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China urges cooperation ahead of climate talks

BEIJING, Nov. 6 (UPI) — China’s top climate change negotiator has urged richer nations to help developing countries cut their emissions, as they had pledged to do in 2009. Xie Zhenhua , deputy head of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, was referring to the 2009 U.N. summit in Copenhagen in which developed nations pledged $100 billion a year by 2020 to help fight climate change. Although a specific date for donor pledges to begin has still not been decided, developing countries have already contributed a majority of emissions reductions even without promised support from developed countries, Xie said. “This shows developed countries haven’t honored provisions in the [Copenhagen] convention, while developing countries have taken active actions at home to actively tackle climate change,” Xie was quoted as saying Tuesday by the Financial Times. “Especially in China, we haven’t got any financial or technology support but we’ve taken actions […]

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Senators question EPA’s estimated methane emissions from gas operations

Two Republican senators urged the US Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its methods of calculating methane emissions from natural gas operations and to also reconsider its earlier estimates. The comments came during a hearing of a subcommittee on oversight of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on Nov. 5 in Washington, DC. Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) both praised a report released in September that said some parts of the gas production process actually emit less methane than EPA has estimated. The study also noted the leaks from pneumatic controllers involved higher methane emissions than EPA estimates, saying more study is needed. The Environmental Defense Fund and nine gas operators funded the ongoing study, which measured actual emissions from 190 wells instead of relying on computer models as does the EPA. A report outlining first-phase results of the UT study concluded the methane emissions […]

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Report: Door closing on easy climate solutions

BRUSSELS, Nov. 5 (UPI) — A U.N. report on greenhouse gas emissions shows combating climate change requires an international effort, the European Union’s climate commissioner said. The U.N. Environment Program published a report Tuesday saying the door is closing on an easy way out of the climate crisis. “Even if nations meet their current climate pledges, greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 are likely to be 8 to 12 gigatons of CO2 equivalent above the level that would provide a likely chance of remaining on the least-cost pathway,” the report said. European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard said the report shows that developing countries account for about 60 percent of the global emissions. This means the fight against climate change needs to extend beyond industrialized nations. ”This is yet another call for climate action which shows the world is not getting its act together fast enough,” she said in […]

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Concentrations of warming gases breaks record

Oil refinery By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News 6 November 2013 Last updated at 10:07 The WMO says that fossil fuel related activities such as oil refining are driving atmospheric levels of CO2 to record highs The levels of gases in the atmosphere that drive global warming increased to a record high in 2012. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), atmospheric CO2 grew more rapidly last year than its average rise over the past decade. Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide also broke previous records Thanks to carbon dioxide and these other gases, the WMO says the warming effect on our climate has increased by almost a third since 1990. The WMO’s annual greenhouse gas bulletin measures concentrations in the atmosphere, not emissions on the ground. Carbon dioxide is the most important of the gases that they track, but only about half of the CO2 that’s emitted […]

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Alberta Says ‘Quid Pro Quo’ With U.S. Required on Carbon Rules

Alberta won’t raise its levy on greenhouse-gas emissions unless the U.S. acts on the issue, Premier Alison Redford said. “In Alberta, we’re not looking to increase our price on carbon unless there’s going to be a move from the United States ,” Redford said in a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. radio interview that aired today. “There has to be a quid pro quo.” Redford is heading to Washington this month to lobby for U.S. approval of the Keystone XL pipeline that would connect Alberta’s oil sands with Gulf Coast refineries. She plans to discuss the existing C$15 ($14.40) per metric ton that the province levies on carbon from emitters that don’t meet greenhouse-gas reduction targets, she said. Canada has delayed implementing regulations regarding greenhouse gas emissions for the oil and natural gas industry. The federal government has said it’s working with Alberta, where most of Canada’s energy companies are based, […]

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EPA releases draft climate change adaptation implementation plans

The US Environmental Protection Agency released its draft climate change adaptation implementation plans for a 2-month public review. Comments will be accepted until Jan. 3, 2014. The proposed implementation plans provide detailed information about steps the federal environmental regulatory agency plans to take to help communities adapt to a changing climate under US President Barack Obama’s climate action plan, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said on Nov. 1. They recognize that EPA must integrate climate adaptation planning into its programs, policies, rules, and operations to ensure that the agency’s work continues to be effective even as the climate changes, she indicated. The proposals potentially could have significant impacts across the US oil and gas industry. EPA said it released its draft agency climate change adaptation plan on Feb. 9 for public review and comment, and expects to issue the final version this fall. All federal agencies were required to develop […]

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Climate Change Seen Posing Risk to Food Supplies

Climate change will pose sharp risks to the world’s food supply in coming decades, potentially undermining crop production and driving up prices at a time when the demand for food is expected to soar, scientists have found. In a departure from an earlier assessment, the scientists concluded that rising temperatures will have some beneficial effects on crops in some places, but that globally they will make it harder for crops to thrive — perhaps reducing production over all by as much as 2 percent each decade for the rest of this century, compared with what it would be without climate change. And, the scientists say, they are already seeing the harmful effects in some regions. The warnings come in a leaked draft of a report under development by a United Nations panel, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The document is not final and could change before it is […]

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Indian president calls for stricter regulations to conserve water

India’s president has called for stricter regulations to conserve the country’s water supply. “Population expansion, rapid urbanization and developmental needs have exerted tremendous pressure on India’s water availability,” President Pranab Mukherjee said in his opening address Monday at the India Water Forum 2013 in New Delhi. While India has 17 percent of the world’s population, it holds only 4 percent of the world’s renewable water resource, Mukherjee said, noting that in 10 years — from 2001 to 2011 — the per-capita availability of water in India dropped from 1,816 cubic meters per year to 1,545 cubic meters and is projected to fall to 1,140 cubic meters by 2050. The president said India’s current legal framework regarding water is inconsistent and inadequate to deal with the country’s complex water situation. “A broad over-arching national legal framework of general principles on water could pave the way for essential legislation on water […]

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Storm batters southern Britain, hitting flights, trains and power

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s strongest storm in a decade battered southern regions on Monday, forcing hundreds of flight cancellations, cutting power lines and disrupting the travel plans of millions of commuters. Winds of up to 99 miles per hour (160 km per hour) lashed southern England and Wales in the early hours of Monday, shutting down rail services in some areas during rush hour. Toppled trees crushed cars, damaged properties and flooding made some roads impassable in southern England. Storms were are also expected to hit parts of the Netherlands later on Monday, the Dutch Meteorological Institute said, and Schiphol airport told passengers to expect cancellations. About 40,000 customers were left without power in one of the worst storms to hit England since the 1987 "Great Storm" which killed 18 people in Britain and felled around 15 million trees. A 14-year old boy was missing after being swept out […]

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Deadly Storms Batter Britain, Mainland Europe

Authorities across Western Europe began a giant cleanup operation Monday after one of the biggest storms in a decade pummeled first England and Wales and later parts of the Continent, killing at least 10 people and causing widespread travel chaos and power outages. Hurricane-force winds swept southe+rn England and uprooted trees across the region. British police officials said a 17-year-old girl was killed after a tree fell on her house in Edenbridge in the southeast of the country. A man was killed when a tree fell on his car in Watford, north of London, and another man and a woman were found dead in one of three collapsed houses in west London after a falling tree caused a gas explosion. French state-owned television reported that a woman was swept into the sea by waves and later washed up on the beach. Three people were killed by falling trees in […]

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