CRC for Greenhouse Accounting news

No carbon sink if phosphorus and nitrogen are limiting

The increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is likely to have little or no impact on carbon sequestration in the extensive areas of Australia that are phosphorus limited and reliant on legumes for nitrogen input, according to a study by scientists from the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting.

Australian soils are frequently phosphorus deficient, and biological nitrogen fixation is the dominant flux of nitrogen into Australian soils, several times larger than the annual fertiliser input. The grazed pastures of southern Australia - among the more productive ecosystems in the continent - account for about 60 per cent of total biological nitrogen fixation Australia-wide. The growth and nitrogen fixation responses of Australian pasture to climate change are consequently critical not only to agriculture, but also for future continental carbon sequestration.

In the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting study, researchers grew a white clover legume (Trifolium repens), chosen because of its importance in perennial pastures, and buffalo grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum) over 15 months with three nutrient regimes (zero nitrogen and low phosphorus, zero nitrogen and high phosphorus, and supplied nitrogen and high phosphorus) under ambient and twice-ambient concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

They found that when phosphorus was non-limiting, above- and below-ground biomass increased under elevated concentration of carbon dioxide, as did plant production and soil carbon. Where phosphorus was limiting, elevated concentration of carbon dioxide failed to increase either plant production or soil carbon.
Abstract from Global Change Biology
Article from Global Change Biology (subscription required)

Australian news

New venture for plants in a changing world

For all plant life, the world is changing.

Less direct sunlight is reaching the earth's surface, affecting photosynthesis. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affects plants' frost sensitivity, water-use efficiency, and the need for nutrients. Changes in evaporative demand favour some plants over others. Climate change is leading to higher temperatures and changed rainfall patterns. Extreme weather events affect plants and the built environment.

A new venture, Managing Plants for Climate, is being developed to respond to the need for better understanding of how plants will respond to changes in the atmosphere and climate as the basis for sound adaptation strategies for agriculture, forestry, and the environment.

Managing Plants for Climate will deliver economic benefits to individuals, industries, regions and Australia by reducing risks to land-based investments; increasing the accuracy of climate predictions; reducing the magnitude of climate change by reducing net emissions; informing adaptation strategies for land-based industries and biodiversity; and providing independent information and communication on climate. It will develop management systems for land-based industries to minimise risks and impacts and maximise opportunities, and will inform development of public policy, develop frameworks for emissions offsets and carbon credits, provide carbon accounting and reporting services, and be the vehicle for commercial spin-offs.

Managing Plants for Climate is being developed as a new Cooperative Research Centre bid through a consortium associated with the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting. The consortium is seeking immediate input, support and partnerships to develop the bid during 2006.
Further information or email Dr Michael Robinson

Australia accepts global warming 'a very serious threat'

The debate on climate change is over. As far as Australia's Federal Government is concerned, Australians must accept that humans contribute to global warming and adapt their behaviour to save the planet. "Global warming . . . is a very serious threat to Australia," Environment Minister Ian Campbell said during an interview with a journalist.
27 October The Australian article

But to ratify the Kyoto Protocol would mean selling out Australian industry, according to Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
27 October Sydney Morning Herald article (free subscription required)
28 October The Australian article

Senator Campbell is accused of being hypocritical, as in a court battle against environmentalists the Federal Government disputes statements asserting the existence of global warming, that burning coal leads to emissions of greenhouses gases contributing to global warming, and that climate change could have a severe impact on sensitive areas such as the Great Barrier Reef.
28 October The Australian article

$10 million for publicity campaign

A $10 million grant from an Australian philanthropic group will fund a five-year publicity campaign to persuade Australians of the dangers of climate change and the need for governments to take urgent action.
27 October media release
27 October transcript of interview on the ABC's The World Today
27 October The Australian article

IEA urges Australia to review opposition to trading

As one of the globe's most intensive emitters of greenhouse gases, Australia needs to review its reluctance to establish a national system for trading carbon credits, an International Energy Agency Desk Officer told an industry conference.
17 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund

The Australian Government's $500 million Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund opened for business with Australian Industry Minister, Ian Macfarlane, calling for applications to develop the next generation of large-scale greenhouse gas abatement technologies.
Minister's 11 October media statement
Details of the fund

Gas plan gives breathing space to NSW

The government of the Australian state of New South Wales may be able to avoid a decision on a proposed new coal-fired power plant before the next election, following proposals from a firm to build two cleaner, gas-fired stations.
26 October Sydney Morning Herald article (free registration required)

World news

Emissions, Kyoto and policy

Europe puts faith in technology

Encouraging innovation and investment in clean technologies form the major part of the second European Climate Change Programme launched on 24 October.
24 October EurActiv brief

The European Union can cut a third of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 through energy efficiency and renewable energies, as well as with a strong emissions trading system, says WWF in Freezing Climate Change, a report issued on the day that Europe launched its second European Climate Change Programme.
24 October media statement
Summary of report, Freezing Climate Change (1.54MB pdf)
Download the report, Freezing Climate Change (8.04MB pdf)

Europe proposes swingeing cuts to emissions

The European Parliament's environment committee has called for a crash program to curb greenhouse gas emissions, including a transformation of energy, transport and building systems. It said all developed countries should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 to 30 per cent by 2020 and 60 to 80 per cent by 2050. Europe, it said, should become the most energy efficient economy in the world by cutting energy intensity by 2.5 to 3 per cent a year.
13 October Environment Daily article through Edie News Centre

The European Union is estimated to achieve an overall reduction of 4.1 percent in greenhouse gas emissions by 2008-2012 - a good result but clearly not enough, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said at the launch of the next phase of the European Climate Change Programme.
25 October Reuters article through Planet Ark
25 October Reuters article through Environmental News Network

The European Parliament has backed revised proposals to clamp down on environmentally harmful fluorinated gases in items as diverse as shoes and cars.
26 October Reuters article

NZ finds target 'impossible'

A new report by economic consultancy Castalia concludes that it will be impossible for New Zealand to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand for it to meet its Kyoto Protocol targets without causing severe economic hardship to New Zealanders.
21 October Friday Offcuts article
17 October media release
Download the report (809 KB pdf)

The report focused a little too much on what should not happen, rather than on what should be done, caretaker Climate Change Minister Pete Hodgson said.
18 October New Zealand Herald article

Japan makes limited progress

Japan made some progress in cutting greenhouse gases last fiscal year mainly due to increased use of nuclear power, but the country fell well short of its target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, according to a government statement.
24 October Reuters article through Planet Ark
24 October Associated Press article through Environmental News Network

US beats its target by slowing emissions growth

The growth in greenhouse gas emissions from the United States has slowed to 1.5 per cent a year - and that is ahead of the US administration's goal for reductions, according to State Department special envoy Harlan Watson. "We're doing better than business as usual. That's the president's goal," he said.
6 October Associated Press article through Environmental News Network

Japan urges ratification

Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urged industrialised countries that have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol to do so. He did not name the US or Australia, the two major industrialised nations that have not ratified.
16 October Mainichi Daily News article

Joint action urged

A report commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers has urged the region's governments to take joint action against global warming.
14 October AP article through Environmental News Network

Call for 'environmental refugees' to be recognised

The United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security has called on the international community to recognise people displaced by negative changes in the environment as 'environmental refugees'.
13 October Edie News Centre article

Partnership meeting postponed

A planned meeting of the six nations in the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate is unlikely to be held as scheduled in November and Australia is aiming to host the talks at the end of this year or early 2006, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said. The Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate between Australia, the United States, Japan, India, South Korea and China was unveiled in July with an aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by developing energy technology.
12 October Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Aid 'eaten by global warming'

Extra aid to help dig Africa out of poverty agreed in July by leaders of the world's main industrial nations could be eaten up by global warming unless urgent action is taken, according to a British scientist. "As long as greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, there is the very real prospect that the increase in aid agreed at Gleneagles will entirely be consumed by the mounting cost of dealing with the added burden of adverse effects of climate change in Africa," Lord May of Oxford, president of the Royal Society, wrote in an open letter to environment and energy ministers of the Group of 8.
24 October Reuters article through Planet Ark
24 October The Independent article

Jockeying for post-2012 international climate regime

At the UN conference in Montreal in November and December to begin discussion on post-2012 steps on climate change, South Africa will do all it can to oppose any weakening of Kyoto targets and timeframes, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister said at a Johannesburg climate change conference. South Africa would also support calls for the United States and Australia to sign up to the Protocol, stressing that dramatic and deeper cuts in global emissions of greenhouse gases were needed.
21 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

European Environment ministers said in a statement that the EU would initiate a process with other nations to establish a post-2012 regime to reduce net greenhouse emissions. The EU proposes that nations join a global carbon market.
18 October Reuters article through Planet Ark
18 October EurActiv brief

Japan, whose former capital gave its name to the Kyoto Protocol, wants all nations - including the United States and especially China - to be bound by the next framework aimed at fighting global warming, Environment Minister Yuriko Koike said.
28 October Reuters article

States appeal dismissal of their case

Eight states and the city of New York have appealed last month's dismissal of their global warming lawsuit against five of the largest US utilities.
20 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Vietnam joins UN Programme to cut energy use

Vietnam's government has teamed up with the United Nations Development Programme to promote energy conservation in the capital of Hanoi. The five-year, $29-million project aims to encourage small and medium-sized businesses to significantly cut their energy use, reducing oil consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in the process.
22 October Vietnam News Service article

Carbon down, profits up

Huge savings have been made from companies' efforts to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and by becoming more energy efficient, according to findings in The Climate Group's 2005 report, Carbon Down, Profits Up.
Summary of the report
Download the report, Carbon Down, Profits Up (998 KB pdf)

American perspective of Europe

"The willingness of Europe and the rest of the industrialized world to incur the costs of curbing emissions - even without national participation by the United States, which puts out 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gases each year - underscores the extent to which Europeans see climate change as a grave threat, in contrast to a far less certain view among Americans."
This 24 October Knight Ridder analysis through the Monterey Herald offers an American perspective on Europe's attitude to the battle against climate change.

'World's greatest challenge'

Prince Charles has described climate change as the world's greatest challenge.
28 October ABC article
28 October BBC article
27 October Associated Press article through Globe and Mail

Technological fairy godmother in pixie land

"Even if miraculous new technological fixes suddenly appear, they are sure to have a downside. Technology has rarely solved anything. It can give us more goodies in the short term, but it has invariably presented us with new and ever more difficult long-term problems. Technology made the machines that pump vast quantities of Earth-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and the fanciful plans to liquefy it and pump it into the Earth are little more than pipe-dreams. Technological production of chemicals has polluted our biosphere comprehensively, and presented us with increasingly horrendous clean-up and corrective costs. Nuclear power produces toxic wastes with half-lives of hundreds of thousands of years. Anyone who blithely believes in the technological fairy godmother has to be living in pixie land."
The easy-going assumption of aspirational Australia that the destination is unending prosperity (and more cut-price deals) will not save us from the rocks of an uncertain future, playwright David Williamson reports in the 12 October article from the Bulletin, taken from his presentation of the 16th Sir Rupert Hamer Lecture at Swinburne University.

'Political' science

" . . . a tiny group of well-funded climate 'contrarians' has managed to stall decisions about climate policy action in the United States with reams of junk 'science,' misleading arguments, and outright obfuscation funded, almost entirely, by corporations and political interests."
3 October Commentary by Peter Gleick, of the Pacific Institute, through Environmental News Network

Energy

Biomass 'could provide 7% of heating'

The final report of Britain's Biomass Task Force says biomass could provide seven percent of the Britain's heating demands by 2015, and urges the government to provide up to 20 million pounds to help subsidise the installation of biomass heating boilers and combined heat and power plants. The report also calls for authorities to publish targets for renewable energy use by offices and institutions for 2010 and 2020. Critics of the report expressed disappointment that it failed to recommend that energy suppliers also be required to source a percentage of their heating fuel from renewable sources.
26 October Guardian article
25 October BBC article
25 October Reuters article
25 October Edie News article
Executive Summary of the report (93KB pdf)
Download the report (505KB pdf)
Terms of reference (9KB pdf)

Wood energy 'could be bigger than oil'

Global production of woody energy crops on abandoned agricultural land could reach several times our present level of oil consumption, says a new study by Dutch researchers.
Abstract from Biomass and Bioenergy
Article from Biomass and Bioenergy (subscription required)

Biogas train makes maiden run

The world's first train to run on biogas, a renewable energy source made from organic waste, made its maiden voyage in Sweden. The train, which links the city of Linkoeping, just south of Stockholm, to the east coast town of Vaestervik some 80 kilometres away, has just a single carriage that seats about 60 passengers. Its former diesel engines have been replaced by two gas engines.
24 October AFP article

Nuclear 'quietly confident'

The nuclear power industry is quietly confident that the world is about to beat a path to its door in an increasingly desperate search for clean energy that does not heat up the planet.
11 October Reuters article through Environmental News Network

It is far too late for sustainable development. What we need is a sustainable retreat. Civilization is in danger, and we must use nuclear power now, says Professor James Lovelock.
24 October Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo article

Hydrogen project 'close to viable'

The backers of Europe's first community-owned hydrogen production facility have claimed to be close to making the project viable.
10 October BBC article

Britain faces competition for wind investment

Britain's wind power industry faces increasing competition from Spain and the United States for investment amid doubts about the UK government's long-term energy policy, consultants Ernst & Young said, citing a survey that found the UK had slid from the first to the third most attractive place to invest in wind power.
18 October Reuters article through Planet Ark
19 October Edie News Centre article

War of words on hydro proposal

Chinese plans to turn an untamed river into a hydro-electric hub have sparked a war of words about national priorities as the government rethinks the balance between economic growth and environmental protection.
25 October Reuters article through Environmental News Network

High crude oil prices bring competition for grains, vegetable oils

Soaring crude oil prices have turned "green" fuel producers into fierce competitors for European vegetable oils, much of which until recently would likely have been stockpiled.
14 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

The EU met with a rebuff in plans to convert Europe's grain mountain to biofuel as German traders made no bids to sell 200,000 tonnes of rye for processing into fuel. "Biofuel plants can get cheap rye supplies on the open market, bidding in the tender was too expensive and risky," a trader explained.
7 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Growing demand for biodiesel is draining the supply of European rapeseed, with producers finding themselves increasingly sold out.
19 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

France's biodiesel industry is under pressure to build new factories, sign supply deals with farmers and secure contracts with crushers as it races to meet new government output targets.
13 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

The multibillion-dollar US grain sector faces a major challenge as soaring oil prices boost demand for 'green' fuels, setting up a competitive tussle between energy refiners and traditional users of grain as food.
10 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Renewable power from wood

A $156 million biomass power station is to be built in Scotland, the first of its kind in the country. The development, at Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, will burn wood to power around 70,000 homes when it opens in December 2007.
13 October Scotsman article
13 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Zimbabwe grows tree for diesel substitute

Zimbabwe will soon start growing the oil-rich jatropha tree to manufacture its own blend of diesel as the country battles to overcome acute fuel shortages, state radio reported. The jatropha plant, a small deciduous tree that can grow in arid areas, has seeds rich in vegetable oil that can be burned as a substitute for diesel.
5 October Mail and Guardian Online (South Africa) article

'Need for research' on renewable energy

Two new reports, from the UK Institute of Physics and the European renewables industry, both highlight the urgent need for increased research spending on renewable energy if the European Union is to achieve its green energy targets.
19 October EurActiv brief

Biodiesel plan announced

International agricultural company Cargill has announced plans to build a 25 million euro biodiesel plant in Germany to produce more than 200,000 tonnes of fuel each year.
10 October Edie News Centre article

Malaysia orders palm oil additive

Malaysia, the world's top palm oil producer, will make a palm oil-based fuel a mandatory additive at petrol pumps by 2008, according to a newspaper report. It is part of government efforts to cut its fuel subsidy bill.
7 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

'Dirty thirty' power stations of Europe

A new study by the global conservation organisation the WWF has revealed that Germany is host to some of the most polluting power stations in Europe. It looks at the efficiency of EU power stations in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each kilowatt hour produced. Nine of the 'Dirty Thirty' are located in Germany, followed by Poland (5 plants), Italy, Spain, and the UK (4 plants each).
11 October EurActiv brief

Gulf of Mexico winds to be harnessed

Wind turbines will join oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast under a new plan to build the first US offshore wind energy farm, Texas government officials announced.
25 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Wind power becomes cheaper than gas or coal

Because of skyrocketing natural gas and coal prices, Colorado's 29,000 wind-energy customers for the first time will pay less than the 1.3 million customers who use conventionally generated power. Wind-power consumers in Edmond, Oklahoma also now pay less than other customers. And the wind program in Austin, Texas, will cost less than conventional power beginning in January. Makers of wind turbines report being sold out until 2008.
15 October Los Angeles Times article

Roaring 40s wind farm

Final environmental approvals have been received for a 129 megawatt wind farm in the Australian state of Tasmania, project developer Roaring 40s said.
24 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Wind power for China

Korea Electric Power Corp, which supplies more than 95 per cent of South Korea's electricity, has begun work on a wind power plant in China, making it the first foreign electricity firm to enter China's wind power market.
24 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

A study of wind power potential in the heavily industrialised Guangdong province in southern China, finds that the region could produce as much energy from wind power as Hong Kong's total current electricity supply, by 2020.
21 October Edie News Centre article

Britain's progress 'disappointing'

Britain's drive to build dozens of wind farms offshore has made disappointing progress with few projects coming on stream and costs too high, according to Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks.
19 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Controversial wind farm approved

Consent has been given for a controversial 26 turbine wind farm to be built in Romney Marsh in the UK despite warnings from conservation groups that it could damage the area's important ecological value.
20 October Edie News Centre article

Britain rethinks energy strategy

Rising greenhouse gas emissions are forcing Britain to rethink its energy policy, with tough choices looming over the future of nuclear power and how best to curb the country's use of electricity and fuel. "Energy policy is at a conceptual crossroads," said Jonathan Stern of the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies. "If we are serious about reducing carbon dioxide, we will have to take some draconian decisions."

People power

A spike in gasoline prices is fuelling what could be the biggest year for US bicycle sales since the Arab oil embargo more than three decades ago. More bicycles than cars have been sold in the US in the past year.
6 October Reuters article through Planet Ark
2 October AFP article through TerraDaily

Sequestration

Further sequestration 'depends on climate change'

The extent of further carbon sequestration in soils from no-till farming will depend on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and the extent of further climate change, according to researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Over the period 1981 to 2000, 868 million tons of carbon were stored in soils in Canada and the US under no-till farming, according to their study. Five percent of this carbon storage came about because climate change and increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide accelerate carbon storage in soil, they said. Future increases in no-till could sequester enough carbon to satisfy nearly one-fifth of the total US reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions called for by the Kyoto Protocol, with some areas increasing sequestration capacity as climate changed and others suffering reduced sequestration capacity.
13 October media statement through EurekAlert
Abstract from Geophysical Research Letters
Article from Geophysical Research Letters (subscription or on-line purchase required)

No-till 'could offset 2% US emissions'

A study of sequestration of carbon in soils under corn/soybean suggests that large-scale conversion to no-till practices in the US corn/soybean ecosystem could potentially offset about 2 per cent of annual US carbon emissions.
Abstract from Global Change Biology
Article from Global Change Biology (subscription required)

Norwegian forests 'sequester 21 millions tons of carbon dioxide a year'

Each year, Norwegian forests are reported to sequester carbon equivalent to 40 per cent of Norway's greenhouse gas emissions, but only a small proportion of it can be claimed as credits through Kyoto Protocol rules, according to a new report released by the Norwegian Institute of Land Inventory, Statistics Norway, and the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo (CICERO).
18 October CICERO article
Download the report, Emissions and removal of greenhouse gases from land use, land-use change and forestry in Norway (1.39 MB pdf)

Species, logging and environment impact on sequestration

Research led by Daniel Bunker of Columbia University suggests that selective logging, in which a small number of valuable timber species are removed from a forest, will lead to declines in stored carbon. By contrast, converting forests into plantations of species with high wood density would increase the amount of carbon stored above ground by up to 75 per cent as long as the trees are not harvested. "Carbon storage is not the only service that forests provide," says Bunker. "The species that store the most carbon are not likely to be the best at providing other services, such as flood control, water quality or fruit production. Any effort to manage forests must consider all of the services that we require from them."
20 October Science and Development Network article

Climate and climate change

Freshwater ecosystems altering

Algal growth in remote Arctic lakes is confirming what ecologists suspected all along - that entire freshwater ecosystems are altering in response to climate change.
29 October New Scientist article

Half coral reefs at risk 

Nearly half of the world's coral reefs may be lost in the next 40 years unless urgent measures are taken to protect them against the threat of climate change, according to a new report released Tuesday by the World Conservation Union. "Twenty percent of the earth's coral reefs, arguably the richest of all marine ecosystems, have been effectively destroyed today," said Carl Gustaf Lundin, head of the agency's marine environment program who helped write the report Coral Reef Resilience and Resistance to Bleaching. "Another 30 percent will become seriously depleted if no action is taken within the next 20-40 years, with climate change being a major factor for their loss," he said in a statement.
28 October Associated Press article through Environmental News Network

Mediterranean 'to suffer most in Europe'

The Mediterranean region will suffer most in Europe from global warming and changing land use this century, with more droughts damaging everything from farming to tourism, according to a study by 16 European research institutes and published in the journal Science. The study produces a detailed forecast of the impact for western Europe of climate change by 2080, twinned with changes in land use linked to shifting populations and policies.
28 October Reuters article through Planet Ark
28 October The Independent article
27 October BBC article
Abstract from Science Express
Article from Science Express (membership and subscription required)

North-west America 'warming faster than elsewhere'

There are growing indications that the North American Pacific Northwest, from Oregon to British Columbia to Alaska, is warming faster than elsewhere on the planet - a trend that's likely to accelerate, according to scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle.
27 October Christian Science Monitor article

Making money from climate change

Climate change - whether man-made or natural - is seen by some as a boon to business in the Arctic region, where adventurous capitalists are desperate to obtain access to resources that are uncovered as the ice retreats.
27 October BBC article

Arctic thaw gains momentum

Of the various simulations done for an international scientific report on climate trends to be issued in 2007, the only ones that retain much summer sea ice in the Arctic by 2100 are those that assume global greenhouse-gas emissions are held constant at rates measured in 2000 - something that only five years later is already impossible.
25 October New York Times article (registration required)

'Our vulnerability sets us apart'

The ice cap is receding on Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro. Desertification is spreading in the northwestern Sahel region. Droughts, flooding and other extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe. Numerous plant and animal species are in decline. "It is our vulnerability that sets us apart from developed nations," said Luanne Otter, a researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand during a conference this week in South Africa on climate change.
21 October Associated Press article through Environmental News Network

Greenland ice-cap thickens

Greenland's ice-cap has thickened slightly in recent years despite wide predictions of a thaw triggered by global warming, a team of scientists said. Satellite measurements showed that more snowfall was falling and thickening the ice-cap, especially at high altitudes, according to the report in the journal Science. Glaciers at sea level have been retreating fast because of a warming climate.
21 October Reuters article through Environmental News Network 
Abstract from ScienceExpress
Article from ScienceExpress (membership or pay per article required)

Climate change blamed for failure of wind power

Windmills, one of the Netherlands' trademarks, may go idle because of less wind as a result of climate change, Dutch scientists predict.
21 October Reuters article through Planet Ark 
The same Reuters article as above through Environmental News Network

'June isn't really June any more'

Freed by warming, waters once locked beneath ice are gnawing at coastal settlements around the Arctic Circle.
20 October New York Times article (free registration required)

Study of ice sheets

A two-year study has been announced to investigate the impact of climate change on the Arctic and antarctic ice sheets and offer courses for action.
19 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Reefs 'likely to be killed'

Global warming is taking a toll on coral reefs off east Africa, which will likely be killed off in a few decades if sea surface temperatures continue to rise, a leading researcher warned at a climate change conference in Johannesburg.
19 October Reuters article through Planet Ark 

Desert tree's range moving poleward

A famed desert tree used for generations by Africa's bushmen to make quivers for their arrows is threatened by global warming. The range of the tree is already in the early stages of a poleward shift under the influence of warming.
19 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

More deadly disasters expected

The world will experience more deadly natural disasters as global warming accelerates, with unchecked population growth putting large numbers of people at risk, the Paris-based International Council for Science says in a report to its general assembly. It recommended an international research body be established as a matter of urgency to provide a firmer basis for policies to tackle the problem.
19 October ABC article

Dry forecast for western Africa

The far western part of Africa is getting drier, and is likely to continue to do so, while the eastern escarpment of southern Africa is expected to get more rainfall, Professor Bruce Hewitson of the Univeristy of Cape Town's Climate Systems Analysis Group said at the sidelines of a climate change conference in Johannesburg.
18 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Rainfall over parts of Africa's Sahel appears to be rising but its greening could prove a mixed blessing if the population surges as a result and drought follows, as it has in the past, a leading ecologist said at the Johannesburg climate change conference.
18 October Reuters article through Planet Ark 

Small farmers in Africa will be hardest hit by climate change and will have to switch crops and livestock to adapt, South Africa's environment minister said at the opening of the Johannesburg climate change conference.
18 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Inuit walking on thin ice

The pace of climate change in the Arctic is a story not being played out just in the pages of scientific journals, but in the lives of its inhabitants. A 17 October Telegraph feature on climate change's impacts on the lives of the Inuit.

Climate change predicted to force mass relocations

By 2010, UN experts predict as many as 50 million people will flee environmental deterioration caused by climate change. Rising sea levels, expanding deserts and floods are already causing permanent migrations, says a new report.
12 October EurActiv brief

2005 on track to be hottest year on record - or almost

New international climate data show that 2005 is on track to be the hottest year on record, continuing a 25-year trend of rising global temperatures.
13 October Washington Post article

Britain's Met Office believes 2005 will be only the second or third warmest year on record.
17 October Reuters article through Planet Ark 

Worldwide, it was the warmest September on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
17 October Associated Press article through Environmental News Network

"When you take a look at the last 32 seasons in Canada - so we're going back about eight years - 30 of those have been warmer than normal. That is amazing... it's like staring us in the face. What more proof do you need?" asks David Phillips, senior climatologist at Canada's federal environment ministry, as eastern Canada baked, with Ottawa temperatures up to 12 degrees C above average for this time of year.
6 October Reuters article through Environmental News Network 

Vegetation changes attributed to warming

Swedish researchers are attributing changes in plant cover and carbon sequestration in a Scandinavian peatland to climatic changes over the past 30 years. An expansion of wet areas was attributed to ongoing permafrost degradation, while changes in hummock vegetation may have been caused by higher spring temperatures. The vegetation changes resulted in greater erosion, reducing net carbon accumulation by 0.07-0.17 tonnes per hectare per year. According to the researchers, the changing nature of the peatland vegetation may cause the accumulation of plant litter that is more easily degraded, ultimately increasing the overall carbon decay rate.
Abstract from Global Change Biology
Article from Global Change Biology (subscription required)

High temperatures cause tree die-off

High temperatures were the underlying cause of a massive die-off of pinyon pines in the recent drought in south-west USA, a research team reported. The team of 13 scientists from institutions in Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado and Utah did not link the tree kill directly to global warming, but said the unusual speed of this large die-off, within just two or three years, raises concern about how to deal with the changing climate.
11 October USA Today article
11 October Associated Press article through Newsday
13 October Associated Press article through Environmental News Network
Abstract from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Article from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (subscription required)

Extinctions feared

Climate change could lead to the extinction of many animals including migratory birds, says a report commissioned by the UK government Department of Environment, Food and rural Affairs. Melting ice, spreading deserts and the impact of warm seas are among threats identified. It says that warming has already changed the migration routes of some birds and other animals.
5 October BBC article
5 October Reuters article through ABC
6 October Reuters article through Planet Ark
6 October media statement
Download the report

Warming oceans

Warming ocean waters may have tainted Alaskan oysters with a bacteria that triggered four outbreaks of illness on a cruise ship among people who ate the shellfish raw, researchers reported.
5 October Reuters article
5 October KLASTV article

Fly numbers expected to soar

Global warming could see fly populations in Britain rise by nearly 250 per cent by the year 2080 as flies reproduce more quickly in warmer temperatures, according to a modelling study by researchers at Southampton University. They warned this could increase human infections spread by flies.
3 October BBC article
4 October Innovations Report article

Max Planck predicts rising seas

World sea levels could rise 30 centimetres (12 inches) by the end of the century and freak weather will become more common due to rapid global warming, according to a new study by leading German research institute the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. It said computer models it had created showed the average global temperature could rise by as much as 4.1 Celsius by 2100, melting sea-ice in the Arctic. The models predict warmer and drier summers in Europe, with warmer and wetter winters. 
4 October Reuters article through Planet Ark
30 September Max Planck media statement 
Simulations of future climate change prepared by Max Planck Institute for the next IPCC Assessment Report - scheduled for publication in 2007.
Background information on the simulations

Trading and tax

First Clean Development Mechanism credits

The Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism has issued the first Certified Emission Reductions under the Kyoto Protocol. These credits were issued for two hydroelectric projects in Honduras, one in partnership with Italy to generate 37,000 CERs a year and the other in which Finland has a stake producing 17,800 CERs per year. CERs are generated by climate-friendly, sustainable development projects in developing countries to help developed country governments and companies to meet their reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.
20 October United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change media release
19 October Financial Times article

Britain introduces Linking Directive

Britain will bring the Linking Directive into force on 13 November, allowing firms to invest in environmental projects abroad and use the credits in the European Union's carbon dioxide emissions trading scheme, according to a government statement. Most European Union member states are expected to adopt the directive.
20 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Ireland faces bill

Ireland could face a total bill of between 500 million euros and 600 million euros in buying credits to cover emissions in excess of its meet its limits under the Kyoto Protocol.
12 October Irish Examiner article
11 October RTE article

HSBC buys New Zealand credits

One of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world, the HBSC Group, has used a New Zealand "green" energy project to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions to zero. It has bought 170,000 tonnes of carbon credits at an average price of $US4.43 ($NZ6.42) each, as part of preparations to meet new emissions targets in 2006.
11 October Stuff article

Forum on Joint Implementation

The Joint Forum on Project Formation, held in conjunction with the Fifth International Emissions Trading Association Forum on the State of the Greenhouse Gas Market, brought together business and governmental representatives from countries engaging in Joint Implementation activities under Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol and focused on the prospects and possibilities of Joint Implementation in light of practical examples and experiences already gained.
Details, summary report and links

Buyers pool for credits

Greece's state-controlled electricity company and electricity generators from Ireland, Japan and Norway are among 26 participants in New York-based Natsource LLC's Greenhouse Gas Credit Aggregation Pool. The pool has closed with total commitments of 455 million euros from participants. The aggregation 'buyers pool' will combine the purchasing power of the participants to acquire and manage the delivery of a large volume of compliance instruments created by the project-based mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol.
17 October International News Alliance article

Gas plant aims for credits of 190 million tonnes a year

Mitsubishi and Nippon Steel will build a plant together in Shandong, eastern China, to decompose the dense greenhouse gas hydrofluorocarbon, HFC23, a byproduct of the material HCFC22 often used in refrigerators. HFC23 is thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide. The project is expected to secure emission credits of about 55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, or slightly more than 10 million tonnes a year, for about five years from mid-2007.
24 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Japanese scour world for cheap credits

Japanese trading houses are scouring the globe to buy cheap carbon dioxide credits and for clean power investments, hoping to capitalise on the country's limited efforts so far to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
13 October Reuters article through Planet Ark

Bangladesh fears missing investment

Bangladesh fears it is lagging in the race to secure Clean Development Mechanism investment.
26 October Financial Express article

Japan's revised tax plan released

Japan's Ministry of the Environment has released a revised version of its controversial carbon tax plan. After an earlier draft drew heavy opposition from businesses, a new plan was developed that exempts gasoline, light oil and jet fuel from the tax, given the current high price of crude oil. However, industries employing liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene, natural gas, coal and heavy oil will be taxed 2,400 yen per ton of carbon.
26 October Japan Times article
26 October Yahoo News article
26 October Asahi article
27 October Kyodo News article through Yahoo Asia

Trading workshop papers published

The International Energy Agency has posted on its website resources and presentations from its fifth annual Workshop of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading, held in Paris on 27 and 28 September 2005. Material on the site includes summaries of developments in represented countries, reports on market news, and papers presented at the workshop.

Price dynamics - emissions trading and power prices

The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands has released a new publication, CO2 Price Dynamics: The Implications of EU Emissions Trading for the Price of Electricity. This study analyses the relationship between EU emissions trading and power prices, notably the implications of free allocation of emission allowances for the price of electricity in countries of north-western Europe. The study shows that a significant part of the costs of freely allocated allowances is passed through to power prices and discusses its implications in terms of higher electricity prices for consumers and profits for producers. It concludes that free allocation of emission allowances is a highly questionable policy option for a variety of reasons and suggests that auctioning might offer a better perspective.
Abstract
Download the report (1.4MB pdf)

Conferences

Greenhouse 2005

Greenhouse 2005: Action on Climate Change, an international multi-disciplinary conference covering likely impacts of climate change, adaptation strategies and approaches to reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, will be held in Melbourne, Australia, from 13 to 17 November.
Details

Energy policy

The first annual European energy policy conference, Shaping the Future of the Energy Industry in Europe, will take place in Brussels on 28 and 29 November 2005.
Details

Biomass gasification

A one-day workshop on biomass gasification is being held on 28 November 2005 at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, to discuss current and future prospects and technologies for biomass gasification.
Details

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