Tiempo Climate Newswatch

A British jury has accepted that six campaigners had a "lawful excuse" in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station to prevent greater damage caused by climate change. James Hansen of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States testified at the trial regarding the dangers posed by global warming and called for a moratorium on all coal-fired power stations.

"This verdict marks a tipping point for the climate change movement," commented defendant Ben Stewart from Greenpeace. "When a jury of normal people say it is legitimate for a direct action group to shut down a coal-fired power station because of the harm it does to our planet, then where does that leave Government energy policy? We have the clean technologies at hand to power our economy. It's time we turned to them instead of coal," he added.

The United Nations has launched the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Programme (UN-REDD), which could provide the foundation for a tradeable carbon credit system. "Forests are worth more alive than dead... and their ecosystem services and benefits are worth billions if not trillions of dollars if only we capture these in economic models," commented Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Nine countries - Bolivia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia - will receive assistance during the initial phase. It is hoped that UN-REDD will be included in any post-Kyoto agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. "Reducing deforestation in developing countries is a key element of addressing the global climate change challenge," said Ban Ki-moon, United Nations secretary-general.

The nation's first cap-and-trade market in greenhouse gas emissions has opened in the United States, with ten northeastern states, under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, conducting an initial auction of permits. By the year 2012, the region's power companies must stabilize emissions at current levels or else turn in permits bought in the market. The emissions cap will be lowered ten per cent from current levels by 2019.

There is concern regarding just how the revenue will be spent. "There is a real danger that auction proceeds will be diverted to state budgets rather than used to accelerate the transition to a clean-energy economy," warned a New York Times editorial. Laurie Burt, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, commented that "we need to develop creative ways to make sure the benefits of energy efficiency are going to all ends of the spectrum of energy consumers, not just large consumers, but low income citizens and tenants."

"This is the most effective and least expensive way to safeguard the environment," said Jens Stoltenberg, Norwegian prime minister, as he signed a US$1 billion agreement to prevent deforestation in Brazil. The agreement covers the first contribution to the Amazon Fund, set up by the Brazilian government in August this year. The new fund aims to raise US$21 billion over 13 years for conservation and sustainable development.

"The Amazon Fund breaks new ground because money is only paid out if deforestation is actually halted," commented Lars Løvold from the Rainforest Foundation. Payments will be dependent on assessments of annual deforestation rates based on satellite data. Norway and Brazil will also cooperate in research and development in the areas of forest surveillance and carbon emissions assessment.

Richard Blakeway, environmental advisor to Boris Johnson, London's mayor, has recommended promoting green roofs to demonstrate the city's commitment to environmental protection in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics. "The mayor has very much put green roofs at the centre of his [climate change] adaptation policy and his city greening policy," he said. With energy use reduced due to the increase in insulation, one scheme in Canary Wharf is saving over £5,000 a year, he reported. The city of Sydney, in Australia, is developing guidelines and planning controls for green roofs.

Lighter colours for roofs, which would increase the amount of solar radiation reflected back to space, is the recommendation of a team of researchers in the United States. "The potential energy savings in the United States is in excess of US$1 billion annually," said California energy commissioner Art Rosenfeld, part of a team from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. From 2009, new residences and retrofit constructions in California will have to have "cool-coloured" roofs.

The Antarctic ozone hole is larger in 2008 than in the previous year but it is not expected to exceed the size reached in 2006, reports the World Meteorological Organization. By September 13, the hole covered an area of 27 million square kilometers.

International efforts under the Montreal Protocol have succeeded in reducing atmospheric concentrations of the most harmful ozone-depleting chemicals and, notwithstanding variability from year to year, recent data suggest that ozone levels in the upper atmosphere have stabilized. Marking the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, Ban Ki-moon, United Nations secretary-general, warned that global economic adversity should not divert attention away from the need to protect the environment. "Safeguarding the planet has often been seen as a luxury, and as a burden on economic recovery and development," he said. "But the remarkable story of the ozone layer... shows such thinking for what it is: mere myth."

Oxfam has called on the industrialized nations to base their climate policies on existing international human rights principles and stop using economic excuses to avoid their responsibilities. "Climate change is a matter of international justice," said Kate Raworth, author of the new report on climate justice from Oxfam. "Human rights principles give an alternative to the view that everything - from carbon to malnutrition - can be priced, compared and traded," she continued. "These principles must be put at the heart of a global deal to tackle global climate change."

The Oxfam report identifies three areas where current policy diverges from existing human rights principles. Rich countries’ failure to cut their emissions since 1992 have put the world at a high risk of exceeding a catastrophic level of warming, which would cause widespread violation of rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration. Adaptation financing is under-resourced. US$2 billion is needed just to meet the most urgent and immediate adaptation needs of the 50 least developed countries but total contributions to that end now stand at just US$92 million. Rich countries are failing to deliver sufficient finance and technology to help poor countries shift to low-carbon pathways and realize their right to development. The report has been submitted to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is currently reviewing the relationship between international human rights and climate change.

A new set of international laws may be needed as the Arctic opens up due to climate warming, according to experts gathered at a recent meeting in Iceland. "Many experts believe this new rush to the polar regions is not manageable within existing international law," said A H Zakri, head of the United Nations University's Institute of Advanced Studies in Yokohama, Japan. Shipping passages along the north coasts of Russia and Canada have both thawed this year.

There is concern, for example, that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which covers the rights of states to impose restrictions such as compulsory pilots for ships in "particularly severe climatic conditions" or when ice covers the sea for "most of the year," may have to be revised. The definition of "particularly severe" conditions could become a problem, warns Tullio Scovazzi of the University of Milano-Bicocca in Italy. WWF is calling for a new international convention to protect the Arctic as escalating industrial activity increases the risk of oil spills.

The New Zealand parliament has agreed to the establishment of an emissions trading scheme, which will start operation in 2009. The scheme will cover all sectors of the economy, with a phased start for different sectors. It will include agriculture, responsible for around half the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. "For the first time we will start factoring in the true cost of greenhouse gas emissions into our economy," said David Parker, minister for climate change.

There has been concern about the economic impact of emissions trading. Federated Farmers warned that the scheme would "cost New Zealand significant real money and is unlikely to achieve the global outcomes sought." Rio Tinto has said that it would "put the [Tiwai Point aluminium] smelter on the path to closure." The phased start for different sectors has also been criticised. While welcoming the scheme, Trevor Sikorski of Barclays Capital in London commented that "it's really from 2010, when most of the big power producers come in, that it starts to look interesting." New Zealand aims to be carbon neutral across the energy sector by the year 2040.

The Northern Hemisphere warmth of the most recent ten years is greater than at any time over the past 1300 years according to the latest estimate of long-term temperature trends derived from indirect climate data. The evidence used includes information from marine and lake sediment cores, ice cores, coral cores and tree rings. "We looked at a much expanded database and our methods are more sophisticated than those used previously," said Michael Mann of Penn State University in the United States.

The researchers assessed the use of tree-ring data in the analysis, an aspect of earlier studies that had drawn criticism. "Ten years ago, we could not simply eliminate all the tree-ring data from our network because we did not have enough other proxy climate records to piece together a reliable global record," said Mann. "With the considerably expanded networks of data now available, we can indeed obtain a reliable long-term record without using tree rings." Tree-ring data can be used, with care, to extend the record back a further 400 years. The recent warmth is without precedent even over this longer period.

Ross Garnaut, government adviser, has called for a focus on biosequestration to reduce the impact of the new Australian emissions trading regime. "We are, of the OECD countries, probably the country in the world with the largest area of woodlands and forest per capita and this vast area is going to provide very large potential for biosequestration of many kinds," he said. He considers that Northern Australia's savannahs have great potential to store carbon.

The drought that, for many years, has been affecting Australia's main food-growing region, the Murray-Darling river system, has intensified. Eighty per cent of the region's eucalyptus trees are dead or stressed. "It seems to me from what we've seen to date, there's no indication that it's going to end in the immediate future," said Wendy Craik of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission. Over the past two years, water inflows have been at an all-time low. "What we really need to make some inroads in the situation is a big wet, and what our weather models aren't showing is a strong likelihood of a big wet over the next few months," said Neil Plummer of the National Climate Centre.

The price of carbon may rise as a result of the downward adjustment of the number of certified emissions reductions (CERs) likely to be issued over coming years. The revised estimate is the result of bottlenecks in the approval process for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. The Carbon Market and Investors Association recently said that delays were resulting in "losses with regard to both opportunity costs and real costs to CDM developers."

Henrik Hasselknippe at Point Carbon commented that the United Nations Environment Programme had been trying to reduce the bottlenecks through the appointment of more staff, but an increase in the number of applications and tightening of the approval process has meant continuing delays. He is confident, though, that the situation will improve. "There are always areas that can be improved," he said, "but we shouldn't forget that this market is still very young and it is getting better all the time."

The European Union was heavily criticized for not committing additional funds to assist the developing country response to climate change as the Accra Climate Change Talks came to a close. "A serious and equitable response to climate change will require rich countries to pay billions in public funds to help poor countries develop in a sustainable, low carbon manner. So why has the European Union, which likes to claim global leadership in the response to climate change, turned up with empty pockets again?" asked Nelson Muffuh, adviser to Christian Aid, speaking on behalf of a number of African non-governmental organizations. The World Bank announced last week that developing countries would require 170 billion US dollars between now and the year 2030 to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Developing nations continued to resist pressure to expand the number of countries covered by binding emissions reduction targets.

Long-standing obstacles remained firmly in place at the Accra talks. The United States, for example, continues to refuse to accept binding emissions targets and this position is unlikely to change before the presidential elections later this year. Japan, Canada, Russia and Australia were also accused of stalling tactics. Nevertheless, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat, is confident that progress is being made. "Governments are very committed to this process. I feel sure that the train will reach Copenhagen as planned," he said. Agreement on a post-Kyoto framework needs to be reached by the time of the Copenhagen meeting in December 2009. Agreement does seem likely on the inclusion of deforestation-related measures in any post-Kyoto framework, backed by a new financial mechanism. The possibility of sector-specific emissions reduction targets, aimed at high-polluting industries, was a major focus of discussion in Accra. It has been agreed that developing countries will not have to accept binding sectoral targets, though voluntary sectoral initiatives may be included in an upgraded Clean Development Mechanism. The next negotiations will take place in Poznañ, Poland, in December 2008.

A meat-eating diet results in almost twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as a vegetarian diet, according to a new study from the Institute for Ecological Economy Research in Berlin. Going vegan, giving up meat and dairy products, would reduce emissions more than seven-fold and, if all the vegan food was organic, the overall reduction would be by a factor of seventeen.

"The cow is a climate bomb," warns Thilo Bode of Foodwatch. Producing a kilo of beef generates almost three times the emissions generated in raising a kilo of pork. Meat should become a luxury food once more; "it's time we went back to the days of the Sunday roast," says Bode. The study concludes that, overall, the worst source of agricultural emissions, making up 30 per cent of the total, is the draining of wetlands during land conversion, as a result of the carbon released from the soil.

"Governments should urgently review their energy subsidies and begin phasing out the harmful ones," says Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). "Many fossil fuel subsidies are introduced for political reasons but are simply propping up and perpetuating inefficiencies in the global economy," he continued. Steiner was commenting on a new UNEP report on the role of energy subsidies in generating climate change. The study estimates that energy subsidies, which are almost all for fossil fuels, total about 0.7 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP) each year. "Cancelling these subsidies might reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as six per cent a year while contributing 0.1 per cent to global GDP," the report concludes.

"Some countries spend more on subsidies than on health and education combined... they stand in the way of more environmentally friendly technologies," warns Kaveh Zahedi, climate change coordinator at UNEP. In India, liquefied petroleum gas subsidies, intended to get fuel to poor households, totaled US$1.7 billion in the first half of 2008 but they are mainly benefiting higher-income households. The report calls for smarter subsidies, such as tax breaks, financial incentives or other market mechanisms, which could generate benefits for the economy and environment if properly targeted.

Opening the latest round of climate treaty negotiations, the Accra Climate Change Talks, John Agyekum Kufuor, president of Ghana, called for an "international deal... in which developing countries commit to plan for climate resilient development. In return the international community should commit to provide adequate, predictable, long-term funding and support in terms of technology transfer and capacity building." The Accra meeting is the latest stage in the development of strengthened long-term action on climate change. Agreement needs to be reached by the time of the Copenhagen meeting in December 2009. "The clock is ticking," Kufuor warned. "We need to be pragmatic and move beyond rhetoric to make progress as we move towards Copenhagen."

In his opening address, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat, noted that Africa is "the climate change regimes's forgotten continent," with a limited number of Clean Development Mechanism projects and relatively low funding from the Global Environment Facility. "If this meeting can be a step towards the design of a regime that helps Africa to achieve clean economic growth and deal with the impacts of climate change through effective mechanisms that deliver on finance, technology and capacity-building, you will have done very important work here," he continued. The Accra discussions will cover the finance and technology needed to limit emissions and adapt to climate change, sectoral approaches to emissions reduction and sector-specific actions and reducing emissions from deforestation.

"Climate change is not science fiction. As your countries know all too well, it is real and present," said Ban Ki-moon, United Nations secretary general, in a message to the Pacific Islands Forum Summit held in Alofi, Niue. The United Nations and Samoa intend to set up an Inter-Agency Climate Change Centre to assist in coordinating support for Pacific Island countries in responding to climate impacts in the region. "The challenges for the region are no longer a matter for research or scientific theory and modelling. The evidence is quite clear that climate change is already wreaking havoc here," Toke Talagi, Niue prime minister, told the summit delegates. "We shouldn't wait until a worse human catastrophe occurs before acting."

The Niue Declaration on Climate Change, issued as the summit ended, notes that "despite being amongst the lowest contributors to factors causing climate change, the Pacific Islands region is one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change including its exacerbation of climate variability, sea level rise and extreme weather events." The Declaration commits Forum members to continue to develop Pacific-tailored approaches to combating climate change. It encourages the Pacific’s development partners to increase technical and financial support for action on adaptation, mitigation and, if necessary, relocation, calling for increased support for efforts to move towards alternative and renewable energy sources.

"Behind the world food crisis is a global freshwater crisis, expected to rapidly worsen as climate change impacts intensify," said James Leape, WWF head, as the 2008 World Water Week opened in Stockholm. "Irrigation-fed agriculture provides 45 per cent of the world's food supplies, and without it, we could not feed our planet's population of six billion people." He warned that many irrigation areas are drawing more water from rivers and groundwater reserves than can be sustained, especially in view of climate change.

A new survey of 53 cities from the International Water Management Institute concludes that 80 per cent are using untreated or partially-treated wastewater for food production. "Irrigating with wastewater isn't a rare practice limited to a few of the poorest countries," reported Liqa Raschid-Sally, lead author of the report. "It's a widespread phenomenon, occurring on 20 million hectares across the developing world, especially in Asian countries, like China, India and Vietnam, but also around nearly every city of sub-Saharan Africa and in many Latin American cities as well."

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a youth version of its latest Human Development Report, which focuses on climate change. "We hope the call to action against climate change will be heard in every continent, every country, city and town and in every family," said Cecilia Ugaz of UNDP's Human Development Report Office. "We can change our today, little by little, person by person and with that obtain a more sustainable tomorrow for coming generations," she continued.

Young people aged 16 to 25 prepared the report, including their own messages, artworks and testimonials as well as summarizing the main points of the Human Development Report. "Do not wait fifty years to gaze regretfully at your changed face in the mirror and the scarred face of Mother Earth around you. Know that when you heard the call you listened and you played your part. The choice is yours!" write the compilers.

China is to double sales tax on cars with engines larger than four litres and cut taxes on the smallest cars to reduce pollution. "Autos are the giants of energy consumption and pollution emissions and this is a major part of the effort to conserve resources and reduce emissions," the Finance Ministry announced. China is the world's second largest market for passenger cars. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution triggers diseases that kill over half a million Chinese residents each year.

The United States could reduce fuel consumption by a half over the next 25 years if lighter, hybrid vehicles were available claims a new report from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The researchers estimate that the weight of the average car could be cut by 20 to 35 per cent without compromising security and convenience and that this would cut fuel consumption by between 12 and 20 per cent. Hybrid electric cars could reduce consumption by up to a factor of four. But it's not just a matter of technological development, drivers attitudes must also change. "We've got to get out of the habit of thinking that we only need to focus on improving the technology - that we can invent our way out of this situation," says co-author John Heywood. "We've got to do everything we can think of, including reducing the size of the task by real conservation."

At least thirty cities in the United States are expected to commit to disclosing their greenhouse gas emissions under a new voluntary programme. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability will provide the reporting tools and each city will assemble comparable emissions data.

"Over 70 per cent of total global emissions are generated from cities and if you don't measure these emissions, you cannot manage them," said CDP chief executive Paul Dickinson. "This is a vital step for city councils who wish to gain a better understanding of their own impact and, by improving their understanding of risks and opportunities associated with climate change, best prepare their cities for a carbon constrained world," he continued.

"Ultimately, the cities hardest hit by climate change will be the ones least prepared," warns Neeraj Prasad of the World Bank. Prasad was speaking as a new handbook on improving the resiliency of cities was launched by the World Bank and its collaborators, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.

Cities play a central role in the economy. The manual estimates that a one-metre rise in sea level will create a loss of two per cent in national Gross Domestic Product as water supplies, agriculture, fisheries, tourism and energy security are affected. The handbook, intended as a tool for city managers, provides sound practices from cities worldwide. It uses a dual track approach to encourage cities to develop their own strategies for adaptation and to mitigate the consequences of future natural disasters, as well as identifying means of limiting greenhouse gas emissions. "Every city is different. You have to respond based on what your city is," Prasad says. "There is no cookie-cutter solution to climate change impacts. It's important that you are able to anticipate the likely impacts on your city and make the decision to deal with that."

The trend towards more frequent tropical downpours seems worse than expected, according to a new study. The researchers compared rainfall fluctuations with trends in temperature and atmospheric moisture. "We saw a distinct signal of the increased frequency of increased rainfall as the tropics warmed up and then a reduction as the tropics cooled down," said Richard Allan of the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. The link is stronger than suggested by climate modelling studies.

The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season will be more active than predicted earlier, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has reported. The forecast now stands at 14 to 18 named storms, with six to nine developing into hurricanes. "One of the key things that's critical is the fact that a couple of named storms have formed in the deep tropics and usually that's a very strong indicator that the season will be above normal," said Gerry Bell at the Climate Prediction Center. Other forecast groups have also predicted a more severe storm season than expected.

Scientists from the Australian National University claim that untouched eucalypt forests store three times more carbon than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has assumed. "In Australia, and probably globally, the carbon-carrying capacity of natural forests is underestimated and therefore misrepresented in economic valuations and in policy options," the researchers conclude.

The difference arises because older forests store a greater amount of carbon in the soils and trees. The IPCC estimate generalizes across old-growth stands and younger plantations. The oldest areas of forest, with trees up to 80 metres tall, can store 2000 tonnes of carbon per hectare. According to Brendan Mackey, co-author of the study, "protecting the carbon in natural forests is preventing an additional emission of carbon from what we get from burning fossil fuel."

South Africa will require all new coal-fired power stations and coal-to-liquid plants to have carbon capture facilities. "We have to move away from dirty coal as the dominant source of energy... Where we continue to rely on coal we want to make sure that it is cleaner coal," said Marthinus van Schalkwyk, environmental affairs minister. The announcement came as the South African government agreed on a "progressive policy" on climate change, the latest development of the 2006 Long Term Mitigation Strategy. The policy includes a commitment to curb national emissions from the year 2020 onwards. A further carbon tax, on business, is under consideration. The government is committed to a shift away from energy-intensive and towards carbon-neutral industries.

The Japanese government plans to cut national carbon emissions by up to 80 per cent by the year 2050. It will start carbon trading on an experimental basis later this year and boost research into carbon capture technologies. Solar power production will increase tenfold by 2020 and nine more nuclear reactors will be built by 2018. "Japan must continue showing leadership on the issue of environment," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said. "To lead the world, Japan must take the initiative by achieving a low-carbon society." It is intended that the price of a solar power system will halve in three to five years and that, by 2020, every other new vehicle will be "next generation" cars, such as electric cars.

"If we cannot even manage trade, how should we then find ourselves in a position to manage the new challenges lying ahead of us" such as climate change, said European Union agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel as the latest Doha round of world trade talks broke down. "The bottom-line of the disagreement between the rich and developing countries arises from the fact that the developed do not want to remove agricultural subsidies and the developing nations like China and India also want to start giving their farmers support by controlling dumping from Europe and the United States," said Rwandan delegate Antoine Ruvebana. Ruvebana described the failure of the talks as a "missed opportunity" to uplift millions from poverty.

"It's a good thing that there was no agreement," said Daniel Mittler from Greenpeace International. "What was on the table was unacceptable, therefore it's no loss that negotiations have failed," he continued. He reckoned it would be "disastrous" to liberalize, as proposed, sectors such as fisheries, forestry and electrical waste products, where proper regulation is required. Lori Wallach of Public Citizen wants to see a new agenda focused on fixing existing World Trade Organization rules. "Thank God no deal was reached," she said, "because the proposal under consideration would have exacerbated the serious economic, food security and social problems now rocking numerous countries."

The United Nations (UN) is cutting the use of air conditioning in its New York offices under the new Cool UN initiative. During a one month trial, the air conditioning will be switched off at weekends and, during the week, office temperatures will be set at 77°F, five degrees higher than previously. If the trial is successful, office temperatures will be set five degrees lower than usual during winter. The one month trial should cut energy use by ten per cent. Over a year, the financial savings could amount to one million US dollars.

"We have succeeded in moving climate change to the top of the international agenda for action, and this means that the UN must take action itself," said Ban Ki-moon, UN executive secretary. "We must lead by example and if we are to ask others to take action, we must do so as well." As office temperatures rise on August 1st, staff, delegates and diplomats are being invited to relax clothing protocols and wear lighter attire or don their national dress rather than wear business suits. Men can leave their ties off.

Climate change could cost the nations of the Andes US$30 billion a year by 2025, according to a new report prepared for the Andean Community (CAN). At the report's launch, the CAN Secretary General, Freddy Ehlers, argued that, as the current development model is incompatible with the planet’s sustainability, a new model is needed that would guarantee human development and a harmonious relationship with nature.

"Climate change is already happening. Floods, droughts, landslides, frosts, and landslips virtually doubled between 2002 and 2006, as compared with the five-year period 1987-1991," reported Carlos Amat y León, the study coordinator. "Since 1970, every single province in the CAN countries has experienced at least one hydrometeorological disaster." According to the assessment, deglaciation in the Andes could, by the year 2020, jeopardize the water supply for drinking, hydroenergy and farming for close to 40 million people. The supply of water to the Amazon could be threatened as global warming develops further.

A Greenhouse Development Rights framework has been proposed that would allow poorer countries to continue developing while contributing to greenhouse gas emissions reductions without any substantial effect on their economies. The scheme weights each nation's emissions by its wealth to determine a fair way to apportion emissions controls. Nations with high weighted emissions, as well as taking on responsibility for the bulk of emissions reductions, would subsidize emissions controls and adaptive measures in the poorer nations with low emissions.

A key aspect of the framework is that wealth is assessed after setting aside the income of the poorest inhabitants of each country in order to protect their interests. The overall aim is to treat "luxury" emissions differently from "survival" emissions. "We are trying to propose what would be fair," said Tom Athansiou of EcoEquity. The plan has been developed by EcoEquity and the Stockholm Environment Institute.

An internal review has criticized the performance of the World Bank in supporting environmental projects. A persistent lack of environmental focus was observed in each step of the lending chain, from determining the priorities that shape development projects to environmental standards and monitoring in the field. The review, by the Independent Evaluation Group, found that pledges of environmental sustainability were often not translated into practice when it came to financing dams, pipelines, and so on.

Moreover, the World Bank's estimate of its funding of environmental projects "appears to overstate the actual volume of resources going directly for environmental improvement," the report observes. One of the review's authors, John Redwood, has described problems in assessing environmental funding levels as "one of our great frustrations." "The priority given to lending for ENRM (environmental and natural resource management) appears to be modest," states the report.

The Australian government has released a new plan for combating climate change. "We confront a daunting reality: we cannot continue to pour carbon pollution into the atmosphere as if there is no cost," said Penny Wong, climate change minister. "As one of the hottest and driest continents on earth, Australia’s economy and environment will be one of the hardest and fastest hit by climate change if we don’t act now," she continued. The goal is to cut national emissions by 60 per cent by the year 2050.

The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which is essentially an emissions trading scheme, will cover stationary energy, transport, fugitive emissions, industrial processes, waste and forestry sectors and all six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol. It will come into operation in 2010. "Placing a limit and a price on pollution will change the things we produce, the way we produce them, and the things we buy. It will open new doors to a cleaner energy future," Wong said. There will be an action fund to help help business make the transition to a cleaner economy and households, particularly poorer ones, will be compensated.

Growing demand for food, fuel and wood is placing unprecedented pressure on the world's forests, according to the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a coalition of international, regional and community organizations. "Arguably, we are on the verge of the last great global land grab," warns Andy White, co-author of a new RRI report.

Without a sharp rise in agricultural productivity, land equivalent to twelve times the area of Germany will need to be converted for crop production to meet demand in the year 2030. "Unless steps are taken, traditional forest owners, and the forests themselves, will be the big losers," White predicts. "It will mean more deforestation, more conflict, more carbon emissions, more climate change and less prosperity for everyone."

New York's taxi cabs will go green over the next five years. "It will be the largest, cleanest fleet of taxis anywhere on the planet," said Michael Bloomberg, the city's mayor. "And because taxis are so heavily used, the new standard will have the equivalent effect of removing 30,000 individually-owned gas-powered vehicles from our streets," he continued.

One thousand hybrid taxis, powered by gasoline and electricity, are to be introduced by October this year and the remainder of New York's 13,000 taxi cabs will be replaced by the year 2012. Three major automobile manufacturers have committed to delivering 300 hybrid vehicles per month for use in the taxi fleet. The Taxis for All Campaign, working on behalf of the handicapped, is concerned that the new hybrid taxis would not have lifts nor enough space for a wheelchair.

Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations have agreed to consider and adopt, in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process, the goal of achieving a reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions of at least 50 per cent by the year 2050. The need for shorter-term goals was recognized, but with no agreement on specific targets. While this was the first time that the United States had accepted a long-term goal, criticism of the deal was harsh. Tom Picken of Friends of the Earth said that "setting a vague target for 42 years' time is utterly ineffectual in the fact of the global catastrophe we all face. Urgent action is needed to tackle climate change and spiralling energy prices caused by our addiction to increasingly expensive and insecure fossil fuels."

The G8 communiqué underlines the need for all nations to contribute to the international response, stating that the "global challenge can only be met by a global response." Following the annual G8 summit, the G8 leaders met with eight other nations, Australia, Indonesia, South Korea and the Group of Five (G5) major developing economies, India, China, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. These sixteen nations account, in total, for 80 per cent of global carbon emissions. They agreed that "deep cuts in global emissions will be necessary to achieve the Convention's ultimate objective," but could not agree on actual targets. The G5 nations want to see the developed nations taking the lead in achieving "ambitious and absolute" greenhouse gas emission reductions, committing to an 80 to 95 per cent emissions cut below 1990 levels by 2050 and a mid-term target of a 25 to 40 per cent cut by 2020. The G8 has committed US$150 billion in public and private investment to ensuring developing countries grow their economies with green technology.

Asha-Rose Migiro, deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, has warned that a "war footing" must be adopted to combat climate change. She was speaking at a General Assembly follow-up to the February session on climate change. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, president of the Maldives, urged the United Nations to adopt a new universal right to live in a safe, secure and sustainable environment, the declaration of which would promote climate justice. "It is surely wrong for small vulnerable communities to suffer because of the actions of other, more powerful, resource-rich countries," he said.

Climate change is one of the top priorities for the current session of the United Nations General Assembly, reports the Assembly's president, Srgjan Kerim. "Climate change poses special threats and places extra demands on a considerable group of countries. For them the threat is far from abstract and remote, but clear and present and may already affect the actual livelihoods of their people," he said. He considers that an international agreement on combating climate change is now more achievable than ever before. "To achieve this, we need to build on our previous work and strengthen the ability of the United Nations system to assist vulnerable countries build their capacity and capability to adapt," he said, addressing the General Assembly follow-up debate.

Ports authorities from around the world, meeting in Rotterdam, have endorsed the World Ports Climate Declaration, an industry commitment to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality. Rotterdam mayor, Ivo Opstelten, told the meeting that port cities had a unique responsibility to combat climate change. "For a long time, it [carbon emissions] was something we did not pay much attention to," he said. "Now is the time for action." The port of Rotterdam aims to cut its carbon emissions by 50 per cent by the year 2025.

There was disagreement at the conference regarding the scale of the maritime transport contribution to global emissions, with estimates varying from 1.5 to 4.5 per cent. There was also discussion of the scope of any emissions reduction commitment, particularly the situation of ships registered in developing nations. "It seems completely incongruous that two ships, carrying similar cargo, loaded in the same port, sailing at the same speed and having the same destination, should be treated differently because they are registered under two different flags," commented Efthimios Mitropoulos, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization. The Declaration is the first step towards the development of concrete international measures. Issues to be considered include a global indexing system that will enable port authorities to reward climate-friendly ships and punish the polluters.

An estimated 1.5 billion people are threatened by land degradation, according to a new assessment from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners. "Land degradation also has important implications for climate change mitigation and adaptation, as the loss of biomass and soil organic matter releases carbon into the atmosphere and affects the quality of soil and its ability to hold water and nutrients," observes Parviz Koohafkan from FAO’s Land and Water Division. The FAO cites land degradation as a priority issue, requiring renewed attention by individuals, communities and governments.

The new report from FAO, with the United Nations Environment Programme and World Soil Information, estimates that more than 20 per cent of all cultivated areas, 30 per cent of forests and 10 per cent of grasslands are undergoing degradation. Some bright spots were identified where land is being used sustainably (19 per cent of cropland) or is showing improved quality and productivity (10 per cent of forests and 19 per cent of grassland). Nevertheless, despite the commitment of 193 countries to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, land degradation is worsening rather than improving.

"Just as thousands were drawn to California and the Klondike in the late 1800s, the green energy gold rush is attracting legions of modern day prospectors in all parts of the globe," observed Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Programme, on the release of the latest assessment of clean energy investment trends. "A century later," he continued, "the key difference is that a higher proportion of those looking for riches today may find them."

During 2007, new investment in clean energy reached nearly US$150 billion, a rise of 60 per cent on the previous year. Wind energy gained most of the new funding, over US$50 billion, whilst solar power gained almost US$30 billion. With 31 gigawatts of new installed generation, sustainable energy accounted for almost a quarter of new power capacity globally, about ten times that of nuclear. Describing the trend as "nothing less than a fundamental transformation of the world's energy infrastructure," Steiner stressed that it was critical that "creative market mechanisms and public policy continue to evolve to liberate rather than frustrate this clean energy dawn."

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, has urged developing countries to join the industrialized nations in setting greenhouse gas emissions targets. "All participants, including our country, should set a reduction target in accordance with their own emissions of greenhouse gases," da Silva said ahead of his attendance at this year's Group of Eight (G8) summit.

India will also attend the G8 summit, as will China, South Africa and Mexico. India's position is that industrialized countries should meet their own commitments rather than "pointing fingers at countries like India" and asking developing countries to limit their emissions, according to principal climate negotiator Shyam Saran. The World Bank has agreed to set up new climate investment funds on clean energy and adaptation ahead of the G8 summit, which is being held in Toyako, Japan, July 7-9th. A declaration on climate change, signed by sixteen major economies, including Brazil and India, is expected at the time of the meeting. "What you are likely to see is a large rhetorical statement, saying that everyone is committed to reduce their emissions," observed Phil Clapp of the Pew Environment Group.

"My friend went out hunting but never returned. He never returned because he fell through thin ice, ice that should never have been thin at that time of year," Jesse Mike, from Baffin Island, Canada, told the first annual meeting of the Global Humanitarian Forum. Mike, along with young people from other vulnerable regions, was a climate witness, documenting the threat posed by rising sea levels and the erosion of traditional ways of life.

"What is absolutely crucial is that we and people around the world measure and weigh the impact of climate change not just in scientific terms but by its social, economic and humanitarian implications," said Kofi Annan, the Forum's president, addressing the meeting. He called for "climate justice". "It is the industrialized and wealthier nations who must take responsibility for rising greenhouse emissions," he said, "and they have an obligation to help and enable developing countries to 'grow green'." Tackling adaptation "means empowering communities everywhere so that they have the knowledge and the tools available to prepare for the worst effects of climate change, not after its effects have already taken grip, but well before," he continued. The two-day meeting brought together senior government officials, leaders of international agencies and major corporations and global financiers.

The latest Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change held June 21st-22nd in Seoul, South Korea, was charged with drafting a declaration to be issued at the sidelines of the forthcoming Group of Eight (G8) summit. While participants agreed that major emission cuts are needed, it appears that no agreement was reached on the proposed long-term target of a 50 per cent cut by the year 2050. The G8 summit is being held in Toyako, Japan, July 7-9th.

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, has called on the leaders of the major industrialized nations to reach agreement on mid-term greenhouse gas targets at the G8 summit. Yasuo Fukuda, prime minister of host nation Japan, had said previously that the G8 summit would not set medium-term targets, but would consider a longer-term goal. While it was "important to define the final destination of the journey," responded de Boer, he is "also very interested in what the first stop on that journey is going to be." The European Union has called for a specific mid-term goal to be set for the year 2020.

Global warming will cause "unprecedented" losses in agricultural production, "causing huge setbacks in the struggle against poverty and creating millions of impoverished environmental refugees," warns the latest report from the Africa Progress Panel. "This will only exacerbate the ongoing trend of rising food prices," the Panel concludes.

The Panel predicts a "sharp increase" in deaths amongst young children as a result of the current rise in world food prices. "Rising food prices are affecting tens of millions of Africans, especially those living in urban areas, and are threatening to wipe out [development] gains made over the last several decades," the report says. The food crisis "requires an immediate and thoughtful response on the best strategy... in order to enable rural populations to take advantage of the new level of agricultural prices and increase food production." The Africa Progress Panel, an independent group aiming to focus world leaders' attention on making the most of the growing number of opportunities for progress in Africa, was formed prior to the 2007 Group of Eight summit.

Friends of the Earth Canada is sueing the Canadian government over its alleged failure to meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. "The case is about defending the fundamental principle that the government must be accountable and comply with the law," said Ecojustice lawyer Hugh Wilkins. "The government cannot pick and choose which laws to obey. The law is the law."

In April 2007, the Canadian government announced its Turning the Corner strategy, setting its greenhouse gas reduction target to 20 per cent below 2006 levels by the year 2020, much less ambitious than its Kyoto target of a six per cent reduction below 1990 levels by the end of 2012. "While other industrialized countries actively work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, our government has offered pollution holidays for emitters for decades to come," charged Beatrice Olivastri of Friends of the Earth Canada. "This government has broken the law," she said, "and, as Canadian citizens, we have both a moral and legal imperative to insist on enforcement of our own laws on climate action."

António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has warned that climate change is forcing greater numbers of people to flee their homes as resources become increasingly scarce. "We are now faced with a complex mix of global challenges that could threaten even more forced displacement in the future," he said. "They range from multiple new conflict-related emergencies in world hotspots to bad governance, climate-induced environmental degradation that increases competition for scarce resources, and extreme price hikes that have hit the poor the hardest and are generating instability in many places."

In Darfur, in the Sudan, where 2.5 million people have been displaced by conflict, "the root of the conflict is greatly due to the competition for water and grazing land between tribes," says Peter Kessler of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. "Wherever you look, the footprint of climate change and environmental degradation is bring people to a situation where resources are increasingly scarce and forcing them to move." observes Nick Nuttall of the United Nations Environment Programme. He cites the Rwenzori mountains of Uganda, where glacial retreat threatens the flow of rivers on which millions of livelihoods depend. In Mali, Chad and Ethiopia, entire lakes have near disappeared in recent decades, severely reducing water availability for local peoples.

"We show that the rate of ocean warming from 1961 to 2003 is about 50 per cent larger than previously reported," said Catia Domingues from the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, commenting on a recent re-assessment of ocean temperature records. The study resulted in an estimate of the warming rate in the top 700 metres of the world ocean as well as a re-calculation of how fast sea level should be rising as a result. Thermal warming should have contributed to a 0.53 millimetre annual rise in sea level over the past four decades, greater than that reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

There is concern that freshwater runoff from the Greenland Ice Sheet may more than double by the end of this century. "The Greenland Ice Sheet mass balance is changing as a response to the altered climatic state," said Sebastian Mernild