Friday, December 12, 2014

Peru Climate Talks Address Troubled Green Climate Fund (Again)

More than 190 nations at international climate talks in Lima, Peru, continued Dec. 10 to work on overcoming a serious rift over the aid richer nations are to give to developing nations under a 2015 global climate deal (again).

The U.S. and other rich nations pledged $100 billion-a-year in climate aid to poor countries beginning in 2020.  There is also a question about how individual countries should provide more detail on any climate aid they are considering when they prepare formal emissions-reduction pledges that will anchor the global climate accord to be signed a year from now in Paris.

Industrial nations first pledged the $100 billion-a-year aid at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit and soon after set up a new Green Climate Fund (GCF). Pledges to the GCF hit what many heralded as a significant $10 billion threshold during the United Nations negotiations in the Peruvian capital, with pledges announced Dec. 9 from Belgium ($60 million) and Australia ($165 million). 

The 2015 deal to be finalized in Paris would commit developed and developing nations alike to actions to address greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2020.

The underlying rationale for providing the climate aid is that developing nations are far more likely to take on actions and sign on to the global climate deal if industrialized nations help them prepare for rising sea levels and other climate impacts caused largely by the emissions of developed nations.
The late-2015 Paris accord, if agreed to, would be the first truly global climate accord to cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow the rise in global temperatures.

But there are other disputes over climate finance, including whether only the U.S., the European Union, and other industrialized economies should be ponying up such funds given that many rapidly developing nations are now major emitters.

China, which overtook the U.S. years ago as the world's top emitter, has been silent on offering a contribution to GCF even as a number of smaller developing nations have come forward to make pledges, albeit relatively modest sums.  (Bloomberg, 12/11/2-14)


Tuesday, December 09, 2014

Compton To Catalina Island Program Trip 6

AAEA conducted its 6th Compton To Catalina Island Trip on Friday, December 5, 2014. The trip included the following participants: Dimond Williams, 15, King Drew High School, Jasmin Bumpas, 15, King Drew , Jessica Cortez,10, Ritter Elementary School, and Jaela Bumpas, 17, King Drew High School.


The trip included a tour of the Southern California Edison Pebbly Beach electricity power plant and submersible underwater tour of Avalon Bay where they observed numerous fish species and submerged aquatic vegetation. An interesting footnote is the the sea kelp were totally wiped out by recent storms.




Jaela Bumpas aspires to be a marine biologist and she was particularly impressed by the experience.

Monday, December 01, 2014

Briefing on Lack of Diversity at Environmental Groups

Public Briefing: Environmental and Non Profit Leaders Discuss Lack of Diversity in Mainstream Environmental Movement on December 9 at National Press Club

Nonprofit and environmental leaders outline solutions to diversity problem in the mainstream environmental movement  

Tuesday, December 9, Green 2.0 will convene a public briefing for media and stakeholders on the steps mainstream environmental organizations can take to increase diversity in the highest levels. Speakers will discuss the challenges that make bridging the diversity gap more urgent than ever, and what some are doing to solve it.  

The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations report released by Green 2.0 garnered much press  and support this past summer.  The report found that although people of color now account for more than a third of the U.S. population, they have not, on average, broken the 16 percent “green ceiling” in mainstream environmental organizations, with the numbers being worse at the leadership levels.  

On the heels of this report, Green 2.0 launched a groundbreaking partnership with GuideStar and D5, a first-of-its-kind effort to collect and make transparent diversity data from NGOs and foundations in a standardized way.  Many environmental nonprofit and foundation leaders have already voiced support for this effort to help the sector to track whether progress is being made.   

WHAT: Public Briefing on “The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations:
            Mainstream NGOs, Foundations & Government Agencies"

WHEN: 12:30 – 2:00 PM (Lunch will be served at 12:15 PM))
            Tuesday, December 9, 2014   
WHERE: National Press Club
              529 14th St NW, 11th Floor
              Washington, DC 20045

WHO: 
  • Rhea Suh - Incoming President, NRDC/ Former Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior
  • Kelly Brown - Director, D5 Coalition
  • Jacob Harold - President, Guidestar
  • Roger-Mark DeSouza - Director, Population, Environmental Security and Resilience, Wilson Center
  • Robert Raben - Founder, The Raben Group and Green 2.0
 
For more information or to RSVP please contact Beth Lynk at blynk@rabengroup.com or 202-223-2848.  
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