Experts warn of never-ending drought

There is no end in sight to the drought afflicting the Murray-Darling Basin and the big dry could become a permanent feature of eastern Australia, experts warn. The latest Murray System Drought Update contains nothing but bad news for farmers and communities struggling to cope.
9 May The Age article

Carbon capture crucial to coal future: summit

Australia has no choice but to rely heavily on carbon capture and storage to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in time to make a difference on climate change, delegates to the NSW Government's "clean coal" summit were told. The warning came as new research by the CSIRO indicated the world was warming more quickly than predicted.
8 May Sydney Morning Herald article

Government pledges $3.45m for climate planning

The federal government has announced $3.45 million to help local governments and professionals plan for the potentially devastating effects of climate change. Federal Climate Change Minister Senator Penny Wong announced $1.55 million for 33 local coastal, rural and urban councils to investigate how climate change would impact on their specific areas.
6 May Sydney Morning Herald article

Climate change threatens koalas

The koala is under threat from climate change, according to new research which shows rising carbon dioxide levels are killing nutrients in the plants they eat. Lab tests have revealed that global warming is stripping the goodness from eucalypt leaves, and the University of Sydney researchers behind the study say the koalas that rely on them don't have enough time to adapt to the change.
6 May Sydney Morning Herald article

Climate change green paper is red hot

July will be an incendiary month for shaping the direction of Australia's climate change policy. The Government's chief climate adviser, Professor Ross Garnaut, will have tendered his draft report on the design of an emissions trading scheme and other climate-related strategies. Treasury modelling detailing the cost effects is due around the same time. The Rudd Government will release its green paper on the design of an emissions trading system a couple of weeks after that.
5 May The Australian article

Sinking without trace: Australia's climate change victims

Like Kiribati and Tuvalu, the islands of the Torres Strait are slowly being submerged. But unlike their Pacific neighbours, the plight of their inhabitants is being overlooked.
5 May The Independent article

Rush to climate science

Climate change awareness has brought a boom in jobs for scientists and related specialists. From the federal Government down, Australia's corporations and institutions, public and private, are falling over themselves to appoint people with the knowledge and skills to advise on what is becoming a central public policy debate.
3 May The Australian article

Australia to spend $12.9 billion on water efficiency

Australia, the world's driest inhabited continent, will spend $12.9 billion over the next 10 years to improve the way water is used and to ensure long-term supply in the face of a changing global climate. The government will spend $5.8 billion to enhance the efficiency and productivity of water use and $3 billion buying back water to be returned to rivers under its `Water for the Future' plan, Penny Wong, Minister for Climate change and water, said in notes prepared for a speech.
29 April Bloomberg article

Rudd accepts that climate change is a key challenge

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has described climate change as the overarching national challenge, in his closing address to the 2020 Summit. Climate change and sustainability emerged as key subjects for discussion across a range of themes over the weekend, with impacts for the economy, agriculture, health and national security. "Australia faces an unprecedented challenge from climate change," delegates stated. "We have a brief opportunity to act now to safeguard and shape our future prosperity."
21 April The Australian article

Most Australians are alarmed by climate change

Nine out of ten Australians are worried about climate change, but most are unconvinced Labor will do a better job cutting greenhouse emissions than the Coalition. Despite a perception the Australian Labor Party won last year's federal election in part by pledging to do more than the Howard government on climate change, including ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, a survey by the Climate Institute found 52 per cent of voters could not distinguish between the major parties' policies.
15 April The Age article

Leading solar engineer demands support

One of Australia's leading solar engineers has criticised governments for a lack of support for the industry, contrasting it with the strong backing given to clean coal in the race to cut greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation. "If we have a level playing field we will win," said Richard Corkish, the head of renewable energy engineering at the University of NSW.
5 April Sydney Morning Herald article

Greener energy requires higher prices

Australians must accept that emissions trading is designed to make them pay more and lower their standard of living, at least where energy use is concerned, the Reserve Bank governor warns. Glenn Stevens said any attempt by workers to demand higher wages as compensation could increase inflation.
5 April Sydney Morning Herald article

Extra funds for green energy plan

Renewable energy projects involving solar, wave and geothermal power will receive a funding boost of more than $70 million as part of the first stage of a Victorian Government strategy to tackle climate change. Premier John Brumby announced the extra funding at the Government's climate change summit.
5 April The Age article
5 April The Australian article

It's time to apply ethics and fairness in the climate change crisis

In Australia, we know that water for irrigation is limited, and we are beginning to discuss how best to divide it up. Here's one way of doing it: let those with the biggest pumps take as much as they want, never mind what that leaves for others. Not fair? But then, why are we doing exactly this method of dividing up a scarce resource right now — not with water, but with the atmosphere? Perhaps because we're not used to thinking of the atmosphere as a scarce resource, we don't see how unfairly we are behaving.
3 April The Age article

Australians ready to act on climate change

A new report has found the overwhelming majority of Australians accept that their lives have to change as a result of climate change. The Climate Institute report found 94 per cent of people supported changes in their own lives, and a large majority also want to see government leadership on the issue. Institute chief executive John Connor says people are prepared to act in a number of areas of their lives in order to reduce their impact on the environment.
14 April ABC News online article

Australia and China may build world's largest solar city

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says talks with the Chinese Government have led to progress on the way both countries are addressing climate change. China and Australia have agreed to conduct a feasibility study into building the largest solar city in the world in north-east China. Mr Rudd and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong have spent time touring another joint project - a coal-fired power plant near Beijing. Mr Rudd says the development of carbon capture and storage technology is important for both nations.
11 April ABC News article

Agreement between Australia and China to hold annual talks

Australia and China have agreed to hold annual ministerial talks on climate change and to work together to clean up carbon pollution from coal-fired power stations, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on. The Mandarin-speaking Rudd made the announcement in Beijing after talks a day earlier with China's Premier Wen Jiabao, saying both countries needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for global warming.
11 April Reuters article

There is a future for solar powered housing

Professor John Bell said Queensland University of Technology had worked with a Canberra-based company Dyesol, which is developing transparent solar cells that act as both windows and energy generators in houses or commercial buildings. He said the solar cell glass would make a significant difference to home and building owners' energy costs and could in fact generate excess energy that could be stored or onsold.
10 April Queensland University of Technology article through Environmental News Network

Koalas at risk of climate change effects 

Australia's unique tree-dwelling koalas may become a victim of climate change, new research reported. Australian scientists say that eucalyptus leaves, the staple diet of koalas and other animals, could become inedible because of climate change.
5 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Australian wildlife will feel the brunt of climate change

Climate change is likely to transform many of Australia's natural landscapes. A new report, Implications of Climate Change for the National Reserve System, was prepared for the Federal Government in Australia, and released April 1 by the Environment Minister Peter Garrett. Report author Dr Michael Dunlop says climate change is forcing environmental scientists to rethink their approach.
4 April Science Daily article

Australia has failed to comply with binding targets

Australian delegation to climate change talks in Bangkok has turned the clock back to the Howard era by failing to back binding greenhouse targets, environment group Greenpeace says. Negotiators from more than 160 nations are taking part in the first round of United Nation-led talks since last December's Bali meeting to advance plans for a new global greenhouse treaty.
3 April The Australian article

Indigenous people suffering from climate change

Large-scale solutions intended to help mitigate global warming are harming the very indigenous people who are likely to bear the brunt of climate change, warned the United Nations University at a conference in Darwin, Australia. Biofuel plantations, renewable energy projects like hydroelectric dams, and measures to protect forests as carbon sinks threaten to undermine rights of indigenous groups. Such initiatives boost the value of land and increase the likelihood that indigenous people will be displaced.
2 April Mongabay online article

Australia and the EU pledge cooperation

The European Union and Australia pledged Wednesday closer cooperation, especially in the Doha Round talks of the World Trade Organisation, climate change and anti-terrorism. "We face many common challenges in foreign and security, and trade and economic policy areas. In meeting these challenges we recognise the value of regular and frank dialogue and close cooperation," said a joint statement issued by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso following their meeting in Brussels.
2 April China View article

MEP calls for mandatory CO2 capture by 2025

UK Liberal MEP Chris Davies wants all existing fossil fuel power plants to be retrofitted with CO2 capture and storage technology by 2025, and is calling for a moratorium on new plant constructions after 2015 unless the facilities are able to prevent 90% of their CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere.
7 May EurActiv Network article

Indigenous peoples have crucial role in climate change debate

Indigenous peoples have an important role to play in the global response to climate change, given their knowledge and experience with impacts of the phenomenon, and should be included in the international debate on the issue, a United Nations gathering on indigenous affairs concluded.
5 May UN News Centre article

Connecticut latest US state to pass bill to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions

The Connecticut Senate has unanimously passed a bill aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, setting high targets. The bill will require Connecticut to reduce emissions 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below 2001 levels by 2050.
5 May Hartford Courant article

World can reach climate change deal in 2009 - UN

The world can reach a significant new climate change pact by the end of 2009 if current talks keep up their momentum, the head of the United Nations climate panel said. The United Nations began negotiations on a sweeping new pact in March after governments agreed last year to work out a treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol by the end of next year.
4 May Reuters article

Russia does not want to participate in carbon capping

Russia will not accept binding caps on its greenhouse gas emissions under a new climate regime, currently being negotiated to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, top officials said. Kyoto puts a cap on the average, annual greenhouse gas emissions from 2008-12 for some 37 industrialised countries, including Russia.
29 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Bush’s speech on curbing gases 'major disappointment'

President Bush has finally set a target date for reining in United States emissions of greenhouse gases but the plan is falling flat in the international arena, where critics have long accused him of not moving quickly enough on tackling global warming. “Losership instead of leadership,” Germany’s environment minister said of Bush’s new strategy. A major disappointment, South Africa said. Too little and too late, a Chinese official added.
17 April Associated Press article

United States' President George W Bush says he is setting an "ambitious" new target of halting growth in US greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Citing new technology as the key, he said emissions in the US needed to reach a peak within 15 years and decline after that. Environmentalists were quick to sharply criticise the new targets.
16 April BBC News online article
17 April Reuters article through The US Daily
17 April The Washington Post article
17 April Sydney Morning Herald online article

Dr. Richard Moss, Vice President and Managing Director of Climate Change for the World Wildlife Fund, said: "President Bush is not offering a realistic policy proposal. His plan is so lacking in substance, it seems designed only to undercut efforts in Congress and at the international level to reduce climate emissions."
24 April World Wildlife Fund article through Environmental News Network

Carbon capping would be cheap for US households

Capping carbon emissions would cost United States households less than one cent on the dollar over the next two decades, an environmental group reported, disputing critics who say mandatory limits on greenhouse gases would cost jobs and damage the economy.
21 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

18 states bypass Bush administration

Leaders from 18 states in the United States that have bypassed the Bush administration and set tough greenhouse gas limits agreed to try to shape the next administration's climate policy by contacting the presidential candidates.
19 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Americans deem global warming to be a serious problem

Many adults in the United States are concerned about climate change, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 47 per cent of respondents think global warming is a very serious problem, while 26 per cent deem it as somewhat serious.
11 April Global Monitor article

US emissions down in 2006

Overall, United States greenhouse gas emissions were 1.1 per cent lower during 2006 than the previous year, according to the latest annual report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, released. Emitted by the burning of the fossil fuels coal, oil and gas for power, manufacturing and transportation, greenhouse gases reduce the loss of heat into space raising global temperatures.
15 April Environmental News Service article

China has already overtaken the United States as the world's "biggest polluter"

The research suggests the country's greenhouse gas emissions have been underestimated, and probably passed those of the United States in 2006-2007.
14 April BBC News online article
16 April Canwest News Service article

Two biggest emitters must unite

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the United States and China, the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, must work together to reduce their dependency on oil and increase energy security.
3 April Bloomberg article

China calls for climate change help

China called on the international community to increase the flow of technology to developing countries to help them fight climate change. Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said developed nations "need to establish a mechanism for technological transfer" of environmentally friendly technology so developing countries can afford them.
24 April Associated Press article

US presidential contendors support mandatory controls

The United Nations climate chief said he is encouraged by the climate views of the three contenders in the United States presidential election. Republican John McCain and Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have all expressed support for some form of mandatory controls on carbon emissions, usually involving a "cap-and-trade" system that allows polluters to buy and sell allowances.
11 April Houston Chronicle article

Al Gore convinced United States will sign treaty

Nobel Peace Prize-winner and former United State's vice president, Al Gore, said that he believes Washington will sign up to a new climate change treaty in Copenhagen in 2009. "The United States will definitely join the next treaty," Gore said at a conference on global warming and rising oceans in the Faroe Islands. "The good news is that after the next elections, we will have a new politics."
8 April The Times of India article

Climate change talks hindered by uncertainty of new US government

The United States government insists it's deeply engaged in talks on the world's next climate pact, but other negotiators are already looking ahead to the next administration — and wondering what to expect. Nations have less than two years to piece together a deal that scientists say is needed to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and stop the planet's temperatures from rising so high they trigger an environmental disaster.
2 April Associated Press article

Is the United States ignoring global warming?

The world is faced with a momentous challenge: global warming. The steady deterioration of the very climate of our very planet is becoming a war of the first order, and by any measure, the United States is losing. Indeed, if we're fighting at all—and by most accounts, we're not—we're fighting on the wrong side. The US produces nearly a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases each year and has stubbornly made it clear that it doesn't intend to do a whole lot about it.
18 April Time article 

2050 goals divided

Major economies have made progress in defining the building blocks of a new United Nations deal to fight climate change in talks in Paris, but were split about whether to set a goal of halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The United States-led meeting, of 17 nations accounting for 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, found common ground on sharing clean technologies, financing and possible sectoral emissions goals for industries such as steel or cement.
19 April ABC News online article
19 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Advisers call for deep cuts

In two new separate papers, leading  climate change economic advisers Ross Garnaut from Australia and Nicholas Stern from Britain have called for deep cuts in developed country emissions by 2020 and substantial reductions by developing countries to stabilise greenhouse gases at manageable levels.
2 May The Australian article

Sweden – top country trying to save the planet

If there's a paradise for environmentalists, this Nordic nation of 9.2 million people must be it. In 2007 Sweden topped the list of countries that did the most to save the planet - for the second year running - according to German environmental group, Germanwatch. Between 1990 and 2006 Sweden cut its carbon emissions by 9%, largely exceeding the target set by the Kyoto Protocol, while enjoying economic growth of 44% in fixed prices.
29 April The Guardian article

World cannot keep up with human beings

Before humans began burning fossil fuels, there was an eons-long balance between carbon dioxide emissions and Earth's ability to absorb them, but now the planet can't keep up, scientists said. The finding, reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, relies on ancient Antarctic ice bubbles that contain air samples going back 610,000 years.
28 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network 

Do emissions eventually reach saturation point?

Climate change and carbon emissions seem inextricably linked. However, new research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Carbon Balance and Management suggests that this may not always hold true, although it may be some time before we reach this saturation point.
28 April BioMed Central article through Environmental News Network

Aviation industry plans to act on climate change

Aviation chiefs pledged to address the industry's impact on climate change but shied away from setting concrete targets for reducing emissions of global-warming gases. A declaration signed by trade bodies and aircraft makers commits the industry to develop new technologies with the eventual aim of achieving carbon-free travel.
22 April Associated Press article

135 million tonnes of carbon prevented

Projects to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in developing countries have prevented 135 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from entering Earth's atmosphere so far, the Norwegian classification group Det Norske Veritas said. The projects, known as Clean Development Mechanisms and defined in the Kyoto Protocol, allow industrialised countries and their companies to finance projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases in developing countries.
21 April AFP article

Enel CEO says Kyoto deal is a failure

The continuing rise of carbon dioxide emissions are an indication the Kyoto Protocol is basically ineffective because it lacks greater global participation, says the chief executive of Italian utility Enel SpA. The Kyoto Protocol isn't working, in part, because signatories to the agreement account for only 30 per cent of total emissions, only a few sectors bear the brunt of the reduction and technology transfer isn't being given sufficient importance, Fulvio Conti said in a speech.
21 April Associated Press article 

Austria to reconsider environmental policy

Austria has been forced to reconsider its environmental policy after two reports indicated the renewable energy leader will likely fail to meet its Kyoto greenhouse gas emissions targets in 2012. The reports issued by the Federal Environmental Protection Bureau and the Austrian Court of Audit said Austria was running considerably above its benchmark 1990 emissions rate instead of having achieved reductions and warned that this could lead to billions of Euros worth of sanctions.
20 April AFP article

EU heads for Beijing to discuss climate

The European Commission's biggest-ever delegation to China heads for Beijing, hoping to progress from words to action on China's soaring greenhouse gas emissions and its tense trade ties with Europe.
22 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Industry emission curbs could be an addition to climate deal

Greenhouse gas curbs on industries such as steel and cement could help a United Nation-led drive to fight global warming despite fears they would be hard to implement. Developing nations objected at the 17-nation talks that such sectoral industrial schemes might throttle their inefficient energy-intensive businesses and said the burden for curbs should fall instead on rich nations.
16 April Reuters article
17 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

The world's top greenhouse gas emitters meet in Paris to work out ways to slow global warming with uncertainty about whether the United States backed talks will help or hinder plans for a new United Nation's climate treaty.
15 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network
17 April AFP article

Carbon bomb looming from logging practices

Logging activities are destabilising Canada's boreal forest and could cause a catastrophic explosion of greenhouse gas emissions if no action is taken, warns a new report to be released. The report, published by Greenpeace Canada and independently reviewed by several academics, says changing logging practices in the boreal forest is just as vital to addressing global warming as reducing emissions from fossil fuels or stopping tropical deforestation.
10 April The Ottawa Citizen article

Climate assumptions 'optimistic' 

The United Nation Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has seriously underestimated the technological advances needed to stem carbon dioxide emissions, say Roger Pielke Jr, Tom Wigley and Christopher Green in Nature. They describe the IPCC's assumption that the majority of future emission reductions will occur spontaneously, in the absence of climate policies, as "optimistic at best and unachievable at worst".
9 April Science and Development Network article through Environmental News Network

Car companies are lobbying against emission standards 

Car companies and car dealers are once again trying to kneecap California and other states by taking away their rights to set better global warming emission standards for motor vehicles. The Bush administration rejected California's bid, but Environmental Protection Agency's attorneys believe California will prevail in court.
9 April Clean Air Watch article through Environmental News Network

EU to think more seriously about carbon targets

One of the world's leading climate scientists warns today that the European Union and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of fears they have grossly underestimated the scale of the problem.
7 April The Guardian article

Economically viable to slow deforestation

A slowdown of deforestation from the Amazon to the Congo basin could generate billions of dollars every year for developing nations as part of a UN scheme to fight climate change, a study showed. Burning of forests by farmers clearing land accounts for 20 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions.
6 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

G8 summit held in Tokyo

Business leaders from the Group of Eight countries held a one-day conference to discuss measures to curb global warming. The meeting was convened to prepare proposals for the G-8 summit, which is scheduled for July 7-9 in the Lake Toya resort area of Hokkaido.
17 April People's Daily online article

Japan cuts fuel prices ahead of G8 summit

Gasoline price cuts in Japan could not have come at a more awkward time diplomatically for the world's second-biggest economy and major emitter of gases widely blamed for global warming.
5 April China View article

Climate talks come to an end

United Nation-sponsored climate change talks wound up with a work program for the Bali Action Plan after a heated debate between developing and developed countries on the schedule, participants said. Although the final agreement on the work schedule was delayed by a hot debate over which issues should be prioritised at upcoming workshops, delegates expressed satisfaction with the outcome and opined that there had been no serious backsliding on the commitments made in Bali. 
4 April Bangkok Post article 
4 April Associated Press article
4 April The Earth Times article
4 April Reuters article
5 April AFP article

More than 160 nations agreed in Bangkok to consider how to reduce rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions from air and sea travel in the fight against climate change. Parties to the 1997 United Nation Kyoto Protocol approved by consensus a statement promising to explore ways of curbing the harmful gases that planes and ships spew into the atmosphere.
4 April AFP article
9 April AFP article

The United Nations-sponsored climate change meeting in Bangkok fell behind schedule on the failure to agree on timetables, sources said. The plenary session of the five-day meeting, scheduled to start at 3 pm, was postponed by a few hours, although observers said talks should still be wrapped up by 10 pm. Developed and developing nations at the meeting have disagreed on which topics should be prioritised at upcoming workshops on the main topics - mitigation, deforestation, technology transfer and finance.
4 April The Earth Times article

More than 160 nations agreed to consider how to reduce rapidly growing emissions from air and sea travel as they worked toward drafting an ambitious new treaty on global warming. The late-evening deal came amid signs of a compromise on another sticking point -- a Japanese proposal on setting industry standards that developing nations viewed with suspicion. Rich and poor countries are sharply divided on how to tackle global warming, despite growing fears that rising temperatures could put millions of people at risk by the end of the century.
3 April AFP article
4 April Carbon Positive article

A United Nations climate meeting will reject Japan's proposal to replace national limits on carbon-dioxide pollution with targets that vary by industry, according to a draft conclusion. A working group considering targets after the current global warming treaty expires concluded industry-based emission targets ``should not replace but complement'' national emission- reduction targets for developed nations, said.
3 April Bloomberg article
4 April Associated Press article
4 April BusinessGreen online article
5 April Xinhua article

The United Nations Climate Change talks in Bangkok faced the first stumbling block after the developed countries insisted on setting voluntary targets, instead of legally binding targets, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
3 April Asia News Network article
3 April China View article

Around 1,000 representatives from around the world are in Bangkok for a United Nation's meeting to discuss a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Ideas put forward by the various delegates so far include the auctioning of Assigned Amount Units, radical changes to the Clean Development Mechanism, and sectoral-based targets. There has also been much debate about how the burden of reductions needed should be shared.
3 April Environmental Finance article

It is understandable that the climate brokers are divided at the new round of talks in Bangkok on thrashing out a plan toward a new global pact on slashing greenhouse gas emissions and battling climate change. No one expected the negotiations to be easy at the Bangkok gathering and conferences ahead.
2 April China Daily article
2 April Bangkok Post article

Poor countries at United Nation's climate change talks demanded that wealthy nations provide them with billions of dollars a year to cope with global warming and shift away from polluting, carbon-intensive industries.
Without such a deal, delegates from the poorest countries said they would not sign a global warming pact in 2009 to stabilise emissions over the next decade and cut them in half by 2050.
1 April Associated Press article

Negotiators began their first talks on forging a devilishly complex global warming pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol - and faced wide divisions between rich and developing countries over how to slash greenhouse gases. The week long gathering of representatives from 163 countries began a 21-month process designed to conclude with a new climate change agreement by December 2009 to rein in gases such as carbon dioxide.
1 April San Francisco Chronicle article
1 April Turkish Daily News article
1 April IPS article
1 April Environmental News Service article
2 April AFP article

Climate change is significantly underestimated

Reducing global emissions of carbon dioxide over the coming century will be more challenging than society has been led to believe, according to a new research commentary.
4 April National Centre for Atmospheric Research / University Corporation for Atmospheric Research article through Environmental News Network

EPA sued due to greenhouse emissions

Eighteen states in the United States of America have sued the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new cars and trucks, one year after the Supreme Court ruled that the agency had the power to do so.
3 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Europe is still not cutting emissions

Greenhouse-gas emissions are still rising in Europe despite lots of autographs on the Kyoto Protocol and an elaborate cap-and-trade system. Early analysis of data out from the European Commission shows that emissions rose about 1.1% last year to 1.9 billion metric tons. That’s after similar increases in 2005 and 2006.
2 April The Wall Street Journal article

Global energy needs to be 'decarbonised'

The United Nation's celebrated climate change panel has "seriously underestimated" the challenge of curbing global carbon emissions, say Canadian and United States researchers. Radical "decarbonisation" of the global energy system is needed to stabilise emissions - a task that is much more daunting than the panel has led the world to believe, the researchers report in journal Nature.
2 April Canwest News Service article 

UN Champions are honoured in respect to climate change policies

The United Nations honoured Monaco's Prince Albert II and New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark for driving policies to tackle climate change. The pair was among the seven winners in the annual United Nation Champions of the Earth awards.
22 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network
22 April United Nation News Centre article

Hope remains in climate change fight

Growing awareness of climate change means there is hope the danger can be headed off, the head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said as the body met in Budapest. IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri, speaking before the body's 28th assembly, said that while the global talks aimed at fighting climate change were not going as well as could be hoped, there was a chance of securing global cooperation.
9 April The Earth Times article

School curriculum to include climate change in the Philippines

The Philippine government will make climate change part of the national school curriculum, officials said. The Department of Education, other state agencies and the private sector will prepare lesson guides on global environmental issues for public school teachers in elementary and secondary schools.
9 April AFP article

Health project launched to reduce climate change effects

National health authorities have teamed up with their international counterparts to launch a project aimed at helping China mitigate the health effects of climate change. The global project, launched to coincide with World Health Day, included efforts to strengthen surveillance and control of infectious diseases, ensure safer use of diminishing water supplies and coordinate responses to emergencies, according to the website of the World Health Organisation.
8 April China View article
10 April Euractiv article
10 April China Daily article

Cities darken for Earth Hour

From Rome's Colosseum to the Sydney Opera House, floodlit icons of civilisation went dark on 29 March for Earth Hour, a worldwide campaign to highlight the waste of electricity and the threat of climate change.
30 March CNN article
30 March News article

Progress 'too slow'

International progress on fighting climate change is too slow, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have agreed. Mr Rudd emerged from a half-hour meeting with the UN head in New York promising to support Mr Ban's moves to speed up work ahead of next year's Copenhagen climate change conference.
30 March News article

Climate 'threatens human rights'

The 47-nation Human Rights Council said in the document adopted by consensus that it is "concerned that climate change poses an immediate and far-reaching threat to people and communities around the world and has implications for the full enjoyment of human rights."
28 March CNN article
29 March AFP article
28 March Associated Press article through International Herald Tribune

Carbon neutral required

If the world is going to sharply reduce the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by mid-century, then many businesses will have to go carbon neutral, bringing their net emissions of the greenhouse gas to zero.
26 March The New York Times article

New England 'not on track for targets'

New England in the United States is not on track to meet its targets for global warming pollution reductions -- a commitment made back in 2001, according to a report issued by a coalition of environmental groups.
26 March Boston Globe article 

A Greenpeace report on climate change says that if greenhouse gas emissions grow at their present rate, South Asia could face a major human crisis. "More than 120 million people from India and Bangladesh alone will become homeless by the end of this century," the report says.
25 March BBC News article

South Korea to cap emissions

South Korea would become the first nation not already obligated by the Kyoto Protocol to commit to capping greenhouse gas emissions under a plan put forward by the environment ministry of the country’s incoming government.
25 March Carbonpositive article

$300 million campaign on climate

The Alliance for Climate Protection is to launch a three- year $300 million marketing campaign in the United States on the urgency of the climate change problem and solutions>
24 March USA Today article

Biofuel emissions

The compulsory use of biofuels to partially power every vehicle in Britain could cause higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the Government's top environment scientist warned. Professor Robert Watson called for the move - designed to cut harmful carbon emissions - to be postponed while a review of the impact of biofuels is carried out.
24 March Press Association article

'Developed world must act' on accelerating climate change

The growth of developing economies in Africa, Asia and South America has accelerated global warming far beyond official predictions and it is developed nations that must act to halt the potentially catastrophic consequences, according to a new study from temporary power supplier Aggreko.
23 March The Observer article

Clean coal?

While it appears the United State's green groups are united in the fight against global warming, they remain divided on which technologies would best create a carbon-free economy. This division may cause major roadblocks as Congress prepares to debate several climate change policies that could lead to sweeping changes.
22 March Worldwatch Institute article through Environmental News Network

South Korea to cap emissions

The new government of South Korea, among the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases, plans to cap emissions at 2005 levels for the next five years despite its exemption from cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.
21 March Financial Times article

Barriers to building energy-efficiency identified

Financial barriers, including high initial cost barriers and an inadequacy of traditional financing instruments, are a key element preventing private actors from engaging further towards making the residential building sector more energy efficient, according to a study from the International Energy Agency.
21 March EurActiv brief 

Maryland Senate weakens bill

The Senate of the United States of America state of Maryland approved an amendment that environmentalists and the Government say would significantly weaken a bill designed to reduce global warming pollution. The Global Warming Solutions Act would require a 25 per cent cut in carbon dioxide emissions from Maryland businesses by 2020. But under the amendment, the state's environmental agency would have to get the General Assembly's approval each time it issued rules to cut the pollution.
21 March Baltimore Sun article

Blair to talk to Indian leaders

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet Indian political and business leaders to urge them to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Blair, now a consultant to The Climate Group, will launch 'Breaking the Climate Deadlock' initiative to reduce emissions.
19 March The Economic Times article

Japan 'can make deep cuts'

Japan can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 11 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020, a trade ministry study said. It could achieve the cuts through an overhaul of energy supply including installing solar panels on 70 per cent of new homes and a jump in nuclear power-generated electricity to 45 per cent of supply from 30 percent currently, as well as a 15 per cent improvement in auto fuel efficiency.
19 March Reuters article

Greenhouse gas emissions soar from United States power plants

The biggest single-year increase in greenhouse gas emissions from United States power plants in nine years occurred in 2007, finds a new analysis by the non-profit, non-partisan Environmental Integrity Project. The finding of a 2.9 percent rise in carbon dioxide emissions over 2006 is based on an analysis of data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
18 March Environment News Service article

Targets need to be defined to fight climate change

A senior European Commission official, Jos Delbeke called again for numerical targets to effectively fight climate change.
18 March Reuters article

Japan to host climate change summit

Global warming is at the top of the agenda for the G8 summit and host country Japan is inviting the leaders of Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa and Mexico to attend an expanded gathering on the topic on 9 July, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference.
18 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Europe agrees schedule for new laws

Europe’s leaders have pledged to find agreement on controversial carbon dioxide reduction and renewable energy laws before the end of the year, in a bid to maintain a strong position in international climate change negotiations. Energy-intensive industries were given assurances that the measures would safeguard their competitiveness.
17 March EurActiv brief

British Government emission figures may be incorrect

Britain's climate change emissions may be 12 per cent higher than officially stated, according to a National Audit Office investigation which has strongly criticised the government for using two different carbon accounting systems. There is "insufficient consistency and coordination" in the government's approach, the NAO said.
17 March The Guardian article

Blair urges agreement on binding emissions cuts

Tony Blair urged the world's heaviest polluters including the United States, China and India to agree to binding emissions cuts, saying failure to act on global warming would be "unforgivably irresponsible."
15 March AFP article

Clashes between rich and poor nations at climate talks

Disagreements between rich and developing countries came into the open as the world's top 20 greenhouse gas emitters worked to lay the groundwork for a new deal on climate change.
15 March AFP article

Climate change is Blair's concern

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has already taken on an international role as a Middle East envoy, is now tackling climate change with a plan for the world to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
14 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network
14 March Guardian article 
14 March Times article
13 March AFP article

Russia takes defensive stance on Kyoto projects

Foreign firms seeking to make money in Russia under the Kyoto Protocol will not have an easy time getting approval from the Russian state, the official in charge of Kyoto implementation in Russia said.
14 March Reuters article through Planet Ark

Green construction

"Green" construction could cut North America's climate-warming emissions faster and more cheaply than any other measure, environmental experts from Canada, Mexico and the United States reported. Besides energy efficiency and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, environmentally-conscious buildings are healthier for the people who use them.
14 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Punishment for climate rebels

America and China face trade protection measures from Europe if they fail to join a global climate deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, European Union leaders will caution. Nations that refuse to curb greenhouse gases will be told that they face “appropriate measures” — code for trade sanctions — if they try to gain a competitive advantage by continuing to allow cheap, high-pollution production.
13 March The Times article

China - a major player in carbon emissions

China is producing far more carbon dioxide than previous estimates and this will frustrate global aims to stabilise atmospheric greenhouse gases. China is recognised as the world's second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide and some studies suggest it might already have overtaken the United States last year.
13 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Developing nations required to do more on climate change

The European Union's Executive Commission wants developing countries to make more effort to cut their ballooning greenhouse gas emissions rather than rely on carbon offset schemes. The Kyoto Protocol allows rich countries to meet binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions by funding cuts in developing nations, spawning a multi-billion dollar trade in carbon offsets.
12 March Reuters article through Planet Ark

China tells developed world to diet

The developed world should go on a climate change diet rather than lecture China over its rising greenhouse gas emissions, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said. Yang said China's per capita emissions of greenhouse gases remained less than one third the average in developed countries. "It's like there is one person who eats three slices of bread for breakfast, and there are three people, each of whom eats only one slice. Who should be on a diet?" he said.
12 March AFP article

Southern Baptists split on climate

A group of more than 40 leading Southern Baptists has widened the divisions within the powerful American evangelical movement over global warming, denouncing the denomination's stance as "too timid" and warning that its cautious response to the environment is seen around the world as "uncaring, reckless and ill-informed".
11 March Guardian article

Warm winter curbs German carbon pollution

A warm winter cut demand for heating oil and gas sending German carbon dioxide emissions in 2007 down by 2.7 per cent to almost 857 million tons.
10 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Carbon cutting a difficult task

The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades.
10 March The Washington Post article

Japan proposes sector-based emission targets

Japan has proposed that major emitters of greenhouse gases assign near-term emissions targets for each industrial sector, which combined would then form a national target, a foreign ministry official said.
10 March Reuters article

A new bill introduced assisting California limit emissions

A bill was introduced in the House of Representatives that would overturn the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to prevent California from limiting the amount of greenhouse gas emissions spewed by cars.
7 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Greenhouse gas emissions overlooked

The regulatory panel that cleared Imperial Oil Ltd's C$8 billion Kearl oil sands project needs to explain why it approved measures that the company proposed to manage greenhouse gas emissions, Canada's Federal Court ruled.
6 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Tough legislation for carbon dioxide emissions in Europe

As part of an effort to cut emissions linked to global warming, the European Commission has drafted tough legislation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from cars, with steep fines on manufacturers that fail to comply.
5 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Japan improving technologies to combat global warming

Japan plans to focus on its efforts to improve 21 technologies to help the world halve greenhouse gases by 2050, a trade ministry official said. The technologies include coal-fired power generation, power generation using natural gas, solar power, vehicles powered by fuel cells or biofuels, and hydrogen-based steelmaking.
5 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Battlelines on car emissions

European Union countries that make heavy cars, led by Germany, clashed with makers of smaller ones such as France over tough measures to force automobile manufacturers to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
4 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

More sophisticated information required to fight climate change

Governments, businesses and the general public need more sophisticated information from their national weather services if they are to prepare adequately against natural disasters and better adapt to the threats posed by climate change, the head of the United Nations meteorological agency says.
4 March UN News Centre