Category: Climate negotiations

Climate negotiations, Individual action on climate

Beyond COP: Why we can’t count on international negotiations alone to save our planet

A year on from last December’s landmark climate deal in Paris, Jeanne Martin, an alumnus of  Imperial’s Centre for Environmental Policy, argues that governments around the world are losing momentum – and it’s time for citizens to step in. A year ago, the world’s governments adopted the Paris Agreement, a global commitment to taking strong action on climate change. Paris was hailed as a major milestone … Continue reading Beyond COP: Why we can’t count on international negotiations alone to save our planet

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Climate negotiations, Innovation

Technology transfer: how the UNFCCC helps put the right technologies into the right hands

How do you ensure that the developing world has access to the key technologies needed to limit greenhouse emissions and adapt to a changing climate? Henrik Larsen, a PhD student at the Centre for Environmental Policy, checks in on progress on facilitating technology development and transfer at the UN climate change conference in Marrakech (COP22). Ever since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change … Continue reading Technology transfer: how the UNFCCC helps put the right technologies into the right hands

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Climate negotiations

A breath of fresh air: Why young people’s voices must ring clear in climate negotiations

Jeanne Martin, an alumnus of  Imperial’s Centre for Environmental Policy, will be attending the UN’s COP22 climate conference in Marrakech next week as a member of the UK Youth Climate Coalition. She explains why the UN climate negotiation process is lacking – and how the youth can improve it. Full of hope. This is how I felt last year, when I walked into my first … Continue reading A breath of fresh air: Why young people’s voices must ring clear in climate negotiations

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Impacts & adaptation, Paris 2015, Student blogs

Ask not what you can do for climate change, but what climate change can do for you

  SSCP-DTP student Arnaud Koehl argues for a better way of selling the benefits of the global climate agreement signed at the COP21 climate conference in Paris Many pundits applauded the Paris Agreement as an unprecedented diplomatic achievement. But for all its successes, to me one key ingredient was missing: the incentive to participate in costly global action. Fighting anthropogenic climate change is a collective … Continue reading Ask not what you can do for climate change, but what climate change can do for you

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Mitigation, Paris 2015, Policy

Climate action: Six reasons for optimism in 2016

With the passing of the historic Paris Agreement on climate change last month, things are looking up for the planet, with Rebecca Leber of the New Republic saying “the world is a little less doomed”. Attention now turns to how the countries and cities that have committed to taking action on climate change can turn those pledges into reality. There may be challenging times ahead … Continue reading Climate action: Six reasons for optimism in 2016

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CCS, Mitigation, Paris 2015, Student blogs

Unconvinced about CCS? Let me tell you more…

SSCP DTP student Clea Kolster (Centre for Environmental Policy) gauges views on Carbon Capture and Storage at the UN climate change conference in Paris (COP21). As a PhD student attending COP21, I arrived eager to take it all in: the politics, the science, the urgent desire to save the planet, the people who are most at risk because of climate change and last, but not … Continue reading Unconvinced about CCS? Let me tell you more…

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Emissions, Mitigation, Paris 2015

Peering into the emissions gap

Grantham Affiliate Dr Heather Graven gives us the lowdown on the emissions gap. What is the emissions gap? The international community agreed on a 2°C target for the upper limit on global average temperature rise at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Cancun in 2010 (COP16). The emissions gap is the difference between pledges made this … Continue reading Peering into the emissions gap

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Energy, Innovation, Mitigation, Paris 2015

How do we make renewable electricity cheap enough to leave coal in the ground?

Ajay Gambhir discusses the role of public funding on energy technology innovation The Global Apollo Programme proposal aims to get renewable electricity so cheap that we may as well give up on coal- and gas-fired generation by the mid-2020s – regardless of whether we care about climate change or not. This would be achieved by the world’s governments signing up to commit 0.02% of their annual GDP on … Continue reading How do we make renewable electricity cheap enough to leave coal in the ground?

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Communicating climate change, Paris 2015

Climate change education: filling the gaps

Grantham Institute Education Manager Sophie Smith explains why we need to nurture postgraduates with a broad perspective and a solid skills base. “Climate change education, training and public awareness are essential to achieving the Global Goals.” [targets to tackle poverty and climate change] This quote from the Director-General of UNESCO at COP21 last week sums up my thoughts exactly. Solving any of the major challenges … Continue reading Climate change education: filling the gaps

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Emissions, Energy, Paris 2015

Apollo has landed: the role of the private sector in completing the race for 100% renewables

Dr Charles Donovan and Christopher Corbishley discuss the falling cost of renewables. In the lead-up to the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) in Paris, there was a lot of buzz in the mainstream business press about the need for research and development that could lead to breakthroughs in the cost of clean energy technologies. Over the summer, Financial Times commentator Martin Wolf called for a “moonshot … Continue reading Apollo has landed: the role of the private sector in completing the race for 100% renewables

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