Tag: #international-treaties — 19 segments on Living on Earth
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May 29, 2026:
U.N. Affirms Climate Duty
More than two-thirds of U.N. members recently voted in favor of a resolution affirming a landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice that countries have a legal obligation to limit global warming. While this advisory opinion is not enforceable, it will likely be cited in lawsuits and appeals as a fact in the fight against climate disruption. Inside Climate News reporter Bob Berwyn speaks with Host Jenni Doering about the significance of the ruling and its U.N. adoption.
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May 08, 2026:
Willing to End Fossil Fuels
The first gathering of a new international “coalition of the willing” to transition away from fossil fuels recently took place in Colombia. It’s a separate event from the UN COP climate negotiations and was born in part out of frustration over fossil fuel friendly nations like the US, Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia stalling the COP process. Rodrigo Estrada, Senior Climate Advisor at Greenpeace International, was there and joins Host Aynsley O’Neill to share the takeaways and next steps.
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January 30, 2026:
Global Health Under Trump
The current Trump administration has in its first year cut off the World Health Organization, dismantled the United States Agency for International Development or USAID, and overhauled vaccination recommendations, just to name a few decisions impacting health. Physician and Harvard public health professor Vanessa Kerry is also WHO Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health. She talks with Host Steve Curwood about the lives that could be lost as the US retreats from global health.
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January 23, 2026:
US Leaves Top Climate Science Body
The Trump Administration is withdrawing the US from the scientific Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, which reports agreement about the basic scientific facts of global warming and the impact of core technologies to address it. Physicist and climate scientist Bill Hare, a lead author of the IPCC fourth assessment report in 2007, tells Host Steve Curwood about how the fossil fuel industry has long pushed for such an action.
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January 16, 2026:
Trump Ices Climate Diplomacy
The Trump Administration recently announced plans to withdraw the United States from dozens of United Nations treaties and organizations including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a treaty that was ratified by the US Senate in 1992 and is the key international forum for addressing the climate crisis. Marianne Lavelle, the Washington Bureau Chief for Inside Climate News, speaks with Host Jenni Doering about what this decision could mean for global climate progress.
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January 02, 2026:
A City on Mars and the Perils of Settling Space (Cont'd)
A City on Mars authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith continue their conversation with Host Jenni Doering about the challenges of settling space. They discuss why the Moon has limited “primo” real estate, what it was like to write this book together as a married couple, and why they view humor as an essential piece of helping a general audience understand such complex issues as international space law.
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November 07, 2025:
UN Climate Talks Kick Off in Brazil
The biggest climate negotiations of the year, COP30, are kicking off in Belem in the Brazilian Amazon. Longtime COP observer Jennifer Morgan is a former executive director of Greenpeace and former state secretary and special climate envoy for Germany who is now a senior fellow at Tufts University. She joins Host Steve Curwood to preview COP30 and discuss the focus on closing the gap between current greenhouse gas reduction policies and what’s needed to limit warming to a safer level.
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September 26, 2025:
Trump Denies, China Leads on Climate
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump railed against climate science and clean energy, drawing sharp rebukes from other nations, rival politicians and business leaders. Meanwhile, China for the first time ever announced a specific target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, by 7 to 10 percent by 2035. Hosts Aynsley O’Neill and Jenni Doering talk about the diverging rhetoric and action on climate.
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March 07, 2025:
US Ducks World Climate Meetings
The Trump Administration barred government scientists from attending a key UN climate science meeting in February 2025. What’s more, it seems the customary US task force including officials from the State, Energy, Commerce and Transportation departments has not attended any meetings for the underlying UN climate treaty since the beginning of the Trump Administration. Ben Stockton of the Center for Climate Reporting joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss what this could mean for global climate diplomacy.
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December 06, 2024:
Climate Action at the World Court
The world’s biggest climate case is underway at the International Court of Justice at the Hague in the Netherlands. Over 100 countries and intergovernmental organizations are arguing before a 15-judge panel, which could decide to issue an advisory opinion to clarify nations’ obligations to limit global warming emissions.
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November 29, 2024:
UN Climate Summit Falters
The UN climate treaty summit known as COP29 teetered on the edge of collapse as less developed nations implored the rich countries of the global north to provide financial relief to help them cope with rising climate costs. Alden Meyer, senior consultant with E3G, was at the COP and joins Host Steve Curwood to explain the frustrations with the process and the compromise delegates eventually reached.
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November 15, 2024:
29th UN Climate COP Kicks Off
Delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 29th Conference of the Parties. Alden Meyer of the climate think tank E3G is a longtime observer of these meetings, and he joins Host Paloma Beltran to share his first impressions as these talks kick off.
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August 23, 2024:
Kamala Harris on Climate and the Environment
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris she has a long environmental history from her time as a former California attorney general who took on oil companies, her work on the Inflation Reduction Act as Vice President, to her engagement in international climate diplomacy. Marianne Lavelle from Inside Climate News joins hosts O’Neill and Steve Curwood to walk through Kamala Harris’ environmental record and what it could mean for her campaign.
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May 10, 2024:
Plastic Pollution Treaty Talks
The fourth meeting of UN talks aimed to address plastic pollution took place this April in Ottawa, Canada. The goal is to have a legally binding international agreement on plastics pollution by the end of 2024. Professor Maria Ivanova, Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University joined Living on Earth’s Paloma Beltran to give an update on what happened at these most recent talks.
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May 03, 2024:
U.S. Funding Fossil Fuels Abroad
Despite an international agreement to phase out financing for fossil fuel projects abroad, the Biden administration recently approved a $500 million dollar loan guarantee for an oil and gas drilling project in Bahrain. Nina Pušić of Oil Change International spoke to Living on Earth’s Paloma Beltran to explain why such actions also hold other nations back from ending this practice
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November 24, 2023:
China and US Restart Climate Diplomacy
The world is way off track from the Paris Agreement goal to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. A new joint statement on fighting the climate crisis from the world’s two biggest emitters, China and the United States, offers a glimmer of hope for global action on the eve of COP28. Alden Meyer of the climate think tank E3G joins Host Steve Curwood to explain.
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October 13, 2023:
Kids Sue 30+ European Countries on Climate
Six young plaintiffs from Portugal are suing over 30 European countries they say have violated their rights to life by failing to act on climate change. Patrick Parenteau is an emeritus professor at Vermont Law School and joins Host Jenni Doering to recap the recent hearing in front of a “Grand Chamber” of judges in the European Court of Human Rights and discuss what it could mean for climate action.
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June 09, 2023:
A World Without Plastic Pollution
2,000 people from across the globe recently gathered in Paris to work towards a UN treaty to eliminate plastic pollution. Maria Ivanova, the Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, took part in the Paris talks and joins Host Aynsley O’Neill to paint a picture of a world with far less plastic and how we can get there.
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January 20, 2023:
Controversial Oil CEO to Lead UN Climate Treaty
Activists are expressing outrage in the wake of the decision by the United Arab Emirates to appoint oil executive Sultan al-Jaber as President of this year’s UN climate treaty negotiations at COP28 in Dubai. Mithika Mwenda, executive director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance and May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, join Host Steve Curwood to explain the concerns and discuss how fossil fuel interests are deflecting progress in the treaty process.
