{"word_count": 560, "character_count": 3558}
How much will climate change rules benefit Americans? / Susan E. Dudley, Art Fraas, Ted Gayer, John Graham, Randall Lutter, Jason F. Shogren and W. Kip Viscusi, Brookings blog, 9/02/2016When considering domestic action to reduce the impacts of climate change, should U.S. agencies estimate and report the benefits to U.S. citizens or to the world?  In a letter to the National Academy of Sciences, we argue they should do both. In the context of international negotiations, such as the recent Paris accord, a global focus is clearly relevant. But, when evaluating regulations that will impose large costs on U.S. citizens, it is incumbent upon the federal government to estimate and report domestic benefits as well... lireStudy: China’s new policies will lower CO2 emissions faster, without preventing economic growth / Peter Dizikes, MIT News, 9/02/2016MIT professor sees coal use peaking within next decade and emissions dropping soon after... lireThe Sustainable City / Steven Cohen, Earth Institute, Columbia University, the Energy Collective, 9/02/2016A great paradox of the transition to a sustainable economy is that it will not be achieved in rural places in harmony with nature, but in cities built to exploit nature without destroying it. The problem with the idea of getting "back" to nature is that there are too many people and there is not enough nature. Fortunately, economic, technological and cultural forces are moving people out of rural areas and into urban areas. Unfortunately, some of the urban places people are moving to are not only unsustainable, but they are not fit for human habitation... lireIs Oil Becoming Stranded? / Paul Spedding, former Global Co-Head of Oil And Gas Research at HSBC, adviser to Carbon Tracker, Project syndicate, 9/02/2016The conventional wisdom regarding the recent plunge in the price of oil is that we are seeing a repeat of the 1985-1986 collapse, when Saudi Arabia ramped up production as part of a dispute with other members of the OPEC cartel. This time, the thinking goes, Saudi Arabia is doing the same in response to its loss of market share to shale-oil production in the United States... lireWe have an agreement in Paris: So, what’s next for the private sector? / Christian Grossmann, Development in a changing climate, 8/02/2016It has been just over a month now since the historic climate change conference, COP21, wrapped up in Paris, concluding with 195 countries pledging to take actions to keep global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius. This is an unprecedented achievement in the long history of international climate policy... lireUnpacking the Paris Agreement / Elisa Calliari, Aurora D'Aprile and Marinella Davide, Review of Environment, Energy and Economics, FEEM, 4/02/2016The recently adopted global climate deal is expected to enter into force in 2020, at the end of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. It has been hailed as a turning point in climate negotiations, after the failed attempt at Copenhagen climate conference in 2009 and four years of groundwork started in 2011 with the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, whose mandate was to involve all countries, both developed and developing, in adopting “a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force” applicable to all Parties to the UNFCCC. The paper examines the main features of the new global climate agreement, paying particular attention on mitigation, cooperative approaches, adaptation and loss &#38; damage, climate finance, compliance and review mechanisms... lire