Global body needed to direct green technology, G77 says
Global body needed to direct green technology, G77 says
Developing nations call for UN body to police battle on climate change
- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 22 November 2009 23.56 GMT
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World’s largest solar energy plant, Sanlucar la Mayor, Spain. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features
A green technology body with powers to direct a worldwide transition away from a high-carbon economy is needed to combat climate change, according to the world’s developing nations. While most negotiations ahead of the UN’s climate change summit in Copenhagen next month have been concerned with which nations should slash greenhouse gas emissions and by how much, the method in which these cuts will be achieved has received far less attention. Yet the importance of green technology – from wind turbines to electric cars to zero-carbon buildings – is enormous.
Global warming could create 150 million ‘climate refugees’ by 2050
Global warming could create 150 million ‘climate refugees’ by 2050
Environmental Justice Foundation report says 10% of the global population is at risk of forced displacement due to climate change
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 November 2009 00.05 GMT
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People displaced by Cyclone Nargis line up by their tents for a visit from UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon in 2008 in Kyondah, Myanmar. Photograph: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
Global warming will force up to 150 million “climate refugees” to move to other countries in the next 40 years, a new report from the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) warns.
In 2008 alone, more than 20 million people were displaced by climate-related natural disasters, including 800,000 people by cyclone Nargis in Asia, and almost 80,000 by heavy floods and rains in Brazil, the NGO said.
Crumbling icesheets could add 5m to sea levels
Crumbling icesheets could add 5m to sea levels
- From: AFP
- November 23, 2009
THE East Antarctic icesheet, once seen as largely unaffected by global warming, has lost billions of tonnes of ice since 2006 and could boost sea levels in the future, according to a new study.
Published yesterday in Nature Geoscience, the same study shows that the smaller but less stable West Antarctic icesheet is also shedding significant mass.
Scientists worry that rising global temperatures could trigger a rapid disintegration of West Antarctica, which holds enough frozen water to push up the global ocean watermark by about five metres.
Global temperatures could rise 6C by end of century, say scientists.
Global temperatures could rise 6C by end of century, say scientists
Most comprehensive CO2 study to date is expected to give greater urgency to diplomatic manoeuvring before CopenhagenAlok Jha
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 November 2009 18.00 GMT
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By studying data on carbon emissions the team was able to estimate how much CO2 is being absorbed naturally by forests, oceans and soil. Photograph: Evan Hurd/Getty Images
Global temperatures are on a path to rise by an average of 6C by the end of the century as CO2 emissions increase and the Earth’s natural ability to absorb the gas declines, according to a major new study.
Green terchnologies in peril as rich nations dither on climate deal
Green technologies in peril as rich nations dither on climate deal
Uncertainty over investing in green technologies more dangerous than lack of Copenhagen treaty says Achim Steiner, the head of the UN environment programme
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 18 November 2009 21.27 GMT
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Investment in green techologies is vital to combat climate change, experts say. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod
Vital business investment in clean technology to tackle climate change is being threatened by delays and doubts over the Copenhagen deal on climate change, senior figures have told the Guardian.
Without urgent progress which will stimulate funding for renewables, nations could be locked into high-carbon energy and transport technologies for decades, inflating another unsustainable economic bubble, they fear.
The European emissions Trading Scheme is now a success
The European emissions trading scheme is now a success
It was not the market that failed, but the policies that governed how it worked
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- The Guardian, Tuesday 17 November 2009
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Your article is profoundly disheartening (Carbon trading is useless, says Friends of the Earth report, 5 November). Instead of adding political pressure to commit to emissions reduction targets, FoE criticises carbon markets and investors, who are working to make this common goal a reality.