The global revolt underway has shifted the whole political landscape and the terms of the discourse, writes William I. Robinson, a professor of sociology, global studies, and Latin American studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. 'Global elites are confused, reactive, and sinking into the quagmire of their own making. It is noteworthy that those struggling around the world have been shown a strong sense of solidarity and are in communications across whole continents. Just as the Egyptian uprising inspired the US Occupy movement, the latter has been an inspiration for a new round of mass struggle in Egypt. What remains is to extend transnational coordination and move towards transnationally-coordinated programs.'

The carbon markets operating today under the aegis of the UN, the EU, and a variety of state and non-state actors are the default international approach to the climate crisis. Reflecting, extending and deepening neoliberalism, these markets grew rapidly until 2008, when they began to stumble, following the financial crash, the 2010 failure of the US Congress to pass proposed carbon trading legislation, uncertainty about the future of UN climate treaties, and a recent spate of criminal and other scandals. This article explains how carbon commodities work through a process of radical disembedding - in particular, through disembedding the climate issue from the historical question of how to organise for structural, long-term change aimed at keeping remaining fossil fuels in the ground.

BECCS, or biomass with CCS, has recently gained attention in national as well as international
high level discussions on climate, as a supposedly viable means to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. But the underlying premises for these claims are unfounded and dangerous, says this briefing paper from Biofuelwatch. 'Capturing carbon and pumping it underground itself requires considerable energy consuming from 10-40% of the power generated at the power station where it is applied, and hence increasing energy demand and cost of construction and operation.'

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

'Just think of these figures: The third quarter profits for Morgan Stanley $2.2 billion; for Wells Fargo $4.1 billion; for J.P. Morgan Chase $4.6 billion; Bank of America $6.2 billion...these were the banking outfits that helped to fashion the near-depression. Remember all these figures are this year, well after the fiscal calamity of three years ago. Or take the oil companies in the third quarter of 2011: BP, despite paying out billions in compensation for the oil spill, made $5.1 billion; Shell made $7 billion; Mobil Exxon came in at $10.3 billion. And we can’t find money for the Global Fund? Is there any better definition of the 1%? And I haven’t even enumerated the restoration of corporate bonuses. Do you see what’s at work here? In the reckless haste to coddle the multinationals, global public health has taken a merciless hit. And here’s something else to think about. Not a one of these companies has given a direct nickel to the coffers of the Global Fund, despite endless requests that they do so. And BP, Shell and Exxon Mobil are all members of the Global Business Coalition Health (GBCHealth), successor to the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS.'

Officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries are estimated to have reached $351 billion in 2011, up 8 per cent over 2010. For the first time since the global financial crisis, remittance flows to all six developing regions rose in 2011. Growth of remittances in 2011 exceeded our earlier expectations in four regions, especially in Europe and Central Asia (due to higher outward flows from Russia that benefited from high oil prices) and Sub-Saharan Africa (due to strong south-south flows and weaker currencies in some countries that attracted larger remittances).

Poor countries have depended on rich nations to supplement their sector budget without which millions of people would have continued to live in abject poverty. Have the years of funding made these countries any less dependent? Sector budget is aid that is allocated to developing a country’s particular development priorities, which could be in the areas of health, education or even sanitation and housing.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) has recently issued a report that examines four recent detailed studies of countries’ mitigation pledges under the Cancun Agreements, for the purpose of comparing developed (Annex 1) country pledges to developing (non-Annex 1) country pledges. It finds that there is broad agreement that developing country pledges amount to more mitigation than developed country pledges.

Some European banks are now refusing to lend to firms trading with Africa, threatening growth in the world's poorest continent, a senior official of the African Development Bank (AfDB) said on Tuesday. The reluctance of some banks to make Africa-related loans as Europe's own debt crisis turns them increasingly risk-averse is an ominous sign as it repeats one aspect of the 2008 credit crisis.

Early morning on day one of the first peasant-organised international conference to stop land grabbing held in Nyéléni, Mali, delegates from more than 30 countries took their seats for the opening ceremony. Delegates strategized late into the nights, resolving to make land rights a reality. On the final day, both exhausted and energized, they read the fruition of their work - the Final Declaration to Stop Land Grabbing.

Meet You At The Crossroads is a library of public images of resistance, rebellion, revolt and rebuilding occurring in cities right across the globe, often on the streets; in the public realm. You are invited to send in your images and sign up to receive a weekly public image.

Despite broad agreement that international development cooperation must become effective in order to achieve its objective of closing the rich-poor gap, the fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4), which kicked off on 29 November in Busan, South Korea, may fall short of marking a genuine 'turning point' for the effectiveness agenda. Some 3,000 delegates including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, high-level government officials from around the world and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are attending the Forum.

Cameroon's finance minister and Central Africa's top central banker both said on Monday there would be no devaluation of the CFA franc currency used by 14 states in Africa, denying market rumours. The CFA franc is currently tied to the euro at a fixed exchange rate of one euro to 655.957 CFA francs, with the peg guaranteed by the French treasury.

Organisations working with indigenous peoples living in forests say the United Nations programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) is just another way for big corporates to reap huge profits. REDD+ has been touted as a global scheme to conserve forests, enhance carbon stocks and support sustainable forest management. 'It is a system where you pour a lot of money into forests that will attract powerful international investors who will make big profits,' warned Simone Lovera, managing director of the Global Forest Coalition.

Several demolitions of housing near airports in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, have not only displaced hundreds of families but challenged the humanitarian response in urban emergencies. Amid criticism of the way the demolitions were carried out, humanitarian workers say relief aid for urban crises was often not pre-positioned, unlike in rural-based emergencies.

This Al Jazeera article and video looks at the issue of internet censorship. 'Google said that in the first half of 2011, governments requested private data on about 25,440 people from the internet search and advertising company. Eleven thousand of those requests came from the US government...The Electronic Frontier Foundation accuses US and European technology companies of selling surveillance equipment and software to countries including Thailand, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, and China.'

Because donor funding for global HIV/AIDS and the Global Fund has been declining, the Fund is in the most dire financial situation it has ever seen since its creation ten years ago, says Médecins Sans Frontières. As a result, the Global Fund board decided to effectively cancel its 11th funding round due to lack of resources – an unprecedented act in its history. 'Yet on the ground in hard-hit countries where MSF works, the devastating effects of the overall funding crunch are becoming apparent – for example, Cameroon and Zimbabwe are facing shortfalls in the near future to support people already on treatment, and the Democratic Republic of Congo severely caps the number of people able to start on life-saving HIV treatment.'

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

This paper examines some of the debates taking place as we approach 2015, the target date for attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It provides reflections, drawn from discussions with donor agencies and international NGOs, on what the focus will be for international development work after that date. Will it be more of the same – nationally based targets to reduce poverty?

Sheltered from the fierce heat of the Namboomspruit sun, 16 Mokopane community members gathered for an Earth Forum in the cool shadows of an oasis of tall palm trees. These participants formed part of a community action group called Jubilee, which aims to address critical incidences of environmental injustice, particularly around the effect of mining on human and environmental well-being. According to Phillipos Dolo, co-ordinator of Jubilee, the mining has deprived these people of access to land. 'In rural areas we depend on the land for ploughing. The mining companies took all the land we worked on without any compensation.'