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 International Treaties on Climate Change
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Michele Betsill, Department of Political Science, Colorado State University
A fast overview of two major international treaties on climate change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) and the Kyoto Protocol (1997), including guiding principles, the position of the US, and the future of international treaties.
(6 minutes, July 2009)

The Copenhagen Accord
low-res stream | med-res stream | QuickTime movie
Michele Betsill, Department of Political Science, Colorado State University
This short clip overviews the 2009 Copenhagen Accord including its goals, its final guidelines, and important advances made at that meeting.
(5 minutes, February 2010)
longer
 For longer, more thorough, older-but-still-accurate videos about how to reduce your own carbon footprint, see our archive.
READ
books
 The State of Adaptation in the United States
EcoAdapt, 2013, 118pp.
A straightforward and useful survey of climate-change adaptation efforts already underway and good opportunities for more. Free download.

articles & essays
 Climate Change Policy Can Be Overwhelming. Here's a Guide to the Policies that Work.
David Roberts, Vox, November 2018
Part book discussion and part interview, this is a very informative and encouraging look at the practical effectiveness of various energy policies in reducing carbon as quickly as possible. Vox energy guru Roberts talks to Hal Harvey about his new book, Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy.

Fixing the Climate Requires More than Technology
Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, New York Times, October 2018
Yes, giant changes in technology can happen quickly enough to stave off the worst of climate change. But it will take government involvement as well as private inventiveness and investments to do the job. This excellent column provides plenty of evidence to support the claim of these two science historians.

How the Carmakers Trumped Themselves
Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, June 2018
One might think emission rules about autos should be driven by science rather than politics, but of course that is not now the case, as the Trump Administration sets about cancelling the improvements scheduled by the Obama Administration. This piece is thorough and interesting. And here is a straightforward explanation, in text and video, about the development of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards.

Comprehensive Study: Carbon Taxes Won't Hamper the Economy
Dana Nuccitelli, The Guardian, July 2018
"But global warming will." Eleven modeling teams met at Stanford to consider this question, and their results agreed. This article from a reliably good reporter is a good overview of their findings.

It's Time to Think Seriously about Cutting off the Supply of Fossil Fuels
David Roberts, Vox, April 2018
We talk a lot about taxing carbon‒a "demand side" tactic to cut down on carbon emissions by making them more expensive for consumers. But perhaps we also need to be thinking hard about the other end of the process, the "supply side," and work to cut off the supply of fossil fuels. While this idea has of course already been motivating many activists, apparently it has had less currency in economics and policy circles. This article makes a good case for those contexts.

Climate Change Policy is Proving Difficult to Enact Even in Liberal States with Democratic Control
Kate Aranof, The Intercept, March 2018
Put a price on carbon: we hear this a lot. Sounds simple, right? But as this article demonstrates, recent events in Washington state show where the devil hides in the details. Who would actually pay the price? Who would spend that money, and on what? Can the system be gamed? What might be "good enough"? Economics, policy, politics, and the pesky fact that we rarely see things the same way: such complexities lurk below the idea's shiny surface.

2017 Policy Statement
Erik Solheim, United Nations Environment Program, Nov 2017
This articulate, wide-ranging policy speech by the Executive Director of UNEP and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations offers a surprisingly encouraging overview of some of the many actions the UN is taking to lessen and deal with the effects of global climate change.

What Is "Political Will"?
David Roberts, Vox.com, February 2016
A very interesting and helpful piece about this key question, based on a 2010 paper, "Defining Political Will," by Lori Ann Post, Amber Raile, and Eric Raile, that tried to answer it by pulling together threads from the academic literature. The short version: "the extent of committed support among key decision makers for a particular policy solution to a particular problem." But of course there are complications!

The Secret Deal to Save the Planet
Jeff Goodell, Rolling Stone, December 2014
An interesting inside look at the process that led to the deal between China and the US to tackle the CO2 problem. Goodell sheds some light on what happens behind closed doors, and what's at stake for both nations in such an agreement.

websites
 United Nations Environment: Climate Change
This handsome site contains materials useful to both beginners and experts, with introductory descriptions of key issues, links to many interesting stories, and various (relatively technical) reports. A good way to see some of the ways policy affects the lives of ordinary people.

Climate of Trump
Climate Nexus, January 2018
A very good compendium of what has happened with climate change policy under the Trump Administration. (It isn't good. But it's also not hopeless.) A related and similarly valuable compilation of climate-science-stifling actions taken by this administration is the Silencing Science Tracker, created by the Columbia Law School's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund.

Climate Deregulation Tracker
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University
If you want to follow what is happening to climate-related regulations and policies under the Trump administration, this is your site. Other parts of the larger website offer a wealth of information about policies in place, actions being taken by state attorney generals, and more.

Climate Science Watch
With the goal of "promoting integrity in the use of climate science in government," this project addresses attacks on climate science and scientists, the need for protective adaptation, and many more topics at the intersection of politics, policy, and climate change.

The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions: Policy
This excellent site (run by the successor to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change) offers resources divided by level: international, US federal, and US state and region. It also includes a section on the relations between climate change and economics and a varied policy blog.

World Resources Institute: Climate
This prominent think tank works at the intersection of environment and economic development, and their website covers a range of levels of policy issues: international (finance, climate justice, emerging economies, etc.), US federal (legislation, EPA, etc.), and US state and regional (offering, for instance, a "Power Almanac of the American Midwest"), and many other important topics.

Climate 2030: A National Blueprint for a Clean Energy Economy
Union of Concerned Scientists, May 2009
 This extensive, detailed, and readable analysis offers recommendations for jumpstarting the transition to a low-carbon economy while saving money for every region and household. Thoroughly researched and peer-reviewed; extensive references; useful for both lay-persons and professionals.

International Climate Policy
  • United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
    The key source for detailed information on existing treaties and fairly detailed information on current international negotiations. Includes sections on adaptation, finance, and scientific methods, a calendar of meetings, daily schedules of meetings as they occur, selected articles from the world press, and many other interesting resources.

United States Policy
    Environmental Protection Agency (archived)
     Under the Trump administration, climate-change material has virtually disappeared from the EPA website. (This is also true of the previous State Department climate change pages.) However, the contents as of January 19, 2017, in snapshot (no longer updated) form, are available here.

  • Climate Change at the National Academies
    The National Academies of Science and of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council offer many clear, informative, and authoritative resources, including reports such as "Advancing the Science of Climate Change," "Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change," and "Climate and Social Stress: Implications for Security Analysis."

  • US Global Change Research Program
    One-stop shopping for materials from 13 top-level federal agencies from this program whose job it is to integrate federal research on global change and climate change, including preparing (every four years) the National Climate Assessment. Also offers a regional breakdown of expected impacts from climate change.

Regional, State, and City Policy
TEACH
classes
 Global Environmental Politics (Climate Change)
Michele Betsill, Department of Political Science, Colorado State University
This semester-long upper-division course is taught by Dr. Michele Betsill, Department of Political Science, Colorado State University. It focuses on "developing effective policy responses" to climate change, "one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century" and "a highly political process involving conflicts over competing values and interests."

resources
 Teaching Climate/Energy Law & Policy
Wil Burns, Johns Hopkins University
Run by the Associate Director of the Master in Energy Policy and Climate program at Johns Hopkins, this site (a blog, with extensive links) supports "those engaged in the teaching of law and policy courses focused on climate change and energy (primarily at the university, graduate and law school levels) by discussing pedagogy in this field, as well as sharing relevant resources and analysis of key issues. The scope of discussion includes scientific, political and legal issues pertinent to addressing climate change and energy production."

Earth Negotiations Bulletin‒Climate Change
International Institute for Sustainable Development, Reporting Services Division
Current news about international meetings. Part of a larger project and website covering the "latest news, information and analysis from international environment and sustainable development negotiations," including background documents, links to resources, and archived reports of meetings beginning with the Rio Earth Summit 1992.

Climate Action Network
This organization of 700 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world offers "resources to drive international action on climate change," including discussion papers, policy positions, letters to governments, and "interventions made at the negotiations that are designed to inject the most salient points into the debate."

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