| A grandmother's reflections |
| 03.02.2010 01:49:52 | |
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I have seen the writing on the wall about climate change for a couple of decades now. In Catholic circles we call it “reading the signs of the times”. But becoming a grandmother has changed my perspective. I look into the eyes of my grand-daughters and normally my heart fills with the most amazing joy. There are times, though, when I see their look of complete trust and innocence and I feel an immense dread. Tags: faith | religion | climate change |
| The 2010 Intergenerational Report |
| 01.02.2010 04:17:32 | |
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The Treasury’s 2010 Intergenerational Report, released today, sets a clear challenge for Australian political leaders and the business community to act on climate change. The report, which lays out the upcoming challenges that Australia faces as a nation, states that if climate change is not addressed, there will be “severe consequences for weather patterns, water availability in cities, towns and rural communities, agricultural production, tourism, infrastructure, health and Australia's unique biodiversity.” Early action is crucial, as it will bring about lower long-term costs. Further delay in climate action will only make it more difficult and more expensive later. Australia’s business community needs a strong, long-term price signal to help shape investment decisions and move the Australian economy towards sustainable growth. The CPRS, although not perfect, combined with an emissions reduction target of at least 25% by 2020, can provide a platform for boosting Australia’s carbon productivity. Alternatively, the Intergenerational Report says that using regulatory and subsidy arrangements to reduce emissions would be “costly for the economy, businesses and households.” If we are serious about boosting productivity and improving Australia’s global competitiveness in a low-carbon world, we must put politics aside and get on with the job of redirecting Australia’s economy onto a cleaner pathway. Tags: |
| President Obama calls for clean energy in America |
| 28.01.2010 23:03:09 | |
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President Barack Obama ensured clean energy was a focal point of his State of the Union speech to Congress yesterday. "The nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy," he said. Repower America has put together a clip of the parts of President Obama's speech that addressed clean energy and climate legislation.
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| A renewable energy summit in the heart of oil country |
| 22.01.2010 00:20:07 | |
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Major players in the renewable energy field, from heads of companies to heads of state, gathered in Abu Dhabi this week for the third World Future Energy Summit. Tags: renewable energy | clean technologies | Abu Dhabi | World Future Energy Summit | Masdar |
| Himalayan glacier issue is not a meltdown of all climate science |
| 19.01.2010 23:23:18 | |
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This week, the IPCC announced that they would review the assertion from their 2007 Fourth Assessment Report that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035 as a result of climate change . Tags: Himalayan glaciers | IPCC | glaciers | climate change |
| The morning after in Copenhagen |
| 20.12.2009 22:14:41 | |
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It is hard to reflect on the last couple of days of the Copenhagen Climate Summit. It is questionable whether this is even useful as so many things happened in the sleep deprived final days of the meeting that distance is probably needed to get some real perspective on events. The Climate Institute’s overall judgment can be seen here and here. When the agreement between the heads of government emerged, we gave this one out of five stars. However, this agreement was further weakened in subsequent talks and there is now no agreement to conclude a legally binding treaty in 2010. Tags: copenhagen | COP15 | Copenhagen accord | negotiations | United Nations | Erwin Jackson |
by Erwin Jackson, Research & Policy Director| Time to lead...or go home |
| 16.12.2009 22:30:16 | |
 Copenhagen is full of slogans from all sorts of groups pushing their messages. With the city filling up with presidents and prime ministers, the message that best captures the sentiment right now is: “lead or go home”. The Copenhagen climate summit is at a critical stage and in urgent need of leadership. The last two weeks have seen negotiators wrap themselves in tangle of words, but even to close observers it is hard to see signs of progress. Over the next two days the world’s leaders – including Prime Minister Rudd – have a chance to deliver a breakthrough. The breakthrough will not come easily but, even at this late stage, opportunities are still there for the taking. Australia, in particular, could deliver on three key issues. Firstly Australia should, conditional on the achievement of a global agreement, accept an extension to the Kyoto Protocol with our target set at 25 percent reductions on 1990 levels by 2020. Developing countries have drawn a sharp line under the need for a two track outcome from Copenhagen, including an extension of the Kyoto Protocol. By agreeing to lock in a 25 percent target Australia would build trust within the negotiations and end the ambiguity about its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. Tags: copenhagen | COP15 | climate summit | developing countries | kyoto | Kevin Rudd | financing |
| Parliament of the World's Religions |
| 15.12.2009 05:49:52 | |
 The fifth Parliament of the World’s Religions (the first was held in 1893) was a gala event celebrating the diversity and similarities of the faiths of the world. The gathering, held in Melbourne, offered a dazzling variety of cultural diversity in terms of ‘fashion’ - Hindu priests in white, bishops in purple, nuns in grey, pagans in colourfully patterned kaftans, rabbis in black and Monks in maroon and yellow with a special group creating colourful sand mandalas. However, the real celebration people were looking for called for a far greater vision than just a rainbow of religious garb. The theme of this year’s Parliament was “Make a World of Difference: Healing Each Other, Healing the Earth”, and sessions were held throughout the event in alignment with this theme. One of the sessions I attended which had a profound impact on me was conducted by the indigenous people of northern Canada bordering on the Arctic Ocean. The impacts of global warming are a daily reality for them, with average temperatures around 10 degrees warmer there than they were twenty years ago. These temperature rises have had a devastating impact on the natural environment as well as the indigenous people who harvest the majority of their food from directly from the land. They showed us images of lakes that had formerly been thriving wildlife sanctuaries in their early childhood and had now transformed into dry mud beds. Tags: climate change | religion | faith |
| COP15 Blog: Stock take from Copenhagen |
| 13.12.2009 22:34:09 | |
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Reflecting on the part week: like most international negotiations, it has been marked by political posturing, finger pointing, a proliferation of leaks and a public battle for the hearts and minds of the global audiences. In other ways the first week of Copenhagen has been exceptional. The mood of the meeting is intense. With over 100 heads of government, including Prime Minister Rudd and President Obama, attending the final days of the talks the stakes of the meeting are very high. Officials and, increasingly, Ministers are working tirelessly to agree on as much as possible before the heads arrive. The bags under the eyes of officials are growing by the day. Tags: |
After a week in Copenhagen, I spent this afternoon in meetings with some of the world’s leading thinkers from the non-government sector to take stock of the talks and strategise on how to influence the week ahead. | COP15 Blog: A leaking ship or a life raft? |
| 09.12.2009 22:21:42 | |
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So far one of the key highlights of the Copenhagen Climate Summit has been the leaking of a draft ‘Copenhagen Agreement’, penned by the Danish Government as a tool to help develop a possible political compromise. As widely reported, this has caused quite a stir within the negotiations, with some groups crying foul. Tags: |
by Will McGoldrick, Research & Policy Manager at The Climate Institute