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Why air pollution is sometimes good news for the climate / Stefan Ambec, TSE debate, 12/10/2015Burning fossil fuels for heating, generating electricity or for transport does not simply produce carbon-dioxide emissions, but also other greenhouse gases (GHG), such as particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). They are harmful to human health and damage the environment... lire la suiteBig Polluters, Pay Up / Stephen Leonard, President of the Australia-based Climate Justice Program, Project Syndicate, 21/10/2015Earlier this year in Myanmar, torrential rain caused mudslides that wiped out hundreds of houses and caused large-scale crop destruction. More than 1.3 million people were affected, and over 100 died. In Vietnam, the same deluges caused toxic slurry pits from coal mines to overflow and run through villages, and into the World Heritage-listed Ha Long Bay; the death toll was 17. As such weather events become increasingly frequent and intense, the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change is becoming more urgent than ever... lire la suiteBlowing It On the Wind / Bjørn Lomborg, Project Syndicate, 21/10/2015When considering climate change, most people think wind turbines and solar panels are a big part of the solution. But, over the next 25 years, the contribution of solar and wind power to resolving the problem will be trivial – and the cost will be enormous... lire la suiteThe return of cap and trade is good news for U.S. climate policy / Bob Sussman, Planet Policy, 21/10/2015The demise of the Waxman-Markey climate bill in 2010 was a serious setback to cap and trade. Although Congress abandoned climate legislation for many reasons, cap and trade was singled out as a major culprit by Republicans, and even some Democrats, who portrayed it as bafflingly complex, subject to manipulation by speculators, and likely to harm average consumers by jacking up electricity costs. Critics even used the epithet “cap and tax” to suggest that government would be demanding exorbitant fees from businesses and individuals—a mischaracterization of what Waxman-Markey actually did... lire la suiteDoes Europe’s trade policy for solar panels shine on the right firms? / Meredith Crowley, Huasheng Song, Vox, 22/10/2015Europe has a trade policy for solar panels that is designed to level the playing field between Europe and countries like China. This column assesses the EU’s stance. Antidumping policy is supposed to promote a fair competitive environment between domestic import-competing and foreign exporting firms. However, evidence suggests that publicly listed Chinese private sector firms experienced large losses under Europe's import restrictions, while state-owned enterprises experienced little or no adverse impact. Rather than fostering fair competition in green energy products, Europeans have unintentionally tilted the playing field against the Chinese private sector in favour of the state... lire la suiteLes Etats préparent un réchauffement climatique supérieur à 3°C ! / Maxime Combes, blog Mediapart, 21/10/2015Evaluation ! Une majorité d'Etats de la planète ont désormais rendu public leurs objectifs de réduction d'émission de gaz à effet de serre pour la période post-2020. Le verdict est sans appel : les Etats proposent de sauter à pieds joints dans le chaos climatique qu'il nous faut éviter... lire la suite