COP21 and the carbon market menace

There is a diplomatic silence over carbon trading at COP21, but a Paris climate agreement could offer a lifeline to carbon ‘offsetting’ schemes, while new rules could help build a global carbon market.

At Climate Summit, It’s Economy First, Then Survival

At Climate Summit, It’s Economy First, Then Survival

Update from Doha, Qatar: As countries (somewhat ironically) gather in the petro-state of Qatar for the annual UN climate summit, it’s even more apparent that economic considerations override concerns about severe environmental disruption, and even survival.

Key Countries, Organizations Call For Innovative Sources of Finance

At a press conference in Durban, South Africa, officials from a diverse set of countries will join civil society leaders to call for innovative sources of finance, including a tax on financial transactions and a fee on emissions from maritime shipping, to be part of a deal in Durban which raises billions of dollars to help fill the Green Climate Fund.

Durban Diary: Dispatch from the Ground

Durban Diary: Dispatch from the Ground

As UN climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, go into their final week, Janet Redman, co-director of IPS’s Sustainable Energy & Economy Network, provides a quick update on the talks.

Background Briefing on Upcoming UN Climate Summit in Durban, South Africa to be led by Janet Redman

“Solving the climate crisis is the most urgent challenge of our time,” said Redman. “Our economy, our jobs, our health and our security depend on climate stability. But over the past year the United States has been undermining the continuation of the world’s only global treaty to curb greenhouse gas pollution, and has blocked critical progress on a Green Climate Fund and long-term financial support for poor countries most impacts by global warming. The Obama administration must use the Durban talks to clean up its act. Our future depends upon it.”