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811. Reframing Global Environmental Governance: Results of a CIGI/CIS Collaboration

Author:
Jennifer Clapp, Steven Bernstein, and Matt Hoffmann
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Global environmental governance is undergoing significant change. There is a growing recognition that the traditional state-centric intergovernmental model of addressing global environmental problems is insufficient in the face of increasingly complex and overlapping environmental issues. There are serious questions about the ability or willingness of states, individually and collectively, to respond to the most pressing environmental challenges. The erosion of confidence in and the dominance of a state-centric governance model has simultaneously resulted from and provoked significant innovation. While there is growing discussion of institutional reform at the international level including reform to the United Nations Environment Programme and the creation of a new global organization to address these problems, there is also a fragmentation of governance processes to other jurisdictional levels and actors. Corporations, social and environmental organizations, private-public partnerships, substate governments, and even local communities have already begun to conceive and implement governance initiatives to address global environmental problems. This paper reflects upon these innovative institutional dynamics and assesses their prospects to produce effective, legitimate, and equitable outcomes. It concludes with a series of questions to guide future analysis and to better understand the prospects for improving the practice of global environmental governance.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, International Cooperation, International Organization, and Governance

812. Keys to Economics of Global Warming: A Critique of the Dismal Theorem

Author:
Sungno Niggol Seo
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Independent Institute
Abstract:
M. L. Weitzman in his paper "On Modeling and Interpreting the Economics of Catastrophic Climate Change" argues that a standard cost-benefit analysis cannot be used as a tool for climate change policy since the problem of climate change possesses a large irresolvable uncertainty. I critique his analysis on two grounds: 1) key issues in the economics of global warming and 2) the claim on catastrophe. I point out that the fundamental economics of global warming is to provide a public good that is spatially global and temporally lasting, for several centuries, by a globally coordinated effort. The fundamental issue is how to cooperate on a global scale to regulate greenhouse gases given the divergent needs and preferences of individuals, businesses, countries, and even future generations. I argue that Weitzman misinterprets climate science by assuming that all scenarios are equally likely and that there will be no policy intervention to control greenhouse gases. In addition, he focuses on long-term climate predictions. Finally, impact studies do not support catastrophic outcomes from climate change within this century.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Environment, and International Cooperation

813. Responding to climate change in Vietnam: Opportunities for improving gender equality

Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Vietnam is among the countries worst affected by the adverse effects of climate change, especially in coastal and low-land regions. Already an average of one million Vietnamese are affected annually by disasters including flooding in the Mekong Delta region. Serious droughts also affect the central coast region, Mekong Delta and mountainous areas. Climate change is recognized by the Government of Viet Nam as a major challenge, and the National Target Programme to Respond to Climate Change (NTP-RCC) was approved in December 2008.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, and Gender Issues
Political Geography:
Vietnam and Southeast Asia

814. A call for action: Young people's views on climate change - Vietnam

Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
“World leaders all over the world can work together to find the best solutions for our green globe in the UN summit on climate change this coming December” is the key message that young people in Vietnam wish to say to the Heads of State joining COP15 in Copenhagen in December 2009.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and Youth Culture
Political Geography:
Vietnam and Southeast Asia

815. Trilateral Cooperation in the 21st Century: First Summary Report of the Trialogue21 Initiatve

Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
From 2006 to 2008, the EastWest Institute (EWI) and the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) coorganized the first three annual discussions of the Trialogue21 initiative – an off-the-record process involving public and private sector leaders from China, the United States and Europe. The meetings, which were held in Berlin (December 2006), Beijing (November 2007), and Washington, D.C. (December 2008), served as an annual review of relations among the three powers and addressed a wide range of common domestic and foreign policy concerns.
Topic:
Political Violence, Climate Change, Environment, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, China, Europe, Washington, and Berlin

816. A Roadmap for U.S.-China Collaboration on Carbon Capture and Sequestration

Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Asia Society
Abstract:
Global greenhouse gas emissions are fast approaching unsustainable and alarming levels . There is broad consensus that these emissions, caused primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, have led to global warming. it is increasingly evident that maintaining the current trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions poses wide-ranging and potentially catastrophic risks to natural systems and human welfare . it is also clear that an unprecedented level of global cooperation will be necessary to successfully confront the immense challenge of reversing the effects of climate change.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Energy Policy, Environment, Bilateral Relations, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States and China

817. Nuclear Energy: Rebirth or Resuscitation?

Author:
Sharon Squassoni
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
After several decades of disappointing growth, nuclear energy seems poised for a comeback. Talk of a "nuclear renaissance" includes perhaps a doubling or tripling of nuclear capacity by 2050, spreading nuclear power to new markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and developing new kinds of reactors and fuel-reprocessing techniques. But the reality of nuclear energy's future is more complicated. Without major changes in government policies and aggressive financial support, nuclear power is actually likely to account for a declining percentage of global electricity generation.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Nuclear Weapons, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
Middle East and Southeast Asia

818. Energy Security: Transatlantic Cooperation and Sustainability

Author:
Franklin Kramer and John Lyman
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
The world is energy short and carbon long. This report focuses on that juxtaposition and the means to achieve energy security in a world concerned over climate change and maintaining economic growth. The provision of a sustainable energy future will require a dramatic transformation of the world's energy supplies and consumption patterns. The current global financial crisis and accompanying economic downturn has made meeting this challenge significantly more difficult. Despite the current softening of energy demand, the world is facing a long-term tightening of conventional energy supplies and a need to address increasing environmental concerns that will require international cooperation on an unprecedented scale.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, and International Security

819. U.S.-China Cooperation on Nuclear Power

Author:
John R. Lyman
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
In 2007, the Atlantic Council of the United States (the Council) partnered with the U.S./China Energy and Environment Technology Center (EETC) at Tsinghua and Tulane Universities to hold a series of dialogues to foster cooperation between the United States and China on developing secure and sustainable energy supplies. Over the past several years, the Council and EETC have invited key organizations, experts from industry and government, and representatives from relevant United States (U.S.) and Chinese government agencies to become directly involved in several meetings designed to identify concrete recommendations for increasing official governmental and industry cooperation.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Climate Change, Diplomacy, Energy Policy, Bilateral Relations, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
United States, China, and Asia

820. Resetting the Transatlantic Economic Council

Author:
Annette Heuser and Frances Burwell
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
This memo is a joint effort of the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Atlantic Council and is intended as a contribution to advancing the integration of the trans‐Atlantic economy. This project was conceived as a blueprint for the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) on the occasion of the October meeting.
Topic:
International Relations, Climate Change, Economics, International Cooperation, and International Trade and Finance