The demise of carbon markets has been predicted a number of times. The latest episode to provoke this claim was the failure of the European Parliament to strengthen the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) in a recent vote on what is called ‘backloading’, or withholding a number of emission allowances under the system from auction to create scarcit… Read More
Author Archives: Matthew Paterson
Exploring Global Governance Networks
How is global governance organized? For many complicated issues, governance is being pursued at multiple sites, by different actors, at different levels and, in many cases, across space in a messy transnational fashion. What, then, are fruitful ways of understanding these processes (for example, the patterns we see in certain sorts of governance opera… Read More
Tags: emissions trading, environment, global governance, Matthew Paterson, networks
If Only We Could Take the Politics Out….
‘If only we could take the politics out’ has become a ubiquitous cry in contemporary political life. This can be seen everywhere, but Barack Obama’s decision on the Keystone XL pipeline is a classic instance. It has been decried from all sides as one in which ‘politics’ intruded into a decision that (purportedly) should not have been political. It was sullie… Read More
Tags: Barack Obama, Canada, Keystone XL, Matthew Paterson, political discourse, politics, United States
Going Rogue: Canada and the Kyoto Protocol
So the Canadian government is apparently planning, according to numerous media reports, to formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. The Environment Minister, Peter Kent, refuses to confirm or deny the reports. The surprise should perhaps precisely be that this is not a surprise. Before the rumours, it was unthinkable that a government, especially a ‘… Read More
Tags: Canada, China, environment, Kyoto Protocol, Matthew Paterson
The World Energy Outlook and North Pole Crocodiles
So the International Energy Agency (IEA) produced its annual World Energy Outlook this year. The central message seems to be: PANIC! IT MAY BE TOO LATE. When a sober organisation full of technocrats and policy wonks screams panic, you know something is up. However, the IEA was founded precisely on panic: in the aftermath of the 1973-4 oil crisis, industrial… Read More
Tags: environment, International Energy Agency, Keystone XL, Matthew Paterson, World Energy Outlook
Arctic Ice, Oil Sands Protests, and Canadian Climate Change Policy
Last month saw two events of interest on the climate change front. One is the protest on September 26 in Ottawa by activists opposing the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to be built from Alberta to Louisiana in order to take oil from the Alberta oil sands/ tar sands (the label indicating your position on the subject) down to the U.S. The other is the news that the su… Read More
Tags: Alberta, Arctic, Canada, climate change, environment, Keystone, Matthew Paterson, oil sands, pipeline, United States
