Climate Interactive

Tropical Storm Irene Hits Close to Home

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Source: Burlingon Free Press Facebook

Climate Interactive Co-Director Beth Sawin (who is coping with life in newly flooded Vermont – she and family are okay BTW) posted a timely perspective on this week’s Irene disaster on Romm’s Climate Progress blog and Burlington Free Press. We’re sharing it here as well.

My daughter, Jenna, will miss her first day of high school on Wednesday. Woodstock, Vermont, where her school lies, is essentially shut down by flooding. The covered bridge in Quechee I drove across just last week is ruined, and the store where I bought hurricane provisions is just now emerging from floodwaters. Across the state, 13 towns are stranded, 250 roads are impassable and more than 30 bridges are closed.

Okay, Irene was no Katrina. My family is fine. But, as a builder of climate simulations that connect burning fossil fuels to destruction like Irene’s, my ‘day job’ in the ‘real world’ and my home-life in a beautiful corner of Vermont finally collided. [Read more…] about Tropical Storm Irene Hits Close to Home

C-ROADS In Cancun COP16 — China, Emissions Gap Report, and Empowering the World

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Second week in the COP16 UN negotiations in China showing good possibilities for climate progress for Climate Interactive and the world.

The photo here is our team of Drew Jones, Beth Sawin, and Travis Franck with Zhou Li (second from left) of Tsinghua University. We’re planning US-China-created workshops in China for provincial leaders who are working to meet their mitigation pledges. And using C-ROADS “China” to do so. Great to connect in person.

Today Beth is helping officially present the “Emissions Gap Report” (which she co-authored) from UNEP to the Mexican Government. The Report has gotten wide citation and note within the official and unofficial processes here. Very encouraged.

Other activities: Engaging “BASIC” countries who want to use C-ROADS, sharing the new iPhone app beta, talking with businesses (e.g., Nike) about business-oriented simulations, meeting venture capitalists who want a capital-driven simulation, and talking with civil society activists about sparking the global citizen support for action.

As signs here say, “From Small Seeds in Cancun…. Big Things Can Happen”

[Read more…] about C-ROADS In Cancun COP16 — China, Emissions Gap Report, and Empowering the World

Emissions Gap Exists, We Can Close It, says Dr. Elizabeth Sawin and 32 other Scientists

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What’s the latest on the sufficiency of country mitigation pledges to the UN? Now Dr. Beth Sawin of Climate Interactive and 32 other top global scientists have spoken in the UNEP “Emissions Gap Report”. Watch yesterday’s webinar briefing on the work below:

The key conclusions of the study are:

  • There is a gap between where we would like to be and where we are heading;
  • The size of the gap depends on what happens in the negotiations;
  • The options on the table now in the negotiations have the potential to reduce emissions by 7 GtCO2e versus what would have happened otherwise (business-as-usual);
  • This can be achieved by realizing countries’ highest ambitions and ensuring “strict” rules result from the negotiations;
  • It is feasible to bridge the remaining gap through more ambitious domestic actions, some of which could be supported by international climate finance; and
  • With or without a gap, current studies indicate that steep emission reductions are needed post-2020 to meet temperature targets.

Some background to the work: [Read more…] about Emissions Gap Exists, We Can Close It, says Dr. Elizabeth Sawin and 32 other Scientists

UNEP Emissions Gap Report Released Today

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Today, in events in Helsinki, London, Washington D. C., and Nairobi, the United Nations Environment Program is releasing its Emissions Gap Report which is now available on the both the UNEP webpage and the Climate Interactive website.

The report was convened in conjunction with the European Climate Foundation and the National Institute of Ecology-SEMARNAT, Mexico, and convened 33 scientists from 25 research teams around the world, including Climate Interactive’s Beth Sawin.

The findings, launched in advance of the UN climate convention meeting in Cancun, Mexico, spotlight the size of the ‘emissions gap’ between where nations might be in 2020 versus where the science indicates they need to be.

Climate Interactive is pleased to have been able to contribute to this important study, and Beth will be participating in the Washington event via teleconference as well as sharing the report’s main findings in two webinars November 23 and 24th.

As attention begins to turn to the next round of UNFCCC talks, which begin November 29th in Cancun, Mexico, the message of the report is quite aligned with Climate Interactive’s assessment of possible pledges in the run up to the Copenhagen round of negotiations: “we’ve made some progress, and have further to go.”

The good news embedded in the report is the fact that while a gap exists between current pledges and the emissions levels consistent with a 2°C temperature limit, the gap could, in principle, be reduced to zero, given the the assumptions of the energy system models and scenarios drawn upon in the report.

From Uplifting to Sobering: Perspectives From Dr. Beth Sawin on the UNFCCC session in Bonn

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A few quick thoughts and reactions as I prepare to leave Bonn tomorrow after a few days working with a group of scientists assessing the ’emissions gap’ and after spending some time at the site of the negotiations.

Most uplifting: a side event today by the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands on Low Emissions Development Strategies, featuring speakers from Indonesia, Ghana, and South Korea, each sharing about low carbon development planning in their countries, with many others actively involved in the process in the audience as well. The speaker from South Korea, Mr. Oh, several times went beyond technology (though there was plenty of good thinking about policy, investment and technology) to talk about the ‘human side’. His slides even included such goals as “changing peoples’ behavior and how they think!”After a lot of pessimism (see below) it was great to be reminded that around the world, people and governments are getting to work on transforming energy systems. [Read more…] about From Uplifting to Sobering: Perspectives From Dr. Beth Sawin on the UNFCCC session in Bonn