Self-selection process for private sector observers to the Climate Investment Funds
from Barbara Black to Climate

SELF-SELECTION PROCESS FOR PRIVATE SECTOR OBSERVERS TO THE CLIMATE INVESTMENT FUNDS.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is designing and facilitating the self selection process for private sector observers to two Climate Investment Fund (CIF) committees : Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and Strategic Climate Fund (SCF); and one subcommittee of the SCF, the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR).

The self-selection process is directed to business associations to ensure that the business community is represented and participates in the meetings based on the  guidelines for inviting representatives of civil society to observe meetings. Five business associations attended the last CIF meetings in May, following an interim selection process for temporary observer seats. They provided a detailed summary of the meetings and useful feedback for the self selection process.

Self-selection process for private sector observers to the Climate Investment Funds

To ensure transparency in the design and implementation of the self-selection process, an Advisory Board has been created. The Advisory Board  is comprised of five recognized energy and climate change experts, who have been selected through consultations with the private sector, a broad range of stakeholders, the CIF Administrative Unit and the accredited UNFCCC business and industry NGOs. The Advisory Board has prepared the attached terms of reference and guidelines for the selection of observers for the CTF, SCF and PPCR.

If your organization wishes to participate in this selection process and believes it complies with the criteria outlined in the terms of reference of one of the fund committees/subcommittee, please complete and return the application form to  climate at wbcsd.org before 25 July 2009.

Self-selection process timeline
•   April – May 2009: The WBCSD launched the self-selection process. Temporary representatives were selected to attend the May meetings on behalf of the private sector.
•   1-12 June 2009: The WBCSD identified and invited a small group of recognized experts to join the Advisory Board
•   12-30 June 2009: Advisory Board prepares the guidelines and criteria for the self-selection process of two seats for the CTF, SCF and PPCR.
•   1-25 July 2009: Call for Application window
•   26-30 July: The WBCSD assists the Advisory Board by providing a candidate matrix using the defined criteria.
•   30 July - 10 August 2009: The Advisory Board selects the two Observer seats.
•   11 August 2009: The WBCSD communicates the decision of the Board to the CIF Administrative Unit and the applicants.
•   End October 2009 – Next CIF meetings

The design and facilitation of the self-selection process for the Permanent Observer Seats has been done in consultation with those undertaking the Civil Society self-selection process and the CIF Administrative Unit to ensure a transparent and fair process and continuity of criteria, timelines and processes.

WBCSD will post the relevant documents for the self selection process on www.wbcsd.org so please check for updates. Please contact WBCSD ( climate at wbcsd.org) with any questions or comments.

María Mendiluce
Energy Manager, Energy & Climate

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
4, chemin de Conches  l  1231 Conches – Geneva  l  Switzerland
T: +41 (0)22 839 31 36  l  F: +41 (0)22 839 31 31 l  M: +41(0)78 713 04 42

E:  mendiluce at wbcsd.org  l  W: www.wbcsd.org

Public Companies in All Sectors: Now’s a Good Time to Look at Climate Change-Related Disclosures (and D&O Coverage)
June 2009
by   Mia Mazza of Morrison and Foerster.

Recent and upcoming developments underscore the need for public companies, and their directors and officers, to consider whether they may have exposure to a newly emerging source of disclosure-related litigation.

There is a growing, organized effort on various fronts to get every public company to voluntarily disclose information about its “carbon footprint” and about the other ways in which climate change may affect its business in the future.  As discussed below, not only are significant investor groups demanding this information, but the peer pressure to make voluntary climate change-related disclosures is also becoming strong enough to get the attention of public companies across all sectors.  If your company is beginning to discuss the possibility of making voluntary disclosures, or is already making them, there are potential liabilities — and directors’ and officers’ liability insurance coverage issues — to consider.

Why Every Public Company Is Potentially Affected.

Investors are becoming increasingly interested in understanding the “carbon footprint” of each of their investments, sometimes for altruistic reasons and always for financial ones.  A company’s “carbon footprint” typically includes the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by its operations.  Investors are concerned that future developments in the government regulation of greenhouse gas emissions will have a significant financial impact not only on companies that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, but also on those who do business with large emitters.

For example, if new government regulation causes the price of coal-based electricity to increase substantially, that regulation might have a substantial financial effect on a company that has traditionally relied on the low price of coal-based electricity to run its operations profitably.  By comparison, a company that has become more energy efficient, or that has moved to renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind, may be in a better position.  Moreover, the future physical effects of global warming, such as an increased scarcity of water resources, could bring substantial financial risk to companies that neither emit nor do business with emitters.

In light of the Obama administration’s June 16, 2009, release of a scientific report on climate change that argues for fast action against global warming,[1] and the upcoming December 2009 United Nations summit on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark, it seems likely that some kind of new regulation is on the way.

An Increasing Demand for Voluntary Disclosure.

On June 12, 2009, 41 leading global investors sent a letter to President Barack Obama’s new Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary L. Schapiro, urging the SEC to take steps to improve public companies’ disclosure of climate change-related risks in securities filings.[2]  The letter’s signatories, representing approximately $1.4 trillion in assets under management, include treasurers, comptrollers, controllers, asset managers, and institutional investors such as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS).

This June 2009 letter is the latest development in an accelerating effort, by interest groups like those signing on to the letter and others, to promote an increase in climate change-related disclosure.  On May 26, 2009, a working group that includes the International Federation of Accountants and all of the “big four” global accounting firms released an Exposure Draft of a Global Reporting Framework for climate change-related disclosure.[3]  This framework, proposed by the recently-formed Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) (a non-governmental organization), is intended for “voluntary” use by all companies in compiling their “mainstream financial reports.”[4] The CDSB Exposure Draft, and proposals from these other interest groups,[5] suggest that every public company provide information on a wide variety of topics, for example:

Direct and indirect energy consumption, and energy saved due to conservation and efficiency improvements;
The company’s actual direct and certain indirect emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, expected future increases in emissions, strategies the company is taking to reduce and/or offset emissions, results of those strategies to date, and the expected effect of those strategies on future emissions;
The company’s stance on whether climate change is a company priority and whether the company has a responsibility to address the issue;
Corporate governance actions taken to address climate change;
Financial risks the company faces because of the physicalimpacts associated with climate change; and

Significant actions the company is taking to maximize opportunities associated with climate change.
To Voluntarily Disclose or Not?  No “Right” Answer.

Today, U.S. public companies are not necessarily required to make these disclosures in their regular financial reports.[6]  As a result, many companies may decide to say nothing about climate change in their financial reports or otherwise; after all, “silence, absent a duty to disclose, is not misleading” under the federal securities laws.[7] A company that makes a voluntary disclosure on a climate-related topic could be opening itself up to a future claim that the disclosure was somehow misleading.[8]  Non-disclosure is a particularly appealing strategy in light of the lack of unified standards for disclosure, or even for the measurement of carbon footprints.

But the pressure for public companies to make “voluntary” climate change-related disclosures is increasing, and will continue to do so over time.  Companies that make no disclosure at all may find that their investors believe them to have insufficient awareness of climate-related risks or even to be hiding something.  This is particularly the case for companies whose competitors do elect to make some disclosure.  The likelihood of a poor comparison is increased by the fact that many companies voluntarily report certain information about their respective carbon footprints in venues other than their periodic securities filings, such as a separate “Corporate Social Responsibility” report, or in the annals of various non-governmental organizations such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).[9]  Indeed, on June 15, 2009, NASDAQ introduced a “Global Sustainability 50 Index” (Nasdaq:QCRD), which tracks the performance of “companies that are taking a leadership role in voluntarily disclosing sustainability performance information,” including carbon footprint and energy usage.[10]

Of course, with disclosure — especially disclosure in the absence of a commonly-used framework — comes the specter of future litigation against a company and its directors and officers for material misrepresentation.  Shareholder plaintiffs will be all too eager to sue if a company’s stock price happens to drop at the same time that the company increases or recalculates its reported carbon footprint, reports an increase in regulatory exposure related to climate change, or even makes a first-time disclosure that is significantly higher than what the market would have guessed.  Even the most frivolous case will inevitably give rise to significant legal fees and pressure to settle the case to avoid costly discovery.

D&O Insurance Ramifications.

Directors’ and officers’ liability insurance is the safety net that companies rely upon to protect them in the case of disclosure-related shareholder litigation.  Unfortunately, many existing D&O insurance policies will not respond if the subject of the disclosure at issue is climate-related risk.

The normal concerns about a D&O policy — such as the accuracy of the application and whether misstatements in it may give a carrier cause to rescind a policy — exist for climate-related disclosure suits too.  It is typically the case that a company’s periodic securities law disclosure is part of the application for D&O insurance.  As a result, a serious concern would be whether evolving standards of disclosure in publicly-filed documents could lead to the situation of earlier-filed documents later seeming to be misleading in light of new standards and norms.

In addition, D&O insurers have long included what they would refer to as a standard “pollution exclusion” in their policies.  To be sure, a D&O insurance policy is not intended to respond directly to an actual pollution claim.  However, all too often a D&O policy’s pollution exclusion is drafted so broadly that there may be a dispute as to coverage for typical disclosure-related securities class action suits if the subject of the disclosure relates to climate risk.  Indeed, a typical pollution exclusion begins to look particularly ominous, vis-à-vis potential climate-related disclosure suits, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling, in Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), that greenhouse gases are “air pollutants” covered by the Clean Air Act.

A skilled insurance broker will help a company negotiate language that provides coverage for disclosure-related claims concerning climate risk.  A prudent insurance buyer will ensure that the company’s broker has done just this.  In addition, it is worth discussing program structures that might provide coverage for climate disclosure-related litigation where a company’s primary D&O insurance carrier refuses to do so.  For example, this may be a reason to purchase Side A Difference in Condition D&O policy.  Finally, care should be taken to ensure that whatever gains in coverage are negotiated for a company will apply to suits brought outside the United States, including through locally-admitted D&O policies.

Other Actions to Consider.

Here are some additional proactive steps that you can take, if you haven’t already done so, in starting to consider whether and to what extent your company should make voluntary disclosures on climate change-related issues:

Determine what disclosures your company is already making about climate change.  You may find that you are disclosing more today than you would have anticipated.  Of course, you may want to review the company’s SEC filings, website, and official Corporate Social Responsibility reports.  But beyond those venues, you may find disclosures elsewhere, such as the CDP website, which contains a number of different reports in which hundreds of public companies have made disclosures regarding their respective carbon footprints.  If the company has an internal group in charge of “sustainability” or “corporate responsibility,” be sure to find out what kinds of disclosures they have been making, and to whom.

Understand what kinds of voluntary climate-related disclosures might be appropriate for your company.  There may be simple, non-controversial disclosures you can make comfortably to avoid giving a false impression that your company is hiding something or out of touch.  Reviewing the disclosures of your competitors and companies listed in CDP reports or the NASDAQ QCRD index, and looking at suggestions made by organizations in which your company’s largest institutional shareholders are members, can be helpful in this regard.

Initiate a discussion with your board of directors regarding what level of commitment, if any, the board thinks is appropriate for the company with respect to climate change and environmental issues.  Discussions of this sort may fall within a board’s fiduciary duty obligations.  In addition, good documentation of these discussions may be helpful to a board’s defense if the board is later accused of breaching its fiduciary duties in this regard.

Think about starting to measure.  Even if your company doesn’t plan on disclosing anything at this time, it may still be wise to start the process of measuring the company’s “carbon footprint.”  Keep in mind, however, that you may become obligated to disclose the results.  If you don’t have a group in charge of taking a look at these issues, consider starting one.  Or, a consultant may be useful in helping you to scope out a plan for a future measuring effort.  If you do start measuring your carbon footprint, keep an eye out for near-term financial benefits that can be gained — for example, you may find pockets of energy inefficiency that can be addressed quickly and easily to reduce costs.

If you do decide to make voluntary climate change-related disclosures, be sure to work with your attorneys, accountants, and environmental experts to make sure those disclosures are accompanied by appropriate caveats and specific information about methodology.  For example, you may decide to tell investors the precise basis for any statements the company makes, and about the many uncertainties affecting the company’s ability to make any accurate measurements or predictions at this time.

Even if you don’t decide to make climate change-related disclosures, consider incorporating climate-related information into your risk factors.  This will increase the likelihood that, if sued, your company will fall within the safe harbor that applies to forward-looking statements that are accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements.[11]

This legal update was co-authored by Priya Cherian Huskins, Esq., a partner at Woodruff-Sawyer & Co., a full-service insurance brokerage. Priya specializes in D&O liability and insurance issues and can be reached at  phuskins at wsandco.com or (415) 402-6527.

Footnotes

[1]  Mooney, Alexander, “White House Report Warns of Climate Change Effects” (June 16, 2009).
[2]  CERES press release, “Investors with $1.4 Trillion in Assets Call on the SEC to Improve Disclosure of Climate Change and Other Risks” (June 12, 2009).
[3]  The Climate Disclosure Standards Board Reporting Framework, Exposure Draft (May 2009).
[4]  “Mainstream financial reports” is defined as including a company’s “collective primary financial statements, along with notes,” as well as the “management discussion and analysis or MD&A” that typically accompanies those statements.  Id. at 15.
[5]  See, e.g., Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (2006); CalPERS Global Principles of Accountable Corporate Governance (2008); American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Financial Disclosures Attributed to Climate Change (2008); see also In the Matter of Xcel Energy Inc.,Attorney General of the State of New York, Assurance of Discontinuance Pursuant to Executive Law § 63(15) (Aug. 26, 2008).
[6]  Current SEC rules and accounting standards, such as Reg S-K and FASB Statement No. 5, may already require some companies to make certain climate change-related disclosures in their SEC filings.  The question whether and when those existing standards require you to make climate change-related disclosures should be discussed with your accountants and attorneys and is outside the scope of this article.  Also outside the scope of this article is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed mandatory greenhouse gas reporting rule for major sources of emissions (74 Fed. Reg. 16,606, published April 10, 2009).
[7]  Basic v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224, 239 n.17 (1988).
[8]  See Securities Exchange Act of 1934, section 10(b) (15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)); SEC rule 10b-5 (17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5).
[9]  http://www.cdproject.net/.  CDP’s Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index includes companies in both “carbon-intensive” and “non-carbon-intensive” sectors.
[10]  NASDAQ press release, “NASDAQ OMX and CRD Analytics Launch New Index Tracking Corporate Sustainability Performance” (June 15, 2009).
[11]  See 15 U.S.C. § 78u-5.

Call for Papers: Climate change and simulation/gaming

A special edition of Simulation & Gaming, an international journal of theory, practice and research (Sage Publications), will focus on the numerous pedagogical and investigative methods employed to examine climate change – methods that cross disciplines, from the natural and geo sciences, through the social sciences, to education. Climate change is a quintessential issue requiring rigorous analysis and careful understanding by scientists, educators, policy makes and global citizens. We seek submissions from multiple disciplines and perspectives, employing a variety of methods to understand and teach a broad variety of climate change dimensions - process, causes, consequences and responses - social, economic and geopolitical impacts such as international migration, reconfiguration of states, poverty, trade wars, etc. We encourage articles related to climate change utilizing such methods as games, role-plays, simulations, experiential learning exercises, case studies; internet-based and digital games; modeling, game theory, computer simulation, etc.; virtual reality, augmented reality, virtual environments.

Proposals may submitted now through the end of 2009. Proposal will be reviewed within one month. Manuscripts will be published on line as articles are accepted. A printed symposium will be available after all articles are printed online.

Proposals of one to two pages may be submitted electronically (.doc, not .docx). Proposals should contain your name, email, phone, fax, address, etc.; working title for proposed paper; and a set of objectives, an abstract and/or working plan.

Proposals may be submitted to the Guest editors: Klaus Eisenack, University of Oldenburg, Germany,  klaus.eisenack at uni-oldenburg.de, Mary Pettenger, Western Oregon University, USA,  pettengm at wou.edu, Diana Reckien, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany,  reckien at pik-potsdam.de, Richard Warrick, International Climate Change Exchange, New Zealand,  cearsr at waikato.ac.nz,  Niki Young, Western Oregon University, USA,  youngn at wou.edu.

Editor of Simulation and Gaming: A Sage Journal: David Crookall,  simulation.gaming at gmail.com.

As per Earthjustice e.Brief  - to my horror, four months into the Obama Administration - we just found out that:

After years of delay and denial from past administrations, the Environmental Protection Agency is finally taking steps to declare that greenhouse gas emissions threaten the public’s health and welfare - which means they have not done it yet!The time has come for this action, and we need to encourage the EPA to move swiftly on it.

The EPA is proposing two historic findings under the Clean Air Act: that greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, endanger public health, and that emissions from motor vehicles contribute to climate change. This is a critical first step for the EPA to take in order to tackle climate change pollution.

The findings follow a decision by the Supreme Court which said the EPA has authority to regulate pollutants responsible for global warming under the Clean Air Act. Earthjustice argued the case at the appellate level in 2005.

While the EPA’s current proposal is a necessary first step, there are additional steps the EPA can take, such as setting actual standards to regulate greenhouse gases, particularly from motor vehicles in the U.S., which contribute 4 percent of climate change emissions, and from other mobile sources such as ships and airplanes, which contribute another 4 percent.

We know that the EPA is hearing from polluters in the fossil fuel industry who want to keep the status quo, stop the EPA from moving forward, and protect their record-breaking profits. We can’t let them go unchallenged.

Please join with people across the nation and tell EPA to formally embrace these findings, and then act without delay to regulate greenhouse gas polluters.

Voluntary Carbon Standard Association - www.v-c-s.org
AFOLU Program Coordinator -
 http://www.v-c-s.org/docs/VCS%20AFOLU%20…
Duty Station: Washington, DC, USA
Deadline for Applications: 10 June 2009
Contact Person:  secretariat at v-c-s.org - Jerry Seager
——————————————————————————————————————————–
Voluntary Carbon Standard Association - www.v-c-s.org
Program Officer -
 http://www.v-c-s.org/docs/VCS%20Program%…
Duty Station: Washington, DC, USA
Deadline for Applications: 10 June 2009
Contact Person:  secretariat at v-c-s.org - Jerry Seager

From: Mieke van der Wansem, Associate Director, CIERP, The Fletcher School at Tufts University (Center for International Environment and Resource Policy).

2009-2010 Fletcher-Lauder Post–Doctoral Fellowship Announcement.

Carbon Biosequestration Strategies.

The Fletcher School at Tufts University (Center for International Environment and Resource Policy) and the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC, Israel) are accepting applications for the Fletcher-Lauder Fellowship for 2009-2010 to support a post-doctoral fellow, to conduct independent research on Carbon Biosequestration Strategies.

The analysis of the Fletcher-Lauder Fellow will be based on data from a National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and Arizona Public Service (APS) pilot project demonstrating bio-sequestration of carbon dioxide from carbon-rich sources, e.g., power plants, through algae production. 

Specifically, the Fellow will analyze the national and international potential of carbon bio-sequestration via algae, compare it with other alternatives for industrial and power plant CO2 mitigation, and explore costs and policy options to support the implementation of carbon biosequestration on a large scale.  Additional research will focus on the benefits of algae in other fields, including but not limited to biofuels and feed production.

The analysis may utilize systems dynamics modeling, econometric analysis and other methodologies that will improve understanding of the economic and policy implications scalability, and the rate at which capture systems may be introduced to prevent carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere from a variety of industrial and power sources.

Application process:  Students should submit, by e-mail, an application that contains:
1) A letter outlining their relevant research in the engineering, technical or biology fields.  The application should address the following:
a) Details of previous research
b) How this research is relevant to the NETL-APS project
c) Experience with national and international energy policy
2) A curriculum vita
3) Two letters of reference

Selection process: A committee of Fletcher School and Lauder School faculty will select the 2009-2010 Fellow. The faculty will assess the quality of the applicant’s previous research and the intellectual rigor and policy relevance of the student’s previous work.

Application deadline:  June 1, 2009
Award will be announced on June 15, 2009
Award date:  July 1, 2009 (exact start date can be negotiated)

Please address applications to: Mieke van der Wansem, Associate Director, CIERP
 mieke.wansem at tufts.eduPost–Doctoral Fellowship Announcement.

Help Wanted for Green Jobs.

By Liza Featherstone

This article appeared in the February 16, 2009 edition of The Nation.

“I said, ‘I see windmills,’ and everyone kind of gave me a strange look.” Vicky Sloan, a humanities professor at Clinton Community College, which serves a rural region in upstate New York, is describing a “visualization” session with a touchy-feely outside consultant, forced on the faculty several years ago by the administration. The consultant had asked the professors to close their eyes and picture their institution’s future. “It was so Dilbert,” interjects Sloan’s close friend June Foley, a professor who teaches psychology at the college. “It was!” agrees Sloan, who lives off the grid, in a log cabin, with her own power generator. “But when I closed my eyes, that’s what I saw.”

Less than an hour north of campus, along the Canadian border, real wind turbines perform a slow ballet dance over the snow-covered farmland. The windmills look at once gleamingly futuristic and as if they’ve always belonged there. The landscape is rapidly darkening on this overcast mid-afternoon in December–another snowstorm is expected–but even the most distant turbines can be seen easily, like guiding beacons. Wind farms have become a symbol of clean energy–feel-good iconography used by every liberal entity from The Rachel Maddow Show to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. But here in the Plattsburgh region, they also represent jobs.

Clinton County–part of what is called the North Country–has endured much upheaval in recent years. Plattsburgh Air Force Base–the oldest military post in the nation–closed in 1995 and has been turned into an industrial park, occupied by a mix of biotech, pharmaceutical, engineering and other companies. The area’s many small farmers struggle, like small farmers everywhere. Manufacturing jobs have been gradually ebbing. But the North Country is one of the windiest spots in the nation and thus has become a thriving Gold Coast for the wind industry, with five wind farms producing a total of 690 megawatts of clean energy.

Like many two-year college teachers–who don’t enjoy the salary or prestige that many of their counterparts at four-year colleges do–the faculty at Clinton Community College have long taken seriously their civic duty to prepare students for the best jobs the local economy can offer. While faculty members like Sloan envisioned a role for the college in the region’s wind industry, it was Janice Padula, an environmental science professor and hard-working Democratic Party activist, who made it happen. Working with regional economic development officials, the wind industry and relevant technical experts at the college, she established a wind technician training program to prepare students for the wind industry’s most permanent jobs: troubleshooting and maintaining the turbines. The program’s first students began in January, as Barack Obama took office. The timing couldn’t be better: several of the students have arrived fresh from recession trauma, having just been laid off from FedEx or Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Windmills are only modest engines of job creation. A 200-megawatt wind farm–a large one–creates about 300 jobs over the course of its construction. Some of these are union jobs, but all are temporary. A wind farm of the same size requires about twenty technicians to operate and to fix the turbines if anything goes wrong. Such jobs, says Charlie Turlinski, a project manager for Horizon Wind Energy, require a good amount of skill.

“The technician job can work well for the farmer’s son who knows how to take a tractor apart and put it back together,” he explains, but it also requires extensive computer and GPS training. Plus, as Sloan points out, “They have to like climbing really tall towers!” (True, and this wouldn’t be fun for everyone: the windmills are 265 feet to the “navel,” or axis.) Technicians–nonunion, though there is no reason they have to be–will earn an average salary of $50,000 a year over the lifetime of the wind farm, on average being paid $35 per hour: hardly as good as making cars for GM, but much better than working at Wal-Mart.

Wind energy from the North Country reaches New York City on the state’s overstressed grid. One of the buildings that buys it is 1400 Fifth Avenue, the city’s first green condominium building–still the only one to include affordable housing units (before the recession, green was as trendy in Manhattan luxury buildings as it was on the runway). Built in 2004, 1400 Fifth boasts the largest geothermal residential heating and cooling system in the United States; despite its location in densely populated East Harlem, it is powered by well water.

In this part of New York City, there are almost certainly more Baptist churches than “green jobs,” but 1400 Fifth’s resident manager, Hector Norat, has one of the few. Norat is obviously proud of the complex skills and exploratory spirit required to maintain the building: “No one understands the geothermal system, not even the engineers who made it up,” he observes, “because it is so new!” Norat’s union, SEIU Local 32BJ, offers an energy-efficiency training program for building supers, and Norat has taken many of the classes. He’s proud not only of the building’s small carbon footprint but that it is so much healthier for the residents. He leads me into the hallway and insists that I observe the building’s distinct air quality: “I want you to breathe this clean, light air.” Like organic family farmers who are relieved that their kids can play outside without eating pesticides, Norat, who lives in the building, relishes raising his two young children in this environment–especially in a neighborhood where the number of child asthma hospitalizations is ten times the national rate.

Though the “win-win” perkiness of the phrase has inspired some media cynicism, “green jobs” is not just a campaign buzzword or a liberal fantasy. Environmentally sound job creation and training is happening right now, all over the country, fueled by the belief that it is possible to solve the climate crisis and put more people to work in better jobs all at the same time. In Sacramento, a costly nuclear plant has been shut down and turned over to solar energy, widely believed to be, among renewable energy industries, the most promising sector for job creation (both in number of jobs and in job quality). As the port in Duluth, Minnesota, has become busier unloading wind turbine parts, more than 100 additional workers have been hired for union jobs paying more than $30 an hour. For the past eight years, such changes have been led by state and local governments, advocated for mainly by groups like the Apollo Alliance, a coalition pushing for a greener economy, and by labor and environmental organizations.

Activists supporting green jobs have been doing so with little help from the government, because the Bush administration had no interest in solving the global warming problem or in economic policy. That meant that the thinking was small: a few hundred jobs, or even ten, and here and there one town shrinks its carbon footprint. Because there was no possibility of a national green jobs policy, no one was thinking systematically about how to remake the economy along greener lines. All that has changed. We now have a president who believes that saving the planet can create jobs. “The election changed everything,” says Keith Schneider, a spokesman for the Apollo Alliance, who sees Obama’s November victory as the death knell of the fossil fuel dependent, “drive through” economy. “Now that we–the progressive environmental left–have made our case and won,” he says audaciously, “we’re in a great race. Does the rise of the new economy beat the decline of the old?”

It’s a fine question, as the debate over the economic stimulus package takes place against the backdrop of the burning wreckage of the American auto industry and a national recession. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity,” says Bracken Hendricks of the Center for American Progress, one of the authors of its influential report Green Recovery. “We’re going to spend over a trillion dollars.” There’s no doubt that Obama will do something to support green jobs, says Kate Gordon, co-director of the Apollo Alliance, but “people need to keep making the case that it needs to be really big.”

That case keeps getting easier to make. Even before this recession, the economy was desperately in need of jobs that could support a family but didn’t require an advanced degree. Rising unemployment–estimated at 13 percent in real terms–makes the case that aggressive government investment in any sort of job creation is urgently needed. And because of the recession, many of the private-sector businesses previously on the cutting edge of the green economy are floundering. Apollo Alliance activists, in conversation and on the group’s website, love to highlight a green jobs success story: a factory in Memphis that used to manufacture TVs, back when TVs were made in the United States. That factory now makes solar panels, providing hundreds of unionized jobs–just the sort of story, I thought, that would intrigue and inspire Nation readers. Yet when I tried to arrange to visit the plant for this story in late 2008, the company, Sharp Electronics, preferred I stay home; because of the housing bust, business was so slow that there would be no production to see.

Wind companies struggle with the costs of capital in this tough financial environment. They’re also affected by anemic state budgets; at the end of 2008 it was uncertain whether New York State would continue to fund its Renewable Portfolio Standard, which guarantees a market for renewable energy by mandating that utilities buy clean energy. (Although Governor Paterson just announced a goal of meeting 45 percent of the state’s energy needs through energy efficiency and renewable energy by 2015, no one has figured out the wonky details of how to do this.) Without that policy, its enforcement mechanisms and the guaranteed demand for renewable energy credits it assures, some new ventures become too risky.

“Everyone has had to re-evaluate their projects,” says Charlie Turlinski. In this climate Horizon Wind Energy, which operates the nearby Maple Ridge Wind Farm, has postponed construction on its latest North Country project. Turlinski and I drive by the site. Snow falls on the abruptly stilled forklifts.

The scene is eerie, like a sudden evacuation. The project has been suspended indefinitely, and that could mean fewer jobs for graduates of Clinton County’s wind technician program.

“But for the financial crisis, we might not have this opportunity,” says Phil Angelides, chair of Apollo’s board and former California state treasurer, referring to the historic possibility of federal investment in green jobs. “But the crisis makes it an uphill slog.” Angelides points out, too, that some of the most vital projects being proposed for the stimulus do not depend on the vagaries of the business cycle: mass transit, for example, and revamping the grid for more efficient transmission. Both could help the green economy in the long run while creating jobs in the short run. The current struggles of private business, says Angelides, make federal intervention all the more urgent: it is clearer than ever that the free market alone will neither revive our economy nor reform it along greener lines.

The recession makes some engines of green development more appealing than usual: those that save money as well as the planet. Energy efficiency is enjoying a tremendous boost, hence billions in the proposed stimulus/recovery for weatherization assistance, which could create thousands of jobs while saving energy costs for businesses and consumers. In addition to the union programs like 32BJ’s, innovative city schools like Bronx Community College have also been training workers in this area, which is considered the most promising source of urban green jobs at the moment. Not many spiffy new buildings like 1400 Fifth will be built during this housing bust, but anyone paying for heat should be eager to hire this emerging army of efficiency experts.

The green jobs advocates are just finding their way around a changing Washington. Many are pleased with the proposed appointment of Hilda Solis as the new labor secretary, who as a California Congresswoman was a vocal advocate for green jobs and environmental justice. In mid-January, the Apollo Alliance was meeting with legislators on the Hill, where Green For All founder Van Jones was testifying to urge Congress to make green jobs central in the stimulus/recovery package. The Blue Green Alliance, which is setting up its DC office, will have an intense “advocacy day” in early February.

The question is, When they don’t get what they want, who will take to the streets and fight? It’s in everyone’s interest to create decent jobs while fighting global warming, yet the constituency for a green jobs agenda is not always clear. Until recently, the most organized constituencies on energy issues were the few industries–like petroleum and auto companies–that stand to lose from a cleaner economy. Public enthusiasm for green jobs has evolved: Americans are more aware than ever about global warming, as well as what politicians like to call “energy independence” or “energy security.” And growing numbers of Americans could use a job. Still, it is not clear how broadly or easily mobilized these desires are, and who has the capacity to organize people to make a serious green jobs policy happen, if and when Obama decides against doing anything “really big.”

The Blue Green Alliance, founded by the Steelworkers and the Sierra Club, has organized town-hall meetings in blue-collar strongholds like Canton, Ohio, and Granite City, Illinois, where steelworkers have been bringing the green jobs case to others in the community. Dave Foster, formerly of the Steelworkers and now executive director of the Blue Green Alliance, describes these campaigns as “neighbor-to-neighbor, person-to-person–making the case that the person who lost their job in a plant in Akron could go back to work tomorrow if we passed a [federal] Renewable Energy Standard.” Now that SEIU, the Laborers and the Communications Workers of America have joined the Blue Green Alliance, the coalition represents more than 6 million people. That’s a lot of Americans, of course, but with SEIU, the largest of those organizations, in extreme disarray, and the rest of the labor movement occupied with trying to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), the potential could go untapped.

Green jobs represent a great opportunity for the labor movement; if the new jobs are union jobs, labor could gain numbers and clout. This would be a boost to the economy, too, putting money in the pockets of working-class people. Hector Norat’s work is demanding, highly skilled and cutting edge, but that’s not why he makes such good money (he won’t say how much, but his local says superintendents at his level make between $50,000 and $100,000). The reason is old school: his union card. Yet questions of union membership, and even organizing rights, haven’t been central to the policy debate over green jobs.

Largely offstage in these discussions about labor advocacy on green jobs is one obvious actor: the United Auto Workers. It’s hard to imagine an industry more in need of a green makeover; yet the UAW, following the lead of the automakers, is doing little to push for the kind of federal action that might reinvent the industry along greener lines–and save more of its members’ jobs. Having been through steel’s bankruptcy wave in 1998, Foster says, he understands what the UAW is going through. “You almost can’t think strategically while something like that is going on,” he says. “But the world does have a crying need for green transportation.”

“It’s hard to develop constituency for something that doesn’t exist yet,” says the Center for American Progress’s Hendricks. This lack of constituency is particularly dire for some of the best green jobs ideas: serious investment in high-speed interstate rail, for example, could provide good jobs, revive small cities whose economies have been devastated by the decline in air travel, and lower carbon emissions by providing an alternative to air and car travel. But no member of Congress is going to lose her job or even see protesters outside her office because she didn’t make sure high-speed rail was in the stimulus package.

Yet this, too, becomes another argument for huge investment in green jobs, whether through regulation, investment, tax breaks or training programs: this “new economy” gathers more supporters the more real it becomes.

That’s because as the green economy grows, more people benefit. In Puerto Rico, where he grew up, and where much of his family still lives, Norat owns ninety acres of windy land, which he is hoping to lease to a wind farm, to provide power for the island and, of course, profits for himself. (In the North Country and other rural areas, such revenues are a major boost to small landowners, mostly farmers, who enjoy substantial rents for hosting wind turbines on their property.) Paradoxically, environmental groups have, so far, kept windmills out of Puerto Rico. “They were worried about the birds flying into the turbines,” Norat sighs, rolling his eyes. “Aren’t the birds smarter than that? This is something that is so good for everybody!”
“I don’t consider myself a fanatic of green energy,” Norat says, his enthusiasm evident in his cautious smile, “because I don’t believe in being a fanatic of anything.” But he’s going to Maine for a family wedding this summer, and he may drive along the Canadian border to see the Clinton County wind farms. “I am crazy about this,” he admits, “and I want to get a little more crazy.”

The North Country has wind to spare, but New York’s rickety grid is at capacity. No new wind farms can be built in Clinton County until Obama delivers on this piece of the “Green New Deal.” While the prospects for improving the grid are decent–judging from the most recent stimulus plans–it’s one of many examples of how the slowly emerging green economy is in a state of suspension. As stimulus proposals emerge from the president and the House, it’s clear that in many ways they already fall far short of what many green jobs advocates have championed. Job-creating, money-saving initiatives–like weatherization assistance for low-income Americans and grid upgrades–will be funded, but these will be, at best, tentative baby steps. Too much money is squandered on tax cuts, and of the dispiriting 14 percent allocated for infrastructure, conventional, old-economy projects like highways have fared much better than mass transit and other green priorities. When Van Jones testified before Congress in January on green jobs, he sympathized with members’ efforts: “[You’re] sweating over the details of how we can actually beat the recession and global warming at the same time…. And you’re going to get a grade from our great-grandchildren. Yes or no. Pass or fail.” There’s a danger that in the rush to do just about anything to get the economy moving, we’ll fumble a rare chance to revolutionize that economy.

As inspiring as it is to have a president who talks the talk on green-collar jobs, it will take an organized movement to ensure that we get, in a phrase popular among renewable-energy advocates, “megawatts, not just megawords.” That movement must have the imagination to fight for our great-grandchildren, and for much that doesn’t exist yet, with the “selflessness” and creativity that Obama, in his inaugural speech, urged upon the nation. “The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act–not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth,” President Obama said. “We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” Let’s hope we take his words to heart–and far beyond his modest proposals.

——–
About Liza Featherstone . Contributing editor Liza Featherstone’s work has appeared in The Nation, Lingua Franca, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post and Ms. She is the co-author of Students Against Sweatshops: The Making of a Movement (Verso, 2002) and author of Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker’s Rights at Wal-Mart (Basic, 2004). She is a Ralph Shikes

From:        bhuwan007 at gmail.com

From:      yvetogo at hotmail.com
Subject: Invitation à la Deuxième Semaine du Climat et des Energies Renouvelables / Invitation to the Second Climate and Renewable Energy Week, 6-15 Feb 09, Lomé, Togo
Date:     January 24, 2009

Dear Colleagues and solar friends,

the NGO Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement, ENDA Tiers Monde, and the Togo Ministry of Mining, Energy and Water in partnership with Friends of the Earth-Norway (NNV) are happy to announce and invite you to the forthcoming CLIMATE AND RENEWABLE ENERGY WEEK, scheduled to take place in Lome and Sotouboua, Togo (West Africa), from 6-15 February 2009. This event is aimed at popularizing the use of the diversity of renewable energy products now available. One main part of this event, for which we particularly call for your participation is the FEEL 2009, the Green Energy Exhibition Fair, which will last 11-15 February, in the premises of the Exhibition Center of the Lome Big Market, that is indeed in the heart of the city. This event will draw about 50 differents exhibition groups and attract more than 5000 visitors.

This is a great opportunity for you to not only sell your products in the Togo new market as well as making business contacts and discovering new ways of overcoming current barriers we all face in these days.
Participants will have the chance to attend the Big Eco-Concert - have you ever tried green dancing?  - , a solar festival at the Beach of Lome, a Training Seminar on PV, an Exchange Workshop on the post-2012 climate regime as well as several other events.

We will be happy to provide you with accomodation including breakfast and lunch, local transport, and full media coverage. There will be no fees for the exhibition booth neither. All you will have to cover is your transportations costs to Lomé, Togo.

While we are still translating the background document in English, please take your time to fill in the registration form (see last page of the attached document) and send to us.
As stated in the document, we wil do our best to provide good translation  so that you too can have a full share in the event. Registration Deadline is 1st February 2009.

Please feel free to circulate this invitation among your network and thematic mailing list.

All your ideas, suggestions and comments are welcome.

Please do not miss this unique opportunity to build partnership and strenghten your network in other parts of the world. Please note that as per our event, Renewable energy include, solar, wind, water (excluding large dams), biomass (wood, community-led agrofuels) as well as energy efficiency (electricity, transport, heating, construction) and biogaz. Applications of hydrogen are also welcome in the exhibition.

Looking ahead to reading at the earliest

Solar greetings

Sena ALOUKA
Executive Director
Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement
131, rue Ofé, Tokoin Casablanca
Box 8823, Lomé, Togo
Tel +228-2200112 Mobile:+228-9216740, Fax:+228-2220648
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 From:    dinhthuyvan at yahoo.fr
Subject: Colloquium “Environmental Disasters and Law”: 11, 12, 13 March 2009, Limoges (France)
Date: January 19, 2009
The CRIDEAU/OMIJ (Interdisciplinary Centre of Research on Environmental and Planning Law) and the CIDCE (International Centre of Comparative Environmental Law), with the partnership of the SFDE (French Society for Environmental Law), have pleasure to announce a colloquium:
“ Environmental Disasters and Law: Failures of Law, Calls for Law”

The colloquium will take place in the 11th, 12th and 13th March 2009 at the Faculty of Law of University of Limoges (FRANCE). The program will include the former French Minister of Environment Corinne Lepage, Professors Mireille Delmas-Marty, Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Jean-Pierre Margénaud, Michel Prieur, Jacques Testart, and others. The colloquium will feature a presentation of a “Draft Convention on an international status of environmentally displaced persons” which was written by an expert group from the Faculty of Law of University of Limoges.

Full details of the colloquium can be found at:   www.catastrophesecologiquesetdroit.fr.

The poster, program, and reply-form of the colloquium are attached and on the website.
To ensure participation at this significant gathering on international environmental law and human rights law, please reply by e-mail or mailing before le 1st March 2009.

For further information, contact:
Nicole PAULHIAC
CRIDEAU/OMIJ, Faculty of Law, University of Limoges,
32 rue Turgot - BP3126, 87031 LIMOGES Cedex 1, France
Tél : 05 55 34 97 24  - Fax : 05 55 34 97 23
E-mail :  nicole.paulhiac at unilim.fr

 From:    ralf.antes at uni-erfurt.de
Subject: Reminder - Call for Proposals - 6th Wittenberg Workshop on ET
Date: January 19, 2009

Call for Proposals for our sixth international research workshop “Post Kyoto-Regime and Emissions Trading”. We particularly invite scholars from all levels (e.g. full/associated professors, senior researchers, research fellows, Dr./PhD students, post-docs, habilitation candidates, assistant/junior professors) and from different disciplines (e.g. economics, management, jurisprudence, biology/ecology, geography,…) to take part in the workshop and to present a paper.

The workshop will take place 20th March – 21st March 2009 in Lutherstadt Wittenberg/Germany. Deadline for the submission of the proposal (not more than 500 words) is  30th January.

Detailed information (Call for Proposals, venue and travelling information) can be obtained from our homepage: http://www.uni-erfurt.de/innovationsoeko….

Please feel free to forward this e-mail to your colleagues and/or your staff.

If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Ralf Antes, Bernd Hansjürgens, Peter Letmathe & Stefan Pickl

Dr. habil. Ralf Antes
Chair for Innovation Economics (deputation)
Faculty of Economics, Law and Social Sciences
University of Erfurt/Germany
Nordhäuser Straße 63
99089 Erfurt
++49 / (0)361 - 737-4571

PD Dr. Ralf Antes
Lehrstuhl für Innovationsökonomie (Vertretung)
Staatswissenschaftliche Fakultät
Universität Erfurt
Nordhäuser Str. 63
99089 Erfurt
0361 - 737-4571
0361 - 737-4570 (Sekr.)

From: Lizzie Gillett
<lizzie@spannerfilms.net

THIS IS ABOUT A JOB WITH THE TEAM THAT HANDLES THE “AGE OF STUPID” CAMPAIGN - the release of next movie directed by Franny Armstrong with this name - a sequel to Al Gore’s movie and campaign about Climate Change.

We met Franny at the Poznan meeting, but were unable to see the preview of the movie. Nevertheless, talking with her about her project we were tremendously impressed, and say this here with the intent to point out to the potential job seekers that spending next year in London with Spanner Films has real potential for personal growth while doing good.

JOB OFFER: Super organised and enthusiastic office assistant needed at Spanner Films, London
——————————————————————————————————————————–

We are looking for an enthusiastic, friendly and super organised office assistant to keep everything running smoothly in what promises to be an extremely busy year for us. You will be working on both the promotion of our new film, “The Age of Stupid”, and on the social action campaign, “Not Stupid”, running alongside.

“The Age of Stupid” is the upcoming climate blockbuster from McLibel director Franny Armstrong and Oscar-winning producer John Battsek. Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking back at archive footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
 job at spannerfilms.net, along with:
–>> the biggest spreadsheet you have made
–>> a description of the most complicated event you have managed
- Deadline: 27th January
- Any questions, email Lizzie Gillett on         job@spannerfilms.net

_______________________________________________

Age-of-Stupid@talk.torchbox.com

INVITATION TO HerbFEST 2009: Natural Products Expo k bioBusiness Development Workshop.

Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme (BDCP) in collaboration with the International Centre for Ethnomedicine and Drug Discovery (InterCEDD) and the Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) seek to organize a natural products expo, HerbFEST 2009, to help stimulate the natural products and bio-business industrial sub-sector in Nigeria and the ECOWAS sub-region, and enhance its capacity for delivery of new health foods to the EU and the US market under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and diversify the export base of the local economy.

The overall goal of the project is to enhance the productive capacity and income status of small producers. This will be achieved through a combination of market promotion, enterprise development and training. An estimated 100 small and medium enterprises involved in the manufacture of natural products will exhibit their products to a projected audience of 7500 potential buyers, investors, retailers, wholesalers and distributors over a three-day period, in Abuja, Nigeria. Industrialists, researchers/academia, government, investors, financial bodies, orthodox and herbal medicine practitioners and other relevant stakeholders are expected at the workshop.

HerbFEST is an annual, regional, natural products expo. Each expo is complemented by a workshop to enhance technical capacity in the industry, provide policy support and share experiences. HerbFEST 2009 will feature a workshop on standardization, regulation and commercialization of natural products, as well as technical barriers to trade (TBT) that need to be overcome to enhance the export potential of the products for trade under the AGOA or to the EU and using Asia as an example.

A panel discussion, involving product standardization is incorporated to address technical problems faced by natural products entrepreneurs. A select number of companies and leading manufacturers from the local bio-business sector will be encouraged to present their innovative technologies or research, as well as technical constraints through the panel discussion, in a manner to share experience.

The investment session will feature new products from Africa and select entrepreneurs/companies will be given the opportunity of presenting their products/innovations for sponsorship. (Please indicate in your registration if you wish to utilize this opportunity or advertise on the programme brochure).

We will like to invite you and the members of your office to participate in HerbFEST 2009 both as exhibitors and as part of the technical session. Attached is a copy of the concept note, programme and copies of the registration form for your use. Please visit HerbFEST website  www.herbfestng.org) to register electronically and for further information.

We also welcome collaboration from your organization towards making HerbFEST 2009 a success.

For more information on registration, exhibition and collaboration please contact the following persons

·         Eric Asongwed
Tel: +234-8079452888; +234-9-6723041
 asongwed at bioresources.org;
·         T.F. Okujagu
Tel: +234-803-4443555; +234-1-7737817
 namdanigeria at yahoo.com;
·         Ngozi Aligwekwe
Tel: +234-8036310802; +234-9-6723041
 Ngozi at bioresources.org
For those interested, please complete forms and return or do so electronically on the site. Please disregard the deadlines on the website as special considerations have been given to all those receiving the information late. Thank you

Sincerely,

Ms. Ngozi Aligwekwe

For the organizers

Ngozi Aligwekwe
Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme
4 Odienna Close, Wuse II
Abuja, Nigeria
E-mail:  Ngozi at bioresources.org
Tel: +234-9-6723041

From:      paul at davidsuzuki.org
Subject: New Resource for Businesses to Measure, Reduce, and Offset Emissions
Date:     January 12, 2009

The David Suzuki Foundation is pleased to announce a new publication,
‘Doing Business in a New Climate: A Guide to Measuring, Reducing and
Offsetting Greenhouse Gas Emissions’.

In these uncertain economic times, businesses are looking for ways to
become leaner, more productive, and reduce their exposure to risk. The
good news is that taking action on climate change can be an effective
way to improve the bottom line — not only by saving money through
reduced fuel and energy consumption, but also by motivating employees,
enhancing brands, and boosting competitive advantage.

‘Doing Business in a New Climate’ provides the best-practice tools and
resources needed to set up a greenhouse gas management program,
including guidance on how to:

* Create a customized business case by assessing climate change risks
and opportunities;
* Measure, reduce and optionally offset greenhouse gas emissions to
become carbon neutral;
* Engage employees and other stakeholders with the program; and
* Build an effective communications strategy.

The guide also profiles over fifty leading businesses from around the
world that are benefiting from greenhouse gas management.

‘Doing Business in a New Climate’ can be downloaded for free at:
 orders at davidsuzuki.org

We hope you find this publication useful, and welcome your comments.

Sincerely,

Paul Lingl

Paul Lingl
Campaigner, Climate Change Program
David Suzuki Foundation
Suite 219, 2211 West 4th Ave.
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6K 4S2
Phone: (604) 732 4228 x.233
Toll free: 1-800-453-1533
Fax number: (604) 732-0752
Email:  paul at davidsuzuki.org
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Posted in Canada, Global Warming issues, Book reviews, Green is Possible, Job Offers, Futurism

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From:    sam_milton at harvard.edu
Subject: Fellowships at Harvard: Vacancies in Energy-Technology Innovation and Transportation Policy
Date:      January 7, 2009

The Energy Technology Innovation Policy (ETIP) research group in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School is placing a special emphasis on filling fellowship vacancies in the following areas:

1)       Energy-technology innovation policy; and
2)       U.S. transportation policy

Please circulate this announcement widely among your colleagues.

Fellowship 1: Energy-Technology Innovation Policy

ETIP is seeking fellows to work on energy-technology innovation (ETI) policy. The ETI fellows will be committed mainly to a three-year project with three related but distinct goals: 1) producing a comprehensive set of recommendations for the next U.S. administration for a greatly expanded federal energy innovation budget; 2) preparing annual budget commentaries and recommendations to policy makers on current ERD&D spending priorities ; 3) producing a report comparing energy-technology innovation activities in the public and private sectors in the United States and internationally. Fellows will work toward one or several of the above goals.

ETI fellows participate in Congressional briefings, meetings with relevant stakeholders in business, industry, academia, and elsewhere, and interviews with the media.

Required Education, Experience and Skills

Applications for ETI fellowships are welcome from recent recipients of the Ph.D. or equivalent degree. The ideal candidate will have professional experience analyzing policy for publicly-funded ERD&D; developing and analyzing federal budgets for ERD&D; or strategic planning for ETI. Candidates will also have excellent skills in presenting complex material to a wide range of audiences. Candidates will ideally hold a Ph.D. in public policy, economics, political science, or a related field. A clear focus on ETI will be a plus. Candidates who have focused on other aspects of energy policy in their doctoral work, or who hold a Master’s degree and have extensive experience, will be considered.

Fellowship 2: U.S. Transportation Policy

ETIP is seeking a Research Fellow to contribute to work related to assessing and promoting policy options for reducing oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the U.S. transportation sector.  The Fellow will report directly to ETIP’s Director and may lead research efforts in one or more of the following subject areas: modeling economic, environmental and other impacts of policy options, examining regulatory scenarios related to various policy options, exploring the role of consumers in reducing the impact of transportation sector, and examining the role of biofuels.  The Research Fellow will be expected to produce at least one publishable article, present his findings before internal and external audiences, and play a substantive role in the dissemination process of any findings.

Required Education, Experience and Skills

Applications for the Research Fellowship on U.S. Transportation Policy are welcome from recent recipients of the Ph.D. or equivalent. The ideal candidate will have academic and/or professional experience analyzing policy for the U.S. transportation sector; investigating specific transportation-related challenges, and/or developing strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Candidates will also have excellent skills in presenting complex material to a wide range of audiences. Candidates will ideally hold a Ph.D. in public policy, economics, political science, or a related field. A clear focus on transportation will be a plus. Candidates who have focused on other aspects of energy policy in their doctoral work, or who hold a Master’s degree and have extensive experience, will be considered.

Application procedures

Applications are due no later than February 15, 2009.  ETIP fellowships are for a one-year period, though they may be renewed.  We encourage applications from women, minorities, and citizens of all countries.

Please visit http://belfercenter.org/fellowships/ for complete application information.

For more information about the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, please visit www.energytechnologypolicy.org.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send any inquires to  etip at ksg.harvard.edu.

From:    secretariat at ren21.org
Subject: REN21 Job Opening: Renewable Energy Policy Advisor
Date: January 9, 2009

REN21 Job Opening: Renewable Energy Policy Advisor.

The Renewable Energy Policy Network (REN21) is seeking a Renewable Energy Policy Advisor to support its Secretariat in Paris.

To view the job announcement, please visit the REN21 website at
 http://www.ren21.net/news/news33.asp

REN21 Secretariat

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Gaza and Hamas: The Dilemma that Springs from a Defiant Refusal to Compromise (Economist-UK)
In their oath of loyalty, members of Hamas declare that death in the cause of God is their supreme desire.
But following Hamas’ takeover of Gaza in 2007, the challenge of ruling the territory confronted the Islamists with a stark choice between ideology and pragmatism.
Hamas hardliners demanded rocket strikes to torment Israel.
The surge of impotent rage in Gaza over Israel’s violence will momentarily boost Hamas’ standing, but Gazans may then ask what brought them to this awful pass.

---

Excessive Force? - James S. Robbins (National Review)
Regarding Israel’s alleged excessive use of force, one might ask for a definition of “excessive.” If the definition is “more than necessary to be effective,” then Israel has actually used insufficient force, since Hamas is still launching rockets.
What is a proportional response to Hamas’ policy of firing rockets and mortars into populated areas? Should Israel respond in kind, killing civilians purposefully?
The writer is senior fellow in national security affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council.

---

Answering Israel’s Critics - Yigal Walt (Ynet News)
Was there anything proportional about the U.S. war in Iraq? Or Russia’s recent war against Georgia? Israel is doing exactly what any other country has done in the past. This is how war works.
Palestinian military inferiority is not an indication of moral superiority. Palestinian insistence on resorting to violence despite this military weakness is an indication of poor judgment.

---

Collective Punishment Against Israelis - Bradley Burston (Ha’aretz)
Human Rights Watch has condemned the Palestinians’ use of Kassam rockets as a direct violation of international humanitarian law and the laws of war.
The firing of rockets and mortars against civilian populations also constitutes collective punishment against hundreds of thousands of innocent Israeli men, women and children.
Moreover, the firing of rockets at Israel began not as a response to the siege against Gaza, but as a marathon celebration by armed Islamic fundamentalist groups following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, using the ruins of settlements as launch platforms.

---

The Palestinian Tilt toward Self-Destruction - Tom Teepen (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
The real asymmetry in the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy remains the persistent Palestinian tilt toward the self-destructive romance of martyrdom instead of toward the workaday business of nation-building.

---

Israel Engages in Self-Defense - David Brumer (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
How long would Californians put up with rocket attacks from Mexico?
Hamas callously calculates that if enough Palestinian civilians are inadvertently killed, the international court of opinion will view Israel as the guilty party, regardless of Hamas’ sole culpability, cynically manipulating the media with gruesome pictures of its self-inflicted carnage against its own people.

Egypt: Hamas Must Stop Rocket Fire at Israel - Lee Keath
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Thursday that Hamas must ensure rocket fire stops in any truce deal to halt Israel’s assault in Gaza, criticizing Palestinian militants for giving Israel an excuse to launch the bombardment. Aboul Gheit repeated that Egypt cannot open the Rafah border crossing unless Abbas’ Palestinian Authority - which runs the West Bank - controls the crossing and international monitors are present. He said Egypt had proposed that Arab foreign ministers who gathered in Cairo Wednesday request that Hamas allow PA control of Rafah, but Syria rejected the proposal. (AP)
See also Egypt Hunting Hamas Operatives in Sinai - Roee Nahmias
Egypt’s Al-Ahram weekly quoted official sources as saying that Egyptian security forces are hunting for several Hamas operatives who have infiltrated Sinai and are aiming to target Egyptian forces. Egyptian authorities have called on locals to refrain from assisting the infiltrators in any way. Meanwhile, Mohammed Bassiouni, former Egyptian ambassador to Israel and currently chairman of the parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee, criticized Hamas Thursday on Cairo’s state television, saying, “Where are the Hamas leaders now, when Gazans are being killed? They are all in hiding.” (Ynet News)

UN Fails to Make Progress on Gaza
The UN Security Council has discussed a draft resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire to halt the Israeli-Palestinian violence. But the meeting failed to vote on the Libyan draft after ambassadors from the U.S. and UK said it contained nothing about Palestinian attacks on Israel. The U.S. ambassador at the UN said he believed it was up to Israel and Hamas themselves to agree to a cease-fire, and that the UN should not impose one. (BBC News)

Palestinian Arrested for Shooting Israelis in Denmark
Danish police on Thursday arrested a 27-year-old man of Palestinian origin on suspicion of shooting and wounding two Israeli citizens at a shopping mall in central Denmark. (Reuters)

• Hamas Has Invited Its Own Destruction - Editorial
  Calls on Israel to immediately cease its pounding of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip are misdirected. Hamas’ rockets are growing in range and sophistication, and soon will be able to strike targets deep inside Israel. That’s intolerable. (Detroit News)
• Israel Finally Says: Enough - Editorial
  Hamas and other Islamist groups deliberately target Israeli civilians and celebrate when Jewish children die. Israel, responding in self-defense, seeks to minimize civilian casualties and grieves when Arab children get caught in the crossfire. There is no mystery to this asymmetry. Israel is a Western-style liberal democracy; Hamas is a fundamentalist, Iranian-backed Islamist group. We are in this mess because the national priority of Hamas, as always, is to hurt Jews rather than help Palestinians. (Ottawa Citizen-Canada)
• Self-Defense - Editorial
  Israel is acting in self-defense, as any country in its position would. If Gaza had not served as a launching pad for terrorism, then Israel would not have struck at the source. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Poor Hamas? No! - Editorial
  Hamas brought its woes upon itself. Now it’s paying the price. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
• U.S. Should Support Israelis in Campaign Against Hamas - Editorial
  As Israel continues to respond to rocket attacks launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza, we offer some unsolicited advice to a fellow democracy and ally: Go all in. Finish the job. (The Oklahoman)

Observations:

Israel’s Policy Is Perfectly “Proportionate” - Alan M. Dershowitz (Wall Street Journal)

• Israel’s actions in Gaza are justified under international law, and Israel should be commended for its self-defense against terrorism. Article 51 of the UN Charter reserves to every nation the right to engage in self-defense against armed attacks. The only limitation international law places on a democracy is that its actions must satisfy the principle of proportionality.
• In a recent incident, Israeli intelligence learned that a family’s house in Gaza was being used to manufacture rockets. The Israeli military gave the residents 30 minutes to leave. Instead, the owner called Hamas, which sent mothers carrying babies to the house. Hamas knew that Israel would never fire at a home with civilians in it. Israel held its fire. The Hamas rockets that were protected by the human shields were then used against Israeli civilians.
• These despicable tactics - targeting Israeli civilians while hiding behind Palestinian civilians - can only work against moral democracies that care deeply about minimizing civilian casualties. They never work against amoral nations such as Russia, whose military has few inhibitions against killing civilians among whom enemy combatants are hiding.
• The claim that Israel has violated the principle of proportionality - by killing more Hamas terrorists than the number of Israeli civilians killed by Hamas rockets - is absurd. There is no legal equivalence between the deliberate killing of innocent civilians and the deliberate killing of Hamas combatants. Under the laws of war, any number of combatants can be killed to prevent the killing of even one innocent civilian.
• Until the world recognizes that Hamas is committing three war crimes - targeting Israeli civilians, using Palestinian civilians as human shields, and seeking the destruction of a member state of the UN - and that Israel is acting in self-defense and out of military necessity, the conflict will continue.The writer is a law professor at Harvard.