Political Climate is off to India for a few days to participate in an event looking at linkages between technology, economic opportunities and finance. It’s being organised by TERI which partners with ippr in the Global Climate Network of think tanks. Our crude understanding of Indian climate politics is that its government, elected last year [...]
March 26, 2010
Feeling the Stones
Deng Xiaoping (pictured) famously advocated a pragmatic approach to progress. ‘Cross the river by feeling the stones‘ he said. Is this cautious view of change in any way compatible with the measures needed to decarbonise economies? We ask this because there is quite clearly a significant gap between the positions of the US and China [...]
March 18, 2010
Finance Ministers Threaten EU R&D Ambitions
We live in austere times in which talk of cuts is common. But there’s a difference between making cuts and cutting off your nose. EU finance ministers appear to be arguing for the latter by opposing the Commission’s long-standing plan to spend 3 per cent of European GDP on research and development. Admittedly, Europe’s record of [...]
March 15, 2010
A New Response to Climate Change
For six weeks, Political Climate has been finding its feet in the blogosphere. Much of what we’ve written hitherto has been aimed at making our views clear on some of the most important issues in the climate change debate. Thus we’ve covered growth, innovation, the underlying politics of climate change and geo-politics. It’s hard to [...]
February 25, 2010
Su Wei Says No Emissions Cap
As if responding to yesterday’s post here on Political Climate, chief negotiator Su Wei (pictured) has confirmed that China will not accept emissions caps in the foreseeable future. He restated China’s commitment to its pre-Copenhagen pledge to reduce emissions intensity. It really doesn’t matter whether you support or are critical of China’s position. You may [...]
February 24, 2010
Connie and Kerry and Climate Politics
There will not be a global climate deal this year, there may, however be US climate legislation. A bet on the first rather than on the second of these statements would be more likely to trouble the cashier at William Hill. However, neither is going to have the bookmakers quaking in their boots. In a [...]
February 19, 2010
Further Questions on Finance
WRI has just put together this useful table of the fast start finance commitments made so far by developed countries. It tells a familiar tale, with much of what seemed fresh in the glare of Copenhagen, now appearing old and rehashed. What can we take away from these intractable discussions on international financing of climate [...]
February 18, 2010
Yvo To Go
Yvo de Boer has announced that he is to step down as head of the UNFCCC’s secretariat. One quick thought: Appoint a successor from a developing country! Just as the WTO’s secretariat has always been seen as close to the European Commission, so the UNFCCC is increasingly perceived as a Eurocentric administration, not least because [...]
February 16, 2010
High Level Finance Questions
On Friday 12 February, the UN’s Secretary General announced the formation of a high-level advisory group on climate financing. It will be co-chaired by Gordon Brown – although for how long who knows – and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia. The assumption is that this is the same high-level group mentioned in paragraph 9 of the [...]
February 12, 2010
Taxing Politics
Oxfam’s Duncan Green has responded to Matthew’s Tobin tax posts of yesterday and also to Owen Barder’s post, which raised concerns about whether financial transactions taxes might have a regressive impact. Duncan’s argument is that a narrow window of opportunity for a Robin Hood Tax on financial transactions has been opened by the financial crisis [...]
Matthew Lockwood
andrewpendleton
chilesl
