Taking a quick break here at the UN Climate Talks in Bonn, and wanted to provide a few quick updates. If you dont' want to read them, I did a quick interview with our friends at OneClimate.net about today's developments. You can watch that below.
I've been keeping tabs on a few issues in particular, both of which got significant attention today. First, we've been doing our best to connect the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to theTalks. Second, we always keep tabs on the discussion surrounding the "long term global goal"–350 parts per million CO2, and keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celcius.
On the first part, if you read our blog, you know we've been critical of how the United States lacks ambition on the international stage. We think the level of public concern about the oil spill is a large part of what's needed to change that. For the first time in a while, energy and climate issues are at the top of the news in the U.S. Just yesterday, more than 500 events took place nationwide, all calling for a plan to truly transition the U.S. off fossil fuels.
On the second issue, the Alliance of Small Island States has put forward a proposal to review the scientific information needed to keep warming below 1.5 degrees C. Right now, that proposal is receiving widespread support, even from some countries (Australia, Norway, New Zealand) whose official position is to limit warming to 2 degrees. Stay tuned to find out what happens, but we are in strong support of this effort.