21^st Ph.D. Workshop on International Climate Policy

Organised by:

Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS)

University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland

October 22-23, 2010

Call for Papers

The 21^st Ph.D. Workshop on International Climate Policy (ICP) will take place on 22-23 October 2010 at the Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS) of the University of Zurich and the ETH Zurich, in Switzerland.
The ICP Ph.D. Workshop is organised twice per year under the auspices of the European Ph.D. Network on International Climate Policy. It has the aim to offer Ph.D. candidates the opportunity to present their research ideas and results, receive feedback, and exchange information and assistance with other peers, all in an informal setting. Ph.D. students from all disciplines working on topics relevant to climate policy are encouraged to submit applications.
There is no participation fee, but workshop participants are expected to cover their travel and accommodation expenses.
To register for the workshop, please submit the application form by 15^th September 2010 (download from http://www.cis.ethz.ch/events/index) to Paula Castro (). If you intend to present a paper, include an abstract, too.
This workshop is supported by the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) and the Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS).

We look forward to welcoming you in Zurich in October!

The organising committee

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Paula Castro Pareja

University of Zurich

Institute of Political Science and

Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS)

Affolternstrasse 56

CH-8050 Zürich

Phone:  0041-44-63 45090

Email:  

Web:         http://www.ipz.uzh.ch/institut/mitarbeitende/staff/castro.html

I have  been invited to be joint guest editor of a special issue of the multidisciplinary journal – Portal – on Global Climate Change Policy and would invite you to submit papers or pass this call for papers onto someone who might be interested. Papers to be submitted by 1st October.

Portal is a multidisclipinary peer reviewed journal – ‘A’ ranked in the recent Australian Government’s Excellence in Research Australia

(ERA) journal rankings.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Global Climate Change Policy – Post-Copenhagen Discord SPECIAL ISSUE: Global Climate Change Policy – Post-Copenhagen Discord

Guest edited by Chris Riedy and Ian M. McGregor

Deadline for submissions extended to 1st  October 2010 (publication date late 2011)

Given the danger represented by climate change, why did the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December 2009 fail to reach a comprehensive global agreement to address the climate change emergency? Is it likely that an effective global response to address climate change will be developed before the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012?

This special issue of PORTAL on Global Climate Change Policy seeks multi-disciplinary papers that identify the issues to be overcome in developing effective global climate change governance and propose approaches, policies and measures that might contribute to an effective outcome to address this extremely complex policy problem. Contributors are invited to address the many issues these questions raise, including:

How can we achieve an effective global response to climate change that allows for global emissions to come rapidly under control, even while the developing world vastly scales up energy services in its ongoing fight against endemic poverty and for human development?

Given that the national commitments to the Copenhagen Accord are likely to result in a 3°C global warming over pre-industrial levels versus its stated aim of remaining below 2°C, how can 190 sovereign states develop and implement responses that will be effective in avoiding dangerous climate change?

Is a binding global agreement necessary to respond effectively to climate change? What other models or frameworks for effective international climate change response exist and what are their current prospects?

What are the roles of global civil society and the international business community in delivering an effective international response to climate change?

Contacts: For further information, please contact the special issue guest editors, Ian M. McGregor: email: , or Chris

Riedy: email:

PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies only accepts submissions of unpublished manuscripts, which are not being considered by other publications. All submissions deemed suitable are subject to a blind peer-review process. Recommended length is a maximum of 8000 words including notes and references. Authors are invited to submit their articles directly to PORTAL, via its online submission system. Authors must ensure that their submissions comply with PORTAL author guidelines.

Articles that do not comply with those guidelines will be returned to authors for resubmission. For details, see:

http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/ojs/index.php/portal/about/submissions#authorGuidelines.

Dr Ian McGregor

Lecturer & Undergraduate Program Coordinator School of Management Room – Building 5 D4.08, Markets Campus University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia

email:

Tel: 61 2 (02) 9514 3240

skype: imcgregor

Many commentators believe that a continued global commitment to the use of coal to generate electricity at current or near current levels virtually ensures temperature increases of 2-3C above pre-industrial levels. In recent years, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) has been touted as a technological “fix” that potentially would allow coal usage to continue virtually unabated, or at least would facilitate much less radical cuts than might otherwise be required. A new piece in the journal International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control (subscription required) assesses the potential for geological storage of carbon dioxide in terrestrial and ocean saline aquifers, one of the three main options for geological storage of carbon dioxide, and the option that has the greatest storage capacity globally. The piece also discusses some of the threats that CCS may pose.

Among the take-aways from the article:

1. Beyond the first commercial-scale project dedicated to disposing of carbon dioxide (the Sleipner natural gas project in the North Sea), there are a number of pilot operations that have been developed in recent years or are planned;
2. While monitoring technologies for shallow groundwater, soil and the atmosphere have been developed for carbon dioxide storage, high natural fluctuations in these environments complicate detection of leaks from reservoirs. Technologies exist to detect and locate leaks at a site in Montana, but it could not quantify carbon dioxide leakage;
3. An integral part  of major industrialized States is to enable broad deployment of CCS by 2020.

There are a number of critiques of CCS that highlight some other substantial concerns about the viability of CCS, including potential costs,  the speed at which the technology will be available on a commercial scale, and potential public resistance to the siting of pipelines and other critical infrastructure. However, some of the greatest concerns involve potential leakage of carbon dioxide, both as a potential health threat, and because even minimal leaks (approximately 1% annually) could obviate most of the benefits of CCS in terms of avoiding substantial temperature increases.