TalkClimateChange

Following the discussion on the Stern report’s projections for the economic cost / benefit of tackling climate change, I’d like to introduce a new perspective: The cost of climate change avoidance is irrelevant, since most of today’s avoidance schemes are wholly ineffective anyway.
I make this assertion following UK treasury projections that the “green levy” on […]

For some reason the announcement yesterday that George Bush planned to give a speech making new US commitments to tackle climate change completely failed to register with me. So familiar have I become with grand political statements on climate change that instead of eagerly awaiting the news I instead forgot all about it until reading […]

  Bill Gates once suggested that if the auto industry had advanced as quickly as the computer industry we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.
The auto industry was quick to respond to this, arguing that if they developed their products in the same way as the computer industry […]

Late last year, the European Union sensibly decided to impose strict targets on its car manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency standards. Fuel efficiency, which has barely improved in previous years, is seen as a key opportunity to bridge the growing energy gap in the near term future.
Under the scheme, manufacturers were, sensibly, given a […]

I think we can all agree the unintended consequences of mandated levels of bio-fuels have had some really devastating results globally. The World Food Programme says the increase in food costs has devastated their 2008 hunger relief programs. Mono-agriculture has reduced crop diversity and added to the problems of nitrogen contamination of water systems as […]

The United Arab Emirates’ plan to build a completely carbon free city. Thirty kilometres from capital Abu Dhabi, Masdar (Arabic for ‘source’) will be home to approximately 40,000 people and accommodate a further 60’000 commuters within its 1,500 planned business premises.
Covering six square kilometres and making extensive use of public transport, solar energy and low […]

Unveiling its national climate change roadmap yesterday, India made it’s latest move in an ongoing stand-off against the US on Co2 emissions targets. The US has refused to set binding targets as long as rapidly developing nations remain unconstrained in their emissions outputs. Conversely, India is unwilling to reduce its emissions whilst the US […]

I’ve written on EcoWorldly this week about proposed legislation to ban the use of products which generate high levels of Co2 emissions. The EU is close to banning patio heaters, and calls for a total ban on high emissions vehicles have recently been made by the former head of oil giant Shell.
There is an important […]

Delegates from the latest US sponsored climate talks in Hawaii have given mixed reports on its success, indicating that the initial stand-off between the US, India and China is still very much an issue.
An unnamed EU delegate gave a very positive statement leading to a number of encouraging headlines in conservative newspapers: “I came expecting […]

Continuing our commentary on the madness of biofuels we have been happy to note that a group of British Members of Parliament  have come to their senses and are petitioning the EU to rethink their biofuels policy.  The report follows a previous admission from the Environment minister of the European Commission that certain environmental and […]

We talk a lot about ‘predictions’ for global warming, and we tend to think of it in the future tense. But there is mounting evidence each day that climate change is not something that will happen in the future – we are feeling the first real impacts right now.
The Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets […]

Much has been said following the Bali Climate Summit of the dangers to the world economy through emissions cap & trade schemes which threaten to hinder industrial development and cripple the world economy. Many observers are predicting the end of Western economic success as schemes are implemented which will limit growth - the main barometer […]

The European Union is currently considering proposals to levy import taxes on goods from countries that do not sign up to emissions treaties.
Taxes will likely be charged based on the equivalent price of an EU emissions permit for specific goods as a way of levelling the playing field between goods manufactured subject to emissions cap […]

Call them extremists, alarmists or fanatics, the climate change debate suffers from its fair share of those who are counterproductive and prevent progress and understanding by the propagation of extreme views.
This is a serious issue in current times as our elected leaders begin to make important decisions which may have profound impacts on our future. The […]

Against expectations US President George Bush has signed a bill mandating a 35mpg fleet average for the American auto industry to be achieved by 2020 amongst other measures aimed at reducing US Co2 emissions.