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BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

Robert Pindyck on Climate Change

Robert Pindyck of MIT talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the challenges of global warming for policy makers. Pindyck argues that while there is little doubt about the existence of human-caused global warming via carbon emissions, there is a great deal of doubt about the size of the effects on temperature and the size of the economic impact of warmer climate. This leads to a dilemma for policy-makers over how to proceed. Pindyck suggests that a tax or some form of carbon emission reduction is a good idea as a precautionary measure, despite the uncertainty.

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

Judith Curry on Climate Change

Judith Curry of the Georgia Institute of Technology and blogger at Climate Etc. talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about climate change. Curry argues that climate change is a "wicked problem" with a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the expected damage as well as the political and technical challenges of dealing with the phenomenon. She emphasizes the complexity of the climate and how much of the basic science remains incomplete. The conversation closes with a discussion of how concerned citizens can improve their understanding of climate change and climate change policy.

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

John Christy and Kerry Emanuel on Climate Change

John Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology talk with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about climate change. Topics discussed include what we know and don't know about global warming, trends in extreme weather such as hurricanes, rising sea level, the likely change in temperature in the next hundred years. Both scientists also give their perspective on what policies might be put in place to reduce risk from climate change. This episode was recorded before a live audience at the College of Business Administration at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

ADB allocates up to $6B for blue economy in Southeast Asia

THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) will mobilize up to $6 billion through 2030 to support fisheries, coastal infrastructure and other blue-economy investments in Southeast Asia. ADB President Masato Kanda announced the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Blue Economy Initiative at the 58th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Metro Manila on Saturday. “The ocean is not just an environmental priority; it is the economic foundation of Southeast Asia,” Mr. Kanda said. “When marine ecosystems degrade, the damage reaches the fishing net, the family table, and the flooded doorstep. We will put up to $6 billion behind the work of restoring fisheries, building resilient coastal infrastructure, and stopping waste before it reaches the water,” he added. Southeast Asia accounts for a fifth of the world’s fisheries and agricultural output, but ecosystem degradation, plastic waste and fishing pressure have been eroding the region’s natural capital, ADB said. “Modeled estimates put expected coastal flood damage across the region at about $11.5 billion a year,” it added. The ADB has yet to disclose how the $6 billion will be distributed among ASEAN member economies. Meanwhile, the bank is also proposing $150,000 in technical assistance for the Philippines to strengthen nutrition and climate resilience in the country’s food systems. The Philippines will receive the largest allocation among seven participating economies under the $800,000 regional program. Cambodia, Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Vietnam were each allotted $125,000, while Bangladesh and Nepal will receive $100,000 and $50,000, respectively. The technical assistance will support the integration of nutrition into ADB country programs, policy discussions and project preparation, as well as the design of nutrition-sens

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

Exxon raises 2050 global emissions forecast, warns coal will push levels past climate targets

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

Martin Weitzman on Climate Change

Is climate change the ultimate Black Swan? Martin Weitzman of Harvard University and co-author of Climate Shock talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the risks of climate change. Weitzman argues that climate change is a fat-tailed phenomenon--there is a non-trivial risk of a catastrophe. Though Weitzman concedes that our knowledge of the climate is quite incomplete, he suggests that it is prudent to take serious measures, including possibly geo-engineering, to reduce the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

Matt Ridley on Climate Change

Science writer and author Matt Ridley discusses climate change with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Based on his reading of the scientific evidence, Ridley describes himself as a "lukewarmer." While Ridley agrees that humans have made the climate warmer, he argues that the impact is small or positive over some temperature ranges and regions. He rejects the catastrophic scenarios that some say are sufficiently likely to justify dramatic policy responses, and he reflects on the challenges of staking out an unpopular position on a contentious policy issue.

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

Jesse Ausubel on Agriculture, Technology, and the Return of Nature

Thousands of bears in New Jersey. Humpback whales near New York City. Acres devoted to farming stable or declining even as food production soars. Jesse Ausubel of the Rockefeller University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the return of nature. Ausubel shows how technology has reduced many of the dimensions of the human footprint even as population rises and why this trend is likely to continue into the future. The conversation concludes with Ausubel's cautious optimism about the impact of climate change.

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

Philippines seeks investments, rail support from India

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. sought Indian investments and support for major Philippine rail projects during meetings with businesses and organizations in New Delhi, with some companies expressing interest in fresh capital and expansion in the Philippines, Malacañang said. “Some of them committed to invest fresh capital in the Philippines, some of them committed to expand their businesses in the Philippines,” Presidential Communications Secretary Dave M. Gomez said in a recorded briefing released on Sunday. “The bottom line there, many quality jobs will be added, courtesy of the Indian business sector.” Mr. Gomez said Mr. Marcos had held six or seven meetings, including with three major Indian organizations involved in railways and disaster resilience and four other large businesses. The President told Indian business executives that the Philippines remains an investment destination, citing its workforce as one of its advantages. “As the President said, we have a very young workforce that is tech-capable and tech-savvy,” Mr. Gomez said. An Indian rail organization is also looking at supporting three major Philippine rail projects: the Mindanao Railway, the Cebu mass rail transit system and the expansion of the Philippine National Railways to Tutuban, he said. The Philippines also joined the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) on Saturday as its 71st member. The global partnership helps countries boost infrastructure against disasters and climate-related risks. Mr. Gomez said the CDRI could help the Philippines make roads, bridges and ports more resilient to disasters. “They will help us to build infrastructure like roads, bridges, especially ports to be disaster resilient,” he said. The coalition will also share experience and financing approach

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

The price of a car, on your arm. Are designer bags worth the price?

Africa gets just 23% of the climate finance it needs and it’s paying too much for it. And a look at the outdated banking tech slowing SA’s digital economy.

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

Moises Velasquez-Manoff on Cows, Carbon Farming, and Climate Change

Journalist and author Moises Velasquez-Manoff talks about the role of dirt in fighting climate change with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Velasquez-Manoff explains how changes in farming can allow dirt and plants to absorb carbon and potentially reduce climate change. At the end of the conversation he discusses the state of the science on hygiene, parasites, and auto-immune disorders that he discussed in his previous appearance on EconTalk in 2014.

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

‘We need to stop using the sky as an open sewer’: Former US Vice-President Al Gore on unprecedented climate danger

Speaking to CNA in Singapore, the climate advocate warned of rising temperatures, melting ice and increasingly erratic weather, saying predictions he highlighted 20 years ago in the documentary An Inconvenient Truth had proved “exactly accurate”.

BAGANBAZAR GRAPHSource-attributed newsBUSINESS desk

Bjorn Lomborg on the Costs and Benefits of Attacking Climate Change

Bjorn Lomborg, President of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, talks about the costs and benefits of attacking climate change with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Lomborg argues that we should always be aware of tradeoffs and effectiveness when assessing policies to reduce global warming. He advocates for realistic solutions that consider the potential to improve human life in other ways. He is skeptical of the potential to move away from fossil fuels and argues that geo-engineering and adaptation may be the most effective ways to cope with climate change.