Americans support the idea of controlling emissions. In a poll published in October by the Pew Research Centre, 50per cent of those who had an opinion supported limits, compared with 39per cent against. Other polls have shown higher levels of support. But that apparent enthusiasm is qualified by a number of factors.
China began the year with a certain amount of trepidation about the Copenhagen climate change talks. Two years ago, researchers calculated that China had become the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, overtaking the US. Environmental groups slammed the country
The climate challenge is so serious that all possible policy measures need to be considered. Currently however, there tends to be a focus on regulations and emissions trading as the main ways of reducing carbon emissions. The use of taxation seems to be ignored or forgotten.
At present the biofuels sector is going through turmoil and some analysts question whether biofuels will be able to keep their promises. The eventual outcome will depend on the policies that countries have already put in place and those that may be implemented in the future. The purpose of this volume is to present possible scenarios for the biofuels industry.
In Climate Finance, a leading group of 35 policy experts and scholars show how effective mitigation of climate change will depend on a complex mix of public funds, private investment though carbon markets, and structured incentives that leave room for developing country innovations.
America will not pass a cap-and-trade law in time for the global climate-change summit in Copenhagen next month. To understand why, it helps to ask a farmer. Take Bruce Wright, for example, who grows wheat and other crops on a couple of thousand acres near Bozeman, Montana. His family has tilled these fields for four generations. His great-grandfather built the local church.
