China is playing a major role across Latin America as a creditor, investor and trade partner. However, China’s considerable presence in Latin America, like those of other major powers in the region, tends to focus on high-carbon activities including fossil fuel extraction, large-scale agriculture and energy intensive industries. The rapidly expanding economic, commercial and political ties between China and Latin America have far reaching implications for the new climate change agreement to be agreed in 2015.

On November 21, 2014, the CDL hosted an event at the Watson Institute to analyse Chinese-Latin American relations and explore some of the opportunities and limitations towards establishing a more sustainable agenda in a warming world. The conference was funded by the Fundación Botín with the support of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown. The conference relates to a project being carried out between the CDL and E3G.

To watch the full conference including the panel discussion not included in the video above here click on the following link:  https://mediacapture.brown.edu:8443/ess/echo/presentation/f73a6d9d-7c65-46e4-a366-5c3c0e9e8712 

El 21 de noviembre, de 09:00 - 12:00 (EST), el Laboratorio de Clima y Desarrollo y el Centro de Estudios sobre Latinoamérica y el Caribe de la Universidad Brown serán anfitriones de la conferencia Relaciones China-Latinoamérica: ¿Hacia un paradigma más sostenible en un mundo en calentamiento? 

El evento será transmitido en vivo y el público podrá participar en la discusión a través de Twitter. El objetivo de la conferencia es entender mejor el desarrollo de las relaciones entre China y América Latina y explorar algunas de las oportunidades y límites hacia el establecimiento de una agenda más sostenible frente al cambio climático. 

El evento coincide con las preparaciones para el primer Foro de China-Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños y el lanzamiento del Plan de Cooperación China-América Latina y el Caribe 2015-2019 a principios del siguiente año.

El evento es organizado por el Laboratorio de Clima y Desarrollo y el Centro de Estudios sobre Latinoamérica y el Caribe. La conferencia es patrocinada por la Fundación Botín. El evento hace parte de un proyecto entre el Laboratorio de Clima y Desarrollo y E3G. El panel incluirá expertos de China, América Latina y Estados Unidos.

La grabación del evento está disponible aquí:

https://mediacapture.brown.edu:8443/ess/echo/presentation/f73a6d9d-7c65-46e4-a366-5c3c0e9e8712

Siga el evento y la discusión en Twitter #CHLACC

Viernes, 21 de noviembre de 2014.  09:00 – 12:00 EST
Joukowsky Forum, Instituto Watson para Estudios Internacionales
Brown University, 111 Thayer Street, Providence, Rhode Island

By Alison Kirsch and Timmons Roberts

As much as the nostalgic might hate to admit it, a new year is coming up. And for climate change negotiators, 2015 is a big one: it’s the make-it-or-break it year for a serious, last-ditch effort at an international agreement to slow runaway climate change. 

A new year brings new, hopeful resolutions. Of course, just as ubiquitous are the pesky memories of past resolutions that one never quite accomplished.

Some resolutions fade, understandably. But failure is less forgivable when the repercussions include the increased exploration of fossil fuels at the expense of our warming world. To avoid the most destructive effects of climate change, we must keep two-thirds of existing fossil fuel reserves underground, instead of providing subsidies to dig them up.

One group not living up to its resolution: the G20 members —19 countries and the European Union that make up 85% of global GDP. At the 2009 G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the group agreed to “rationalize and phase out over the medium term inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption.” At the 2013 summit in St. Petersburg, they reaffirmed this resolution. Yet that same year, these countries funneled $88 billion into exploring new reserves of oil, gas, and coal.

Another resolution abandoned.

This year’s G20 summit will convene in Brisbane, Australia (November 15th - 16th) — a perfect opportunity to commiserate about the backsliding on the agreement and to develop a new approach that includes some means of holding each other accountable. So how can the G20 follow through on its laudable and necessary pledge?

By Tory Hoffmeister and Allison Reilly

The resounding Republican victory in the 2014 midterm elections displayed that, despite unprecedented contributions from green groups, environmentalists continue to struggle against a rising tide of big money interests. The success of Republicans and their financiers may also dampen expectations in the wake of the historic announcement yesterday of the U.S. - China agreement on climate change and prospects for greater climate action by the U.S.   

Mientras Perú se prepara para la conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre el cambio climático a realizarse en Lima en Diciembre, la disposición del gobierno para demostrar un fuerte  liderazgo ambiental como anfitrión de las negociaciones permanece ambigua. A pesar del discurso positivo del Presidente Ollanta Humala en la reciente Cumbre Climática de la ONU en Nueva York, sus acciones domésticas sugieren que combatir el cambio climático y proteger el medio ambiente no son prioridades.

Latin America may have weathered the global economic slowdown, but for many, the potential impact of global warming, and the measures required to avoid its worst effects, may undermine the region’s fragile political, economic, and social balance – and roll back years of progress.

But economic prosperity and action to mitigate climate change need not be mutually exclusive. Indeed, the current election cycle in Latin America, coupled with the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in December in Lima, Peru, provide an opportunity for the region to show how countries can benefit from a low-carbon economy, reduce climate risks, and build long-term prosperity.