Climate Change Newsletter - June\'s issue of 2008

China biggest CO2 emitter last year: Dutch agency
China\'s carbon dioxide emissions in 2007 were about 14 percent higher than the United States and accounted for two-thirds of the global rise, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) said Friday. With an eight percent national increase, China\'s carbon dioxide emissions contributed the bulk of last year\'s 3.1 percent global rise in CO2 emissions, according to a statement released on the last day of a United Nations conference on climate change in Bonn, Germany. (Source: AFP)
More:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpUFpTuPEYeWAvZ_DD3P4XrlG_uA

Japan can cut C02 emissions by 14 percentt by 2020: PM
Japan has the capacity to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 14 percent by 2020 from current levels, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said on Monday, acknowledging but not bowing to pressure to set a firm interim target yet. But he said that he wanted to announce an interim target for the country next year. (More: Reuters)
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http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTKF00320320080609

Uncertainty over CO2 capture in \'fossil future\'
With hundreds of new coal-fired power plants planned within and outside Europe in the coming decades, pressure is growing on the EU to commercialise and export carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to prevent a massive rise in global CO2 emissions. But difficult financing issues remain unresolved. (Source: EurActiv)
More:
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/uncertainty-co2-capture-fossil-future/article-172834

Two Biggest Canadian Provinces Sign Emissions Deal
The premiers of Ontario and Quebec, which between them account for almost two-thirds of Canada\'s 33 million population, said Ottawa\'s program to cut emissions 20 percent from 2006 levels by 2020 was inadequate and misguided. (Source: PlanteArk, Reuters)
More:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48601/story.htm

Huge increase in wind power planned
A new programme to open up the UK\'s seas to more wind farms was launched today as part of a bid to increase massively the supply of offshore renewable power.
The scheme aims to deliver on the Government announcement last December of a major expansion of offshore wind power which could provide up to 33GW of energy - enough to power every household in Britain. (Source: The Independent)
More:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/huge-increase-in-wind-power-planned-840115.html

NOAA Predicts Near Normal Or Above Normal Atlantic Hurricane Season
NOAA\'s Climate Prediction Center has announced that projected climate conditions point to a near normal or above normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin this year. The prediction was issued at a news conference called to urge residents in vulnerable areas to be fully prepared for the onset of hurricane season, which begins June 1. (Source: Science Daily)
More:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080524082543.htm

U.S. climate bill dies; hope for 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. carbon-capping bill aimed at curbing climate change died on Friday in the Senate but its supporters looked to the next president to enact a global warming law as early as 2009. The bill aimed to cut total U.S. global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050. Opponents said it would cost jobs and raise fuel prices in an already pinched American economy. (Source: Reuters)
More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSWAT00961120080606

Bush Says Climate Deal Possible During His Term
BRDO, Slovenia - US President George W. Bush said on Tuesday a global agreement on fighting climate change could still be reached during his presidency, which ends early in 2009. \"I think we can get a global agreement on climate change during my presidency -- just so you know,\" Bush told a news conference after a summit with the 27-nation European Union\'s top officials in Slovenia. (Source: PlanteArk, Reuters)
More:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48729/story.htm

World Bank to Raise $5.5 Billion for Climate Funds
The World Bank will raise at least $5.5 billion with the U.S., U.K. and Japan this year for climate change funds that will help poor nations use clean technology and tackle global warming, its vice president said. (Source: Bloomberg)
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aufska1ueDVw&refer=home

Greens criticize World Bank climate funds
Some 121 environment and development groups on Thursday questioned the credibility of proposed World Bank funds to help the poor fight global warming, but the U.N.\'s climate change agency broadly welcomed them. Last month 40 developing and industrialized countries agreed on two separate multi-billion dollar funds, managed by the World Bank and regional development banks, one to help developing countries cut their contribution to climate change and the other to help them prepare better for more storms and floods.
(Source: Reuters)
More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL0584234620080605?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

G8 nations: High prices threaten global economic growth
Soaring oil and food prices pose a serious threat to global economic growth, the finance ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations said Saturday. The world economy faces great uncertainty amid surging inflationary pressure because of the recent rise in commodity prices, a joint statement said as the ministers wrapped up two days of talks in Osaka, Japan. (Source: CNN Money)
More:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/14/news/economy/g8_food.ap/?postversion=2008061409

\'Millions at risk from food and water shortages\'
Millions of people living in the world\'s poorest countries will be at increased risk from food and water shortages unless action is taken now, top scientists have warned. Next month\'s G8 summit in Japan had to make adapting to climate change and cutting greenhouse a priority issue, they said. The national academies of science from the big industrialised nations, including the Royal Society, along with Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa issued a statement warning of dire consequences if the challenges posed by climate change are not tackled. (Source: Telegraph)
More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/10/eag8110.xml