Conference of the Parties

Disparate national priorities among Latin America’s three G20 members threaten to stand in the way of a common agenda.

President-Elect Trump’s “America First” approach is already raising concerns at the G20 and COP29.

If the United States ends critical climate-related policies and investments, then even more Americans’ health, finances, and safety will be at risk.

Increasing funds for addressing climate and energy needs in developing countries is a COP29 priority. But it is important to remember that market conditions in recipient countries are critical in determining the success of such efforts.

Energy and water have a complex and inextricable relationship, especially as growing populations, expanding cities, and the changing climate strain resources around the globe. Leaders at COP29 must come together in Baku to promote policies, strategies, and investments to meet the water and energy challenge.

H.E. Sebastián Piñera, president of Chile, discusses Chile’s upcoming hosting of the COP25 climate conference, what has motivated Chile’s leadership on climate and clean energy and where it fits into the country’s global strategy, and what steps the country is taking at home to lead by example.

As signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement gear up for the upcoming COP24 meetings in Katowice, Poland in December 2018, Latin America has emerged as a global leader in energy modernization and climate change management, although progress has been uneven, and serious challenges remain for many countries in Latin America.

Both the international climate talks this week in the former West German capital of Bonn, and the negotiations over the future composition of the German government continuing this week in Berlin, will focus on the country’s approach to climate policy. While all eyes may be on Bonn, the discussions in Berlin provide a preview, and […]

As signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement meet in Bonn for COP23—and new forecasts show an increase in CO2 emissions after three flat years—India’s efforts to transform its energy system are a key focus of attention.  As the world’s second-largest coal consumer and third-largest carbon emitter, India’s policies and actions are critical to the future […]

Despite all eyes on the United States in the wake of US President Donald J. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, Fiji, the host of the twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23), framed the conversation in Bonn around the challenges climate change poses to small island nations and how larger, wealthier nations can help.

As the world gathered in Bonn for its twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23), the newly published Emissions Gap Report 2017 by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) helped to underline the mantra of the conference: all countries need to raise their climate protection efforts quickly and substantially. The report shows that even if fully […]

While the twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23) was beginning in Bonn, the US House and Senate Armed Services Committees were wrapping up negotiations on the fiscal year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. The bipartisan conference report that emerged from those negotiations calls climate change “a direct threat to the national security of the United […]

On Monday, November 7, the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will convene in Marrakech. The meeting’s venue in the fabled Moroccan caravan town—long a cultural, religious, and trading hub between the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa—will focus attention on the irony that while among the regions of […]

There were high expectations for Paris COP21 and the outcome of the talks more than met those expectations, producing a lasting agreement that significantly reduces global carbon pollution and begins our transition to a clean energy economy.  It is a milestone pact between 190 developing and developed countries that have mutually committed to walk down […]

International partnerships, technological innovation, addressing cybersecurity challenges seen as critical to realization of environmental goals International partnerships, technological innovation, and addressing cybersecurity challenges will be key to turning a global commitment to clean energy into reality, according to a senior US energy official. More than 190 nations agreed to curb rising global temperatures through carbon […]

President Obama’s former climate change advisor discusses the importance and expectations of the Paris summit Officials from one hundred and ninety-six governments are gathered in Paris with the goal of reaching the first-ever global climate change agreement. The negotiators’ main objective is to agree on legally binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions intended to keep […]

World leaders met this week for the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) with an ambitious agenda to tackle warming global temperatures and reduce carbon emissions. At the same time, Ethiopian officials revised their predictions of the number of people affected by the ongoing drought upward by nearly two million. They now estimate that more than 10 […]