Skip to main content

The UN Climate Change Summit, Climate Emergency, Emissions Reduction and International Trade in Coal

“Problem Solving, R&D, Equity and the Paris Agreement”
TAGS: UN climate change summit; Paris Agreement; emissions; global school strikes; Greta Thunberg; equity; coal; international trade; climate justice; R&D; carbon dioxide removal technologies; relevant and reliable science; Biodiversity Convention; CITES.
A focus of the UN Climate Change Summit convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York in September 2019 was the urgency to address the global climate crisis.
The Summit highlighted the need for greater ambition and accelerated action from the world’s largest emitting economies to reduce emissions; and to implement the goals of the Paris Agreement.
A problem area identified for emission reductions related to the future use of fossil fuels and coal-generated energy. Energy is an intrinsic component for a sustainable future.
This article sets out a pathway for accelerated R&D to evaluate whether the future use of coal will pose an unacceptable risk for transitioning to the UN goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
The framework for the pathway has the following cornerstones: For emission reductions to be undertaken "on the basis of equity" under the Paris Agreement, a new UN climate change treaty to focus on the "International Trade in Coal" and a R&D levy to fund global climate change research.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Resolving Cultural Heritage Protection and Development Conflicts on Indigenous Lands

“ P rotecting cultural heritage and development are not mutually exclusive; we can have both, but projects have to be well-designed.” Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek (2024).   The recent decision by the Federal Environment Minister to shut down a tailings dam for a gold mine development, to protect Indigenous cultural heritage, has ignited controversy and conflict.   The controversy is not only over the decision’s impact on the viability of the Regis Resources’ Gold Mine Project at Orange, Central-Western NSW.  It has also highlighted the complexity of the problem when cultural heritage protection (with its focus on Traditional knowledge) and  development (with its focus on Western science) collide over future land use. There is now  community concern that history may repeat in Australia for development projects proposed on Indigenous owned and controlled lands. However, there would be little dispute that the above statement by ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Environmental Evaluation of Development Proposals. Case Study: The Adani Project ~ A Need for Review?

2.    Scientific Uncertainty,  the Politicization of Science and Public Interest Environmental Conflicts TAGS:   Adani; coal mine; information conflict; science; politics; public interest; community consultation; silo science; Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.      Politicization of science means that the interpretat ion of scientific information is shaped for political gain in a way that  distorts its true meaning.    T his article reviews why public interest environmental conflicts, like the Adani project, can lead to politicization. And an understanding of what politicization of science means: How it arises and how it may be offset.  READ MORE … The next article in this series will review environmental decision-making, incomplete and unavailable information and the EIS.
Post a Comment
Read more

Environmental Evaluation of Development Proposals. Case Study: The Adani Project ~ A Need for Review?

Some form of objective review of the environmental evaluation and approval processes for the ‘Adani Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project’ is warranted to address the reasons the final approval was granted  in June 2019.  In a series of articles that follow, the scientific and public interest concerns that ignited the conflict, litigation and delay will be reviewed in a conflict resolution framework .  Must history repeat? 1.   Acceptance of Scientific Findings: Best Available Science ~v~ Relevant and Reliable Science TAGS:  Adani; coal mine; conflict; best available science; relevant and reliable science;  Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc               The focus of this article is on a source of information conflict that created scientific uncertainty for Adani: Different interpretations of the scientific information base as to what is “the best available science”. READ MORE … The next art...
Post a Comment
Read more