To “be” climate is the hardest thing of all, yet there’s nothing else to be. Climate denial persists because we don’t want to go here. Contradicting science is the least of it; we compartmentalize; we detach; we disown consequences. We watch our leaders work their hearts out for a strong climate agreement, while toying with a deal to lift a ban on oil exports.
"If the world were a bank," a French labor leader said in exasperation during the Paris climate negotiations, "it would have been rescued by now!" In this telebriefing, four Northwest climate action leaders share unfiltered ringside observations on the negotiations' final stages. With KC Golden, labor leader Jeff Johnson, clean tech business leader Tim Miller, and Portland sustainability manager Michael Armstrong.
The Paris Agreement sets the stage for the immediate future of coordinated, international climate action. Much of the actual progress will depend on local and regional action; every Northwest oil terminal abandoned, ton of coal left in ground, and solar panel installed, fuels the ambition of the U.S., Canada, and therefore countries around the world to meet and exceed our carbon-reduction goals.
Civil-society climate justice advocates and vulnerable nations may be succeeding in their push for a more aggressive target for limiting global warming. This development shows a shift in power towards the priorities of a massive global climate movement–and it's the news from Paris, as much as the climate agreement text itself.
Cities (or "sub-nationals," in international climate negotiations-speak) are at the vanguard of where real climate solutions are being implemented around the world. That will remain true in the years ahead, no matter how ambitious an agreement emerges from the COP21 climate talks in Paris this month--local and state governments will be shouldering much of the load of creative carbon emissions reduction, of energy efficiency improvements, and of access to renewable energy.
Billionaires unite to boost clean energy R&D, deal in the works to extend federal credits for solar and wind, US public opinion backs climate pact, and more news of the week in clean energy solutions.
The Urban Clean Energy Revolution report details the state of play of low-carbon cities and describes a rich array of best practices and examples of urban clean energy innovation and carbon reduction.
Darkness of the most desperate and terrifying kind descended on Paris in the November 13 attacks. The world convenes now in the City of Light, with an ever more urgent and sober sense of the pressing need for global cooperation for peace and justice.
The international climate talks are a moment in time for forward-looking urban leaders to demonstrate the collective political will they have amassed for bold climate action, and to show how far they have already come in reducing carbon emissions.
Urban leaders are increasingly aligning their carbon reduction and clean energy agendas with other important community priorities—such as air quality, transportation, social equity, economic development, and climate change resilience. In doing so, they forge stronger and more diverse coalitions for climate action.
