Asia-Pacific leaders on Sunday vowed to work for an "ambitious outcome" at next month's Copenhagen climate talks but gave no target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. "We... reaffirm our commitment to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen," they said in a declaration at the end of a two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The 21-member grouping declared climate change "one of the biggest global challenges" but dropped a... Read Full Story
While Texas maintains a firm grip on the dubious title of the nation's most prolific industrial polluter, an environmental group's report Thursday found that wind power and other cleaner energy sources have helped cut emissions linked to global warming in the state. Environment Texas analyzed the most recent U.S. Department of Energy statistics that show the state is still the leader in carbon-dioxide emissions but cut such pollution by 2 percent between 2004 and 2007. In that same four-year... Read Full Story
OSLO (Reuters) - About 40 environment ministers meet in Copenhagen Monday to try to salvage a U.N. climate deal next month, after leaders at an Asia Pacific summit rallied round a plan to delay a legally binding deal beyond 2009. The ministers, including from top greenhouse gas emitters China and the United States, are due to meet for two days in a Copenhagen hotel in one of the final chances to break a long-running deadlock between rich and poor. The meeting will test how far the rest of... Read Full Story
Asia-Pacific leaders Sunday vowed to work for an "ambitious outcome" at next month's Copenhagen climate talks but gave no target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. "We... reaffirm our commitment to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen," they said in a declaration at the end of a two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The 21-member grouping declared climate change "one of the biggest global challenges" but dropped a... Read Full Story
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asia Pacific leaders are backing away from a target of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, pledging instead to "substantially" slash them by that date, the latest draft of their summit statement says. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Singapore is the last major gathering of global decision-makers before a U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen in three weeks meant to ramp up efforts to fight climate change. "The 50 percent reduction did appear in... Read Full Story
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will insist the main principles of the Kyoto Protocol are retained in any new global climate change pact, even though others are seeking to abandon them, a high-ranking climate official on Saturday. "China will carry out our negotiations on the basis of the Kyoto Protocol which we have adhered to all along," said Gao Guangsheng, director general at the department of climate change at the National Development and Reform Commission. He told a conference that some... Read Full Story
Brazil said Friday it would offer a "voluntary" cut of at least 36 percent in greenhouse gas emissions at the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen next month. The goal could see carbon reductions of up to 39 percent and is set against Brazil's forecast level of emissions in 2020. The target was presented by Environment Minister Carlos Minc and government chief minister Dilma Rousseff at a news conference in Sao Paulo following talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Brazil... Read Full Story
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is expected to report as early as this week that its greenhouse gas emissions sank last year, the first year of its Kyoto Protocol obligations. But the fall is not the good news it may appear to be, as it is mostly due to a recession that has cut the money firms have to spend on green initiatives, and also forced the government to focus more on economic stimulus than its green agenda. This could make it harder for the world's 5th-biggest polluter to prepare for... Read Full Story
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice said on Friday that the United States and other big greenhouse gas emitters will need to agree on steps to cut emissions, and said Canada would harmonize its policies with its big southern neighbor. In the prepared text of a speech delivered in Edmonton, Alberta, Prentice said Canada still hopes to reach a climate change agreement at international talks slated for Copenhagen next month. However, he expects no deal can be... Read Full Story
The people of this small Dutch town are not against pumping tons of carbon dioxide into the ground to fight global warming. They just wish it wasn't right beneath their houses. "Who wants to live in Barendrecht if one of these CO2 things is built?" said retiree Marianne van Heugten. The carbon dioxide storage experiment by Royal Dutch Shell and the Dutch government is only one of a dozen such projects across Europe to test a technology that could potentially slash emissions of greenhouse... Read Full Story
