New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme favour big farming and industrial emitters over households and small businesses, argue academics Geoff Bertram and Simon Terry.In a plain language guide that demystifies the complex world of emissions trading, they contend that New Zealand has a wealth of options for cutting emissions more equitably but courageous political leadership is needed.

"I would caution readers to dismiss Stephen Leeb's warnings only at their peril." -- Thomas Kaplan, chairman, Tigris Financial GroupThe American Dream is close to being replaced by a living nightmare:Key commodities that are essential to our daily lives and that are widely believed to be abundant are running critically short. Even worse, the Chinese are doing what they can to monopolize the world's dwindling resources.The U.S. is now largely dep...

Why the traditional “pledge and review” climate agreements have failed, and how carbon pricing, based on trust and reciprocity, could succeed.After twenty-five years of failure, climate negotiations continue to use a “pledge and review” approach: countries pledge (almost anything), subject to (unenforced) review. This approach ignores everything we know about human cooperation. In this book, leading economists describe an alternate model for climate agreements, dra...

Climate change and justice are so closely associated that many people take it for granted that a global climate treaty should--indeed, must--directly address both issues together. But, in fact, this would be a serious mistake, one that, by dooming effective international limits on greenhouse gases, would actually make the world's poor and developing nations far worse off. This is the provocative and original argument of Climate Change Justice. Eric Posner and David Weisbach strong...

Coal fuels about 50 percent of US electricity production and provides a quarter of the country's total energy. China and India's ferocious economic growth is based almost entirely on coal-generated electricity.Coal currently looks like a solution to many of our fast-growing energy problems. However, while coal advocates are urging full steam ahead, increasing reliance on the dirtiest of all fossil fuels has crucial implications for the global climate, energy policy, the world econo...

The electric power sector is what keeps modern economies going, and historically, fossil fuels provided the bulk of the energy need to generate electricity, with coal a dominant player in many parts of the world. Now with growing concerns about global climate change, this historical dependence on fossil-fuels, especially those rich in carbon, are being questioned. Examining the implications of the industry's future in a carbon-constrained world, a distinct reality, is the subject of this b...

There's a simple, straightforward way to cut carbon emissions and prevent the most disastrous effects of climate change-and we're rejecting it because of irrational political fears. That's the central argument of The Case for a Carbon Tax, a clear-eyed, sophisticated analysis of climate change policy.Shi-Ling Hsu examines the four major approaches to curbing CO2: cap-and-trade; command and control regulation; government subsidies of alternative energy; and carbon taxes. We...

This study from the Independent Evaluation Group draws lessons for development and climate change mitigation from the World Bank Group's far-reaching portfolio of projects in energy forestry transport coal power and technology transfer. Reviewing what has worked what hasn?t and why the evaluation?s key findings include:Energy efficiency can offer countries direct economic returns that dwarf those of most other development projects while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Tropical fo...

A program for building a global clean energy economy while expanding job opportunities and economic well-being.In order to control climate change, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that greenhouse gas emissions will need to fall by about forty percent by 2030.Achieving the target goals will be highly challenging. Yet in Greening the Global Economy, economist Robert Pollin shows that they are attainable through steady, large...

Climate change is big business. Much of the money so-called green policies cost us goes straight into the pockets of a bewildering range of special interests. Around the world companies are making billions out of the schemes governments have put in place saying they will curb global warming and protect us from the threat of climate change. There is little evidence that those policies are an efficient way to cut emissions. They simply do not represent good value, and the public are right to...

This book studies the limits imposed by the depletion of fossil fuels and the requirements of climate stabilization on economic growth with a focus on China. The book intends to examine the potentials of various energy resources, including oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, and other renewables, as well as energy efficiency. Unlike many other books on the subject, this book intends to argue that, despite the large potentials of renewable energies and energy efficiency, economic ...

This book is the latest report by the World Bank to estimate comprehensive wealth including produced natural and human / institutional assets for over 100 countries. This ground-breaking report presents wealth accounts for 1995 2000 and 2005 permitting the first longer-term assessment of global regional and country performance in building wealth. This overall assessment is complemented by chapters detailing individual components of wealth as well as how countries and the World Bank are using ...