Durban

The verdict on Durban – a major step forward, but not for ten years

by Guest December 14, 2011

In this guest post, Mark Lynas, author of Six Degrees, High Tide and The God Species, advisor to the president of the Maldives, analyses the outcome of the Durban conference and what it means for the future of international climate negotiations. It’s one the best and most detailed accounts I’ve come across, from someone at [...]

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Science sidelined at Durban

by Bryan Walker December 14, 2011

An image that has lingered with me from all the reports of the Durban conference was the Democracy Now interview with a somewhat disconsolate Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chair. He was at Durban to represent the science, a rather thankless task since he detected very little interest in what the science has to say. “I’d [...]

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Prat Watch #1: columnated ruins domino

by Gareth December 12, 2011

Being the first in an occasional series in which we monitor the wilder excesses of climate denial. Warning: reading and/or viewing the original material referenced herein may cause uncontrollable mirth. Hot Topic accepts no responsibility for any adverse effects that may result, but recommends a good micro fibre cleaning cloth for removing coffee/tea/wine from computer [...]

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A mad deal in Durban

by Gareth December 11, 2011

Let’s revisit that cold war phrase: mutually assured destruction. Fifty years ago, MAD meant that in the event of conflict the USA and USSR could and would ensure the total annihilation of the other, thus ensuring what Wikipedia rather tamely describes as “a tense but stable global peace”. Having lived through those years, the tension [...]

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Liveblog: Durban down to the wire

by cindy December 10, 2011

3.20 am Sunday morning The South African Minister took key people into a “huddle” for 10 mins. “Can the world be saved in a tea break?”  tweeted @FionaHarvey from The Guardian. Tea Break over… so. They have agreed “to launch a process to develop a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal [...]

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NZ in Durban: delegation gone mad? Or just business as usual?

by cindy December 5, 2011

It’s getting embarrassing here in Durban. I’ve had a veritable flood of people come up to me in recent days saying things like “what the hell is your government doing?” The NZ Government has been pretty bad in these negotiations over the last few years, but things appear to have taken a turn for the [...]

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Welcome political forthrightness

by Bryan Walker December 5, 2011

I felt a twinge of envy watching a recent BBC Hardtalk interview with Chris Huhne, Britain’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. The tone of his statements was much more forthright than anything we’re likely to hear from New Zealand government ministers. It was no more than we have a right to expect [...]

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The counsel of failure: Greenhouse Policy Coalition on Durban

by Bryan Walker December 3, 2011

“There is a danger that, in trying to encourage major emitters to sign up to a new agreement or to bridge the Kyoto legal gap, New Zealand might commit itself to something short of a global deal that binds us to making economic sacrifices which are not reflective of fair burden sharing.” So wrote David [...]

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Call the COPs: Neville Chamberlain only went to Munich once

by Mr February December 2, 2011

Simon Johnson discusses the Durban UNFCCC international climate negotiations through the historic lens of the Second World War and the Rio 1992 Earth Summit. In a very considered comment at Hot Topic yesterday, David Lewis questions whether the Durban UNFCCC international climate negotiations can come up with a binding treaty that effectively reduces greenhouse concentrations, [...]

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Lies, damned lies and brutal storms

by cindy November 30, 2011

Hot off the wires: Hot Topic’s Durban correspondent Cindy Baxter posts her first insider’s view from COP 17. As thousands of people poured into Durban’s massive conference building yesterday morning for the start of the 17th session of climate talks, we heard news that the extraordinary storm we’d gotten soaked in on Sunday night had [...]

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