Saturday, July 28, 2007
Climate Change from breathing
Every time you breath out, a little bit of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Add up all the carbon dioxide breathed out and it adds up to 0.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide or about 0.6 tons per person per year. Human waste adds in another 0.3 tons per year. Add in all the carbon dioxide from domestic animals and it adds up to about 2 billion tons.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Special Report on Climate Change - New Scientist Environment
Special Report on Climate Change - New Scientist Environment
New Scientist has just run another special issue on climate change covering a range of issues from the role of iodine in the oceans to the reasons why green buildings have not been as popular as they should be. There is detailed coverage of the new Australian cap and trade system and an interesting piece on the relationship between climate change and war in Chinese history. This theme came up in the early nineties as a number of international relations scholars wondered out loud about whether climate change and environmental degradation in general could cause conflict. Generally, the view at the time was that war is driven by far more complex factors that climate change.
New Scientist has just run another special issue on climate change covering a range of issues from the role of iodine in the oceans to the reasons why green buildings have not been as popular as they should be. There is detailed coverage of the new Australian cap and trade system and an interesting piece on the relationship between climate change and war in Chinese history. This theme came up in the early nineties as a number of international relations scholars wondered out loud about whether climate change and environmental degradation in general could cause conflict. Generally, the view at the time was that war is driven by far more complex factors that climate change.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
BBC NEWS | Business | Brown to lobby EU on greener VAT
BBC NEWS | Business | Brown to lobby EU on greener VAT
Europe has led the world in the development of indirect taxation systems that seek to modify behaviour. A system co-ordinated across Europe would be more appealing as it would prevent consumers from simply purchasing in a jurisdiction that doesn't apply the same taxes. This already happens with tobacco and alcohol. But it also shows the extent to which a green agenda is being seen as a way of generating revenues in the course of modifying behaviour; part of a wider shift away from direct taxation of income and towards indirect taxation.
Europe has led the world in the development of indirect taxation systems that seek to modify behaviour. A system co-ordinated across Europe would be more appealing as it would prevent consumers from simply purchasing in a jurisdiction that doesn't apply the same taxes. This already happens with tobacco and alcohol. But it also shows the extent to which a green agenda is being seen as a way of generating revenues in the course of modifying behaviour; part of a wider shift away from direct taxation of income and towards indirect taxation.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Edinburgh - Photographer shows world in denial of climate change
Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Edinburgh - Photographer shows world in denial of climate change
Sometimes images have more influence than words and scientific data.
Sometimes images have more influence than words and scientific data.
news @ nature.com - US proposal for carbon cuts offers compromise - Climate legislation makes headway in Congress.
news @ nature.com - US proposal for carbon cuts offers compromise - Climate legislation makes headway in Congress.
Carbon markets and climate change policy in general are gaining momentum in the US for complex reasons. Industry realizes that if they don't act that there may be legislation but I think there is a more complex reason. In a conversation with two researchers from the National Intelligence Office we sketched out three forces that overlap to drive climate policy: climate change, national security and energy independence. It is becoming clear that part of the backlash against the Iraq war has manifested as a concern about the geopolitics of oil. The US and her allies would not be there without the demand for oil from within the continent. Similarly, large scale utilities in the energy sector currently make attractive targets for terrorists. Distributed energy systems, which may reduce emissions would also be more resilient to attack. The combination of these factors may help make for a perfect storm, or at least a squall around climate change.
Carbon markets and climate change policy in general are gaining momentum in the US for complex reasons. Industry realizes that if they don't act that there may be legislation but I think there is a more complex reason. In a conversation with two researchers from the National Intelligence Office we sketched out three forces that overlap to drive climate policy: climate change, national security and energy independence. It is becoming clear that part of the backlash against the Iraq war has manifested as a concern about the geopolitics of oil. The US and her allies would not be there without the demand for oil from within the continent. Similarly, large scale utilities in the energy sector currently make attractive targets for terrorists. Distributed energy systems, which may reduce emissions would also be more resilient to attack. The combination of these factors may help make for a perfect storm, or at least a squall around climate change.
The corporate race to cut carbon : article : Nature Reports Climate Change
The corporate race to cut carbon : article : Nature Reports Climate Change
Nature reports on moves by business leader to address climate change, in some cases in advance of government regulation. Lots of people have raised concerns about whether businesses can contribute positively to tackling climate change, since industry is seen as the cause of many of the problems. I think that the only way we will see real progress towards addressing the challenge of climate change is through the engagement of the most innovative firms in the world. The article describes efforts by BP to tackle their own emissions through internal markets and market research suggests that the clean tech market could be worth $55 billion in 2006 in the US.
Nature reports on moves by business leader to address climate change, in some cases in advance of government regulation. Lots of people have raised concerns about whether businesses can contribute positively to tackling climate change, since industry is seen as the cause of many of the problems. I think that the only way we will see real progress towards addressing the challenge of climate change is through the engagement of the most innovative firms in the world. The article describes efforts by BP to tackle their own emissions through internal markets and market research suggests that the clean tech market could be worth $55 billion in 2006 in the US.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Welcome to offsetters
By popular request we have finally launched a blog to help keep track of all the projects we are working on and to share the most recent information we've encountered on climate change and carbon markets.
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