Climate Change Newsletter - July\'s issue of 2008

G8 summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, Japan; European Commission President Barroso’s statement press on 9 July 2008

Speaking after the meeting of the Major Economies (MEM) on climate change in Toyako on 9 July, Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission declared that the countries leave Toyako in good spirits and that they made significant progress in agreeing to at least 50% emission reductions by 2050.

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/president/pdf/statement_20080709.pdf

NGOs disappointed over \'unsatisfactory\' end to G8 summit

Nongovernmental organizations expressed disappointment over the results of the Group of Eight major nations\' discussions on climate change after the three-day G-8 summit meeting ended Wednesday in Toyakocho, Hokkaido, saying the leaders failed to make progress on an agreement reached at last year\'s summit in Germany.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/summit/20080710TDY02304.htm

Aviation included in EU CO2 trading scheme

The European Parliament voted in favour of including aviation emissions in the EU\'s emission trading scheme (EU ETS) as of 2012 in a plenary vote on 8 July. The move was immediately criticised by the aviation industry as well as the United States.

http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/aviation-included-eu-co2-trading-scheme/article-174072

No Gloom in green energy

The press release accompanying a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says this about the sector, “UNEP study says clean energy investments charge forward despite financial market turmoil.” The report Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008 speaks of worldwide investment with the US playing a strong role.

http://www.green-energy-news.com/arch/nrgs2008/20080057.html

Bush Lifts Ban on Offshore Drilling for Oil

Putting pressure on congressional Democrats to back more exploration for oil, President Bush on Monday lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling that has stood since his father was president.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/25674997

Gordon Brown urges British to stop wasting food

As leaders of the world\'s richest countries gather at the G8 summit in Japan to discuss soaring food prices, a UK government report reveals that British families throw away a third of the food they buy, thus creating unnecessary demand which further increases prices and causes greenhouse gas emissions.

http://www.euractiv.com/en/cap/gordon-brown-urges-british-wasting-food/article-174010

Winds of change: Oilman Pickens presses for energy shift

Former oilman T. Boone Pickens is singing a new tune these days: the answer to the US energy crisis, he says, is blowin\' in the wind.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080710/tsc-us-commodities-energy-oil-wind-e123fef.html

\'India\'s climate change plan is better than China\'s\'

As India heads into the G8 summit to face the world on its climate change strategy, the government\'s policymakers believe India has a more evolved and far-sighted climate change policy than China.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Indias_climate_change_plan_is_better_than_Chinas/articleshow/3183032.cms

Ban presses China on climate change

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told China to accept its global responsibilities on climate change, as he began a three-day visit to the world\'s most populous nation. While praising China for its economic successes, Ban also pressed Beijing to join efforts to combat a global food shortage crisis, to help Africa, and to help ease the world economic slowdown.

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=nw20080701150117306C197833&set_id=

Australia to set up carbon trading scheme by 2010

he Australian government announced plans Wednesday for a carbon emissions trading scheme by 2010 that it described as the biggest economic reform for a generation. But the plan -- aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas pollution blamed for global warming -- immediately came under fire from economists and green groups who said it shied away from tough decisions needed to tackle the problem.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/360671/1/.html

 

World needs a modern carbon revolution to slow down global warming

A new study has suggested that the world needs a modern carbon revolution to slow down global warming. According to ENN (Environmental News Network), the study, conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute in the US, determined that the world needs a shift as radical as the Industrial Revolution to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while safeguarding economic growth.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/World_needs_a_modern_carbon_revolution_to_slow_down_global_warming/articleshow/3179834.cms

Antarctic ice shelf \'hanging by thread\': European scientists

New evidence has emerged that a large plate of floating ice shelf attached to Antarctica is breaking up, in a troubling sign of global warming, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080710/tsc-warming-antarctica-ice-c2ff8aa.html

A Tesla In Your Future?

PayPal\'s cofounder hopes to produce a practical $30,000 all-electric car in four years and its first model, the Tesla Roadster will start rolling onto streets this summer. NEWSWEEK\'s Fareed Zakaria spoke to Musk about the future of transportation in an oil-constrained world.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/145876

The Black Sheep

Bjorn Lomborg earned the wrath of many scientists by calling into question the direness of global warming.  Now, in this wide-ranging interview, find out why he claims that Al Gore is \'wildly exaggerating\' about climate change and its effects.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/144417

Who Killed the Sea Lions?

A salmon shortage. Dead mammals. Inside a maritime mystery.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136621