Tag Archives: Climate Change

Resetting Thinking on Oil Sands

Lauren Compere, Director of Shareholder Advocacy at Boston Common Asset Management, discusses shareowner resolutions asking BP and Shell to report on the strategic risks of oil sands exploitation.  And Cary Krosinsky, Vice President of Trucost, talks about its analysis of the carbon intensity and environmental impacts of companies operating in Alberta’s oil sands.

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Democratizing the SEC — to Address Sustainability

Sea Change Radio Host Bill Baue talks with Adam Kanzer of Domini Social Investments about the new SEC Investor Advisory Committee, on which he represents the socially responsible investing (SRI) community.  SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro established the committee as one of her first initiatives after taking the helm of the Commission in 2009.  In the NewsAnalysis, Sea Change Headlines Anchor Tania Haldar Hart discusses conservative backlash against the interpretive guidance the SEC recently issued on requirements for companies to disclose risks from climate change.

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Dark Clouds Gather Over SEC Climate Regs?

In a January 27 vote – split three-to-two along party lines – SEC Commissioners approved interpretive guidance on rules requiring companies to disclose potential impacts of climate change on their bottom lines.  The move was prompted by a petition filed in September 2007 by Environmental Defense Fund – Finding the Ways That Work and Ceres.  The petition was backed by institutional investors with $1.5 trillion in assets, including treasurers from California, Florida, and New York, among others.

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Climate Change Brings an Ocean of Change to Our Seas

Today on Sea Change Radio, we cover Oceans Day, a side event at the recent Copenhagen Climate Conference (COP15) looking at the impact of climate change on oceans.  Sea Change Radio Climate Correspondent Cimbria Badenhausen, who covered all two weeks of COP15 from Copenhagen in December 2009, attended Oceans Day, recorded the proceedings, and hand-picked the highlights, including presentations by U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Jane Lubchenco, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Director and President Susan Avery, and European Commission Deputy Director-general of Environment Karl Falkenberg. But first, Tania Haldar Hart brings us the Sea Change NewsAnalysis on TIAA-CREF divesting from companies alleged to be complicit in genocide in response to an Investors Against Genocide campaign.    Read the show transcript

COP15 Wrap-Up: Climate Deniers, Drowning Islands, and Hope after Copenhagen

cop15_logo_imgSea Change Radio surveys a broad spectrum of opinions and outcomes of the UN Climate Conference (COP15).  We hear excerpts from a press conference there featuring a Republican contingent from the US House of Representatives, a speech by Tuvalu Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia, and an exclusive interview of European Commission Deputy Director-general of Environment Karl Falkenberg by Sea Change Climate Correspondent Cimbria Badenhausen, who covered all 2 weeks of the conference on the ground.Read the show transcript

COP15 Dispatch: Will Developed Countries Pay Their Due?

CrispinGregoireOn Friday, at the UN Climate Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, Deputy Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Crispin S. Gregoire from Dominica announced the release of draft amendments to the Kyoto Protocol. The draft, which advances the Tuvalu Proposal, seeks to stimulate negotiation toward adoption of a complimentary treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. The amendments re-allocate responsibilities for addressing climate change to match their contributions to the crisis.Read the show transcript

Hell Breaks Loose at COP15: “Ambitious Legal Treaty Now!”

cop15_logo_img“All hell is breaking loose.” That’s what Sea Change Climate Correspondent Cimbria Badenhausen skype texted to Executive Producer/Host Bill Baue from Copenhagen at 3:27 pm there on Wednesday December 9, the third day of the UN Climate Conference, or COP15.  At that point, protest erupted in support of an “ambitious legal treaty now,” as requested by the so-called Tuvalu Proposal.  The tiny island nation is calling for an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol to create a complimentary treaty that would limits global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celcius above preindustrial levels, and reduce carbon concentrations in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million.

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COP15 Dispatch: Leaked “Danish Text” Exposes Developing Divide in Copenhagen

cop15_logo_imgThis dispatch by Sea Change Radio Executive Producer Bill Baue and Climate Correspondent Cimbria Badenhausen first appeared on CSRwire.

The Guardian leak of the so-called “Danish text” threw the UN Climate Conference (COP15) into “disarray,” with developing countries “furious” at developed countries such as the US, UK, and Denmark for secretly drafting a framework agreement dated November 27. Among other affronts, the draft document would allow developed countries to emit almost twice as much carbon per person (2.67 tonnes) than developing countries (1.44 tonnes). Sudan’s Lumumba Stanislas Dia Ping, head of the G77 group of developing countries, said the Danish text is a “serious violation that threatens the success of the Copenhagen negotiating process. Read the show transcript

COP15 Dispatch: Business Plays BINGO at the Climate Conference

cop15_logo_imgThis dispatch by Sea Change Radio Executive Producer Bill Baue and Climate Correspondent Cimbria Badenhausen first appeared on CSRwire:

The US Chamber of Commerce’s controversial position on climate legislation highlights the key role such business intermediaries (or BINGOs in UN-speak – Business and Industry NGOs) play in devising climate policy.  Other BINGOs, such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commission on Environment and Energy, focus on how business and industry can help solve the climate crisis.Read the show transcript

COP15 Update: Triple Helix of Climate Solutions

Karl-ErikGrevendahlOver the next two weeks, Sea Change Radio Climate Correspondent Cimbria Badenhausen will file updates from the UN Climate Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, some of which will also appear on CSRwire.  Just before COP15 commenced, Badenhausen chatted with Karl-Erik Grevendahl, Advisor for Sustainable Business Development at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Southern Sweden.  The two talked about Copenhagen’s “twin” city, Malmo, Sweden, and also about the notion of a “Triple Helix” entwining government, academia, and business in climate solutions.  Listen to excerpts from the conversation, and read the brief below or on the CSRLive Commentary section of CSRwire.

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