9 July, 2008
The so-called “leaders” of the eight biggest economies have done it again: glorious declarations with little substance in a diplomatic language which allows all of them to spin their “global” commitment and responsibility. Not only were there no concrete mid-term targets set but the 50% reduction promise has no binding character, lacks any base reference… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
As G-8 leaders start their 3-day talking circus on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, four new reports confirm that our race towards economic and ecological collapse continues at an increasing speed: The Australian government published its long-awaited Garnaut report (over 500 pages), sort of a Stern report for the country down under. Economist Garnaut’s (not… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
6 July, 2008
The future of tourism in an age of climate change was the subject of an exciting conference organised by the Greens in the European Parliament on 3 July. How can the global tourism industry be greened and which countries will be the winners and losers from global warming in terms of tourism? The growth of… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
1 July, 2008
Looking back at the first half of the year, I can only conclude that my doom-and gloom predictions for 2008 were unfortunately spot on. With stock markets continuing their dive down and oil prices exploding upward, this year could indeed turn out to become the “annus horribilis” I feared. To be honest, things look even… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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Climate change, energy security, European Union, financial crisis |
26 June, 2008
The world needs a tenfold increase of carbon productivity between now and 2050 says a new climate change study by McKinsey’s Global Institute. This is comparable to the historic increase of labour productivity since the beginning of the industrial revolution, only it needs to be done over 40 years instead of 150. That said the… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
24 June, 2008
It is often assumed that climate and energy security policies are complementary and that therefore measures in one area are also good for the other. This assumption might be correct in certain cases (driving less will be good for climate and will make us less dependent on imported oil), but there are more and more… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
8 June, 2008
As Ireland is getting ready for a crucial referendum on 11 June, climate change policy is being used as an argument to say “yes” to the new Lisbon Treaty. But does the EU’s “Constitution light” really help in tackling global warming? Is the current EU part of the problem or part of the solution? Labour… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
6 May, 2008
A few pointers to some must-read reports or articles which I discovered in the last ten days: Nicholas Stern’s latest report “Key elements of a global deal on climate change“: not much different from his 2006 Stern review for the UK government but rings the alarm bell a bit harder as very little has really… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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aviation, Biofuels, Carbon capture and storage, Climate change, Stern report, sustainability |
1 May, 2008
It does not happen often that I agree with the American Enterprise Institute but Steven Hayward’s analysis of the “real cost of tackling climate change” in the Wall Street Journal of 28 April is spot on: an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will have dramatic implications for our way of life. Hayward… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
This blog was very silent last week because I was in Washington DC participating in a fascinating two-day climate and energy conference organised by the Transatlantic Platform for Action on the Global Environment (T-PAGE). This dialogue forum was created to facilitate debate among members of EU and US civil society on climate and energy policies… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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Biofuels, Climate change, Global Warming, sustainability, US climate policy |
