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  • World Bank to the poor: ‘Coal’s good enough for you!’

    The World Bank — famous for funding gobsmackingly huge, planet-killing coal-fired power plants — is changing its tune, sort of. Under a new set of proposed rules, the Bank would only be allowed to fund gobsmackingly huge, planet-killing coal-fired power plants in the world's poorest countries. Progress! Okay, that sounds dastardly, but it’s a little […]

    Christopher Mims Science

  • Downplaying or remaining silent about climate change was and is a blunder for progressives

    Progressives shouldn’t keep quiet.Photo: Jennifer MooSome of the best pollsters have known for years that progressives can and should talk about climate change. Mark Mellman calls the polling that suggests one shouldn’t talk about global warming, a “politically naïve, methodologically flawed, and factually inaccurate.” Sure, if you talk about any subject in a clumsy fashion […]

    Joseph Romm Science

  • Why is the conventional wisdom of climate economics so pessimistic?

    Cross-posted from Real Climate Economics. The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing yesterday on climate change science, economics, and policy. It was fascinating to listen to, and will no doubt provide much rich food for thought and discussion (for starters see Andy Revkin, or Chris Mooney, or Steve McIntyre for a […]

    Paul Baer Science

  • Is Obama’s weak-sauce energy policy just savvy political Kung-Fu?

    For the next couple of years, Obama is playing defense on climate change, and that could explain the fairly tame energy policy he announced yesterday, says Ezra Klein of The Washington Post. Like the Kung-Fu masters of yore, he knows that he cannot hope to defeat his opponents in a frontal assault. These are, after […]

    Christopher Mims Science

  • Internationally linking carbon trading systems is the wave of the future

    The latest rage in Washington policy discussions these days (that’s relevant to climate change) is renewed interest in renewable electricity standards, this time in the form of so-called “clean energy standards.” I’ve written about this policy approach recently and will do so again in the near future, but for today I want to turn to […]

    Robert Stavins Science

  • EPA reports massive drop in U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions

    Don’t be confused, we’ve got some good news.Photo: Corie HowellCross posted from Sightline’s Daily Score blog. Great Scott, how did I miss this? Late last month, the EPA released a draft greenhouse gas inventory, showing that net climate warming emissions from the U.S. fell by a whopping 15 percent from 2000 through 2009 [PDF]. A […]

    Clark Williams-Derry Science

  • Indian tigers make a comeback

    Please, extinction, you think you can beat tigers? Have you SEEN tigers? Okay, so we’ll pass lightly over what happened to their saber-toothed cousins. And tigers aren’t out of the woods yet. But India’s latest tiger census showed a population stronger than it has been in some time — more than 1,700 tigers, about 300 […]

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • Germany continues breaking clean energy records

    A German wind farm.Photo: Dirk Ingo FrankeAs the nuclear reactor accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant continues to dominate the world’s attention, Germany has quietly broken more renewable energy records. The conservative government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, struggling to stay ahead of public attitudes toward nuclear power in the run-up to regional elections, issued its […]

    Paul Gipe Science

  • RIO+20: Toward a new green economy — or a green-washed old economy?

      I’ve got good news and bad news about the future of the planet. Good news first. Next year, a honking big global Earth Summit is coming our way — one with a proud heritage. Formally titled the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, the meeting is known as RIO+20 because it will come 20 years […]

    Jim Thomas Science

  • The Climate Post: Trace radiation isn’t the only global fallout from Fukushima

    As Japan’s nuclear disaster stretched into its second week, traces of radiation from the stricken power plants showed up in several U.S. states, and as far away as Iceland. With the reactors and uranium fuel rods still proving difficult to bring under control, the disaster could be the “death knell” for nuclear power, some analysts said. Countries around the […]

    Mason Inman Science