BU Now » greenhouse gases

Copenhagen boycott ended

Dick Taffe — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:23:22 +0000

Poor nations ended their boycott of the global environment talks in Copenhagen on being assured rich countries aren’t softening their commitments to cutting greenhouse gases. Professor Adil Najam, director of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, is with a delegation of BU students at the Copenhagen talks. Najam, an author of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, says the ghost of Kyoto hangs over Copenhagen.

“The fact of the matter is that while the U.S. withdrew itself from Kyoto, the countries that did stay in – including the European nations – really did not live up to the spirit of the promises they had made at Kyoto. That has meant that these countries want to run as far away from those commitments as they can, but the developing countries feel cheated and are unlikely to buy into any future promises if the past promises are not honored.”

Contact Adil Najam, 617-353-4002, anajam@bu.edu

No historic agreement at G-8 summit on cutting greenhouse gas emissions

Ron Rosenberg — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:28:13 +0000

Leaders at the Group of Eight summit meeting failed to make a breakthrough to cut in half the global production of greenhouse gases by 2050 as India and China claimed an unfair burden when their economies are growing rapidly. But Adil Najam, co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and a BU professor of international relations, disputes their reasons and can discuss the failure to resolve the deep split among G-8 countries.

Contact Adil Najam (617) 358-4000, anajam@bu.edu

Senate fight over “cap-n-trade”

Dick Taffe — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:53:02 +0000

The upcoming Senate battle over President Obama’s climate-change bill will center on the “cap-and-trade” system to allow trading of pollution permits as emission levels are increasingly tightened. Energy risk-management expert Mark T. Williams, who teaches finance in the School of Management, says not to expect Senate approval until the economy rebounds and there’s a stronger U.S. industrial sector – probably not until 2010.

Contact Mark T. Williams, 617-358-2789, williams@bu.edu

Widespread public support for greenhouse gas rules

Ron Rosenberg — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:18:07 +0000

A Washington Post-ABC News survey shows that 75% of Americans back federal government regulations on the release of greenhouse gases from power plants, cars and factories to reduce global warming. Cutler Cleveland, Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, knows the issues as Congress prepares to vote on climate change legislation.

Cutler Cleveland, 617-353-3083, cutler@bu.edu