Nepal has made significant efforts towards low-emission development, using government tools to encourage finance flows towards climate action. However, achieving its ambitions will be difficult given current
Japan will consider a scheme for trading greenhouse gas emissions, the government said on Friday, a week after a powerful business lobby and the trade ministry softened their strong opposition. In a report of new steps aimed at slashing its greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Kyoto protocol, the government also proposed deeper but voluntary cuts for industry, adding to existing measures such as preserving forests and purchasing emissions rights from abroad. The plan, revealed as Japan prepares to host a climate-focussed G8 summit of industrialised nations in July, will be opened for public comment before it is officially adopted by the end of March. A cap-and-trade system with mandatory emissions limits, long opposed by the Japan Business Federation, was mentioned in the plan as a topic for consideration in the near future, as were environmental taxes and the introduction of daylight saving time. Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita warned other cabinet ministers that they might later be asked to cooperate with further cuts, an official said. As the host of the conference that produced the Kyoto Protocol, Japan is anxious to improve its own emissions record, at present well adrift of its goal of an average 6 percent cut on 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. That means slashing emissions to 1.186 billion tonnes a year of carbon dioxide equivalent, although Japan actually emitted an estimated 1.359 billion tonnes in the year that ended in March 2006. As it prepares to host G8 on the northern island of Hokkaido in July, Japan has been attempting to take a leading role in climate change, including by planning a major environmental conference ahead of the main summit, media reports have said. The top UN climate change official said earlier this month it would be a disadvantage if Japan were to stay out of an otherwise universal cap-and-trade system in the future. The business lobby's chairman, Fujio Mitarai, was reported this month as softening his opposition to cap-and-trade, while the trade ministry said it was seriously studying such an approach. (Reporting by Isabel Reynolds and Chisa Fujioka; Editing by Mike Miller) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
Japan will propose to other countries that numerical goals be set for the introduction of energy-saving equipment in each of their industrial sectors as a ratio to overall production equipment. The proposal aimed at cutting greenhouse gases will call for establishing a method to compute the quantities of reduced emissions if the goals set by each nation for each sector, such as steel and electric power generation, are met, government officials said. Adding up the computed quantities of reduced emissions will help each country achieve its overall national cutback targets, the officials said. Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari will brief his counterparts from the Group of 20 countries on the proposal at a three-day meeting on climate change getting under way March 14 in Chiba. Given that Japanese industry has already made great progress in introducing energy-saving equipment, the Japanese approach would become the global benchmark if the G20 countries adopt the proposal, the officials said. At a meeting in January of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda proposed adding up the quantities of greenhouse gases to be cut in each industrial sector to accomplish overall national cutback targets as a method of combating climate change starting in 2013. The Kyoto Protocol on global warming expires in 2012. The European Union has been calling for obliging various countries to commit to overall national reduction quantities in a post-Kyoto Protocol framework. But the Japanese proposal, which puts emphasis on energy saving, would allow countries to pursue both economic growth and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, Amari said. Against this backdrop, the Japanese proposal would make it easier to secure consent from India and China, two major emitters bent on putting more priority on economic growth. More specifically, the proposal calls for designating energy-saving technology and production methods that are highly efficient in curbing greenhouse gas emissions in key industrial sectors. In the steel industry, for example, some 10 types of equipment will be selected for their ability to recover heat and greenhouse gases from steel plants.
Some of the major airlines of the world seem to be lately realizing the adverse role of their big passenger jets on climate changes resulting in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the engine-exhausts into the earth's atmosphere. In this context Virgin Atlantic's first flight of a commercial aircraft powered with biofuel from London to Amsterdam on February 24, 2008 to show it can produce less carbon dioxide than normal jet fuels was an appreciable endeavour. This particular flight was partially fueled with a biofuel mixture of coconut and babassu oil in one of its four main fuel tanks and is expected to produce much less CO2 than regular jet fuel. Since aircraft engines emit gases and particulates that reduce air quality, spearheading the test flight was indeed a potentially useful experiment aimed at cutting down emission of greenhouse gases. A few weeks prior to this, an airbus A 380 too had taken off on a similar test sortie, powered on a blend of regular fuel and liquid fuel processed from natural gas with the hope that the super jumbo will become a centerpiece of efforts to develop the next generation of cleaner fuel. Besides, Air France-KLM is reported to invest almost US$3 billion a year until 2020 to modernize its fleet with the aim of cutting pollution. Several other airlines have also pledged to clean up their fleets as fears about global warming and fuel costs have mounted. Usually, people form their opinion on the adverse impact of air pollution by observing petrol and diesel-driven vehicles leave harmful trails of smoke on the roads. However, the great damage being done by thousands of air turbine fuel (ATF) guzzling aeroplanes that release tonnes hazardous fumes into our biosphere daily goes unnoticed. The increasing size of aircraft, the emission of black smoke during take-off, and the density of air traffic at major airports, have drawn environmentalists' attention to pollution by aircraft. A loaded jumbo 747, for instance, uses tens of thousands of litres of fuel on merely take-off. Further pollution by aircraft arises from the jettisoning of spare fuel after being airborne. Under such circumstances, it must be released at a height sufficient to allow it to vaporize so that it does not reach the ground in liquid form. Commercial jet planes make a significant contribution to the problem of global warming. According to a UN report, aviation is responsible for over half of the pollution caused by transportation on the surface. Scientists estimate that the effect of aviation emissions on the climate is up to five times the impact of emissions occurring on the ground. The primary gas emitted by jet aircraft engines is carbon dioxide, which, scientists believe, can survive in the atmosphere up to 100 years. It means denying the coming generations from living in a world where they can breathe clean air, enjoy diverse ecosystems and eat healthy food. In India the number of passenger and freight aircraft flown by private airlines is fast multiplying. Similarly, the Indian Air Force, currently in aircraft acquisition mode, is likely to increase its flying operations in the coming years. Its increasing use of supersonic combat aircraft flying at high altitudes may lead to increasing pollution of the upper air, where pollutants may accumulate since natural dispersion at such heights is not very effective. This development is going to be a major contributory factor in the destruction of ozone and the accumulation of green house gases in the upper layers of the atmosphere. It is estimated that one multi-engine passenger aircraft is being added every fortnight to the fleets of India's domestic carriers that are engaged in cutthroat competition to fly to the remotest corners of the country. As a result, the number of aircraft flying the Indian skies has gone up considerably. Here, one must not forget the domain of military aviation, Air Force, Army, Navy and the coast guard, where more than 1,000 fighter jets, transport planes and helicopters are kept aloft in routinely scheduled day and night flying. As per the estimates, the movement of aircraft in Indian airspace is growing at an annual rate of 15 per cent. Incidentally, kerosene happens to be the principal component of ATF. It is used as a propellant in modern commercial as well as military aircraft. Like other fossil fuels, kerosene produces carbon dioxide and water vapour on combustion. As the combustion process can not be said to be entirely efficient, carbon monoxide and oxygenated organic compounds, that are the products of partial oxidation, are emitted into the upper layers of the atmosphere. Hence, the extremely harmful environmental impact of pollutants left behind by aircraft engine exhaust fumes should be a great cause of concern for enlightened citizens. Though the International Civil Aviation Organisation (IACO), a UN body is reportedly supposed to regulate aircraft engine emissions by setting emission certification standards for all aircraft but it more or less appears to be an exercise on paper. In December 2007, the UN Climate Conference in Bali, Indonesia negotiated a new climate policy to chart out long term goal for global green house gas emissions. The world will not be able to realise these objectives unless technological breakthroughs are achieved in drastically reducing exhaust emissions from commercial as well as military aircraft gas turbine engines. This will necessitate a global effort in finding alternative jet fuels and developing engines that burn existing fuels more slowly.
John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath provides a verbal mural depicting America's experience in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, with its migration of "Okies" from ruined farmlands in Oklahoma and Texas to a not-so-promised land in California. This historical experience and perhaps the present-day drought of biblical proportions in Australia should alert international policymakers to the risks to world agriculture of a hotter and drier world by late this century as a consequence of unarrested global warming. March 2008
Addressing climate change and the economic damage it will likely bring presents policymakers with a dilemma. The benefits of policy action are uncertain and would accrue largely to future generations, whereas the costs of policies run the risk of being more immediate and extensive. At the same time, the costs of inaction are irreversible, potentially catastrophic, and likely to hit poorer countries harder than developed ones.
This report discusses the role of the voluntary carbon offset market and provides an overview and guide to the most important currently available voluntary carbon offset standards using the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as a benchmark. Carbon offset markets have been promoted as an important part of the solution to the climate crisis because of their economic and environmental efficiency and their potential to deliver sustainability co-benefits through technology transfer and capacity building.
Human activities over the past 250 years have caused the level of green house gases in the atmosphere to rise, thereby impeding the reflection of long wave radiation back to space. As a result, the Earth's atmosphere is warming up at an alarming pace, and leading slowly but surely to change in the climate. This is seen to be already affecting our forests in general and teak forest in particular.
For transport, a major contributor to greenhouse gases, the challenge to reduce emissions is immense, particularly as most forecasts see transport activity doubling or tripling in the next 30 years. Fortunately, governments in the OECD area (which is where most greenhouse gases come from) are starting to act, though much more needs to be done. That is why the first International Transport Forum, to be held in Leipzig, Germany, from 28-30 May 2008, will be devoted to the theme
Major sources of air pollution in urban areas include combustion processes (e.g., including the burning of fossil fuels for steam and power generation, heating and household cooking, waste burning, and gasoline and diesel-fueled engine combustion) and various non-combustion industrial processes (e.g., solvent extraction processes).
This report discusses the role of the voluntary carbon offset market and provides an overview and guide to the most important currently available voluntary carbon offset standards using the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as a benchmark .The report compares the standards side-by-side and outlines the most pertinent aspects of each.
