International – Page 12

BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight – Segment on Rio+20

On June 1, 2012 By admin

I was on BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight last night, talking about Rio+20 with Bernice Lee of Chatham House and Andrew Hurrell of the University of Oxford. Click here to listen to the programme. The Rio+20 segment starts at about 33 minutes in, and our discussion at 35 minutes.

Tom Burke’s political commentary: Durban talks were not a failure for climate policy

On January 23, 2012March 13, 2012 By admin

ENDS Report 444, p. 45, January 2012. The latest round of UN climate talks made important progress in a number of areas, including Green Fund governance and the Clean Development Mechanism. Durban did not fail. That is by far and away the most important outcome from the latest round of […]

Tom Burke’s political commentary: Nixon’s environmentalism is a lesson from history

On July 26, 2011March 13, 2012 By admin

ENDS Report 438, p. 55, July 2011. Under President Richard Nixon, the US led the world in environmental protection. But his ideologically driven heirs in the Tea Party threaten to destroy this legacy. Modern environmentalism began in the US. In September, Friends of the Earth (FoE) UK will celebrate its […]

Tom Burke’s Political Commentary: New momentum on climate negotiations is now urgently needed

On January 1, 2010April 11, 2012 By admin

Published in ENDS Report (Issue 420, p49), in January 2010. So what really happened in Copenhagen? And even more importantly, what happens now? Forgive me for troubling you with this topic again, but this was no ordinary meeting. Konrad von Moltke, the founder of the Institute for European Environment Policy, […]

Tom Burke’s Political Commentary: Slouching away from Copenhagen: a terrible beauty was stillborn

On December 1, 2009April 11, 2012 By admin

Published in ENDS Report (Issue 419, p55), in December 2009. They came. They tried. They failed. Not one of the 119 world leaders who attended the Copenhagen summit came intending to shatter a global climate regime so painfully built over 20 years. But that is what they accomplished. Do not […]

Tom Burke’s Political Commentary: The US returns from the green policy wilderness

On November 1, 2008April 11, 2012 By admin

Published in ENDS Report (Issue 406, p53), in November 2008. The US is back. The missing voice from the world’s environmental conversation has returned. It has been missing for a long time. Longer than you think. It is nearly 30 years since the world last looked to the US for […]

The world and climate change: all together now

On December 7, 2007March 13, 2012 By admin

Published in openDemocracy, 7th December 2007. A version of this article is also being published by the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED) The “global” problem of climate change is endlessly discussed, but rarely looked at in a cold light. The crux of the matter is that all of […]

On hanging together

On December 1, 2007March 13, 2012 By admin

Published on IIED, in Dec 2007. Last year Kofi Annan warned of the growing gap between what scientists say is necessary to avoid dangerous climate change and what politicians are willing to do. Since then concern among climate scientists has grown as our knowledge of the impacts of a rapidly […]

The G8 and climate change: a campaigners’ scorecard

On July 12, 2005March 26, 2012 By admin

Was the G8 summit good for the prospects of limiting global climate change? Scientists and campaigners comment on the Gleneagles outcome. My answer to this question is below. To see all of the contributions- from Mayer Hillman, Camilla Toulmin &Saleemul Huq, Stephen Harrison, and Aubrey Meyer- click here. Published on openDemocracy on […]

Emissions Trading

On May 17, 2005April 12, 2012 By admin

Written for publication in May 2005. Like all good theories, the theory of emissions trading is elegant. Governments establish an overall limit of the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. Enterprises are then allocated permits to emit the pollutant up to that limit – known as the ‘cap’. […]