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Japan dials back climate change emissions target

AP Photo TOKYO (AP) — Japan has drastically scaled back its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, possibly complicating efforts to forge a global climate change pact. The new target approved by the Cabinet on Friday calls for reducing emissions by 3.8 percent from their 2005 level by 2020. The revision was necessary because the earlier goal of a 25 percent reduction from the 1990 level was unrealistic, the chief government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, told reporters in Tokyo. He called that target “completely baseless.” The new target represents a 3 percent increase over 1990 emissions. Given Japan’s status as the world’s third largest economy and fifth largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, the decision to back away from the more ambitious target could be a significant setback for efforts to reach a new agreement at world climate talks now underway in Warsaw, Poland. Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Japan […]

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IEA World Energy Outlook 2013 sees CO2 emissions rising by 20% to 2035; oil use on upward trend

« TomTom launches real-time traffic service in Brazil | Main | ClipperCreek announces $549 LCS-25 charger with more wall plugs; direct replacement for ECOtality residential customers » Print this post IEA World Energy Outlook 2013 sees CO2 emissions rising by 20% to 2035; oil use on upward trend Energy demand growth moves to Asia. Source: IEA. Click to enlarge. The newly released 2013 edition of the IEA World Energy Outlook (WEO) depicts a world in which some long-held tenets of the energy sector are being rewritten; importers are becoming exporters, while exporters are among the major sources of growing demand. However, the report advises, long-term solutions to global challenges remain scarce; as one example, the report sees global CO 2 emissions rising by 20% to 37.2 Gt by 2035. WEO-2013 presents a central scenario (“New Policies”) in which global energy demand rises by one-third in the period to 2035, […]

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Emissions of CO2 driving rapid oceans ‘acid trip’

Great barrier reef By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News 14 November 2013 Last updated at 01:13 Corals all over the world are threatened by rising rates of acidification in the oceans The world’s oceans are becoming acidic at an “unprecedented rate” and may be souring more rapidly than at any time in the past 300 million years. In their strongest statement yet on this issue, scientists say acidification could increase by 170% by 2100. They say that some 30% of ocean species are unlikely to survive in these conditions. The researchers conclude that human emissions of CO2 are clearly to blame. The study will be presented at global climate talks in Poland next week. In 2012, over 500 of the world’s leading experts on ocean acidification gathered in California. Led by the International Biosphere-Geosphere Programme, a review of the state of the science has now been published. You […]

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Emissions of CO2 driving rapid oceans 'acid trip'

Great barrier reef By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News 14 November 2013 Last updated at 01:13 Corals all over the world are threatened by rising rates of acidification in the oceans The world’s oceans are becoming acidic at an “unprecedented rate” and may be souring more rapidly than at any time in the past 300 million years. In their strongest statement yet on this issue, scientists say acidification could increase by 170% by 2100. They say that some 30% of ocean species are unlikely to survive in these conditions. The researchers conclude that human emissions of CO2 are clearly to blame. The study will be presented at global climate talks in Poland next week. In 2012, over 500 of the world’s leading experts on ocean acidification gathered in California. Led by the International Biosphere-Geosphere Programme, a review of the state of the science has now been published. You […]

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Philippines pleas for action on climate change

WARSAW, Poland, Nov. 12 (UPI) — Amid the devastating destruction of Typhoon Haiyan, the Philippines has called for immediate action on climate change. In an emotional speech Monday at the opening of the United Nations climate talks in Warsaw, Poland, Yeb Sano, commissioner for the Philippines climate change commission and head of the Philippines delegation, called the climate crisis “madness” and said he would refuse to eat until progress is made. During the two-week meeting, representatives from some 190 countries aim to forge a new global climate agreement that will take effect in 2020. “In solidarity with my countrymen who are struggling to find food back home, I will now commence a voluntary fasting for the climate” during the meeting “until a meaningful outcome is in sight,” Sano said. “What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness, the climate crisis is […]

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Report blasts Wal-Mart for greenhouse-gas emissions

A new report is taking mega-retailer Wal-Mart to task over its alleged high level of carbon-dioxide emissions. Wal-Mart is one of the biggest and fastest-growing polluters in the nation, despite the company’s 2005 pledge to become an environmental leader, according to a report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). The retail giant emits 45 million metric tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), slightly more than Target, at 42 million metric tons, and significantly more than Costco, at 16 million metric tons, according to the report. “The scale of Wal-Mart’s energy efficiency and renewable power measures is not up to the scale of their business or their growth,” Stacy Mitchell, the author of the report, told Al Jazeera. “They been placing solar powers on the rooftops and getting some wind power and so on, but Wal-Mart only derives 4 percent of its energy from renewable energy sources.” Mitchell, a […]

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Typhoon in Philippines Casts Long Shadow Over U.N. Talks on Climate Treaty

Olai Ngedikes, the lead negotiator for an alliance of small island nations, said in a statement that the typhoon, named Haiyan, which by some estimates killed 10,000 people in one city alone, “serves as a stark reminder of the cost of inaction on climate change and should serve to motivate our work in Warsaw.” Naderev Saño, the chief representative of the Philippines at the conference, said he would stop eating in solidarity with the storm victims until “a meaningful outcome is in sight.” “What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness; the climate crisis is madness,” Mr. Saño said. “We can stop this madness right here in Warsaw.” His declaration, coupled with the scope of the disaster, moved many of the delegates to tears. Yet scientists remain cautious about drawing links between extreme storms like this typhoon and climate change. There […]

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Amid dire climate warnings, Warsaw summit to begin

Climate envoys from developed countries, emerging economies and low-lying nations at risk of being swamped by rising seas will meet in Poland for the next two weeks to lay the groundwork for a new climate change pact. The meeting comes as the Philippines reels from a massive typhoon that reportedly killed as many as 10,000 people , and recent reports saying climate change will exacerbate  problems , such as poverty and extreme weather, that already exist. Despite the seeming urgency of the issue, stubborn sticking points remain and no major decisions are expected at the conference starting Monday in Warsaw’s National Stadium. The level of progress could be an indicator of the world’s chances of reaching a deal in 2015. That’s the new watershed year in the U.N.-led process after a 2009 summit in Copenhagen ended in discord. Climate change is “very, very scary stuff. And evidence is accumulating weekly, […]

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Brazil greenhouse gas emissions lowest in 20 years

SAO PAULO (AP) — Emission levels of greenhouse gases in Latin America’s biggest country fell last year to their lowest in two decades, a Brazilian network of environmental groups said in a report released Thursday. The Observatorio do Clima, or Climate Observatory, network is comprised of more than 30 non-governmental organizations focused on climate change. It said greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 1.48 billion metric tons in 2012 compared to 1.43 billion metric tons in 1992. Their highest point was 2.86 billion metric tons in 1995. The report measured gas emissions caused by deforestation, farming, the energy and industrial sectors and the burning of crop residues. Emissions from deforestation have dropped, but emissions from the other activities have risen and could go up more because of gasoline subsidies and increased use of thermal power, it said. Although they have dropped sharply, emissions from deforestation are still responsible for most […]

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WMO: CO2 levels at record highs

GENEVA, Switzerland, Nov. 6 (UPI) — The World Meteorological Organization said Wednesday the amount of greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2012. “The observations from WMO’s extensive Global Atmosphere Watch network highlight yet again how heat-trapping gases from human activities have upset the natural balance of our atmosphere and are a major contribution to climate change,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement. “As a result of this, our climate is changing, our weather is more extreme, ice sheets and glaciers are melting and sea levels are rising.” WMO said there was a 32 percent increase in the warming effect of greenhouse gases between 1990 and 2012. Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels like oil and coal accounted for 80 percent of the increase. CO2 levels in the atmosphere increased at a higher rate from 2011 to 2012 than the […]

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