Articles

The Challenge of Standardization in the Future Climate Policy

Corrado Clini and Francesco Presicce

New approaches to enhance mitigation action are currently being discussed in the context of the UNFCCC, in order to set the stage for the future of the Kyoto Protocol and for a larger involvement of all countries in emissions reduction policies. One of the issue under discussion is the implementation of existing mechanism, such as CDM. But the challenge is in setting up methodologies applicable to multiple projects, regardless of specific conditions. Corrado Clini, Director General of the Ministry of the Environment and Territory and Sea Protection of Italy, and Francesco Presicce, expert in sustainability, climate negotiation and energy, argue why it could be done in the perspective of the future UNFCC discussions.

published September 9th, 2011
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The Three Million Years Ago Dilemma: the Beginning of the Ice Ages

Florence Colleoni

Will the climate reach a warm equilibrium and gradually cool? How will the climate respond to extreme warming on long time-scale variability? Will there be an abrupt glacial inception similar to previous glacials/interglacials?
Florence Colleoni (CMCC) looks at paleoclimate processes and focuses hypothesis about the Pliocene period, when the continental configuration was almost similar to present-day and when, until 3 Million years ago, the climate was warmer than today

published January 10th, 2011
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The Challenge of Limiting the Temperature Increase to 2°C

Corrado Clini

Is the traditional format of the agreements under the Climate Change Convention still adequate to meet the two degree target? Corrado Clini, Director General of the Ministry of the Environment and Territory and Sea Protection of Italy, suggests that the challenge is new, complex and unprecedented. “Rather than focusing on complex legal structures and the construction of a new international bureaucracy on climate change – Dr. Clini writes – Europe should focus on promoting international projects. These projects will face the global technological challenge using the great potential of the European integrated economy, which has already achieved important levels of efficiency and innovation”.

published November 22nd, 2010
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Levelling the Playing Field in a Fragmented Carbon Market: Do Carbon-Based Border Tax Adjustments Work?

Christa Clapp, Jean Chateau and Rob Dellink

There are two related issues of concern for countries taking on climate action. The first one is that some of their domestic industrial production will lose competitiveness; the second is that part of their efforts will be undermined by an increase in greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere, or “carbon leakage”. While the debate over protective measures continues focusing largely on carbon-based border tax adjustments (BTAs), Christa Clapp, Jean Chateau and Rob Dellink, economists at OECD, investigate several issues in the debate and focus on how and why BTAs fail to protect domestic industry, may reduce carbon leakage from the competitiveness channel and have cost and additional complications.

published September 8th, 2010
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How do scientists assess the skill of climate models?

Dennis Bray and Hans von Storch

Three surveys to understand climate scientists’ opinion on how well the components of climate of climate models would perform. A forth survey was made after the “Climategate” and the Copenhagen COP15. Hans von Storch and Dennis Bray, two climate scientists at Institute of Coastal Research, GKSS Research Center Geesthacht (Germany), interviewed their colleagues about their confidence in climate models

published August 18th, 2010
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Knowledge Claims in A Post-Normal Stage: Thoughts on Climate Science and Policy

Hans von Storch and Nico Stehr

The climate issue requires both scientific analysis and political decision-making. Perceiving climatic impacts, possibilities and necessities through the lens of political interests will hardly achieve long-term success. Quite to the contrary, a dispassionate scientific analysis is needed to present the various options in detail and thus to enable normative political decisions. To this end, climate research is in need of self-reflection. Fundamental scientific values such as contradiction, openness, sustainability, independence of individuals and falsification, enable science to unfold its potential as an action-guiding knowledge provider. For this purpose – Hans von Storch (GKSS Research Centre and) and Nico Stehr (Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen) explain – the natural sciences need input from the social sciences, cultural studies and a discerning public.

published July 6th, 2010
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An African Perspective on Global Warming

S. George Philander

What is the appropriate balance between our responsibilities towards future generations, and our obligations towards those suffering today? This is a dilemma on which the rich and the poor have different perspectives; the wealthy emphasize imminent environmental disasters leaving to Africans messages of gloom and doom. But have you ever thought of global warming as an opportunity? “Above all global warming is an excellent vehicle for the promotion of education, the key to the alleviation of poverty, by far the most urgent priority in Africa” Prof.George Philander , Princeton University and Director of African Center for Climate and Earth System Science, writes in this article.

published April 29th, 2010
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A Focus on the Social Dimension of Adaptation

Federica Viganò

The success of adaptation mainly depends on the extent to which individuals and societies are willing to accept change and adopt lifestyles that can reduce social-environmental vulnerabilities. Predominant impact studies provide an insufficient approach in order to confront climate change impacts. However, a social science oriented approach has emerged. It highlights the importance of investigating necessary aspects of adaptation such as the political, economic, and social conditions. These conditions make societies more vulnerable to environmental trauma.  Therefore, the concept of adaptive capacity is crucial

published April 2nd, 2010
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Climate Policy and World Sustainability

Carlo Carraro, Elisa Lanzi and Ramiro Parrado

Will the ambitious climate targets proposed at the G8 meeting in l’Aquila and discussed at COP15 in Copenhagen make the world more sustainable? In order to find an effective answer to this question, we should consider that a global climate policy may eventually lead to strong reductions of greenhouse gases, but it may also entail large costs and lower investments in education, wealth, or research and development. While the discussion on climate policy costs focus on GDP losses or monetary measures, authors introduce a new element in the discussion by combining economic, social, and environmental indicators onto a unique measure of sustainability, the FEEM Sustainability Index (FEEMSI), an innovative index which allows projecting sustainability indicators in the future. FEEMSI is able to summarize current and future sustainability performances for 40 countries up to the year 2020, and the effect of a stringent climate policy on sustainability is not straightforward

published March 22nd, 2010
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A roadmap for post-Copenhagen years

Stephane Hallegatte

The Cop 15 is a bitter disappointment for European countries. While environment is one of the domains in which EU integration is deepest, European countries failed to build and support a common position that would have weighed on the outcome of the conference.
But the EU could try to make the Copenhagen Accord more ambitious and credible. How? Forgetting Kyoto – Stéphane Hallegatte suggests – recognizing that it is an important progress to have included the United States and China in a unique agreement and answering to four questions

published February 3rd, 2010
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