Steve Zwick: Archive
Read Steve Zwick's bio.
Cap-and-Trade Beats Slash-and-Shirk Any Day
August 19, 2011 4 Comments
Nobody wants a regulatory apparatus that is bloated, inefficient, and opaque, but most of us do want clean air, clean water, and a sustainable economy. Ecosystem markets can support all of these goals in a way that's lean, efficient, and transparent - something that self-described "fiscal conservatives" should be championing. So, why aren't they?
EPA GHG Reprieve Remains Tenuous
April 7, 2011 Comment
7 April 2011 | The US Senate on Wednesday narrowly preserved the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act by shooting down a bill that denies scientific findings on climate change, but that preservation conceals some truly disturbing undercurrents.
Is Papua New Guinea too Risky for the Carbon Market?
October 12, 2010 2 Comments
On Monday, an article attributed to the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported that Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare has officially denounced voluntary carbon schemes as being too risky. The article - widely replicated in blogs and news outlets - said that Somare was encouraging forest owners to wait for a formal UN REDD regime before preserving their forests to earn credits for saving rainforests. The message, however, is not posted on Somare's web page, and the voluntary programs he's denouncing were never verified to any recognized standard.
Paying Poseidon: the Video Blog
February 9, 2010 Comment
Katoomba XVI is now underway in Palo Alto, California, and social entrepreneur Ben Metz is videoblogging from the event. You can follow panel discussions here, and you can keep track of Ben's video blog on this site.
REDD Negotiators Inch Towards Inking Market-Based Mechanism
December 17, 2009 2 Comments
It's past midnight here in the Bella Center, and the last time we checked the group drafting the REDD text was still sequestered after being called in more than six hours ago. From the bits and pieces we've managed to hear, however, it looks like they are close to embedding institutional arrangements for direct funding of REDD projects in the document that will be handed up to ministers on Friday, as well as a provision for incorporating the value of ecosystem services into environmental safeguards on REDD projects.
When is Multi-Credit Banking a Double Dip???
November 17, 2009 8 Comments
Businessmen seek to maximize their earnings, often by harvesting several income streams from one asset - a strategy that only works if end-users see value in the multitude of products coming at them from one source. Some US states say restored wetlands generate extra value if they also reduce runoff into local waterways, and should earn credits for that. Environmentalists, however, say that's double-dipping at the cost of the environment. The two sides are colliding this week in North Carolina.
Can peat turn REDD in Copenhagen?
November 6, 2009 3 Comments
Destruction of peatland accounts for up to 50% of Indonesia's greenhouse gas emissions, and was a central theme at a recent conference sponsored by Germany's Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (Society for Technical Cooperation, GTZ). EM's Unna Chokkalingam attended the event, and filed this report.
Update: New REDD Text TONIGHT!!!
August 13, 2009 Comment
REDD Facilitator Tony La Vina Now says he will have a new REDD text available tonight.
New REDD Text by Friday
August 12, 2009 Comment
With less than four weeks of scheduled negotiating time remaining before the year-end Climate Conference in Copenhagen, negotiators are scrambling to trim the 300-page negotiating text for a post-Kyoto accord down to a more manageable 80. Tony La Vina, who is overseeing the portion of negotiations dealing with reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), has taken matters into his own hands.
Zen in the Art of Reduced Emissions from Fossil Fuels
August 7, 2009 5 Comments
At Ecosystem Marketplace, we just posted a new story on the government of Ecuador's long-standing offer to avoid drilling for oil in exchange for a carbon payment equal to just half the income the country would earn if it fired up the rigs in the biologically valuable Yasuni Natioinal Park. It's a story that raises more questions than it answers -- and there seems to be no way around that.
REDD in Copenhagen -- an update
June 23, 2009 Comment
NAMAs, AFOLU, and the Coming Forestry War
June 12, 2009 Comment