Climate & Environment | Rhein on Energy and Climate

Archives for Climate & Environment

China must de-carbonise its economy

March 27, 2015

That is what Pheng Guagong, Head of the Meteorological Administration, has demanded March 22 in an interview with the Xinhua News Agency. Climate change is a serious threat for China. The temperature rises already higher than the global average. Droughts and floods risk food supplies. Chinese leaders have failed to lay out the full scale… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Climate & Environment, Climate Negotiations, Energy Efficiency

6 Comments

Poland should phase out its ailing Coal Industry by 2035

March 3, 2015

Coal is the most polluting fossil energy. It emits roughly twice as much CO2 as gas. From a climate point of view mankind should therefore urgently get rid of coal. This will not be easy as coal is the cheapest fossil energy, which reflects its ample resources in major coal producing countries like Australia, South… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Climate & Environment, Energy, English, Sustainable Dev.

8 Comments

Deforestation is the main Cause of Sao Paulo Water Shortage

February 25, 2015

The Sao Paulo metropolitan area, with its 20 million people population one of the biggest and most densely inhabited urban concentrations on earth, is being haunted by a devastating drought which threatens to put an end to the prosperity of Latin America’s fastest growing economic hub. For a big city that has indulged in excessive… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Climate & Environment, English, Sustainable Dev.

21 Comments

China to challenge the World at Paris Climate Conference

February 12, 2015

In the last few years China, the biggest emitter of green house gases, has been revolutionising its energy sector in a way that deserves respect from the international community. At the Paris Climate Conference it is likely to impress the parties by the resolution, effectiveness and speed of its climate policy. It might even offer… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Climate & Environment, English, Global Europe

16 Comments

Governments must hurry and tax ultra-cheap oil

January 26, 2015

International oil prices have declined to $ 50/barrel, levels not seen for years; but governments fail to neutralise these ultra-low prices by raising excise taxes. They seem to be much more interested in pleasing consumers than in seizing the opportunity for reducing their budget deficits and fighting climate change. This is irresponsible! Have governments completely… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Climate & Environment, Energy, English, Sustainable Dev.

7 Comments

A plea for concrete climate action in Paris

January 22, 2015

In the 21st century the international community will increasingly have to cope with issues going beyond the scope of individual or groups of states. These issues should be dealt with by UN; but the UN is handicapped by the absence of a proper political authority and the consensus required for all decisions. In 2015, the… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Climate & Environment, English

7 Comments

Paris Climate Conference must adopt a more constructive Format

In 11 months from now the Paris Climate Conference (COP 21) will have terminated its work. The French President and the UN Secretary General will have hailed it as a success. But it seems prudent to anticipate another failure. On the basis of the procedures adopted for its preparation, the COP 21 will not to… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Climate & Environment, English

10 Comments

Effective climate policy requires action by governments and people

December 10, 2014

COP 20, the 20th annual climate conference, has started in Lima in a mood of increasing realism. Those who still believe in containing global warming within two degrees Celsius target are becoming rarer. The issue becomes more and more if Humanity will get away with acceptable conditions of survival or succumb to famine, non-ending natural… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Climate & Environment, Energy, English, Sustainable Dev.

5 Comments

New G20 ‘commitments’ on phasing out fossil fuel subsidies are worthless

November 20, 2014

At the Pittsburgh G 20 meeting in September 2009 the heads of government had agreed to phase out subsidies on fossil fuels by 2020. At that time, the global volume of these climate-damaging consumption subsidies amounted to $ 300 annually, mostly in developing and emerging countries. Today, their volume has risen to $500 billion, and… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Climate & Environment, Energy, English

4 Comments

The climate deal between China and US is not good enough

At the margin of the APEC meeting in Beijing November 8-10th 2014 the US and Chinese Presidents have concluded an “historic” deal on how to address the common challenge of climate change. China will stabilise its green house emissions starting in 2030, while the USA will reduce its emissions by 26-28 per cent until 2025.… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Climate & Environment, English, Global Europe

3 Comments

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