In the latest issue of Foreign Policy Barbara Crossette writes about how India is the real “headache” in Asia. She refers to India as the “elephant in the room” that no one seems to be talking about. The piece is extremely critical of how India handles its international relations, and calls it “an international adolescent, […]
The impact of the global financial crisis creates an illusion that there are real prospects for effective co-operation to reach long-term global goals. Despite China’s immaculate hosting of the Olympic Games and its inevitable rise to the global negotiation tables as a key decision-maker, reality forces her to come to terms with her own pressing […]
Copenhagen in the news today. 1) The talks are seemingly stalled, and most are pointing at a dispute over climate aid to developing countries. 2) The chief of the climate summit, Danish Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard, has stepped down from her post, after calls for increased transparency. The Danish Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, will […]
2 for 1 on this Friday. We’ll start with the op-eds. 1) The always provocative Gideon Levy, in Haaretz: Let’s face the facts, Israel is a semi-theocracy. 2) Nir Rosen, in the Boston Review, hammers the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. 3) Hassan Haidar, in the Lebanese daily Dar al-Hayat: The Rediscovery of Afghanistan. 4) FP […]
Just weeks after the United States and China declared their emission cut targets, India today announced that it would reduce its carbon emissions by 20-25 per cent by the year 2020. Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Environment Minister informed the Lok Sabha (India’s lower house of Parliament) that this would be achieved through policy changes including […]
The International Energy Agency is out with its 2009 World Energy Outlook. Some of the revelations presented at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Monday were hardly startling: energy demand and investment down due to global recession, but demand expected to return and grow, China using more energy, etc. But a couple […]
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will arrive this Sunday for his first visit to the US since the Obama administration took office. The Indian Prime Minister will be President Obama’s first State Guest since his inauguration in January. During an interview with the Washington Post, Prime Minister Singh said that during the visit he “would like […]
The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece by one Bjorn Lomborg, who occupies the role of Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a Danish think tank. Dr. Lomborg is interested in prescribing some hard to swallow medicine to all those environmentalists who claim that capping carbon emissions is the magic pill that will solve […]
The world’s highest battlefield seems to be in danger due to climate change. According to Bansi Lal Kaul, the Siachen glacier has receded 800 meters in the last 20 years. In his book ‘Biodiversity Conservation in Himalayas‘ he discusses how the constant military presence in the region has deteriorated the eco-system, polluting the Indus River […]
The consulting and market research company Point Carbon predicts that “Phase 3 of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme [from 2013] (EU ETS) could see the price of an EU Allowance rise from €30/ton in 2013 to €40/t in 2016.” ETS allowances fell to nearly €8/t this year and have recovered slightly since. Firms sold […]
Those who stumbled across the recent Guardian article “China Considers Setting Targets for Carbon Emissions” probably did not fall off of their seats like I did. But at the very least you might have involuntarily raised an eyebrow, or two, and thought “huh, now that’s a game changer.” For people who monitor developments in climate […]