Climate

[Cross posted at Global Adaptation Institute] Today I've published the article «Más Acción, Menos Palabras,» in the Madrid-based daily national newspaper, La Razón. One of the goals of the article is that in the wake of no clear path forward on tackling climate mitigation, concrete steps taken by world leaders attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting can harness the power of the private sector in helping those most vulnerable adapt to the challenges of climate change and other global forces: The harsh reality is that, after seventeen annual international [UNFCCC COP] conferences, intentions still fall far behind action. The necessary consensus for taking global steps to address climate change becomes lost among competing agendas. They have become business meetings where solutions are not coordinated. Adaptation is a parallel track, and complementary to tackle climate change. The meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week brings together over a thousand leaders representing many sectors of the economy that drive its evolution. Not surprisingly, one of the issues at the top of the agenda is climate change and global adaptation to this phenomenon. Read the whole article, in spanish, here. ...

[Cross posted at the Global Adaptation Institute News.] Report from the World Climate Summit, Dec. 3-4, in Durban, South Africa. The World Climate Summit (WCS) began with a keynote from President Zuma, followed by a set of 7 high level speakers who discussed how greening the global economy is not simply a reactive “who pays the bill” debate, but a whole new direction for better growth. The question is: is change happening at the pace it could and should, and if not, why not? ...

[Cross posted at the Global Adaptation Institute News.] Reporting from Durban, with contributions from Ian Noble watching from the web. In the morning I joined the Climate Communications Day. Attendees were mainly environmental journalists. It is part of a continuing process to assist journalists, especially those from developing countries, to understand both the process of climate change and the state of the negotiations. After all, what society will hear mostly comes from the media, not scientists directly. ...

[Cross posted at the Global Adaptation Institute News.] Development Seed published today an interview we made about the climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa. We discussed the importance of open data in the climate mitigation and adaptation movements. The interview also highlights how the Global Adaptation Index is a groundbreaking tool that utilizes open data to help countries adapt to climate change and other global forces: ...