Climate Change

Public Panel “FrankenPlanet or Climate Salvation?: The Governance of Geo-Engineering”

Mar 02
Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm
CIGI
Jason Blackstock and David Welch discuss what the implications of geoengineering might mean for global governance, the developing world, and the future of our planet.

CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER Warm Front or Deep Freeze? International Climate Policy in 2011

Feb 02
Wednesday, February 2, 2011 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm
CIGI
This is a Public Panel discussion. The discussants are a part of a larger workshop on Climate Change taking place at CIGI. The event will be Webcast as well. Attendees are asked to RSVP below to either the Webcast or for a seat in our live audience.
Thursday, May 17, 2012

Los Cabos and Climate Change: The Art of the Possible

Advocates all want to get their pet topic discussed at the G20. Economic and financial crisis issues will dominate. Employment and commodity price volatility are next in line. Development, corruption, tax havens and anti-money laundering, drug trafficking and transnational crime, protecting the marine environment and resuscitating trade negotiations will all compete for attention. Climate change will receive very little agenda time.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Reports of Cheap Oil's Death Are Not Greatly Exaggerated

Interviewee: Thomas Homer-Dixon / Interviewer: Brandon Currie

With new sources and methods of global petroleum production coming on stream — shale fracking, ultra-deepwater drilling and new fields in Africa, to name a few — some energy analysts have argued that reports of the death of cheap oil have been greatly exaggerated. In this week's CIGI Interview, Thomas Homer-Dixon takes issue with these "oil optimists," saying that the petroleum our global economy can afford to consume is indeed running out, and that we need to be much more aggressive in developing alternative energy sources.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Our peak oil premium

The Globe and Mail

CIGI Chair of Global System Thomas Homer-Dixon writes on "Our peak oil premium." He argues that we're much closer to an oil peak than most people acknowledge.

Monday, January 30, 2012

UN Panel Calls for Integration of Environment into International Economic Reforms

A quarter of a century ago, the Brundtland Commission outlined the concept of sustainable development for the first time. It began its rather sobering report with the memorable phrase, “The Earth is one but the world is not,” to describe the interactions between the world’s environmental and economic and political systems. Sustainable development was to provide a new paradigm for economic growth, social equality and environmental sustainability.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Global Sustainability: Pursuing the Elusive Prize

As the world’s political and business leaders head home from the World Economic Forum in Davos, it is right asking which of the world’s toughest challenges were identified, let alone solved, on the “Magic Mountain.” Timely, then, that today the UN launches the report of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Searching for Disruption, Sustainability and Transformation at Davos

Interviewee: Simon Zadek / Interviewer: Declan Kelly

Heads of state and leading figures from business and academia gather this week in Davos, Switzerland to “shape global, regional and industry agendas,” as part of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting. With this year’s conference entitled "The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models," we talk to WEF Sustainability Adviser and CIGI Senior Visiting Fellow Simon Zadek on what the forum’s unique composition can offer in terms of economic recovery and a move toward green growth.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Public panel opens CIGI conference on scientific policy implications for geoengineering

Media Advisory

CIGI is hosting the public panel Geoengineering Our Climate: Science, Ethics and Governance, from 5:30 to 7 pm, Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at Ottawa’s Lord Elgin Hotel (details below)

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

CIGI Experts Predict Global Governance Challenges for 2012

This week, CIGI experts David Runnalls, Eric Helleiner, Gregory Chin and Mark Sedra share their thoughts on what 2012 will bring in terms of environment and energy, the global economy, global development and global security challenges.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Climate Negotiations After Cop 17: The Likelihood of Meaningful Action

Throughout two decades of climate negotiations, diplomats have invoked the phrase “common but differentiated responsibilities” — CBDR — as shorthand for the idea that while all countries need to take action on climate change, their actual responsibilities will differ, depending on how developed they are.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Analysis: Canada's Kyoto withdrawal began when Bush bolted

CNBC

CIGI Distinguished Fellow Paul Heinbecker comments on Canada's withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol and says "how do we now tell other people that they have to live by the next [climate change agreement] if we pull out of the first one?"

Monday, December 12, 2011

Climate summit was a pathetic exercise in deceit

The Globe and Mail

In an op-ed to The Globe and Mail, CIGI Chair of Global Systems Thomas Homer-Dixon writes that "dealing with climate change is a prerequisite for prosperity this century – for all people on this planet."

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Environment minister expects new climate deal by 2015

CBC News

In a CBC News story, CIGI Distinguished Fellow Paul Heinbecker, who led the Canadian delegation to the 1997 Kyoto talks, describes the Durban agreement on climate change as significant.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

CIGI special report outlines global climate governance challenges beyond COP17 and 2012

News Release

A sustained effort is required to reframe the global climate debate beyond 2012 in terms of economic opportunities and mutual benefits, a new special report issued by The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) concludes.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

In austere times, world needs a climate change 'Plan B'

CNN

"What's needed is a Plan B that gets us beyond having to choose between the unlikely and the insufficient. It has to address the problem at scale, rapidly," CIGI Senior Visiting Fellow Simon Zadek argues in making the case for green, inclusive economies.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Taking Global Climate Governance Beyond 2012: Reflections on CIGI '10

Jason J. Blackstock and Manjana Milkoreit

This report reflects on the insights generated during the October 2010 international conference held at CIGI, CIGI ’10: Climate of Action, and considers what it would take to establish robust international climate cooperation.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

CIGI Experts Offer Dire Predictions for COP 17 in Durban

CIGI experts Kathryn Hochstetler, Thomas Homer-Dixon and David Runnalls discuss their predictions for COP 17 in Durban, South Africa.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

CIGI experts available for comment on COP17

Media Advisory

Looking for expert commentary on the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)? CIGI will have experts available from Durban, South Africa, as well as offsite via video link.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Sir David King on Science and International Governance

Speakers include David A. Welch and Sir David King

In this week's Inside the Issues, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Sir David King, talks with Inside the Issues about science and how it interacts with global political forces.