The agreement of the Bali roadmap charted a course for negotiations on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. But there remain uncertainties about the pace and eventual outcome of the negotiations. A post-2012 agreement will only be a success if it is guided by the science, which warns that developed countries must reduce emissions by 25-40 per cent by 2020 and 80-95 per cent by 2050. These figures only translate to a 50-50 chance of avoiding dangerous climate change, and the international community should aspire to even greater reductions. Most developing countries are not required to reduce emissions, but will need to commit to certain actions that will limit the growth of and eventually stabilise their emissions. The Committee believes that the targets for developed countries and commitment to actions by developing countries are the minimum that the UK and EU should accept in the negotiations. Diplomacy will be key in helping to reach agreement on the effort required. The Government will have to work closely with developing countries to explore the actions that they might be willing to commit to. The post-2012 agreement can be more flexible and creative than its predecessor in responding to the different needs of different countries. It is clear that substantial developed country financing will be required in order to shift developing countries onto a low-carbon path and also to encourage them to agree to mitigation actions.

This book surveys current conceptual, theoretical, and methodological approaches to global climate change and international relations. Although it focuses on the role of states, it also examines the role of nonstate actors and international organizations whenever state-centric explanations are insufficient.The book begins with a discussion of environmental constraints on human activities, the environmental consequences of human activities, and the history of global climate change cooperation. It then moves to an analysis of the global climate regime from various conceptual and theoretical perspectives. These include realism and neorealism, historical materialism, neoliberal institutionalism and regime theory, and epistemic community and cognitive approaches. Stressing the role of nonstate actors, the book looks at the importance of the domestic-international relationship in negotiations on climate change. It then looks at game-theoretical and simulation approaches to the politics of global climate change. It emphasizes questions of equity and the legal difficulties of implementing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. It concludes with a discussion of global climate change and other aspects of international relations, including other global environmental accords and world trade. The book also contains Internet references to major relevant documents.

Climate change presents an unprecedented global challenge, and impacts upon a wide range of human economic activity. The issue of how to address climate change in developing countries has provoked international political controversy and the urgent need for effective international responses has become increasingly apparent. The Role of Climate Change in Global Economic Governance addresses the growing number of legal and economic issues that arise with respect to climate change, combining analysis from economic, financial, and legal perspectives. The book assesses how the World Trade Organization, international investment law, and the international intellectual property rights regime approach the economic issues raised by climate change. The authors analyse how climate change regulation interacts with international economic law, and consider how financial instruments and insurance can mitigate the risks posed by climate change and facilitate adaptation. It breaks new ground in considering the financial sector's response to climate change, looking at how market mechanisms and risk insurance can reduce its economic cost.

When The Impact of Global Warming on Texas was first published in 1995, it discussed climate change as a likely future phenomenon, predicted by scientific studies. This entirely rewritten second edition presents evidence that early climate change impacts can now be observed and identifies the threats climate change will pose to Texas through the year 2050. It also offers the hopeful message that corrective action, if taken now, can avert unmanageable consequences. The book begins with a discussion of climate science and modeling and the information that can be derived from these sources for Texas. The authors follow this with an analysis of actual climate trends in the various Texas climate regions, including a predicted rise in temperatures of 5.4 degrees F (plus or minus 1.8 F) by the end of the century. This could lead to less rainfall and higher evaporation, especially in regions that are already dry. Other important effects include possible changes in El Niño (climate variability) patterns and hurricane behaviors. Taking into account projected population growth, subsequent chapters explore likely trends with respect to water availability, coastal impacts, and biodiversity. The authors then look at the issues from a policy perspective, focusing on Texas's importance to the national economy as an energy producer, particularly of oil and gas. They recommend that Texas develop its own climate change policy to serve the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy independence, ensuring regional security, and improving management of water, air, land, and wildlife.

This critical, crucial volume explores the politics and effects of global climate change. The first chapter presents essays from global resources that discuss the debate of climate change; is it real? One essay asserts that the United States is failing to address the very real existence of climate change. Chapter two discuses the impact of global climate change. Readers will learn about South America's Amazon basin and its loss of species and habitats. Chapter three discusses developing nations and climate change. Chapter four helps readers evaluate what is being done to combat climate change. Stellar essay sources include RoyalSociety.org, United States House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Working Group II, and the United Nations Environment Programme.

International Law presents a student-focused approach to the subject; clearly written with non-native English-speaking students in mind, a range of learning features highlight the areas of debate and encourage students to engage critically with key disputes.

Environmental issues are of fundamental importance, and a broad approach to understanding the relationship of the human economy and the natural world is essential. In a rapidly changing policy and scientific context, this new edition of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics reflects an updated perspective on modern environmental topics. Now in its fourth edition, this book includes new material on climate change, the cost-competitiveness of renewable energy, global environmental trends, and sustainable economies. The text provides a balanced treatment of both standard environmental economics and ecological economics, based on the belief that these two approaches are complementary. Several chapters focus on the core concepts of environmental economics, including the theory of externalities, the management of public goods, the allocation of resources across time, environmental valuation, and cost-benefit analysis. Material on ecological economics includes such topics as macroeconomic scale, entropy, and "green" national accounting. Topical chapters focus on: energy; climate change; water resources; international trade; forests; fisheries; and agriculture, with an emphasis on designing effective policies to promote sustainability and a "green" economy. Harris and Roach’s premise is that a pluralistic approach is essential to understand the complex nexus between the economy and the environment. This perspective, combined with its emphasis on real-world policies, is particularly appealing to both instructors and students. This is the ideal text for classes on environmental, natural resource, and ecological economics. The book's companion website is available at: http://www.bu.edu/eci/education-materials/textbooks/environmental-and-natural-resource-economics/

Introducing Human Geographies is the leading guide to human geography for undergraduate students, explaining new thinking on essential topics and discussing exciting developments in the field. This new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated and coverage is extended with new sections devoted to biogeographies, cartographies, mobilities, non-representational geographies, population geographies, public geographies and securities. Presented in three parts with 60 contributions written by expert international researchers, this text addresses the central ideas through which human geographers understand and shape their subject. Part I: Foundations engages students with key ideas that define human geography’s subject matter and approaches, through critical analyses of dualisms such as local-global, society-space and human-nonhuman. Part II: Themes explores human geography’s main sub-disciplines, with sections devoted to biogeographies, cartographies, cultural geographies, development geographies, economic geographies, environmental geographies, historical geographies, political geographies, population geographies, social geographies, urban and rural geographies. Finally, Part III: Horizons assesses the latest research in innovative areas, from mobilities and securities to non-representational geographies. This comprehensive, stimulating and cutting edge introduction to the field is richly illustrated throughout with full colour figures, maps and photos. These are available to download on the companion website, located at www.routledge.com/9781444135350.

The Annual Energy Statement 2013 sets out the government's priorities in delivering the UK's energy policies in the near term: helping households and businesses take control of their energy bills and keep their costs down; unlocking investment in the UK's infrastructure that will support economic growth; playing a leading role in efforts to secure international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change. It presents plans to make switching simpler and quicker, and a new probe into energy firms' accounts, to make them more transparent on profits and prices, as well as increasing penalties for market manipulation and regularly checking that the market is working properly