Bob Ward

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    The IPCC report is a grim reminder that the US will not be spared the extreme effects of climate change

The IPCC report is a grim reminder that the US will not be spared the extreme effects of climate change

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This week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the first part of its 6th assessment report on climate change, confirming that global temperatures have risen due to emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities. Bob Ward reflects on the report, and the Biden administration’s response to it, highlighting its conclusions that climate change means that the US […]

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    Building Back Better: Biden has made a promising start with an ambitious international and domestic program to tackle climate change.

Building Back Better: Biden has made a promising start with an ambitious international and domestic program to tackle climate change.

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When he entered the White House in January, President Joe Biden inherited a country which had abandoned many of its international commitments on tackling climate change under President Trump. As part of our new Building Back Better series, Bob Ward looks at how the new Biden administration has already sought to reengage with the world on climate action and […]

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    The extension and successes of California’s cap-and-trade programme suggests the future of US climate policy may not be so bleak

The extension and successes of California’s cap-and-trade programme suggests the future of US climate policy may not be so bleak

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Despite President Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement in June, Bob Ward highlights that an extension on California’s cap-and-trade programme represents a bipartisan demonstration of climate leadership and cause for optimism for future US climate policy.

California’s Governor and its lawmakers deserve praise for providing some rare good news from the United States about the fight against climate change.

On 17 […]

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    The Trump administration’s arguments for withdrawing from the Paris Agreement are based on flawed assumptions

The Trump administration’s arguments for withdrawing from the Paris Agreement are based on flawed assumptions

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The Trump administration is facing a key foreign policy decision: whether or not the United States should remain in the Paris Agreement on climate change. Bob Ward argues that the administration’s argument to retrench is based on flawed and false assumptions. The target set by the Obama administration as the contribution of the United States to the Agreement is […]

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    Why the ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement is bad news for Donald Trump

Why the ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement is bad news for Donald Trump

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Late last week, the US and China announced that they had ratified the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, an accord which Donald Trump has vowed to renegotiate if he wins the White House this fall. Bob Ward writes that if the Agreement comes into force – which will be very likely if it is ratified by the EU’s […]

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    Misinformation on climate change policy will get us nowhere: a response to Bjorn Lomborg.

Misinformation on climate change policy will get us nowhere: a response to Bjorn Lomborg.

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Here, Bob Ward of the LSE’S Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment responds to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Bjorn Lomborg. He argues that Lomborg’s claims that global temperatures will only fall by a very small amount under current emissions reduction proposals are both incorrect and counterproductive.

In a further heavy blow to […]

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    Congress is targeting the academic freedom of climate change scholars that they do not agree with.

Congress is targeting the academic freedom of climate change scholars that they do not agree with.

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Last weekend allegations surfaced over undisclosed ties between Dr Willie Soon, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and corporate interests from the energy industry. Dr Soon is now under investigation, and a Democratic member of Congress has used it as an opportunity to suggest climate change academics who have been invited by Republicans to give evidence at Congressional hearings […]

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    The emissions reduction commitments set out by the U.S. and China are welcome steps towards avoiding dangerous climate change.

The emissions reduction commitments set out by the U.S. and China are welcome steps towards avoiding dangerous climate change.

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On 12 November President Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping announced a commitment that the two countries would reduce their greenhouse gas emissions beyond what had been previously promised. Bob Ward looks at the agreement, writing that while it bodes well for next year’s Paris climate change summit, stronger commitments will be needed for emissions to stay below the […]

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    The most significant impact of the EPA’s new fossil fuel regulations may be to persuade China of Barack Obama’s commitment to tackling climate change despite Congressional inaction.

The most significant impact of the EPA’s new fossil fuel regulations may be to persuade China of Barack Obama’s commitment to tackling climate change despite Congressional inaction.

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Last week the EPA announced new regulations that would cut greenhouse gasemissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030. Bob Ward argues that while the new regulations are a step in the right direction, it will still require huge progress in the coming decades for the U.S. to reach the Obama administration’s target of an 83 per cent […]

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