Climate Obstruction in 2023 | May 31 - Jun 2

Why This Conference? The effort to address climate change has been inadequate, in spite of decades of work and growing certainty on the science, technology, and policy solutions. A key reason for the lack of progress in developing local, national and global governance adequate to the problem ...

Climate Obstruction in 2023 | May 31 - Jun 2

Why This Conference? The effort to address climate change has been inadequate, in spite of decades of work and growing certainty on the science, technology, and policy solutions. A key reason for the lack of progress in developing local, national and global governance adequate to the problem ...

Mind the Gap! National climate pledges overstep on available land

Nations, companies, and other institutions are responding to the accelerating climate crisis challenge by making net-zero pledges. But the magnitude of the transformation required has led these net-zero pledges to rely heavily on carbon offsets. Offsets attempt to make good an emission in one place or sector with some kind of carbon (or carbon equivalent) capture elsewhere. Land-based carbon sequestration has become an increasingly common component of net-zero pledges. 

Following the money: trade associations, political activity and climate change - Climatic Change

The political activities of industries associated with the production and consumption of fossil fuels have thwarted state efforts to advance climate policy. Yet research on the role of trade associations that firms use to coordinate their activities remains sparse. Studies of business political activity are generally focussed on the firm level with trade associations typically considered only as part of wider advocacy coalitions. Scholars are still to examine the full range of political activities of trade associations. Using an original dataset built from trade associations’ IRS filings, we find that trade associations engaged on climate change spent $3.4 billion in 10 years on political activities, with the largest expenditure on advertising and promotion, followed by lobbying, grants and political contributions. Our data challenges the prevailing assumptions about the primary political activities of business actors. To explain the variation in spending, we present the findings from a regression analysis and semi-structured interviews. We argue that scholars have for too long failed to account for the political activities of trade associations, which are also one of the most important opponents of climate policies.

National models of climate governance among major emitters - Nature Climate Change

National climate institutions could greatly impact the process of policy design and implementation. This analysis identifies four models of climate governance for major emitters, estimates their policy ambitions and performance, then shows how they are related to macro features.

More Mobility Less Mining

Reducing the lithium-intensity of zero emissions transportation.

Call for paper monográfico 'Comunicación del Cambio Climático' | Ámbitos. Revista Internacional de Comunicación

IBES: Institute at Brown for Environment & Society on Twitter

“🎟️ All members of the IBES community are invited to attend our IBES Town Hall on Monday, January 23 at 1:30 PM at 85 Waterman St! We’ll discuss highlights of the 2023-28 Strategic Plan, share what we’ve been up to this year, & participate in speed networking. See you there!”