BASIC makes Room for an Elephant

by Joe Perullo BASIC (the group of Brazil, South African, India, and China) gave a rather uncomfortable press conference the other day.  China, the leader of the group, started the talk on the defensive, denying the major "rumor" floating around that BASIC is splitting up. The other countries complied and also denied the allegations. An elephant walked into the room. The EU and the US have...

Mic check. Mic check. Youth intervention (English and Spanish version of the speech)

This morning Anjali gave the intervention to the high-level segment COP plenary on behalf of youth. Standing on the podium, and looming large on the screen, she launched right in. I speak for more than half the world's population. We are the silent majority. You've given us a seat in this hall, but our interests are not on the table. What does it take to get a stake in this game?...

“Not just a fund-a JUST climate fund”

by Nathan Thanki Before we get the official say on what the green climate fund should look like, let's just remind ourselves what a really just GCF would look like. As one member of the YOUNGO finance working group said today "we don't want just another climate fund, we want a just climate fund." So what is a just climate fund? First and foremost, a just fund must be a transparent fund that...

What happened to the hope of a green climate fund?

by Nathan Thanki In our pre-COP speculations, everyone thought that the GCF would be one of the key issues and (possibly) outcomes of Durban. The promise--of a new, large, additional, transparent fund that would be driven by the countries that received the money and guaranteed adaptation funding--was great, a light at the end of the dark tunnel through which parts of the regime, like the...

What’s health got to do with it?

by Graham Reeder So how are climate change and health connected anyway? I don’t know about you, but the first thing that comes to mind when I used to think about climate change is arctic sea ice and major industry polluting. As I’ve developed a stronger interest in public health issues over the last couple of years, the human ecologist in me has driven me to make connections between climate...