Category Archives: Uncategorized

Populism update

Think about the populist anti-politics vote and suddenly it’s everywhere – in the UK, across Europe, and currently very much in France. Not always linked to climate scepticism, but sometimes very strongly so, and not going away soon.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Why does the UK find it so hard to develop CCS?

Last week the UK Energy Research Council  produced a big report on the route to a demonstration of carbon capture and storage (coordinated by my Sussex colleague Jim Watson), informed by past experience of stimulating innovation in similar types of large scale … Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Of oil and troubled waters

Last week saw a pitched battle outside Indonesia’s parliament building, with water cannons and tear gas deployed on 10,000 protestors. The reason? Proposals from the government to cut

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

The politics of the sustainable state

Dieter Helm, centre right economist and newly appointed Chair of the Natural Capital Committee has just produced an interesting new essay (hat tip to Matthew Spencer). His approach draws a lot on the work of people like Kenneth Arrow and Partha Dasgupta who … Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Of gas and gasoline

Couple of items tonight: 1. As new boy in DECC, Ed Davey seems to have been ambushed by the gas industry, with a ruling allowing new gas power plants to emit up to 450 gCO2/kWh out to 2045. This move will … Continue reading

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

A question of legacy

There’s been quite a lot of discussion of the intergenerational implications of debt recently. Paul Krugman tries to explain (here, here and here) that borrowing today does not, on the whole, leave a net burden of debt to our children tomorrow,

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Avoiding the spin

Amongst all the coverage in the build up to Durban last week, I noticed a rather odd-looking story from Fiona Harvey (previously at the Financial Times, now in the green corner at The Guardian) on “government research” claiming that UK … Continue reading

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

A town in South Africa beginning with D

So the UNFCCC juggernaut gears up again for another year. According to reports, top celebs attending COP17 in Durban include Angelina Jolie, Bono, Leonardio di Caprio, Arnold Schwarzengger and Sarah Palin. But for them, and the thousands of official delegates … Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Denial Tango

Nice bit of satire from the delightfully named Men With Day Jobs – thanks to John Macgrath via Duncan Green.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Back from the dead

After a long summer away, assessing options for the future of this blog, we are back. We intend to try to blog once a week, at least initially, and see if that is sustainable. First post should be up shortly, … Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized