It’s time for rich countries to stop wasting money on fossil fuels

For almost a decade, the world’s most powerful economies have been making promises to stop channeling public money for fossil fuels that pollute our air and drive dangerous climate change, with little impact so far. This weekend’s G7 meeting in Canada is an opportunity to move from words to action. Expect intense discussions on a …

Learning from Barro Blanco: how to improve public participation in climate projects

As negotiations on the Paris Agreement rules approach the finish line, it will be important to ensure that future climate mitigation projects respect human rights and the environment. Ever since flood waters started to rise at the Barro Blanco hydro dam site on the Tabasará river in Panama, destroying agricultural lands, cultural sites, and numerous …

The road ahead for UN carbon markets

Scroll down for French and Spanish Another round of UN climate talks closed on May 10th in Bonn, where negotiators discussed the “Paris Agreement rulebook”, a set of rules to regulate how commitments put forward in Paris can be implemented starting in 2020. The rulebook is to be finalised by the UN climate change conference …

UN carbon markets – what to expect from Bonn?

On Earth Day 22 April 2016, world leaders were in New York to sign the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Two years on, governments are working on the rulebook to put the historic deal into practice. Ahead of the Bonn Climate Change Conference, we take a look at the Paris Agreement market provisions and lay out …

Will this be the world’s most significant carbon pricing scheme?

Canada’s new nation-wide carbon pricing strategy is a promising step towards putting a robust price on pollution, but some of the scheme’s technical details such as intensity-based targets cast doubt on its environmental effectiveness. The start of a new year marks the launch of Canada’s nation-wide carbon pricing strategy, which was announced in 2016 as …

A message to Davos: Put a (high enough) price on pollution to avert climate crisis

This week, leaders from around the world are gathering in Davos to discuss the most pressing global issues of our time under the theme “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”, with climate change likely to feature high on the agenda. For the first time in its history, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) latest …

Swiss-European carbon market link: An omen for future ties?

After six years of negotiations, the European Union and Switzerland have signed an agreement to link their carbon markets. This means that Swiss industries will be able to use European emission allowances and vice versa. The deal is significant in its symbolic nature as it is the first time that two Parties to the Paris …

European industry must become low-carbon to remain competitive

Low-carbon transition and digitisation are key priorities for the future of the European industrial sector, says the European Commission in a paper released today. However, current policies are inadequate to achieve a low-carbon future: industry’s greenhouse gas emissions have barely reduced in the last five years and this trend is projected to continue without further …