Publication archives

Sep 28, 2021

Will the CFTC greenlight a carbon emissions’ offset market boom (and bust)?

by
Dr. Steve Suppan
A recent series of meetings of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee (EEMAC) highlighted the risks of a forecast boom in offset emissions futures contract trading. The underlying assets of offset futures are projects to reduce, avoid or that claim to permanently remove greenhouse gas emissions.
surface forest fire burning carbon offsets
Sep 27, 2021

Comments to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on the proposed creation of a carbon markets subcommittee of the Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee

We thank the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC, or Commission) for the invitation to comment on the proposal by the Commercial Energy Working Group to form an EEMAC carbon markets subcommittee.1 The proposed stakeholder group would produce a report on principles for designing the derivatives and underlying cash markets for
Sep 27, 2021

Africa’s green revolution initiative has faltered: Why other ways must be found

The following article was originally published on The Conversation on September 14, 2021. 
Farm field in Africa
Sep 23, 2021

Trade agreements and sustainability: innovations and illusions in EU and US agreements

by
Sharon Anglin Treat
As the climate emergency deepens, governments, civil society, corporations and individuals must pursue multiple paths in order to meet or exceed the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. The Paris Agreement is not self-enforcing, and the commitments of the signatory governments are voluntary.
Sep 23, 2021

Sustainability innovation and illusions in EU and US trade agreements

by
Sharon Anglin Treat
With the climate emergency deepening and government responses falling short, time is running out.
trade and climate dock
Sep 22, 2021

United Nations squanders opportunity for binding commitments to end hunger sustainably

by
Sophia Murphy
On Thursday, September 23, the United Nations will host a one-day summit meeting in New York on food systems. You would think they had it all — a great topic (who does not eat?) and great timing, too, as the collective failure to halt the pandemic continues to push the number of people living with food insecurity higher, while unprecedented experiments with social protection programs and universal income point to the potential for transformative change and a redefinition of the social contract that binds citizens and their governments.
Field workers in a strawberry field
Sep 17, 2021

Time to transition to agroecology in Africa

As COVID-19 threatens farming communities across Africa already struggling with climate change, the continent is at a crossroads. Will its people and their governments continue trying to replicate industrial farming models promoted by developed countries? Or will they move boldly into the uncertain future, embracing ecological agriculture?
farm in Africa
Sep 9, 2021

Closed out: How U.S. farmers are denied access to conservation programs

by
Michael Happ
According to data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), between 2010 and 2020, just 31% of farmers who applied to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and only 42% of farmers who applied to the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) were awarded contracts. Overall, EQIP turned down 946,459 contracts and CSP denied 146,425 contracts, at least partially for lack of funds.
EQIP Program Closed Out