Dr Ulric Trotz, Deputy Director and science Advisor at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), says  calls for a transformation of Green Climate Fund resources that could optimize and efficiently direct private investment and limited public resources. Peruse his proposal  below and listen to his exclusive interview on the inaugural edition of Caribbean Climate Podcast.

The inherent differences in the nature of Mitigation and Adaptation outcomes is consequential and should be a central feature of comprehensive climate change policy decisions, policies and programmes. While they both result in the production of a public good, that derived from mitigation (decreased carbon) is a global public good, and conversely, that derived from Adaptation is a local public good. Indeed, Adaptation is very country specific, hence the localized nature of the benefits derived therefrom. As a result, the product from Mitigation can be commoditised and traded on the local and/or global…

Business Insider:

A small Denver, Colorado, manufacturer has rolled out the first prototype of a new all-electric aircraft, suggesting that the same revolution currently sweeping through the auto industry may soon become airborne.

The Sun Flyer, the brainchild of engineer and pilot George Bye and his Aero Electric Aircraft Corp. (AEAC), is designed to be the perfect training aircraft with three hours of endurance and a 30-minute recharging time.

The change could very soon have profound effects on general aviation — a term for the world of private and non-airline aviation — and, one day, proper airlines.

Energy costs for an hour of flight training could be as little as $1, while maintenance costs on an engine with a single moving part could be significantly lower, Bye told Business Insider.

The aircraft has yet to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, a long, exhaustive process that Bye believes will be completed within three years.

He also estimates that the final unit cost will…

Carlos Fuller, International and Regional Liaison Officer (CCCCC) and Chairman of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). Photo courtesy of Ann Gordon

Countries are now in their second week of negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) presently taking place in Bonn, Germany. Draft conclusions have already been adopted for some items under two of the subsidiary bodies of the Convention, the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). Under the SBSTA, countries concluded their consideration under the Nairobi Work Programme (NWP) on adaptation, the Technology framework, metrics to calculate the carbon dioxide equivalence of greenhouse gases, emissions from international aviation and shipping, the training programme for review experts, forests in exhaustion, market and non-market mechanisms under the Convention and the Paris Agreement, modalities for accounting of financial resources mobilized for climate change, and the…

The European Commission announces its 3^rd Global Event ‘Innovative and effective approaches to climate change adaptation and other post COP21 agreement priorities’, to be held, on 12-13-14 September 2016 in Brussels, Belgium.

The Agenda 2030 with the SDGs and the COP21 Paris Agreement on climate change provide a new strategic framework for international cooperation. Consequently, the GCCA+ plans to contribute strategically, financially and technically, over the period 2016-2020, to the efforts of LDCs and SIDS parties to address these challenges.

A year after the launch of the GCCA+, and as experiences from the GCCA, other programmes and the recent COP21 Paris Agreement accumulate across the globe, it is important that the GCCA+ ensures that lesson learning is an integral part of the development process and that knowledge generated from its implementation is shared across countries and regions and with key stakeholders and development partners. The GCCA+ Global Learning…

Bonn Climate Change Conference
Photo Credit: (UNFCCC)

Major groups of countries are engaged in preparatory talks among themselves prior to the opening of the Meetings of the Subsidiary Bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on Monday, May 16. These groups include the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Group of 77 (G77) and China. The Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are Members of these two groups. The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre is being represented at the meetings by Carlos Fuller, the International and Regional Liaison Officer who is the Chairman of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). Mr. Fuller has met with several of the negotiating groups over the past three days to advise them on how he proposes to conduct the SBSTA session. These include the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the African Group, AOSIS, and the…

We’ve never seen May heat like what’s being predicted in the Arctic over the next seven days. A shot of warm airs blowing northward over Siberia that are expected to generate a warm front that takes in nearly the entire Arctic Ocean. A weather pattern that, if it emerges, will completely compromise the central region of polar cold that has traditionally driven Northern Hemisphere weather patterns.

*****

This week, a huge pulse of warm air rose up over Northwest Canada and Alaska. Invading the Beaufort, it drove a broad warm front which forced near or above freezing temperatures over between 1/4 to 1/3 of the Arctic Ocean zone. Regions from the East Siberian Sea, through the Chukchi, into the Beaufort, and including a chunk of the polar zone above the 80th parallel all experienced these anomalously warm readings. By Friday, air temperature anomalies in the entire Arctic zone above 66…

The Green Climate Fund concluded its first “Readiness Week” to assist direct access entities in developing their project ideas. The week-long event brought together the 13 organizations that have been accredited for direct access to the Fund, as well as 27 developing countries, represented by a National Designated Authority or Focal Point (NDA/FP). Nearly 100 people took part in the sessions, including representatives from Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, and African States.

During the week’s first three days, interactive working sessions saw GCF’s partners present their project ideas and priorities to solicit feedback and inputs from their peers and from technical leads at the Fund. Concepts covered agriculture, renewable energy, natural resources management, transportation, communities and ecosystems resilience, sustainable cities and urbanization, and climate-smart supply chains.

On days four and five, focus shifted to full-day sessions on gender and south-south exchange. In conjunction with UN Women, the Fund…