October 15, 2009
Signs of bipartisanship on the climate-change bill
“MANY commentators fear that Barack Obama’s plans for a cap-and-trade bill have got fatally stuck in the Senate. Their calculations were shaken up over the weekend when Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, joined John Kerry, a liberal Massachusetts Democrat, to write an article headlined ‘Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation)’ in the New York Times. Mr Kerry is the main author of the Senate’s cap-and-trade bill. Mr Graham is no squishy moderate, but he is an occasional dealmaker. When he crosses the aisle, it tends to matter…”
Gloom and pragmatism ahead of the Copenhagen climate-change summit
“THE planet is warming, but the mood among climate negotiators seems as chilly as ever. On October 9th the penultimate round of talks before December’s climate-change summit in Copenhagen ended in Bangkok. Only one session remains, in Barcelona in November. Leaders are now busy lowering expectations, saying that this summit will be a prelude to a ‘Copenhagen II’ in 2010…”
October 1, 2009
The G20 decides to end subsidies on fossil fuels
“HOPEFUL activists branded the annual UN get-together of world leaders in New York starting on September 20th ‘Climate Week’. In the event it was a cold shower, failing to reach a breakthrough in the run-up to the climate-treaty talks in Copenhagen in December. But a decision taken later in the week by the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh helped make up for that. To little fanfare, world leaders decided to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies in the ‘medium term’…”
