Cooling towers of a coal-fired power plant in Beijing. South Africa has been criticised for its plans to build a similar power station. Photograph: Alexander F. Yuan/AP

Last Thursday the World Bank approved a £2.4bn loan to build a huge new coal-fired power station in South Africa. The issue has exposed the rift between two central international goals – alleviating poverty and preventing global warming. South African ministers claimed that the project was essential for their country’s development, while a concerted environmental campaign lobbied international governments to block the scheme. Amid concerns about global warming, this question of development versus environment may become one of the most contentious international issues over the next few years.

State governments are beginning to set the stage for widespread climate action with emissions laws, energy efficiency rules and renewable energy standards, but the hands-on work of actually achieving carbon-neutral status is happening in cities.

View from an ice cave on Ellesmere Island in Canada, looking towards the Arctic ocean and the north pole. Photograph: Alexandra Kobalenko/Getty

The melting Arctic ice cap recovered slightly over the last winter, but scientists warned that it was still one of the worst years on record.

Climate secretary Ed Miliband at the Copenhagen climate change conference. Photograph: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP

Britain brandished a diplomatic olive branch today as it tried to restart global climate change negotiations with an initiative to heal the rift between rich and poor countries following the failure of the Copenhagen summit.

Climate secretary Ed Miliband conceded considerable ground, offering to sign a new Kyoto treaty as developing countries’ demand, but while also requiring that those nations enshrine their commitments to tackling global warming in international law.