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Today the aviation industry is responsible for about 2% of all GHG emissions. Experts predict that by mid-century, this number could triple without policies designed to combat aircraft emissions due to rapid industry growth. In response, the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) has been negotiating a CO2 emissions standard for aircraft emissions with representatives from its member states, industry and non-governmental organizations. On February 8th, the CAEP unanimously approved a draft measure paving the way for final approval in 2016. If the ICAO emissions standards are approved by the ICAO’s 36-State Governing Council, the… [more]
View InsightThe United Nation’s Rio +20 meeting wrapped last week, resulting in several hundred voluntary commitments from member countries and an ambitious vision for worldwide ‘sustainable development’ in the form of a declaration titled “The Future We Want.” Rio +20 and “The Future We Want” follow the UN’s recently-launched “Sustainable Energy for All” initiative, which aims to provide universal access to modern energy services, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency, and double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030. The importance of energy – specifically as a tool for poverty alleviation and resource/ecosystem conservation –… [more]
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Rio+20, the global environmental conference organized by the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), will bring together national officials, civil society, and the private sector. They’ll discuss a wide range of environmental issues, focusing largely on environmental sustainability and poverty during the three day conference, which starts today. Observers expect clean energy, fossil fuel subsidies, and “energy poverty” to feature prominently in discussions on energy, which was identified by the UNCSD as one of seven “priority areas” of the summit. Although Obama will not take part, Secretary Clinton, along with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Special Envoy for Climate… [more]
View InsightThe UN climate change summit in Durban, South Africa, wrapped earlier this month with two notable accomplishments: a pledge to create a new international treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2020, and the creation of a multi-billion dollar fund to help developing nations adapt to the effects of climate change. Some have expressed disappointment in Durban’s outcomes, and have pointed to the challenges inherent to the current UN negotiating framework. Among the challenges: asking national environmental ministers to hammer out an international framework that must go well beyond environmental concerns to be effective, and the tiered system of “developed”… [more]
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