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United Kingdom: Britain Seeks to Set Pace in Carbon Capture Quest (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 12:00:28
| Reuters: Britain was on Monday announcing a shortlist of firms in a tender to build the world's first commercial-scale power plant to burn coal and gas without adding to global warming. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) promises a technological solution to soaring emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning power plants -- but with strings attached. "It is the great panacea. It would mean not having to do the hard things like changing the way we ... |
United Kingdom: British Renewables Push Will Boost Energy Bills (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 12:00:28
| Reuters: Meeting Britain's renewable energy targets will add significantly to domestic energy bills on top of already steeply rising fuel prices, a report said on Monday. The report from tax advisory company Ernst & Young comes days after the government called for a 100 billion pound green revolution to get 15 percent of its energy -- equivalent to 40 percent of its electricity -- from renewables by 2020. Britain currently gets barely four percent of its electricity from renewables, ... |
China to Slash Tax on Clean-Burning Fuel DME (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 12:00:28
| Reuters: China will slash value-added tax (VAT) on dimethyl ether (DME), an alternative fuel used in diesel and petrol engines, to boost the development of alternative energy amid soaring world prices. The government will cut VAT on dimethyl ether, a low emissions fuel, from 17 percent to 13 percent starting from July 1, the Ministry of Finance said in a notice posted on its website on Monday. It provided no other details. The adjustment removes the gap between the VAT rate levied on DME ... |
United States: Midwest Floodwaters Falling, Costs Rising (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 12:00:29
| Reuters: Levees on the cresting Mississippi River held Sunday as the worst US Midwest flooding in 15 years began to ebb, but multibillion-dollar crop losses may boost world food prices for years. Water levels on the river receded for the second straight day as mostly clear weather gave saturated areas a chance to start draining. Forecasts for similar dry weather in coming days gave further encouragement. The swollen river was expected to crest Monday in St. Louis at 38.9 feet, 11 feet ... |
Shell Wants Refiners Exempt from EU CO2 Cap Plan (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 12:00:29
| Reuters: Royal Dutch Shell Plc wants oil refiners to be given CO2 emission permits for free in the next phase of the European Union's CO2 emissions trading scheme but is happy for most other sectors to be charged. Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer told the World Petroleum Congress that the crude refining, chemicals and paper industries should be exempt from proposals to charge businesses for emitting CO2, because they would otherwise be at a disadvantage against rivals in the US and Asia. ... |
Stubborn Fire Threatens California's Scenic Coast (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 12:00:29
| Reuters: California firefighters struggled to gain the upper hand on Sunday against a nine-day-old wildfire that is threatening the scenic Big Sur area along the state's rugged central coast. The Big Sur fire has burned about 32,500 acres (13,150 hectares) and destroyed 16 homes since it was sparked by lightning on June 21, the US Forest Service said. Firefighters have contained only 3 percent of the flames and the Forest Service could not estimate when the fire would be brought under ... |
United Kingdom: Renewables push will boost energy bills (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 12:00:30
| Reuters: Meeting Britain's renewable energy targets will add significantly to domestic energy bills on top of already steeply rising fuel prices, a report said on Monday. The report from tax advisory company Ernst & Young comes days after the government called for a 100 billion pound green revolution to get 15 percent of its energy -- equivalent to 40 percent of its electricity -- from renewables by 2020. Britain currently gets barely four percent of its electricity from renewables, ... |
'Green' energy spending on rise (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:29
| BBC: Global investment in "green" energy surged ahead in 2007 and has continued to grow this year despite turmoil in financial markets, a report says. Spending on green power last year hit $148bn (£75bn), up 60% from 2006, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said. Rising oil prices, concerns over energy security, climate change worries and growing government support were behind the rise, it said. Wind energy got the most investment but solar power grew fastest as ... |
A New Twist in Penguins' Already Uncertain Future (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:29
| New York Times: P. Dee Boersma, a biologist at the University of Washington, has been watching the Magellanic penguins of Punta Tombo, in Argentina, for almost 30 years. For most of that time, their numbers have been declining: breeding pairs are down 22 percent there since 1987, she writes in Tuesday's issue of BioScience. But the dwindling numbers do not just mean the birds are suffering, Dr. Boersma writes. Because penguins are "marine sentinels," their decline is a blunt message that their marine ... |
Canary in a tux? Penguin woes signal sea problems (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:29
| Associated Press: The dwindling march of the penguins is signaling that the world's oceans are in trouble, scientists now say. Penguins may be the tuxedo-clad version of a canary in the coal mine, with generally ailing populations from a combination of global warming, ocean oil pollution, depleted fisheries, and tourism and development, according to a new scientific review paper. A University of Washington biologist detailed specific problems around the world with remote penguin populations, linking ... |
IEA to push G8 leaders to commit to energy efficiency: director (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:29
| Agence France-Presse: The head of the International Energy Agency said Tuesday he would press G8 leaders at a summit next week to adopt commitments to energy efficiency measures as part of the fight against climate change. "We are recommending that energy efficiency is one of most cost-effective ways for consumer countries," IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka told AFP on Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid. "We will recommend 25 very specific items of ... |
India tackles climate change with renewable energy (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:29
| Guardian: Solar power and other renewable energy sources will get priority under India's climate action plan, unveiled by prime minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi yesterday. The plan does not commit to a target for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, placing a greater emphasis on continued economic growth. However, it does seek to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and increase energy efficiency. "Our vision is to make India's economic development energy-efficient," said ... |
John McCain and energy (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:29
| Los Angeles Times: Our colleague Noam Levey has a story today weighing John McCain's voting history and public stances on a wide range of energy issues. It's a mixed bag, Levey reports: "At times he has backed measures to ease restrictions on oil drilling off the coast and in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Other times he has voted to keep them. "He has championed standards to require that automakers make vehicles more fuel-efficient, yet opposed standards to require that ... |
United States: Madison Mayor calls for federal support for transit, energy ... (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:29
| ABC: Mayor Dave Cieslewicz Tuesday called on Congress to act quickly to pass two measures that would increase support for local transit and energy efficiency initiatives. With gas prices continuing to average $4 per gallon with little relief in sight, these initiatives would help local governments and commuters reduce both energy costs and global warming emissions. "The threat of global climate change combined with the extraordinary increase in fuel costs demand a paradigm shift when ... |
Norwegians fume as new 'climate tax' on fuel takes effect (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:30
| Agence France-Presse: Norway, which already has some of the highest fuel prices in the world, on Tuesday introduced a new tax on petrol and diesel aimed at curbing climate change. Although the new charge was no more than 0.05 kroner (0.6 euro cents, 1.0 dollar cent) per litre of petrol and 0.10 kroner per litre of diesel, it outraged many Norwegians, who are already concerned about runaway prices at the pump. Despite its status as the world's fifth largest oil exporter, Norway has long had high ... |
Poland cuts CO2 quota for energy, prices to rise (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:30
| Reuters: Poland has cut carbon dioxide (CO2) permits for the power generation sector by about 11 percent, Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki said on Tuesday, in a long-awaited decision on the splitting of its CO2 quota. The government estimates a cut in quotas will lead to a 4 percent rise in electricity prices. Poland's government has been in deadlock for months over splitting the country's CO2 quota as environmental concerns clash with the interests of state-owned power groups as ... |
Australia: Queensland resources lobby: Open up uranium, nuclear industries (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:30
| Australian: THE Queensland Resources Council argued today that lifting a ban on uranium mining could expand the state's economy and through its use in nuclear power generation help to avoid huge greenhouse gas emissions. Michael Roche, chief executive of the council, said lifting the ban would underwrite a multibillion dollar investment and jobs expansion in the north and north west of the state. A Deloitte Insight Economics' report said lifting the ban could help Queensland producers win ... |
Renewable energy is "green gold rush" (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:30
| Reuters: In what is being called a "green gold rush," global investment in renewable energy surged some 60 percent to $148 billion (74 billion pounds) in 2007, a UN agency said on Tuesday. Buoyed by soaring fossil-fuel prices and concerns over the carbon dioxide emissions that fuel global warming, investment in clean energy from sources like wind, solar and biofuels last year rose three times faster then predicted by the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). "Just as ... |
UN chief urges rich nations to lead on Africa, climate (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:30
| Agence France-Presse: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed Tuesday to rich nations not to backtrack on assistance to Africa and action against climate change at next week's Group of Eight summit. Leaks of the draft statement for the July 7-9 summit in Japan suggest that rich nations will water down commitments to help Africa and offer little new on cutting greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change. Ban, in Tokyo on the first leg of an Asian tour, said that wealthy nations should lead ... |
UN's Ban presses China on climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:30
| Agence France-Presse: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told China on Tuesday to accept its global responsibilities on climate change, as he began a three-day visit to the world's most populous nation. "It is important that we have China on board for this common effort to address climate change," Ban told reporters just before leaving Tokyo for the Chinese capital. "Now China is also a very important global power. They have a global responsibility." Ban, a former foreign ... |
British Virgin Islands: Virgin CEO To Build Eco-Friendly Paradise (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 02:00:30
| Associated Press: Richard Branson, the adventuring chairman of the Virgin Group of companies, says his two private Caribbean islands have a higher purpose than serving as ultra-luxury retreats for entertainment and business A-listers. Walking barefoot on the sandy trails of his Necker Island, the British tycoon said his sun-soaked island properties in this British chain will prove that the Caribbean – with its wealth of sun, wind and waves – can lead the globe in renewable alternatives to carbon ... |
Australia Govt Warned Not to Weaken Emissions Trade (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: Australia's government was warned on Tuesday against softening a planned emissions trade system expected to hit big corporates and households, with Greens senators saying minor lawmakers could ensure it was still-born. The emissions trade system will begin in 2010 and bring the biggest upheaval to Australia's energy-reliant economy in a generation, with big miners in particular facing rising costs. The system's government-backed architect, academic economist Ross Garnaut, ... |
Australia Vows to Resist Pressure for "Carbon Lite" (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: Australia vowed on Tuesday to resist pressure to water down plans for an emissions-trading scheme as surveys showed voters were becoming increasingly alarmed at the likely consequence: higher energy prices. Newspaper polls showed voters were at best divided and at worst plain confused about government plans to cap emissions and create a trading system that would penalise polluters and threaten to further raise fuel prices and electricity bills. The polls come just days before ... |
Bangladesh Wants SAARC Fund for Climate Change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: Bangladesh has proposed the creation a fund to fight climate change in densely populated South Asia, which experts say is vulnerable to rising seas, melting glaciers and greater extremes of droughts and floods. Regional experts on climate change began two days of talks in Dhaka on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of environment ministers from countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). "We want to find a common stand among the South Asian countries ... |
China: Beijing Takes 300,000 High-Emission Cars Off Roads (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: Beijing took 300,000 high-emission cars off its roads on Tuesday, as part of measures to clean up the capital's air pollution and ease traffic on perennially clogged highways ahead of the Olympics. Pollution is a major concern for many athletes ahead of the Aug. 8 Games and the International Olympic Committee has said it may reschedule endurance events to remove a potential health risk. The Chinese capital is one of the most polluted cities in the world and rapidly becoming ... |
EU Deal on CO2 Car Plan Still Distant - Verheugen (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: The European Union still has much work to do before a collective deal on reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from cars is reached, EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said on Monday. "We're still a long way from an agreement," Verheugen told reporters in Berlin. Earlier this month, Germany and France agreed to a European Commission goal of cutting average CO2 emissions from new cars, but Verheugen said other countries in the bloc would not just automatically ... |
G8 Climate Change Failure Could Hurt UN-Led Talks (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: G8 leaders have a 50-50 chance of agreeing next week on a global goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, a Japanese foreign ministry official said, adding that failure could hurt UN-led climate talks. Leaders meet for the July 7-9 Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido, northern Japan, and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda hopes to build momentum for talks on a global emissions framework before the Kyoto Protocol's first phase ends in 2012. Fukuda also needs a diplomatic ... |
Greece: Greek Water Sent to Drought-Hit Cyprus (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: Parched Cyprus took its first delivery of water by ship from Greece on Monday to stave off a drought which has sapped water reserves to critically low levels and triggered emergency rationing. A tanker containing some 40,000 cubic metres of drinking water -- more than double the quantity held in all of the Mediterranean island's 17 main reservoirs -- anchored off Cyprus's southern coast close to midnight (2200 GMT). Its discharge into the island's main water network was ... |
Greens, Industry Urge Fast EU Action to Bury CO2 (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: The European Union needs to accelerate plans to capture and bury carbon dioxide if it is to meet its climate change goals, a coalition of environment groups and energy companies wrote in a letter to European ministers. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen by industry and some EU lawmakers as a possible silver bullet in the fight against climate change as it could curb emissions from coal plants, which are multiplying rapidly in India and China. But it has never been tested ... |
Renewable Energy is "Green Gold Rush" - UN Report (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: n what is being called a "green gold rush," global investment in renewable energy surged some 60 percent to US$148 billion in 2007, a UN agency said on Tuesday. Buoyed by soaring fossil-fuel prices and concerns over the carbon dioxide emissions that fuel global warming, investment in clean energy from sources like wind, solar and biofuels last year rose three times faster then predicted by the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). "Just as thousands were drawn to ... |
Stern Optimistic US Will Act on Climate (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: British climate change expert Nicholas Stern said on Monday he's confident the United States will move to regulate greenhouse gases in the first half of next year, providing leadership that would help the world reach an agreement in late 2009 on slowing climate change. Stern, who met with the presidential campaigns of both Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain and several US senators late last week in Washington, said he expected a new US climate bill would make progress in the first ... |
White House Rejected EPA Climate Findings - Congress (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:27
| Reuters: White House officials refused to open e-mail from the Environmental Protection Agency that said global warming threatens public welfare and urged more fuel-efficient cars, congressional staff said Monday. The e-mailed documents were sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget in December, staff on the House Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming said. This was part of the environment agency's response to a landmark 2007 Supreme Court ruling that for ... |
World Bank approves climate funds before G8 summit (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 04:00:29
| Reuters: The World Bank on Tuesday agreed to establish two investment funds to help developing economies switch to clean energy technologies to curb carbon emissions and assist poor countries adapt to climate change. The approval of the Clean Technology Fund and Strategic Climate Fund comes days before a summit of Group of Eight leaders from industrial countries in Hokkaido, Japan, on July 8 where climate change issues are on the agenda. Warren Evans, director of the World Bank's ... |
'UK should call for freeze on the 75 new coal -fired power stations planned for Europe' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:27
| Telegraph: The UK should lead the way in calling for a freeze on the building of new coal-fired power stations, according to a think-tank report. A Europe-wide block for at least two years on coal investment is necessary if cuts in carbon emissions are to be achieved. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says the target of reducing CO2 emissions from the power sector and heavy industry of 21 per cent by 2020 is threatened by plans for new coal plants. The IPPR says there ... |
Clean tech: Green energy is the modern gold rush (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:27
| Guardian: The "clean tech" sector has bounced back from the credit crunch with new global figures showing a resurgence of interest from investors in alternative energy - labelled a "green Klondike" that could reach $600bn annually by 2020. New Energy Finance, a specialist consultant which has compiled the latest figures for the United Nations environment programme, says money raised and spent during 2008 should be ahead of 2007, a banner year when annual investment levels ... |
Australia: Current targets unlikely to avoid 'dangerous climate change' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:27
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation: New research warns measures to cut greenhouse gases need to be ramped up to keep temperature increases below dangerous levels. An Australian National University report found the earth's ability to absorb carbon will decline as global warming increases, accelerating the rate of temperature change. The report's principal author, Andrew Macintosh, says this process is known as climate-carbon cycle feedbacks. "As global warming continues then there is a significant ... |
Gas guzzlers and 'ghostburbs' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:27
| Guardian: SUV factories closing, bicycle sales and train use rocketing, commuter belts becoming "ghostburbs" as residents flock to the inner cities . . . welcome to 2008 America, where soaring oil and petrol prices have triggered a sudden revolution in travel behaviour and a seismic upheaval in the automobile industry. Four dollars (£2) for a gallon of petrol may seem like peanuts on this side of the pond, but in the shellshocked US, where pump prices have doubled since 2004, it is ... |
White House Rejected EPA Climate Findings - Congress (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:27
| Reuters: White House officials refused to open e-mail from the Environmental Protection Agency that said global warming threatens public welfare and urged more fuel-efficient cars, congressional staff said Monday. The e-mailed documents were sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget in December, staff on the House Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming said. This was part of the environment agency's response to a landmark 2007 Supreme Court ruling that for ... |
United Kingdom: 'Hundreds wasted' on energy bills (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:27
| Press Association: Households are wasting hundreds of pounds a year on gas and electricity bills - despite Government efforts to cut energy consumption, the Whitehall spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office (NAO) said that while the Government is currently spending £2.6 billion-a-year on energy reduction programmes, household consumption has risen by 19% between 1990 and 2004. The increase came despite a 19% increase in household energy efficiency over the same period. While ... |
United Kingdom: Poll: tackling climate more urgent than economy (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:27
| Guardian: Voters think that taking action against climate change matters more than tackling the global economic downturn, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today. The results, which will delight green campaigners, suggest that support for environmental action is not collapsing as feared in the face of possible recession. When asked whether tackling the environment or the economy - given global economic problems - should be the government's priority, 52% said the environment and 44% ... |
Renewable Energy is "Green Gold Rush" - UN Report (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:27
| Reuters: In what is being called a "green gold rush," global investment in renewable energy surged some 60 percent to US$148 billion in 2007, a UN agency said on Tuesday. Buoyed by soaring fossil-fuel prices and concerns over the carbon dioxide emissions that fuel global warming, investment in clean energy from sources like wind, solar and biofuels last year rose three times faster then predicted by the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). "Just as thousands were drawn to California and ... |
US Turns Against Curbs on Oil Drilling - Exxon (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:27
| Reuters: The US public mood is moving toward allowing drilling in areas which are currently off limits to the oil majors due to environmental concerns, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil said on Tuesday. Rex Tillerson said outdated environmental attitudes were the reason for opposition to drilling in areas such as the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "We're stuck in this emotional, environmental past ... Public sentiment in the United States seems to be ... |
Bangladesh Wants SAARC Fund for Climate Change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:28
| Reuters: Bangladesh has proposed the creation a fund to fight climate change in densely populated South Asia, which experts say is vulnerable to rising seas, melting glaciers and greater extremes of droughts and floods. Regional experts on climate change began two days of talks in Dhaka on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of environment ministers from countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). "We want to find a common stand among the South Asian countries and ... |
China: Beijing Takes 300,000 High-Emission Cars Off Roads (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:28
| Reuters: Beijing took 300,000 high-emission cars off its roads on Tuesday, as part of measures to clean up the capital's air pollution and ease traffic on perennially clogged highways ahead of the Olympics. Pollution is a major concern for many athletes ahead of the Aug. 8 Games and the International Olympic Committee has said it may reschedule endurance events to remove a potential health risk. The Chinese capital is one of the most polluted cities in the world and rapidly becoming ... |
Australia: Climate change plan criticised (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:28
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Tasmanian Government's short and long-term climate change strategies have come under attack. But the government maintains its policies are right. The Premier, David Bartlett, tabled climate change legislation yesterday for a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, based on 1990 levels. The Greens Deputy leader, Nick McKim, says he will call for amendments to the bill to set interim targets, and a bigger final reduction. Mr Mckim says the bill's ... |
EU Deal on CO2 Car Plan Still Distant - Verheugen (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:28
| Reuters: The European Union still has much work to do before a collective deal on reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from cars is reached, EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said on Monday. "We're still a long way from an agreement," Verheugen told reporters in Berlin. Earlier this month, Germany and France agreed to a European Commission goal of cutting average CO2 emissions from new cars, but Verheugen said other countries in the bloc would not just automatically follow ... |
France: French Eyes Annual Penalties for Polluting Cars (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:28
| Reuters: Penalties imposed by France on heavily polluting cars will need annually and not only upon purchase, Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told daily newspaper Le Parisien on Tuesday. France introduced a system known as "bonus-malus" last year to encourage people to buy more fuel-efficient cars. Consumers have to pay penalties ranging between 200 and 2,600 euros (US$4,099) when they purchase gas-guzzling vehicles while buyers of more environmentally friendly cars receive ... |
G8 Climate Change Failure Could Hurt UN-Led Talks (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:28
| Reuters: G8 leaders have a 50-50 chance of agreeing next week on a global goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, a Japanese foreign ministry official said, adding that failure could hurt UN-led climate talks. Leaders meet for the July 7-9 Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido, northern Japan, and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda hopes to build momentum for talks on a global emissions framework before the Kyoto Protocol's first phase ends in 2012. Fukuda also needs a ... |
Greece: Greek Water Sent to Drought-Hit Cyprus (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:28
| Reuters: Parched Cyprus took its first delivery of water by ship from Greece on Monday to stave off a drought which has sapped water reserves to critically low levels and triggered emergency rationing. A tanker containing some 40,000 cubic metres of drinking water -- more than double the quantity held in all of the Mediterranean island's 17 main reservoirs -- anchored off Cyprus's southern coast close to midnight (2200 GMT). Its discharge into the island's main water network was ... |
Greens, Industry Urge Fast EU Action to Bury CO2 (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:28
| Reuters: The European Union needs to accelerate plans to capture and bury carbon dioxide if it is to meet its climate change goals, a coalition of environment groups and energy companies wrote in a letter to European ministers. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen by industry and some EU lawmakers as a possible silver bullet in the fight against climate change as it could curb emissions from coal plants, which are multiplying rapidly in India and China. But it has never been tested ... |
Georgia order seen hurting U.S. coal investment (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:28
| Reuters: Developers of coal-fired power plants in the U.S. will face yet more obstacles since a Georgia court overturned an air permit for a new coal plant, saying the plant needed to limit emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. Environmental groups predicted Monday's ruling would discourage investment in coal plants while supporters of the fuel said the ruling was unlikely to be seen as a legal precedent in other states. While the legal importance of ... |
IEA to push G8 leaders to commit to energy efficiency: director (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:28
| Agence France-Presse: The head of the International Energy Agency said Tuesday he would press G8 leaders at a summit next week to adopt commitments to energy efficiency measures as part of the fight against climate change. "We are recommending that energy efficiency is one of most cost-effective ways for consumer countries," IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka told AFP on Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid. "We will recommend 25 very specific items of energy ... |
Gas up: Carbon tax tomorrow (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:29
| Metro Canada: The already high price of gas – nearly $1.50 yesterday – will rise 2.4 cents a litre tomorrow when North America's first carbon tax comes into effect. The controversial tax aims to shift consumer behaviour toward lifestyles and activities that don't pollute. And while environmental groups have called it a powerful economic incentive against climate change, B.C.'s New Democrats say it's unfair to working families and have even launched a campaign to "axe the gas tax." NDP ... |
Japanese government considers carbon trade (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 08:00:29
| United Press International: The Japanese government said it will pilot an emissions trading system. As part of its efforts to tackle global warming, the government has said it plans to pilot an emissions trading system in the fall based on energy efficiency, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported. Under the system, individual companies will try to improve on energy-efficiency levels that they have already voluntarily agreed to in an effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The industrial sector is ... |
Climate change threatens global food and water supply (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:29
| Europa: Scientists from all over the world representing some of the most prestigious national academies of science from the countries of the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission), Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa have issued a warning that is making people sit up and take note. 'Food and water shortages are now a dangerous reality particularly in many ... |
Australia: After Garnaut, the big questions will remain unanswered (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:30
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Ross Garnaut, the Rudd government's climate advisor, will this week deliver his interim report on climate emission reduction mechanisms, but the bigger policy questions will remain unanswered. The report will outline proposals for a carbon emissions trading scheme, perhaps better described as a cap-and-auction scheme, in which the government sets a declining cap on carbon emissions, with permits to pollute allocated by way of auction. Many of the broad themes have been publicly ... |
Curbing Emissions Won't Be Enough (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:30
| Newsweek: Like many people who are scrambling for ways to stave off climate disaster, Klaus Lackner is thinking trees. But not the kind with green leaves and roots, and certainly not the sweet little specimens that "carbon offset" purveyors hawk as a way to balance out the carbon dioxide emitted when you tool around town in a Hummer. Lackner, a professor of geophysics at Columbia University, is helping to design a synthetic tree. It would stand roughly 1,000 feet tall with a footprint a ... |
World Bank commits billions for climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:30
| Deutsche Press-Agentur: The World Bank on Tuesday approved the creation of multi-billion-dollar global funds to help poor countries tackle global warming and boost investment in renewable technologies. The Clean Technology Fund is expected to receive at least 5 billion dollars in pledges and will provide a combination of loans and grants to projects that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming. A separate and smaller Climate Investment Fund will conduct pilot projects to help ... |
Midwest floods show impact of global warming (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:31
| Reuters: Floods like those that inundated the U.S. Midwest are supposed to occur once every 500 years but this is the second since 1993, suggesting flawed forecasts that do not take global warming into account, conservation experts said on Tuesday. "Although no single weather event can be attributed to global warming, it's critical to understand that a warming climate is supplying the very conditions that fuel these kinds of weather events," said Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist ... |
Climate change changing fish communities (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:31
| United Press International: An analysis of 50 years of data from weekly U.S. fish trawling surveys in and near Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay show climate change is affecting the fish. The University of Rhode Island study shows there is an ongoing significant shift in composition of coastal fish communities -- invertebrates and warm-water species are increasing, while bottom feeders species are decreasing. Scientists attribute the change primarily to global warming. Professor Jeremy Collie, who ... |
United States: Global Warming Threatens Everglades, 6 Million Residents (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:31
| National Public Radio: Environmentalists have been issuing dire warnings about the deterioration of the Florida Everglades for years, saying these wetlands have to be restored in order to revive fragile ecosystems and increase scarce fresh water supplies. Over half of the Everglades are gone, irreversibly converted to urban or agricultural development. But this week, in an attempt to save what's left, the state of Florida announced a plan to buy nearly 200,000 acres of former wetlands from a sugar cane ... |
UN agency hails green energy 'gold rush' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:32
| Agence France Presse: The world is enjoying a "green energy gold rush", the UN's environmental agency said Tuesday as it published a report outlining a 60 percent hike in investment in renewable energy in 2007. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) study, published in Nairobi, said more than 148 billion dollars (93 billion euros) of new funds were ploughed into the quest for cleaner energy last year. The massive demand for solar, wind and biofuel energy was being powered by prevailing ... |
UN's Ban presses China on climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:32
| Agence France-Presse: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told China on Tuesday to accept its global responsibilities on climate change, as he began a three-day visit to the world's most populous nation. "It is important that we have China on board for this common effort to address climate change," Ban told reporters just before leaving Tokyo for the Chinese capital. "Now China is also a very important global power. They have a global responsibility." Ban, a former foreign minister of South ... |
'Green' energy spending on rise (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:32
| BBC: Global investment in "green" energy surged ahead in 2007 and has continued to grow this year despite turmoil in financial markets, a report says. Spending on green power last year hit $148bn (£75bn), up 60% from 2006, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said. Rising oil prices, concerns over energy security, climate change worries and growing government support were behind the rise, it said. Wind energy got the most investment but solar power grew fastest as a ... |
United Kingdom: Britain Seeks to Set Pace in Carbon Capture Quest (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:32
| Reuters: Britain was on Monday announcing a shortlist of firms in a tender to build the world's first commercial-scale power plant to burn coal and gas without adding to global warming. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) promises a technological solution to soaring emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning power plants -- but with strings attached. "It is the great panacea. It would mean not having to do the hard things like changing the way we live," said ... |
G8 alone can't set world climate goal -White House (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:32
| Reuters: The Group of Eight major industrialized countries meeting next week in Japan cannot by themselves set effective long-term world goals on curbing greenhouse gas emissions, the White House said on Tuesday. "With evidence mounting of rapidly rising emissions from emerging markets, action by the G8 alone would not be effective," said Dan Price, assistant to President George W. Bush for international economic affairs. "That's why we believe that all major economies ... |
India tackles climate change with renewable energy (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:32
| Guardian: Solar power and other renewable energy sources will get priority under India's climate action plan, unveiled by prime minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi yesterday. The plan does not commit to a target for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, placing a greater emphasis on continued economic growth. However, it does seek to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and increase energy efficiency. "Our vision is to make India's economic development energy-efficient," said Singh. "Over ... |
Stubborn Fire Threatens California's Scenic Coast (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:33
| Reuters: California firefighters struggled to gain the upper hand on Sunday against a nine-day-old wildfire that is threatening the scenic Big Sur area along the state's rugged central coast. The Big Sur fire has burned about 32,500 acres (13,150 hectares) and destroyed 16 homes since it was sparked by lightning on June 21, the US Forest Service said. Firefighters have contained only 3 percent of the flames and the Forest Service could not estimate when the fire would be brought under ... |
Fiji: Sustainable development recipe (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-01-2008 at 10:00:33
| Fiji Times: For the uninitiated - it all started in 1992 when 172 countries met in Rio de Janeiro at the Earth Summit and created the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This entity was tasked to look critically at climate change issues and start global negotiations to reduce the anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions, the main cause of global warming. These discussions led to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 which sets a binding target for GHG reductions. ... |
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