Trade & Commerce

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The Carbon Rush documentary trailer

 

March 22, 2013 | More on Market Mechanisms, Trade & Commerce, video, youtube | Brazil, Honduras, Panama | Comment

Tomorrow’s energy: Stopping oil consumption today

 

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has launched a significant challenge and provided two somewhat distressing warnings: two thirds of the world’s fossil fuel reserves need to be kept underground if we are to avoid climate change, even while it is projected that the energy sector will double its consumption of freshwater over the next 20 years and the world’s poor will continue to lack access to energy.

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January 19, 2013 | More on Energy, Renewable Energy, Trade & Commerce | China, IEA | Comment

Latin America’s aviation sector takes off in threatening climate

 

By Suzy Mage and Guy Edwards

Chile’s LAN airline recently took over Brazil’s TAM, creating LATAM – the world’s second largest airline by market value. This merger reflects the impressive growth in Latin America’s aviation sector which is expected to see air passenger numbers almost triple by 2030. Given the rapid rise of aviation’s contribution to global carbon emissions, the connection between air travel and climate change in Latin America and other developing regions cannot be ignored.

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November 9, 2012 | More on Renewable Energy, Trade & Commerce, Transport | Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Emissions, México | Comment

Can biofuel tech lead the way to a new way of life?

 

July 13, 2012 | More on Renewable Energy, Trade & Commerce, video, youtube | Biofuels, Brazil | Comment

Capturing the Riches of Bolivia: Utilizing Historical and Contemporary Experience in Bolivian Mining to Inform Future Resource Policy (2012)

 

Centuries of foreign extraction of Bolivian natural resource wealth have occurred at the expense of environmental protection and overall development within Bolivia. Since the Spanish began mining silver in Potosí in the mid 16th Century, foreign mining interests have destroyed forests and depleted water reserves, severely altering the Bolivian environment. All the while, these same foreign mining interests have removed a large portion of the wealth generated by the resources, leaving large areas of Bolivia underdeveloped. Presently, the global need for lithium and the Bolivian government’s need for foreign investment will require the prompt, and sustainable, development of Bolivia’s substantial lithium reserves. This paper examines historical mining perspectives in Bolivia with the goal of understanding how to improve future mining policy. To that end, the paper concludes with policy recommendations for the next stage of seeking foreign investors for development of Bolivian lithium reserves.

 

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June 1, 2012 | More on Energy, Reading List, Trade & Commerce | Bolivia, Lithium | Comment

Brazil gives recyclers and collectors professional status

 

January 1, 2012 | More on Sustainability, Trade & Commerce, video, youtube | Brazil, Recycling | Comment

Bill McKibben Speaking at Power Shift 2011

 

April 30, 2011 | More on Trade & Commerce, video, youtube | USA | Comment

‘Will cattle ranching continue to drive deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?’ (Paulo Barreto, 2011)

 

This is a presentation made by Paulo Barreto, Senior Researcher at IMAZON, at the April 8th Brown University Conference on “Latin America and Climate Change: Regional Perspectives on a Global Problem”.

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April 12, 2011 | More on Amazon, Biodiversity, Reading List, Trade & Commerce | Brazil | Comment

Ricardo Lagos – Why Climate Change Matters for Latin America

 

The former President of Chile and UN Special Envoy for Climate Change delivers the keynote address for Watson Institute and Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies conference titled “Latin America and Climate Change: Regional Perspectives on a Global Problem”.

April 8, 2011 | More on Adaptation, International Climate Negotiations, REDD+, Trade & Commerce | Brazil, Chile, COP16 | Comment

George Canning would be mighty chuffed…or would he?

 

The 19th century British Foreign Secretary, George Canning, is renowned as a great liberal statesman who “called the New World into existence”. The current British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has also called for British governments to stop underestimating Latin America and to improve relations with this dynamic and vibrant region. However, as Laurence Allan and I argue in The World Today, British foreign policy towards Latin America needs a drastic makeover, not least if our common goals on climate change and UN reform can bear results.

Perhaps Hague’s reflections on past engagement do signal a new stage in British policy. But high level ministerial visits to the region will mean nothing unless the government tries harder to clarify its real intentions and to fix inconsistencies between what it would aspire to do in Latin America, what is actually conceivable, and what it is really doing. In this multi-polar era of interdependence and international realignment, a policy based on the mouldy memoirs of a 19th century empire is inadequate. The coalition government should look beyond this narrow focus if its newfound interest in Latin American is to gain credibility and achieve success on pressing global issues, in tune with British national interests beyond the parameters of Treasury thinking.

February 25, 2011 | More on Energy, International Climate Negotiations, Trade & Commerce | Brazil, Mexico, UK | Comment