Toward an understanding of state behavior in prolonged international negotiations

Many of the most significant international treaty negotiations take years, and sometimes decades, to conclude. The international climate negotiations, trade negotiations, and law of the sea negotiations are all examples. Yet, notwithstanding their commo

Carbon offsets: saviour or cop-out?

Summary: The phrase \u27carbon offset\u27 describes the process whereby individuals, businesses or governments purchase \u27credits\u27 generated from projects that claim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The idea is that the removal of greenhouse gases counterbalances emissions from other sources. Consumers are being misled by claims that offset companies can make them \u27carbon neutral\u27. The scope for dubious projects is compounded in Australia by the absence of a mandatory accreditation scheme. Overseas, standards are tighter. The Gold Standard, developed by 50 non-government organisations, is the most rigorous while the Federal Government\u27s Greenhouse Friendly program and the NSW Government\u27s Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme are much weaker. The potential for carbon offsets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is limited. In fact, the most popular type of carbon offset in Australia, tree planting, is also the least effective for dealing with climate change. The evidence indicates that offsets from renewable energy are the most effective, followed by those from energy efficiency projects, with forestry projects ranked last. Forestry projects cannot guarantee the permanent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions because sooner or later the forest will be felled, burned or destroyed. This problem is likely to be exacerbated as the climate changes in response to global warming. There are strong grounds for excluding forestry-based offsets from an emissions trading system in Australia, or at least placing restrictions on their use. Outside Australia, the Kyoto Protocol and the US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative have placed restrictions on forestry based offsets, and the European Union\u27s scheme has excluded them entirely. If an Australian scheme is to be integrated with others abroad, similar restrictions will need to be put in place. In short, while some types of offsets can act as an effective means to address greenhouse gas emissions, they should not be seen as a license to pollute or as a means to continue unsustainable practices. Too often, offsets are being used by governments and business as a smokescreen to distract people from the need to cut emissions. By diverting people\u27s funds and attention to projects that are unlikely to reduce emissions significantly, some offset schemes could ultimately do more harm than good

Fighting for king coal's crown: Business actors in the US coal and utility industries

Over the last two decades, business actors have received growing attention in global environmental politics. In the context of climate change, scholars have demonstrated the capacity of business actors to directly shape outcomes at the national, international, and transnational levels. However, very little work has focused exclusively on business actors in the coal and utility industries. This is surprising, given that resistance from these industries could delay or even derail government attempts to address climate change. Accordingly, this article focuses directly on the preferences of business actors in the coal and utility industries. Drawing on interviews with executives across the US energy sector, it considers business preferences on two of the most important attempts by the Obama administration to limit emissions from coal: the Waxman-Markey bill and the Clean Power Plan. In doing so, it provides new insights about the preferences of these actors and the divisions within these industries that could be exploited by policy-makers and activists seeking to enact climate change regulation

Time for China and Europe to lead, as Trump dumps the Paris climate deal

President Donald Trump’s announcement overnight that he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement comes as no surprise. After all, this is the man who famously claimed that climate change was a hoax created by the Chinese. President Donald Trump’s announcement overnight that he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement comes as no surprise. After all, this is the man who famously claimed that climate change was a hoax created by the Chinese. While it will take around four years for the US to withdraw, the prospect is complicated by Trump’s claim that he wants to renegotiate the agreement – a proposal that European leaders were quick to dismiss. But the question now is who will lead global climate action in the US’ absence? As I have previously argued on The Conversation, there are good reasons for China and Europe to come together and form a powerful bloc to lead international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

G20 2014: the G20 Brisbane Summit, inequality, energy and anti-corruption

The 12th edition of the G20 monitor contains an overview from John Lipsky on the G20’s role in global governance after the global financial crisis; a paper by Geoff Weir on the G20, Thomas Piketty, and inequality; thoughts from Hugh Jorgensen and Christian Downie on multilateral energy governance; and a piece by Charles Sampford on integrity and anti-corruption. Key findings Lipsky suggests the Brisbane Summit is a critical moment for the G20, if it does not restore a sense of political momentum to the process, the G20’s relevance will wane Ever-growing inequality is inconsistent with the maintenance of an inclusive, democratic system of governance. The G20 should consider a combination of taxation, education and health reforms to reduce inequality. The world needs better multilateral energy governance. Whether the conditions exist for the G20 to remedy this problem is unclear, but members should pursue energy governance mechanisms that promote trust

What hope for making clean coal?

The Prime Minister’s recent decision to back coal rests on the assumption that it can somehow be made 'clean' or more precisely, that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies can be made to work for coal plants. The problem is that they can’t and the US experience shows why. The US has for a long time been the leader in the development of this technology and has driven some of the most ambitious CCS projects over the last two decades. So if any nation can get CCS to work it should be the US. However, there are three factors that make the commercial large-scale development of this technology unlikely in the US

Steering global energy governance: Who governs and what do they do?

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in exploring indirect governance at the global level. However, very little work has considered these relationships in the domain of energy. In fragmented global governance domains, such as energy, the G20 has frequently been identified as an actor capable of steering other actors via indirect forms of governance. Yet to date,we do not have answers to key questions including, what is the range of actors being enrolled by the G20? And what governance functions are these actors enrolled to perform? To answer these questions, I utilize a novel database of G20 enrollment since 2008, which shows that the G20 enrolls international organizations more frequently than any other actor, and that agenda setting is the most commonly performed governance function. These data are then matched with qualitative interview data to make descriptive inferences about the patterns of global energy governance, including the extent of fragmentation, the identity of focal actors, and the G20's steering role, and how these patterns have changed over time.The project was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE180100898

CHI 2020: Right Here, Right Now?

Over the last twenty years the CHI conference has grown substantially. However, with the reframing of climate change as a climate crisis, environmental concerns have become increasingly pervasive in the community. In 2019 CHI introduced a sustainability role and set a goal to make CHI more sustainable. In 2020 CHI is in Hawaii. This work looks back over the last two decades and estimates what are substantial and growing CO2 emissions from conference travel. First, it posits how, in the short term, potential environmental damage can be minimised. Second, and longer-term, it invites the community to reflect on research dissemination and how the conference experience may need to change.This work was supported by EPSRC grant EP/R004471/

Tiotropium in asthmatic adolescents symptomatic despite inhaled corticosteroids: A randomised dose-ranging study

SummaryIntroductionTiotropium, a once-daily long-acting anticholinergic agent, has been shown to be an efficacious and safe add-on treatment for adults with symptomatic asthma, despite treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). A large proportion of asthmatic adolescents have symptomatic disease despite a wide range of therapeutic options. We investigated the efficacy and safety of three doses of tiotropium, administered in the evening (via Respimat® SoftMist™ inhaler), versus placebo in asthmatic adolescents symptomatic despite ICS treatment.MethodsThis randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, incomplete crossover study evaluated once-daily tiotropium 5 μg, 2.5 μg and 1.25 μg versus placebo in three 4-week treatment periods. Primary efficacy end point was change in peak forced expiratory volume in 1 s within 3 h post-dose from baseline (peak FEV1(0–3h)).ResultsFrom 139 enrolled patients, 105 were randomised to receive one of four treatment sequences. Peak FEV1(0–3h) response for tiotropium 5 μg was significantly greater versus placebo (p = 0.0043). Trough FEV1 responses were significantly greater for tiotropium 5 μg (p < 0.00001) and 1.25 μg (p = 0.0134) versus placebo, but not for 2.5 μg (p = 0.0975), while FEV1 area under the curve(0–3h) responses were significant for all doses (p = 0.00001–0.0398). Overall incidence of adverse events was balanced across treatment groups, with no dose-dependent observations. The majority of adverse events were mild to moderate in intensity.ConclusionThis first study of tiotropium in adolescents with symptomatic asthma demonstrates that tiotropium is well tolerated and efficacious as add-on to maintenance treatment with ICS.ClinicalTrials.gov identifier; NCT01122680

Common Risk Variants in AHI1 Are Associated With Childhood Steroid Sensitive Nephrotic Syndrome

Introduction: Steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) is the most common form of kidney disease in children worldwide. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have demonstrated the association of SSNS with genetic variation at HLA-DQ/DR and have identified several non-HLA loci that aid in further understanding of disease pathophysiology. We sought to identify additional genetic loci associated with SSNS in children of Sri Lankan and European ancestry. Methods: We conducted a GWAS in a cohort of Sri Lankan individuals comprising 420 pediatric patients with SSNS and 2339 genetic ancestry matched controls obtained from the UK Biobank. We then performed a transethnic meta-analysis with a previously reported European cohort of 422 pediatric patients and 5642 controls. Results: Our GWAS confirmed the previously reported association of SSNS with HLA-DR/DQ (rs9271602, P = 1.12 × 10−27, odds ratio [OR] = 2.75). Transethnic meta-analysis replicated these findings and identified a novel association at AHI1 (rs2746432, P = 2.79 × 10−8, OR = 1.37), which was also replicated in an independent South Asian cohort. AHI1 is implicated in ciliary protein transport and immune dysregulation, with rare variation in this gene contributing to Joubert syndrome type 3. Conclusions: Common variation in AHI1 confers risk of the development of SSNS in both Sri Lankan and European populations. The association with common variation in AHI1 further supports the role of immune dysregulation in the pathogenesis of SSNS and demonstrates that variation across the allele frequency spectrum in a gene can contribute to disparate monogenic and polygenic diseases