UK Climate Policy?

Things are getting tough for Ed Miliband. It looks like fudging the issues isn't the same as providing leadership.

• Do you want nuclear power--asks industry? Pay for it, they say!
• Are you serious about climate change--ask climate campaigners? Dont give us a 70% polluting coal plant they demand!
• But that was easy, are you going to deal with transport emissions? Don't expand heathrow then!
  

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C&C, IFEES, Tony Blair and Climate Group, Carbon Negative, Green Collar Jobs, Green MBA's, Forest Saved, Climate Care

From the inbox (excluding viagra adverts):

1. Contraction and Convergence campaign launched in The Actuary.
2. Muslim environmental group IFEES are fundraising; donate to the cause. IFEES presentation.
3. Tony Blair is set to head up group working on global climate change deal. Blair announced "Breaking the Climate Deadlock" at a Cliate Group meeting (video).
4. The Aspen Institute are getting serious about educating MBA students for the future in a world where externalities will be increasingly internal.
5. Froget carbon neutral--carbon negative anyone? UC Berkeley (who else?) are looking at the process of sequestering carbon from the atmosphere using growth of biomass, energy production from the resulting crop and storage of the carbon emissions.
6. The term 'green-collar jobs' as featured as the banner of this website is taking off. The international herald tribune is the latest to take note.
7. A small part of Guyana's rainforest looks likely to be secured.
8. If you buy offsets then beware of Climate Care. This hitherto qaulity offset provider has just been purchased by JP Morgan so the qaulity of those credits may not stay as high as we would like.

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What's in the Inbox? UK grass roots action.

Here are a few recent notifications i have recieved:

1. Sunrise Celebration 2008 "The Sunrise Celebration seems to me to be something like it was here about 35 years ago " - Michael Eavis, Worthy Farm, 17th April 2007.
2. What Better Time ...Voices from the scottish climate action network.
3. Carbon Neutral Biggar; Biggar becomes Scotland's 3rd transition town.

Also, tickets are avilable for a facinating climate change talk:

7.30 11th March, Aye Write Festival

"I wondered if you knew about an event on Tuesday 11th March - Sir david
King, Sarah Hall and Mark Lynas on climate change?

Sales for this event aren't going too well surprisingly, so I wondered if you know of anyone who wants a free ticket?

Please let me know by Sunday 9th March so can get tickets reserved.

Thanks.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=14593249
Blogger: Climate Change Action - Create Post
Martha Wardrop
Email: martha_glasgow(at)yahoo.co.uk
Tel: 07854 817 665

From Aberdeen:

Hi everyone,
The next planning meeting of Aberdeen Campaign against Climate Change will be on Wednesday 12th March, 7:30, Belmont Bar, Belmont Cinema, Belmont Street.

Fossil Fools Day:

April the 1st has been declared Fossil Fools day and has been picking up pace.

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Harper = Grinch, RAN, Media & Environment, China and Climate, Bogota Cycling, Oil Map

Update from the 'Blogosphere' from the last couple of weeks.

1. Stephen Harper is the 'Global Warming Grinch' , according to De Smog Blog: In a year-end interview with CBC, Harper said “"As soon as you're dedicated to actually reducing emissions, that imposes costs on the economy...Once we start [and] these things start biting, the criticism we're going to be getting is that we're doing too much."
   Harper seems like a man bragging to his neglected wife that if he ever made love to her, she might die from exhaustion.
2. The Rainforest Action Network Via Revolving Doors: RAN have just released a promotional video on its a campaigns. This is inspirational work, it's great to hear about some of the success stories. Perhaps we should all consider doing something worthwhile this Christmas and donate to a group working on climate change.
3. US media and reporting the environment via Celsias; why arent they?
4. China is stating to take on the challenge of climate change via Celsias; an overview of policies currently being implemented.
5. Where is the oil? Via Treehugger. We know that oil is fluctuating wildly in price, we know that obtaining a secure source is often linked to political instability and military action and that it gives some pretty awful governments more leverage than is desirable. But where exactly is all the oil? This map makes it abundantly clear where this increasingly scare resource can be found.
6. Bogota Cycle Party via Treehugger. Getting cars off the streets is an unpopular idea for many; particularly those who currently drive. But just look how good things can look without cars dominating urban space!
   

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Celsias Highlights

Celsias is perhaps the best climate change blog not specifically science focused, instead looking at policy and general climate news. A few recent highlights:






1. Link highlights.

• US Cap and Trade Scheme passes Senate Sub-Committee.
• Yet another group looking to set standards on carbon offsets has been formed.
• Palm oil demand booming...very bad news for Indonesia's rainforests and stores of carbon in (currently) waterloged peat.
• Action for Dec 8th national climate march encouraged by Guardian.

2. Bali Climate Conference.

• Will we get a breakthrough in time to avoid the gap at the end of the Kyoto protocol period?
• Will a simple principal emerge for climate justice? Contraction and Convergence would be nice.
• Will the US play ball and give us a chance with India and China?

3. Oregon Getting it's Planning Bite Back.

• Oregon is well known for its progressive planning policies such as growth boundaries around Portland. But these laws are no longer in comission..perhaps they will be won back and smart growth can begin again in ernest.

4. Biofuels are a crime against humanity.

• Biofuels: an example of cure being worse than the disease? From huge deforestation, impacts on food prices and impacts of chemical treatments corn ethanol, biodesil and many first generation biofuels are hardly looking like an advance...or a green option.
  

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Al Gore and IPCC win Nobel Prize

AL Gore and the IPCC have jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize.

For those of you unsure about how drought, rising sea levels, crops shifts and mass migration threaten security, i wrote a previous article on the topic here.

Story via AFP

The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded today to former US vice president Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Norwegian Nobel committee announced in Oslo.

It said they had been awarded the prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." Gore, a vice president to Bill Clinton and failed candidate for the White House in 2000, has reinvented himself as a champion of climate change with his 2006 Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The IPCC, a UN body comprised of about 3000 atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, ice specialists, economists and other experts, is the world's top scientific authority on global warming and its impact. The peace laureates will receive a gold medal, a diploma and 10 million Swedish kronor ($A1.7 million) to be shared between them.

The formal prize ceremony will be held in Oslo as tradition dictates on December 10, the anniversary of the death in 1896 of the prize's creator, Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel. The prizes were first awarded in 1901. Earlier this week, the prizes for medicine, physics and chemistry were announced. Yesterday, British writer Doris Lessing won the Nobel Literature Prize for five decades of epic novels that have covered feminism and politics, as well her youth in Africa. The economics prize will wrap up the 2007 Nobel season on Monday.

Hopefully this award will do something meaningful, namely putting climate change firmly on the agenda of US presidential candidates.

"It was a surprise," said Carola Traverso Saibante of the IPCC.

"We would have been happy even if [Gore] had received it alone because it is a recognition of the importance of this issue."

[UPDATE]

Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC is overwhelmed.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Rajendra Pachauri, who chairs the U.N. panel on climate change that won the Nobel Peace Prize along with Al Gore, said on Friday he was overwhelmed by the news.

"I can't believe it, overwhelmed, stunned,"

Pachauri told reporters and co-workers after receiving the news on the phone at his office in New Delhi.

"I feel privileged sharing it with someone as distinguished as him," he added, referring to former U.S. Vice President Gore.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this year made the strongest ever link between mankind's activities and global warming -- gaining widespread publicity around the world.

"I expect this will bring the subject to the fore,"

he said.

Related Reading:
1.Margaret Beckett on Climate Change and Conflict
2. An overview of the possible links between climate change and war.

New Converage:
The story is now widely reported, from CNN, to the BBC, AP and Reuters.

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Blogosphere Roundup: Funding Adaptation, Food vs Fuel, Offsets, Green Skyscrapers...

I link to quite a few good climate blogs, have you visited any of them and subscribed?

Here are a few of my favourite recent posts from the blogosphere:

Ken over at Sustainability in Hawai'i has a post on Oxfams' recent report about adaptation funding; 'Equity in adaptation: rich countries owe, big time'.

Celsias, perhaps the best climate change blog on the web for non scientists, has an article on escelating corn prices. This issue, entirely predictible in its apperence is due to the rapid ramp up of corn ethanol production in the US. Other people writing about this include Noam Chomsky, Lester Brown...and my local paper the Press and Journal.
'Food Prices on the Up & Up'.

The CDM blog has an explanation of Carbon Offsets.

The solar generation blog highlights the Greenpeace 'ban the bulb' campaign in India.



Climate Progress has a post about 'The Greenest Skyscraper in the World?'.

Carbon Planet has an article about IT systems and the the inneficiencies they suffer from.

Keith over at the Temas blog has a superb roundup of what cities are doing in the fight against climate change. The focus is perticularly on the C4o group, brought together by Bill Clinton, and the ICLEI initiative that has been going fo some years now. A very interesting post.

Bill Hewwit over at Climate Change (Foreign Policy Association) has an excitingly titled 'miscellany' post that covers a load of recent issues in the US, notably the bill before congress that would require a % of renewables for the whole nation. As usuall, loads of ammendments; lets include nuclear, and 'clean coal' etc..,

Over at the Climate Policy blog of the AMS there is a post about 'climate security' an emerging idea that has seen more and more coverage recently, perticularly following UK Foreign Secretary Margarett Beckett taking it to the security council for a debate.



Vital Trivia has an interview with Jonathon Porrit from the Hey litterary festival. Jonathon is a very interesting chatacher who is co-founder of the English Green Party, Chair of the Sustainable Development Comission and founder of Forum for the Future.

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News update from the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change

News update (archive version) from the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Releases Working Group Reports. Read Pew Center Summary and Statement
  
• 
  
• Citi joins the Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC)
  
• 
  
• Climate Change Mitigation Efforts in China: New Fact Sheet
  
• 
  
• Eileen Claussen Testifies before the U.S. House of Representatives
  
• 
  
• New Working Papers on International Climate Negotiations in a Post-2012 Climate Framework
  
• 
  
• United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) Announces 14 New Members
  
• 
  
• States News: More than 30 States Sign on as Charter Members of The Climate Registry
  
• 
  
• Eileen Claussen Speaks at ExxonMobil's Longer Range Research Meeting
  
• 
  
• Current Information on Climate Bills in the 110th Congress Including Chart of Cap and Trade Bills
  

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Releases Working Group Reports. Read Pew Center Summary and Statement
 
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released all three Working Group installments to the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). The new installments assess the current state of knowledge about the natural and human drivers of climate change (Working Group I) and analyze current and projected impacts of climate change (Working Group II) as well as mitigation options for both the short-term and long-term (Working Group III). Read summaries of and statements on these reports from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.




Citi Joins Business Environmental Leadership Council

On April 18, 2007, Citi became the 43rd member of the Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council. One of the world's pre-eminent financial services companies, Citi has committed to a 10 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2011.


Climate Change Mitigation Efforts in China: New Fact Sheet
 
China is implementing a wide range of energy and industrial policies that are contributing to climate change mitigation efforts by slowing the growth of China's greenhouse gas emissions. Read a new fact sheet on current measures being taken in China to address climate change mitigation.

 

Eileen Claussen Testifies before U.S. House of Representatives
 

Eileen Claussen testified this month before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs. Her testimony outlined opportunities for U.S. re-engagement in the global effort to address climate change mitigation. Read Ms. Claussen's testimony before the Committee at our Congressional Testimony.

 
New Working Papers on International Climate Negotiations in a Post-2012 Climate Framework 


Two new working papers were released on May 14: "International Sectoral Agreements in a Post-2012 Climate Framework," and "Policy-Based Commitments in a Post-2012 Climate Framework." The papers examine two of the approaches recommended in the report of the Climate Dialogue at Pocantico and were featured at a side event held by Pew at the UNFCCC meeting of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB26). Read both the working papers and the report of the Climate Dialogue at Pocantico.



United States Climate Action Partnership Announces 14 New Members
 

The United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) announced 14 new members on May 8 with General Motors becoming the first automobile manufacturer to join the coalition. Visit our USCAP page to read the Pew Center's statement and to see a full list of members.

States News: More than 30 States Sign on as Charter Members of The Climate
Registry 

On May 8, more than 30 states signed on as charter members of The Climate Registry, a collaboration aimed at developing a common greenhouse gas emissions reporting system. To read about this and other climate news in the states, visit our States News section.

Eileen Claussen Speaks at ExxonMobil's Longer Range Research Meeting


On May 16, Eileen Claussen spoke at ExxonMobil's Longer Range Research Meeting.
Ms. Claussen discussed the role of policy in technology development and deployment.

Current Information on Climate Bills in the 110th Congress: Bill Summaries and
Compendium of Cap and Trade Bills
 
Members of the 110th Congress are introducing global climate change-related legislation at a faster pace than any previous Congress. As of mid-May 2007, lawmakers had introduced more than 70 bills, resolutions, and amendments specifically addressing global climate change and greenhouse gas emissions-compared with the 106 pieces of relevant legislation the previous
Congress submitted during its entire two-year (2005-2006) term.

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Climate News Update: World Business Council on Sustainable Development

Energy efficiency a growing corporate concern -- survey
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Greenwire, 18 May 2007 - Nearly eight out of 10 corporate building managers expect energy costs to rise significantly during the next year, according to a new survey commissioned by building systems provider Johnson Controls Inc.
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No excuse for lack of action on climate change: UN
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AFP, 18 May 2007 - Governments must act decisively to avert a global climate catastrophe, the UN's chief official on climate change said Friday after talks to lay the ground for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
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Clinton Climate Initiative Offers $5B to Green Cities' Buildings
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GreenBiz.com, 17 May 2007 - At this week's C40 Large Cities Climate Summit here, companies, cities and organizations have announced plans and programs to help cities fight global warming. But yesterday, former U.S. president Bill Clinton trumped them all with the announcement of his $5 billion program to renovate municipal buildings at cities worldwide.
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Climate issue now 'conventional' in US, S&P says
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Environmental Finance, 17 May 2007 - Climate change has moved from "controversial" to "conventional" in the US, according to Standard & Poor's, although costs are difficult to estimate since control technologies are uncertain.
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Wave power tipped as 'holy grail' for Australia
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AFP, 17 May 2007 - New technology harnessing wave energy could be the "holy grail" for providing electricity and drinking water to Australia's major cities, Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane said Thursday.
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Companies see need for Energy Executive
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GLOBE-Net, 16 May 2007 - Most companies do not have an energy strategy in place despite concerns over climate change, and the majority of executives now see a need for a 'Chief Energy Officer' to manage strategic energy issues, according to a recent survey.
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Emissions rising in both rich and poor countries
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GLOBE-Net, 16 May 2007 - Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions continue to rise, with the world producing 16 percent more CO2 today than in 1990, according to the World Bank's Little Green Data Book 2007, launched at United Nations Sustainable Development meeting which is focused on issues of energy and climate change.
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Asian and European Firms Lead World on Carbon Cuts
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GreenBiz.com, 15 May 2007 - Nearly a third of companies currently have no way of monitoring their own carbon emissions, or the indirect emissions of their supply chain, and they have no plan to begin doing so, a new survey of global executives has found.
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Biofuels: The New Trade Frontier?
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Bridges, 15 May 2007 - Fuelled by concerns over climate change and energy security, as well as rapidly increasing commercial interest, emerging patterns in biofuel production and trade are generating both international co-operation and growing unease over trade terms.
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(Above: biofuels are promoted as a green energy source but are actually one of the main drivers of tropical deforestation)

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Murdoch talks tough on climate change.

Rupurt Murdoch has decided that climate change is a problem, and he's going to make sure that everyone who watches/reads/listens to media under his control gets that message.

How important is this? Well Murdoch controls:

"Fox News, 20th Century Fox, HarperCollins, MySpace.com, and dozens of newspapers in Australia, the U.K., the U.S., and beyond."

So it is a significant position...I just wonder how his news empire, including Republican mouthpiece FoxNews can make climate change a key issue without making Al Gore a hero. I guess slander should do it, i`ll watch with interest how this progresses.

The general approach will include more sitcoms, commedy, general programing including climate change.

News Corp. Vice President of Business Development Roy Bahat told Grist that the company will not try to awkwardly wedge the issue into programs, but said, "It will naturally become more prevalent throughout our programming, be it sitcoms or news. We are asking all of our creative leaders to incorporate climate change in ways that would make drama more dramatic, or comedy funnier, or news more relevant -- ways that inspire viewers to bond with the program."

This story from Grist.

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Climate Update from WBCSD

An update via WBCSD

UN, experts debate climate masterplan
AFP, 30 April 2007 - The world's leading climate change experts gathered in Bangkok on Monday to thrash out a masterplan on limiting the worst impacts of global warming, but amid deep divisions over how to go about it.

Colombia: social energy - Keeping the lights on
Ethical Corporation, 30 April 2007 - Marginalised communities across Latin America often lack basic services such as running water, waste management and electricity. A bold experiment in Colombia shows how innovation can turn this around.

No silver bullet to combat climate change: IEA chief
AFP, 27 April 2007 - International Energy Agency chief Claude Mandil warned Friday that there was no "silver bullet" that could allow the world to cut greenhouse gas emissions enough to combat climate change.

Beware the carbon offsetting cowboys
Financial Times, 26 April 2007 - People - from prime ministers to popstars - and businesses are paying to cancel out their impact on global warming. But as the green movement grows, an FT investigation shows a system with widespread failings.

Germany wants to become world leader in energy efficiency
AFP, 26 April 2007 - Germany on Thursday unveiled proposals to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent within 13 years and become the most energy-efficient country in the world.

Senate bill would ban coal plants without carbon capture
Greenwire, 26 April 2007 - Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced legislation today that would ban construction of new coal-fired power plants that do not also have the technology to capture and sequester heat-trapping carbon dioxide.

At last! A Climate Change Plan for Canada?
GLOBE-Net, 26 April 2007 - The federal government has released its much anticipated framework for regulating air pollutants and greenhouse gases from industrial emitters, setting a stricter course than previously anticipated.

Denmark tells Europe, Asia to speed up clean technologies
AFP, 24 April 2007 - Denmark, a world leader in environmental policy, on Tuesday urged European and Asian countries to accelerate the development, deployment and transfer of clean technologies to reduce climate change.

China to surpass U.S. emissions this year -- report
Greenwire, 24 April 2007 - China's rapid economic growth will propel the country ahead of the United States as the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases this year, far earlier than previously predicted, according to the International Energy Agency.

Calling global warming a human-made problem, Ford creates new enviro executive position
Greenwire, 24 April 2007 - Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally said yesterday that he is convinced global warming is real, human-made and caused in part by auto emissions.

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WBCSD News Update

A few updates from the World Business Council on Sustainable Development. The big news would have to be London's plan to cut emissions by 60% by 2025! In other news, the Eu is hoping to reach a target for 20% renewables by 2020 for all nation states. Perhaps a bit to much movement on the biofuels front, the path may be cleared for further imports into the US of Brazilian ethanol (driving deforestation?). The Phase 1 EU ETS has been criticised more (it's possible!). The European Commission has been advised to dump subsidies for dirty energy (i`m not quite sure that that needed to be 'advised'). Finally, a group of western states have got together to look into forming a cap and trade system. This is in addition to the ICLEI (the group of cities) and the northeast group of states already running a similar scheme. Federal action anyone..?

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Germany hopes for EU accord on renewable energy targets

AFP, 5 March 2007 - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed hope Monday that European Union countries would agree this week to set a binding 20 percent target for renewable energy use by 2020.

Major Oil Consumers Warm to Biofuels

IPS, 2 March 2007 - Despite their diverse -- and sometimes sharply conflicting -- political and economic interests, the world's major powers seem to be getting closer to each other in their quest to develop clean alternative sources of energy.

Will London be EU's 'greenest' city?

EurActiv.com, 2 March 2007 - London Mayor Ken Livingstone announced a comprehensive plan on 27 February to cut the city's greenhouse-gas emissions by 60% within 20 years.

Brazil says removing U.S. import tariff 'on the table' during upcoming meeting

Greenwire, 2 March 2007 - When President Bush and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meet next week, the two will discuss the possible removal of the U.S. ethanol import tariff, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said yesterday.

EU ETS impact on power prices "not clear-cut"

ENDS Europe Daily, 2 March 2007 - Experts at the International energy agency say it is difficult to generalise about the impact of the EU emission trading scheme on European electricity prices. Industry claims of rising power prices and unfair windfall profits enjoyed by some generators have been a controversial feature of the scheme's first trading period.

S&P launches renewables, water indexes

Environmental Finance, 1 March 2007 - Standard & Poor's (S&P) has launched a new index series to cover the clean energy, water and infrastructure sectors.

Energy Dept. Wants to Fast-Track Energy Efficiency

GreenBiz.com, 1 March 2007 - U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman has sent legislation to Congress requesting authorization that would significantly speed up the process to establish energy efficiency standards and ultimately bring more efficient products to market sooner.

Panel urges EU to scrap funds for 'dirty energy'

EurActiv.com, 28 February 2007 - A high-level group advising the Commission on energy issues has recommended phasing out environmentally harmful subsidies, as EU leaders prepare to endorse proposals for a common energy policy at a summit in Brussels on 8-9 March.

Western Governors Form Climate Change Alliance

GreenBiz.com, 27 February 2007 - Governors from five US Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases, saying their region has suffered some of the worst of global warming with recent droughts and bad fire seasons.

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Climate Change News: Roundup of Climate Blog Stories (#2)

I have just finished a thoughrough review of this weeks climate change blogosphere.

The topics covored are Biofuels, Transport, Electricity, Efficiency, Offsets, Extremer Weather, Business Action and China's Development.

More at this link.

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Climate Change News: Roundup of Climate Blog Stories (#1)

Updates of the climate change blogosphere are going to be posted to climate change news.

Roundup of Climate Change Blog Stories (#1)

These roundups feature some of my favourite stories, most of which will also appear in the sidebar under the Top Climate Blog Stories headder.

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