Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

June 20, 2019

Study: U.S. Costal Communities Face More Than $400 Billion in Seawall Costs by 2040

Coastal communities in the contiguous U.S. face more than $400 billion in costs over the next 20 years, much of it sooner, to defend coastal communities from inevitable sea-level rise. As things stand, oil and gas companies and other climate polluters are paying none of these costs.

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March 25, 2019

Catastrophic Arctic Warming Predicted Even with Current Paris Pledges

Update & Correction: Following further consultation with global and Arctic climate experts, the UN has issued a revised version of Global Linkages–A graphic look at the changing Arctic. The revised report explains winter temperatures over the Arctic Ocean would increase 3 to 5°C by mid-century.

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November 10, 2018

Montreal Protocol Aims High in Quito to Avoid 1º C of Future Warming

At the conclusion of the annual meeting of the Montreal Protocol, the Parties took their strongest action yet to increase energy efficiency of cooling equipment in parallel with the mandated phase down of HFC refrigerants under the Kigali Amendment

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July 16, 2018

As World Warms, Millions More Need Cooling (and This Could Cause More Warming)

As the world warms up, the growing use of ACs and other cooling equipment will accelerate, and the extra energy needed to power the equipment will itself increase global warming. Two authoritative reports published this week grapple with how to break this vicious circle, and keep people cool without heating the planet.

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November 25, 2017

Montreal Protocol Concludes 30th Anniversary with Robust Financial Replenishment, Progress on Energy Efficiency

At the conclusion of the 30th anniversary Meeting of the Parties of the Montreal Protocol the Parties agreed to a robust three-year replenishment to fund the continuing phase out of HCFCs, and to a separate decision to have the TEAP study how best to integrate energy efficiency with the HFC phasedown under the Kigali Amendment.

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November 17, 2017

Kigali Amendment Reaches Needed Ratifications in Run Up to Montreal Protocol’s 30th Anniversary Meeting Next Week

In the run up to the Montreal Protocol’s 30th anniversary Meeting next week, this afternoon Sweden became the 20th Party to deposit its instrument of ratification to the Kigali Amendment, which ensures that the amendment will enter into force 1 January 2019.

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November 9, 2017

Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences Proposes Practical Solutions to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change

Scalable and practical solutions exist to help preserve the quality of life of future generations in the face of accelerating climate impacts, and with perhaps a decade left to put these into place, the time for climate change action is now.

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September 14, 2017

New Reports Detail Essential Climate Policies Needed to Limit Warming Below 2°Celsius

Two new studies released today find that global temperature increases can be limited to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as global leaders have pledged through the Paris Agreement, but only if the world quickly pursues three cooling approaches.

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June 14, 2017

Élysée Palace Announces Opening of IGSD Office in Paris

The Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) became the first climate research group to accept French President Emmanuel Macron’s invitation to France to work together on the fight against climate change.

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May 4, 2017

New strategy needed to cut the rate of global warming in half by 2042 say top scientists

Writing in today's issue of Science, the scientists – members of the Scientific Advisory Panel of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition – say that achieving the ambitious goal of slowing warming by 0.5 degree Celsius over the next quarter of a century is “plausible” and would have “many potential benefits” in tackling poverty, improving health and avoiding damage to crops besides reducing climate change.

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October 14, 2016

Nations Agree to Kigali Amendment: Largest Near-Term Temperature Reduction from Single Agreement

Warming caused by one of the six main greenhouse gases will be taken out of the climate system through the Kigali Amendment agreed in the early morning hours today in Rwanda. The amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out HFCs is the largest temperature reduction ever achieved by a single agreement.

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September 22, 2016

Philanthropic Group Launches World’s Largest Energy Efficiency Investment

Today Bill Gates and other philanthropic foundations announced fast-start funding to maximize energy efficiency in parallel with an ambitious HFC amendment under the Montreal Protocol.

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September 21, 2016

Watch: Reducing HFCs with the world’s most successful environmental treaty

Watch: Reducing HFCs with the world’s most successful environmental treaty

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IGSD works to promote just and sustainable societies and to protect the environment by advancing the understanding, development, and implementation of effective, and accountable systems of governance for sustainable development.

News

8 Jan

U.S. House of Representatives Introduces HFC Legislation

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation on January 7th to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs and to transition the U.S. to more climate-friendly substitutes.
14 Dec 19

Our Future Depends on the Arctic

The consequences of losing the Arctic, which plays a critical stabilizing role in the global climate, are catastrophic. The world needs an all-out effort to keep the Arctic safe. Save it from the ravages of warming and we can save the planet.
New York Times Op-Ed by Durwood Zaelke and Paul Bledsoe
15 Nov 19

African Ministers of the Environment Call for Fast Climate Action on Super Pollutants

African ministers of the environment at the 17th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment called for fast action on short lived climate pollutants, methane, tropospheric ozone, black carbon and HFCs for climate action, also urging for rapid ratification of the Montreal Protocol's Kigali Amendment.
9 Nov 19

Major Nations, Vatican Announce “Rome Declaration” to Use Montreal Protocol and Sustainable Refrigeration to Reduce Food Loss and Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

More than 50 nations agreed today to a declaration to promote innovation of energy efficient solutions and technologies in the development of so-called “cold chains”, cooling and refrigeration, to reduce food loss and waste, and curb resulting powerful greenhouse gas methane and HFC emissions.