The Subtle Diplomatic Genius of the Paris Climate Talks Mark Leon Goldberg November 30, 2015 At most large institutions, process can influence outcomes. In other words, how decisions are made often shape the actual substance of the decisions. At the United Nations this relationship between process and outcome is particularly close to the point where t...
Thirsting for a Paris Deal in Timor Leste Karen Coates November 30, 2015 Every morning in the sparsely populated region of Baguia, high in the mountains of Timor-Leste, women and children rise hours before dawn. They grab a couple of jugs and trek to the nearest spring, where they wait in line, in the dark. For water. They wait and...
A Paris Climate Talks Primer: What You Need to Know About the UN Climate Confab Mark Leon Goldberg November 30, 2015 The Paris Climate talks kick off in just a few short weeks. On November 30, president Obama and many other heads of state are going to start weeks of negotiations that if all goes according to plan, will usher in a new kind of international climate change re...
The “Francis Effect” is Real Mark Leon Goldberg November 4, 2015 Pope Francis' visit to the USA in September helped convince Americans that climate change is real and deserves a public policy response. That is the conclusion of a new paper from Sarah Mills, Barry Rabe and Christopher Borick of the Brookings Institution b...
Can the Pope Sway Climate Diplomacy? Mythili Sampathkumar April 30, 2015 The Holy See is no stranger to politics, weighing in on issues of abortion, the death penalty, and human rights among many others. This week, at a meeting of religious leaders and dignitaries, Pope Francis took one more big step to inject the Catholic Church--...
A Key Climate Change Deadline Passes Mythili Sampathkumar April 1, 2015 March 31 marked a key deadline in the global race to find a binding international agreement to confront climate change and its deleterious effects. Every country in the world was expected to submit their own national climate action plan, known formally as the...
Why 2015 Will Be a Huge Year for Humanity Mark Leon Goldberg December 28, 2014 Years that shake up the international system do not come around that often. 2015 could be one of these years.