Pershing to Take Climate Post at DOE After Resigning as No. 2 U.S. Negotiator

 newspaper interview  Comments Off on Pershing to Take Climate Post at DOE After Resigning as No. 2 U.S. Negotiator
Jan 242013
 

Jonathan Pershing is resigning as a senior U.S. climate negotiator at the State Department and moving to the Energy Department to serve as a senior climate policy official, the State Department said Jan. 18. Pershing has been deputy special envoy for climate change at the State Department since March 2009, serving as the No. 2 U.S. climate negotiator under U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern and representing the United States at international climate change negotiations. (…)

It is possible that the position will not be continued or will be redesigned under the leadership of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), said Alexander Ochs, director of climate and energy at the Worldwatch Institute. Kerry has been nominated by President Obama to replace outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (…)

You can find the full BNA Daily Environment Report & BNA Daily Report for Executives [HERE].

 

Amid Gloomy Climate News, Doha Talks Enter Final Week

 online interview, radio interview  Comments Off on Amid Gloomy Climate News, Doha Talks Enter Final Week
Dec 042012
 
Rosanne Skirble

December 04, 2012

High level officials from more than 200 countries are in Doha, Qatar, for talks that began last week on the next steps after the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N. climate change treaty expires this year. The ministers arrive in the face of bad news for the planet. A spate of new scientific studies finds worldwide greenhouse gas emissions rising and ice sheets melting rapidly, and predicts a planetary warming of as much as five degrees Celsius by the end of this century unless nations act immediately to reduce their industrial emissions of CO2 and other climate-changing greenhouse gases.  (…)
While hopes are high that the U.S. will take the lead in Doha with new emission pledges, some experts doubt if the Obama Administration has the political support at home to significantly alter its climate policies.  Alexander Ochs, an energy and climate analyst with the World Watch Institute in Doha says the U.S. has its hands bound.
“On the one hand, having this high expectation here of other countries that the United States should be  in a leadership role and on the other hand not being able to move more ambitiously to fulfill those targets and those commitments because of domestic resistance.”
Find the full article [here] and on VOA Online.
You can find the full radio report [here].

The two gorillas in the room talking climate – Stern goes to China

 notes  Comments Off on The two gorillas in the room talking climate – Stern goes to China
Jun 032009
 

US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern just spoke at the Center for American Progress on “China and the Global Climate Challenge”. The most important news first: Stern (with Holdren, Sandalow, and others from Treasury, EPA etc.) will leave for Beijing this Saturday in order to continue talks on forging a US-CHN climate and energy partnership. started by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this year. 

Here are my notes from the talk and a one-line comment.