Category Archives: Policy

by Peter Hartley

It has been claimed that energy security and climate policy should be considered “two sides of the same coin.” In 2006, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said, “We must treat energy security and climate security as two sides of the same coin.” Other leaders in Europe, members of the United States Congress and many commentators have echoed Blair’s statement.

Are both energy security and climate policy best addressed by the same policies, or do policies that are best for one goal possibly compromise attainment of the other goal?

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by Judith Curry

Climate change presents us with a pressing challenge. A global consensus accepts that human activity is responsible for climate change and its associated dangers. However, there is disagreement on how best to address this challenge. The essay argues that leading proposals are unsatisfactory, such as the ecological footprint and polluter pays principle. The reasons include that they do not effectively manage climate change and may contribute to further problems. We require a new approach to address climate change.

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by Judith Curry

The most fundamental argument for R&D on geoengineering is that those decision makers should not be put in a position of either letting dangerous climate change occur or deploying poorly evaluated, untested technologies at scale. At the very least, we need to learn what approaches to avoid even if desperate. 

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by Judith Curry

Stanford physicist’s prescriptions include more natural gas and nuclear power, doubts about renewable energy goals, and a new way to gain political support.

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by Judith Curry

From the latest UNFCCC press release:

Countries meeting in Durban, South Africa, have delivered a breakthrough on the future of the international community’s response to climate change

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by Judith Curry

Gail Tverberg writes:

In a recent post, I discovered something rather alarming–the fact that in the last decade (2000 to 2010) both world energy consumption and the CO2 emissions from this energy consumption were rising as fast as GDP for the world as a whole. This relationship is especially strange, because prior to 2000, it appeared as though decoupling was taking place: GDP was growing more rapidly than energy use and CO2 emissions. And even after 2000, many countries continued to report decoupling.

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by Judith Curry

A June 22, 2010 article in the New Republic provides one of the most sensible analysis of global warming policy that I’ve seen (h/t Roger Caizza).  It is particularly relevant in light of the current negotiations at Durban

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by Judith Curry

There is a question from a gentleman in the fourth row.  He introduces himself as Richard Rothschild. He tells the crowd that he ran for county commissioner in Maryland’s Carroll County because he had come to the conclusion that policies to combat global warming were actually “an attack on middle-class American capitalism.” His question for the panelists, gathered in a Washington, DC, Marriott Hotel in late June, is this: “To what extent is this entire movement simply a green Trojan horse, whose belly is full with red Marxist socioeconomic doctrine?”

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by Judith Curry

The public comment period for the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s (USGCRP) 2012-2021 Strategic Plan is open until November 29, 2011.  Lets take a look at the draft plan.

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by Judith Curry

Does decision making require high levels of confidence? Can there be such a thing as making good decisions under deep uncertainty and even ignorance?   What decision making criteria or guidelines make sense under these circumstances? How does overconfidence hamper the decision making process?

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by Judith Curry

[P]ublic support for the environment is at more than 30 year-low, cap and trade is dead, perhaps for good, and global warming has become as partisan and polarizing an issue as abortion and gun control.

Climate Pragmatism offers a framework for renewed American leadership on climate change that’s effectiveness, paradoxically, does not depend on any agreement about climate science or the risks posed by uncontrolled greenhouse gases.

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by Judith Curry

The impact of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit is difficult to overestimate: it provided a primary foundation for the Precautionary Principle and fostered an agreement on the Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) which in turn led to the Kyoto Protocol. The 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit will be marked by the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (RIO+20).

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by Judith Curry

The issue of whether or not global  climate change is causing more frequent or intense natural disasters is a red herring that is interfering with developing sane policies for reducing our vulnerability to natural disasters.

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by Judith Curry

Bishop Hill spotted an essay with the title of this post that was published in Science and Public Affairs (UK).  The essay is written by Lord William Waldegrave, who is an investment banker and former Cabinet Minister. He is Chairman of the trustees of the Science Museum and President of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee. This article is based on a talk he gave  at the Royal Institution in 2003.

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