India, like China, has committed to reducing the carbon intensity of its economy which will allow its emissions to grow in the long-run and avoid huge costs for its industry or consumers, analysts say. The country had been under pressure to make a gesture before climate talks in Copenhagen, which start next week, and it has promised to slow the growth of its emissions in the future but under no circumstances reduce them. It's a "welcome sign that the Indians are prepared to take action... Read Full Story
IMF experts said Friday the global economy stood to benefit from action against climate change but warned that aggressive curbs on emissions could jeopardize the recovery without careful planning. Days before a major climate summit gets underway in Copenhagen, the experts at the International Monetary Fund said a global pact would help the world's poorest who face the worst effects of rising temperatures. "Greater climate resilience can promote macroeconomic stability and alleviate poverty... Read Full Story
A top UN panel is to probe claims that British scientists sought to suppress data backing climate change sceptics' views, its head said Friday ahead of the landmark Copenhagen summit. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the claims -- which led a top expert to leave his post temporarily this week -- were serious and needed to be investigated. Professor Phil Jones has stood aside as head of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East... Read Full Story
More than 100 heads of state or government have confirmed their participation in top-level talks at the end of the UN-led Copenhagen climate conference, Danish government officials said Friday. "More than 100 heads of state and government have said they will take part in the summit talks," a Danish government official told AFP. Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen has invited 191 world leaders to the final two days of the December 7-18 talks aimed at coming up with concrete measures... Read Full Story
In the heart of the Amazon, a group of lumberjacks is pioneering the sustainable exploitation of the world's biggest rainforest doing their part to combat global warming. Donning the orange helmet of the Flona Tapajos conservation unit, Marcelo Castro thrust into the forest with his colleagues, picked out a tree from a government list and ignoring the sticky humidity, powered up his chainsaw. The 26-meter (85-foot) tree moaned before crashing loudly to the ground. But thanks to Castro's... Read Full Story
At 9,000 metres, the pilot idles the engines and begins gliding the Airbus toward Stockholm's Arlanda Airport in a fuel-slashing "green landing". By pulling back the engines, pilot Henrik Ekstrand is saving his charter company, Novair, 300 litres (66 gallons) of fuel -- cutting costs and carbon emissions in an industry under financial and environmental pressure. His flight is also an experiment in a new innovation to combine idling with a curved approach to the runway that shortens distance... Read Full Story
The European Commission announced Thursday it would appeal against court decisions which blocked EU attempts to limit greenhouse gas emissions from Poland and Estonia. "The commission is going to appeal... on several grounds," the EU executive arm's energy spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich told reporters in Brussels. Most importantly Brussels argues that the European court of first instance, in its September ruling, "interpreted too narrowly" the commission's powers as regards national... Read Full Story
Thousands of activists are set to converge on Copenhagen for the December 7-18 world climate conference, using digital technology, people pressure and the Little Mermaid to make their opinions heard. The Internet and mobile phone are being harnessed as the key organisational tools for rallying opinion ahead of the most critical environmental meeting since the UN's Kyoto Protocol was forged in 1997. Protests are being variously staged by environmentalists, aid groups and hard-left radicals... Read Full Story
American drivers fond of their gas guzzlers will have to quickly learn to love greener cars, which are expected to get a big boost from upcoming international climate talks in Copenhagen. The aim of the December 7-18 global conference is reducing environmentally-damaging greenhouse gases, and key to that goal, industry officials said, is reducing emissions from carbon-belching automobiles. "It's very well understood by the automobile companies, energy companies, petroleum companies, that the... Read Full Story
A senior UN official said on Thursday the Copenhagen climate summit next week needed to take action against growing weather-related disasters linked to climate change. "The disasters are there, there are more of them, more people are being affected, it's costing more money, it's having a longer term effects on poverty... so that's the immediate issue," Margareta Wahlstroem, UN assistant secretary-general for disaster risk reduction said. Wahlstroem said the UN summit on climate change in... Read Full Story
