This week, the European Union called on the fossil fuel industry to help pay for fighting climate change in poorer countries as part of a target goal of the United Nations. According to Reuters, the UN climate negotiations in November are the deadline for countries to agree a new goal of how much wealthy, industrialized nations should pay poorer ones to adjust to the most severe impacts of a hotter world. The EU countries' foreign affairs ministers argued on Monday that the fossil fuel industry should also contribute, given the increasing costs to climate change events around the world.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight, analysis and commentary. If you would like to speak with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations Specialists Shannon Mitchell at [email protected] and Cate Douglass at [email protected].
Robert Orttung, research professor of international affairs and the director of research at Sustainable GW, is an expert on comparative politics, Russia, Ukraine, energy security, federalism, and democracy. Orttung’s research interests also include ways to promote sustainable development, both internationally and in the United States. In particular, his current areas of research focus on developing an index of urban sustainability for the Arctic and other extreme climates.
“Developing countries often face the most difficulties from climate change. Oil companies can use some of their tremendous resources to finance the transition to new sources of energy and help countries adapt to the changes that are already taking place,” Orttung says. “The EU proposal is a step in the right direction, but there is still a lot more work that needs in channeling energy company assets into climate solutions.”
Rachael Jonassen, an associate research professor, is the director of the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Management Program in the GW Environmental and Energy Management Institute. She previously served as Program Director for Carbon Cycle at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and as an NSF representative to the US Global Change Research Program and helped manage it. From 2008-2013, Dr. Jonassen was Senior Scientist for Climate Change at LMI and advised numerous government agencies on climate, energy and water issues. Jonassen’s expertise include greenhouse gas management, climate change science, risk and mitigation. She can discuss some implications of this draft as well as related topics, like the Energy Treaty that many EU countries are withdrawing from.
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