Why We Work at the Institute

Here at the Institute a good amount of our external communications are dedicated to describing just why GHGMI is an important and necessary institution. The talking points are likely familiar to anyone who has previously read this blog, seen Institute staff speak at a conference, or been cornered by any of us at a cocktail reception. This approach, and the context, tends to be more formal. So to put a slightly different and more personal spin on why the Institute is valuable, we turned the question around and asked ourselves why we found this cause important enough to deserve our professional attention. In other words, why do we work at the Institute? Read More»

The verdict on “Climategate”

We now have ample evidence to come to firm conclusions about the much-discussed controversy and manufactured scandals surrounding climate change science. Instead of recreating the wheel, I am simply going to repost a summary on the topic here from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and also provide a link to a similar factual recap from the World Resources Institute (here). This is something of a departure from the usual subject matter on this blog, but this is an issue that frequently arises in conversation on climate change and one that has been frustratingly underserved and misunderstood by traditional media outlets. The Pew and WRI summaries clearly and succinctly present the facts of a case which clearly exonerates the apparent defendant: climate science. In the face of any perceived doubt let me unambiguously state what any objective analysis will confirm: the science is still intact. The attention and false seeds of doubt this political hatchet job sowed, however, have served their intended purpose weakening the political resolve for action in the face of a grave and imminently looming challenge.

Comments welcome. Read More»

Who is building our global GHG MRV infrastructure?

Sometimes it feels quite lonely here at GHG Management Institute headquarters. Toiling away trying to do what we think is needed to support the future of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policy. While most people who pay attention to the issue are obsessed with the politics of the moment, we work away behind the scenes thinking about and building infrastructure for the long-run. Indeed in today’s world of economic near-depression and policy gridlock, the unfortunate reality is that long-term infrastructure garners minimal attention. Read More»

What is different about methane (CH₄) emissions? The forgotten CO₂ in GHG emissions accounting

In this third blog post on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and Global Warning Potential (GWP) values, I want to focus on a unique characteristic of methane (CH₄).

I would venture to guess that many of you are unaware that most GHG emission inventories and offset project methodologies underestimate actual emissions from fugitive emissions of methane. This is the case because these methodologies systemically forget to include an emissions category: “indirect CO₂ from the atmospheric oxidation of CH₄.” Read More»

What is a Global Warming Potential? And which one do I use?

This question is not as silly as it may seem, and is so fundamental to GHG management that many practitioners are probably afraid to seek clarification out of fear of looking bad. Since not everyone in the field has studied atmospheric chemistry (I admit I have, but wouldn’t expect the range of folks working on these issues to have the same background), I’ll try and give a primer here on it. But first you should read my previous blog post on greenhouse gases. Read More»

What are Greenhouse Gases?

OK, I am going to be a little lazy this time.  The two posts that will follow this one deal with issues related to greenhouse gas (GHG) Global Warming Potential (GWP) values and how we account for GHG emissions.  As I was writing these later blog posts, I realized that maybe I should not assume everyone has a deep understanding of what we mean when we say “greenhouse gas.” Read More»

What is a voluntary carbon market (Part 2)?

I promised in a recent blog post to return to the question of what is a voluntary carbon market.  Specifically, I laid out a framework for thinking about voluntary carbon programs and markets more broadly with the following list: Read More»

Why is climate change so difficult a problem?

Acceptance of the fundamental process of global warming has grown over time and is increasingly widespread, albeit with some notable exceptions within the political community. The most important statement of the problem was given in 2001, when the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that human activities are the cause of the changes in the concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere and that these changes are likely to cause global average temperature to increase. Read More»

Getting REDDy for REDD?

This Friday all eyes in the climate world will return to Bonn, Germany for the next rounds of the UNFCCC-convened Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol and the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-KP 11 and AWG-LCA 9). Or in less jargon-laden terms, the formal resumption of international climate negotiations under the United Nations. Read More»

The SEC climate risk guidance: An inflection point for reporting and institutional capacity building?

The U.S. SEC’s decision at the end of January to release interpretative guidance on corporate climate risk disclosure unleashed an impressively diverse maelstrom of articles, briefs, and alerts. Simultaneously, legal, financial, and policy analysts seized on the release and scoured the SEC document for hints regarding the shape of the SEC’s new climate risk regime. Read More»