Olive Heffernan

“What we’d like to see is the whole thing being fought on the architecture of a Green New Deal.”

Solarcentury founder Jeremy Leggett on the potential role for climate and environment issues in the election campaigns of Nick Clegg, David Cameron and Gordon Brown.

“[The administration is] very sceptical about the ability to get a full-blown legal deal that replaces the Kyoto Protocol or builds on it, given the state of play back home."

Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists comments on the fact that although UN climate talks have resumed, difficulty in passing domestic legislation in the US could hinder progress.

“Given the scrutiny that climate change science is currently under, attributing biological changes to global warming should surely require the highest standards of proof.”

Dr Jake Gratten at the University of Sheffield, one of the scientists questioning whether climate change is in fact causing sheep to shrink and change colour (and yes, the phrase ‘sheepgate’ has been mentioned).

“If there’s a single central insight in economics, it’s this: There are mutual gains from transactions between consenting adults…but what if a deal between consenting adults imposes costs on people who are not part of the exchange?”

Climate economics 101, plus the rationale for cap-and-trade, courtesy of Nobel laureate Paul Krugman in the New York Times.