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862. Climate Governance Post-2012, Options for EU Policy-Making
- Publication Date:
- 11-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- This brief focuses on three issues that are especially important in the long-term development of the climate regime: (a) the challenge of the fragmentation of negotiations and governance systems; (b) the challenge of steering and evaluating novel types of privatised and market-based governance mechanisms; and (c) the challenge of designing architectures for global adaptation governance. These three core issues of fragmentation, privatisation and adaptation can be related to the overarching need to define the architecture of the post-2012 regime – and of any subsequent regimes that may follow a Copenhagen agreement.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Privatization, Treaties and Agreements, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Europe
863. On the way to Copenhagen via Poznań: Preliminary thinking about a post-2012 climate deal
- Author:
- Noriko Fujiwara
- Publication Date:
- 11-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- The annual climate change conference (COP14/CMP4) will take place in Poznań, 1–12 December 2008. This Policy Brief aims at providing a brief assessment of where we are on the road from Bali to Copenhagen, thinking ahead of Poznań in relation to the current negotiating environment and exploring the possible nature of an agreed outcome to be reached in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Bali
864. Overcoming the Challenges to the Implementation of Green Chemistry
- Author:
- William C. Clark, Kira J. M. Matus, Paul T. Anastas, and Kai Itameri-Kinter
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- The Harvard-Yale-ACS GCI Green Chemistry Project is investigating the overall question of the circumstances under which firms can enact innovations that have both economic and environmental benefits, through a focused examination of the implementation of green chemistry. The research project has taken up three fundamental, interrelated questions: What factors act as barriers to the implementation of green chemistry? What actions can be taken by the government, academia, NGO's and industry that will help alleviate these factors? What are the policy implications of these barriers and potential actions, for all of the involved stakeholders?
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
865. Climate of Displacement, Climate for Protection?
- Author:
- Vikram Kolmannskog
- Publication Date:
- 12-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- This article looks at existing categories of forced migrants in the context of climate change to analyse protection possibilities. Climate change impacts include an increase in the frequency and severity of weather hazards. Disasters and degradation can serve as a direct cause of displacement, or as an indirect cause of displacement through conflicts. Much climate change-related forced migration is likely to remain internal and regional in the foreseeable future. As internally displaced persons the forced migrants are protected according to the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. For those who cross borders and enter other counties, there seems to be a serious protection gap. They are not considered refugees unless they are fleeing persecution on certain grounds. The human rights approach differs from general forced migration law by focusing on needs rather than cause. If return is neither possible nor reasonable due to circumstances in the place of origin and personal conditions including particular vulnerabilities, a person should receive protection regardless of the initial cause of movement. Some countries grant complementary or temporary protection. An important rationale for international protection is that some of the most exposed and vulnerable states to climate change impacts may be unwilling or unable to protect the forced migrants. Other countries may also have a responsibility since climate change is mostly the fault of the rich and developed countries. Since most of the affected and displaced will never reach the rich countries, this responsibility must also manifest itself through investments in adaptation in developing countries and other support for the most affected, including humanitarian response.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, and Migration
866. A Federal Renewable Electricity Requirement
- Author:
- Robert J. Michaels
- Publication Date:
- 11-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Rising energy prices and climate change have changed both the economics and politics of electricity. In response, over half the states have enacted “renewable portfolio standards” (RPS) that require utilities to obtain some power from “renewable” generation resources rather than carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Reports of state-level success have brought proposals for a national standard. Like several predecessor Congresses, however, the most recent one failed to pass RPS legislation.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
- Political Geography:
- Europe
867. Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Foreign Policy
- Author:
- David G. Victor, Michael A. Levi, George E. Pataki, and Thomas J. Vilsack
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Unchecked climate change is poised to have wide-ranging and potentially disastrous effects over time on human welfare, sensitive ecosystems, and international security. This urgent challenge demands that the United States and the world take comprehensive action to limit the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and to address the consequences of any unavoidable climate change.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States
868. Saving the Arctic, Now
- Author:
- Rafe Pomerance and Armond Cohen
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- European Affairs
- Institution:
- The European Institute
- Abstract:
- The Arctic is leading a global meltdown and Greenland is the worst hot spot – partly because it collects “black carbon” as tiny soot particles that intensify the heat. Emissions of this sort could be quickly and effectively reversed if collective action is taken now.
- Topic:
- Climate Change and Environment
- Political Geography:
- Greenland
869. Planet of Slums
- Author:
- Ron Kassimir
- Publication Date:
- 03-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Carnegie Council
- Abstract:
- Planet of Slums is relentless. Mike Davis, the prolific author and social critic, piles on evidence in the service of a passionate, despairing, and at times furious analysis of the economic, social, and environmental state of cities in the global South. Davis might have just as readily titled his book The World Is a Ghetto, after the 1972 hit by the band War. But a key goal of the book is to show how much things have changed since that time, almost all for the worse. If the book tends to oversimplify enormously complex and diverse urban worlds, it has an undeniable virtue at its core. Whereas the War tune's chorus was ''don't you know / that it's true / that for me and for you / the world is a ghetto,'' Davis never stops asking who the ''me and you'' are. The growth and transformation of slums from Cairo to Manila, from Lagos to Lima, are both a symbol and a cause of a growing gap in life chances (socioeconomic and existential) between rich and poor—local, national, and global in scale.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, and War
870. Reuniting Ethics and Social Science: The Oxford Handbook of International Relations
- Author:
- Christian Reus-Smit and Duncan Snidal
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Carnegie Council
- Abstract:
- If International Relations as a scholarly endeavor is to remain relevant it must speak to today's most pressing dilemmas of political action in world politics: theoretically, analytically, and practically. How should we combat terrorism? When, if ever, is humanitarian intervention justified? How should we address the transborder movement of peoples? What is an appropriate response to global climate change? What should the international community do about ''failed states''? How should we respond to persistent global poverty and political alienation? How do we reconcile trade liberalization and environmental protection? Who is the ''we'' that has responsibility for acting in such situations?
- Topic:
- Climate Change and Terrorism