Climate Change
Energy
Private Sector
North America

On Monday, President Obama launched his Clean Power Plan designed to cut emissions from the power sector by 32% in 2030, against a 2005 baseline.

It's more ambitious than a  draft, published for comment last year, which targeted a 30% reduction. Obama says it is the "single most important step" the US has taken to tackle climate change.

It has attracted a  huge quantity of  news coverage, comment and analysis. However, the final rule is 1,560 pages long, making it hard to unpick the impact of the plan from the spin. It also has international significance in advance of the impending UN climate talks in Paris.

Carbon Brief's Q&A aims to help cut through the noise, explaining the why, how and what next of the Clean Power Plan.


For the complete analysis, please visit the Carbon Brief Blog.

Source:
Carbon Brief

Water
Global Issues
Raquel Munayer, adelphi

As part of this year’s online World Water Week at Home, adelphi and IHE Delft convened the workshop "Water diplomacy: a tool for climate action?". The workshop reflected on the role that foreign policy can play in mitigating, solving and potentially preventing conflicts over the management of transboundary water resources, especially in a changing climate.

Forests
South America
Adriana E. Abdenur, Igarapé Institute

The Cerrado, a tropical savannah region located in Central Brazil, is nearly half as large as the Amazon and a deforestation hotspot. Yet little attention is paid to this important biome. That has to change.

Technology & Innovation
Middle East & North Africa
Will Marshall, Fair Observer

China’s Belt and Road Initiative projects may exacerbate the risk of climate-related instability across the Middle East in the long term.

Sustainable Transformation
Global Issues
Emily Wright, adelphi

With the European Green Deal, the European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen has committed to accelerating decarbonisation in Europe as a major priority. The report "The Geopolitics of Decarbonization: Reshaping European Foreign Relations" shows how the EU’s external relations need to evolve to adequately reflect the political, economic and social outcomes of this process.