eCarbon News

June 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

Carbon load to be spread

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner says the federal Government cannot offer widespread exemptions from its proposed emissions trading scheme without placing excessive pressure on industries that will be covered by the regime. Mr Tanner told The Australian he was being lobbied by businesses arguing for a one-in, all-in approach to emissions trading, under which the Government would put a price on carbon emissions to encourage a transition to a low-emission economy. His warning that the Government could not exempt economic sectors "left, right and centre", came as Kevin Rudd savaged the federal Opposition as "an absolute policy shambles" on the issue, and as Brendan Nelson continued to distance the Coalition from pre-election promises to include fuel in an emissions scheme.
27 June The Australian article
27 June The Australian opinion

Climate change fight needs political ardour: Greenpeace

Greenpeace says the only thing Australia lacks in the fight against climate change is political will. The environment group is stepping up its campaign on the issue, sending its ship the Esperanza to ports on the eastern seaboard to call for urgent action.
27 June ABC News online article

Going nuclear not essential: Rudd

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia does not need to resort to nuclear energy as part of its climate change strategy. A newspaper report says that former NSW premier Bob Carr and Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes are urging the Federal Government to consider the use of nuclear energy. The report says Mr Carr believes that nuclear energy can be used while renewable energy sources continue to be developed. However Mr Rudd told ABC's AM program that nuclear options are not needed.
27 June ABC News online article

Liberals back petrol in carbon trading scheme

The Federal Opposition has signalled cautious support for including petrol in a carbon trading scheme, as long as it does not drive up fuel prices. Federal Parliament is now in recess for two months after a week dominated by debate on climate change.
27 June ABC News online article

Heating a fuel tax is explosive politics

Good climate change policy includes more than petrol. Given the level of public concern over rising petrol prices, it is only natural the Opposition has decided to play politics with what was once a key part of its own climate change response. It now says transport fuels, which account for about 17 per cent of Australia's carbon emissions, should not automatically be included in any carbon trading scheme. To its credit, the Rudd Government has not taken the bait. Rather, given the groundwork already laid with the symbolic ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, the Government has used the Opposition's U-turn to climb back onto the high moral ground.
26 June The Australian opinion

New greenhouse emissions reporting system to start

From Tuesday 1 July businesses emitting large amounts of greenhouse gases will be required to monitor and measure the emissions ahead of reporting them to the Government by October next year. Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, said the requirements were part of Australia’s new National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System. “The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System will be an important part of our efforts to
tackle climate change as we move to establish an emissions trading scheme,” Senator Wong said.
26 June Dept of Climate Change and Water media release
27 June The Canberra Times article

Millions of 'green collar' workers needed by 2015: report

A CSIRO report predicts a carbon emissions trading scheme will require three million workers to be trained or re-skilled by 2015. The report warns the Federal Government that bold steps will be needed to ensure overall employment growth is not endangered by emissions trading. But it has also found that a scheme could lead to an increase in employment rather than job losses.
26 June ABC News online article
26 June ACF article
26 June CSIRO report

Brendan Nelson discusses emissions trading

Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has discussed emissions trading in a radio interview on the ABC's AM program.
26 June Liberal Party transcript

Opposition's 30c petrol rise 'hysteria'

The Federal Opposition's claims that petrol prices will soar by 30 cents a litre if fuel is included in a carbon-emission trading scheme are based on "hysteria", an expert says. The initial effect on bowser prices would be about three cents a litre, or about six cents within five years, emissions trading expert Brett Janissen says.
25 June news.com.au article

Fuel prices could rise under carbon trading scheme: Rudd

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has not been able to rule out a petrol price rise under the carbon emissions trading scheme. In a rowdy Question Time, the first half of which was dominated by climate change, Mr Rudd was challenged to confirm if the scheme would raise the cost of petrol. Mr Rudd agreed that prices could rise.
25 June ABC News online article

Motorists have had their strongest hint yet to prepare for higher petrol prices under the Rudd Government's plan to fight climate change.
25 June Herald Sun article

Greens label fuel price debate 'populist nonsense'

The Greens say both sides of politics should stop bickering over populist measures to drive down fuel prices. Greens Senator Christine Milne says the focus should be on cutting back Australia's reliance on oil.
19 June ABC News online article

We need tough love, not bad parenting

Elizabeth Farrelly argues that Australians need to accept higher fuel prices as a means to change our fuel-guzzling habits- "...human behaviour can change, and be changed by tax. So we must reject the bad parenting our leaders pathetically offer, demanding instead the tough love we need. Demand, for our own sake, the increased fuel prices that can make change smooth, not catastrophic. That's moral courage. That's citizenship."
4 June Sydney Morning Herald opinion

Climate change major threat to Queensland

Queensland has more to lose from climate change than any other Australian state, with the twin threats of severe drought and intense cyclones, a new report shows. The state government has responded by launching a $3 million campaign to get householders to shrink their carbon footprints.
25 June news.com.au article

Australia on track to meet Kyoto greenhouse gas emission target

Australia must work harder to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions despite a report indicating the nation will meet its Kyoto pollution target, the climate minister said. The government released a report on Australia's emissions for 2006, the first official progress report since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's new government ratified the Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in December last year.
24 June International Herald Tribune article

Smart policy can improve families’ energy affordability

The Climate Institute released a discussion paper from economists at CSIRO and the Australian National University on the impact of emissions trading on household energy budgets. This first of its kind analysis finds that for most households wage growth will outstrip increases in energy prices, improving energy affordability over coming years. Energy efficiency policies and some targeted payments can ensure this happens for all families.
23 June The Climate Institute media release and full report
23 June news.com.au article

Greens senators list options for relieving the burden of climate change costs

Greens Senators Bob Brown and Christine Milne pointed to options, other than cash compensation, for the government to relieve the burden of climate change costs on low income earners. Senator Milne pointed to the Greens’ EASI scheme to retrofit all Australian households with energy saving options such as insulation and solar hot-water systems, which would permanently reduce power bills and greenhouse gas emissions. Senator Brown pointed to investment in fast, efficient public transport as another way to give low income earners assistance in coping with rising petrol prices.
23 June Senator Bob Brown media release

Global warming to boost Pacific pests

While global warming threatens the lowlying countries of the Pacific, higher temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are expected to give invasive pests from South Pacific countries a major advantage. Australian ecologist Tim Low says pests will adapt faster to climate change, and cope better with extreme weather events like cyclones and fires.
22 June ABC Radio online article

Mining executive warns on cost of climate change policy

Australians will need to make big sacrifices if the nation is to achieve a 60 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, a mining executive warns. Peter Freyberg, who heads the Australian coal operations of Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata, cautioned that government measures to arrest climate change would have a big impact on Australians.
21 June Herald Sun article

World heritage sites 'threatened by climate change'

The Federal Government is being asked to support a move for international recognition of climate change as a threat to world heritage sites. An Australian legal and environment group has joined with a US group to urge the World Heritage Centre to adopt guidelines that take climate change into account in planning for the conservation of world heritage sites.
21 June ABC News online article

Garrett funds emissions testing facility for heavy duty vehicles

Australia’s first engine emissions test facility for heavy duty vehicles will be built in Western Australia with $2.76 million in Australian Government funding, announced by Environment Minister Peter Garrett. “This project will assist with funding the development of the first facility in Australia capable of testing heavy duty vehicle engines to international certification level testing for both regulated and greenhouse gas emissions,” Mr Garrett said.
20 June Dept of Environment, Heritage and the Arts media release

Climate change refugees the forgotten people

Australia has a duty to help those who will lose their homes to rising sea levels. This is National Refugee Week, an appropriate time for Australians to consider the plight of climate refugees — those people being displaced as a result of sea-level rise, drought and extreme weather events.
18 June The Age opinion

Greens’ renewable energy ‘feed-in’ bill referred to Senate Committee

Australian Greens climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, welcomed the referral of her Private Member’s Bill for a comprehensive national feed-in law to the Senate Environment Committee as an important step towards a 100% renewably powered Australia and a vital opportunity for Australia’s renewable energy sector to actively campaign for real support.
17 June Senator Christine Milne media release

Moving on from fossil fuels: Progressing Australia to a hydrogen energy economy

In the midst of rising oil prices and intensifying debate on renewable energy, the Australian Academy of Science has produced a report which examines Australia's contribution to research into hydrogen as a future energy carrier. The report is based on an analysis of Australian hydrogen energy research publications and funding. The study found that although Australian research is a minor component of this fast-moving field, Australian researchers are making significant contributions in areas such as in hydrogen storage materials, carbon capture and storage, and solar-thermal reforming of natural gas.
16 June Australian Academy of Science media release and report

New climate change report on the Murrumbidgee region

Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, has welcomed the release of a report on the effects of climate change on water availability in the Murrumbidgee region in southern New South Wales. The report forms part of the CSIRO Murray-Darling Basin Sustainable Yields project, being undertaken on behalf of the Australian Government and the Murray-Darling Basin states. The project looks at the impacts of climate change and land use change across the Basin’s 18 regions.
16 June Dept for Climate Change and Water media release

Aust scientists call for urgent climate change action

A group of high-profile Australians has issued a statement that has been described as a 'call to arms' to avoid the dangerous effects of climate change. The group, which includes some of the country's leading scientists, population and health experts - as well as politicians - is calling for an urgent response to global warming.
14 June ABC News online article
12 June The Age article

Australia 'holding up UN climate deal'

Australia is blocking the progress of a post-Kyoto climate change accord, a delegate at an UN conference in Germany says. A UN meeting in Bonn, Germany, adjourned after making little progress, with delegates worried the glacial pace could delay the accord past the target date. Participants said not enough ideas were put on the table, and environmental organisations accused Australia, the US and Canada of obstructing progress.
14 June news.com.au article

Australia and Indonesia sign greenhouse agreement

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australian Prime Minister Ken Rudd signed an agreement to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, Rudd told a joint news conference. Indonesia, which hosted a UN climate change conference in December, has been a driving force behind calls for rich countries to compensate poor states that preserve their rainforests to soak up greenhouse gases.
13 June Reuters article

$2.8 million for coastal communities

The Rudd Government is providing $2.8 million for three new projects to help Australia’s vulnerable coastal communities plan for the effects of climate change. Announcing the projects in Fremantle, Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, said adapting to the unavoidable effects of climate change is a priority under the Government’s climate change policy.
13 June Dept for Climate Change and Water media release

NT Govt seeks community guidance on climate change response

The Northern Territory Government is seeking feedback from the community about climate change. The Government says it will have a climate change policy ready by the beginning of next year.
12 June ABC News online article

Govt 'knew about' climate change in 1984

The Hawke government knew about the risks of climate change 25 years ago but did little about them, according to Labor heavyweight Barry Jones who was a federal minister at the time. Dr Jones cast himself as an Australian version of climate campaigner Al Gore in a speech to a Canberra conference. He said he was the first politician to sound the alarm on global warming, as science minister in 1984.
11 June Sydney Morning Herald article

Exotic pests 'the joker in the climate change pack'

Researchers attending a national pest conference in Darwin are warning that climate change will demand greater surveillance for exotic pests. Andreas Glanznig from the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre says global warming could favour the black striped mussel, climbing perch, walking catfish and black spined toad. The warning comes as the federal Department of Agriculture reviews Australia's national quarantine and biosecurity arrangements.
10 June ABC News article

Rudd hails Kyoto's 'hope for future'

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has paid tribute to the Japanese city of Kyoto for its role in dealing with climate change policy. In a welcoming ceremony at Kyoto's luxurious state guest house, Mr Rudd and wife Therese Rein were met by Kyoto's governor. Two geisha were also on hand to welcome Mr Rudd, who said he had wanted to visit the city because of its crucial role in world climate change policy.
10 June ABC News article

Concern at lack of climate change research into marine eco-systems

A CSIRO scientist has warned Australia's fight against climate change is being compromised by a lack of local research. Hobart-based researcher Elvira Poloczanska is the co-author of an article in the latest edition of the journal Science that identifies a lack of research into the impact of climate change on marine eco-systems.
7 June ABC News online article

Rudd's Japan, Indonesia trip to tackle climate change

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will focus on climate change and forming a European-style union in Asia during a visit to Japan and Indonesia.
6 June Bloomberg article

'Climate change will beat us'

Economist Ross Garnaut thinks humanity will probably lose the fight against climate change. The architect of Australia's response to climate change says the issue is "too hard" and there is "just a chance" the world will face up to the problem before it's too late. Professor Garnaut issued the chilling prognosis in a speech in Canberra.
5 June news.com.au article

World news

Emissions, Kyoto and policy

'We've passed the safe CO2 concentration' - Hansen

Renowned NASA climate scientists James Hansen argues that the "safe level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is no more than 350 parts per million, and it may be less." This recommended level is less than the amount currently in the atmosphere - 385 ppm. His views have gained wider support in the scientific community, though some see it as unrealistic.
27 June Discovery Channel article
23 June The New York Times article
24 June CNN.com article

California unveils major plan to slash emissions

California took a major step forward on its global warming fight by unveiling an ambitious plan for clean cars, renewable energy and stringent caps on big polluting industries. The plan, which aims to reduce pollutants by 10 per cent from current levels by 2020 while driving investment in new energy technologies that will benefit the state's economy, is the most comprehensive yet by any US state.
25 June Reuters article

McCain bucks Bush on climate change

Republican Presidential nominee-elect John McCain vowed to combat global warming without sacrificing economic growth, contradicting President George W. Bush on the need for binding emissions cuts. Unlike Bush, McCain pressed for mandatory cuts in emissions of warming gases as he spoke at a California event alongside Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who opposes the White House hopeful's call for offshore oil drilling.
25 June AFP article

New Hampshire is among 11 battleground states targeted for Republican John McCain’s second television ad of the general election campaign. The new 30-second ad, which began airing on WMUR and cable networks, attempts to separate McCain from President George W. Bush on the global warming issue.
17 June UnionLeader.com article

Taking climate change seriously - finally

It's been a long time coming, but the United States is finally going to have a President who takes climate change seriously enough to do something about it. The day before Senator Barack Obama clinched the Democratic Party's nomination for president, his colleagues in the United States Senate began preparing for the biggest global warming vote in Washington's history.
8 June CBS News article

US climate change bill blocked

US lawmakers blocked a sweeping climate change bill, after Republican warnings of high energy costs dashed Democrats' hopes for pollution caps under President George W. Bush's administration.
6 June AFP article through Yahoo News

Congress retreated from the world's biggest environmental concern — global warming — in a fresh demonstration of what happens when nature and business collide, especially in an election year. Senate Democratic leaders couldn't overcome Republican opponents who managed to block the most serious effort in Congress to date to address the warming of the planet. The legislation called for cutting greenhouse gases by 71 percent from power plants, refineries and factories over the next 40 years.
6 June Associated Press article

Before the anticlimactic demise of legislation to combat global warming, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, called climate change “the most important issue facing the world today.” Senator George Voinovich, Republican of Ohio, a critic of the bill, nonetheless called it “the most significant piece of legislation to ever come out of the Environment and Public Works Committee.”
7 June The New York Times article

The most obvious lesson to be learned from the Senate’s failure to mount any sort of grown-up debate on climate change last week is that the country needs a new occupant in the White House. By that we mean a president who not only understands and cares deeply about the issue, but who is willing to invest the time and the political capital necessary to push good legislation through Congress.
11 June The New York Times opinion

If Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" convinced Americans that global warming is a problem, rising gasoline prices and the recent bungled Senate debate on emissions regulations may have convinced the public that it isn't ready to take action to curb greenhouse gas emissions just yet.
10 June The Wall Street Journal Digital Network article

A piece of legislation which called for significant reductions in U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions was shelved by the US Senate by a 48-36 vote. Although the bill was not likely to pass in an election year, it may be viewed as a positive when a new president takes office, because both Presidential Candidates Barack Obama and John McCain favor mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
11 June Logistics Management article

A US economist praises Congress for planning to fight global warming, but he says the plan being considered would hasten environmental calamity. Peter Morici, former chief economist at the US International Trade Commission, is concerned about the Warner-Lieberman bill pending in the Senate. It would limit US greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 to 2005 levels, and reduce those by 70 percent in 2050.
4 June UPI.com article
3 June The Christian Science Monitor article

Even before debate began on the first comprehensive climate change bill to reach the Senate floor, the White House said President George W. Bush would veto it in its current form. Bush himself slammed the bill, saying it would cost the US economy $6 trillion. His estimate drew quick denials from those who support the legislation.
3 June Reuters article

Ex-EPA official critical on climate change

A high-ranking political appointee resigned from the Environmental Protection Agency after concluding there was no more progress to be made on greenhouse gases under the Bush administration. Jason Burnett, associate deputy administrator for about a year before his resignation took effect June 9, was the principle adviser on climate change issues to agency chief Stephen Johnson. He helped developed the EPA's response to last year's Supreme Court ruling that the agency had the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
25 June Associated Press article

Annan: Rich countries must take lead in tackling climate change

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that industrialised countries must take the lead in dealing with the threat of climate change. "Looking at global emissions from a per capita perspective, it is obvious that the richest countries must take the lead," Annan told the first annual meeting of his new humanitarian forum. "We must have climate justice," Annan said. "We must recognise that the polluters must pay, not the poor and vulnerable."
24 June China View article

Museveni wants compensation for climate change effects

Developing countries should be compensated for the negative effects of climate change, according to President Yoweri Museveni. "Africa, a home to a-sixth of the global population, is responsible for less than one-twenty-fifth of the global greenhouse gas emissions," he noted. "Implicit in these statistics is the right to compensation from those primarily responsible for global warming."
24 June New Vision Kampala article through allAfrica.com

UN climate chief asks G8 summit to agree on 2020 emission targets

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer has urged next month's Group of Eight summit in Japan to come to an agreement on mid-term targets for carbon emission cuts. "My hope is that the G8 summit would lead to a agreement amongst G8 countries on the direction of their emission reductions by 2020. So perhaps agreeing that their efforts should be guided by a certain range of emissions reductions," De Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), told journalists in Geneva.
24 June AFP article

Seoul meeting lowers G8 expectations

Major carbon dioxide emitters failed to agree on a numerical target for reducing the world's greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050 even though the final session of a two-day meeting in Seoul was extended, conference sources said. According to the sources, however, participants in the fourth Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change (MEM) did manage to hammer out a broad agreement on a draft MEM leaders' declaration to be issued on July 9 after talks to be held on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit meeting in Toyakocho, Hokkaido, which starts July 7.
24 June Daily Yomiuri Online article

US envoy says no 'G8 solution' to climate change

The US ambassador to Japan has voiced doubt on whether the upcoming Group of Eight summit would take action on climate change, saying that any solution must also involve developing nations. Host Japan has expressed hope that the July 7-9 summit of the Group of Eight (G8) rich nations -- Britain, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States -- will help shape negotiations on a post-Kyoto climate treaty. But Thomas Schieffer, the US ambassador to Japan, said that any solution on curbing greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming needed to bring on board major emitters in the developing world such as China and India.
16 June AFP article

Scientists warn G8 of climate peril to food

Scientists from Group of Eight countries and the five biggest emerging nations urged next month's G8 summit to ratchet up action against global warming, warning that climate change threatened food and water supplies. The 13 academies called for leaders to commit to a goal -- sketched in the 2007 Heiligendamm summit as something they would "seriously consider" -- that would halve global emissions of carbon gases by 2050.
9 June AFP article through Yahoo News

Tough 2020 climate goals unachievable - US

The United States will tell a July meeting of the Group of Eight rich nations that it cannot meet big cuts in emissions of planet-warming gases by 2020, its chief climate negotiator Harlan Watson said. "It's frankly not do-able for us," he told Reuters, referring to a goal for rich countries to curb greenhouse gases by 25-40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.
4 June Reuters article through Planet Ark

Report shows EU emissions falling slightly in 2006

EU member states have made progress in cutting their greenhouse gas emissions to be on course to meet their Kyoto targets, according to data released for 2006. But the EU Commission is particularly concerned about emissions rises in the new member states. The report, released by the European Environment Agency (EEA), shows emissions from the EU 27 fell by 0.3% from 2005 levels, and 7.7% from the base level of 1990. Total emissions amounted to over 5.1 billion tonnes of CO2 emitted in 2006, compared to almost 5.6 billion tonnes in 1990.
23 June EurActiv article

Resetting Earth's thermostat

Policymakers have only considered two responses to climate change: cutting emissions, and adaptation - that is, learning to live with a warmer planet. There is, however, a third possible strategy, one that could be fast, effective and affordable -- but that is being ignored. This idea is commonly known as geo-engineering.
23 June Los Angeles Times opinion

Blowing smoke on climate change

The good news is the world's two biggest polluters are talking about energy. The bad news is they are not talking seriously about climate change. As talks between the United States and China wend inevitably in the directions set by the arcane and intricate requirements of bilateral investment, you have to wonder why the most important issue of all is way down the list.
23 June The Standard opinion

Russia must act now on environment: Medvedev

Parts of Russia will be uninhabitable within the next three decades if the country does not take better care of the environment, Russian news agencies quoted President Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev, addressing law students in his home city of St Petersburg, said Russians had been more concerned about survival than the environment in the 1990s.
21 June Reuters article

Residents of proposed eco-towns may be fined for using cars

Residents of Gordon Brown's eco-towns are set to face fines for driving their cars out of the controversial green settlements. Motorists living in England's new eco-towns may also be expected to park their cars at the outskirts and walk or cycle to their homes.
17 June Telegraph article

Oregon Governor outlines climate change proposals

All new buildings constructed in Oregon could be required to achieve zero net emissions by 2030 under a set of legislative proposals outlined by Gov. Ted Kulongoski. Speaking in Portland to a climate conference, Kulongoski outlined a series of energy efficiency proposals to complement his major push in the upcoming 2009 legislature: a cap-and-trade system on carbon emissions.
17 June Portland Business Journal article

1000+ amendments to NZ climate change bill

The future of controversial climate change legislation in New Zealand is in the balance after it was reported back from a parliamentary select committee with more than a thousand amendments. The bill seeks to set up a greenhouse gas emission trading scheme (ETS) and has been through a fraught process to take it to this stage.
16 June stuff.co.nz article

Attempting to 'kick the carbon habit'

The stunning natural landscape defines the national character of New Zealand, so to the average inhabitant climate change must seem like a remote concern. But Prime Minister, Helen Clark, is urging them to "kick the carbon habit" and reduce their net greenhouse gas emissions to zero.
9 June BBC News article

Green group takes Ottawa to court over Kyoto law

An environmental group is preparing to argue in court that the Canadian federal government has run afoul of the law by flouting its obligations to reduce greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol. Friends of the Earth's lawyers will ask a Federal Court judge to compel the Conservatives to follow a climate-change law they've blithely ignored since Parliament passed it one year ago."It's a simple case requiring the government to comply with the law," said Ecojustice lawyer Hugh Wilkins, who is working with Friends of the Earth.
16 June Canadian Press article

Draft second edition of CCB Standards available for public comment

The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) invites you to review the Draft Second Edition of the Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB)Standards. The First Edition of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Project Design Standards represents the culmination of two years of intensive collaborative effort, including expert input, field testing and independent review. From February 2008 the CCB Standards has been undergoing revision in preparation for a Second Edition and feedback is invited from a wide range of users, experts and those affected by the Standards.
15 June CCBA download draft standards

China increases lead as biggest carbon dioxide emitter

China has clearly overtaken the United States as the world’s leading emitter of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas produced by human activity, a new study has found, its emissions increasing 8 percent in 2007. The Chinese increase accounted for two-thirds of the growth in the year’s global greenhouse gas emissions, the study found.
14 June The New York Times article

US official urges more cooperation with China on climate change

The United States and China have no choice but to cooperate closely on combating global warming to work out long-term solutions that could be shared by the world, said a visiting US senior environmental official. "We share a lot in common in terms of challenges ... our two countries have no choice but to cooperate more aggressively on clean energy technologies, because we face the same challenges and we need similar solutions," said James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
13 June China View article

UN climate deal said "daunting" as Bonn talks end

The world faces a daunting task to agree a new deal by the end of 2009 to slow climate change, the United Nations said as 170-country talks ended with recriminations about scant progress. Developing nations at the June 2-13 meeting accused the rich of dragging their feet in setting new cuts of greenhouse gases and failing to offer enough ideas for sharing new technology or for aiding the poor to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
13 June Reuters article
13 June IISD Reporting Services Bonn meetings summary report and report on side events

Negotiators from more than 172 countries are meeting in Bonn to hammer out a deal that may culminate in a new global climate agreement. In this week's Green Room, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer argues that negotiators want to see more of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism, not less.
10 June BBC News opinion 

The chairman of United Nations climate talks urged governments to boost efforts to secure a new deal to tackle global warming by making specific proposals as soon as possible. Participants hope to reach an agreement by December 2009 so that it can come into force after the first round of the Kyoto Protocol, which is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, ends in 2012.
6 June Reuters article

Africa: one voice on climate change

Africa needs one common strategy on climate change to stand any chance of persuading rich countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 25 to 40 percent by 2020, environment ministers agreed at a meeting in Johannesburg.
12 June IRIN article through allAfrica.com

City seeks to be carbon neutral

Stirling is aiming to become the UK's first carbon neutral city. Funding of £1.25m has been given to the community-led project, Going Carbon Neutral Stirling (GCNS), which hopes to reduce the area's environmental impact.
12 June BBC News online article

Global warming could release trillions of pounds of carbon annually from East Siberia's vast frozen soils

East Siberia's permafrost contains about 500 Gigatons (1100 trillion pounds) of frozen carbon deposits that are highly susceptible to disturbances as the climate warms.
12 June ScienceDaily article
20 May Geophysical Res. Lett. 35, abstract

Cut landfills to slash emissions: Study

Reducing waste going to landfills and incinerators to near zero is one of the quickest and cheapest way to make significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by an alliance of waste management organisations. The report is also critical of the inclusion of landfill gas project activity in carbon credit schemes.
12 June Carbon Positive article
5 June Stop trashing the climate (report)

Bush: Global climate pact possible on my watch

President George W. Bush said that a global climate change deal was possible before he leaves office in January 2009. "I think we can actually get an agreement on global climate change during my presidency," Bush said at his final summit with leaders of the European Union, which is at odds with the US approach. Bush is unwilling to set binding targets in the United States without undertakings from emerging economies such as China and India.
10 June AFP article through Yahoo News
10 June China News article

Franco-German car emissions deal gets cool welcome

Environmentalists and the European Commission reacted coolly to a plan by Germany and France to tighten limits on auto pollution — but not by as much as the EU wants. The proposed EU law would compel car makers to have all their models emit an average of no more than 120 grams of carbon-dioxide per kilometer by 2012. By 2015, the limit would be 95 grams.
10 June International Herald Tribune article

National academies weigh in on climate and health

Calling some effects from global warming inevitable, the science academies of 13 nations -- including the United States -- issued a joint statement calling on world leaders to cut greenhouse gas pollution in half by 2050 and speed up technology research that helps foster a "low-carbon society."
10 June ABC News article
10 June ScienceNews article

Finnish PM urges rich nations to take lead on climate change

Finland's Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen has urged developed countries to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while helping emerging economies with clean energy technologies. "Competition for vital natural resources, in particular water, may further intensify in many parts of the world as a result of changing weather patterns. This is likely to lead to increasing local and regional strife," he said.
9 June AFP article

UK says West shouldn't 'demonise' China, India on environment

UK Business Secretary John Hutton said Western leaders shouldn't "demonize'' China and India over their carbon emissions, arguing that growing nations have a right to the higher living standards that come from using more energy.
7 June Bloomberg article

Hot air over global warming

Fresh reports every day tell of glaciers melting, thinning polar ice triggering prospects of a scramble for the riches under the Arctic ice cap, worries about rising water levels inundating low-lying countries, and soaring oil prices. Amid this background, ministers of the Group of Eight industrialized nations and leading developing countries such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa, their leading scientists, and bureaucrats met in Kobe to do something about the most pressing environmental issues the world faces. The deliberations produced just another few million dollars of hot air.
7 June The Japan Times article

Hurdle for future cities: human habits

Among the United Arab Emirate’s seemingly endless construction sites, developers outside of Abu Dhabi have broken ground on perhaps the most ambitious green-city project in the world. With government support, the Masdar Initiative will create a carbon-neutral city capable of housing 50,000 residents. Upon completion, the city will act as a living test site for the latest in sustainable urban innovations.
6 June The Christian Science Monitor  article

'Together' launches US campaign to fight climate change

In observance of World Environment Day, businesses, US cities nationwide and nonprofit organizations joined with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to launch Together, a consumer engagement campaign on climate change. Together is an initiative of The Climate Group, a global, independent nonprofit organization dedicated to building public-private partnerships to find solutions to climate change.
6 June Environment News Service article

Climate conference demands strong steps against global warming in open letter

Former national leaders, experts and activists demanded that world governments take urgent action to reduce climate-damaging emissions before global warming becomes irreversible. An open letter adopted at the end of the two-day International Climate Conference 08 said the participants see "the risks of climate change have been quantified and demand urgent action to cut global greenhouse gas emissions."
6 June The International Herald Tribune article

Indonesia urges G8 to deliver, as Jakarta floods

Indonesia's environment minister said that events in Jakarta, hit by flooding due to unusually high tides this week, served as a timely warning of the impact of global warming on coastal cities. Rachmat Witoelar urged Group of Eight countries, due to meet next month for a summit in Japan, to show their commitment to tackling global warming, which threatens many coastal and low-lying areas.
5 June Reuters article

Canada offers cash and bicycles for scrapped cars

Canadians will be offered bicycles, public transit passes or cash if they agree to scrap their old gas-guzzling vehicles. Ottawa says five million of the 18 million cars and trucks in Canada were made before 1996, when tougher emissions standards were introduced. The older vehicles produce about 19 times more pollutants than newer models, the government said.
5 June Reuters article

‘India won’t cut greenhouse gas emission against development’

India will not reduce greenhouse gas emission at the cost of development and poverty alleviation, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Namo Narain Meena said. “India is struggling to bring millions of people out of poverty. We cannot accept binding commitments to cut down greenhouse gas emission,” Meena said at a function to mark the World Environment Day.
5 June Thaindian News article

Bush, Dutch PM discuss climate change

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said he stressed the importance of making progress in the fight against climate change in talks with US President George W. Bush at the White House. "It's important to make progress on the issues of climate change and energy," said Balkenende, whose country is particularly concerned about global warming since one fourth of its territory is below sea level.
5 June AFP article through Yahoo News

It's lean and mean, but is it green? EU plans clampdown on car ads

It's a staple of the glossy magazine: the eye-catching spread selling the latest Chelsea tractor or high-performance German road machine. But the luxury car advert looks likely to become much less attractive under green advertising rules being drafted by the EU. As a packet of cigarettes carries a mandatory health warning, a Mercedes C-class advert may be forced to carry a climate hazard alert within months. Manufacturers would be forced to stop supplying pollution information in barely readable small print at the bottom of ads.
5 June The Guardian article

Japan PM says mid-term emissions targets needed

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said mid-term targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions were needed, but expressed doubt about whether G8 members could agree on them at the summit he hosts next month. Group of Eight (G8) leaders agreed last year in Germany to consider halving global emissions by mid-century, a proposal favoured by Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada but opposed so far by the United States and Russia.
4 June Reuters article

The science of denial

The Bush administration has worked overtime to manipulate or conceal scientific evidence and muzzled at least one prominent scientist to justify its failure to address climate change.
4 June The New York Times opinion

All three US candidates are strong on global warming: UN climate chief

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said the profiles of all three US presidential candidates pointed to a major change in US policies on global warming after George W. Bush leaves the White House next January. Yvo de Boer, who is executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said he found the stances of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain "very encouraging."
3 June AFP article

UN climate change chief confident of 2009 deal

A new global deal on climate change should be achieved at a meeting in Copenhagen next year despite disagreement at talks this week, the head of the U.N climate change secretariat said. "I really am confident that at the end of the day, the deal will be struck," Yvo de Boer said in a speech at the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
3 June Reuters article

Kyoto CO2 project scheme seen swayed by politics

Politics played a "clearly significant" role in the executive rulings made in a clean energy project scheme under the Kyoto Protocol, a study showed. Researchers from the University of Zurich analysed 1,000 greenhouse-gas emission-cutting projects submitted for registration by the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a scheme run by the United Nations. "The impact of political-economic variables is clearly significant," the report said, referring to the subsequent decisions made by the executive board.
3 June Reuters article

Summary of European stakeholders meeting: International climate policy after 2012

The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements, together with the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, and the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change, hosted a workshop of leading thinkers on international climate policy in Venice, Italy, on May 15–16.
3 June Belfer Center summary report

Agriculture and Natural Resource Management

Adapting farming to climate change: report

CSIRO has released a national overview of climate change impacts and adaptation options for Australian agriculture. Bringing together the latest science from research groups around Australia, the report includes chapters on each of Australia’s major agricultural sectors, with a focus on steps that can be taken to adjust to the ongoing changes in our climate. Speaking to the Farm Writers Association of NSW in Sydney, co-editor of the report, CSIRO scientist Dr Mark Howden, said it was time for agriculture to start focussing on proactive solutions.
26 June CSIRO media release and report
27 June The Canberra Times article
27 June The Age article

Looming tropical disaster needs urgent action: report

A major review by University of Adelaide researchers shows that the world is losing the battle over tropical habitat loss with potentially disastrous implications for biodiversity and human well-being. The review concludes we are "on a trajectory towards disaster" and calls for an immediate global, multi-pronged conservation approach to avert the worst outcomes.
26 June ScienceDaily article
25 June news.com.au article

Farming and global warming - the effects

The theme in Edinburgh at the first "summit" climate change conference hosted by the International Dairy Federation – an organisation based in Brussels – was basically that dairy farmers must wake up soon to the negative effects of their sector in relation to global warming and the emission of greenhouse gases.
26 June The Scotsman article

Drought-resistant wheat beats Australian heat

Will Australia's farmers fall for the charms of drought-resistant wheat, even if it's genetically modified? Faced with climate change and a growing food crisis, enthusiasts certainly hope such traits will help overcome aversion to GM technology.
25 June New Scientist article

Abandoned farmlands are key to sustainable bioenergy

Biofuels can be a sustainable part of the world's energy future, especially if bioenergy agriculture is developed on currently abandoned or degraded agricultural lands, report scientists from the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University. Using these lands for energy crops, instead of converting existing croplands or clearing new land, avoids competition with food production and preserves carbon-storing forests needed to mitigate climate change.
24 June ScienceDaily article

Farmers can help with climate change

Farmers can make a huge contribution to the problems of climate change, the Australian federal Parliament has been told. The big difficulty is how to measure the carbon stored in the soil through changed tilling and cropping practices. NSW independent MP Tony Windsor, a farmer, kicked off a rare non-partisan parliamentary debate by urging both sides to put politics to one side when considering an emissions trading scheme.
24 June The Age article

Madagascar: New eco-deals protect unique forests

Madagascar has signed a series of environment agreements to protect unique forests and support local communities as part of a commitment by the government to ramp up environmental protection on the Indian Ocean island. In its largest ever debt-for-nature swap, Madagascar signed a deal with France, in which US$20 million of debt owed to the former colonial power was put into a conservation fund, the Foundation for Protected Areas and Biodiversity (FPAB).
19 June allAfrica.com article

Murray-Darling should be declared 'national emergency'

The Australian Federal Opposition says the Government must declare the state of the Murray-Darling Basin a national environmental emergency. A leaked scientific report reveals the Government was warned last month that vegetation and wetlands could be lost unless flows are returned to the lower lake system by October.
18 June ABC News online article

Pine beetle devastates Canadian forest, may fuel global warming

"Western Canada is experiencing an infestation of pine beetles of a magnitude never before seen,'' said Erica Lee, the Alberta government's top specialist on the insect and a leader in efforts to contain it. "The potential to spread to eastern parts of the continent is very real.'' The beetle, officially Dendroctonus ponderosae, has killed half of British Columbia's mature lodgepole pines since 1999, according to the provincial government. It forecasts that 76 percent of the trees will be dead by 2015, as climate change makes it easier for the insects to live at higher elevations and in northern latitudes.
18 June Bloomberg abstract

Plan to conserve forests may be detrimental to other ecosystems

Conserving biodiversity must be considered when developing plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, researchers warn in the journal Science.
18 June ScienceDaily article
18 June Science 320, 1454-1455, abstract

Bush begins effort to track state of environment

The White House has directed four agencies to develop yardsticks for charting changes in the amount and quality of the nation's water. Clay Johnson, a deputy director of the White House budget office, said various indicators would be used to evaluate whether environmental policies and programs are working. "We currently lack consistent information on the environment and natural resources to analyze national trends," he said in a statement.
19 June Associated Press article

Space cameras to monitor forests

Plans to use a state-of-the-art camera onboard a satellite to monitor deforestation levels in Africa's Congo Basin have been unveiled. The high resolution RALCam3 camera, designed and built by UK scientists, will provide the first detailed view of the area's rate of forest cover loss. The project is part of the Congo Basin Forest Fund, a £108m joint-initiative by the UK and Norwegian governments.
17 June BBC News online article

Tropical forest sustainability: a climate change boon

Improved management of the world’s tropical forests has major implications for humanity’s ability to reduce its contribution to climate change, according to a paper published in the international journal, Science. The authors – Dr Pep Canadell from CSIRO and the Global Carbon Project, and Dr Michael Raupach from CSIRO – say the billions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed annually by the world’s forests represents an ‘economic subsidy’ for climate change mitigation worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
13 June CSIRO media release
13 June Science 320, 1456-1457 abstract

Computer climate models need updated forest dynamics data

Two papers published in the journal Science highlight how an improved understanding of forest dynamics is needed to better predict environmental change. The research suggests that a new generation of realistic forest modelling, which is urgently needed and now within reach, will significantly improve an understanding of how forests work, how tree species respond to deforestation, and how forests impact climate regulation and environmental change.
13 June ScienceDaily article
12 June Science 320, 1452-1453, abstract
12 June Science 320, 1502-1504, abstract

Quaffing the future

Enjoy a nice glass of Australian Chardonnay? Global warming could change the way you drink. Global wine production is under increasing pressure from rising temperatures and water shortages as climate change takes hold in vineyards across the world. But wine is going green as producers, shippers and retailers look for ways of reducing the carbon footprint of the world's favourite tipple.
11 June BBC News online article

Nuts may be solution to dirty cattle belches

The cast offs from snacking on cashews may help fight global warming caused by animals that belch methane. Tests in Japan have show that oil produced from the shell of the cashew nut may slash by 90 percent the methane emissions from belching cattle when mixed as an additive to feed.
11 June Reuters article

Climate change blamed as mango harvest goes sour in India

The news will send a shiver through fruit aficionados the world over: India's mangoes, revered for millennia for their succulence, are becoming fewer and less sweet as changes in weather patterns affect harvests. Official estimates suggest that three million tonnes of mangoes have been wiped out by a severe winter in India so far this year and the unseasonable deluges that have swept key growing regions in recent days may weigh further on production.
9 June The Times article

UN food meeting ends with a call for ‘urgent’ action

A three-day United Nations conference on spiraling food costs concluded with the delegates calling on countries and financial institutions to provide more food for the world’s poor and increase agriculture production to ensure adequate supplies in the future.
6 June The New York Times article

Indonesian president calls for mass tree planting

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono marked World Environment Day with a call for citizens to make a bigger effort to plant trees across the massive archipelago. Indonesia planted some 79 million trees in a day-long event ahead of a global climate change conference on the resort island of Bali in December, but Yudhoyono said the nation had to do more. With soaring food prices adding to concerns over climate change, he said people should consider planting fruit-bearing trees.
5 June AFP article through Yahoo News

Food, oil crises should not overshadow climate danger

Crises over soaring food and oil prices should reinforce rather than distract from the need for action over climate change, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme said.  UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said it was inevitable that attention on climate change would abate this year after the intense international focus on it in 2007.  "What we are saying is take a breath, but don't sit back because the situation is actually worse than we thought two years ago," Steiner told AFP.
5 June The Economic Times article  

Biofuel battle highlights UN food summit

Leaders gathered at a three-day UN summit on the world's food crisis have quickly laid out their disagreements over a key issue: how much the rush for environmentally friendly biofuels is contributing to the rocketing prices that are causing hunger and unrest around the globe.
3 June Associated Press article through CBS News

Urgent action must be taken to tackle the soaring cost of food that is plunging poor nations into crisis, according to a new Oxfam report. As world leaders prepared to meet in Rome for an emergency United Nations food summit, Oxfam called on governments to draw up a global action plan to tackle the disaster.
3 June The Scotsman article

Images reveal 'rapid forest loss' in PNG

High-resolution satellite images have revealed the "rapid deforestation" of Papua New Guinea's biodiversity rich rainforests over the past 30 years. An international team of researchers estimates that the current rate of loss could result in more than half of the nation's tree cover being lost by 2021.
2 June BBC News online article

Economics and business

Global warming creates red-hot opportunities

Global warming is not only melting the polar ice-caps, it's also heating up unprecedented opportunities for smart young graduates to fast-track their way to a partnership. Firms of every size are reaching out to graduates with knowledge about climate-change issues as Australians prepare for the national carbon trading scheme, scheduled to be introduced in 2010, and the torrent of activity that will follow - including litigation, due diligence, compliance and corporate manoeuvrings.
27 June The Australian article

Global carbon revolution needed in 42 years: report

The world needs a shift as radical as the Industrial Revolution to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while safeguarding economic growth, the McKinsey Global Institute said. It said in a study that a modern "carbon revolution" to curb global warming would require a tenfold rise by 2050 in the level of economic output for every tonne of greenhouse gases emitted, mainly by burning fossil fuels. "This is comparable in magnitude to the labour productivity increases of the Industrial Revolution," a 48-page report said.
26 June news.com.au article

Cisco aims to cut emissions by a quarter

Cisco aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2012 in absolute terms, the company said. The company plans to further invest in networking innovations, renewable energy, energy efficiency and site improvements to reach its goal.
25 June ClimateBiz article

Branson 'happy for Virgin to pay' climate change tax

Virgin chairman, Sir Richard Branson, has said that he is willing to pay carbon emissions taxes on his aviation business to fight climate change. Branson said that industries contributing to polluting the atmosphere should pay the price. He referred to the aviation and shipping industry as well as to the coal industry.
25 June news.com.au article

Businesses urged to tackle climate change

Companies need to tackle climate change despite the economic slowdown, the Confederation of British Industry warned. CBI director-general Richard Lambert said at the Siemens sustainability conference in London that energy and the environment should be the top long-term priority for all businesses.
24 June vnunet.com article

Rich have biggest carbon footprint

When it comes to ecological footprints, wealthy Canadians are a confirmed size 12, creating a global warming impact 66 per cent greater than the average household, according to a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The study is the first to link national income and consumption patterns with global warming, and it showed that the richest 10 per cent of Canadians create an environmental footprint that's 2.5 times the size of those created by the lowest 10 per cent on an income scale.
24 June canada.com article

Global warming could cost US $1.9 trillion

If global warming continues at its current pace, it will cost the United States some $1.9 trillion annually by the end of this century, according to calculations by two Tufts researchers. Tufts researchers calculate the high cost of climate change.
24 June Huliq News article

Climate change fund needs major boost - UN official

Rich countries must provide extra cash to expand a fledgling UN fund to help poorer nations adapt to global warming, the UN climate change chief said. The U.N. Adaptation Fund, which is financed by a green tax, has just 37 million euros (58 million dollars) in the pot at the moment. Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told AlertNet that hundreds of millions of dollars would be needed each year to kickstart climate change adaptation, which includes measures such as switching to new crops, building flood defences and preparing for shifting patterns of disease.
24 June Reuters article

Carbon standard 'to renew trust'

A scheme highlighting businesses which have made genuine cuts in emissions is being launched to rebuild public trust in the green claims made by firms. The Carbon Trust says its standard will only be issued to UK organisations that show "real reductions year-on-year".
24 June BBC News online article
24 June inthenews.co.uk article

Study finds major cities can take climate change lead

The world's major cities are also among the planet's worst polluters but they have the solutions to most of their problems at their fingertips, a leading environmental consultancy said. To make the case more compelling, consultancy McKinsey said that most of the available solutions would save more than they cost so made economic sense while the remainder still made environmental sense despite their higher cost.
23 June Reuters article

Intelligent IT deployments to cut global emissions 15 per cent: report

Even as the technology sector's carbon footprint is expected to double in the next 12 years, applying tech tools to monitoring energy use, maximizing energy efficiency and reducing the need for travel, shipping and resource use could save businesses billions of dollars and cut overall CO2 emissions, according to a new report. The report, SMART 2020: Enabling the Low Carbon Economy in the Information Age, was developed by The Climate Group in partnership with the Global e-Sustainbility Initiative (GeSI), and looks at how information technology can play a positive role in fighting climate change.
20 June ClimateBiz article

World's largest firms demand global emissions target

Bosses at 100 of the world's largest companies have issued an unequivocal call for political leaders to deliver a "rapid and fundamental" strategy designed to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by "at least" 50 per cent by 2050. The statement was organised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and was endorsed by some of the world's most powerful businesses, representing over a tenth of global stock markets.
20 June Business Green article
20 June Bloomberg article

Resource crises: Should we strike a deal with the dealers?

The current high prices for oil and foodstuffs are indicators of an imminent crisis in the world economic order, which fails to internalise ecological limits and resource scarcity, says Luxembourg Green MEP Claude Turmes.
19 June EurActiv opinion

New guide helps companies make the most of climate partnerships

Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and the US EPA released a new report developed to give an overview and a roadmap for businesses that are seeking to make the most of a partnership with one of the EPA's 35 climate-related programs. The report, A Business Guide to US EPA Climate Partnership Programs, aims to rigorously evaluate -- from a corporate managers' perspective -- the environmental and business benefits of participating in voluntary government climate programs.
19 June ClimateBiz article

Insurers broaden coverage for climate change risks

Insurers are developing new ways to help commercial customers adapt to emerging climate change risks, a panel of experts said. Underwriters are busy coming up with new insurance policies, and fine-tuning already existing products, to provide broader coverage to companies grappling with a wide range of emerging climate-related risks.
19 June Reuters article

Suncor Energy releases report on climate change

Suncor Energy Inc. released its 14th annual climate change report, which shows that while greenhouse gas emissions climbed slightly during the past year, the company has reduced emission intensity at its oil sands operation by nearly half since1990.
18 June iStock Analyst article

Defining corporate carbon neutrality

Clean Air - Cool Planet and Forum for the Future have released a report, Getting to Zero: Defining Corporate Carbon Neutrality, which examines current claims and offers guidance to corporations and stakeholders.  
17 June Clean Air - Cool Planet report

Bayer increases production, not emissions

Although Bayer increased its worldwide production volume five percent last year, its carbon dioxide emissions went up one percent, and when measured in terms of CO2 emissions per metric ton of product, emissions actually fell 2.7 percent.
16 June ClimateBiz article

G8 finance chiefs say global warming demands urgent action

World finance chiefs said urgent action was needed to battle global warming, calling for funds to provide green technology to developing nations to help them reduce emissions. The finance ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) club of rich nations said they supported multilateral funds proposed by the United States, Japan and Britain aimed at helping emerging countries afford cleaner technology. They said the private sector also had a key role to play in tackling global warming by making substantial investments into activities that cut the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change.
15 June AFP article
14 June Reuters text of G8 Finance Ministers' statement
13 June AP article through Yahoo News

Africa: Whose money on the table for climate change?

UK-based development agency Oxfam has called for clarity on funds promised by rich countries to help the world's poor cope with the global food crisis and adapt to climate change. In a report released ahead of the G8 finance ministers' meeting, Oxfam said G8 leaders must ensure that all the money - including the US$6 billion pledged at the Rome food crisis summit - comes on top of existing aid commitments.
13 June allAfrica.com article

US urges support for global warming fund

The US Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, has urged other Group of 8 industrialized nations to back a special fund of up to $10 billion to help developing countries fight global warming. Paulson appeared with his counterparts from Japan and Britain, and with the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, to encourage G-8 nations to back the Climate Investment Funds.
13 June Associated Press article through International Herald Tribune

Climate change firm seeks US boost

A leading climate change consultancy entered the US market for the first time amid hopes of a business boost from a "greener" President. Oxfordshire-based AEA Technology has agreed to buy consultant Project Performance Corporation (PPC) for £33.1 million as the candidates for the White House set out their environmental credentials.
13 June The Press Association article

US eyes deal on slashing clean technology tariffs

The United States hopes the world's major economies will agree to remove trade barriers on clean energy technologies when they meet alongside the Group of Eight rich nations next month, a senior official said. James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the World Bank had identified 43 technologies the United States and Europe proposed eliminating tariffs on.
13 June Reuters article

Green is the new gold in IT world

Hi-tech companies are competing on a new front - to become the greenest business. A year after pledging to become the greenest company on the planet, computer maker Dell has introduced measures aimed at claiming the "green crown". But there's no shortage of environmental monitors making sure corporate boasting isn't little more than window dressing.
12 June BBC News online article

Citi tips climate change, infrastructure firms

Climate change and infrastructure are two major investment themes for the next few years being pushed by Citi wealth managers, part of Citigroup Inc. Edward Kerschner, Chief Investment Strategist for Citi Global Wealth Management said his firm had identified a variety of investment opportunities in both areas.
12 June Reuters article

Rich polluters must pay up for climate change

At least USD50-billion is needed to help Africa's nearly one billion people adapt to climate change, and the global polluters most responsible for causing this change must pay mandatory compensation, say African NGOs.
12 June ioL article

GreenChill members save $13M

Membership in the GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership, a voluntary US Environmental Protection program, has tripled since its kick-off in November. All told, the program’s 28 supermarket partners have saved nearly $13 million in operating costs. Along the way, the partners have avoided emissions of 2.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The program was meant to help the supermarkets curb greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting emissions related to refrigeration systems.
11 June Climate Biz article

Emissions, utilities and auctions: there is no free power lunch

An economy-wide cap on climate warming emissions -- our preferred climate policy -- has one enormous sticking point: once the cap is in place, who gets the right to pollute? That's the core of the debate over the "allocation" of emissions permits. Literally billions of dollars are at stake. And not too surprisingly, just about every industry you can think of believes that, once strict emissions limits are imposed, they should get a generous slice of permits for free.
11 June Climate Biz article

Growing your company while reducing emissions

Emission reduction targets are at the centrepiece of any credible green business policy but as many firms are now discovering, setting the right target is far more difficult than it first appears. With growing numbers of companies having had emission targets in place for a number of years, the realization is dawning that simply setting a 20, 60 or even 80 percent emission target in line with the latest political or scientific consensus can soon result in unexpected levels of complexity followed by significant PR headaches.
11 June Climate Biz article

Emerging economies can fund climate fight - World Bank

Emerging economies can help fund the fight against climate change through sovereign wealth funds, swollen by oil and other exports receipts, the World Bank's Latin America chief, Pamela Cox, said. Developing countries blame climate change on rich nations which have fuelled decades of growth by burning fossil fuels, and so want them to take the lead in fighting the problem.
10 June Reuters article through Planet Ark

Major private sector investment needed to combat climate change

The private sector would need to make major investments in combating climate change as the governments would not be able to find trillions of dollars needed for the purpose over the next decades, General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim has said.Despite the efforts of the UN and other international and regional institutions, the world body estimates that nearly 90 per cent of the funds needed to address global warming will derive from the private sector, Kerim said at an Assembly event with the theme "Global Private Investments and Climate Change."
10 June Chennai Online article

World Bank prices first UN carbon offset bond

The World Bank has priced a $25 million bond linked to United Nations-approved carbon emission offset credits, the market's first such bond, lead manager Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe said.  Payments on the bond are linked to Certified Emissions Reduction credits (CERs), which are issued under the Clean Development Mechanism, a trading scheme that allows rich nations to invest in clean energy projects in developing countries.
9 June The Ecconomic Times article

Namibia: Local economy can't escape climate change

Unam economists say whether or not people believe in climate change or climate variability, the phenomenon definitely has an impact on the country's economy. Dr Omu Kakujaha said climate change and climate variability put great stress on all economic sectors, especially the primary sector on which Namibian economics is so much dependent. These are the agriculture and fishing sectors.
9 June New Era article through All Africa.com

‘Green collar’ jobs stand up to credit crunch

The "green" jobs market continues to thrive despite economic downturn putting serious pressure on many business sectors throughout the UK, environment & sustainability recruitment specialist Acre Resources says.
6 June Carbon Positive article

$45 trillion urged in battling carbon emissions

In one of the strongest warnings so far about the world's thirst for energy, the International Energy Agency said that investment totaling $45 trillion might be needed over the next half-century to prevent energy shortages and greenhouse gas emissions from undermining global economic growth.
6 June The International Herald Tribune article
6 June AFP article through Yahoo News

Wong warns of climate impact on economy

Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has warned that an emissions trading scheme to help combat global warming will have a wide effect on prices.
6 June AAP article through Finda

Russia’s carbon emissions: A truly burning issue

Selling mortgages to people who can't pay them back turned out to be a bad way of doing business in the long run. But inflated credit rates are nothing compared to the droughts, plagues, floods, forest fires and general death and destruction which may be the long-term effects of companies churning out carbon emissions with no thought to their long-term impact on the environment.
6 June The Moscow News article

Greens criticize World Bank climate funds

Some 121 environme