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Canada: No plans for Manitoba carbon tax: minister (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 04:00:44
| CBC: top Canadian climate-change expert says a carbon tax would do more to encourage Manitobans to ditch gas-guzzling cars than an incentive program, but Manitoba officials say they have no plans to introduce one. Manitoba is currently finalizing its climate change legislation, which will put into law reduction targets outlined in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. The new law will require Manitoba to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to six per cent below what they were in 1990 ... |
Australia: Alarm at pulp mill 'thirst' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 06:00:47
| Mercury: THE Gunns Ltd pulp mill would use much more water than originally forecast if dry summers persist. Previously Gunns has said that the 26,000 megalitres a year would be just over 1 per cent of the annual flow through the Trevallyn power station. However, in dry months the pulp mill allocation would comprise up to 45 per cent of daily summer flows in the South Esk basin. The substantial share of available water would occur if the Hydro was forced to reduce water releases ... |
Philippines: $55M in biofuel deals signed with US investors (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 06:00:47
| Philippine Daily Inquirer: The Department of Agriculture has signed two agreements with American firms worth a combined $55 million to help develop the emerging bioethanol and coco-diesel industries in the Philippines, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said. The investments will come from FE Clean Energy and Global Renewable Energy Network (GREEN) Inc., Yap said. "We recognize the indispensable role that private capital play in developing our emerging industries, such as the biofuels sector, which will ... |
Carbon group seeks to open US to global offsets (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 06:00:47
| Reuters: A greenhouse emissions business group hopes to shape U.S. climate change legislation to include broad use of international carbon offsets, like wind and solar power farms in developing countries, that are not currently in the leading climate bill. In a letter sent on Wednesday to U.S. Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, the International Emissions Trading Association, a carbon business group, said clean project offsets encourage developing countries to participate in international ... |
India opens up geothermal sector (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 06:00:48
| United Press International: India said it is encouraging private participation in all forms of renewable energy, including geothermal energy. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is backing private-sector participation in the sphere, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Resources Vilas Muttemwar told Parliament Wednesday. He said the ministry encouraged private participation in geothermal energy by allowing access to the data collected on geothermal resources in India by National Geophysical Research ... |
Japan initiates new carbon trading debate (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 06:00:48
| Finance Asia: With the name of its former capital attached to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol – the most significant international agreement on global warming yet devised – Japan is facing pressure to take a leading role in the fight against climate change, and carbon trading is the topic currently getting most attention. In July this year, the G8 group meets in Japan, and during a parallel climate change summit, the Japanese host government will be keen to announce some breakthrough. It's perceived as ... |
Australia's Carbon Price May Be Double Forecast, Citigroup Says (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 08:00:52
| Bloomberg: Australia's carbon price may be more than double the earlier estimated level as pressure builds on the government to set stricter targets for emissions reductions, Citigroup Inc. said. Carbon may be priced at about A$50 ($47) a metric ton through the planned emissions trading system, rather than about A$20, Citigroup said in a March 4 report. BlueScope Steel Ltd., Iluka Resources Ltd. and AGL Energy Ltd. are among the companies that may be the most affected by higher prices, it said. ... |
Beware the 'clean' tech bubble (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 08:00:52
| Money Management: Investors in the super industry should "beware the coming clean tech bubble, which will have myriad characteristics in common with the IT tech bubble of 2000", according to Industry Funds Management chairperson Garry Weaven. Speaking at an Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees function in Sydney yesterday, Weaven said that "just as with the IT bubble there will be a lot of hot air mixed up with the advances in renewable energy technology". At the same time, he said ... |
United Kingdom: Energy giants must act to avoid windfall tax, Brown warns (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 08:00:52
| Guardian: Gordon Brown warned yesterday that energy companies could still face a windfall tax unless they offered a much bigger rebate for the poor and pensioners facing big rises in fuel bills. The prime minister was being questioned in the Commons by David Marshall, Labour MP for Glasgow East, a week before the budget as pressure grows from MPs for action against energy firms. The companies have hit back by warning that a windfall tax could affect their commitment to investment in renewable ... |
OECD: World Must Act on Climate Change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 08:00:52
| Associated Press: The world must respond to climate change and other environmental challenges now while the cost is low or else pay a stiffer price later for its indecision, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Wednesday. A new report by 30-nation organization looks at "red light issues" in the environment, including global warming, water shortages, energy, biodiversity loss, transportation, agriculture and fisheries. "A window of opportunity to act is ... |
Why Europe torpedoed the REDD forests-for-carbon credits initiative (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 08:00:52
| Mongabay: Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) has been widely lauded as a mechanism that could fund forest conservation and poverty alleviation efforts while fighting climate change. At the December U.N. climate meeting in Bali, delegates agreed to include REDD in future discussions on a new global warming treaty – a move that could eventually lead to the transfer of billions of dollars from industrialized countries to tropical nations for the purpose of slowing ... |
United States: House OKs coal plant bill; governor reiterates veto threat (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 08:00:53
| Lawrence Journal World: The Kansas House on Wednesday approved a bill allowing the construction of two coal-fired power plants, but failed to get enough votes to override a promised veto by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. The 75-47 vote for the bill was nine votes short of the 84 needed to override. One of Sebelius' main objections is that the bill would strip the power of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in the process of deciding whether to permit a plant. "Due to the Legislature's ... |
Sweden aims for renewable sources for half its energy (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 08:00:53
| Reuters: Sweden will aim to get nearly half its energy from renewable sources by 2020 as part of an EU-wide plan, Energy and Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson said on Wednesday. Olofsson said in Washington that Sweden had been tasked with increasing its share of renewable energy to 49 percent from a current 40 percent as part of binding targets set by the European Union. "This would be the highest share in the world," Olofsson said in the text of a speech. "Today ... |
Vestas Opens Wind-Turbine Plant in Colo. (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 08:00:53
| Associated Press: The world's largest wind-turbine maker officially opened its first U.S. manufacturing plant Wednesday on Colorado's northern plains, where it expects to produce blades for 600 turbines a year. Denmark-based Vestas Wind Systems will eventually employ about 650 workers at its 400,000-square-foot plant outside Windsor, about 60 miles north of Denver. It has about 200 workers now. Ditlev Engel, Vestas' president and chief executive, said the United States was the company's largest ... |
Czechs urge slow pase in for carbon emissions market (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 08:00:54
| Agence France Presse: The Czech government on Wednesday urged the European Union to slowly phase in a scheme to set up a market in greenhouse gas emission quotas, citing the danger of a sharp rise in power prices. The European Commission had proposed in January that power companies buy all their pollution permits in auctions starting in 2013 as as part of a strategy to combat climate change. But Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said Wednesday that Brussels should introduce the "auctions ... |
Can states cut carbon? EPA says no. (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:50
| Christian Science Monitor: The political tussle over whether carbon dioxide is a pollutant subject to government regulation has gone on for years. Early in his first term as vice president, Al Gore pushed a tax on CO2. Democrats and Republicans in Congress were both skeptical. The idea went nowhere. As a presidential candidate, George Bush seemed to think regulating CO2 was a good idea. At least he said so. After his election, then-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Christie ... |
Bush: Renewables can help US reduce dependence on foreign oil (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:50
| Xinhua: U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday that the United States must strongly push forward the development of renewable energy sources in order to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. "America has got to change its habits. We've got to get off oil," said Bush when he addressed the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC). "Dependency on oil presents a real challenge to our economy," said Bush. It also presents a challenge to the ... |
Australia: Climate change scheme to end power bills (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:50
| Courier Mail: HOUSEHOLDS will be offered heavily discounted solar power energy systems under a new climate change scheme aimed at wiping out electricity bills. Less than three years after dumping solar hot water rebates, the State Government will bulk-buy at least 1000 solar systems and sell them back to Queenslanders. Households are expected to save up to $3500 under the plan, with each system costing as much as $9500 instead of an average of about $13,000. After the $8000 Federal ... |
Analysis: Chinese coal demand unfazed (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:50
| United Press International: When snowstorms blanketed large swaths of China this winter they aggravated transportation bottlenecks and already-depleted coal reserves, provoking local power cuts and highlighting the vulnerability of China's reliance on coal. But despite such challenges and coal's damaging environmental side-effects, demand is unlikely to wane soon. "The government is very aware of relying too heavily on coal, because it contributes to the energy security issue and the environmental ... |
Bush Urges Action on Corn Price Rises Fueled by Ethanol (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:51
| New York Times: President Bush said Wednesday that the national drive toward ethanol production was also driving up the cost of corn and other foods, a problem he said needed to be addressed. The boom in alternative fuels, he said, was "beginning to affect the price of food. And so we got to do something about it." Mr. Bush has previously pointed out that the price of corn has been pushed up by competition from ethanol manufacturers and that this had raised costs for companies that raise beef ... |
Feds suspend coal-plant loans (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:51
| Associated Press: The federal government is suspending a major loan program for coal-fired power plants in rural communities, saying the uncertainties of climate change and rising construction costs make the loans too risky. After issuing $1.3 billion in loans for new plant construction since 2001, none will be issued this year and likely none in 2009, said James Newby, assistant administrator for the Rural Utilities Service, a branch of the Department of Agriculture. The program's suspension ... |
On Environment: Pay Now, Or Pay Big Later (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:51
| Associated Press: The world can respond to such "red light" environmental challenges as climate change at a low cost now, or pay a much stiffer price later for indecision and inaction, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Wednesday. "A window of opportunity to act is now open," the organization said in its Environmental Outlook to 2030. "We need forward-looking policies today to avoid high costs of inaction or delayed action over the longer ... |
Study: Ocean 'Deserts' Expanding (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:51
| Live Science: The ocean's "deserts," where it is difficult for marine organisms to survive, are expanding faster than predicted and have been linked to warming ocean waters, a new study shows. These barren areas are found in roughly 20 percent of the world's oceans and are within what are called subtropical gyres, or the permanent swirling expanses of water in the middle of the ocean on either side of the equator. But between 1998 and 2007, these expanses of saltwater with low ... |
Australia: Green groups urge 2020 emissions target (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:52
| AAP: Green groups have released a paper setting out their key tests for a future Australian carbon emissions trading scheme. In a joint paper Greenpeace, the Total Environment Centre and the Climate Action Network say they will support the introduction of a trading scheme only if it is designed to effectively, efficiently and equitably achieve significant emissions reductions. The paper says Australia should aim to reduce its carbon emissions by 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels ... |
Report: World must act now on climate change or face dire consequences (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:52
| Associated Press: A new international report warns that the world must act now to stop global warming or it will pay a much higher price later. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says in two decades, environmental damage could leave half the world's population without adequate drinking water. It says, if the world's population continues to grow at the same rate, carbon dioxide emissions are likely to increase nearly 40% by 2050. The report urges the U.S. and developing ... |
Sweden to Accelerate Global Warming Gases Cuts, Minister Says (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:53
| Bloomberg: Sweden will propose a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020 by lowering pollution from cars and raising taxes on carbon-dioxide output, said Maud Olofsson, Sweden's enterprise and energy minister. The government will offer legislation later this year to reduce global-warming emissions 30 percent below 1990 levels, Olofsson said today at a renewable energy conference in Washington. Sweden's current target is a 17 percent cut. ``We want to put pressure on the ... |
Warmer springs mean less snow, fewer flowers in the Rockies (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:53
| Physorg: Spring in the Rockies begins when the snowpack melts. But with the advent of global climate change, the snow is gone sooner. Research conducted on the region's wildflowers shows some plants are blooming less because of it. David Inouye (University of Maryland) used data gathered in the Rockies from 1973 to the present to uncover the problem. Writing in the journal Ecology, he demonstrates that three flowers found in the Rockies are far more susceptible to late frost damage when the ... |
Bush Says US Must 'Get Off Oil,' Calls for More Nuclear Power (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:53
| Voice of America: President Bush says America's search for alternative sources of fuel is a national security priority as well as an economic necessity. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, Mr. Bush wants to expand the use of nuclear power in developing nations. President Bush told a renewable energy conference in Washington that America's dependence on foreign oil is a challenge to U.S. national security. "Some countries we get oil from don't particularly like us," ... |
United Kingdom: Greenpeace: 'Feed in tariff' for renewable technologies (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:53
| Financial Times: Gone are the days when Treasury sweeteners, announced at the Budget by the Chancellor, after weeks in purdah, will set the pulses racing in some quarters of the public and in the offices of the environmentalists around the UK. What is increasingly well known is that the Treasury is part of the problem, and the budget is rarely a big part of the solution. This year's budget could signal a real change in this sorry state of affairs. The UK should follow Germany in introducing a 'feed in ... |
Canada: Native Leader Serving Six Months for Opposing Mine (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-05-2008 at 10:00:54
| Inter Press Service: Algonquin community leader Robert Lovelace had never been charged with an offence, but when a uranium company began prospecting for radioactive ore on unceded native land without engaging in consultation, he decided to take action, organising a non-violent blockade. On Feb. 15, Judge Cunningham of Ontario's Superior Court sentenced Lovelace to six months in jail for contempt of court and fined him 50,000 dollars for his involvement in the peaceful protest. Chief Paula Sherman, ... |
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