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Russia is to intensify efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in order to stay in compliance with the Kyoto treaty as its economy rebounds from the economic collapse of the early 1990s, the country’s deputy economic development minister said.

The 1990s dramatic drop in economic production made Russia’s Kyoto targets more achievable, but Moscow hopes to begin to improve remaining industry with new joint projects bringing in foreign investment, Andrei Sharonov said.

"Even by the most optimistic forecasts of economic development, we will not go over the level of 1990 (emissions), which is our obligation as stipulated by the Kyoto Protocol," Sharonov assured Friday as quoted by RIA Novosti.

"The Kyoto Protocol’s secretariat now registers 29 joint projects by Russian companies," which allow other countries to invest in upgrading Russian enterprises to reduce emission of greenhouse gases, Sharonov said.

The Russian government last month issued a decree allowing such joint projects and is working on accords facilitating them, with "active consultations" being held with France, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Italy, Sharonov said.

Within five years, Russia aims to reduce emissions by 300 million tonnes of gases equivalent to carbon dioxide, Sharonov said, warning however that for the goal to be met, "it would take many such projects."

The Kyoto Protocol, which came into effect in February 2005 after Moscow’s signature in November the year before, commits industrial nations to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases between 2008 and 2012.

Smart grids: "ZigBee HAN, or in-premise networks, enable two-way communication and control of ZigBee devices inside the home and serve as the key entry point for smart energy grids. This communication and control is possible because ZigBee is a global wireless language that connects dramatically different devices. Because ZigBee is a global wireless standard, it provides the scalability and reliability needed to support an infrastructure as demanding as smart energy grids. ZigBee links devices starting with the utility meter and reaches thermostats, household appliances, HVAC, pool pumps, water heaters, lighting systems and other household or building systems creating the HAN.

Utility companies: "For utility companies, ZigBee enables a standards-based approach to energy efficiency programs such as demand response, time-of-use pricing programs, energy monitoring, pay-as-you-use and net metering programs, enabling home owners use of distributed generation products like solar panels. These new energy management programs directly impact consumers and businesses as utilities grapple with meeting growing power demand while reducing the threat of rolling blackouts during peak usage periods.

What is ZigBee? "The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. The ZigBee Alliance membership comprises technology providers and original equipment manufacturers worldwide. Membership is open to all."

Reference: "ZigBee Sees Strong Growth for Energy Management and Efficiency Solutions", 16 May 2007. Contact: Kevin Schader, ZigBee Alliance, ph: +1-925-275-6672, email: kschader@inventures.com; or Tommy Tse, GolinHarris for the Zigbee Alliance, ph: +1-415-274-7915, email: ttse@golinharris.com
http://www.zigbee.org

Erisk Net, 17/5/2007

Technology touted by the NSW State Government as a solution to coal’s climate change pollution was not certain to be commercially viable until the Upper Hunter’s giant Anvil Hill coal mine had run its course, according to the Federal Labor Party and industry experts reported in The Sydney Morning Herald.(9/6/2007, p. 9)

Controversial Upper Hunter project approved: Despite repeated warnings from the world’s top scientists that substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions had to be made over the next decade, the Government approved the Upper Hunter project on Thursday. The Upper Hunter project included the development of a coal mine which was anticipated to produce up to 530 million tonnes of CO2 pollution during its 21-year life.

NSW premier pledges $22m to ‘clean’ coal: On 8 June, in a reannouncement of a commitment first made in March, Premier Morris Iemma defended the Upper Hunter project by pledging $22 million to technology aimed at improving the efficiency of coal-burning and capturing CO2 from coal to bury it underground. Iemma also emphasised that his government’s first priority was to protect the already heavily subsidised coal industry and not to cut emissions by reducing demand for coal-fired electricity. "Greenhouse gas emissions from power stations will be captured and pumped into deep underground rock formations for permanent disposal."

But clean coal unlikely until 2030: In contrast, the federal Labor Leader Kevin Rudd had recently stated that he did not expect carbon capture and storage technology to be viable until 2030. Scientists and industry experts had also estimated that the technology would not be ready until 10 to 40 years from now.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 9/6/2007, p. 9

Opposite view to HP and Ford: Interestingly and coincidentally, on 9 June 2005, 24 large multinationals, including U.S. firms Hewlett-Packard and Ford, issued a statement in which they supported climate change measures, and pressured the G8 to adopt climate stabilization targets and set up a long-term, global climate change regime that would extend to 2030 at least, including a market-based system of emissions trading (World Economic Forum, 2005).

Studying political strategy: Using Hillman and Hitt’s (1999) process model as far as applicable, and adding an international dimension to this because of the focus on climate change, the following study conceptualises political strategy formulation as a sequence of decisions with regard to the approach to political strategy, the participation level, and the type of strategy.

Corporations focus on short term: The approach to political strategy entailed whether corporate political activity took place on an issue-by-issue basis focusing on the short term (a transactional approach), or looked at the long term as well by building lasting relationships with political actors (a relational approach). As climate change formed one of many issues for MNCs, these firms ostensibly followed a transactional approach as illustrated by the continually changing positions of oil multinationals over the last decade (Levy & Kolk, 2002).

Collective action common: Firms had the choice to engage in political activities either individually or collectively. It has been observed that the climate change issue induced many firms to act collectively and cooperate with governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), or other firms (Kolk & Pinkse, 2004).

Influencing policy through money and information: Firms also have options for the type of political strategy to pursue: an information, financial incentive, or constituency building strategy. With an information strategy, firms chose to provide policy makers with specific information about their view on public policy. Well-known tactics included lobbying and using think tanks to supply policy makers with research reports. A financial incentive strategy was also aimed at policy makers, but the means to persuade them to support the position of the firm is by financial inducements instead of information. A common tactic was making financial contributions to a political party or a specific policy maker.

Finally, whereas an information and a financial incentive strategy both aimed directly at political decision makers by providing information and financial inducements respectively, constituency building worked indirectly by targeting individual voters. With tactics such as newspaper advertisements or press conferences, firms tried to persuade voters to support the firm’s cause, with the aim to have these voters express their opinion to policy makers (Hillman & Hitt, 1999).

Reference: Report on “Multinationals’ Political Activities on Climate Change”, Business & Society, Volume 46 Number 2, pp 201-228, June 2007. By Ans Kolk and Jonatan Pinkse, University of Amsterdam Business School, The Netherlands.
Contact: Ans Kolk, University of Amsterdam, Business School, Roetersstraat 11, 1018 WB Amsterdam, Netherlands; ph: 31 20 525 4289, fax: 31 20 525 5281, email: akolk@uva.nl http://bas.sagepub.com

Erisk Net, 6/2007, p. 201-2, 206

Third-term taioseach

For the past couple of weeks, the politicians involved have looked increasingly weary, as the marathon talks to reach an agreement have stretched on.

When Ireland voted on 24 May, Bertie Ahern’s Fianna Fail party won 78 of the 166 seats in the Dail, the Irish parliament.

An unexpectedly strong return, but not enough for an outright majority.

It is the prospect of the Greens in government that is most exciting the political commentators here

So Mr Ahern, who has been in power since 1997, needs partners as he embarks on his third term as taioseach, or prime minister.

Popular and affable, he is also a wily and seasoned negotiator. And, like his party, he is pragmatic.

Over the past decade, he has worked in tandem with the right-of-centre Progressive Democrats.

The PDs, as they are known, have shrunk to just two members of parliament, but will still be back in government, along with a small group of independents, with whom Mr Ahern has thrashed out attractive deals to keep voters in their constituencies happy.

High price

It is the prospect of the Greens in government that is most exciting the political commentators here, however.

The irony is that gaining seats at the cabinet table will follow what was a pretty disappointing election result for the party.

They lost one prominent figure and gained another, so retained six seats.

Mr Sargent resigned rather than go into coalition with Fianna Fail

Since then, though, senior figures have been in exhausting talks with Fianna Fail.

An agreement was reached, and after an emotional internal debate at a special convention held in Dublin, Green Party members gave their assent to go into government.

Signing up has meant the Greens have had to leave some of their key objectives at the front door.

A commitment was won to introduce a carbon tax and to set targets for the reduction of 3% of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

There will be a commission to look at the financing of the political system.

But the US military can still use Shannon airport in the west of Ireland, a controversial motorway plan north of Dublin will go ahead, and a new hospital-building policy opposed by the Greens will still happen.

For some in the party, this was too high a price to pay for gaining a hand on the reins of power.

Perhaps strangest of all was the sight of the Green Party leader, Trevor Sargent, hailing the proudest day of his life as the Greens voted to go into government, and then promptly resigning.

Mr Sargent had pledged before the election that he would step down rather than go into power with Fianna Fail.

Mr Ahern can head off on his holidays a satisfied man.

Lauded for his part in the process which returned devolved government to Northern Ireland, he endured a challenging election campaign and defied a few pundits to return to office.

His friend and partner in the Northern Ireland process, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, is about to leave the stage.

For his part, Mr Ahern is about to see how the new, greener tinge to Irish politics works out.

The south-west Victoria and south-east SA and south-west WA regions exhibit the most favourable prospects for tree planting to address land and water salinity across large parts of the landscape and capture non-salinity benefits including wood production, according to a report on “Integrated Forestry on Farmland” by Cooperative Research Centre for Plant Based Management of Dryland Salinity, 2007.

Favourable for supporting forestry industry: While potential existed for adverse impacts on water yield, these could be mitigated to some extent by well-targeted planting and species selection. The size of forestry industries in and near these regions was already substantial, with well-developed products, species options and supporting infrastructure.

Hunter, northern and central west NSW less favourable: Extending these industries within the 600–750 mm rainfall environment presented fewer obstacles than in regions without the same forest industries base, as in the case of Hunter NSW, northern NSW and central-west NSW.

Need to incentivise uptake of plantations: However, in most cases there would still be a need for incentives to achieve extensive uptake and plantings would need to satisfy existing and potential planning controls, including water resource restrictions on plantation development in the case of SA.

Reference: Report on “Integrated Forestry on Farmland”, by Lisa Robins and Nico Marcar, CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, 2007

Erisk Net, 2007, p. 24