International Environmental Policy

A new climate agreement intended to ensure “carbon-neutral growth” in international aviation could lead to a massive increase in demand for problematic offsetting projects.

On paper, almost every government in the world is committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and keeping global temperatures limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. But too many governments, parroting the oil and gas industry's misleading claims, are actually supporting the expansion of fossil fuel production.

Rather than allowing itself to be dragged into Donald Trump’s destructive trade games, the European Union should turn them on their head, by introducing a CO2 levy, including border adjustment. Such a response would help protect the environment and boost the EU's own international clout.

The infrastructure projects needed to forestall catastrophic climate change are rarely attractive investments for the private sector or even most governments. That means development banks have a crucial role to play.

In the EU, an Energy Union is emerging from an array of packages, policies, projects and proposals. They map the shift from conventional energy markets to flexible ones that promote renewables.

Cities can be a hotbed of innovation. They are big enough to try out new ideas on a large scale, but small enough to brush them aside if they do not work out.

While energy giants like Exxon and Shell have drawn fire for their roles in warming the planet, the corporate meat and dairy industries have largely avoided scrutiny.

COP 23 was one COP in two zones: The Bula zone was the site of the official negotiations  - with little relevance to what happens in the real world. The Bonn zone hosted dozens of civil society kiosks and hundreds of events searching for real solutions.

This year alone, the world has faced unprecedented floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and droughts on virtually every continent. A safe climate future requires ending the age of Big Oil.

The UN climate summit COP 23 will convene from 6 to 17 November 2017 in Bonn, Germany, under the presidency of the government of Fiji. This article provides an overview of key issues at stake and a summary of our expectations for the COP 23.