After Durban: All talked out?

The current issue of Red Pepper includes my assessment of the COP17 UN Climate Change Conference in Durban. Read the full article here


If a lexicon of international climate conferences is ever written, Durban will be listed right after the words debacle, delusion, disaster and disillusionment. Even the disappointments were not surprising at the 17th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which took place in South Africa last December. Instead, they followed the usual script: two weeks of ineffectual jargon-filled bickering followed by an agreement to delay action on climate change beyond the political lifespan of most of the governments present

Paying the polluters: EU emissions trading and the new corporate electricity subsidies

Industry lobbying on EU climate policy looks set to secure further subsidies for energy-intensive industries through the reform of State Aid, according to a new report, Paying the Polluters: EU emissions trading and the new corporate electricity subsidies, published by Corporate Europe Observatory and Carbon Trade Watch. The report shows how the Commission's proposals have opened the door to millions of euros of subsidies to help some of the biggest polluters pay their energy bills.

Read the full report here.