NATURE recently recognized the work presented in this web page, and more specifically the Carbon Footprint of Nations paper [http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es803496a]. In the category ‘Community choice – the most viewed papers in science’, the paper was reviewed under the title Where greenhouse gases start [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v467/n7316/pdf/467637e.pdf]. At the same time, we got word that the Resource Panel Report Priority Products and Materials [http://www.unep.fr/scp/rpa [...]
December 13, 2010, by Edgar HertwichRead More
A consumption-based account of greenhouse gas emissions reveals true climate impacts of public services. Analysis based on the environmental impacts of consumption often focuses on household consumption. Some consumption, however, is provided by public authorities and paid for through taxes, not prices. Education, health care, elderly care, street cleaning and – important for Norway! – snow plowing are examples for that. What are the environmental impacts of these activities. In a series o [...]
December 13, 2010, by Edgar HertwichRead More
I have the great honor to be selected to serve on the IPCC as lead author of the fifth assessment report. It has always been my desire to contribute to addressing environmental problems. Climate Science is fascinating – the ways scientists have found to tease out evidence about past climate are amazing. It is scary to see how the various pieces of the puzzle – not all of them yet found or correctly placed – provide an increasingly complete and compelling picture that – in rich and unfores [...]
July 13, 2010, by Edgar HertwichRead More
It was my big day in Brussels: The deputy director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Angela Kropper [http://www.unep.org/documents.multilingual/default.asp?DocumentID=43&ArticleID=5457&l=en] , and the EU’s Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potocnik [http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/657&format=HTML&aged=0&language=DE&guiLanguage=en] , were there for the launch of our report, The Environmental Impact of Production and Consumption: Priority Products and [...]
June 30, 2010, by Edgar HertwichRead More
Recently, the idea of monitoring the carbon footprint of a nation as one option for climate policy has found its way into the legislative process in the UK. A Private Members Bill [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldbills/013/10013.1-i.html] has been put forward in the House of Lords – the Bill seeks to put in place a consumer emissions target (the current UK Climate Change Act which sets an 80% reduction target only addresses production, i.e. territorial, emissions). Lo [...]
April 09, 2010, by Edgar HertwichRead More
A recent update of our study on the carbon footprint of nations highlights the role of China, Russia, the USA and the EU. Steven Davis and Ken Caldeira [http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/02/23/0906974107.abstract?maxtoshow=&hits=1&RESULTFORMAT=&andorexacttitle=and&andorexacttitleabs=and&fulltext=Sustainability+Science&andorexactfulltext=phrase&searchid=1&usestrictdates=yes&resourcetype=HWCIT&ct] have just published an analysis of the carbon footprint of nations using the GTAP 7 database [...]
March 11, 2010, by Edgar HertwichRead More
The Carbon Footprint of Nations has been recognized as the Top Environmental Policy Paper [http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es100414j] in 2009 by Environmental Science & Technology (announcement [http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es100678t]). It is a big honor for us to win that award. ES&T is the most important journal in environmental science and environmental technology, publishing 1500 papers in 2009. We were apparently among 80 papers nominated for the award. Most likely, the po [...]
March 11, 2010, by Edgar HertwichRead More
The Climate Conference in Copenhagen [http://en.cop15.dk/] has ended as expected: with a political declaration instead of a legally binding agreement. Nonetheless, there seems to be wide-spread disappointment among the public. Commentators are busy portioning out blame for the failure [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/18/copenhagen-deal] of the negotiations, where the U.S. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/21/copenhagen-failure-us-senate-vested-interests] , Chin [...]
December 28, 2009, by Edgar HertwichRead More
The Guardian and industry actors call for considering Carbon Embodied in Trade as part of a climate deal at Copenhagen. On December 7, 2009, 56 newspapers from 20 countries [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/06/copenhagen-editorial] published a joint editorial calling world leaders to use the 14 days of climate negotiations in Copenhagen in order to come to an effective and fair agreement to limit climate change. At the time I am writing this, it is too early to see whether [...]
December 14, 2009, by Edgar HertwichRead More
A new UN report emphasizes the importance of addressing land use, water, and biodiversity impacts of biofuels. The jury is now in on biofuels: Current government mandates in the United States, Europe and other countries to blend biofuels into ordinary car fuels cause substantial environmental damage, do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and have a questionable contribution to energy security. A new UN report [http://www.unep.fr/scp/rpanel/publications/]and a new book [http://www.spr [...]
November 15, 2009, by Edgar HertwichRead More
