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admin /10 December, 2009
Brazil defends biofuels at Copenhagen summit
As the world’s largest producer and exporter of ethanol, it’s no surprise the Brazilian government advocates biofuels as the only real alternative to fossil fuels. From IPS, part of the Guardian Environment Network
- From Claudia Ciobanu for IPS, part of the Guardian Environment Network
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 December 2009 10.07 GMT
- Article history
Being the world’s largest producer and exporter of ethanol it is natural for the Brazilian government and its partners to push biofuels as the only real alternative for a world trying wean itself away from fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.
Brazilian authorities were ready with their arguments at the United Nations climate change summit underway here. Over the past 30 years, since the country embarked on its ethanol programme, an estimated 800 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions have been avoided.
admin /10 December, 2009
Ocean acidification rates pose disaster for marine life, major study shows
Report launched from leading marine scientists at Copenhagen summit shows seas absorbing dangerous levels of CO2
Thousands of glassfish, on the edge of the coral reef near Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Photograph: Tarik Tinazay/AFP/Getty Images
The world’s oceans are becoming acidic at a faster rate than at any time in the last 55m years, threatening disaster for marine life and food supplies across the globe, delegates at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen have been warned.
admin /10 December, 2009
Copenhagen is a world and a decade away from Kyoto
Kyoto’s ineffectiveness was due to lack of scientific clarity and lack of public understanding: none of these excuses now apply
- Tim Flannery and Erik Rasmussen
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 December 2009 12.44 GMT
- Article history
Al Gore, centre, shakes hands with Ryutaro Hashimoto, right, who was the Japanese prime minister at the time of the Kyoto talks in December 1997. Photograph: Katsumi Kasahara/AP
Few people outside Japan would have heard of Kyoto prior 1997, its Katsura palace or famous spring blossom. Mention the city now and it is immediately associated with the closest thing we have to an adequate global response to the global climate problem.
As delegates meeting in Copenhagen this month well know, the Kyoto protocol set legally binding requirements for developed economies to achieve emissions reductions by 2012.
admin /10 December, 2009
Clive Hamilton writes:
Twelve years ago, as the Kyoto conference drew to a close, it was clear that the protocol had at least two gaping loopholes. One, dubbed “Russian hot air”, referred to the excessively high target negotiated by Russia.
A zero per cent increase in allowed emissions over 1990 levels by about 2010 would in fact permit a very large increase in Russian emissions because of the collapse of Soviet industry in the early 1990s. Russia’s emissions have still to return to their 1990 levels and the difference represents a large pool of surplus emission credits that can be sold on the international market.
admin /10 December, 2009
Wealthy nations reneging on emissions: China
- Michael Sainsbury, China correspondent
- From: The Australian
A GROUP of senior Chinese climate officials has lashed out at rich nations, accusing them of trying to “wriggle” out of their commitments to the developing world.
The group has also demanded that the Unites States boost its commitments to emission reductions as fallout continue from the leaked draft – know as the Danish text – at the Copenhagen Climate Conference.
The developing world, of which China is the de facto leader, is furious that the contents of the draft published in a British newspaper included emission cuts that were less than those called for by UN scientists who would like a reduction of between 25 and 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. The leaking of the draft, which was published in British newspaper on Tuesday, has made front page headlines across China.
As the world’s largest carbon emitter, China’s cooperation is critical to any deal that can be reached at the UN climate summit.
admin /10 December, 2009
You caused it, you fix it: Tuvalu takes off the glove
December 10, 2009 – 2:07PM
Activists hold a demonstration in support of the South Sea island of Tuvalu as delegates arrive for a meeting at the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen. Photo: Reuters
Tiny Tuvalu drove a wedge in the bloc of developing nations at UN climate talks on Wednesday by calling on China, India and other emerging giants to take on legally binding commitments to slash carbon dioxide pollution.
Through an arcane diplomatic manoeuvre, the Pacific archipelago cracked a diplomatic axiom that has prevailed since the UN climate convention came into being in 1992: rich countries caused global warming, and it was their responsibility to fix it.
