The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
Germany continues to invest in brown coal mining, despite ambitious climate targets. Requirements for carbon capture and storage could eventually make the fuel unprofitable. March 2008
Regulation of polluting emissions from international shipping lags far behind land-based sources, despite widely available cleaner fuels and exhaust after-treatment technologies. March 2008
The EU Commission's climate package calls for a 20-per-cent reduction in emissions by 2020, a fact that may indicate they do not expect an ambitious international agreement. March 2008
The Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol met in Bali in December 2007. 1 After some high-stakes poker about emission reduction frameworks and the role of emerging economies, participants settled on a road map for negotiating …
Increasing energy use, climate change and carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels make switching to low-carbon fuels a high priority. Biofuels are a potential low-carbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas or grasslands to produce food crop-based biofuels …
Entrepreneurs and big polluters can now profit from greenhouse gas emissions cuts by investing in Russia. On January 29, the Russian government set down the much-needed rules for the development of Joint Implementation (ji) projects. ji is a carbon trading mechanism set up under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to allow …
the European Union has come up with a new energy plan. It envisages reducing emissions by 20 per cent by 2020. eu will convert a fifth of its energy to renewable energy and biofuels by then. On January 23, eu's executive arm announced mandatory target for biofuels. They will supply …
Carbon neutrality has never been more highly prized. Half of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions come from the guts of sheep and cows; Norway spews ever more gases from its North Sea oil platforms; Iceland has soaring emissions thanks to its aluminium smelters. But all have promised to cut their …
We should not wait to cut back on burning fossil fuels until we have developed greener technology to supply our energy needs, despite what many economists are advising their respective governments. Such a waiting game may have deadly consequences. Feb 27, 2008
Climate change is the biggest science issue in the world, and the biggest science issue in the upcoming US election. Who is the front runner? If you look at the parties, it's a no-brainer: the Democrats snatched control of both houses of Congress in 2006, and have so far made …
Porsche, whose cars are seen as an emblem of wealth and success in London's financial district, is planning a legal challenge to prevent its customers from paying an increased congestion charge in the UK capital. The German company intends to seek a judicial review aimed at quashing the plan by …
THE US Environmental Protection Agency is in trouble again. Already under fire for failing to get tough on carbon dioxide emissions, the agency has now had its scheme for dealing with mercury pollution ruled illegal.
The European Commission has agreed to increase Bulgaria and Romania's emissions quota. The increase could be anything up to 20 per cent over 2005 levels till 2020. The draft decision, which is part of the commission's new energy and climate change plan, renders infractuous its earlier decision to cut Bulgaria's …
Stabilization of atmospheric CO2 concentrations below a pre-industrial doubling (~550 ppm) is a commonly cited target in climate policy assessment. When the rate at which future emissions can fall is assumed to be fixed, the peak atmospheric concentration – or the stabilization “frontier” – is an increasing and convex function …
The worst fears about the impact of the rush for bio-fuels are coming true. Evidence that has now surfaced suggests that bio-fuels based on plant sources may actually aggravate, rather than alleviate, the environmental damage being caused by global warming. At least two recent studies done in the United States, …
As Austria revises its Green Electricity Act the clean power industries reject the draft on the table as inadequate. To reach its climate protection targets the country will have to massively buy in CO2 certificates.
On 31 January 2008 the staff of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce issued a 'white paper' on potential climate change legislation, with a particular focus on competitiveness concerns and ways to engage developing countries. The paper is part of a series aimed at providing guidance to lawmakers in …
The European Union is preparing to take the next step in tackling climate change after its executive arm presented a draft legislative package on 23 January 2008. The draft legislation proposes an EU-wide greenhouse gas emission trading scheme and enery related measures. Feb 2008
Starting 2012, greenhouse gases from civil aviation will be included in the eu emissions trading scheme, according to a recent agreement by the European Environment Council. The agreement includes all flights between eu countries and those departing or landing in an eu country. The council proposed a cap at the …
California and 15 other US states have sued the federal government after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rejected the state's effort to curb greenhouse gases from cars and trucks. The lawsuit, filed in the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals marks a new round in the five-year struggle between …
