Energy Resources & Access

Around the world, urbanization and climate change are transforming societies and environments, and the stakes could not be higher for the poor and marginalized. The 2015 UN climate conference in Paris (COP-21) highlighted the need for coordinated action to address the profound injustice of the world’s most disadvantaged people bearing the greatest costs of climate impacts. Among those at the COP were mayors from around the world advocating for the important role of cities in these efforts.

To the Editor: In “Wind, Sun and Fire” (column, Feb. 1), Paul Krugman, concluding that we can have the energy revolution we need “even if the crazies retain control of the House,” ignores some important realities.

County by county, West Virginia’s coalfield communities are being forced to cut jobs, eliminate programs and slash benefits as they steadily collapse alongside the Mountain State’s plummeting coal severance tax revenue. ... But Evan Hansen, president of Downstream Strategies and one author of the white paper, said diversifying the economy might be the only way out.

The ocean off Cape Cod is warming at a rate more than double what prior modeling predicted, according to a report released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The finding by researchers at the federal agency matches what has already been recognized locally over the past ten years, said the report's lead author, fisheries scientist Vincent Saba.

When Robert Klee took over as Connecticut's Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection in 2014, he viewed his role as that of an implementer. As he indicated when he took over, it was his job to take the innovations proposed by his predecessor, Daniel Esty, and move them from concept to reality. As 2015 drew to a close, however, it was clear that Klee has implemented those plans and is now looking to innovate and tackle new, bigger ideas. The energy and environmental spheres in Connecticut appear ripe for major change as 2016 begins.

I asked Kelly Sims Gallagher, director of the Center for International Environment & Resource Policy at Tuft University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, what a Republican president — one who opposes action on climate change — could mean for any progress reached in Paris this week.

[from December 2, 2015] Major world leaders today launched an unprecedented global carbon pricing initiative, calling for nations of the world to put a price on carbon pollution to protect the climate and accelerate a transition to ä clean, sustainable energy future. The initiative is sponsored by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund

“Finance is the bedrock of this agreement. It is through commitment of finance that the confidence and the trust that has always been debated in this process is strengthened.” These words of Pa Ousman, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change for the Gambia, reflect a strong sentiment of developing country representatives at the Paris climate negotiations this week: a just climate deal necessitates predictable public flows of money to support the most vulnerable countries in the face of escalating climate disasters, and to enable low-carbon development.

Changing the world is an expensive proposition. But for the representatives for the 195 countries gathered in Paris for the COP21 summit on climate change, the most daunting step might be figuring out how to split the bill. “The elephant in the room is still finance,” said Yvo de Boer, former head of the U.N. climate change body, at the start of the climate talks.