There has been barely a mention that the oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico (Deepwater disaster, 3 June) would have badly damaged the environment wherever it had ended up, ie it would have been refined, itself a dirty industrial process, and subsequently burned by the internal combustion engines of vehicles or in generators or boilers. Eventually, this would add to the acidification of the oceans and contribute to global warming, which itself is likely to trigger more hurricanes of a greater intensity. Both of these outcomes would be particularly detrimental to the area in question. The greater tragedy is that through our great oil companies we seem to be intent on extracting every last drop of this wretched fossil fuel before adapting our economy along truly sustainable lines. Perhaps spreading this particular batch of oil out for micro-orgnisms to deal with is the least damaging option.

Viscount Monckton’s climate change scepticism has been discredited by Professor John Abraham. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Another one bites the dust. Every so often, someone with a strong stomach and time to spare volunteers to devote weeks or months of their life to a grisly task: investigating the claims of a person who dismisses the science or significance of man-made climate change. Dave Rado did it with Martin Durkin’s film, the Great Global Warming Swindle. Howard Friel did it with Bjørn Lomborg. Ian Enting did it with Ian Plimer.

The global temperature has risen to a record for a 12-month period, according to Nasa.

The analysis undermines the case made by climate sceptics, who have used the slight cooling trend in recent years to argue that man-made emissions are not causing global warming.

The average surface temperature for the year to the end of April was about 0.65 of a degree Celsius (1.17 degree Fahrenheit) higher than the 1951 to 1980 average, according to Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. That makes it a fraction warmer than the previous peak detected by Nasa in 2005.

The Nasa study said: “We conclude that there has been no reduction in the global warming trend of 0.15-0.20°C/decade that began in the late 1970s.”

Sandbag yesterday released analysis (pdf) showing how Europe‘s carbon caps have turned into a carbon trap.

This analysis is launched ahead of the European Commission’s communiqué expected this week, which will analysis the options for moving beyond a 20% emissions reduction target. Leaked versions of the communiqué have been widely circulated and indicate that the EU acknowledges there are problems with the systems and the oversupply of permits, recommending removing 1.4bn tonnes from the scheme from 3013-20. Sandbag analysis shows that that this number is too low, for caps to become effective 2.3bn tonnes need to be removed.

The European Commission is under pressure to shelve plans to raise its target for greenhouse gas emission cuts from 20% to 30% amid fears that further uncertainty would be too damaging to fragile world markets.

The EU is planning to publish a paper this week urging carbon emission reductions targets for Europe’s biggest polluters to be raised to 30% by 2020, an announcement that is likley to cause a sudden surge in the price of EU Allowances, the European carbon permits.