Yesterday’s article in the Guardian revealed fresh grounds for concern that the government may fail to deliver a real bank with powers to borrow from the capital markets. The State Aid application sighted by the Guardian is indeed a good indication of critical design features of the Bank and once lodged with the European Commission, certain features will not be easy to revise. In particular, the article mentioned further uncertainty that the Green Investment Bank (GIB) will ever be allowed to borrow any time soon – with roll back on the dates previously announced in the official May update for the design of the GIB. 

Image:triplepundit

Last night saw the Parliamentary launch of ClientEarth’s legislative proposals for the legislation establishing the Green Investment Bank. It was the culmination of nearly a year’s work by ClientEarth in collaboration Transform UK. We joined the fight for a strong and effective Green Investment Bank because we immediately recognised the huge potential for the GIB to be game changing.

Photo: thewritingzone

I put to you that it is very difficult to overlook the following two implications from recent climate science:

· Greenhouse gases are not the only anthropogenic emissions that strongly interfere with the global and regional climate

· We are already in the danger zone, and given that CO2 lives in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, CO2 reductions alone are very unlikely to help us avoid near-term tipping points in the earth’s thermostat

Like most people, you’ve probably heard about it, but are not entirely sure what it is. You are not alone.

In one of the most dramatic weeks in Australian politics, the Australian emissions trading bill was defeated in the Senate this morning for the second time.  Australia will now have nothing to show at Copenhagen and it is more uncertain than ever which path Australia will now take to deal with climate change.  The concern is not so much that it was defeated (it really was a weak and flawed scheme that would have locked Australia into barely any reductions between now and 2020), but rather the reasons why it was defeated.

Within 48 hours we should know whether or not the Australian emissions trading bill will finally pass. It was a poor scheme to begin with and this week it has been even further watered down in the interests of the polluters. The government has struck a deal with the opposition conservative party in order to get it through, and this deal involves even further compromise of the environmental credibility of the scheme.