet at Windsor Castle on Tuesday in an exceptional initiative that supporters predict will harness the power of religion in the fight against climate change.
The whole world is watching

U.N. chief will pressure senators on climate bill 1
Posted 1 week, 5 days ago Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, said Monday that he plans to contact senators to urge them to pass a bill before December.
CLIMATE CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN

Bangkok: rich countries try to kill Kyoto, youth declare 0
Posted 1 month ago
Think Climate Finance is boring? Think again.

Reparations for Climate Chaos 0
Posted 1 month ago Remember when the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, and International Monetary Fund were constantly making global headlines for their fierce opposition from people's movements around the world?
...and we're off to a crawl

Bangkok: Day one of the U.N. climate negotiations 2
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago With an invigorated sense of skepticism, civil society, governments, and of course business interests are in Bangkok this week to try to hammer through obtuse and contradictory text to create something that can be of some use on the table at the Copenhagen meetings this December.
It Could Be Verse

Climate-news poem: Tck, tck, tck edition 0
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago Oh climate week, with all your earnest stars and flash mobbery and noncommittal world leaders! We hardly knew ye.
A Djimon in the rough

Actor Djimon Hounsou wants to show the human costs of climate change 1
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago Actor Djimon Hounsou is just as snacky in real life as he was on the big screen in Blood Diamond, The Island, and Gladiator. Better yet, he's also a climate activist and humanitarian. As a global ambassador for the aid and development group Oxfam, Hounsou has traveled in sub-Saharan Africa and seen the direct links between climate change and human suffering.
China steals Cimate Week spotlight, but U.S. still in the hot seat 1
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago The U.S. was given a starring role at the United Nations Climate Summit on Tuesday, but China stole the show.
Hooray for buzz kills

Obama gives his first real climate speech—really 4
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago It was no barnburner of a speech, but President Obama’s address at the U.N. Climate Summit Tuesday morning amounted to the boldest climate change speech of his presidency. That's because it was essentially the only climate change speech of his presidency.
'Unease Is No Excuse for Inaction'

Obama’s climate speech to the U.N. 6
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago As international pressure mounts for true progress on climate change, President Obama addressed the United Nations today. Find out what he said.
What a difference a week makes?

Climate Week kicks off in New York with bigwigs and big hopes 1
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago
This week, leaders from around the world are coming to a U.N. Climate Summit in New York, where President Obama will give a speech on climate change and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hopes to make real progress toward a new international climate treaty. Activists will be out in force at a slew of climate-related events in NYC, and then they'll take the show to Pittsburgh, where world leaders will be assembling for a G20 summit.
Notable quotable

Yvo de Boer of U.N. climate convention says 350 ppm is pipe dream 7
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
“I don’t think there is a hope in hell that people will agree to 350 in Copenhagen. I think we’ll get 2 degrees.”
Lame theory

The computer has spoken: Copenhagen will be a failure 2
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Game theorist Bruce Bueno de Mesquita has run the numbers and concluded the Copenhagen climate talks will be a failure.
Letter from Europe

Despite Ban Ki-Moon’s complaint, G8 summit produced climate progress 7
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
The U.N. secretary-general wasn't happy with the outcome, nor were leaders of major environmental groups. But some observers believe last week's G8 meeting in Italy produced significant progress toward a new international climate treaty.
Letter from Europe

Raining on the climate parade 2
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
At the just-concluded Bonn climate talks, Japan and other rich nations didn't come to the table with offers of steep emissions reductions, throwing into doubt this year's crucial international climate negotiations.
Climate change modeling key to disaster preparations 2
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Dispatch from Bonn: Rainforest Action Network

The case for carbon speed limits 2
Posted 4 months, 4 weeks ago
With the conclusion of this round of talks, negotiators have succeeded in creating a legal draft text that will be refined at the next round of talks in Bonn in August – now up to 200 pages from the original 50 created in Poznan - but we still are missing the critical fuel that we will need to continue the process all the way to Copenhagen: the political will to actually achieve emissions reductions, particularly on the part of the United States.
Dispatch from Bonn: The Nature Conservancy

Adaptation: Something old, something new, now some money is also due 0
Posted 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Letter from Europe

At Bonn climate talks, it’s a dialogue of the deaf 4
Posted 5 months ago
The negotiations underway in Bonn this week, which are supposed to result in a radical new climate agreement in Copenhagen in just six months' time, risk becoming a dialogue of the deaf.