Welcome to our Politics and Climate Change category, where we delve into the crucial nexus between policy measures and the pressing global challenge of climate change. In this thought-provoking collection of articles, we aim to shed light on the intricate relationship between political decisions and their impact on our planet’s environment.Can the green transition backfire? – The Rebound Effect and other challenges
In the sustainable transition we are always looking for a “win-win” scenario, especially when it comes to resource and energy management. The ultimate aim of sustainable development is to protect the environment while simultaneously achieving economic growth. Such a goal is supposed to be reached through the decoupling of the environmental and economic impacts of […]
Who will pay the price of climate change
Extreme heat, drought, wildfires. Unfortunately, summer 2022 has been an eye-opening season for many people. As the effects of global warming become more concrete and severe every day, we might finally see some collective actions taking place. However, it is too late to avoid all the consequences and we already know who is going to […]
Russia and European energy independence: the REPower EU Plan
Since its outbreak on February 24, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has altered the political, social, and economic balance of the world and, above all, of Europe. At a geopolitical level one of the main hot topics is the energy question. Indeed, Russia is the main exporter of natural gas and crude oil to […]
Don’t Look Up is the movie about climate change that we needed
Since it was released on Netflix last December, Don’t Look Up has been at the top of the platform’s most viewed titles. Adam McKay’s new movie portrays the fictional story of two astronomers and their desperate attempts to warn humanity of a comet’s impending impact with Earth. The calculations have been made many times, the […]
Climate migration might be the next great emergency
Migration is a fact as ancient as human history. The first evidence of migration dates back to tens (if not more than a hundred) of thousands of years ago, when Homo Sapiens started to spread from Africa through Eurasia. In contemporary society migration represents a relevant and sensitive topic, because the magnitude of this phenomenon […]
The Roots of our Petroleum Addiction and the Future Possibilities of a World Detached from Oil
Oil is power, and until we move away from this very notion then we will be addicted to oil for an unseeable future and suffer the great consequences that arise from fossil fuel consumption. Dominion over oil means dominion over democracy. We must find a new dependency in order to prosper. What lurks in the shadows? What is our way out?
Is climate change affecting our mental health?
Rises in temperature, droughts and heatwaves, increase of sea-levels and ice melting: these are just some of the effects that climate change is having and will continue to have on our planet. If the consequences of climate change on Earth are known to most people, some of the effects on our mental health have started […]
Is a hybrid Solar PV & W2E Renewable Energy System Feasible for Ghana?
Article and Pictures by Nicholas George Donovan Grazia The volant migration of the Arcadian population in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in search of a better life in metropolitan megapolis, has culminated in the profuse and irrepressible growth of the urban centers. Due to this monumental expansion of the population in SSA, a major public perturbation has […]
Jobs creation and environmental protection: two sides of the same coin
November, 20th: a global relief is felt right after Biden’s victory in Georgia, which officializes his ascent to the White House. The news is accompanied by the willingness of the U.S. to re-join Paris agreement, whose objectives were not ratified by the forty-fifth President, Donald Trump. Considering U.S. as the world’s second-largest emitter of GHGs, […]
Things of the past
I’m sure that in primary school, during history class, pretty much anyone has heard teachers talking about the almost-phantasmagorical world of dinosaurs. Most millennials, who grew up with dinosaur-themed cartoons like The Land Before Time, found themselves confronted with the news that the prehistoric creatures had been extinct for millions of years. But what exactly […]
Will we drink coffee in 2050?
Coffee is one of the most famous plants in the world: it takes 3-4 years before it produces berries, which will then be harvested, cleaned, and roasted. Every day almost 1,6 billion cups of coffee are made, with Finland as the first consumer of coffee in the world (nearly 12 kg/year per capita). Coffee employs […]
CARBON LEAKAGE: CURRENT CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
Carbon based emissions are now proven to be a harmful by-product to humans and the environment. An excess of CO2 in the atmosphere, in addition to an increase in the average global temperature with catastrophic consequences already experienced today, affects the health of the individual in several ways: blood acidification, lower cognitive performance, muscular tremor […]
Reviewing: “A Polycentric Approach for Coping with Climate Change”
From the USA withdrawing from the Paris Agreement to the European Union enforcing its Emission Trading System, to China powering with new Coal Plants its green revolution in BRI countries, to other developing countries suffering as front-liners the consequences of the climate crisis: World Countries are individually (or in clusters) facing The Emergency with several […]
Imperialism and Dependency Theory: Challenges for an African-European Sustainable Partnership
The protests striking in the US after centuries of oppression, both explicit and tacit, against the black community call for immediate action in the short term while might foresee structural changes both in Europe and in its relationship with the African States. Most European Nations are dealing with a rising outbreak of “national pride” at […]
Dear Earth, sorry if I still don’t love you
The Covid-19, the current pandemic, is forcing millions of people around the world to stay at home. From one day to another streets, beaches and squares became empty. However, a particular phenomenon has emerged: nature has, little by little, begun to breathe: kangaroos on the streets, mountains seen from miles away thanks to a decrease […]
The core value of bees: Promoting individual actions for ecosystem biodiversity
Do you like to enjoy the sweetness of cherries and strawberries or wake up in the morning with the intense aroma of coffee? Thank the bees. 35% of global food production and 76% of the world’s major crops depend on these extraordinary insects. Pollination is also estimated to be worth around $200 billion to ecosystems, as well as […]
Extreme temperatures keep affecting wheat production in Europe
Yet another year, climate change shows its effect more vividly on European summer. Extreme temperatures have devastated corn fields in North Europe, while a combination of droughts and high intensity rains on the Black Sea area have plunged production estimations, with the consequent potential of a price raise. France, main EU producer, has also been […]
Current carbon approach can be insufficient to achieve Paris Goals, experts say
Nowadays models’ trust into dealing with climate change by using “negative emissions” technologies, such as CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage), may be into question, according to latter news. A recent report from the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) claimed that the current state of technology cannot compensate for the actual amount of emissions, even […]
Better Finance, Better World: how to make the Sustainable Development Goals more “investable” for commercial players
Today, January 24th, the Business and Sustainable Development Commission presented a consultation version of the paper Better Finance, Better World at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The commission has set up a taskforce to consider how to deploy blended finance more effectively and how to encourage growth in the sector. That would make the […]
We Are Still In! – United States is much more than Trump
As probably many of you already know, Donald Trump announced this summer he will pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement. Only two countries were not part of the agreement: Syria and Nicaragua, for very different reasons. But now they are in as well and United States results as the only country that […]
Highlights from COP23 – a brief explanation of the key outcomes and the plans for the future
The 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Bonn, Germany, from 6 to 17 November 2017 under the presidency of the Government of Fiji. It is the first time that a COP is presided over by a small Pacific island developing […]
The RAIN Project
Climate change is challenging the world with more extreme weather events. As we keep altering the environment and its fragile equilibrium we will face heavier rainfalls, storms and fires. These events contribute to damage the human activities that directly rely on the environment, like agriculture. Additionally, energy transport and communication infrastructures are at serious risk […]
Climategate: Why we need more media support
Today the power of the media is so strong than ever before. Thanks to social networks, podcasts and off-line streaming services we are constantly hit by news from everywhere. We can not deny the fact that the media have the power to shape people’s opinions about a certain fact. Moreover, the media coverage around an […]
Earthquakes and Climate Change: could they be connected?
Just few days ago central Italy has been struck by a strong earthquake of 6.4 magnitude causing hundreds causalities and millions of euro of damages, destroying to the ground villages in the affected area. The central part of Italy is a high risk zone for earthquakes, however, earthquakes are more frequent than before. The idea […]
Climate Change vs. Sports
We have been speaking about sustainability in Rio Olympic Games. Sustainability-in-Rio Today we want to open your eyes on another issue, the inside competition atlethes are conducting against climate change. No one else more than olympians and their performances is being affected by climate change. Extreeme temperature is crtical to every sport, mostly outodoor ones. Atlethes are […]
Climate Change: A potential new financial crisis?
Can the Climate Change Crisis lead to a new financial crisis? It must be clear climate change will affect every aspect of our society and economy! This includes the stock market as well! According to a study conducted by the Economist there is a huge cost associated with climate change for the financial players. The […]
Well done Montreal!
Montreal 1989, does it remeber anything to you? Back in that year “Perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date” (Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations) was signed. Today 27 years later its effects are visible to everyone. Yes! The Protocol (for who does not remeber) banned the use of CFC, chlorofluorocarbons, and […]
El Nino… a kid actor in the Climate Change
Between 2015 and 2016 the world has witnessed the strongest El Nino since 65 years. The effects have been catastrophic, producing massive drought in Africa and Australia and destructive floods in South America. Step by step…What El Nino is? The Peruvian fishermen gave name to this climate phenomena, calling it El Nino (the kid); exactly […]
Is online shopping sustainable?
I personally considered Online shopping to be very sustainable. Saving a trip to the store and getting some serious discount was the highlight for online shoppers. I stopped buying online lately due bad experience with the quality of the product but I always thought that at least it saves you time via e-commerce. But what […]
Extreme weather is due to Climate Change. Really?!
Every once in a while, I meet someone who doesn’t believe in climate change. They say that all the changes are happening since the beginning of the time and will continue to be so it is quite normal for the Earth to be so warm or to be so cold. Well, I always partially agree […]
Reduction in consumption of meat might be a good idea!
I know that the post image might tempt people to eat some meat right now. But as I have written few posts before about how the meat industry is kind of more responsible for the pollution around the world. Documentaries like ‘Cowspiracy’ and ‘Food Inc’ are worth watching for some reason. Deforestation is done also […]
The wired wild – data is the key
Some weeks ago the World Wildlife Fund WWF organized the fuller symposium event, bringing together leaders in science, policy business and development to talk about innovative technologies and the promises it give when it comes to face the challenges on our planet. Even if you are not a big fan of WWF, you can check […]
What’s in your climate agreement? – Konrad Luders
On December 12th 2015 the governments of 196 nations have finally decided to work together against climate change, a problem known to exist for more than four decades… starting in 2020! But can this be it? Have our governments really just managed to conserve a habitable planet for humans? Or is it too early to […]
Highest number of premature deaths due to air pollution – Italy!
On ‘Corriere della sera’ (one Italian newspaper) few weeks ago, there was an article regarding the highest premature deaths in Italy. If the data is to be believed, more than 59k people died due the high level of air pollutants in Italy. I always mentioned my country to be highly polluted and I always consider […]
Chasing Ice – Documentary review
Stalking people around the world on Facebook, I stumbled upon a link which talked about some nice documentaries ( I knew stalking was always a great idea). When I opened the linked, one documentary – Chasing Ice was mentioned as one film ‘must be seen’. It seemed like a good idea to see it since […]
Ever heard of: Naomi klein
In this post of ‘Ever heard of’ I am going to talk about Naomi Klein a Canadian author & filmmaker known for her political analyses. Her latest book ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs Climate Change’ became a bestseller. It sheds some light to the connections between the rapid growth model of the free market economy […]
3D-Underwater framing
In resource economics we talk quite a lot of renewable resources and their stock size, and to make it more feasible professors introduce to students this topic by the stock of fish in the sea and the trees in forest. Today I would like to do the same to you and show you this project, […]
India looking forward to bank on Solar power
In India, Solar power has become the catchword for many states in recent times. Internationally, the price of solar power components has been declining at 15% year over year, and states are leveraging this trend. India’s commitments on increasing its non-fossil fuel component of power generation to 40% by 2030 are substantial. Even though coal […]
Paris Summit 2015 – Each country’s pledge
Carbon Brief has been following each country’s pledge towards the Paris 2015 summit. Here on this post you will find more details on how each country pledged in the upcoming summit. While for some countries, the pledges seem a big task however it will be interesting to see if they manage to achieve the target. […]
Consolidating Climate Change within Asset Management
Asset management is a systematic process of deploying, operating, maintaining, upgrading, and disposing of assets cost-effectively. The term is most commonly used in the financial world to describe people and companies that manage investments on behalf of others. This is the definition taken from Wikipedia. It’s very clear. I have nothing against it. However, recently […]
World Air Quality Index
Couple of hours ago, I saw this really interesting website where you can find the pollution levels city by city just by one click. This site give you a world map with numbers on it and on the top you can find the bracket or category where the pollution limit is mentioned. My city has […]
Carbon bubble threat from climate change!
A carbon bubble is the idea that there is a bubble in valuation of companies related to fossil-fuel-based energy production. This is because true costs of carbon dioxide in intensifying global warming are not taken into account in a company’s stock market valuation. Currently the price of fossil fuels companies shares is calculated under the […]
Some ‘Green Startup’ enjoying success!
In order to more sustainable or at least to help us become more sustainable, we need entrepreneurs who are willing to put their dime in startups which focus sustainability or Eco-friendly. Currently the name give to it is Green Startup. It is a tricky startup since I personally feel that it is very new and […]
Mad Max (film) like situation : Water Scarcity!
Some of you might have seen the classic Mel Gibson’s Max Max or you might have seen the latest Tom Hardy’s Max Max: Fury Road. More or less the plot remains the same – Shortage of Water. I am not going to review this film. I am not the great Robert Edgar, however, I would […]
What is fossil fuel divestment?
Divestment serves to de-legitimise the business models of companies that are using investors’ money to search for yet more coal, oil and gas that can’t safely be burned. It is a small but crucial step in the economic transition away from a global economy run on fossil fuels. It is one way of reducing the […]
‘The 11th hour’ Documentary review!
I once wrote a post about the top 10 documentaries on Sustainability. I am going to write a review on one of those documentaries today. The 11th hour The 11th Hour is a 2007 documentary film, created, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, on the state of the natural environment. Global warming, deforestation, mass species […]
This ‘Golden Crop’ is not sustainable!
My last post on Palm Oil where I wrote the disadvantages of using Palm Oil has been making headlines again. Recently on BBC you might have read about deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. In total these two countries cover 80% of palm oil production. According to the article, most of the people came out of […]
Obama’s new climate change plan – Is it a ‘kitchen sink’ approach?
If you have been reading the latest news, you would have read about Obama’s new Climate Change Plan. What the plan actually means is the Clean Power Plan sets standards to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from 32% from 2005 levels by 2030, which is 9% more than proposed earlier. That’s drastic change in their policy. […]
Actors of Change – EuroEnviro (Part3)
Day 6th Arenas of Change Here now is the important thing. We were divided in 12 teams in three different Arenas. The Arenas were University, Business and Politics. These three arenas have a great potential to change the world we live in. It was about how University, Business and Politics can do something so that […]
Tesla revealed batteries for your home
For sure you heard about Tesla, the US American producer of the very successfully selling electric car Tesla Model S. And if you find their revolutionary approach in the car sector as interesting as I do, you will definitely appreciate the latest news from Tesla. On April 30, they announced at a press conference in […]
Disadvantages of using Palm Oil
Studying in an International Course (It’s in English language in Italy so it’s kind of a big deal here) I have many class mates around the world. One of my good friends who is from Indonesia and has studied in my country too recently spoke to me about the Palm Oil. We were hanging out […]
What is emission trading and what is it good for? Part 1 of 2
Today I would like to write about an issue that is so wide that I decided to divide it in two parts: Emission Trading. As you might know (or not) there are some instruments that policy makers can use to reduce emissions of pollutant gases, especially impactful greenhouse gas emissions. Tradable emission permits are one […]
The World counts – An interesting site about data and statistics
Recently which browsing through internet about the interesting facts and data about the climate change, I encountered this phenomenal site called ‘The World Count’. “The data used on The World Counts comes from a large number of organisations, research institutions, news services etc. Our aim is to use data from the world’s most reputable organisations. […]
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are on the rise at an alarming rate
I read an article few days back and couldn’t stop pondering over it for few hours. Hydrofluorocarbons or known as (HFCs) are already on rise at 54% in UK. Since the beginning of the spring and soon the arrival of the summer, people in UK have already started using the air-conditioners. This gas is replacement […]
RESD’s student heading to Gotenburg, Sweden for a week for Environmental Symposium 2015
The EuroEnviro student symposium was created in 1995 in Born, Germany. Originally known as BiB, Born-in-Born, it was later to be renamed EuroEnviro. The aim was to exchange opinions with other students on environmental sciences and ecopolitical issues. Over the years the focus has expanded from mainly environmental issues to also include social and economic sustainability. […]
Cowspiracy – A must watch!
So few days back i watched this documentary called ‘Cowspiracy’ upon a recommendation from a friend. Honestly i was little hesitant before watching this movie since it starts with a word ‘Cow’. Usually the first thing people say to me when they get to know that i am from India is ‘There are many cows […]
Climate sensitivity is unlikely to be less than 2C, say scientists
Every now and then whoever is interested in Clmate Change or if anyone is studying as part of their course, must have asked this question – Does the fact that surface temperatures are rising slower than in previous decades mean scientists have overestimated how sensitive the Earth’s climate is to greenhouse gases? The question is […]