Copenhagen Consensus Center
Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center at Copenhagen Business School and author of Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming and The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World
Paris Climate Talks President Obama has joined almost 150 world leaders in Paris today for a two-week climate change conference. Also today, Bill Gates and the leaders of 20 countries, including the US, are announcing Mission Innovation. That’s a program to increase funding for clean energy research and development.
Back to Brazil for Another Try President George H.W. Bush joined other world leaders at the United Nations' first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. Since then, global temperatures have been on the rise. in 1997, Bill Clinton tried, but failed, to get Senate ratification of the Kyoto Protocol , which has been called a "missed opportunity" to mobilize international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. George W. Bush did not go to Johannesburg in 2002 for the summit's tenth anniversary. Now the focus is back on Rio, with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for "revolutionary action" to overcome the global "suicide pact" of industrialization. Can Rio+20 get a better start on a "sustainable" world economy? Where are the leaders of Germany, Britain and the United States?
Future Hazy as Climate Talks Continue The UN's Conference of Parties on Climate Change has been meeting for 17 years. In 1997, it produced the Kyoto Protocol , supposedly to hold industrial nations accountable for the impact of greenhouse emissions. But two years ago in Copenhagen, heads of state, including President Obama, could only produce a two-page, nonbinding agreement to help poor nations cope with climate change, and details are still being debated. The Kyoto pact will expire at the end of next year. This week, 195 countries are attending the latest so-called Earth Summit in Durban, South Africa. Will they save the Kyoto Protocol or allow it to expire even as the impacts of climate change are being felt all over the world?
Climate Change and Low Expectations The UN's Conference of Parties on Climate Change has been meeting for 17 years. In 1997, it produced the Kyoto Protocol , supposedly to hold industrial nations accountable for the impact of greenhouse emissions. But two years ago in Copenhagen, heads of state, including President Obama, could only produce a two-page, nonbinding agreement to help poor nations cope with climate change, and details are still being debated. The Kyoto pact will expire at the end of next year. This week, the latest so-called Earth Summit is underway in Durban, South Africa.
China Overtakes US in Energy Consumption Ten years ago, China consumed half as much energy as the United States. Now, after economic development at breakneck speed, China is the world’s largest consumer of oil, gas, coal, nuclear power and renewables.
China Overtakes US in Energy Consumption China has now become the world's biggest consumer of energy. Because of the recession, it overcame the US five years sooner than anybody expected. That means more competition for limited resources, more clout for countries the US doesn't like, and, in the short run, more environmental pollution. What will it mean for green technology, especially if the US continues to lead the way in research while China does the manufacturing? We look at the vast implications of what's being called "a new age in the history of energy."
Copenhagen, Climate Change and Stolen E-Mails As the Copenhagen conference got under way today, the UN panel on climate change promised to investigate claims that scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit manipulated data to support the theory that global warming is man-made.
Copenhagen, Climate Change and Stolen E-Mails The UN's global warming summit in Copenhagen opened today amidst new attacks on the basic science of Climate Change. Differences over economics, politics and technology already led some 200 nations to abandon hopes for a binding treaty this year. Now, stolen e-mails between climate researchers are being used to cast doubt on the urgency of taking steps to curtail greenhouse gases. Have scientists manipulated information? Are dissenters being silenced? Instead of debating over reducing emissions, would a crash program for alternative sources of energy be a cheaper, faster way to slow global warming?
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
