Scientists have warned that cli mate change could soon begin to get out of control, with concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere touching a record high. Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in the US state of Hawaii say that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40 per cent since the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last 650,000 years.

Senator John McCain sought to distance himself from US President George W. Bush on Monday as he called for a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States to combat climate change. Mr McCain, in a speech at a wind power company, also pledged to work with the European Union to diplomatically engage China and India, two of the world's biggest polluters, if they refuse to participate in an international agreement to slow global warming.

Norway's emissions of greenhouse gases rose almost 3 percent in 2007 to a record high, boosted by the opening of a liquefied natural gas plant by state-controlled StatoilHydro, Statistics Norway said on Tuesday. Emissions by the world's number five oil exporter climbed to the equivalent of 55.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2007 from 53.5 million in 2006 and were 11 percent above 1990 levels, the benchmark for the UN's Kyoto Protocol on global warming.

Personal carbon trading has been shelved by Government after a Defra study concluded it would be too expensive and would not be accepted by the public. In a 2006 speech, then Environment Secretary David Miliband said there was potential to create a system where individuals carried bank cards that stored carbon points which would be deducted when buying energy and could be traded with neighbours. However, Defra has now announced it is suspending its own research on personal carbon trading.

At the recently concluded 'PATA CEO Challenge 2008 on Confronting Climate Change', Sri Lanka Tourism's Earth Lung initiative to work towards being carbon clean within a ten year framework was lauded as an industry first by travel and tourism industry leaders. New Zealand and Sri Lanka were the only destinations featured among the eleven panelists of the rapid-fire session on boardroom challenges.

Russia may decide to hold onto its greenhouse gas emissions rights under the Kyoto Protocol, at least until the details of a successor treaty are clearer, a Russian expert said. The United Nations' Kyoto Protocol allows industrialised countries to meet greenhouse gas targets by buying emissions rights from each other or from clean energy projects in developing nations.

At the recently concluded 'PATA CEO Challenge 2008 on Confronting Climate Change', Sri Lanka Tourism's Earth Lung initiative to work towards being carbon clean within a ten year framework was lauded as an industry first by travel and tourism industry leaders. New Zealand and Sri Lanka were the only destinations featured among the eleven panelists of the rapid-fire session on boardroom challenges.

Size of carbon footprint depends on where you live

Estonian farmers are to become the first to cough up for their cattle's belching and flatulence. The country's government has announced plans to charge a greenhouse gas tax for the methane and carbon dioxide produced by cows. Each cow produces around 350 litres of methane and 1,500 litres of CO2 per day and cattle are responsible for around 25% of Estonia's methane emissions. Sam Bond