Policy

Paris Agreement: Why the developing nations need to worry

Abdul Basit Gania, January 7, 2016

After more than two weeks of intensive deliberations and negotiations, COP21 in Paris concluded with a standing ovation. 196 participating nations agreed upon the long-term goal of achieving temperatures “well below” the 2 degree Celsius over the pre-industrial levels and a consensus was reached to strive for an ambitious limit of 1.5 degrees. However, beyond all these promises and aspirations, the likelihood of achieving such targets is a remote possibility because the nations need to do much more than they have promised and their promises are not even legally binding.

During Paris Climate Summit, Obama signed Exxon-, Koch-backed bill expediting pipeline permits

Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, January 3, 2016

Just over a week before the U.S. signed the Paris climate agreement at the conclusion of the COP21 United Nations summit, President Barack Obama signed a bill into law with a provision that expedites permitting of oil and gas pipelines in the United States.

U.S. military no longer automatically exempt from emissions targets under Paris deal

Arthur Neslen, Grist, December 19, 2015

The U.S. military and armed forces of countries around the world will no longer be automatically exempted from emissions-cutting obligations under the U.N. Paris climate deal, the Guardian has learned.

Although the U.S. never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, it won an opt-out from having to fully report or act on its armed forces’ greenhouse gas emissions, which was then double-locked by a House national defense authorization bill in 1999.

COP21: in spite of the show, the glass is 80% empty

Daniel Tanuro, International Viewpoint, December 19, 2015

The COP21 Paris Climate Conference has, as expected, led to an agreement. It will come into effect from 2020 if it is ratified by 55 of the countries which are signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and these 55 countries account for at least 55% of global emissions of greenhouse gases. In the light of the positions taken in Paris, this dual condition should not raise any difficulty (although the non-ratification of Kyoto by the United States shows that surprises are always possible).

America Petroleum Institute praises Congress for lifting crude export ban

API, PR Newswire, December 18, 2015

[So where does this fit into the Paris Agreement? Who cares??]

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard thanked the Senate for ending the '70s-era crude export ban.

COP21: la "neutralité climatique" au prix du désastre social et écologique (French)

Daniel Tanuro, LCR, December 16, 2015

Celles et ceux qui se réjouissent de l’accord sur le climat soulignent notamment le fait que le texte adopté fixe pour objectif « d’atteindre dans la seconde moitié du siècle un équilibre entre les émissions anthropiques et les absorptions de gaz à effet de serre« . C’est exact, MAIS, pour apprécier la portée de cet engagement, pour savoir s’il est effectivement conforme aux impératifs de la résilience, il faut tenir compte aussi des faits suivants:

– le texte ne fixe aucune échéance pour le pic des émissions;

Paris: World agrees to increase emissions

Jonathan Neale, Global Climate Jobs, December 13, 2015

The circus is over. The suits are leaving Paris. There have been millions of words written about the text. But one fact stands out. All the governments of the world have agreed to increase global greenhouse gas emissions every year between now and 2030. [1]

Klimakonferenz: Climate Change? Global Change? System Change! (in German)

Katharina Kropshofer, mokant.at, December 8, 2015

Am 30. November startet die 21. UN-Klimakonferenz und wiederum werden das Erstellen von Protokollen und scheinbar leere Verpflichtungen im Vordergrund stehen. Warum ist der Mensch so Handlungs-gelähmt? Ein Erklärungsversuch

Erasing Mossville: how pollution killed a Louisiana town

Heather Rogers, The Intercept, November 5, 2015

ALLEN LEBLANC LED A VIGOROUS LIFE as a young man growing up in Mossville, Louisiana. He had a sheet-rocking business, drove trucks, and worked at the Conoco oil refinery. He helped his mother and stepfather run their nightclub, where Tina Turner and James Brown used to play. He also helped out at home with his five children, and he would paint, fix broken windows, and mow lawns for neighbors who couldn’t afford to maintain their houses. Now, at 71, LeBlanc is on disability, and for most of the last decade he has refused to leave his house.

Full text of TPP released to public...and it's horrible

Jon Queally, Common Dreams, November 5, 2015

It's a disaster for people, the planet, democracy, and the future of the global economy.

That was the immediate assessment of informed critics as world governments, including the United States, on Thursday morning made the full text of the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) available to the public for the first time.

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