Content tagged: policy

With results of the recent Australian Federal Election remaining unclear, Rupert Posner, Australia Director of The Climate Group, analyzes the potential outcomes for climate change policies in Australia.

The first-ever Clean Energy Ministerial meeting, hosted by US Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu, concluded last Tuesday, launching 11 new initiatives to promote the advancement of clean technologies globally.

Damian Ryan, Senior Policy Manager for The Climate Group, analyzes what progress has been made so far and what remains to be done in the build up to COP16 in Mexico at the end of the year.

Thurstan Wright and Matthew Gray, Policy Analysts at The Climate Group, discuss how The Climate Group’s updated strategy aligns with findings from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest report.

Leaders from the G8 and G20 will meet this weekend in Ontario, Canada...

The Climate Group's Thurstan Wright reports on policies and legislation being adopted in the US, EU and China to accelerate the scale up and deployment of electric vehicles...

The Climate Group, The Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change and WWF Climate Savers Programme have today published a joint declaration to EU institutions and ministers to highlight the economic and strategic benefits of advancing their current 20 per cent greenhouse gas emissions reduction target...

Damian Ryan, Senior Analyst at The Climate Group, discusses why engagement in the international UN climate talks should be on the agendas of businesses and sub-national governments...

Leading Latin American climate expert and negotiator Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica has been appointed to the top UN climate post by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon...

The Climate Group convened an electric vehicle leadership summit on May 3rd, followed by a closed-door EV20 roundtable at the Monaco Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 to explore how the world's biggest and smallest countries are hoping to turn the world’s 1 billion vehicle fleet electric.

Rupert Posner, The Climate Group's Australia Director, comments on the Australian Government’s recent announcement that it is shelving its proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) until 2013...

The Climate Group's Damian Ryan reports on the UN climate talks that took place in Bonn at the weekend...

The Climate Group's Damian Ryan reports on the ‘International Climate Change Action Plan’, released today by the UK government...

Thurstan Wright, Analyst, The Climate Group, discusses factors that could determine whether COP 16 will be a step in the right direction…

Just weeks ahead of an expected national election, the UK’s Conservative Party has released plans for a ‘radical overhaul’ of Britain’s energy policy should they be elected to government.

Financing to address the impacts and causes of climate change was one of the success stories of Copenhagen; having made the commitment, the challenge now facing the international community is agreeing how exactly to deliver and transparently use the funds.

The Climate Group and the Île de France-Paris Region hosted a high level conference with Government and business to discuss eco-innovation strategies and opportunities in the challenging context of the post-Copenhagen climate summit...

The Climate Group and representatives of Europe’s most powerful regional governments have sent a joint statement to EU leaders today to warn that more ambitious EU climate and energy policies will be essential to powering Europe’s future competitiveness, growth and jobs.

The single most significant driver of private sector investment in climate change solutions is strong, stable, transparent and credible policy, writes Peter Dunscombe, Chairman of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)

Leading financial institutions who have adopted the Climate Principles met in Zurich today to discuss the financing needs for decarbonizing the power sector...

The Climate Group and a number of other NGOs and industry groups have written to the Presidents of the European Council, European Commission, and European Parliament ahead of the European Summit this week...

Fifty-five countries have met the UN’s 31st January deadline for submitting their intended climate mitigation commitments under the Copenhagen Accord...

A new report has revealed that greenhouse gas emissions from energy-use in Australias eastern states fell by 1.8 per cent in 2009.

"Will the Accord stop us going over 2 degrees? Not by itself. However, if countries now step up and register ambitious but achievable targets and commitments it will be a clear step forwards..."

The United States today announced in Copenhagen that they would contribute to the $100 billion per year needed by 2020 to help developing countries adapt to climate change...

The Climate Leaders Summit 2009, convened by international non-profit The Climate Group, gave platform to HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, Shai Agassi, Founder & CEO of Better Place, First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, Premier Rann of South Australia and Premier Charest of Quebec, among others. Each made an individual announcement on new low carbon initiatives in front of 60 leaders and ministers from around the world.

The decision enables the EPA to move forward with regulations that would limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and large industrial sources, without new Congressional legislation.

But with the short time remaining until Copenhagen, it is now up to the US and China to translate these promises into clear commitments for the negotiations.

The press is now portraying this as a "major blow" that puts a global deal on climate change in jeopardy. But all hope is not lost....

Copenhagen is an important milestone, but not the end of efforts, on this journey.

The Catalan Government and The Climate Group convened this high-level conference in Barcelona

The London MEF meeting ended with an upbeat communiqué but recognition that there are still major obstacles to agreement on a new climate deal.

US Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) released their Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act yesterday. The Climate Group's Evan Juska comments.

"The White Paper sends a strong signal to UN international climate negotiations," says Policy Director Mark Kenber.

Momentum towards a global deal remains, but the "question of targets and financing for 2020 has, once again, been kicked into the long grass" writes Mark Kenber, The Climate Group's Policy Director

The climate and energy bill's passage is a historic milestone for US climate policy.

Scotland leads the world with voting in a bill that sets a target to reduce greenhouse gases by 42 per cent by 2020.

Negotiations at Bonn saw a modest degree of progress but have, on all counts, left negotiators mountains to do if they are to deliver an ambitious global climate agreement this December that sets the world firmly on the path to a low carbon economy.

Agriculture is key both to securing a global deal and to helping reduce US emissions, writes Midwest Regional Manager, Alison Hannon.

If all of the world's light bulbs were replaced with energy-efficient LEDs for a period of 10 years, researchers say it would reduce global oil consumption by 962 million barrels.

In April this year, India held its 15th Lok Sabha Elections (House of the People, the directly elected Lower House of the Parliament of India) -the largest democratic election in the world (an electorate of 714 million voters)...

Day 2 of the World Business Summit on Climate Change - a gathering of top business leaders, policy makers, negotiators, experts and scientists - was dominated by the working group sessions focusing on the means to achieve a rapid transition to a low carbon economy...

Mark Kenber, Policy Director of The Climate Group, welcomes the UK's first low carbon budget and assesses the next steps needed to keep the UK on track for a prosperous low carbon economy....

The Aviation Global Deal (AGD) Group will today present UN climate change negotiators with a draft policy framework for addressing CO2 emissions from international aviation. The framework will set out an "ambitious, equitable and effective" way of tackling these emissions under a global climate change deal to be agreed in Copenhagen in December...

Obama's recent order to reconsider allowing California to adopt its own motor vehicle emission standards was one of two major executive actions he can take on climate change.The other could be much bigger. The Climate Group's Evan Juska explains.

The Climate Group has published a new report outlining China's growing efforts to curb urban carbon emissions to support the launch of a new low carbon development initiative with 20 of China's cities, including Guiyang and Dezhou....

The recently concluded 4th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Convention was characterized by low expectations and few concrete outcomes...

The Australian Government's White Paper on a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme sets a target range of 5 to 15 per cent reductions from 2000 levels by 2020...

The Climate Group's policy director Mark Kenber gave a cautious welcome to the Climate and Energy package agreed by EU Heads of Government in Brussels on December 12th.

With crucial climate meetings taking place in both Poznan and Brussels this week, The Climate Group's Policy Director Mark Kenber outlines the stakes.

The UK Parliament has passed a powerful trio of climate and energy-related legislation - including the Climate Change Act...

The HSBC Climate Confidence Monitor 2008 - a survey of 12,000 people across 12 countries worldwide - reveals 78% of respondents want their countries to take on their 'fair share' in reducing global {CO2} emissions.

The Climate Group's Michael Allegretti and Evan Juska consider the impact of a new pro-environment Energy & Commerce committee in the US.

TOKYO, JAPAN - It is not overly dramatic to say we stand at a cross roads, between an uncertain future of rising pollution and climate chaos, or a green technology revolution that delivers a clean and prosperous world. In a few days time world leaders will gather in Japan...

Key legislation in Congress and a hive of activity on the carbon trading front suggest real progress, writes The °Climate Group's Emily Farnworth in a column at ClimateChangeCorp.com...

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair visited China to promote our joint Breaking the Climate Deadlock initiative.

Former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has today announced a major new climate change initiative: Breaking the Climate Deadlock - achieving a global deal on climate change. The Climate Group - an independent, not-for-profit organisation working internationally with government and business leaders - is providing strategic international support for this new initiative...

We now have a road map where we didn't have one before, but we don't yet have the resolution needed to know where it will take us.

In his very first act as Australia's 26th Prime Minister, Labour's Kevin Rudd has ratified the Kyoto Protocol...

Welcoming the release IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "The message it contains could not be simpler.The threat of climate change is real and there are concrete and affordable ways to deal with it."

"Over the course of the next few days," said CEO Steve Howard, "world leaders have a unique opportunity to make decisions and secure commitments that will help put the world on track towards a low carbon economy.

°Climate Group member South Australia has released an unprecedented solar "feed-in" legislation. This move by the State Government will see home owners with solar panels receive double credit for power they feed back into the grid...

"The speed with which Governor Crist acted is impressive and provides a great example of what can be achieved in a relatively short space of time."

The leaders of the G8 countries have moved closer to the long-term agreement on emission reduction targets that the public, scientists and businesses have been calling for...

State and territory environment ministers agreed to a proposal for mandatory reporting by companies emitting more than 25,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year.

On June 4th China announced its aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions growth by almost one billion tonnes by 2010 under a long-awaited national climate plan announced in Beijing.

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has sent a letter to the G8 Heads of State ahead of the Heiligendamm Summit underlining the importance of laying the foundations for a post-2012 policy framework on climate change.

The draft Climate Change Bill calls for an independent panel to set ministers a "carbon budget" every five years, in a bid to cut emissions by 60% by 2050.

European Union leaders have agreed to adopt a binding target on the use of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, officials say.

The first-ever comprehensive plan by a large city to cut carbon emissions, the plan sets out how London will reduce its carbon emissions by 60 percent of 1990 levels by 2025.

"The IPCC report illustrates that the challenge is both enormous and more urgent than many previously envisioned," said Dr. Steve Howard, CEO, The Climate Group. "The silver lining, however, is that innovative and effective solutions are here, if we're courageous enough to embrace them."

The snow came late to Davos - but just in time to give the impression of a more normal winter for the 2,400 delegates attending this year's World Economic Forum (WEF).

The Climate Group is bringing Linda Adams, California's Secretary for Environmental Protection, to the COP in Nairobi the week of November 13th to meet with the heads of regional governments across the world to discuss climate change action.

The key message from the report, the most extensive analysis carried out to date on the economics of climate change, is that the costs of taking action now (likely to amount to approximately 1% of GDP) are far outweighed by the costs associated with adopting a 'wait and see' attitude.

Landmark climate bill AB32 puts a cap on California's greenhouse gas emissions and creates a clear path for a market-based system..