Latest Kyoto Protocol Stories
The new global climate treaty, set to be agreed upon by the end of the year, needs strong commitments from wealthier nations to making drastic cuts in CO2 emissions by 2020.Without these , it "would defeat the whole purpose of the Copenhagen agreement," Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) told AFP in an phone interview.There has been a number of differing opinions on how deep the cuts should be, and the longer the topic is...
China refused on Wednesday to submit to demands that wealthy nations commit to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions during upcoming climate change negotiations in Copenhagen this December.The country also refused to set limits on its own emissions.Instead, China and other developing nations will call on wealthy countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, said Yu Qingtai, China's lead climate negotiator."We have all along believed...
Despite India's opposition to binding carbon emission cuts and difficulty accepting scientific evidence about global warming, it claimed to be committed to coming to an agreement on battling climate change during the upcoming UN summit in Copenhagen."We are not defensive, we are not obstructionist. We want an international agreement in Copenhagen," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters in New Delhi.He urged affluent nations to provide financial aid to developing...
Current methods for estimating greenhouse gas emissions have limitations that make it difficult to monitor CO2 emissions and verify an international climate treaty, says a new National Research Council letter report to the administrator of NASA, Charles F. Bolden Jr.NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory -- which failed to launch in February -- would have offered proof that greenhouse gas emissions could be monitored from space, as well as provided baseline data on CO2 emissions trends from a...
The U.S. climate bill would allow states that are profoundly dependant on greenhouse-gas releases fuels to have more carbon credits on a per capita basis, says a study of the legislation published on Wednesday.States that have already reduced gas emissions have long thought of how well they would be rewarded with the new federal climate bill.Really the only perks under the bill that passed through the U.S. House of Representatives will be less expensive compliance costs, says the review...
Offers REAL Transportation Solutions to GHG Emissions WASHINGTON, July 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new website is being launched by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials to highlight strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation. The website, Real Transportation Solutions for Green House Gas Emissions, includes best practices, state examples, research findings, and links to other climate change information sites. "State...
Germany announced that a French notion to charge "carbon tariffs" on items from countries that will not reduce greenhouse gases is a form of "eco-imperialism," and an obvious breach of WTO rules.The subject of greenhouse tariffs has been faced with vehement opposition from countries like China and India, who depend on affluent countries to purchase their products as they develop their economies.Matthias Machnig, Germany's State Secretary for the Environment, said on Friday...
The chasm further widened between rich and poor nations as dialogue centered on how to approach the climate change has turned into debate. The European Union insists that more action be taken in developing states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; however India refused to accept key scientific findings used to support global warming.The environmental minister of India, Jairam Ramesh, claimed that the industrialized nations of the world are causing unnecessary fear about the melting Himalayan...
According to a UN official, the United States has undergone a change of opinion on climate change and is now on a path toward "strong climate action.""The mood is completely different now... There's a sense that the country's on the move toward strong climate action," said Michael Zammit Cutajar, chairman for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) working group.Last month, the US House of Representatives approved a bill that aims to shift the US economy to run on...
Steven Chu, U.S. Energy Secretary, said on Thursday that he was "optimistic" about the upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen after meeting with Chinese officials over the thorny issue of cutting carbon emissions. Chu said, on his second day of visiting there, that Beijing recognized the need to improve its energy efficiency and understood the seriousness of climate change. "I am optimistic about what is going to be happening in Copenhagen," Chu told reporters, after meeting...
