Contact Us:info@climatechange.ie
		News Archive     23/07/2009 08:00 PM Scripps-led study shows ocean health plays vital role in coral reef recovery Innovations Report: The new research study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego suggests that by improving overall ocean health, corals are better able to recover from bleaching events, which occur when rising sea temperatures force corals to expel their symbiotic algae, known as zooxanthellae. Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that is expected to increase in frequency as global climate change increases ocean temperatures worldwide. The new findings, published in the ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate insurance: what kind of deal can be made in Copenhagen? Guardian: As even the staunchest advocates will tell you, climate insurance is by no means a magic bullet. But clearly the tools of modern finance could certainly help make poor nations prepare for and respond to all manner of natural disasters big and small. We explore some of these ideas in this week's issue of Nature, taking a quick look at how the insurance debate is playing out in the ongoing United Nations climate talks. The upshot is that some kind of insurance mechanism is likely to ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM UN sees $10 billion aid as good start to climate pact Reuters: Aid of $10 billion from rich nations would be a "good beginning" to launch a U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December, the United Nations' top climate official said Thursday. Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, also told the BBC World Service in an interview that rich countries needed to pledge deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and the poor had to slow the rise in their emissions. But cash was needed to kick-start a ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM EU could provide billions for forests - report Reuters: The European Union could provide up to 2.5 billion euros ($3.55 billion) a year to help poor nations protect tropical forests, the EU executive said in a report to ministers meeting in Sweden on Thursday. The European Commission report will be discussed at the meeting of EU energy and environment ministers in the mountain resort of Are. The talks will also tackle energy efficiency and preparations for global climate talks in Copenhagen in December. Forests and finance for poor ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM India: Obama's climate man talks of sticky deal with India IBN: While Hillary Clinton's visit to India is being considered a huge diplomatic success on the climate change front not much progress was made. As part of Hillary's contingent was President Obama's Special Envoy on climate change, Todd Stern. Stern spoke exclusively to CNN-IBN's Environment Editor Bahar Dutt on the road ahead for India and the US on sticky issue of climate change. Bahar Dutt: Would you say that talks between India and the US have been inconclusive as far as climate ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Spain: Rainfall to decrease over Iberian Peninsula Physorg: Scientists have recorded a decline in winter precipitation over the past 60 years in Spain, and they now forecast that precipitation will also decrease in spring and summer. A team from the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC) has studied rainfall data from 1950 to 2006 and the climate projections for coming decades, showing that less rain will fall in future over the Iberian Peninsula. However, precipitation will continue to be more frequent in winter than in spring-summer. Have ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Even the Isle of Wight wants Miliband to buck the market Guardian: The Isle of Wight is an unlikely setting for an industrial rebellion. It's true Karl Marx was once a regular visitor, but the island's a generally conservative place, better known for sailing than strikes. That changed on Monday, when workers occupied Britain's only major wind-turbine factory in protest at its imminent closure. Tonight they were still there, barricaded in the Newport plant's offices, surrounded by police and security guards, as hundreds of other workers and their supporters ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Japan Denies Buying 'Hot Air' Credits Created in Kyoto Accord Bloomberg: Japan is defending itself against criticism that it is exploiting a surplus of assigned emission credits and buying "hot air." The Japanese government and its largest companies plan to buy more than 350 million tons of emission credits in the five years ending in 2012, said Keiji Hisata, an official in Tokyo's Kyoto Mechanisms Office at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The purchase may include units assigned to the 37 countries with targets under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM China to subsidise solar power projects Malaysian Insider: China's government says it will pay up to 70 per cent of the price of new solar power systems in an effort to speed up development of clean energy industries. The Finance Ministry's announcement on Tuesday comes as Beijing tries to reduce China's surging demand for imported oil and gas and create companies that cash in on growing global demand for clean energy technology. The subsidies are meant to develop the solar industry as a new source of economic growth for the country, ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: Wong pours cold water on nuclear power AAP: Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has poured cold water on suggestions Australia could move towards nuclear power. The government's own nuclear body, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), says it's time to give "active consideration" to nuclear power, which it says is safe, reliable and would become more cost-effective. Mining giant Rio Tinto has talked up nuclear power and called on the government to make a decision about it by 2020. But ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: Nuclear is the answer: Opposition Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Nuclear power is the only suitable form of energy for Australia's long-term electricity needs as the country seeks to reduce its carbon emissions, the Opposition says. Speaking on ABC radio in Darwin this morning, Opposition spokesman on energy and resources, Ian Macfarlane, said: "It is the only zero-emission, base-load electricity that Australia can install in the next 30 years." Yesterday, the Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, rejected calls for Australia to consider ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Wall St. seeks sunny forecasts in solar earnings Reuter: Investors are looking for signs of a recovery in solar panel demand when manufacturers report earnings in the coming weeks, though panel prices are still falling fast and earnings may not see a meaningful improvement until 2010. U.S. solar players including SunPower Corp, First Solar Inc and MEMC Electronic Materials are scheduled to report quarterly earnings this week and next, with Chinese and German companies' results also in the offing. Recently, companies including ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Ancient ocean temperatures 'could predict climate change' Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A Canberra scientist has released new research on ancient deep ocean temperatures which could be used to predict climate change. Sindia Sosdian studied shells from tiny sea creatures dating back more than three million years to understand changes in deep ocean temperatures and ice sheets. Overall the international research team found a cooling of 3 degrees Celsius in the deep Atlantic ocean. Dr Sosdian says the shells provide a lengthy historic record which can be used ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: Carbon emmssions must be cut by 80 per cent: scientist Radio Australia: Despite urgent global warming warnings, there's little hope that December's Copenhagen climate change meeting will secure an international agreement. Even domestic measures are subject to bitter politics and trade-offs, like the Australian government's plans to cut emissions by five-to-15 per cent by the year 2020. Even if such measures did pass, one expert says it'd be like giving aspirin to a cancer patient. He says nothing less than 80 per cent emissions cuts over the next ten ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: Emissions scheme 'extra stress' for farmers Australian Broadcasting Corporations: A biologist and climate change expert says it is becoming increasingly difficult for farmers to adapt to climate change, and being included in an emissions trading scheme will be of little benefit. Dr Jennifer Marohasy will today speak at a grains forum organised by the South Australia Farmers Federation. She says farmers need to keep informed about the changing climate and governments need to ease the strain they already face. "Placing additional stress on farming ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Downpours hurt harvest in Mekong Delta's shrinking rice fields Thanh Nien Daily: Farmers in Tra Vinh Province have harvested nearly 30,000 hectares of rice, of which 5,000 hectares were harvested during rainy days, the Vietnam News Agency reported Tuesday. Many farmers in the province have had to sell rice as animal feed at low prices to husbandry farmers after failing to dry the seeds that began to germinate. The same situation faces more than 52,000 hectares that are ready for harvesting. Farmers rely on sunshine for drying the rice and if the rains ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Wealthy nations urged to help poor deal with climate change Radio New Zealand: The United Nations' chief negotiator on climate change says wealthy nations will have to find at least $US10 billion to help developing countries deal with climate change. Yvo de Boer says that commitment would be one measure of success for a climate change conference to be held in Copenhagen in December. Mr de Boer says $US10 billion is just the bare minimum to help developing nations. Two other critical issues have to be resolved at the conference, the BBC ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: US scientists to tour Murray-Darling Basin Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A visiting group of American scientists will see first-hand the effect drought has had on the Murray-Darling Basin. Scientists from eight American states will arrive in Albury today for a three-day tour of the Murray. The Murray-Darling Association is hosting the tour, that runs from Albury to Mildura. The association's Adrian Wells says the scientists are studying the effect of climate change on water systems. "Well we've noticed over the years that there's an ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM GE Seeks Growth In Clean Coal, Wind In Australia Dow Jones: General Electric Co. (GE) is vying to cash in on Australia's push to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and expects to unveil several deals with developers of wind farms in the country soon. At the same time, GE is promoting gas turbines for power generation in expectation that Australia will try to cut the number of conventional coal-fired power plants in operation, said Kenji Uenishi, president of GE's energy business in the Asia-Pacific region. "We are talking about many ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM NZ says tough to set 2020 carbon reduction target Reuters: New Zealand's growing carbon emissions makes setting a reduction target for 2020 a tough task, the government said on Thursday, while it sees a trading scheme as the best means of fighting climate change. Data showing New Zealand's total emissions increased 24 percent from 1990 to 2008, has highlighted the scope of the challenge in setting a target for 2020, Climate Change Minister Nick Smith said. "I'm certainly concerned that New Zealand's track record of emissions increases ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Greenwash: easyJet's carbon claims written on the wind Guardian: You probably weren't watching BBC3 at 4am on Monday morning. Not if you had a job to go to in the morning, anyhow. So you probably missed a nice little programme called Britain's Embarrassing Emissions. It door-stepped the budget airline easyJet about claims on the company's website that it is greener than a hybrid car. Or, more particularly, that its emissions were less than those of a Toyota Prius. It's greenwash, of course. As, I discovered, are several of its other environmental ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Report: US, China must improve climate cooperation Associated Press: The United States and China should use high-level meetings next week to work toward improved cooperation in curbing greenhouse gases, according to a new Senate report. The Foreign Relations Committee report released Thursday says new efforts to address emissions by the United States and China, the world's largest emitters of climate-altering pollution, could be "the key to a global solution" to climate change. The report urges the countries to make climate change a priority. It ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Is time running out to seal post-Kyoto climate pact? Reuters: Negotiators face a mammoth task to try to agree by the end of the year on the outlines of broader climate pact to replace the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol. Key issues such as financing climate change adaptation programs in developing nations, transfer of clean-energy technology and disagreements over rich nations' targets to cut planet-warming emissions still need to be resolved. Following are responses from Howard Bamsey, Australia's special envoy on climate change, on how the ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: Rudd ridicules Opposition's nuclear push Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Labor's policy of opposing nuclear power generation in Australia is clear. The Labor Party's decision to scrap its limit on the number of uranium mines has seen several new mining operations open up. Opposition energy and resources spokesman Ian Macfarlane has called for the uranium to be used to generate electricity domestically. But Mr Rudd says that is not something the Government is considering. "Can I say our policy on this was ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate Change 'Not Simply About Polar Bears,' Senators Told Courthouse News Service: Senators were urged Tuesday to lead, rather than follow, in the battle against climate change, by experts stressing the national security implications of drought, famine, and disease that result in mass migrations and failed states -- the explosive ingredients of war. "We can't follow the public, we've got to lead the public," former Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner said. "Addressing the consequences of changes in the Earth's climate is not simply about saving polar bears or ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Taiwan doing on climate what China won't Carbon Positive: In a twist to the stand-off between China and the US over greenhouse emission reduction responsibilities, Taiwan appears to set to commit to the hard targets to cut emissions that mainland China rejects. There appears to be the broad political support necessary in Taipei for laws to cap greenhouse emissions and implement an emissions trading scheme with foreign carbon offset provisions. The Greenhouse Reduction Act is headed for a final vote in the Taiwanese parliament as early as ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate Change Needs Government Push in Global Investors' Poll Bloomberg: Global investors say climate change is a threat and want government action to combat it, even as a plurality says the effort will hurt corporate profits. Dissenting from a consensus in Asia and Europe, almost two- thirds of U.S. investors say climate change is a minor danger or "no real threat," according to the first Quarterly Bloomberg Global Poll. In Asia, 61 percent say higher global temperatures are a major problem, and 56 percent in Europe agree. The differences ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate bill a farm income boost, USDA estimates Reuters: U.S. farmers and foresters could earn more money from carbon contracts than they pay in higher costs from legislation to control greenhouse gases, the Agriculture Department estimated on Wednesday. In the near term, most of the money would go to people who plant trees to lock carbon in the soil or enroll woodlands as carbon sinks. Relatively small amounts would be generated by changes in tillage or crops. USDA's "preliminary analysis" was one of the first attempts at a ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Pachauri says India can't be forced on climate change Press Trust of India: Washington, Jul 22 (PTI) Supporting India's stand that it would not budge under pressure from the western world to accept emission reduction standards, noted environmentalist R K Pachauri today said New Delhi cannot be "pressurised" on the issue and asked the developed world to act first. Pachauri said the statement made by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh during a joint interaction with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that India would not budge under pressure from the western ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Report: Water overlooked domestic carbon saving push Business Green: Hot water could soon become the largest source of domestic carbon emissions unless efforts are increased to curb water use and enhance energy efficiency. That is the warning from a new report released today by the Energy Saving Trust and the Environment Agency, which argues that the government's initiative to improve building energy efficiency is guilty of failing to address the issue of energy being wasted to heat water. The report found that while domestic water efficiency ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Fall in plant life may hit butterflies and birds Western Mail: WALES` winged wildlife is under threat from a sharp decline in the food it needs to survive. The most comprehensive survey of the Welsh countryside ever carried out has revealed a marked reduction in the plants upon which butterfly larvae and farmland birds depend. The survey points to evidence of "decreasing plant species richness" and says sprawling, unmanaged hedgerows may be partly to blame. The number of butterfly larval food plants in an average area of study has ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate conundrum: how to get India to play ball Time Magazine: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit on July 19 to the Indian city of Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi, was supposed to showcase the way India and the U.S. might work together to slow climate change. On the agenda was a tour of an ultra–energy efficient office building called ITC Green Center, which has earned the highest environmental rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. It was just the sort of project that exemplified how the world's second biggest carbon emitter (the ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Canada: Old cars are the real pollution problem out there Globe and Mail: As welcome as any advance is in the fight to save the environment, Canada's recent effort on emissions is like trying to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases by getting the condom makers to improve on their 95-per-cent reliability record while leaving millions to continue their totally unprotected ways. While forcing the auto makers to continue their efforts to stop their new products from polluting the air, in other words, the government took no steps to deal with the ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Ancient trees in danger of dying out says National Trust Telegraph: The UK has some of the most famous ancient trees in the world around country houses, in historic parkland and castle grounds. However the National Trust fear that chemicals used in modern agricultural practices, erosion caused by ploughing, pollution from towns and, in the long term, climate change, could kill the ancient trees unless action is taken. The charity, which owns the most land in the UK after the Government, is to survey some 40,000 trees on its stately homes and ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM State's high-polluting power plants seek to expand their output Sydney Morning Herald: GREENHOUSE pollution from the state's coal-fired electricity plants increased last year, making them overall the worst in the country, figures show, but the Planning Minister, Kristina Keneally, is now being asked to consider expanding them. Environmental reports lodged with Ms Keneally show the two state-owned power generators Macquarie and Delta want to greatly expand their output and are examining the option of both coal and gas power to achieve it. However, the latest ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: Winter heat threatens crops, UC study says San Francisco Chronicle: The state's abundant harvest of fruits and nuts is threatened by warmer winters, UC Davis scientists warn in a new report. All fruit and nut trees require periods of dormancy each winter before they can bloom again, and it's the cold that keeps them dormant. When the length of that chill is disrupted, the trees' flowering time is disrupted and crops can fail, the scientists said. At the current rate of global warming, the team predicted, the winter chill times in the Central ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM US Congress revives hydrogen vehicle research Nature: US funding for hydrogen-fuelled transportation research got a boost on 17 July as the House of Representatives voted to restore $85 million to the research budget. The administration of President Barack Obama had proposed cutting the funds altogether. In May, energy secretary Steven Chu sparked an uproar when he proposed slashing current spending on research into hydrogen-based energy technology by 60%, from $168 million this fiscal year to $68 million in 2010, and cutting funding ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Gregoire: State has 47,000 'green' jobs Kitsap Sun: WASHINGTON -- Gov. Chris Gregoire testified before a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday, touting the state`s success at creating clean, green jobs and tipping her hat to the green training programs at Washington`s two-year colleges. Democrats won passage for a cap-and-trade bill in the U.S. House of Representatives in June, 219-212. Now, the same back-and-forth of optimistic and apocalyptic predictions is on in the Senate. Democrats claim a cap-and trade-bill under consideration, which ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia opposition split over Rudd's climate plan Bloomberg: Australia's opposition has split over whether to support government legislation to tackle climate change, with one lawmaker calling leader Malcolm Turnbull "arrogant" for ignoring the wishes of party members. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd needs the support of at least seven lawmakers from the Liberal-National coalition to pass the draft laws in the upper house. Failure to approve the legislation may force him to call an early election, which surveys suggest his ruling Labor Party would ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Nigeria's $750 million climate change loss 234 Next: Nigeria loses about $750 million annually to the depletion of its 350,000 hectares of forest land by direct human activities and climate change, the Minister of Environment, John Odey said on Tuesday in Abuja. Mr. Odey, who spoke during a session with the House Committee on Climate Change in Abuja, also said that the Sahara Desert in Nigeria is moving southward at a rate of 600 meters annually. He added that about 100,000 farming families move southwards as a result of the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Carbon capture for coal costly, study finds Charleston Gazette: Harvard University researchers have issued a new report that confirms what many experts already feared: Stopping greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants is going to cost a lot of money. Electricity costs could double at a first-generation plant that captures and stores carbon dioxide emissions, according to the report from energy researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. Costs would drop as the technology matures, but could still amount to an ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Genetically modified rice 'crucial in drought battle' Agence France-Presse: Genetic modification may be the only viable way to produce sufficient quantities of rice in the future as drought, climate change and dwindling acreage impact yields, experts said in a new report. Rice is the staple food of around three billion people and the main challenge facing producers is how to raise yields of the water-dependent crop as 70 percent of the world's food-growing areas turn increasingly parched, said the International Rice Research Institute in its latest quarterly ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM India leads demands for £120bn climate change fund paid for by the West Telegraph: In a proposal that appears to have astonished Western officials, the Indian government suggested that the price of co-operation would be for industrialised countries to pay at least 0.5 per cent of their GDP to help developing nations invest in cleaner renewable sources of energy and reduce their carbon emissions. While the size of the demand was dismissed by US officials as unrealistic, Gordon Brown has proposed industrialised countries contribute to a £60 billion fund to help the ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM USDA: Farmers to profit from climate bill Associated Press: Farmers stand to make more money than they will lose if Congress enacts legislation to limit the gases blamed for global warming, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the Agriculture Department. The study, the first to look specifically at the bill's toll on the agricultural sector, shows that higher energy prices will cut into farmers' bottom lines in both the short and long term. But the projected 1 to 7.2 percent loss in income is far outweighed by the tens of billions of ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Protester arrested for trying to deliver food to Vestas sit-in Times (UK): A protester was arrested this morning as he tried to deliver food to workers occupying Britain's only substantial wind turbine factory. About 25 workers were still inside the Vestas factory near Newport on the Isle of Wight as the sit-in entered its third day. They have accused managers of trying to starve them out. A senior criminal lawyer has accused police of acting unlawfully by blocking food deliveries. Robert Brown, a member of the Law Society's criminal law ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM French panel to recommend carbon tax on fuel Agence France-Presse: A French experts' panel is to recommend introducing a carbon tax on fuel from January 2010, as part of a government drive to slash global warming emissions, the group's head said on Wednesday. The French government announced plans for a new Climate-Energy Contribution, aimed at steering consumers and business away from energy-hungry goods and services, following a nationwide environment conference in 2007. A government-named expert panel headed by former Socialist prime ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM NYC mayor restricts idling, but his SUVs do it Associated Press: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has pushed an ambitious green agenda and cast himself as a national environmental leader, routinely runs afoul of his own anti-pollution policy by letting his official SUVs idle, sometimes for more than an hour. In spot checks over the past week, The Associated Press timed idling periods for the mayor's city-owned SUVs, which shuttle him around the city or trail him when he takes the subway. The parked vehicles idled at least eight times for periods of 10 ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: Study calculates warming threat to Colorado River Associated Press: BOULDER, Colo. -- University of Colorado researchers say global warming increases the chances that the Colorado River system's reservoirs could be depleted by mid-century. A study released this week says that if global warming cuts the river's average flow by 10 percent, the chances of draining the river's reservoirs by 2057 is 25 percent. The researchers say a 20 percent drop in stream flow translates to a 50 percent chance of draining the reservoirs by that date. The ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM When the Arid Northeast Turns Green Inter Press Service: The rain - usually much desired because it is so scarce - has come in excess this year, destroying many crops. But in this farming district in far north-eastern Brazil, the impact of the heavy rainfall was less marked than in the past, thanks to the diversification of crops and productive activities. "It rained much more than what our soil needs," said Francisco Soares Oliveira, 63. His village of Irapuá in Nova Russas, a municipality of 30,000 people in the northeastern Brazilian ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Ecuador: Chevron expects to lose $27B suit but will refuse to pay damages Mongabay: Chevron Corp. expects to lose a multibillion dollar environmental lawsuit in Ecuador but has no intention of paying damages and will continue to fight for "decades", reports the Wall Street Journal. The oil giant is facing up to $27 billion in damages for large-scale pollution caused in Ecuador by Texaco, a firm it acquired in 2001. Texaco's environmental liabilities were well established at the time of its acquisition by Chevron: the company fought a class-action suit filed by 30,000 ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Wind turbine protesters continue sit in as police accused of blocking food Times (UK): A handful of men - tired, hungry and soon to be unemployed - stood cheering on the balcony of a wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight, in what has become an unlikely front line of a clash over the future of Britain's green economy. About 25 workers were last night still inside the Vestas plant outside Newport, three days into a sit-in which has grown increasingly bitter. The occupiers of Britain's only significant wind farm factory have accused managers of trying to starve them ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Researcher develops cleaner CO2 capture United Press International: Separating carbon dioxide from its polluting source may soon be cleaner and more efficient, research at a California lab indicates. A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher developed a screening method that would use ionic liquids -- a type of molten salt that liquefies under the boiling point of water -- to separate carbon dioxide from its source, the Livermore, Calif., lab said Wednesday in a release. The method is cleaner, more viable and more stable than what is ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S. business warns Congress of "green trade war" Reuters: Leading U.S. business groups warned Congress Wednesday it could start a "green trade war" by passing a climate change bill that threatens other countries with tariffs on energy-intensive goods. "We urge the Senate to refrain from including provisions that could negatively impact U.S. relations with key trading partners and disrupt the global trading systems," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Foreign Trade Council and two other groups said in a letter to Senate ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Wind power plan blown off course Independent (UK): The Government was facing a growing credibility gap over green jobs last night as environmental campaigners and trade unionists united to fight the closure of Britain's sole major wind turbine plant. Only last week, ministers proclaimed a green employment future for the UK involving 400,000 jobs in environmental industries such as renewable energy -- yet this week they are declining to intervene over the forthcoming closure of the Vestas Wind Systems plant on the Isle of Wight, with ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate bill needs "off ramp": Senate farm chief Reuters: The climate bill being assembled in the U.S. Senate should include an "off ramp" allowing the United States to relax its greenhouse gas rules if other nation fail to control theirs, said the Senate Agriculture Committee chairman on Wednesday. Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa told reporters that he would allow other nations three to five years to act to curb carbon emissions. "If other countries don't join us ... hey, we're off the ramp," he said during a break ... read more 23/07/2009 08:00 PM Think Tank sparks row over biofuel jet fuel targets Business Green: Right-wing think-tank The Policy Exchange yesterday sparked a row over the best way to cut emissions from aviation with the release of a report urging the government to pursue measures designed to cut emissions rather than the number of flights. The report, entitled Green Skies Thinking, concluded that while measures to reduce demand for flying may be required, the government should also move to accelerate the development and use of sustainable aviation biofuels that promise to ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Eco towns get green light despite local opposition Times (UK): Ministers gave approval yesterday for the building of four "pioneer' eco-towns and insisted that at least 10,000 homes would be in place by 2016 in the face of local opposition. Despite the depth of the recession and fierce local protests, John Healey, the Housing Minister, approved sites in Oxfordshire, Norfolk, Cornwall and Hampshire. The chosen developers for Gordon Brown's flagship programme will each be able to bid for part of a £60 million pot of extra cash. Rural ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Kerry panel looks at climate change and national security Boston Globe: Massive crop devastation, melting glaciers, water shortages, millions of displaced people -- all of these will drag the US military into conflict if global climate change goes unchecked, a Senate panel was warned today. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, convened by Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, focused on what so far has received only modest attention in the climate change debate: the effect it is bound to have on national defense. "Addressing the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM CU study: Climate change threatens Colo. River water supply Colorado Daily: The Colorado River system -- which 30 million people depend on for drinking and irrigation water -- could fully deplete all of its reservoir storage by the middle of the century, a new University of Colorado study shows. Under the most drastic climate change scenario, the study shows a 50 percent chance of depletion if current management practices continue while the West warms and the Colorado River dries up. The study is published in the American Geophysical Union journal Water ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Geoengineering Climate Requires More Research redOrbit: Geoengineering - deliberately manipulating physical, chemical, or biological aspects of the Earth system to confront climate change – could contribute to a comprehensive risk management strategy to slow climate change but could also create considerable new risks, according to a policy statement released by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) today. According to the Society, geoengineering will not substitute for either aggressive emissions reduction or efforts to adapt to ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate change could put the heat on California crops LA Times: The Lockes have tilled the rich soil along the Mokelumne River since 1850. Now Chris Locke, 57, looks forward to passing down his orchards of 40,000 walnut trees to his four sons. But the threat of global warming has him worried. "I talk to my boys about climate change," he said. When he was young, frigid fogs rolled off the delta into Lockeford, the town named for his forebears. "We would go a week without seeing the sun. But we don't seem to get that weather anymore." If San ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate change could ruin California fruit, nut crops Reuters: Climate change could devastate tree crops such as walnuts, cherries, prunes and peaches in California's fertile Central Valley, researchers reported on Tuesday. These kinds of trees require a certain amount of winter chill to be productive, and winters could be warmer than normal as climate change proceeds, scientists at the University of California-Davis and the University of Washington wrote in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE. The study projected losses of more than half ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Indonesia: Palm oil companies trade plantation concessions for carbon credits from forest conservation Mongabay: Indonesian palm oil producers are eying forest conservation projects as a way to supplement earnings via the nascent carbon market, reports Reuters. Frank Momberg, Fauna and Flora International's Asia-Pacific director for program development, told Reuters' David Fogarty that plantations companies have agreed to forgo converting rainforest areas in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo in exchange for a share of the revenue generated from the sales of forest carbon credits. Forest ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Massive dust storm in China circled the world in 13 days Agence France-Presse: A wind storm that ripped across western China's Taklimakan desert kicked up hundreds of thousands of tonnes of dust that high-altitude winds then carried around the world in less than two weeks, a study says. On May 8-9, 2007 winds reaching up to 36 kilometers (22.5 miles) per hour blew an estimated 800,000 tonnes of dust into the air, according to satellite imaging and computer models. Trapped against the high walls of the Tibetan plateau, the dust was forced higher and ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM US wants China, India to meet climate, labor standards Dow Jones: Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said Monday that China and India must meet the same environmental and human rights standards as U.S. companies to level the playing field for domestic manufacturers. Locke said embedding basic human rights, safety and environmental standards in trade agreements, and making sure developing countries abide by new climate change rules will help make U.S. exports more competitive. "They've got to pay for the cost of complying with climate change. We cannot ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM U.N. approves first new generation carbon offset project Reuters: The United Nations has given a green light to the first of a new generation of carbon offset programs designed to bring carbon reductions to a mass market in developing nations. The panel that oversees the running of the U.N.'s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) gave in-principle approval during a meeting last week to the project that will deploy 30 million compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) in Mexico. The U.N. has released the details of the meeting on its website, ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM CO2 caps central to climate fight: UK Reuters: A dual system of both national emissions caps and carbon trading schemes should play a central role in cutting global greenhouse gas emissions, a report commissioned by the British government said on Monday. At the government level, national caps on emissions should ensure countries take responsibility for limiting their own greenhouse gases. At the individual emitter level, trading schemes should cap emissions and allow trade in carbon permits, the report said. "The current ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Stimulus brings Calif. petcoke plant closer to reality Greenwire: A proposed power plant in Southern California that would turn coal and waste petroleum into cleaner-burning gas has garnered support from the state and stimulus funds from the federal government. Hydrogen Energy International LLC -- a partnership of BP Alternative Energy and Australian miner Rio Tinto Hydrogen -- is proposing the plant for Kern County near Bakersfield. The 250-megawatt facility is designed to filter out 90 percent of its carbon dioxide for permanent underground ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Governors call for carbon-neutral buildings by 2030 Greenwire: The National Association of Governors is the latest legislative group to support the American Institute of Architects' goal of zeroing out new and renovated buildings' greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The NGA -- which is convening in Biloxi, Miss., for its annual meeting -- endorsed the AIA goal as part of a resolution on energy efficiency and conservation. The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties have also endorsed the AIA goal by vowing to integrate ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM California's 2006 heat wave was much deadlier than previously reported, researchers say LA Times: As Southern California sweats through a period of triple-digit temperatures that started over the weekend, state researchers said Monday that deaths related to a scorching heat wave in 2006 were probably two to three times higher than estimated by coroner's reports. "Everyone knows [the coroner counts] are a low estimate," said Bart Ostro, lead author of a study published this month and an epidemiologist at the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. "We're trying to ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM US government pumps $57m into smart grid Business Green: The US Department of Energy (DoE) once again opened up its stimulus fund war chest yesterday, awarding over $57m to eight smart grid demonstration projects across the country. The new investment, which follows $17m of government smart grid funding awarded last year, will aim to accelerate the roll out of projects designed to demonstrate the feasibility of smart grid technologies capable of managing and reducing energy use across the grid. "Modernising our electrical grid to ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Global ocean temperatures at warmest level since 1880 Mongabay: Global ocean temperatures rose to the warmest on record, according to data released last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for June was second-warmest since global recording-keeping began in 1880. NOAA reports that both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres experienced record sea surface temperatures in June. Temepratures in the Northern Hemisphere were 1.17°F (0.65°C) above normal, ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Parent stress, air pollution up kids' asthma risk Greenwire: Children with stressed-out parents may be more prone to developing asthma associated with environmental "triggers" such as high levels of traffic-related pollution and tobacco smoke, hints a study published today. In the study, researchers found that children whose parents reported high levels of psychological stress and who were exposed to cigarette smoke in the womb and to traffic-related pollution early in life had a much higher risk of developing asthma, compared to children only ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Montreal Protocol Eyed as Weapon in Fight Against Climate Change New York Times: There's growing momentum for amending the Montreal Protocol, the landmark treaty credited with rescuing the earth's ozone layer, for use in a global battle against climate change. Widely regarded as the most successful environmental treaty of all time, the Montreal Protocol is credited with eliminating 97 percent of gases used in refrigerant and cooling systems that were eating away at the atmospheric layer that protects life from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Now, some ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM US moving toward strong climate action Agence France-Presse: The United States has undergone an important mood-shift on climate change and is on the path toward "strong climate action," a key UN official said here Tuesday. "The mood is completely different now... There's a sense that the country's on the move toward strong climate action," Michael Zammit Cutajar, who chairs the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) working group on long-term cooperative action, told reporters. The US House of Representatives last month ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Governors say climate policy could create jobs Associated Press: Three Democratic governors told a Senate panel Tuesday that efforts to curb global warming and spur the development of cleaner sources of energy have created jobs and new businesses in their states, a trend that could expand nationwide if Congress passes federal legislation. All three states -- New Jersey, Colorado, and Washington -- have adopted measures to achieve reductions in the gases blamed for global warming and standards requiring a certain percentage of electricity from ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Informal world climate talks in Bonn in August Reuters: World climate negotiators will gather in Bonn next month to edit an "indigestible" set of proposals into a manageable document for international consideration, the head of a key U.N. panel said on Tuesday. The August meeting is the first step in a timeline aimed at reaching a new worldwide agreement to combat climate change in Copenhagen in December, said Michael Zammit Cutajar, chairman of a working group of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate change. Not previously ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S. green jobs seen taking years of planning Reuters: Alternative energy jobs can provide vocations across many sectors of the economy but policy to spark them can take years to develop, U.S. governors told a Senate committee on Tuesday. State green power mandates and regional cap-and-trade plans on emissions have been useful tools in pushing local economies to begin to convert from fossil fuel plants to green jobs, the governors told the Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works. "This didn't happen by accident," ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate bill impact on U.S. farms bearable: Lawmaker Reuters: The impact on U.S. farms and ranches from climate-change legislation will be bearable, partly because of the chance to earn money for controlling greenhouse gases, said the House Agriculture Committee chairman on Tuesday. Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, during a speech to American Soybean Association members, pointed to think-tank estimates the climate bill passed by the House would drive up crop production costs by 1.8 percent-4.6 percent in the near term. "We don't want ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Greenpeace charged in Mount Rushmore demonstration Associated Press: A federal grand jury has indicted the environmental group Greenpeace and 11 people involved in hanging a banner on Mount Rushmore. Greenpeace has said three of its members hung the 65-by-35-foot banner calling for a stop to global warming July 8 while others blocked access to the site. U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley says Greenpeace trained the protesters and hired a helicopter to photograph and record the protest. The organization has been charged with helping the protesters ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Will Global Warming Melt the Permafrost Supporting the China-Tibet Railway? Scientifc American: Building a railway across the unstable soil of the Tibetan Plateau was an improbable endeavor from the start, but an army of Chinese government engineers did it anyway. Now, with the frozen soil disturbed by the process of laying down the rail and a warming climate on the plateau, some scientists question whether the $4-billion rail line will survive as is or require major reconstruction. Three years after the railway opened in 2006, international research shows that the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Workers at the Vestas wind turbine factory stage a sit-in protest BBC: Police said about 200 workers were protesting outside the factory after being turned away when they arrived earlier but management have been allowed inside. The protesters have locked themselves in a first floor office and claimed no members of management had come to talk to them. A demonstrator, who did not want to be named, said police in riot gear had gathered outside the office. He said: "It is our last-ditch attempt to save the jobs. "This is a green industry ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Pachauri defends India's climate stand Indo-Asian News Service: India will continue to use coal to meet its energy demands, says Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). "Can you imagine 400 million people who do not have a light bulb in their homes," Pachauri told reporters here Monday. "You cannot, in a democracy, ignore some of these realities and as it happens with the resources of coal that India has we really don`t have any choice but to use coal in the immediate short term," he ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Gingrich joins call for offshore oil drilling Atlanta Journal Constitution: Newt Gingrich on Tuesday joined congressional Republicans in taking the Obama administration to task for not doing more to promote offshore oil drilling. On the one-year anniversary of the lifting of a presidential ban on offshore oil exploration, Gingrich said the White House is hurting the economy by not pushing aggressively for drilling. "Returning energy production to the United States means American jobs, keeping American money at home," Gingrich, the former House speaker ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Clinton's Trip to India: Lots of Talk, Not Much Action Time Magazine: The big take-aways of Clinton's visit are three key agreements. The first is an "end-use monitoring" agreement that allows the U.S. to track arms supplied to India to ensure they are not sold or otherwise given to third parties. This agreement, required by U.S. law, enables U.S. companies to sell high-tech military equipment and technology to India, immediately benefiting Boeing and Lockheed Martin who will be able to bid for contracts to supply 26 fighter jets to India for a $10-billion ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Senate Democrats Prep Team Girds for Climate Battle ClimateWire: When the Senate debated climate change legislation earlier this decade, it generally was understood the bill had no chance of becoming law. Floor debates in 2003 and 2005 came about after high-profile senators forced votes to score political points and embarrass the George W. Bush administration. Just one committee wrote last year's cap-and-trade bill, which crashed on the floor and became a political liability for Senate Democrats. This time around, Senate Democrats are trying ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Canadian tar sands developers to face fresh legal challenge Business Green: The Canadian tar sands industry became mired in yet more controversy this week following an international appeal for financial aid to support an indigenous community's legal battle against further development. The charitable trust fund has been set up to help the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, which claims that prospecting, strip mining and drilling for oil in their ancestral lands is polluting water supplies and damaging both human health and that of local wildlife. In the latter instance, ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM China wind turbine makers blow over foreign rivals Business Green: China-based wind turbine manufacturers have overtaken foreign competitors in the race to supply domestic wind power projects for the first time -- a lead that is likely to widen due to the government's controversial "buy Chinese" procurement policy. According to figures from the state-run Chinese Wind Energy Association, domestic and Sino-foreign joint venture turbine makers accounted for 61.8 per cent of China's market share at the end of 2008, surpassing overseas producers for the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM India refuses to set emissions reduction target despite US "pressure" Business Green: The Indian government has insisted that it is under no obligation to set an emission reduction target, despite "pressure" to do so from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a visit to the subcontinent over the weekend. Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh told Clinton that "there is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions". During an hour-long private meeting with Clinton, Ramesh ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM India says no to emission reduction Guardian: India's minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh has ruled out the country's agreeing to specific targets for reducing carbon emissions. "There is simply no case for the pressure that we [India] -- who have among the lowest emissions per capita -- face to reduce emissions," Ramesh told visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday (19 July). "And as if this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Activists reveal plan to storm Copenhagen climate summit Guardian: A network of radical green groups is planning to disrupt the international climate change meeting in Copenhagen in December by invading the conference hall and stopping the talks, it has emerged. The anti-globalisation group Climate Justice Action has said it hopes to mobilise up to 15,000 protesters to storm the climate summit, and a large carbon dioxide emitter nearby, while negotiators try to thrash out a replacement for the Kyoto protocol. "We want to take over the summit ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate Change Effect: Warmer Waters Shrinking European Fish Spiegel: A new study has found that Europe's fish are smaller than they have been in decades and the researchers believe global warming may be to blame. They warn that smaller fish could eventually have a domino effect on the food chain. European fish are getting smaller. Over the past two to three decades some varieties have lost almost half of their body weight. And while smaller fish now make up a greater percentage of all fish species, European fish stocks have also shrunk -- by around 60 ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Jet turbine could power hybrid electric car Reuters: With a brief, muffled hiss of a jet engine, the test vehicle that an Israeli start-up hopes will be the future of the hybrid electric car, ignites. The car is built on the shell of a normal Toyota Prius, a top-selling gasoline-electric hybrid, but without the need for its internal combustion engine. Instead, an electric engine, containing a supercapacity battery and a micro-jet turbine engine, powers from the rear as it drives almost silently around a test track. With ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Giant Chinese dustball circles the Earth Telegraph: A group of Chinese and Japanese scientists claimed that the dustball, which weighed 800,000 tons, was kicked up during a storm in 2007 in the Taklamakan desert. The desert, which is roughly the size of France, lies in China's far-Western Xinjiang province, and is fringed by mountains on three sides, including the Pamir mountains on the border with Afghanistan and the Karakoram range, an extension of the Himalayas. The dust ball was formed when a wind storm ripped across the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM India: Hurdles Aplenty Before Nuclear Deal Goes Commercial Inter Press Service: As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began talks with Indian officials in New Delhi on Monday to take a forward a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, signed by the previous Bush administration, it was apparent that there were many roadblocks to be cleared before deals worth an estimated 10 billion dollars are signed. Robert Blake, assistant secretary of state for South Asia, said last week, that the deal presented a "major opportunity for American companies, and opens up as ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM IPCC to increase focus on economic costs of climate change Business Green: The economic and development impacts of climate change on specific regions and countries will lie at the heart of the UN's next official report on climate change, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed yesterday. Speaking at an event in New York to outline plans for the IPCC's fifth assessment, Rajendra Pachauri said that the focus of the next report would shift to pay more attention to both the financial implications of climate change and the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Taiwan climate bill aims for end-2009 vote Reuters: Legislators in Taiwan aim to pass an ambitious bill that would return the island's greenhouse gas emissions to pre-2000 levels by making factories clean up or pay, officials said on Tuesday. The Greenhouse Reduction Act, which stalled after being introduced in parliament in February last year because of industry opposition, passed the first round of voting in December and is seen moving toward a final vote as early as late 2009. The bill would also authorize Taiwan's first CO2 ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM IPCC Chief Raps G-8, Calls for Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cuts After 2015 ClimateWire: The chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change criticized the Group of Eight summit participants for ignoring the IPCC's scientific findings and the declaration that emerged from the 2007 U.N. climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, in which leaders agreed to work toward a new treaty limiting average global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius. Though simultaneously praising the 2-degree commitment as "clearly a big step forward" in international talks, IPCC Chairman ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Senate agriculture panel begins to stake its claim in Climate Bill ClimateWire: Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee will vet options this week for the sweeping energy and climate bill, which they are expected to play a significant role in shaping. The panel will have a hearing Wednesday to explore the role for agriculture and forestry in climate change legislation. They are scheduled to hear from two major farm groups on opposing sides of the debate and question senior Obama administration officials: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, EPA Administrator ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Polluters must pay for clean-up: Advani to Hillary Economic Times: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton"™s efforts to push India to accept a legally binding cap on greenhouse gas emissions received no support from the leader of Opposition L K Advani. During their 35-minute meeting, Mr Advani made it amply clear to Ms Clinton that there was no way India would accept a cap on emissions. The visiting secretary of state also met with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Reiterating the principle of "œpolluters pay", Mr Advani said that the developed countries ... read more News Archive     Back to Homepage
		Contact Us: info@climatechange.ie About Us