International Treaties

Unusual suspects

15 people worth watching in Copenhagen (a slideshow!) 1
Posted 1 day ago Here are 15 people who wield outsize potential to shape the outcome, or to shape the narrative that affects the outcome. And two you can safely ignore.
Know thine enemy

Is Bill McKibben right to be angry with Obama? 34
Posted 3 days, 17 hours ago In his latest column, Bill McKibben lays into Obama for insufficient leadership on climate change. But the many sins ascribed to Obama almost all trace back to a different source. Properly identifying the barriers to change is the first step in effective political action.
It ain't over yet

Rumors of Copenhagen’s demise have been greatly exaggerated 2
Posted 4 days, 3 hours ago Is a "politically binding" climate treaty really the best we can hope for out of Copenhagen? Is it over before it's begun? Despite what you may have read in the U.S. media, the answer is "No."
Wyoming uber alles

How 7.4% of Americans can block humanity’s efforts to save itself 8
Posted 1 week, 1 day ago A couple weeks ago I wrote a piece on what's really killing climate legislation: the absurd procedural chokepoints in the U.S. Senate, coupled with an unprincipled minority devoted to obstruction. I'm happy to report there's been an uptick lately in people trying to draw attention to this problem. One thing to add to the discussion is that it will take 67 U.S. senators to ratify an international treaty out of Copenhagen. That means representatives of a tiny minority in America can scuttle the entire undertaking.
Less mopin', more hopin'

Seven reasons for optimism about the Senate climate bill 12
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago Conventional wisdom says that the Kerry-Boxer clean energy bill faces a long uphill slog against unlikely odds. Here's the thing about Beltway CW, though: it always forecasts delay, difficulty, and failure. And it's always right. Until it's wrong. Here are seven reasons for cautious optimism.
Obama antes up

Carbon poker 0
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago I had a dream about watching one of those high stakes poker games that you see on TV. Barack Obama and Hu Jintao were at the table, each with so many chips before them that you could barely see their cowboy shirts. But the purpose in their deadly stares could not be obscured, even by the dark Ray Bans that shaded their eyes.
The vanishing point

Lower your expectations for Copenhagen, says Foreign Affairs journal 3
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
Michael A. Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations, writing in the September/October Foreign Affairs, finds “vanishingly small” odds that December’s international negotiations in Copenhagen will produce a comprehensive climate treaty.
There is no above-it-all high enough to clear climate catastrophe

Gideon Rachman: Inability to prevent mass suffering and death a “dilemma for climate activists” 8
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
I want to ask Rachman, and all the pundits who address climate politics: Do you believe the mainstream scientific consensus that climate change poses massive risks for humanity, and that urgent international action is necessary to reduce those risks? If not, say so, clearly. If so, then it's your fight too. You cannot stand on the sidelines.
Copin' with Copenhagen

What is Obama’s international climate strategy? 9
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
International climate negotiations often seem like some sort of cosmic science fair project -- an aquarium full of hamsters connected to rudimentary motors. There's a lot of frantic running, a lot of sweat and heat, but in the end, very little light.

Faith in the UN climate process has dimmed. Joe Romm calls it a "dead man walking." The Copenhagen talks in December are generally discussed with the same dissonant mixture of urgency ("You have to do it in Copenhagen," says UNFCCC chair Yvo de Boer) and fatalism ("There is no movement," says German environment minister Sigmar Gabriel) as the last dozen rounds of international talks.

The Obama administration knows the danger of sclerosis and is working on several fronts to regain a sense of momentum.
2 degrees of Earth bakin'

47 groups urge Obama to endorse 2-degree C warming threshold 5
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
A broad coalition of environment, science, and faith-based groups sent a letter to President Barack Obama recently asking him to pursue a goal of keeping global warming to less than 2 degrees in upcoming international meetings.
The Climate Post: Something wrought in the state of Denmark? 1
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
A roundup of the week's climate news, from Copenhagen to China to Russia.
Counting the real progress on climate action 0
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Progress on climate policy domestically will increase U.S. leverage in these talks, but President Barack Obama should look for additional ways to improve the American negotiating position than what we currently have on the table.
Baracking in the free world

Obama’s green achievements at 100 days 8
Posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago
What have Barack Obama and his administration done to meet green expectations in their first 100 days?
Letter from Europe

Tripping over the fine print on the way to Copenhagen 3
Posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago
It was only a comma, albeit a hotly disputed one. For me, the single punctuation mark represents a major reason why the world may fail to get to grips with global warming in time, and why a meeting this week may provide the best chance of a breakthrough.
From applause to the reality of the work ahead

Towards the Copenhagen climate change agreement: Round One 1
Posted 7 months, 1 week ago
The international global warming negotiations in Bonn, Germany have just wrapped up. They began with a loud applause as U.S. Special Climate Envoy Todd Stern announced that the U.S. is back. And they ended with the reality of the work that needs to be done over the next 8 months to ensure a strong agreement in Copenhagen. There is a lot to be done, but there are hints that with strong leadership the pieces can fall into place.
Waiting for clearance

Aviation industry proposing solutions to solving their global warming pollution? 2
Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago
While most of the climate negotiations in Bonn have been focused on key issues around the overall agreement, there has also been some side discussions on other key issues. I've been involved in a couple of discussions (outside the formal negotiations) around how aviation will contribute to efforts to solve global warming.
The Waxman-Markey discussion draft

Providing the tools to get a strong international climate agreement 0
Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago
What do the international provisions in the Waxma/Markey draft bill mean for helping to secure a strong international commitment in Copenhagen this December?
GLOBE trotter

Legislators from around the world meet to discuss climate policy 0
Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago
Senior legislators from 17 countries met in Washington, D.C., on Monday to discuss their role in shaping climate action plans as world leaders continue to hash out the details of a new international climate treaty.
Stern words

U.S. climate envoy tells international gathering all the right things about climate 0
Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago
If you're looking for rays of hope amidst the torrent of idiocy and bad news -- not that I'm projecting -- you could do worse than reading U.S. Climate Envoy Todd Stern's speech to the recent international climate gathering in Bonn, Germany.
Major league

Obama calls for climate summit of the world’s biggest polluters 0
Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago
President Obama on Saturday announced that the United States is initiating a Major Economies Forum that will focus on energy and climate change, an attempt to bring the world's biggest polluters together to discuss a path forward.