Carbon Fund Assets Up 25 Percent To $16 Billion In 2009

Carbon fund assets have grown by a quarter to $16.1 billion since last year, despite several funds having failed due to the economic downturn, research by Environmental Finance Publications showed on Thursday.

The growth of carbon fund assets has slowed compared to the previous year, when they swelled by 65 percent to $13 billion.

Carbon funds either buy carbon credits to sell for profit to investors, or supply them to emitters which are subject to mandatory caps on their emissions.

Since last August, 16 new carbon funds have appeared on the market, but eight were subsequently put on hold or closed down.

Most of the new funds listed this year are still in the fundraising stage and face an uphill struggle as they try to raise cash, the research found.

Given that the economic downturn has reduced industrial output, companies facing carbon cut targets have less need to buy credits to cover reduced carbon dioxide emissions.

Added to that, the future of the global carbon market after 2012 remains unclear and hopes are diminishing that U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen in December can provide much clarity.

Source : REUTERS

China, South Korea Lead In Green Stimulus Investment

South Korea and China lead the world's 20 largest economies in the percentage of economic stimulus money they invest in environmental projects, the U.N. Environment Program reported on Thursday.

Other members of the Group of 20 leading economic powers, including the United States, trail behind in percentage of green investment from stimulus money, the agency found.

Almost exactly a year after the global financial crisis began, the U.N. agency found that about 15 percent of the estimated $3.1 trillion in global stimulus funds are "green" in nature.

But only 3 percent of stimulus funds committed to environmental projects were actually disbursed by the middle of this year, and the total in committed funds is still below 1 percent of global gross domestic product, the amount economists recommend to reduce dependence on carbon and fuel the transition to a greener world economy, the agency said.

The level of funding for renewable energy is not enough to cut carbon emissions and limit average global warming to 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C), the increase above which some of the most severe effects of climate change are predicted.

The U.N. agency's executive director, Achim Steiner, called on the G20 leaders to have stimulus packages that double their green investments in sustainable energy to $500 billion a year to keep the global temperature rise below this threshold.

The report also noted that global stimulus commitments include some $250 billion in what the agency called "perverse subsidies" for fossil fuels and agriculture that can actually add to climate change are operating in the G20 economies.

In order of the percentage of stimulus money committed to environmental projects, South Korea was first with 79 percent; China had 34 percent; Australia 21 percent; France 18 percent; United Kingdom 17 percent; Germany 13 percent; United States 12 percent; South Africa 11 percent; Mexico 10 percent; Canada 8 percent; Spain 6 percent; Japan 6 percent; Italy 1 percent.

Source : REUTERS

EU To Propose Climate Action On Planes, Ships

Aviation and shipping should cut their respective carbon dioxide emissions to 10 and 20 percent below 2005 levels over the next decade, the European Union is likely to propose at global climate talks this week.

EU diplomats said the cuts might be linked to a tax on fuel to generate billions of dollars of revenues to help poor countries cope with climate change -- a key contribution to finding a global climate deal by December.

After fine-tuning the proposal, the EU will present it at a meeting in Bangkok where climate negotiators from up to 190 nations will try to revive momentum toward a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol from 2013.

Aviation and shipping are not covered by Kyoto, the global climate change treaty agreed in 1997.

Britain, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, and most eastern European states have already indicated support for a cut of 20 percent or more to shipping emissions, compared to 2005 levels, according to a document seen by Reuters.

But seafaring nations including Malta, Cyprus, and Spain favor easier reductions. There is also debate over the base-line year.

The proposal has been put forward by Sweden, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, and is based on a report three weeks ago by the EU's executive, the European Commission.

The Commission calculated the two sectors could generate revenues as high as 25 billion euros ($36.7 billion) a year in 2020, if their emissions were capped at 30 percent below 2005 levels.

Some countries with big airlines or a heavy reliance on air links have put up opposition. France, Finland, Italy, Malta and Austria have suggested airlines get an easier target than 10 percent.

"How these targets should be met should be decided by the International Civil Aviation Organization and International Maritime Organization," said the EU diplomat. "Should they fail, the EU will come back to the issue in 2011."

A system of taxes might meet more political resistance than a cap and trade scheme, which would force polluters to buy permits to emit carbon dioxide.

Shipping would be best served by a cap and trade scheme, the industry associations of Australia, Britain, Belgium, Norway and Sweden argued in a report last week that did not set targets.

The UK Chamber of Shipping estimated a trading scheme for emissions would cost the seaborne industry up to 6 billion euros a year, depending on the price of carbon.

Source : REUTERS

Climate Change Threatens Rare Species In Mekong: WWF

Climate Change Threatens Rare Species In Mekong: An Irrawaddy dolphin, also known as the Mekong dolphin, swims in the river at Kampi village in Kratie province, 230 km (143 miles) northeast of Cambodia.

Climate change is threatening 163 rare species discovered only last year in the Greater Mekong region, conservation group WWF said Friday.

Events such as frequent droughts and floods plus a rise in sea levels spell danger for species in what WWF called in a report "one of the world's last biological frontiers," a region spanning Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China's Yunnan province.

"Forecasts for the Greater Mekong region show that climate change will dramatically alter ecosystems," Geoffrey Blate, WWF's regional climate change coordinator, told Reuters.

"Species most at risk are those with the least physiological tolerance to changes in temperature and precipitation, and those species with narrow or very restricted habitats."

Among the rare new species identified as vulnerable in the "Close Encounters" report are a bird that would rather walk than fly, a frog with fangs and a leopard-striped gecko with orange eyes.

Their habitats and the food they need for survival are often already restricted and climate change is expected to worsen the situation, according to the WWF.

It said many would not be able to adapt to climate change, "potentially resulting in massive extinctions."

With a diverse geography and climate zones, the Mekong is home to over 320 million people and numerous rare species, including the deer-like saola and the world's largest huntsman spider with a leg span of 30 cm (12 inches).

Source : REUTERS

UK Organic Food Needs To Be Cheaper in comparison with non-organic products to Return to Strong Growth : Trade Board

Organic food in Britain is often too expensive in comparison with non-organic products and the price gap must narrow if the struggling sector is to return to strong growth, the Organic Trade Board said.

Organic bread costs nearly a third more than non-organic, while the differential for Gala apples was 69 percent.

"More than a 60 percent premium is a big decision for any shopper," Finn Cottle, trade director for the organic sector umbrella body, told a conference on Tuesday.

After years of double-digit growth the organic sector, which also includes products like make-up and clothes, hit a barrier last year when the economic downturn kicked in.

Sales are now down about 10 percent, which coupled with tighter credit and some retailers pushing cheaper brands, has put pressure on organic producers, many of which are small, family-run firms.

"I think the price differential should be about 20 percent," Cottle said. "We (organic producers) should be looking for a consumer price that is comparable with (non-organic) premium brands. Some (price differences) are quite shocking."

In contrast with Gala apples, a bottle of organic gin costs only about 4 percent more than its non-organic counterpart while cheddar cheese sells for only 1 percent more.

Cottle said the sector must reconnect with shoppers who moved away from the organic sector to save money.

"We know many people are in favor of organic, we just have to make sure they buy our products," she said.

The trade body has a target to push organic sales to 3 billion pounds ($4.9 billion) by 2015, against the 100 million pounds it was worth in 1994.

Ed Crammer, of market analysts TNS, which looks at supermarket sales, said that while many people bought organic, a far smaller number could be properly termed "organic buyers."

"10 percent of people buying organic represent 57 percent of total spend...while 14 percent of those buying organic accounted for just 1 percent -- basically this latter group buy organic almost by mistake."

The organic sector needed to target the 90 percent of people who occasionally buy organic, he added.

Source : REUTERS

U.S. To Track Greenhouse Gases For First Time

The U.S. government will begin requiring big companies to monitor and report greenhouse gas emissions, officials said on Tuesday, a move that could make it easier for federal regulators to cut emissions if Congress does not pass a climate change bill.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said its new reporting system will help it understand where greenhouse gas emissions originate and ultimately help reduce emissions.

"This is a major step forward in our effort to address the greenhouse gases polluting our skies," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "The American public, and industry itself, will finally gain critically important knowledge and with this information we can determine how best to reduce those emissions."

The EPA said its reporting system will cover 85 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions spewed by roughly 10,000 facilities. An oil refinery, power plant or other facility would have to report its polluting data if its carbon dioxide emissions totaled at least 25,000 tons a year.

A 25,000 ton annual carbon dioxide threshold is comparable to the emissions from 131 rail cars of coal consumed, 58,000 barrels of oil consumed, or the emissions from the annual energy use of about 2,200 homes.

"The public has both a need and a right to know about the country's biggest emitters," said Mark MacLeod, director of special projects at Environmental Defense Fund. "The transparency provided today will inform smart policy that targets the biggest sources of heat-trapping emissions."

The global warming pollutants covered under the EPA's reporting system include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons.

The new reporting system takes effect in January 2010 and large emitters are required to file their annual emissions data in 2011. Vehicle and engine manufacturers outside of the light-duty sector will begin phasing in their emissions reporting with the 2011 car model year, the agency said.

The EPA has said it would prefer Congress to cut U.S. emissions, but the agency has taken action that will allow it do to so if necessary.

Democratic U.S. Senators plan to propose a bill this month to slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, a bill that is expected to face stiff opposition. The House of Representatives has already passed a climate change bill.

President Barack Obama, citing in part the EPA's action, told the United Nations that "the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last eight months than at any other time in our history."

Source : REUTERS

Antarctic Coastal Ice Thinning Surprises Experts

Scientists are surprised at how extensively coastal ice in Antarctica and Greenland is thinning, according to a study Wednesday that could help predict rising sea levels linked to climate change.

Analysis of millions of NASA satellite laser images showed the biggest loss of ice was caused by glaciers speeding up when they flowed into the sea, according to scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Bristol University.

"We were surprised to see such a strong pattern of thinning glaciers across such large areas of coastline -- it's widespread and in some cases thinning extends hundreds of kilometers inland," said Hamish Pritchard of BAS who led the study.

"We think that warm ocean currents reaching the coast and melting the glacier front is the most likely cause of faster glacier flow," he said in a statement.

"This kind of ice loss is so poorly understood that it remains the most unpredictable part of future sea level rise," he added. BAS said the study gave the "most comprehensive picture" of the thinning glaciers so far.

Rising seas caused by a thaw of vast stores of ice on Antarctica and Greenland could threaten Pacific islands, coasts from China to the United States and cities from London to Buenos Aires.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier this month global warming, blamed mainly on burning fossil fuels, could raise sea levels by 50 cm to 2 meters (20 inches to 6 ft 6 in) this century -- higher than most experts have predicted.

Among findings, Wednesday's study said 81 of 111 fast-moving glaciers in Greenland were thinning at twice the rate of slow-flowing ice at the same altitude.

"Dynamic thinning of Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheet margins is more sensitive, pervasive, enduring and important than previously realized," they wrote. "Dynamic thinning" means loss of ice due to a faster flow.

They said it was too early to determine whether the thinning was a sign that sea level rise would accelerate from a current rate of about 3 mm (0.12 inches) a year.

"Working that out is the next task," David Vaughan, a BAS glaciologist among the authors, told Reuters. Thinning in some areas could be caused by changes in snowfall, for instance, not the slide of ice toward the ocean, he said.

Source : REUTERS

Storing CO2 In Soil Should Be On U.N. Agenda for Climate talks in Copenhagen in December: Al Gore

Developing emissions markets to encourage farmers in poor countries to store more carbon dioxide in soil should be a key topic on the U.N. climate talks agenda, global warming activist Al Gore said.

"I think that soil carbon conservation and recarbonizing of soil must be the next stage in this negotiating process," former U.S. Vice President Gore told reporters on the sidelines of a climate conference at the United Nations.

Agriculturists can store more carbon in soil through techniques such as no-till farming that leaves crop residue on the ground instead of plowing it up and releasing the carbon into the atmosphere, or through crop rotations.

Gore said that if a clear signal on carbon storage in soil emerged from the 190-nation U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen in December, it would serve as a "very important measure" to help get developing nations to participate in helping to slow climate change.

Rich and poor countries aim to hammer out a new global deal at the Copenhagen meeting on how to slow global warming and deal with its consequences, but talks have stalled on how to share the burden.

In sub-Saharan Africa, soil carbon has been so depleted that it harms food production and is expected to worsen as a consequence of global warming, Gore said.

Soils can hold carbon for thousands of years when dead leaves, crop residue and other vegetation combine chemically with existing soil particles instead of rotting fully. More carbon is held in this way than in trees and other vegetation.

But agricultural techniques such as heavy plowing, the use of too much fertilizer, and the discarding of the practice of rotating crops have led to the depletion of soils and the carbon in them in many countries.

Gore said polluters and investors in rich countries could potentially help invest in projects promoting new and improved agricultural methods that retain carbon, such as no-till farming, in developing countries through carbon credits.

Similar offsets resulting from storing carbon in forests and soils are already available in voluntary carbon markets, including ones for domestic projects on the Chicago Climate Exchange.

Opponents of such programs say the science is still young on measuring how much carbon is stored in this way. As a result, the price for soil sequestration offsets has traditionally trailed the price of other offsets projects such as solar energy farms.

Others say measurements are improving and that the offsets are a huge potential market that could reward farmers and make the soil yield more and better food.

Gore said improving the soil in many poor countries through such offsets could help fight against hunger and malnutrition.

Source : REUTERS

Arctic Ice Melts To Third-Smallest Area On Record

Arctic Ice Melts To Third-Smallest Area On Record Photo: NASA
The summer retreat of sea ice over the Arctic is shown in this combination of images from animation stills modeled from July 1, 2009 and September 7, 2009 from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, released to Reuters September 17, 2009.
Photo: NASA

The Arctic's sea ice pack thawed to its third-lowest summer level on record, up slightly from the seasonal melt of the past two years but continuing an overall decline symptomatic of climate change, U.S. scientists said on Thursday.

The range of ocean remaining frozen over the northern polar region reached its minimum extent for 2009 on September 12, when it covered 1.97 million square miles (5.1 million square km), and now appears to be growing again as the Arctic starts its annual cool-down, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported.

That level falls 20 percent below the 30-year average minimum ice cover for the Arctic summer since satellites began measuring it in 1979, and 24 percent less than the 1979-2000 average, the Colorado-based government agency said.

This summer's minimum represents a loss about about two-thirds of the sea ice measured at the height of Arctic winter in March. By comparison, the Arctic ice shelf typically shrank by a little more than half each summer during the 1980s and 1990s, ice scientist Walt Meier said.

The lowest point on record was reached in September 2007, and the 2009 minimum ranks as the third smallest behind last year's level. But scientists said they do not consider the slight upward fluctuation again this summer to be a recovery.

The difference was attributed to relatively cooler temperatures this summer compared with the two previous years. Winds also tended to disperse the ice pack over a larger region, scientists said.

"The long-term decline in summer extent is expected to continue in future years," the report said.

The U.S. government findings were in line with measurements reported separately by the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Norway, which reported this summer's minimum ice extent at just under 5 million square km (1.93 million square miles).

Scientists regard the Arctic and its sea ice as among the most sensitive barometers of global warming because even small temperature changes make a huge difference.

"If you go from a degree below freezing to 2 degrees above freezing, that's a completely different environment in the polar region," Meier said. "You're going from ice skating to swimming. Whereas if you're on a tropical beach and it's 3 degrees warmer, you probably wouldn't even notice it."

World leaders will meet at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday to discuss a climate treaty due to be agreed on in December.

Source : REUTERS

Environmental Groups "Team Earth" To Use Web To Save Rainforest

Environmental activists are taking to the Internet in a new bid to help save the world's rainforests with the help of major corporations including Starbucks Corp and Dell Inc.

Campaigners plan to announce on Monday the formation of "Team Earth," a social network that includes businesses, nongovernmental organizations, students and politicians with the hope of battling tropical deforestation.

Team Earth will launch in November, but its organizers wanted to spread the word this week, as world leaders gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

"This is a moment when leaders around the world need to take action. We cannot afford for our representatives ... not to take action, so we're mobilizing the public," said Peter Seligmann, chief executive of Conservation International, which is spearheading the effort.

Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said he joined forces with Conservation International over shared concerns over "divergent efforts of many separate parties -- NGOs, corporations, politicians and individuals -- trying to do something in which perhaps the sum of the parts could be greater if there was collective action."

Schultz said it makes business sense for companies to take serious action against social and environmental issues because it is important to employees and customers.

"In order to make a sustainable enduring business that's profitable, you're also going to have to create a balance between profitability and a social conscience," Schultz said in an interview.

Some of Starbucks' existing environmental targets include having all of its new company-operated stores meeting green building standards starting in 2010 and having all of its cups recyclable by 2012.

Actor Harrison Ford, a Conservation International board member best known as the star of the "Indiana Jones" films, is supporting the effort, and told Reuters that large-scale cooperation was best.

"Our individual efforts have been fruitful but history shows that real change is not accomplished through individual efforts but through movements," Ford said, noting that governments and corporations must also be involved.

Team Earth will use social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, along with its own site, to gather support for its causes, which also include climate change, water conservation and health.

Source : REUTERS

Solar Activity On the Surface of Sun Can Also Hit Earth With Wild Winds

The Sun can lash the Earth with powerful winds that can disrupt communications, aviation and power lines even when it is in the quiet phase of its 11-year solar cycle, U.S. scientists say.

Observers have traditionally used the number of sunspots on the surface of the Sun to measure its activity. The number of sunspots reaches a peak at what is called the solar maximum, then declines to reach a minimum during a cycle.

At the peak, intense solar flares and geomagnetic storms eject vast amounts of energy into space, crashing into the Earth's protective magnetic fields, knocking out satellites, disrupting communications and causing colorful aurorae.

But scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the United States and the University of Michigan found that the Earth was bombarded with intense solar winds last year despite an unusually quiet phase for the Sun.

"The Sun continues to surprise us," said Sarah Gibson of the center's High Altitude Observatory and lead author of the study. "The solar wind can hit Earth like a fire hose even when there are virtually no sunspots."

Scientists previously thought the streams of energy largely disappeared as the solar cycle approached the minimum.

Gibson and the team, which also included scientists from NOAA and NASA, compared measurements from the current solar minimum interval, taken in 2008, with measurements of the last solar minimum in 1996.

Although the current solar minimum has fewer sunspots than any minimum in 75 years, the Sun's effect on Earth's outer radiation belt was more than three times greater last year than in 1996.

The research, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, found that the prevalence of high-speed streams during the solar minimum in 2008 appeared to be related to the current structure of the Sun.

As the number of sunspots fell over the past few years, large holes lingered in the surface of the Sun near its equator. The high-speed streams that blow out of those holes engulfed Earth during 55 percent of the study period in 2008, compared to 31 percent of the study period in 1996.

A single stream of charged particles can last for as long as 7 to 10 days, the study says.

"The new observations from last year are changing our understanding of how solar quiet intervals affect the Earth and how and why this might change from cycle to cycle," said co-author Janet Kozyra of the University of Michigan.

Source : REUTERS

Nepal's Sherpa Community Sending Piece Of Rock From Mount Everest as "Memento" For Obama To Show Climate Change Impact

Nepal's sherpa community is sending a piece of rock from Mount Everest to U.S. President Barack Obama to underscore the impact of global warming on the Himalayas.

Environmental group WWF said Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had promised to carry the "memento" and give it to Obama when world leaders meet in New York next week as "a symbol of the melting Himalayas in the wake of climate change."

Heads of state will attend a U.N. General Assembly meeting as well as hold talks on climate change in New York.

The rock was collected from the 8,850 meter (29,035 feet) Mount Everest by Apa Sherpa, who climbed the mountain for a record 19th time in May.

Sherpas, mainly living in Nepal's Solukhumbhu district, home to the world's tallest peak, are known for their climbing skills.

A WWF-Nepal statement said more than 200,000 youth had also signed a petition to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanding action on global warming ahead of crucial climate talks in Copenhagen.

Negotiations on an accord to replace the Kyoto Protocol are scheduled to conclude at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in the Danish capital in December.

Experts say mountainous Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 tallest peaks, including Mount Everest, is vulnerable to climate change despite being responsible for only 0.025 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, among the world's lowest.

Average global temperatures are rising faster in the Himalayas compared to most other parts of the world, according to the Kathmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

Source : REUTERS

Iraq Approved a Project To Make Bio fuels Out Of Rotting Dates

Iraq's prime minister has approved a project by a United Arab Emirates-based company to make biofuel from dates that would otherwise be wasted because they have started to perish, Iraqi officials said on Sunday.

Iraq has the world's third largest oil reserves but its crumbling farm sector, which has suffered from decades of sanctions, isolation and war, is the country's leading employer.

A long drought has conspired with entrenched problems like high soil salinity, poor irrigation practices and a lack of proper seeds and fertilizer to hold back domestic farming and make Iraq heavily dependent on grain imports. Iraqi officials are keen to do anything to boost agricultural productivity.

Iraq, whose date palm plantations dot the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in an otherwise parched landscape, used to be a leading date exporter. It exports a tiny amount at present, officials say.

Faroun Ahmed Hussein, head of the national date palm board, said the Emirati company would produce bioethanol from dates that farmers cannot export because they are starting to rot. It would be used domestically at first, then possibly later exported.

He declined to name the company, estimate the cost of the project or say how much bioethanol it was expected to produce.

He said Iraq produces 350,000 tonnes of dates annually, a sharp fall from 900,000 tonnes produced before the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein but still more than the 150,000 tonnes it currently consumes. Some are fed to animals, he said.

Biofuels are seen by some policymakers as a key element in the fight against climate change, because plants suck up carbon from the atmosphere, and in the quest for alternatives to non-renewable fossil fuels.

Source : REUTERS

Small Hydro Power-plant To Help Boost Rural Africa Development

Mini hydro plants could be the answer to a lack of power in rural Africa, especially as larger power projects are put on hold due to limited cash and abundant red tape, industry officials say.

Analysts say the continent could generate as much as 330,000 megawatts (MW) from its hydro reserves, yet only some 7 percent of that potential has been exploited so far.

So far only one in four Africans is linked to the grid, but power needs on the continent are estimated to triple by 2035.

Small hydro plants, involving small dams, pumps or water mills, can light villages with minimal environmental impact.

A 7 MW plant in the South African town of Bethlehem is expected to supply power to 15 percent of the roughly 70,000 people, at a total cost of 100 million rand ($13.24 million).

Mini plants satisfy people's basic needs, like the 0.75 kilowatt turbine in Kenya's Kerugoya village which gives access to power without forcing people to walk miles to the next town.

African governments say the extension of electricity lines to more people is a priority. Kenya is in the process of adding 200,000 new electricity consumers every year until 2012.

Civic group Practical Action is building 15 mini hydro plants in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique to light homes, schools and clinics and to irrigate fields.

Kenya, the world's largest exporter of black tea, also plans to build 10 mini hydro plants supplying a total of 23 MW to irrigate tea plantations.

Mini hydro projects will also help retain professionals such as teachers and health workers in rural areas.

Source : REUTERS

India Eyes Policy Changes To Cut Renewables Energy Costs

India, which hopes to attract $16 billion in renewable energy investments by 2012, will soon announce new policies to cut the cost of investment in the green sector, the chief of India's renewables agency said on Thursday.

Proposals include financial incentive models linked to units of green power generated and tax cuts based on accelerated depreciation benefits. India currently has an investment-linked incentive policy.

"Issues such as accelerated depreciation are being now discussed and we should be able to announce the plans soon," Debashish Majumdar, chairman and managing director of the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, said at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit.

India has already attracted about $5 billion worth of investment in renewables over the past two years -- leading to 4,000 megawatts of green power, mostly from wind -- but the high initial investment cost of green power has deterred many investors.

India hopes to attract about $21 billion worth of investments in renewable energy in the 2007-2012 plan period.

Majumdar, whose agency makes loans to renewables projects, said it hoped to meet that target but the global financial downturn had slowed investment during the past year-and-a-half.

This could hurt India's target of generating 25,000 MW of power from renewable energy over the next four years, more than double the current generation level of 12,000 MW.

"We have about 40 projects in the pipeline worth about $500 million," Majumdar said in New Delhi.

This is below the usual pace of investment, typically between 50 to 60 projects every quarter. The new projects are mostly for wind, hydro and bio-mass power.

Just three percent of India's total power mix now comes from renewables, and developing the sector is at the core of a national plan on climate change that does not commit to any emission targets.

In spite of its pledge to adopt clean technology, pollution-spewing coal remains the backbone of India's power sector -- making up about 60 percent of generation -- with the government planning to add about 70,000 MW in the next 4 years.

One of the thrusts of the national climate plan is developing solar power and India plans to generate 20 gigawatts of solar power by 2020.

Wind could generate a "considerable share" of India's power, the Global Wind Energy Council said in a new study released on Wednesday.

Source : REUTERS

Wind Power Could Meet China's Electricity Demands By 2030 : Study

Wind power could meet China's electricity demands through 2030 and cut carbon dioxide emissions in China by 30 percent, U.S. and Chinese researchers said on Thursday.

China already is the world's chief emitter of carbon dioxide, a leading so-called greenhouse gas implicated by scientists in global climate change.

China currently generates 792.5 gigawatts of electricity per year, mostly through coal-fired power plants, and that output is expected to grow by 10 percent per year, a team from Harvard University in Massachusetts and Tsinghua University in Beijing reported in the journal Science.

About 80 percent of China's electricity comes from coal.

Wind energy accounts for just 0.4 percent of China's total current electricity supply, but the country is quickly adding capacity, trailing only the United States, Germany and Spain in existing wind farms, the scientists said.

To study the potential of wind energy in China, the team used data from NASA as well as global meteorological data collected from surface observations, aircraft, balloons, ships, buoys and satellites worldwide.

They found that a network of wind turbines operating at as little as 20 percent of their rated capacity could provide more than seven times China's current electricity consumption.

To meet its growing energy demand with coal-fired plants, China could potentially increase the country's carbon dioxide output to 3.5 gigatons a year, the scientists said.

The team calculates that the switch to wind power would cost China around $900 billion dollars at current prices over the same 20-year period.

"This would require a major investment of resources and could be accomplished only on the basis of a carefully designed long-range plan for the Chinese power sector," the team wrote.

Source : REUTERS

U.S. Ethanol Producer Green Plains Sees Stronger Ethanol Sector

The shakeout in the U.S. ethanol industry in the past year has helped draw stronger players to the business and made producers better able to cope with soft margins, Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc's chief executive said on Thursday.

Since November of last year, several of the nation's biggest producers of the corn-based gasoline substitute have filed for bankruptcy protection as ethanol margins turned negative.

Those margins have recovered to about 10-20 cents a gallon in recent months as corn prices have fallen and because of government mandates for rising usage.

Most producers in the industry that makes about 700,000 barrels per day, or more than 7 percent of the nation's gasoline demand, should be able to survive on margins between about 15-30 cents per gallon, Green Plains' CEO Todd Becker said at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit.

Green Plains, the fourth largest U.S. ethanol producer by volume, has benefited from the shakeout: the company purchased two plants in Nebraska built by now-defunct VeraSun Energy, which fell into bankruptcy last year.

That acquisition from lender AgStar Financial Services, which had bought six of VeraSun's plants, lifted Green Plains' capacity to 480 million gallons per year.

Green Plains, which earns about 20 percent of its revenues -- that totaled $285 million in the second quarter -- from its agriculture business, is also staying on the lookout for other available plants.

"If the right plant comes up in the right locality -- we're very picky -- we'll add it," he said.

The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard mandates the mixing of 12 billion gallons of traditional ethanol made from grains like corn into the nation's gasoline supply in 2010, up from about 10.5 billion this year. The mandated target will hit a maximum of 15 billion gallons in 2015.

That growing share of the market has attracted large energy companies, including Valero Energy, the nation's largest oil refiner, which bought seven of VeraSun's plants in a bankruptcy auction.

That has helped the industry mature, Becker said, and was a healthy development for the renewable fuel.

Oil companies such as Exxon Mobil and BP Plc are also investing in next generation biofuels, joining agricultural giants like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland who are major ethanol producers.

Source : REUTERS

European Union Executive Moves To Protect Bluefin Tuna

The European Union's executive has provisionally backed a ban on fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna, which has been pushed close to extinction by industrial fishing boats.

Prized by sushi lovers and chronically overfished for years, bluefin tuna commands sky-high prices in Asia, particularly in Japan where a single fish can fetch up to $100,000.

The European Commission said it would support the EU co-sponsoring a proposal by Monaco to list the species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) next March.

But the EU will not fully commit until its 27 member countries have been consulted on September 21 or before new scientific data emerges in November.

"The European Commission shares many of the concerns expressed by Monaco about the state of stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna," said a Commission spokeswoman. Opposition could come from big tuna fishing nations such as Malta and Italy.

"We welcome that the Commission accepts, at last, the gravity of the bluefin tuna's plight," said Ral Romeva, who represents the European Parliament on the issue. "We can only regret that it still refuses to commit to take the firm steps that are needed to save this fish," he added.

Last year, the European Commission accused France and Italy of breaching their quotas on bluefin tuna fishing.

"Bluefin tuna has become endangered because of disgraceful fisheries management in the EU," said Greenpeace campaigner Saskia Richartz.

The main problem is caused by industrial vessels that use a purse seine net, which floats the top of a long wall of netting on the surface while its bottom is weighted under the water.

Europe has a two-month season for the six EU states -- Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain -- that fish in Mediterranean and east Atlantic waters with purse seiners.

Commission experts say the EU's fishing capacity is so large, and bluefin trawling activity so concentrated in one month, the EU quota can be exhausted in two days of fishing.

Source : REUTERS

Birth Control Could Head Off Climate Crunch

Birth control and new technologies -- not lifestyle change alone -- may be needed to head off a combined climate, food and energy crunch later this century, said the head of Britain's science academy Martin Rees.

The world's population is expected to rise by one third to more than 9 billion people by 2050, and may keep growing, fuelling concern about food and energy shortages and a more difficult task to curb greenhouse gases heating the planet.

But analysts and environment and development groups rarely mention population control, which smacks of totalitarianism, in U.N.-led climate talks meant to agree in December a broader, more ambitious pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

"There should not be any stigma in providing women with ways of getting out of ignorance, poverty and getting access to contraceptives," said Rees, president of the Royal Society, at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit.

"I think population issues need to be higher up the agenda because population beyond 2050 is very uncertain. There should not be any stigma against stronger efforts to give women in Africa more empowerment."

There will be more than 1 billion extra people in Africa than now by 2050 said Rees, who added the continent by then would have three times the population of Europe -- which had triple Africa's population in 1950.

Rees gave two priorities for policymakers now to maintain food, energy and low-carbon air supplies later this century:

"Substituting as quickly as possible fossil fuels and doing all we can to ensure the global population doesn't continue rising after 2050," he told Reuters in London.

"There are going to be pressures on the environment, not just climate change but food and water."

The Chinese government estimates its population was 300-400 million smaller in 2008 as a result of a one-child policy introduced in 1979. Its population now is about 1.3 billion.

Source : REUTERS

Looking Breakthrough Ideas in Green Technology, Google Plans New Mirror For Cheaper Solar Power

Google Inc is disappointed with the lack of breakthrough investment ideas in the green technology sector but the company is working to develop its own new mirror technology that could reduce the cost of building solar thermal plants by a quarter or more.

"We've been looking at very unusual materials for the mirrors both for the reflective surface as well as the substrate that the mirror is mounted on," the company's green energy czar Bill Weihl told Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Google, known for its Internet search engine, in late 2007 said it would invest in companies and do research of its own to produce affordable renewable energy within a few years.

The company's engineers have been focused on solar thermal technology, in which the sun's energy is used to heat up a substance that produces steam to turn a turbine. Mirrors focus the sun's rays on the heated substance.

Google hopes to have a viable technology to show internally in a couple of months, Weihl said. It will need to do accelerated testing to show the impact of decades of wear on the new mirrors in desert conditions.

Another technology that Google is working on is gas turbines that would run on solar power rather than natural gas, an idea that has the potential of further cutting the cost of electricity, Weihl said.

"In two to three years we could be demonstrating a significant scale pilot system that would generate a lot of power and would be clearly mass manufacturable at a cost that would give us a levelized cost of electricity that would be in the 5 cents or sub 5 cents a kilowatt hour range," Weihl said.

Google is invested in two solar thermal companies, eSolar and BrightSolar but is not working with these companies in developing the cheaper mirrors or turbines.

In wide-ranging remarks, Weihl also said the United States needs to raise government-backed research significantly, particularly in the very initial stages to encourage breakthrough ideas in the sector.

The company has pushed ahead in addressing climate change issues as a philanthropic effort through its Google.org arm.

Source : REUTERS

India To Set Industry Efficiency Targets By December, 2010

India hopes to set up by December next year energy efficiency targets for more than 700 industrial units, which account for 40 percent of India's fossil fuel use, the country's head of energy efficiency said on Monday.

Ajay Mathur, director-general of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, said India's energy efficiency market was worth about $15 billion which could generate energy saving of up to two percent of the country's total energy use now.

The scheme is among a number of emissions reduction measures India has announced that could bolster the nation's position ahead of a U.N. gathering in Copenhagen in December aimed at trying to win agreement on a broader pact to fight climate change.

Source : REUTERS

Threatened by Risisng Sea Levels, Maldives To Introduce Green Tax On Tourists

The Maldives archipelago, threatened by rising sea levels blamed on climate change, said on Monday it would introduce a new environment tax on all tourists who use its resorts and provide its economic lifeline.

Famed mostly for high-end luxury resorts and white-sand atolls, the Maldives has made a name for itself as an advocate for mitigating climate change because rising sea levels are forecast to submerge most of its islands by 2100.

The Maldives' $850 million economy gets more than a quarter of its gross domestic product from tourists, but has not yet taxed them to help it fight climate change.

President Mohammed Nasheed, who in March outlined plans to make the Maldives the world's first carbon-neutral nation within a decade, said an environment tax was soon to be levied on all tourists.

"We have introduced a green tax. It's in the pipeline. It's a matter of parliament approving it and I hope parliament will approve it -- $3 per each tourist a day," Nasheed told reporters in Male, the capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Based on an annual average of 700,000 tourists who spend an average of three days on the islands, that translates to about $6.3 million annually.

In March, Nasheed launched a $1.1 billion initiative to convert the islands solely to renewable energy from fossil fuels, and buy and destroy EU carbon credits to offset emissions from tourists flying to visit its resorts.

The government has acknowledged it needs outside investment to fund those plans, and Nasheed's trip to U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

Last month, his office said he would not attend the talks because of a budget crisis that forced the country to seek a $60 million International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan.

Nasheed said he still had no plans to attend "unless someone very generously helps us. I hope someone will assist us."

He said the Maldives had little leverage in the outcome of the Copenhagen talks, which are to create a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, but a huge stake.

"There is no point in Maldives entering the agreement. It is a small country. It is India, China, Brazil, the United States that have to join in," he said. "No one is going to come out as a winner without an agreement."

Source : REUTERS

Confusing Forest-Carbon Regulation Scaring Investors from Indonesia

Confusing and conflicting regulations are scaring away investors from Indonesia's fledgling forest carbon credit scheme aimed at curbing deforestation, lawyers said on Monday.

A U.N.-backed scheme called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) could potentially unlock billions of dollars in annual carbon credit sales for developing nations that protect their forests from illegal logging and other threats.

Indonesia in May became the first country to issue a legal framework for REDD, anticipating the scheme's inclusion in a broader U.N. climate pact during a major gathering in Copenhagen this year.

However, project developers will struggle for up to five years to attract necessary volumes of private investment to sustain REDD projects without public funding, said Martijn Wilder, a partner at Baker & McKenzie.

"We are probably three, four or five years away in terms of having a really significant liquid private sector market so the issue is how do we fund it at the moment," he told a forum of REDD project developers and policy-makers in Jakarta on Monday.

"There is direct funding from governments such as Norway or through the World Bank, but the key issue is how much do we rely on public sector financing or on private sector financing," said Wilder, head of Baker & McKenzie's global climate change and emissions trading practice.

Deforestation is responsible for nearly 20 percent of mankind's greenhouse gas emissions.

The United Nations, World Bank and numerous governments back REDD projects in developing nations that halt forest loss and pay local communities compensation as well as help them develop alternative livelihoods.

In return, rich nations and companies can buy REDD carbon offsets to meet their emissions obligations at home. A U.N.-backed market, though, will only come into force from 2013 if there's a global climate pact and the infant sector is presently supported by the voluntary carbon offset market and donor funding.

Source : REUTERS

Concerns On Climate change funding, stall talks at G20

Differences between rich and developing countries prevented G20 finance ministers from agreeing measures on Saturday to curb global warming, casting more doubt on U.N. efforts to agree a new climate treaty.

Industrialized nations sought progress on climate change financing at a meeting of G20 finance ministers but met resistance from emerging nations including China and India, who fear the proposals could stifle their economic growth, two G20 sources said.

Ministers said in their concluding statement that they would work toward a successful outcome at a United Nations meeting in Copenhagen in December which aims to draft a new climate change treaty to succeed the Kyoto agreement.

G20 sources said China and India had been among those objecting to detailed talks on climate change.

In a statement on Friday, the finance ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China said the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change, which overseas the drafting of the new treaty, should be the main forum for negotiations on climate change.

However, developing nations are suspicious rich countries are trying to avoid paying the full amount needed to cut C02 emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change, and seeking to push some of the financial burden on to them.

"Many developing countries are concerned that the global issue of climate change will constrain their ability to industrialize without creating additional costs," said Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Friday.

Developing nations are especially skeptical of proposals for private sector funding of the fight against climate change. They are keen for developed countries' governments to stump up the cash needed.

Source : REUTERS

Anti-nuclear rally enlivens German General Election campaign

A convey of 350 farm tractors rumbled through Berlin on Saturday,5th September to launch a mass anti-nuclear rally, designed to influence Germany's general election in three weeks' time.

About 50,000 opponents of nuclear power took part in the protest, which kicked off with an 8-km (5-mile)-long convey of tractors that passed in front of Chancellor Angela Merkel's offices and through the government quarter to the city's historic Brandenburg Gate.

Determined to make nuclear power a focus of the election campaign, the protesters criticised Merkel and her conservative party, which wants to scrap a 2001 law to shut down Germany's 17 remaining nuclear power plants by the mid-2020s.

The future of nuclear power is one of the few key issues that divide Merkel's Christian Democrats from the Social Democrats (SPD) of her challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The parties have shared power for the past four years in an awkward 'grand coalition' that both want to end.

But so far nuclear power has only been a fringe issue in the run-up to the September 27 election, in which Merkel's conservatives and their preferred partners, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), have been pushing to extend the life of the plants.

A wide majority of Germans oppose nuclear power, according to opinion polls. But Merkel and the FDP still hold a slim lead over other possible coalition alliances ahead of the election. The SPD and Greens oppose any change to the nuclear exit law.

Crowds of well-wishers waved at the long convoy of tractors, some of which pulled wagons filled with demonstrators or fake barrels of radioactive waste.

Source : REUTERS

Study Propose to Invest More in Wetlands to fight Climate Change

Governments can help combat climate change by investing more in natural areas, including forests and mangroves, a European study said on Wednesday.

The paper pointed out that nations have natural assets worth trillions of dollars which could help fight global warming and save investment in industrial schemes for carbon capture.

"Natural systems represent one of the biggest untapped allies against the greatest challenge of this generation," said The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study, part of a global project, to be published next year.

Launched by Germany and the European Commission, the report is examining the economics of biodiversity loss.

An investment of $45 billion in protected areas could save nature-based services worth $4.5-$5.2 trillion a year, more than the value of the car, steel and information technology sectors, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel told reporters.

Scientists say preserving nature is crucial in fighting climate change but warn extinctions are speeding up due to human activity. Extinction rates are at 1,000 times their natural pace and three species vanish every hour, research shows.

The study highlighted the role of forests in naturally mitigating CO2 emissions as they absorb an estimated 15 percent of global greenhouse emissions every year.

Agreeing on funding to save forests must be a priority for governments at December's global talks in Copenhagen to try to agree on a successor to the Kyoto protocol on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, said the authors of the report.

The report highlighted the dangers facing coral reefs which have risen due to a build up of greenhouse gases. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations are already irreversibly damaging coral reefs and their extinction would jeopardize the livelihoods of millions of people, said the study.

Coral reefs, which protect coastlines from the effects of global warming and are essential for some kinds of fish, are worth up to $170 billion a year, said the study.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the U.N. Environment Programme said billions of dollars of government investment in power station carbon capture schemes may not be the full answer.

Source : REUTERS

Five-Yearly Reef Outlook Report Raised Concerns On the Declining Health of the Great Barrier Reef

Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest living organism, is under grave threat from climate warming and coastal development, and its prospects of survival are "poor," a major new report found on Wednesday.

While the World Heritage-protected site, which sprawls for more than 345,000 square km (133,000 sq miles) off Australia's east coast, is in a better position than most other reefs globally, the risk of its destruction was mounting.

"Even with the recent management initiatives to improve resilience, the overall outlook for the Great Barrier Reef is poor and catastrophic damage to the ecosystem may not be averted," a government reef management body said in the report.

The five-yearly reef outlook report, aimed at benchmarking the health of the reef, found climate change, declining water quality from coastal runoff, development and illegal fishing were the biggest dangers to the reef.

The study echoed findings by scientists belonging to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the Great Barrier Reef could be "functionally extinct" within decades, with deadly coral bleaching likely to be an annual occurrence by 2030.

The reef was one of the most diverse and remarkable ecosystems in the world, and populations of almost all marine species were still large, the government's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said in the report.

But some ecologically important species, such as dugongs, marine turtles, seabirds, black teatfish and some sharks had declined significantly, while coral diseases and pest outbreaks like crown-of-thorns starfish appeared to be increasing and becoming more serious.

A separate report by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, also released on Wednesday, found ocean temperatures on northern parts of the reef had been a degree above average through winter, pointing to a bad year for coral bleaching.

"We know that a failure to act on dangerous climate change puts at risk significant places like the Great Barrier Reef and this report confirms the scale of the challenge ahead," Australia's Environment Minister Peter Garrett said.

Bleaching occurs when the tiny plant-like coral organisms die, often because of higher temperatures, and leave behind only a white limestone reef skeleton.

Garrett and Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh unveiled a plan to improve water quality on the reef. It followed a report last year which found agricultural run-off was killing the reef, with some sections already irreversibly damaged.

The plan aimed to halve the runoff of harmful nutrients and pesticides by 2013 and ensure 80 percent of agricultural enterprises and 50 percent of grazing operations were taking steps to reduce runoff.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said the report added urgency to a debate in Australia's parliament on laws to curb carbon emissions, rejected last month by the upper house Senate and due for a second vote in mid-November.

Source : REUTERS

EU Granted No Delay For Car Makers On Ban of Climate-Damaging Chemicals in Air Conditioners

Car makers will not be granted a delay to an agreed 2011 European ban on climate-damaging chemicals in the air conditioners of new car models, European Parliament officials said on Tuesday.

Automakers say they will need to invest an extra 40-200 euros ($57-287) per vehicle to meet the refrigerant standards, which would be difficult to pass on to consumers in the current tough economic climate.

The car sector's campaign has aroused strong opposition from environmentalists and suppliers of greener engineering systems.

The European Union decided in 2006 that from 2011 it would ban the use of fluorinated chemicals, such as the industry standard known as R134a, which have a powerful climate-warming effect when released into the atmosphere.

The EU closed a legal loophole in April after learning that car makers were planning to use it to avoid the ban for new car models until 2017.

But car industry lobby group ACEA said auto manufacturers still needed two to three extra years.

European Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen told a meeting in the European Parliament on Tuesday that a delay would not be granted, according to two officials present at the meeting.

"The rule is in force -- it has to be applied," both officials quoted him as saying in a response to a question by British liberal lawmaker Chris Davies.

"The message could not be more clear," Davies later said in a statement. "The European Commission has raised the stakes and told them -- don't mess with us."

"Car makers...have had billions of euros in support from national governments, and it is time that they took a lead in helping reach Europe's ambitions of reducing the release of global warming gases," Davies added.

The emerging market for greener refrigerants pits industry giant Honeywell International with its HFO-1234yf coolant against rival carbon dioxide-based cooling systems such as that of Austria's Obrist Engineering, Germany's Ixetic and U.S.-based Visteon.

Some of them say car makers, such as General Motors and Mercedes, had already placed orders for green air-conditioning systems and were on track to meet the ban, but later retracted the orders for unknown reasons.

Source : REUTERS

Senate Urged To Let States To Let Them Impose Stricter Limits On Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Five states have asked U.S. Senate leaders to let them impose stricter limits on greenhouse gas emissions than what would be permitted under the climate legislation working its way though Congress, saying both levels of regulation are necessary to fight global warming.

The climate bill the House of Representatives narrowly passed in June would preempt statewide caps on greenhouse gases, while cutting total U.S. emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

Senate leaders will reveal their version of the bill later this month and hope to vote on it later in the year.

The group of attorneys general, which includes Edmund Brown of California, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and Anne Milgram of New Jersey, opposed limits on their ability to regulate the emissions, which they formed in the absence of federal climate regulations during the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush.

"States should continue to be able to adopt caps that are more stringent than federal requirements in order to ensure that the ambitious targets set by the act, and required to avoid disruptive climate change, are met," the attorneys general wrote in a letter obtained by Reuters.

They had sent the letter on Monday to Senate leaders including Democrats Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer, and Republicans Mitch McConnell and James Inhofe.

The House version of the bill would preempt state caps on greenhouse gas emissions from 2012 to 2017.

That would effectively halt the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a group of 10 states in the East, from carrying out their cap-and-trade market that launched in January. Those states cap carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The group has raised nearly $370 million for clean energy and efficiency funds by selling emission permits in quarterly auctions.

It would also preempt the Western Climate initiative that would covers six greenhouse gases across 11 U.S. states and Canadian provinces from launching in 2012.

The targets of both regional plans are weaker than those in the climate bill. But leaders in the states have said they would like the option to ratchet up their plans once a federal system kicked in.

The states also called on the Senate to strengthen the bill by pushing the reduction target up to 20 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels in order to better fight climate change.

The other attorneys general that wrote the letter were Terry Goddard of Arizona and Joseph Biden III of Delaware.

Source : REUTERS

Better Climate Information Seen Aiding U.N. Pact

A push to improve climate information for everyone from farmers to investors in solar power will help a planned U.N. treaty to combat global warming, the head of the U.N.'s meteorological agency said on Tuesday.

Michel Jarraud told Reuters that a 150-nation World Climate Conference in Geneva this week, seeking to boost collection and sharing of climate information, would assist the world to cope with droughts, wildfires, sandstorms, floods or rising seas.

Agreement in Geneva would help set the stage for a planned new U.N. climate treaty, due to be agreed in December in Copenhagen.

"It will support whatever decisions are going to be made in Copenhagen," said Jarraud, who is Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Investors, for instance, want to know about future climate to decide where to site a dam, wind farm or solar panels, he said.

Cyprus, for instance, had suffered four consecutive years of summer drought -- forcing water imports by tanker because it had built dams and reservoirs sufficient to store winter rainfall only for three years.

"The dams were based on the best rainfall statistics from the past. With climate change the probabilities are changing," he said.

A planned "Global Framework for Climate Services" to be agreed in Geneva at the August 31-September 4 talks would also include investments in monitoring levels of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels.

The framework, mainly to help developing nations, would bolster monitoring of the climate -- places such as the Congo basin need far more weather stations. Jarraud declined to estimate how much the framework would cost.

He said that it would require cultural changes to get people to act on climate information -- often viewed with skepticism by planners even though forecasts have become far more reliable.

About 70,000 people more than normal died in a 2003 heatwave in Europe, partly because of inadequate preparations. Even so, meteorologists had predicted a likely heatwave months in advance, he said.

Farmers in Africa, for instance, in some cases have to ditch traditional knowledge about signs from nature that help decide when to sow or harvest crops. Climate change, perhaps affecting the timing of monsoon rains, was making such knowledge less valuable.

"Cultural changes are tricky, they take time. It was very solid traditional knowledge but now we can do better than traditional knowledge. But it will take time," he said.

Source : REUTERS

India Says Greenhouse Gas Pollution To Jump

India said it expects its greenhouse gas emissions to jump to between 4 billion tons and 7.3 billion tons in 2031, a report said on Wednesday.

Per capita emissions are estimated to rise to 2.1 tons by 2020 and 3.5 tons by 2030.

The report is the nation's most sweeping emissions summary, highlighting India's growing role as a key player in U.N.-led climate negotiations aimed at winning agreement of all nations to curb the growth in planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

"The results should set at rest any apprehensions that India's GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions are poised for runaway increase over the next two decades," the government report said. One environmentalist said that the figures had to be put in global context.

In a 2004 report to the United Nations, the last time India published detailed emissions data, the government said total greenhouse gas emissions were 1.228 billion metric tons, or about 1.3 tons per person, in 1994.

A government report in August said India contributes around five percent to global carbon dioxide emissions, but was still only about a quarter of the emissions of China and the United States.

Source : REUTERS

France Sees Initial Carbon Tax At 14 Euros Per Tonne

France plans to set a proposed carbon tax at 14 euros ($19.9) per tonne of carbon dioxide starting from next year, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in an interview to be published by Figaro magazine.

A special advisory panel, headed by former Socialist Prime Minister Michel Rocard, had recommended billing 32 euros for every tonne of carbon dioxide emitted in 2010 and lifting the levy gradually to 100 euros per tonne by 2030.

"We have decided to apply the tax in a progressive manner. Starting with the price per tonne on the market, that is to say 14 euros," Fillon said in the article set to appear in the magazine's Saturday edition.

The proposed tax has sparked heavy criticism from intensive users of fuel such as farmers and fishermen who will see the cost of a liter of petrol rise as a result.

The impact of a new carbon tax would be offset for companies through provisions to reduce the tax burden related to investment and the government was studying ways to soften the blow for the country's poorest households.

"It is out of the question that we will apply this uniformly to those French people that have choices and those who don't," said Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

Source : REUTERS

Facts, Impacts, Savings From Cutting UK Energy Usage

Over 40 percent of Britain's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the main greenhouse gas causing climate change, come from the energy we use at home and in traveling.

The average British home emits around five and a half tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, twice the amount of a car.

Homes could save 1.5 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to 300 pounds a year, by insulating, improving their heating system and being energy efficient. Businesses could save over 2.5 billion pounds a year through carbon reduction measures, such as replacing oil boilers or installing new lighting.

HOUSEHOLDS

Leaving appliances and gadgets on standby wastes as much electricity as the annual output of two 700 megawatt power stations.

We waste over 600,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, equal to 170 million pounds, by leaving lights on unnecessarily.

Over 700,000 tonnes a year of CO2 is wasted by people overfilling their kettles. If people boiled only the water needed each time, we could save enough electricity in a year to run Britain's street lighting for nearly 7 months.

Britain could save 180 mega liters of water a day - enough to supply nearly 500,000 homes, by turning taps off while brushing teeth.

If we stopped wasting food which could have been eaten, we could save 18 million tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of taking one in five cars off our roads.

If everyone reduced their thermostat by one degree centigrade we could save 5.5 million tonnes of CO2, the same reduction as taking 1.8 million cars off the road.

Installing cavity wall insulation could cut CO2 by nearly 4 million tonnes. That's enough to fill Wembley stadium 500 times.

Drying clothes outside in the summer, rather than using tumble driers, would save as much CO2 as taking 240,000 cars off the roads.

Upgrading fridges and freezers to energy saving recommended products could save over 700 million pounds of electricity every year. This could power UK street lighting for three years.

BUSINESSES

Air conditioning can increase a building' energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 100 percent.

Switching off lights in corridors and rooms not being used could cut lighting costs by 15 percent.

A seven-day timer on shared equipment such as printers, vending machines and water coolers could save up to 70 percent on energy costs.

A single computer and monitor left on for 24 hours a day could cost over 50 pounds a year. Switching it off out of hours could reduce this to 15 pounds.

Upgrading IT can bring substantial CO2 reductions.

Maintaining boilers regularly could save firms 10 percent on annual heating costs.

Source : REUTERS

United Nation Chief Calls For Urgent Action On Climate Change

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on world leaders on Monday to take urgent action to combat climate change for the sake of "the future of humanity."

Ban, on a tour of Svalbard, the remote Norwegian-controlled Arctic archipelago, said the region might have no ice within 30 years if present climate trends persisted.

He is trying to drum up support for a comprehensive accord to limit emissions of greenhouse gases at a U.N. summit in Copenhagen in December. The accord will be a successor to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

"I would like to draw the attention (of) the world, for urgent action to be taken at Copenhagen ... We do not have much time to lose," Ban told reporters aboard a Norwegian coastguard vessel.

Ban said he wants leaders "to agree a global deal that is comprehensive, equitable and balanced for the future of humanity and the future of planet Earth."

The Copenhagen talks aim to agree tough limits on emissions, to keep climate change at a manageable level, and a mechanism by which technology to reduce emissions is efficiently transferred from rich to developing states.

Ban said that Arctic ice was disappearing faster than glaciers in other parts of the world, quickly removing the reflective white shield that prevents the earth's north and south polar regions from absorbing more of the sun's energy.

If Arctic sea ice disappears, the darker water underneath will absorb more solar energy, accelerating climate change, "The polar ice caps are the world's refrigerator, helping to keep us cool because they reflect so much heat," Lars Haltbrekker, head of environmental group Friends of the Earth Norway, told Reuters.

"Some scientists believe that we are already at a tipping point, that the concentration of man-made (heat trapping) gases already in the atmosphere will melt the Arctic sea ice during the summer by 2050," he said.

The area covered by Arctic sea ice fell to its lowest recorded level in summer 2007, increased slightly last year, and will probably be the third lowest on record this year, scientists say.

Source : REUTERS

Vancouver Cruise Ships To Plug In To Cut Pollution

Cruise ships docking in Vancouver, a popular hub for tourists bound for Alaska, can now plug into the city's electricity grid - cutting their engines and their diesel air emissions.

Port Metro Vancouver, Canada's biggest port, on Monday unveiled a shore power facility for cruise ships while in harbor, a first in Canada and only the third of its kind in the world.

Cruise ships can now plug into the electrical grid of the provincial utility, BC Hydro, which says that its mostly hydroelectric-generated power is 90 percent nonpolluting.

Long-term exposure to diesel engine exhaust likely causes lung cancer in humans and can trigger other lung and respiratory ailments, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Princess Cruises and Holland America Line have outfitted several of their fleet with onboard shore power equipment. Four Princess ships and one Holland America ship will use shore power in Vancouver during the 2009 Alaska season, which runs from May to September.

Source : REUTERS

Hoarding Energy-Guzzling Bulbs Ahead Of EU Ban

Germans, who sometimes see themselves as guardians of the environment, are hoarding energy-guzzling incandescent light bulbs ahead of a looming European Union-wide ban, the GfK market research agency said.

The Nuremberg-based GfK reported sales of incandescent bulbs had soared about 35 percent in the first half of the year ahead of a ban that starts Tuesday -- even though it was proposed by German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel in 2007.

Some German retailers said they have seen sales of 100-watt incandescent bulbs soar 600 percent since the end of July.

The EU is planning to phase out use of the incandescent bulbs as part of its push to save energy, cut greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. From Tuesday the light bulbs above 75 watts can no longer be produced or imported in the EU.

The ban will be expanded each year and by 2012 production and importing of all incandescent bulbs will be prohibited.

The EU Commission projects the ban on the energy-inefficient bulbs will save about 40 terawatt hours of energy in the EU per year -- enough to meet the energy demands of a small country.

The idea to ban incandescent bulbs came from Gabriel in 2007 when Germany held the EU's rotating presidency. The German said the switch to energy saving bulbs could save about 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

Source : REUTERS