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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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 Posts:March 15, 2010Game Change: A Sudden Shift in the Global Climate DebateBy David WheelerLast week, Saurabh Shome and I reported that India’s proposed massive investments in clean power will cost about $50 billion more than generating the same power with coal. As we note in our paper, Less Smoke, More Mirrors, India is considering such investments “despite the absence of any meaningful international pressure to cut emissions, no guarantees of compensatory financing, and a continuing American failure to adopt stringent emissions limits.” With this initiative, India joins China, South Africa, and other industrializing countries that have begun large clean technology programs at their own expense. In the process they have knocked the conventional climate-development debate into a cocked hat. Consider the following contrasts between Old Think and the New Reality. Read More… 1 Comment »December 22, 2009Godot Actually Made It To Copenhagen … and Nothing Happened. Now What?By David WheelerIn the wake of the shambles at Copenhagen, we could do worse than contemplate Vladimir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The two characters converse endlessly and anxiously, while they wait for the mysterious Godot to arrive and secure their enlightenment. But Godot never shows up, even though he keeps sending word that he will. Read More… 5 Comments »December 18, 2009Pathetic Outcome in CopenhagenBy David WheelerRight – it’s an “agreement”… to punt down the field for some transient face-saving. Obama said he had to fly back to Washington early because of the weather (riiiight ….). These guys have signally failed us. The Americans failed on emissions reductions. The Chinese failed on transparency. Plenty of credit to go around, as it turns out. But the problem doesn’t go away, and efforts to find solutions outside of the failed negotiating framework now become more crucial and urgent than ever. We at CGD will be doing our part. Stay tuned. And in the meantime, it’s well worth recalling the last stanza of this poem: The Hollow Men This is the way the world ends 2 Comments »December 15, 2009Beyond Copenhagen: Making Forest Conservation CredibleBy David WheelerThis is a joint posting with Dan Hammer. The climate negotiations in Copenhagen have galvanized the climate evangelists and skeptics alike; the talks, some say, are merely a front to assuage the general public, and will only divert attention from the scientific imperative to curb global carbon emissions. But one benefit of the talks has already been realized: They have catalyzed a flurry of activity, especially in the domain of monitoring and evaluation. Last week in Copenhagen, Google.org announced that it will provide free access to raw satellite imagery to facilitate global monitoring of deforestation, which may account for 15% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, Google.org has partnered with two leading forest scientists to host their image-parsing algorithms online, so that experts in developing countries can produce more accurate maps of forest cover loss from satellite images. Read More… 1 Comment »May 28, 2009Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade: The Trouble with OffsetsBy David WheelerThis is a joint post with Matt Hoffman. Carbon offsets — granting rights to emit greenhouse gases beyond a stated ceiling in exchange for contributions to cutting emissions elsewhere — are an important part of the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill now making its way through the U.S. Congress. Offsets have plenty of appeal, but in practice they have a poor track record. And there are less risky, lower cost ways to achieve similar goals. Read More… 1 Comment »April 30, 2009A Transformational North Africa/Middle East Solar Power Program: Bright Prospect for the Clean Technology FundBy David WheelerThis is a joint post with Joel Meister and Matt Hoffman.
4 Comments »April 21, 2009Nathalie’s Story: Saving the Mountain Gorillas, and the PlanetBy David Wheeler
Comment »April 10, 2009Yada Yada…Washington Talks While Missouri Acts on Climate ChangeBy David WheelerYou could be forgiven for thinking that national action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is going nowhere. This article in yesterday’s Washington Post describes the persistent hand-wringing inside the Beltway about the putative cost of cap-and-trade regulation. The argument continues although, as I and many others have argued, the U.S. is perfectly capable of implementing a system that would feature a 100% auction of carbon emissions permits from the outset, low initial costs, and compensating rebates to keep energy bills level for working families. Read More… Comment »April 3, 2009G-20 to World Bank: Start Carbon Accounting. G-20 to Rich Countries: Pay the BillBy David WheelerYesterday, the G20 leaders released a statement that commits the World Bank and the other MDB’s to financing low-carbon growth:
2 Comments »March 26, 2009Protectionist Snares Along the Road to CopenhagenBy David Wheeler
-Associated Press, March 17, 2009 The Copenhagen climate negotiations have already begun, as the world’s premier carbon emitters try various public gambits to bolster their positions. Consider, for example, the above-quoted statement by China’s top climate negotiator. While it is superficially clever, it will almost certainly backfire if anyone takes it seriously. The argument says, in essence, “We’re already doing you a favor by shipping you industrial goods that you no longer want to produce. So don’t expect us to pay the bill for their carbon emissions as well. You happily consume our offerings, so you should pay for their consequences.” Comment »March 20, 2009Sunlit Passage toward Reconciliation for the U.S. and Iran?By David WheelerToday, President Obama chose the occasion of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, to send a conciliatory message to the people and leaders of Iran. A spokesperson for Iranian President Ahmadinejad responded immediately with a positive message.
2 Comments »March 2, 2009Clean Technology for Developing Countries — Bright Road AheadBy David Wheeler
3 Comments »February 25, 2009End of the Road for the World Bank’s Clean Technology Fund?By David Wheeler
3 Comments »January 29, 2009Upcoming World Bank Vote Threatens Future of Clean Tech FundBy David WheelerThis is a joint posting with Joel Meister. Even as President Obama breaks new ground this week on U.S. environmental policy, an upcoming vote by country members of the World Bank’s Clean Technology Fund Trust Fund Committee may perpetuate business-as-usual policies that subsidize coal-fired power plants and contribute to global warming. On Friday morning, the committee is scheduled to consider and approve investment criteria that include coal-fired power projects among “clean” technologies that are eligible for billions in MDB financing. 1 Comment »January 28, 2009President Obama, the Gang of Ten, and Getting to Yes in CopenhagenBy David WheelerPresident Obama clearly wants to break with his predecessor on energy and climate policy. But the American political divide has not disappeared, and it still threatens to derail the Copenhagen climate negotiations next December. Three developments during the past week highlight both the promise and the peril: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s appointment of Todd Stern to be U.S. special envoy for climate negotiations; President Obama’s reversal of the Bush administration’s refusal to let California and other states set tighter standards for greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles; and the re-emergence of the “Gang of Ten” — Democratic Senators who represent coal-dependent states in the U.S. heartland and fear that cap-and-trade regulation of carbon emissions will harm their constituents. 1 Comment »December 22, 2008Where There Is No Vision, the People Will Refuse to Perish–But Do-Nothing Institutions Very Well MightBy David WheelerIt’s been a busy year for citizen action on carbon emissions. On September 11, a UK jury considered charges against six Greenpeace activists who tried to shut down the Kingsnorth power station in Kent, UK. Kingsnorth emits 12.8 million tons of CO2 annually — among the top 150 of over 50,000 plants worldwide in our CARMA database. It will vault much higher in the rankings after its planned expansion increases its emissions to 24.8 million tons. The Greenpeace defense rested on preventing climate change that would cause greater damage to property around the world. The court heard from a variety of witnesses, including Jim Hansen, NASA’s top climate scientist, who has repeatedly warned that more CO2 emissions pose a deadly threat. Comment »December 9, 2008Poznan Redux: The True Climate CostBy David WheelerThis is a joint posting with Kevin Ummel 1 Comment »December 3, 2008Poznan, Hot Air, and Carbon OffsetsBy David Wheeler“I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room.” Comment »November 25, 2008Obama and House Committee Shake-Up Signal Sea Change in U.S. Climate PolicyBy David WheelerThis is a joint posting with Joel Meister Comment »November 6, 2008Smart Obamanomics for the President-Elect’s Top Priority: Energy and Climate ChangeBy David WheelerThis is a joint post with Kevin Ummel, Robin Kraft, Joel Meister and Dan Hammer
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The May 11-12th meeting of the Clean Technology Fund’s Trust Fund Committee will consider a proposed $6-8 billion solar thermal power program for North Africa and the Middle East, according to the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds 
My friend Nathalie Johnson is one of my personal heroes. For the better part of two decades, she has worked tirelessly at the World Bank to conserve biodiversity while promoting sustainable livelihoods for the rural people of Africa. Fiercely proud of being a field biologist in an institution dominated by economists, Nathalie has turned out to be one of the finest applied economists I know. In the early 1990s, she joined a quest to engage the people of southwestern Uganda in a collaborative effort to save the mountain gorillas. Her passion, determination and, not least, common-sense application of economic principles contributed mightily to the development and successful implementation of the 
The stage is set for movement toward rapprochement, but both sides need an appropriate vehicle. Fortunately, we have a perfect candidate: Rapid, collaborative development of solar thermal power in Iran. As Kevin Ummel and I show in our paper 
I’d like to put last week’s move by the U.S. Congress to eliminate a proposed contribution to the 
Well, the World Bank’s senior management has really done it this time: 
Economists are always irritating their colleagues by harping about opportunity cost, but the concept can be useful nonetheless. For example, consider the “carbon account” announced for the Poznan climate change meeting. According to the sponsors, travel and other logistics for the 8,000 conference participants 
