A Riotous Affair

In Copenhagen's suburbs yesterday, police fired pepper spray and beat protestors with batons outside a climate conference meeting venue. The violence marked a low point for a climate change summit that's had plenty of low points. The demonstators, who have been active during most of the negotiations, are demanding "climate justice" which means, presumably, firm steps taken......read more

Emissions Fall in US Northeast

For the third consecutive year, greenhouse gas emissions fell in the nine Northeastern states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI (pronounced "Reggie"), a market-based cap-and-trade program. Carbon emissions in the states dropped six percent between 2012 and 2013, from 92 million to 86 million tons. States in the RGGI program turned to lower emitting electricity......read more

GE Exec Calls BS On Tradeoff Between Economy and Environment

A GE bigwig is calling the political battle between economy and environment "nonsense." At a clean energy investment conference last week, Mark Vachon, Vice President of GE's Ecomagination program, said "environmental performance" is a key driver for business.  "There’s this theory that you have to pick one: economics or environmental performance. That’s......read more

World Bank to Finance Carbon Markets

The World Bank wants to help set up cap-and-trade carbon markets in the developing world. On Wednesday, Robert B. Zoellick, the World Bank president, announced the creation of a multi-million dollar fund that aims "to create trading mechanisms to stimulate clean energy projects and to slow the destruction of tropical forests." Tropical deforestation is one of the major sources of......read more

Obama's Environmental Concessions

After a midterm election that saw the House of Representatives shift from Democratic to Republican control, it's become abundantly clear that comprehensive climate legislation is going to be incredibly difficult if not impossible to pass. That's all the more evident when you consider that two dozen members of Congress who voted for the Waxman-Markley climate legislation a short while......read more

The Case for Cap and Trade

The cover story of this week's New York Times Magazine is a piece by Paul Krugman on the economics of climate change. In it, the Nobel Prize-winning economist makes a compelling case for the use of market-based tools to limit greenhouse emissions. Crucially, Krugman addresses the economic effects of installing a cap and trade model, presenting a persuasive argument against the idea that......read more