Climate migration, Gordon Brown on salvaging Copenhagen, and more

The New York Times, reporting from Bangladesh, looks at migration prompted by climate changes such as increased flooding and rising sea levels – and finds that the thinking has changed somewhat.

“Rather than seeking a new life elsewhere in a mass international ‘climate migration,’ as some analysts had once predicted, many of these migrants are now expected to move to nearby megacities in their own countries,” their Jan. 3 story notes.

Billions of dollars in international funding to help poor countries adapt to climate change was among the pledges in the limited, nonbinding accord reached at the Copenhagen climate summit in December.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the BBC Sunday that he hopes the outcome of the disappointing summit can be translated into progress in 2010.

“I've got an idea about how we can actually move this forward over the next few months and I'll be working on this, and I think it's not impossible that the groundwork that was done at Copenhagen could lead to what you might call a global agreement that everybody is happy to stand by,” he said on “The Andrew Marr Show.”

“Now I'll be working on that in the next few months and I can see a way forward because what prevented an agreement was suspicion and fear and forms of protectionism that I think we've got to get over,” he added.

There was no word in the wide-ranging interview about what exactly his plan is.

One strategy for reducing emissions increasingly touted in the U.S. is making more use of natural gas, which emits less carbon dioxide when burned than coal or oil.

Development of gas from shale formations is rising in the U.S. and drawing interest from the world’s biggest energy companies, who are increasingly joining independent companies in developing these so-called unconventional resources.

On Monday, the huge French oil company Total announced a $2.25 billion shale gas joint venture with large Oklahoma-based independent Chesapeake Energy.

In December, Exxon Mobil Corp. announced it would acquire unconventional gas producer XTO Energy in a $41 billion transaction.