eCarbon News

July 2008

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This issue:

• Australian news
• World news
  • Emissions, Kyoto and policy
  • Agriculture and Natural Resource Management
  • Economics and business
  • Energy
  • Sequestration
  • Climate and climate change
  • Trading and tax
  • Conferences

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Australian news

Australians strongly back carbon trade scheme: poll

Australians overwhelmingly back government plans to introduce one of the world's biggest carbon trading schemes, a poll found, despite a lack of detail about how much it will cost and how it will work.
30 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

Climate change swayed voters, analysis

Global warming and other environmental concerns are exerting a powerful influence on the electorate, a study of voting at last year's election shows. While professionals are more likely than others to be moved by these issues, environmental policy affects all occupational groups in their voting choices. The study reinforces the point that the battle over emissions trading will be extremely important for both sides of politics in the run-up to the 2010 election.
28 July The Age article

Action on climate can't wait, voters say

Three-quarters of voters believe Australia should act on climate change even if the rest of the world does not, according to a new poll that will hearten the Rudd Government as it prepares to release its discussion paper on emissions trading. The Essential Media poll found 58 per cent of Coalition voters believe Australia should take action even if other countries do not, despite the fact that Brendan Nelson spent most of last week suggesting that acting before the world as a whole would be "economic suicide".
15 July The Australian article

Coalition closes ranks on emissions trading

Liberal MPs are denying that Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson's job is under threat after his apparent backdown on emissions trading at a shadow cabinet meeting. Last week Dr Nelson foreshadowed he would push for a tougher policy on a carbon trading scheme, in direct opposition to leadership rival Malcolm Turnbull. However, the shadow cabinet meeting decided to go back to the policy the Coalition took to the last election, which is strongly supported by Mr Turnbull.
30 July ABC News online article

Nelson pushes for 'conditional' emissions scheme

Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson says he will urge the party room to only support an emissions trading scheme once the outcome of the international agreement on climate change next year becomes clear. Dr Nelson made the announcement after spending the day meeting with shadow cabinet in an attempt to reverse the split within ranks over Opposition policy.
29 July ABC News online article

Coalition signals climate policy shift

The federal coalition has foreshadowed a change in its climate change policy as MPs prepare to meet in Canberra to thrash out the issue. The current policy appears to be to forge ahead with emissions trading by 2012 - but Liberal treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has paved the way for a shift.
27 July The Sydney Morning Herald article
28 July Herald Sun article

Climate change proves more than a challenge to the Coalition

Everyone in the Opposition needs to take a deep breath. Things could get a little sticky in the next week. Brendan Nelson, apparently inured to political pain, wants to toughen the Coalition's policy on emissions trading.
25 July The Age opinion

Emissions trading legislation can't be rushed: Opposition

The Federal Opposition says it will not be bullied into supporting the Government's emissions trading scheme. The Government says the Opposition has a chance to prove it is economically responsible by backing the scheme in the Senate. But the Coalition's reaction to the Government's Green Paper was lukewarm at best, and the Government will most likely need to enlist the assistance of minor parties and independents in the Senate.
17 July ABC News online article

Catastrophe and fear winning on climate

When an issue becomes imbued with the sort of quasi religious fervour that climate change has, honest caution can be quite unpopular. For proof, look no further than Brendan Nelson, who today must face the fact he is the least popular choice for Opposition Leader pushing a climate change policy that is out of step with just about everyone in the community.
29 July The Australian opinion

Nelson denies ETS position change

Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson denies he has changed his position on the introduction date on an emissions trading scheme (ETS). Earlier in the week Dr Nelson backed away from giving support to a 2012 start up date saying the rest of the world, especially countries that are major emitters, needed to commit to further action. However, Treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said the Coalition policy had not been "substantially modified", saying the leadership group had discussed it with Dr Nelson.
10 July ABC News online article

Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has fallen into line with the coalition frontbench on emissions trading after a week of uncertainty over its climate change policy. Five days after confusing messages emerged about the policy, Dr Nelson clarified his position, moving back into step with senior Liberals, declaring his support for a cap and trade system and for a 2012 start date.
11 July Sydney Morning Herald article

Our shaky hold on greenhouse infamy

It is not a list you want to top, but the reality is set out in the Garnaut report: Australia is the largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. However, the title is misleading. Australia does top the emissions table, excluding land-use change and forestry emissions. But include that measure and the Republic of the Congo is propelled right out in front, followed by Malaysia, Canada and then Australia.
29 July The Australian article

Wong's climate paper clouded with mistakes

Climate Minister Penny Wong published an astonishing green paper in response to what she perceives to be the threat of global warming. The first sentence of the opening section of her paper, entitled "Why we need to act", contains seven scientific errors — almost one error for every two words.
29 July The Age opinion

Softly start threatens to undercut our Kyoto promises

The big question left dangling in Penny Wong's green paper for a carbon pollution reduction scheme is just how much greenhouse gas will it cut? After months of intense lobbying by industry, the Iemma Government and her Labor colleagues spooked by rising petrol prices, Senator Wong's scheme now reflects more politics than climate science.
17 July Sydney Morning Herald article

Finally, a blueprint for fighting climate change

Labor's green paper on emissions will satisfy voters and industry, but it should be seen only as a starting point.
17 July The Age editorial opinion

Rudd says emissions scheme won't be 'pain-free'

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has shrugged off the growing corporate backlash to his emissions trading scheme, saying he never expected the introduction of the scheme to be easy.
18 July ABC News online article

Kevin Rudd has confessed the Government cannot yet predict when Australia's carbon pollution levels will start to reduce under his planned emissions trading scheme. And he has warned that middle-income families will bear some of the burden of adjusting to the introduction of carbon trading amid predictons some families could be $500 a year worse off if electricity and other prices rise.
17 July The Australian article

The Rudd Government has sought to soften the blow of its emissions trading scheme, promising every cent raised will be used to help households and businesses adjust and invest in clean energy options.
17 July The Australian article 

Greenhouse plans went off the rails

As a model for how not to tackle climate change, it seems hard to go past the Rudd Government's approach to transport. Rail is three to four times more energy-efficient than road, according to rail industry calculations here and overseas. A British study found that carbon dioxide emissions from train travel were a little more than half those of cars, when measured by kilometres per passenger. The industry says the comparison is substantially more favourable still for rail freight.
26 July The Australian article

Rudd assures coal power industry of emissions scheme support

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has moved to assure the coal-fired power generators that they will get help to cope with the changes caused by an emissions trading scheme. The electricity industry says the Federal Government should help major power suppliers make the transition to lower emissions technology.
25 July ABC News online article

Wong pledges compo for emissions trading scheme

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has signalled families, carers and older Australians will be the big winners from a compensation package to soften the impact of an emissions trading scheme.“We are very conscious of the impact on (them),” Senator Wong said as she confirmed that cabinet had signed off on the green paper outlining options for the scheme. The green paper is the Government's first formal response to the Garnaut report on climate change. “This is something we have to tackle for our current and our future prosperity,” she said.
15 July The Australian article

Climate change doesn't harm Rudd in poll

The prospect of even higher fuel and energy prices under the move to carbon emissions trading has failed to dent voter support for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
15 July Sydney Morning Herald article

Treasurer says no delay in emissions trade

Australia's government said it would not delay the 2010 kick-off of an emissions trade scheme expected to reshape the A$1 trillion (US$971 billion) carbon-intensive economy, as farmers warned against "arbitrary" start dates. "The longer we wait to take action on climate change, the sharper the adjustment to the economy will be when we are forced to act. The Australian economy simply can't afford to wait," Treasurer Wayne Swan wrote in the Herald Sun newspaper.
15 July Reuters article through Planet Ark
14 July Herald Sun article by Wayne Swan

Give workers a voice in climate change solutions

Tens of thousands of Australians work in the resources and energy industries, which is why the Australian Workers' Union has been vocal in the debate triggered by the proposals put forward by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong.
24 July The Age opinion by Paul Howes, AWU national secretary

Carbon reduction scheme ads are fluffy: Nelson

Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has described the Government's climate change advertising as "fluffy". The Federal Government has started a mulit-million dollar advertising campaign on a carbon reduction scheme.
22 July ABC News online article
22 July Herald Sun article

Garrett says Liberals 'clouding waters' on carbon trade

Environment Minister Peter Garrett has blamed the Liberal Party for confusing people about an emissions trading scheme. A Neilsen poll found more than 60 per cent of people surveyed do not understand the concept of an emissions trading scheme, or only have a slight understanding.
22 July ABC News online article

Small steps can reduce climate damage 

Emissions trading fazes many, but there is much to be done at a local level. It may not have been the first sign, but last week brought one of the more obvious indications yet of an affliction we will see plenty of over coming years: climate-change fatigue.
28 July The Age opinion 

Climate change threatens Queensland's coasts 

The Queensland Government has admitted its strategy to protect coastal towns and suburbs from climate change is a failure. It has appealed for federal funding to help build sea walls and levees to hold back storm surges and rising sea levels.
26 July The Courier Mail article

Climate change warning on health

Tasmania's most senior health official has warned that climate change could have a bigger impact on the state's medical future than our ageing population. The State Government has pledged to reduce Tasmania's greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050, based on 1990 levels. The focus until now has been on the economic cost of reducing emissions.
26 July ABC News online article 

Climate change: feed it and weep or lead and reap - Sachs 

Australia will reap important benefits from the carbon pollution reduction scheme. Properly, the Government has left itself considerable flexibility on several points, which will depend heavily on what other countries do. But the value of the scheme lies not in the details but in three more basic considerations. Australia can now lead economically, technologically and diplomatically in the global effort that lies ahead.
25 July Sydney Morning Herald opinion by Jeffrey Sachs

Radical plans drafted to prepare Melbourne for climate change

Rooftop gardens, soil footpaths and mandatory parklands are among radical plans to prepare Melbourne for climate change. Key lobby group the Committee For Melbourne has drafted recommendations to retrofit city buildings and make the public transport system green, to prepare Melbourne for the threat of global warming.
24 July Herald Sun article

Australia to set example with carbon trading: BP

Australia's planned introduction of an emissions trading plan may encourage developing nations such as China and India to implement their own, BP Plc's chief economist Christof Ruehl said. "The only way to affect any change is to set an example, and find systems that allow for trading with those countries which can allow for transfers of technology and incentives to industries in those countries,'' said Ruehl, speaking after a presentation in Perth. "It won't solve climate change overnight, but it's a start.''
21 July Bloomberg article
21 July ABC News online article

Code red: climate skating on thin ice - book

Climate watchers warned that the Government's carbon pollution reduction plan had so many exemptions it was unlikely to lead to a cut in greenhouse emissions before 2020. A book launched in Melbourne, Climate Code Red, argues that the climate change challenge is far worse than officially acknowledged by the Government or modelling undertaken by Government adviser Professor Ross Garnaut.
18 July The Age article

No smoking hot spot: opinion

I devoted six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office. I am the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia's compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector. Since 1999 new evidence has seriously weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main cause of global warming, and by 2007 the evidence was pretty conclusive that carbon played only a minor role and was not the main cause of the recent global warming.
18 July The Australian opinion

Oz, NZ ready to work together on climate change

Australia and New Zealand are ready to work together to combat climate change -- with the two countries developing similar and compatible carbon reduction schemes, their finance ministers said. "Both schemes have a lot in common. It is desirable that we work together and link our schemes over time," Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said after a day of talks with New Zealand Finance Minister Michael Cullen.
17 July The Economic Times article

Energy bills to rise under carbon emissions scheme

Electricity bills would jump 16 per cent and gas bills 9 per cent under forecast increases to the family budget aimed at tackling climate change. While the Federal Government will spend billions shielding the low-paid and big business from price increases caused by its campaign against pollution, the protection won't last forever - the pledge to cut petrol excise to prevent even higher prices at the bowser will last just three years. And Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said help for industries would come to a halt because "all parts of the economy have to make some contribution over time" to emission decreases.
17 July news.com.au article

LPG tax may be scrapped under carbon compo deal

New taxes on alternative fuels including LPG could be delayed or scrapped by the Rudd Government under a compensation deal to balance the inflationary effect of a carbon trading scheme.
17 July The Australian article

Cost of living up 1pc under Government's climate plan

The Rudd Government has opted for a softly, softly approach to emissions trading which will likely lead to an increase in the cost of living of less than 1 per cent. The Government's options paper on emissions paper, released in Canberra, will see Australia ease into a relatively gentle scheme on July 1, 2010.
16 July news.com.au article

Emissions trading won't cost jobs, ACTU

A properly constructed emissions trading scheme (ETS) won't result in huge job losses and could see some industries expand, Australia's peak union body says. The ACTU endorsed the need for a trading scheme, with some conditions, when its executive met in Canberra.
16 July news.com.au article

Help to save the world, Pope tells Australia

Ten kilometres above the earth, the Pope delivered a message to the people of Sydney: the world is God's creation and humanity needs to safeguard it against the ravages of climate change. His message, unexpected and delivered in Italian, called for a spiritual response to the environmental crisis and asked Catholics - especially young people - to find "a way of living, a style of life that eases the problems caused to the environment".
14 July Sydney Morning Herald article

'Get real' on climate change

Professor Jeffrey Sachs says it is time to ''get real'' on climate change. The Columbia University economist arrived in Canberra with a tough message. He says America will have a recession, advocates nuclear power and calls the focus on emissions trading ''putting the cart before the horse''. Professor Sachs launched a book at the Australia National University, China Update 2008: Confronting Global Challenges conference.
14 July Canberra Times article

The Federal Government has dismissed warnings by a prominent American economist that a carbon trading scheme will be an administrative mess. Jeffrey Sachs says emissions trading is hard to implement and hard to monitor and carbon taxes would be far more effective.
15 July ABC News online article

Nation of climate sinners

Australia's growing addiction to flat-screen televisions and petrol-powered travel means we have slipped to the rear of the field in energy efficiency, performing poorly compared with most other wealthy nations, and being overtaken by many developing countries.
14 July Sydney Morning Herald article

Australia urged to help climate change refugees

Australia's immigration intake should include a quota for "climate change refugees", a new report recommends. At a ceremony in Melbourne, the Make Poverty History coalition launched a report calling for Australia to support and, as a last resort, accept victims of climate change.
13 July Herald Sun article

Demands for more emphasis on climate change education

The Federal Government is under pressure from the Australian Association for Environmental Education to lift its practices to educate people about climate change.
13 July ABC News online article

Garnaut speaks out

The solution to Australia's greenhouse gas-belching coal-fired power industry is a long way off, the author of the national Climate Change Review said. Economist Ross Garnaut told more than 1200 people at a Brisbane address it was yet to be proven whether the nation could find a way to make so-called "clean coal" technology a reality.
12 July The Canberra Times article

Big Australian power generators won't give up

Even with the smoke alarms blaring all around him, vocal apologist for the carbon-emitting electricity industry John Boshier kept talking on his mobile phone. As he moved around his office trying to find the spot where the sirens were least ear-piercing, the executive director of the National Generators Forum was not going to hang up on an opportunity to provide further oxygen to a burning question: should smokey coal-fired power station owners get free permits when emissions trading begins?
12 July Herald Sun article

Greens to lead on climate change: Brown

Greens leader Bob Brown says his party will lead the national parliamentary debate on climate change, pushing for tougher cuts in emissions and massive funding for public transport. Addressing the Australian Greens national Council meeting in Hobart, Senator Brown said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will have failed to show mature leadership if Labor sets weak targets for emissions cuts or if it delayed implementation of an emissions trading scheme to 2012.
12 July The Age article

Seeking the middle

The Prime Minister has begun testing the water on his compromise approach to climate change. Kevin Rudd in the early months of his prime ministership hasn't always got his pitch right on the region. It's been patchy. Star turns in China, to be sure, but a wobble on Japan. But at the Group of Eight meeting in Hokkaido, Rudd was back on his game. He looked comfortable. While he maintained his usual breakneck speed, he kept his presentation simple, a departure from the confused messages of recent weeks, with the Opposition taking populist potshots on petrol prices and the tough political nut of emissions trading.
12 July The Age opinion

'Fuel for thought' on transport sector challenges

A report on how Australia can best respond to the environmental and economic challenges arising from its dependence on fossil fuels for transport has been released by CSIRO. The report: Fuel for thought – The future of transport fuels: challenges and opportunities addresses two serious issues – the need to dramatically reduce the transport sector’s greenhouse gas emissions and, how to deal with the economic risks associated with increasingly costly and scarce oil supplies.
11 July CSIRO media release

The price of petrol could soar to a crippling $8 a litre over the coming decade, CSIRO-sponsored research has warned. The nightmare scenario says the weekly family fuel bill for a medium-sized passenger vehicle could rise to $220 by 2018 -- taking $12,000 a year out of family budgets. Australians would be forced to radically change their lives and seek alternative forms of fuel and transport.
11 July Herald Sun article

No G8 climate breakthroughs, Rudd admits

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has acknowledged there have been no great breakthroughs on climate change at the G8 major economies meeting in Japan. Mr Rudd is adamant that while the meeting did not end up with bold action, it was an important step in ensuring world leaders take a lead during the climate change debate.
9 July ABC News online article

CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship launched

CSIRO launched a multi-million dollar research program which is designed to boost Australia’s ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The CSIRO Climate Adaptation National Research Flagship will have a particular focus on better understanding and preparing for the impacts of climate change, which the draft Garnaut Report described as “locked-in” up to 2030.
9 July CSIRO media release

Brumby wants emissions trading eased in

The Victorian Premier John Brumby says local jobs will not be lost if there is a "soft start" to an Emissions Trading Scheme. Mr Brumby says he supports Professor Ross Garnaut's recommendation to the Federal Government of a transitional period, from 2010 until 2012, in any future emissions scheme.
9 July ABC News online article

'Put shoulder to wheel' on emissions, Rudd urges G8

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is holding one-on-one meetings with the leaders of five countries at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Japan in which he says he will appeal for more political momentum to achieve a successful global agreement on reducing emissions. Mr Rudd says the science on climate change makes it all the more important to achieve progress in international negotiations. "All nations must put their shoulder to the wheel in doing more to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions," he told reporters.
9 July ABC News online article

Nelson must support emissions scheme: former Liberal MP

A former Coalition MP has hit out over the Opposition Leader's declaration that Australia should not commit to an emissions trading scheme without support of the big emitting countries. Hope of a bi-partisan approach on developing an emissions trading scheme appeared to evaporate yesterday with Brendan Nelson's calls for Australia not to commit to a scheme until India, China and the United States all sign up to reduce their emissions.
8 July ABC News online article

Penny Wong discusses the Garnaut Draft Report, emissions trading and climate change in interviews

Minister for Climate Change and Water has discussed the Garnaut Draft Report, emissions trading, climate change, the Murray Darling and renewable energy in interviews.
6 July Dept of Climate Change and Water transcript of interview on Meet the Press
7 July Dept of Climate Change and Water transcript of interview on radio station 3AW
4 July Dept of Climate Change and Water transcript of press conference
4 July Dept of Climate Change and Water transcript of interview on Lateline

Experts warn of climate change health risks

A conference in Brisbane has heard global environment factors could put Australians at risk of serious health problems and even death. Tony McMichael from the Australian National University told the Population Health Congress the impacts of climate change could kill more than 15,000 people in Australia every year by the middle of the century.
7 July ABC News online article

Rudd needs to be 'human blowtorch' on climate change

Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson says the Prime Minister needs to act as a "human blowtorch" when he meets Group of Eight leaders, to advance a global agreement on climate change.
7 July ABC News online article

PWC says business needs carbon pricing quickly

Business services firm Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) says the private sector wants a price placed on carbon emissions as soon as possible. The company says it has been approached in recent days and months by businesses wanting advice on how to respond to Professor Ross Garnaut's draft report on climate change. Sustainability and climate change partner at PWC, Andrew Peterson, says businesses want to start to take action to comply with the Federal Government's measures to tackle climate change.
7 July ABC News online article

Climate change study like disaster novel

Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke has likened a scientific study into links between climate change and drought to the final chapters of a disaster novel. Mr Burke released a joint assessment by the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO, which found that what are now considered to be one in 25 year climate events could become as frequent as once every one to two years. In particular, the study found exceptionally high temperatures would occur almost yearly, while low rainfall would almost double in frequency from current figures.
6 July The Age article

Prime Minister discusses Garnaut Draft Report, climate change in interview

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, discussed climate change and the Murray Darling in an interview with Barrie Cassidy on the ABC's ABC Insiders program.
6 July Prime Minister of Australia transcript of interview

The GST shows the way

Measured in dollars and common sense, the task of implementing an emissions trading scheme as part of Australia's effort in addressing climate change is no different to the GST.
5 July The Australian article

Mixed reaction to Garnaut draft report

The Australian Government welcomes the draft report of the Climate Change Review conducted by Professor Ross Garnaut. Professor Garnaut’s report makes it absolutely clear that the time for playing short term political games is over. We must act on climate change.
4 July Dept of Climate Change and Water media release

Ross Garnaut's report on climate change is just one input that will help form the government's response to global warming, Kevin Rudd says.
"It will represent one of a number of inputs into the government's overall decision-making process on the best response by Australia to climate change," Mr Rudd told the Fairfax Radio Network.
4 July The Australian article

Environmental and industry groups have urged the Federal Government to act on climate change findings in a draft report presented by Professor Ross Garnaut.
4 July ABC News online article
4 July WWF media release

The response to economist Ross Garnaut's landmark report on climate change has been overwhelmingly positive, with the exception of the federal opposition and Greens. Prof Garnaut's highly anticipated draft report on climate change supports the federal government's 2010 start time for an emissions trading scheme (ETS).
4 July Sydney Morning Herald article

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says it accepts the findings of the Garnaut report on the impact of climate change on the reef. The report found if carbon emissions are not reduced, the reef could die within decades.
5 July ABC News online article

The federal Opposition welcomes the release of the draft report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review.
4 July Liberal Party media release
4 July Liberal Party transcript of interview

Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has dismissed suggestions that not including petrol in a trading emissions scheme would send the wrong signal. Economist Professor Ross Garnaut has recommended that transport fuels be included in any emissions trading scheme that the Federal Government adopts. His draft report on climate change raises concerns about Opposition calls for the excise petrol to be cut, saying it sends the wrong message about the need to ultimately reduce consumption.
5 July ABC News online article

Brendan Nelson has dashed hopes of a bipartisan approach on an emissions trading scheme by 2010, warning there's no rush to implement the scheme if it will wreck jobs. "There's nothing magical about 2010,'' Dr Nelson told reporters in Sydney.
4 July The Australian article

The Greens say the Federal Government can not be worried about electoral popularity and must move quickly when it responds to economist Ross Garnaut's draft report on climate change.
4 July ABC News online article

South Australian Premier Mike Rann says the Garnaut climate change report shows South Australia will be one of the states hit the hardest by future climate change.
4 July ABC News online article

The former head of the Prime Minister's Department, Peter Shergold, says any emissions compensation scheme adopted by the Federal Government must encourage people to use less energy.
4 July ABC News online article

Working Australians will be hit hard by inaction on climate change and urgent action is needed says the ACTU.
4 July ACTU media release

The Australian Coal Association welcomes the release of the draft report by the Garnaut Climate Change Review and the recognition that Australia has an important role to play in a major global effort to develop low emissions coal technologies – particularly related to Carbon Capture and Storage.
4 July Australian Coal Assoc media release

The Clean Energy Council refuted claims that emissions trading will lead to an economic downturn citing that emissions trading with complementary measures will unlock over $20 billion in clean energy investment.
4 July Clean Energy Council media release

The National Generators Forum (NGF) continues to be disappointed and perplexed by Professor Garnaut’s simplistic approach that shows little understanding of how Australia’s energy market works.
4 July National Generators Forum media release

The Minerals Council of Australia described the Garnaut Draft Report as containing sensible new ideas but stated that questions linger.
4 July Minerals Council of Australia media release

With the latest research indicating Australian uranium exports have the potential to avoid billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions globally, the Australian uranium industry welcomes the draft Garnaut report as an important step towards freeing the industry to reach its potential.
4 July Australian Uranium Association media release

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Australia’s largest and most representative business organisation, considers the release of the draft Garnaut Climate Change Review to be a significant further step in outlining important issues and options for the introduction of an Emission Trading Scheme (ETS).
4 July ACCI media release

Friends of the Earth Australia welcomes Professor Garnaut's recognition of the scale of the climate emergency and the need for urgent action, but warns the emission trading scheme will not solve the climate problem.
4 July Friends of the Earth media release

A3P, the peak national body for Australia’s plantation products and paper industry, has welcomed the Garnaut Climate Change Review draft report. A3P CEO Mr Neil Fisher said “A3P warmly welcomes the Garnaut Climate Change Review draft report. We particularly welcome the acknowledgement of the role that forests and wood products could play in an Australian Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) through offset measures."
4 July A3P media release

The Garnaut Climate Change Review draft report supports calls by the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI), the peak body representing Australia’s forest industry, for the inclusion of forestry under an emission trading scheme.
4 July National Assoc of Forest Industries media release

The Garnaut Review Draft Report is the long-waited signpost to practical and realistic climate change policy action and Australia’s gas industry is well-placed to play a key role, Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) Chief Executive Belinda Robinson said.
4 July APPEA media release

Garnaut review releases draft report

Australians are facing risks of damaging climate change. Without strong and early action by Australia and all major economies we are likely to face severe and costly impacts on Australia’s prosperity and enjoyment of life, according to the Garnaut Climate Change Review’s Draft Report, released by Professor Ross Garnaut, speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra.
4 July Garnaut Climate Change Review media release
4 July Garnaut Climate Change Review draft report
4 July Garnaut Climate Change Review transcript of National Press Club address

The much anticipated draft climate change report from economics professor Ross Garnaut calls for an emissions trading scheme for Australia without delay as the best of the possible options for cutting greenhouse gas output.
4 July ABC News online article

Professor Ross Garnaut has warned that without bipartisan political support, a strong emissions trading scheme would be compromised. Professor Garnaut's report on climate change says an emissions trading scheme should be introduced without delay.
4 July ABC News online article

Regions hardest hit by the new emissions trading regime would win government handouts and industries investing in clean power would be rewarded, but the landmark Garnaut report on climate change rules out compensating coal-fired power stations.
4 July The Australian article

Tax cuts and welfare reform should be offered to dampen the impact of a new emissions trading scheme, according to the landmark Garnaut climate change report.
4 July The Australian article

Ross Garnaut held a press conference on Easter Thursday to launch his first discussion paper on ideas for climate change policy. From the look of things, he started writing the 537-page draft report on how the nation should respond to global warming as soon as he returned to work the following week.
5 July The Australian opinion

Wayne Swan discusses climate change in speech

Treasurer Wayne Swan discussed climate change in a speech to the Australia-China Business Council in Melbourne.
4 July Treasurer of Australia text of speech

Let's go green without going on a tax binge

We are facing a moment of big history as two conflicting trends gather pace: global development on an unprecedented scale and the need to protect the global environment against the effects of this growth. The dream of bringing those in India, China, Indonesia and elsewhere out of poverty is the highest human ideal. Two billion people are reaching towards the basics of clean water, heating and refrigerated food supplies. The consequence of this ongoing world growth, however, is that while Australia's carbon dioxide emissions have barely changed since 1990, global growth in greenhouse emissions between 1990 and 2012 will be almost 40 per cent. We thus face a global climate challenge that is real and important but almost entirely not of our making, as Australia is the source of only 1.4 per cent of global emissions.
3 July The Australian opinion by Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water, Greg Hunt

Prime Minister Rudd's climate change credentials on the line in Victoria

The Victorian Labor Government's unqualified approval for the construction of a dirty brown coal fired power station in the Latrobe Valley is an act of total denial on climate change, and contempt for community wishes that governments take action to curb emissions, not increase them, Australian Greens climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne said.
3 July Senator Christine Milne media release

Time for action on climate is now

The launch of the Garnaut Climate Change report has business jumping at shadows for fear of what may come next but, most importantly, on concerns that the Government won't deliver a balanced policy. Ironically enough, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should take some comfort in the business fears because they are based on confidence he will deliver on his promise to deliver a carbon trading scheme.
3 July The Australian article

World  news

Emissions, Kyoto and policy 

US senators call for EPA chief to resign

Democratic senators have called for the resignation of Stephen Johnson, head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, saying he sided with polluters instead of fighting global warming and other ecological problems. The three senators, all active in the climate change debate, also asked the US attorney general to investigate whether Johnson has made false or misleading statements in sworn testimony before the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee.
29 July Reuters article

Democrats: White House must publish 'chilling' climate change document

The row over US inaction on carbon emissions reached new heights after the White House allowed Congress to look at last year's government proposal to officially deem climate change a threat to public health – a plan that aides to George Bush refused to acknowledge or read. The climate plan was finished in December by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in response to a supreme court ruling that required the Bush administration to state whether carbon emissions should be regulated to protect public health.
25 July Guardian article
25 July courant.com article

EPA: Few volunteering to cut greenhouse gases

Voluntary pollution-reduction programs touted by the Bush administration as part of the solution to global warming have "limited potential" to reduce greenhouse gases, according to an internal government watchdog. The Environmental Protection Agency's Inspector General's Office said industry's unwillingness to participate and unreliable data that casts doubt on claimed reductions are hindering efforts to control some of the most potent greenhouse gases from aluminum smelters, landfills, coal mines and large farms.
25 July Associated Press article 

US army works to cut its carbon "bootprint"

What if cutting greenhouse emissions could also save the lives of soldiers in Iraq, where fuel-laden convoys make them targets? The US Army says it is happening now in a push to reduce its carbon "bootprint." From forward areas like Iraq and Afghanistan to training ranges in the United States, the Army has been working to limit its use of fossil fuels and make its operations more environmentally sustainable.
28 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

Schwarzenegger slams Bush administration on global warming

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said the Bush administration's decision to delay a decision on regulating greenhouse gases showed that it did not believe in global warming. Schwarzenegger, in an interview with ABC television, said it would have been insincere for the administration to take action on the harmful emissions with only six months left in George W. Bush's presidency.
13 July AFP article through Yahoo News

Posturing and abdication

The Bush administration made it clear that it will do virtually nothing to regulate the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. With no shame and no apology, it stuck a thumb in the eye of the Supreme Court, repudiated its own scientists and exposed the hollowness of Mr Bush’s claims to have seen the light on climate change. That is the import of an announcement by Stephen Johnson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, that the EPA will continue to delay a decision on whether global warming threatens human health and welfare and requires regulations to address it. Mr. Johnson said his agency would seek further public comment on the matter, a process that will almost certainly stretch beyond the end of Mr Bush’s term.
13 July New York Times editorial opinion

Bush Administration won't regulate greenhouse gases

The Bush administration, dismissing the recommendations of its top experts, rejected regulating the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, saying it would cripple the US economy. In a 588-page federal notice, the Environmental Protection Agency made no finding on whether global warming poses a threat to people's health or welfare, reversing an earlier conclusion at the insistence of the White House and officially kicking any decision on a solution to the next president and Congress.
12 July CNN.com article

The Bush administration has decided not to take any new steps to regulate greenhouse gas emissions before the president leaves office, despite pressure from the Supreme Court and broad accord among senior federal officials that new regulation is appropriate now.
11 July Washington Post article

Bush makes final push for global climate deal

In his final months in office, President Bush is mounting a last-ditch effort to forge a new global deal to limit greenhouse-gas emissions but finds himself once again at odds with much of the rest of the world on how to address climate change.
3 July The Washington Post article

Obama shifts stance on environmental issues

In May 1998, at the urging of the state's coal industry, Barack Obama supported an Illinois bill condemning the Kyoto global warming treaty and forbidding state efforts to regulate greenhouse gases. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee now calls climate change "one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation," and proposes cutting carbon emissions 80% by 2050. But as a state senator, from 1997 to 2004, he usually supported bills sought by coal interests, according to legislative records and interviews.
18 July USA Today article

Next US president likely to agree to CO2 cuts: UN

There is good chance the next US administration will agree to tight controls on its carbon emissions and help reach a deal by the end of 2009 to slow climate change, Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said.
3 July Reuters article

Report on global warming strategy for Wisconsin finalised 

Governor Jim Doyle’s Task Force on Global Warming announced it has finalised its report on addressing global warming in Wisconsin. The 29-member Task Force, comprised of environmental, agricultural, industry, citizen, tribal and utility leaders will now forward the report on to Governor Doyle for consideration.
24 July WISBusiness.com article

Japan adopts action plan against global warming

Japan's cabinet has adopted a plan to slash carbon emissions up to 80 percent by 2050 by starting carbon trading and stepping up research on carbon-capture technologies. "Japan must continue showing leadership on the issue of environment," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told the cabinet meeting. "To lead the world, Japan must take the initiative by achieving a low-carbon society."
29 July AFP article through Yahoo! News

India's climate change action plan

India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), eagerly awaited by environmentalists, has been unveiled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Let us look carefully at the three salient features of our NAPCC.
29 July The Economic Times editorial opinion

33% of China's carbon footprint blamed on exports

Finger-pointing, and "China bashing" in particular, is a favourite game when it comes to assigning responsibility for climate change. But things are not always as straightforward as they seem. Developed countries import many of the products that contribute to China's greenhouse gas emissions.
28 July New Scientist article

South Africa unveils plan to combat climate change

South Africa's government says it will move away from coal and promote use of wind and nuclear energy in an effort to fight global warming. Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told a news conference that options being considered include mandatory energy efficiency targets and a possible tax on carbon dioxide emissions.
28 July VOA News article
28 July Bloomberg article 

First-ever climate change vulnerability index 

The newly released Maplecroft Climate Change Risk Report includes the first-ever climate change vulnerability index and a set of best-to-worst rankings for more than 168 countries worldwide. It identifies the world's highest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters as well as those countries most and least vulnerable to climate change. The report finds many of the world's biggest CO2 emitters are also the countries least vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
23 July Market Watch article

Clinton announces 2008 CGI Asia meeting

Former President Bill Clinton announced the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) will host its first meeting outside of the United States in Hong Kong on December 2-3, 2008. President Clinton will be joined by Asian heads of state, top CEOs, directors of nongovernmental organizations, philanthropists, scholars, and members of the media to address local and global challenges in the areas of education, energy and climate change, and public health.
21 July Yehey! News article

'100 months to save the planet'

A "Green New Deal" is needed to solve current problems of climate change, energy and finance, a report argues. According to the Green New Deal Group, humanity only has 100 months to prevent dangerous global warming. Its proposals include major investment in renewable energy and the creation of thousands of new "green collar" jobs.
21 July BBC News online article

New 'green' plans sprout globally

While the world's industrialised countries continue to hedge on carbon emission targets, a proposal from a coalition of environmental groups is gaining traction on how those targets should be calculated to break a rich-poor deadlock on who should cut more over the next decade. Known as the Greenhouse Development Right (GDR) framework, the scheme weighs a country's rate of emissions combined with its wealth to determine an equitable means of emission cuts.
21 July The Nation article

Wetlands could unleash 'carbon bomb'

The world's wetlands, threatened by development, dehydration and climate change, could release a planet-warming "carbon bomb" if they are destroyed, ecological scientists said. Wetlands contain 771 billion tons of greenhouse gases, one-fifth of all the carbon on Earth and about the same amount of carbon as is now in the atmosphere, the scientists said before an international conference linking wetlands and global warming.
20 July Reuters article 

Canada sued for ignoring its own Kyoto Protocol law 

Canada has become the first country ever to be brought to court for failing to comply with its legal commitments to combat global warming. Friends of the Earth Canada is suing the Conservative government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper for following a strategy to reduce greenhouse gases that fails to meet Canada's obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. The lawsuit is the first in the world to seek enforcement of the protocol, an international treaty ratified by 180 countries, including Canada.
18 July Environment News Service article

German leaders hit EU climate change plan

German leaders have criticised EU climate change efforts as harmful to its industries if other major greenhouse gas emitters don't also make reductions. "Any success achieved in Europe would be pointless," said a statement from the German Economy Ministry pointing to the need for commitments from other polluters such as China, India and the United States.
16 July UPI.com article

Kosciusko-Morizet: Climate deal key to 'EU's credibility'

Reaching agreement on the EU's energy and climate package before this year's UN conference in Poland is crucial if the bloc is to retain its position as the "motor" of international action on climate change, argues French State Secretary for Ecology Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet in an interview with EurActiv France.
7 July EurActiv.com article

Eastern EU states unite for overhaul of CO2 curbs

The European Union has geared up for deep cuts in greenhouse gases as eight ex-communist states sought help in overhauling their infrastructure for a low-carbon future. France, which has taken over the EU's rotating presidency, has made climate change its top priority and hosted a meeting on the outskirts of Paris to identify the main areas of disagreement.
7 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

MEPs suggest leniency on air pollution caps for trucks

The European Parliament's Environment Committee has voted in favour of slightly watering down limits on nitrogen oxide emissions from trucks and buses, saying too tough a target would simply make it harder for them to cut their CO2 emissions.
17 July EurActiv article

Climate change: EU ministers clear some hurdles on 2020 plan

European Union environment ministers cleared some ground as they debated how to achieve the vaunted dream of slashing the 27-nation bloc's carbon pollution by 2020. Ministers, staging an informal meeting in Paris, agreed to complete a deal by year's end and backed the principle of helping poorer EU countries worried by the cost of meeting the 2020 target, delegates said.
3 July AFP article

British MPs criticise government over CO2

The government has made "very poor progress" on reaching its own carbon emissions-cutting targets, MPs say. Ministers want departments and agencies to reduce emissions by 12.5% by 2010/11 compared with 1999/2000 levels - and to be carbon-neutral by 2012. But the influential environment audit committee said a cut of just 4% had been achieved by 2006/07.
14 July BBC News online article

East Europeans fear climate policy pinch

Many pensioners in the Bulgarian village of Gorno Osenovo, who go to bed with the sunset and wake up at sunrise, have never heard of carbon dioxide. They don't get electricity either. But a new plan by Brussels to make European Union energy companies pay for the carbon dioxide they emit from 2013 threatens to lift energy costs to the point where building grids to remote places like Gorno Osenovo would be impossible.
27 July Washington Post article

Human rights a 'compass' for climate change policies

Human rights can be a "compass" to guide research and policy development for climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, according to a report. The International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP) says climate change will threaten — directly or indirectly — almost all human rights, including the right to food, health and a livelihood. But they have received little attention on the policy stage so far.
17 July SciDev.net article

Ghana to host convention on climate change

Ghana has signed an agreement, with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to host the international conference on climate change in August. The agreement was signed, in order to outline enabling and financial mechanisms that countries can turn to, as they strive to tackle the problems and dilemmas, which arise from the complex side-effects of climate change.
16 July The Ghanaian Chronicle article

Bridge the gap on climate change

Despite the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring, there remain sharp political disagreements both here in the United States and around the world about how policymakers should respond. Nowhere is this gap more profound than between developed and developing countries.
14 July Washington Post opinion

Indonesia to host environmental ministers' meeting

Indonesia plans to invite 18 environmental ministers to a ministerial meeting ahead of a climate summit in Poland later this year, a senior official said. "(Indonesian) President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has taken the initiative to invite 18 environment ministers present at the just- concluded G-8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan, to attend a ministerial meeting prior to the climate summit in Poland at the end of 2008," Antara news agency on Saturday quoted Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar as saying.
12 July Bernama article

Solar shades won't reverse global warming

A proposal to place mirrors in the sky to reflect sunlight away from earth won't give back the climate we had before, says a new study. Researchers at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom applied global climate models to predict the effect of using reflective sunshades to reduce the amount of sunlight that enters the earth's atmosphere back.
14 July ABC Science article

This could be the war of human survival

The world now needs a new term to define the strange ideological battleground over climate change that looks likely to define our century. It's not a new Cold War, because it is about global warming. It is not a hot war, thank heavens. Maybe it should be called the warming war. But if most scientists are right, it could well be the war of human survival.
11 July Middle East Times editorial opinion

Ghana to host international conference on climate change

Ghana and the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) signed letters of exchange to enable Ghana to host a Conference on Climate Change in August. The conference slated for August 21-30 will be attended by about 2,000 delegates from 192 countries and will prepare the grounds for the roadmap to a major conference to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009.
10 July Ghana Hope Page article

World must aim for 90 per cent emissions cut: climate lawyer

An Australian climate lawyer says the G8 nations' commitment to a 50 per cent cut in global greenhouse gas emissions would require a much bigger reduction target for industrialised nations. Countries agreed at the G8 summit to a "vision" of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
10 July ABC News online article

G8 summit ends with climate 'vision'

World leaders have proclaimed a "shared vision" on climate change, but failed to bridge differences between rich and emerging nations on curbing emissions. Concluding a summit in northern Japan, leaders from the G8 and developing countries said "deep cuts" in greenhouse gas emissions were needed. China and other emerging powers declined to endorse specific targets.
9 July BBC News online article

World leaders meeting in Japan have reached broad agreement on a long-term plan to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Leaders from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries have been meeting at Toyako on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. At last year's summit in Germany they agreed to seriously consider a plan to cut greenhouse emissions by 50 per cent by the middle of this century. Now they have agreed to that goal as a shared vision, and to press other nations to also adopt the target.
8 July ABC News online article

George W. Bush, US president, bowed to pressure from other world leaders on climate change and agreed for the first time to a long-term target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The decision at the Group of Eight meeting of industrialised nations in Japan to set a goal of halving emissions by 2050, in line with scientific advice, is likely to be the US leader's final contribution to the climate change debate.
9 July Financial Times article

The Group of Eight's climate-change strategy may fail to contain rising temperatures that threaten to cause more floods, droughts and storms. The world's richest countries, which are responsible for almost half of the world's emissions, pledged to reduce the production of heat-trapping pollution by at least 50 percent by 2050. They didn't specify how those cuts should be reached or provide intermediate targets.
9 July Bloomberg article

Group of Eight leaders meeting in Japan wrangled over the timeframe to fight global warming, but they have a set deadline when their pledges will be reviewed -- in 100 years. Their summit documents, along with current newspapers, will be buried in a time capsule at the luxury hotel where they met for three days in the mountain resort of Toyako in northern Japan.
9 July AFP article

China, India snub world on targets and urge G8 to do more

China, India and other major developing nations have rejected a push by the world's richest countries for them to commit to firm targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. In a setback for international climate negotiations, the emerging giants of the world economy refused to endorse a statement by the Group of Eight wealthy nations in which they proclaimed a "shared vision" to at least halve emissions by 2050. The so-called "Group of Five" developing economies - China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa - say rich nations must take the lead on emissions cuts, as they were historically responsible for climate change.
10 July The Age article
9 July Reuters article

One day after a long-term target for combatting climate change was adopted by the Group of Eight, the world's main developing countries refused to sign on because they want wealthy countries to commit to taking on a heavier burden over the next decade.
9 July Globe and Mail article

A new global deal on climate change heralded by G8 leaders as a significant step forward yesterday ran into trouble within hours as developing nations including China and India rejected it because they believe the commitments are not strong enough.
9 July Guardian article

Chinese President Hu Jintao urged the world's major economies to play an exemplary role in meeting the needs of the UN convention and the Kyoto Protocol. "The world has to fight climate change together but the responsibilities of the developed and developing countries in this battle has to be different" the President said.
10 July China Daily article
9 July China View article

Five of the biggest emerging economies have urged leading industrial nations to do more to combat climate change. Mexico, Brazil, China, India and South Africa challenged the Group of Eight countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% by 2050.
8 July BBC News online article

G8 nations fail to meet climate change promises: report

A new study says none of the leading industrialized nations have come close to meeting their promises to slash greenhouse gas emissions, with the US, Canada and Russia trailing especially far behind.
3 July Deutsche Welle article

No climate breakthrough on G8 horizon: UN climate chief

The top United Nations climate official called on rich nations to lead the fight against global warming, but said a breakthrough was unlikely the upcoming G8 summit in Japan. "At this moment it doesn't look very encouraging," said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
3 July AFP article through Yahoo News

China warns of 'empty talk' before G8 climate change meet

China said it is open to general discussion of longer-term goals and industrial targets to combat global warming at the G8 summit, but fended off talk of any specific pledges, stressing rich nations should lead the way. Despite its growing economic and diplomatic clout, China is not a member of the Group of Eight industrialised countries whose leaders are preparing to meet in northern Japan.
3 July Reuters article 

No need to give up meat to save planet, says Blair

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has distanced himself from the idea that he should become a vegetarian as a way of highlighting the dangers of deforestation in his role as a climate change campaigner. Blair, who is backing a plan for the world to halve greenhouse gases by 2050, said deforestation was responsible for producing four times as many as emissions as the airline industry.
8 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

Eight South Asian nations unite to combat climate change

As rising seas, melting glaciers, floods and cyclones are increasingly putting millions of people at risk in South Asia, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) met to find ways to mitigate the impacts of changing climate.
8 July IPS article

Don't count on long-term success in climate policy, study

Long-term climate change policy in the US and abroad is likely to change very slowly, warns a researcher who calls for stronger short-term goals to reduce carbon emissions, according to a new study. Lead author Prof. Mort Webster writes that climate policy decisions are normally made as sequential decisions over time under uncertainty – given the magnitude of uncertainty in both economic and scientific processes, the decades-to-centuries time scale of the phenomenon, and the ability to reduce uncertainty and revise decisions along the way.
6 July ScienceDaily article

UN Secretary calls for global action to save global growth

UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, calls on the leaders of the G8 nations to set firm targets for combating climate change and the global food crisis when they meet in Hokkaido, Japan.
3 July The Washington Post article by Ban Ki-moon

Climate risk from flat-screen TVs

The rising demand for flat-screen televisions could have a greater impact on global warming than the world's largest coal-fired power stations, a leading environmental scientist warned. Manufacturers use a greenhouse gas called nitrogen trifluoride to make the televisions, and as the sets have become more popular, annual production of the gas has risen to about 4,000 tonnes. As a driver of global warming, nitrogen trifluoride is 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
3 July Guardian article

Governments must make people face up to climate change

The time has passed for subsidies and grants. The time has passed for our leaders to treat us like clients - advertising, cajoling, giving incentives and subsidies. It is time now for a leadership that does not attend to popularity ratings or re-election percentages. Climate change is happening. We, and the generations before us, have caused it. It should not matter whether we believe it or not.
3 July Guardian opinion

Climate change: Time for deeds not words to reach emissions target, PwC study warns

Severe adverse effects from climate change can be avoided at reasonable cost but only if politicians stop talking and start acting, a major report from PricewaterhouseCoopers says. Updating a study it conducted two years ago, it calls on leaders of the Group of Eight leading economies, particularly the United States - the world's largest per capita polluter - to commit themselves to firm timetables for emissions reductions at next week's summit in Tokyo.
3 July Guardian article

Thailand keen to pick up CDM tips

At a time when major developing and developed nations are finding it difficult to control carbon dioxide emissions, green house gas emissions and the environment pollution level, official records show that maximum number of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects have been registered by Indian companies. CDM is one of the three major mechanisms for reducing carbon dioxide emission to 5.2 per cent lower than 1990 level, according to Kyoto Protocol standards.
3 July The Business Standard article

Which countries would you pick for your climate team?

Tackling climate change calls for global teamwork, but some countries have been less-than-perfect partners. In order to understand why some nations fall behind in their international climate duties, Michèle Bättig and colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, created a Climate Cooperation Index.
2 July New Scientist article

Developed countries declarations on climate change make no sense

Industrialised countries should meet their own commitments in the fight against climate change rather than asking countries like India and China to cap greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the Indian prime minister's principal negotiator on climate change Shyam Saran said.
2 July China View article

World's top 16 emitters to create climate forum, Nikkei says

The world's 16 biggest emitters of greenhouse gases are likely to create a forum to discuss a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, Nikkei English News said. An agreement on the forum is expected on July 9 on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Japan, the newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.
2 July Bloomberg article

UN's Ban presses China on climate change

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told China 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.
1 July AFP article through Yahoo News

Agriculture and Natural Resource Management

Australian carbon costs to hurt food exports - farmers

Australian food production and exports could be cut when carbon trading starts from mid-2010, Australia's biggest farmers' group said, with the price of carbon to add to already hefty price rises for fuel. The farmers' disquiet follows fears expressed by big business this month that Australian firms, particularly large energy companies, could lose out to global competitors or be forced to shelve projects due to the country's cap-and-trade carbon plan.
30 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

Australian Govt launches farmer climate change training program

The Federal Government has launched a $26 million scheme to give farmers access to training programs to deal with the impacts of climate change. Under the scheme, primary producers will receive grants to attend courses to help them understand the implications of climate change and train them to use new technology.
29 July ABC News online article

Developing nations of 'Rainforest Coalition' agree to avoid deforestation

Representatives of 27 developing countries, members of the so called "Rainforest Coalition", have agreed to reduce gas emissions and avoid deforestation. Delegates at a two-day meeting in Santa Cruz agreed on the need for rich nations to recognize the efforts made by developing countries to reduce gas emissions, and to avoid the destruction and degradation of forests.
30 July mathaba.net article

Rainforest conservation could offset 500m tons of CO2 emissions at $2/ton

Industrialised nations could collectively offset 500 million tons carbon of dioxide emissions at roughly $2 per ton by protecting tropical rainforests, according to estimates published in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The calculations, based on three different forestry and land-use models, provide an estimate of what developed nations would need to spend to participate in an "avoided deforestation" program to cut global carbon emissions.
24 July Mongabay.com article
23 July PNAS journal article doi:10.1073/pnas.0710616105

Tanzania: Govt on spot over biofuel production

More than 600,000 hectares of fertile land suitable for food production in the country have been hived off for the cultivation of bio-fuel crops, an independent study by a land use research organisation has revealed. The revelation came even as the Government was put under pressure by MPs to halt the allocations and cancel those that have been made at the expense of food production.
23 July allAfrica.com article

Using trees to fight climate change

Farmers are being urged to use their trees to help combat the effects of climate change. Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones launched a review of the Woodland Strategy for Wales against the background of a research paper that spells out the potential effects of climate change on Welsh woodlands. The Minister wants farmers to work with the forestry sector and use the trees on their land to help combat climate change.
22 July WalesOnline article

Dried-up Murray-Darling will leave 1m thirsty

Australia's worst fears about the drought-stricken Murray River have been confirmed again with available drinking water supplies plummeting to record lows. The diabolical forecast for the Murray-Darling Basin - the nation's food bowl which is supposed to sustain thousands of farmers and irrigators - showed a rapid deterioration of water between March and June this year, a joint report by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and state governments warned.
21 July news.com.au article

'Forest Nations' initiative pushed in Europe

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has continued his campaign in Austria and the United Kingdom to focus attention on PNG and forest nations’ initiatives to combat climate change while pursuing “clean” economic growth. Sir Michael put forward at the European Forum in Austria initiatives for developed countries to cooperate with developing countries to reduce carbon emissions while still allowing sustainable development to take place.
18 July Pacific Magazine article

Forestry carbon bid

The Australian Government will push to expand forestry's role in international emissions trading as part of a post-Kyoto carbon agreement. The Government's green paper on cutting carbon emissions, not only included forestry as a carbon sink, but went beyond the Kyoto Protocol in recognising carbon stored in wood products.
18 July The Age article

Scientists make methane the sacred cow of climate change

Oh, I say. Family First senator Stephen Fielding certainly knows how to attract attention. Headlining the political party's latest media missive, the senator posed this delightful question, ''Will there be a Fart Tax Mr Rudd?''
16 July The Canberra Times opinion

CSIRO paints a grim picture of Murray in new report

The Murray River could be robbed of more than two-thirds of the flows at its mouth by 2030 due to climate change and extraction. Kevin Rudd released the grim results of CSIRO modelling, and made a long-term pledge to cut greenhouse emissions. "We're moving to tackle climate change with a new scheme to reduce the carbon pollution that causes climate change," the Prime Minister said. "The situation in the Murray-Darling Basin demonstrates that doing nothing is not an option."
15 July The Australian article
14 July ABC News online article

Zambia: Farmers adapt to climate change

Zambia is feeling the effects of global warming and experts warn that urgent measures are needed to avoid critical food shortages. Scientific research has shown that rising temperatures around the world are in part to blame for the floods and drought facing some regions today. Several stakeholders are now looking at how smallholder farmers are changing their methods in order to continue producing under conditions created by climate change.
14 July Africa News article

Canada's Boreal forest gets some protection

A huge swath of Canada's northern Boreal forest will be permanently protected from tree harvesting and mining as part of a plan to combat climate change, Ontario province's premier announced. The forest forms a band of mostly coniferous trees almost 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) wide across the entire country, and has remained mostly undisturbed since the retreat of glaciers 10,000 years ago. But growing foreign demand for Canada's natural resources, as well as increased annual forest fires and insect infestations due to warming, are threatening this pristine wilderness.
14 July AFP article through Yahoo News

Forest funding 'could put billions in wrong hands'

The rush to protect forests as a way to tackle global warming could see billions of pounds handed over to corrupt politicians, criminals and polluting industries, experts have warned. The Rights and Resources Initiative, a coalition of groups from around the world, says not enough has been done to address land rights in tropical countries, where much of the money is being directed. Without clearer guidelines on land ownership and involvement by local people, they say, the funds provided by rich countries, including Britain, to protect trees could fuel violent conflict and fail to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
14 July Guardian article

Booming demand for food, fuel and wood as the world's population surges from six to nine billion will put unprecedented and unsustainable de