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China’s carbon emissions will peak between 2030 and 2040, says minister

admin /7 December, 2009

China’s carbon emissions will peak between 2030 and 2040, says minister

Beijing official gives strong indicator for when China’s output of greenhouse gases will start to fall

Cooling towers of a coal-fired power plant in Beijing, China

Cooling towers of a coal-fired power plant in Beijing. Photograph: Alexander F. Yuan/AP

China‘s carbon emissions will peak between 2030 and 2040, the country’s science and technology minister told the Guardian as the global climate change summit began in Copenhagen. In an exclusive interview, Wan Gang said he hoped the maximum output of Chinese greenhouse gases would come as soon as possible within that range, and spelled out the steps that needed to be taken to achieve this.

His comment, while not official policy, is the closest the world’s biggest emitter has come to setting a target for when its output of greenhouse gases will start to fall.

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Jonathan Watts on China’s carbon emissions peak Link to this audio

Setting a peak date for developing countries, whose emissions are rising rapidly, will be a key issue for negotiators in Copenhagen trying to map out a global strategy to avoid a rise of more than 2C in the planet’s temperature. Scientists agree a greater rise would have dangerous consequences.

Greenpeace greets world leaders with age-old lesson

admin /7 December, 2009

Greenpeace greets world leaders with age-old lesson

  • By staff writers
  • From: news.com.au
  • December 07, 2009 2:48pm

Kevin Rudd Greenpeace

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is one of a number of leaders aged by Greenpeace for the Copenhagen Climate Summit / AFP Source: AFP

IGNORE the science, go nuclear, think about working families – Australians have voiced their concerns about climate change and want their Prime Minister to listen up.

After two weeks of calling for comment, www.news.com.au has pulled together its Open Letter to Kevin Rudd from the People of Australia from hundreds of suggestions as to what we really want out of the two-week Copenhagen climate change summit which opens tonight in Denmark.

See the final draft of the Letter to Copenhagen from the People of Australia

There’s even a request for some Copenhagen cheese among the final 50 selected, which are on their way to his office and will hopefully give the Prime Minister some food for thought in Copenhagen.

Our chance to protect the world’s forests.

admin /7 December, 2009

Copenhagen – Our chance to protect the world’s forests. Having trouble reading this email? Read it online
Our chance to protect the world's forests


Dear Neville,

Luke Chamberlain

Forest Campaigner Luke Chamberlain gives an update on what we’ll be doing at the Copenhagen climate summit

The Copenhagen climate summit, from 7 – 18 December, is the deadline for committing to a successor to the Kyoto protocol – which Australia joined in late 2007.

Those present will be discussing the degree to which developed and developing countries should reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Newspapers unite to demand climate action in Copenhagen

admin /7 December, 2009

Newspapers unite to demand climate action in Copenhagen

  • From correspondents in London
  • From: AFP
  • December 07, 2009 9:14AM

NEWSPAPERS in 45 countries have united to implore world leaders to take decisive action at the Copenhagen climate change talks, warning failure would bring calamity, the London-based Guardian said.

Fifty-six newspapers, including Le Monde in France, the Miami Herald in the US and the Gulf Times in Qatar, will publish the same editorial warning climate change will “ravage our planet” unless action is agreed, it said.

“We call on the representatives of the 192 countries gathered in Copenhagen not to hesitate, not to fall into dispute, not to blame each other but to seize opportunity from the greatest failure of modern politics,” it said.

Many of the newspapers will take the unusual step of publishing the editorial on the front page of today’s editions, the Guardian said, featuring the piece on its website.

The editorial, to be published in 20 languages including Chinese, Russian and Arabic, has been thrashed out by newspaper editors for more than a month ahead of the UN crunch talks starting today, the paper said.

Related Coverage

The facts behind climate change are clear, despite a recent row over leaked emails from a key climate research unit in Britain, the editorial said.

The leaks sparked claims scientists were trying to suppress data which did not support the view that temperatures were rising.

“In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have left to limit the damage.

 

“Yet so far the world’s response has been feeble and half-hearted.”

Leaders must agree to take action to limit temperature rises to 2C, warning that commitments so far would see temperatures hit an unacceptable level of 3.5C, it said.

The truth about climate: Copenhagen isn’t enough

admin /6 December, 2009

The truth about climate: Copenhagen isn’t enough

Politicians are rarely accused of focusing too much on the long term. Tomorrow’s headlines are always in view. In that context there is already something to celebrate from this week’s global summit in Copenhagen.

Not long ago a gathering to discuss carbon emissions would be attended by junior environment ministers with limited clout inside their own governments. No longer. This week climate change commands the attention of world leaders.

That is where the good news starts to run out. With so much diplomatic pressure on the negotiations, a commitment to fairly substantial cuts in carbon emissions is inevitable. But a deal is unlikely to match the recommendations of the UN inter-governmental panel on climate change (IPCC), and it will not be a binding treaty. Arguably even the framework for negotiations is flawed, since it embraces the old Kyoto treaty model of pricing carbon with tradable permits. That system is too complex and builds in perverse incentives and opportunities for financial fraud. A simpler and more effective tool would be a carbon levy that increases the cost of pollution for all.

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