Climate & Weather

On Tuesday, in an official letter to the UNFCCC signed by China’s climate negotiator Su Wei, China officially expressed its willingness to be associated with the Copenhagen Accord.

Yesterday, India agreed to join the world’s major emitters as one of the countries formally listed under the Copenhagen Accord. India submitted voluntary domestic actions to the United Nations in January, but it remained unclear if it would join the international agreement.

The New York Times published an article on Tuesday about the 30 US Senators that are "on the fence" about climate legislation.

Last week, the California Air Resources Board adopted a measure designed to achieve a 70% reduction in sulfur hexaflouride emissions by the year 2020.

I read a few interesting climate change pieces over the weekend. Taken together, they reflect the political struggle to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation now. But only one captures what is at stake for America and our future: Al Gore’ New York Times op-ed.

Author and activist Bill McKibben published a fascinating op-ed piece yesterday comparing climate change skeptics with the defense lawyers in the OJ Simpson trial.

Earlier this week, Reuters identified sixteen US Senators that could cast swing votes on a climate bill and asked them if they thought 2010 would be the year such a bill finally passed both houses.

Twelve of the sixteen said no, and Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, said it was simply a matter of priorities:

The United Nations Environment Programme thinks we need to know more about marine and coastal ecosystems.

Bill Gates made a wish at this February's TED conference.

He wants a non-polluting energy source that costs half what today's cheap, dirty energy costs.

UN Global Climate Change Chief Yvo de Boer announced on Thursday that he plans to resign on July 1. He thinks he can do more for the world as a business consultant and professor.