COP21: UN joins France and private sector partners for action on electro-mobility

Among the events was the launch of the Paris Declaration on Electro-Mobility and Climate Change & Call to Action. Endorsed by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Energy Agency, as well as Tesla Motors and Michelin Nissan-Renault, it reportedly builds on commitments from companies, cities, States and associations that have undertaken decisive efforts towards sustainable transport electrification.
“Of course, I think the sector of transport is one of the most important to succeed in fighting climate,” Ségolène Royal, the French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy told the UN News Service.“So I announced three concrete initiatives,” she explained. “First, an open bid about less expensive electric cars – less than 7,000 dollars [per car]; second, an initiative for towns to build a plan of mobility inside cities; and third, roads with positive energy which [would see thruways] covered with panel and would solve the problem between agriculture areas and road areas.” With energy-related CO2 emissions expected to jump from one quarter of total energy-related emissions today to one-third by 2050, the actors that are part of the Lima to Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) are underlining that significant changes can be made in transport to keep the global average temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius.The LPAA was launched one year ago at the the previous UN climate change conference in Peru, and aims to strength climate action beyond COP21. The effort comes as demand for public and freight transport is projected to grow rapidly, especially in emerging and developing countries. Yet, projections reveal a 50 per cent reduction of transport CO2 emissions compared to a “transport-as-usual” scenario can be achieved by 2050, without hampering sustainable economic growth.Moreover, according to the International Energy Agency, if global warming is to be limited to 2 degrees or less, at least 20 per cent of all road vehicles (cars, two and three-wheelers, trucks, buses and others) must be electric-powered by 2030, in conjunction with the low-carbon production of electricity and hydrogen.http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52728#.Vmcu-V7eums

COP21: Ban announces ‘Climate Action 2016’ partnership to maintain momentum after UN climate conference

“I am heartened by the significant and growing coalitions that are emerging to tackle the challenges of climate change and realize new opportunities,” Mr. Ban underlined at the global event taking place in Paris, on a day dubbed “Action Day.”“I am pleased to be joined by so many key partners to scale climate action efforts and make them sustainable,” he added.The Secretary-General, joined by groups such as the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility and the Compact of Mayors, and individuals including Michael Bloomberg – the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change – will co-sponsor a “Climate Action 2016” summit of leaders from government, business, cities and localities, civil society and academia next 5 and 6 May in Washington, D.C.According to a press release issued by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – the organizer of the conference – this high-level gathering will complement ongoing implementation efforts and catalyze actionable, concrete deliverables in specific high-value areas, including: cities; land use; resilience; energy; transport; tools for decision makers; and finance."[The summit will] show that the things that were talked here in Paris are actually happening on the ground,” Bob Orr, a Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on climate change, told the UN News Centre in an interview. “The number and the depth of the coalitions that are organized to deliver action on climate whether through forestry, through industry, through cities, all the different channels need to move forward as far and as fast as they can," he added. "So the Secretary-General is not only ensuring we have this robust universal agreement, but that we have the coalition in the field to deliver the goods.” Mr. Orr noted that the meeting is taking place in the United States' capital as all the partners joining the Secretary-General at the 2016 summit agreed that Washington, D.C. is the “best stop” as it is home to a number of important international institutions and financing vehicles. Meanwhile, the world's attention is turned towards the Paris-Le Bourget site north-east of the French capital, where government representatives have been meeting since Monday to reach a new universal climate agreement to limit global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius.http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52739#.Vmcu5V7eums

COP21: digital map launched by UNICEF helps young people tell their climate change stories

A digital mapping project called ‘Act Now For Tomorrow,’ which was recently launched by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), is helping young people around the world identify climate issues in their communities and find ways to address them.“The global climate map is engaging 500 young people from 65 countries,” Zayn Abaakil, a UNICEF child engagement coordinator, told the UN News Centre in one of the conference halls of the UN climate change conference (COP21) where dozens of innovative climate projects are being showcased over the next two weeks.The idea behind the project, she said, is for young people to show the link between climate issues and the impacts they see every day that are affecting their health and access to education. The UN agency recently reported that more than half a billion children live in areas with extremely high flood occurrences, while 160 million are in high drought severity zones.“They see all the contributions from other young people,” explained Ms. Abaakil, and “they understand that the issue is a global one, that they are all connected around the same problem, but also learn from each other, look at the best practices that have been done from different places, and connect.”
Seven UNICEF youth ambassadors have travelled from all corners of the globe to attend COP21, display their findings, and exchange stories – this time in person. One of them is Andozile Simwinga, a driven18-year old Zambian student who said the impacts of climate change on his country are affecting his self-esteem.
“Things, they don’t actually move the way they’re supposed to move and young people are not happy the way they should be,” he said energetically. Despite talking about an issue that clearly causes him distress, Mr. Simwinga couldn’t hide the enthusiasm he feels being in Paris and contributing to this global event.
“[The effect of climate change] has really made me feel low – I go out of my house every day and I look at the environment. People have cut down trees, there’s deforestation everywhere. I want to do environmental studies but what am I going to address? What am I going to talk about? What am I going to tell […] my children and also the future generations? We had trees here; we had different types of animals. So it really has affected my self-esteem.”Meanwhile, 22-year-old Bellinda Raymond traveled from Malaysia to attend the Conference of Youth prior to heading to COP21. She described herself as an active citizen, someone who engages with members of her indigenous community, especially ahead of major weather events that have the potential to destroy homes and vital surroundings. She said her grandparents weren’t affected by climate change in the ways she is today.“As an indigenous person, we depend on the forest and rivers for our daily life – and we also have our traditional system, also related to the climate. The weather is now unpredictable and we need to adapt to the environment that’s changing,” Ms. Raymond said.Asked what the worse effect of climate change has been on her community, she answered floods.“Because last time, when the rain came, it was still okay for us, but now just two hours of rain [and] it’s already flooding and has caused a lot of damage; people cannot go to work, and it’s difficult to access the outside.”As youth ambassadors celebrated ‘Young and Future Generations Day’ at COP21 on Thursday, government delegations continued to negotiate a new climate agreement which the world’s people hope will be ambitious enough to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius, and prevent further degradation of the planet.http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52726#.VmctUF7eums

COP21: saving energy 'triple win,' Ban says, as $5 billion Africa plan launched at climate summit

7 December 2015 – The United Nations and partners launched today a $5 billion initiative to expand renewable energy capacity in Africa today as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the UN climate change conference (COP21) in Paris that saving energy is a triple-win in the battle against global warming.
“The production and use of energy is responsible for more than half of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions. That means energy is also more than half of the solution. We need sustainable energy to reduce global greenhouse emissions and avert the risks of runaway climate change,” Mr. Ban said, stressing that clean energy is equally important for ending extreme poverty. “Saving energy is a triple-win solution. It can save money, reduce emissions, and provide additional energy capacity,” he added, noting that renewable energy technologies are becoming cheaper and more competitive, with many people accessing energy for the first time thanks to solar panels, wind turbines or small hydro power plant.“But, to replicate this experience for billions more people, we will need finance,” he declared.“Let us build on these bold initiatives. A global energy transformation must reduce heat-trapping emissions. It also needs to ensure that we leave no one behind. Those things can only be achieved if we tackle the issues of energy access, energy efficiency, and renewable energy together as a trinity.” COP21 held a thematic day on energy today, with the Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SE4All), a multi-stakeholder partnership backed by the UN and World Bank, urging Governments, businesses and financial institutions to act much faster and go much further to meet the ambitious goals of ensuring sustainable energy for all while keeping the global temperature rise within 2 degrees Celsius. SE4All is acting as a catalyst for a huge global movement for revolutionary change in the world's energy systems, helping to build working alliances across the public sector, private sector and civil society and foster innovative policies, technologies and financing mechanisms. Any rise of more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels by 2050 will have an ever more dangerous impact on planet Earth with devastating droughts, floods and storms, and rising seas swallowing up ever more low-lying land.The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative to expand renewable capacity by 2020 and achieve universal access was just one of several launched today.The Initiative is led by the African Union's NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development) the African Group of Negotiators, the African Development Bank, the UN Environment Program (UNEP), and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). At least $5 billion in public and highly concessional finance between 2016 and 2020 from bilateral, multilateral and other sources, including the Green Climate Fund, will be needed to leverage a further $15 billion in other investments, for a total investment of at least $20 billion pre-2020. Other initiatives launched today included efforts to improve access to electricity and energy efficiency, and promote renewable energy.Hundreds of Governments, businesses and financial institutions pledged major action on energy efficiency, recognizing it as the basis of the energy transition. More than 100 banks and a group of investors, managing close to $4 trillion in assets, committed to a major increase in energy efficiency lending in their portfolios. Led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the UNEP Finance Initiative, this is a major undertaking toward the four-fold increase needed to realize the full energy efficiency potential for climate change.

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE: Central African Republic: 1.2 Million children need urgent assistance due to devastating conflict

“The violence that has plagued this country has had a devastating impact on the lives of children,” said UNICEF's Representative in the Central African Republic, Mohamed Fall in a news release, adding that to meet the overwhelming humanitarian needs, access and greater international support are essential. According to UNICEF estimates, more than two million children have been affected by the violence which first broke out in December 2012 and which reached crisis levels in December 2013 following clashes that led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands in the capital, Bangui.. Nearly three years after the “devastating” conflict began in the Central African Republic (CAR), an estimated 1.2 million children are now in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, said the United Nations Children's Fund. About 400,000 people remain displaced within the country, and renewed clashes in September created an additional 39,000 internally displaced people in Bangui and a further half a million people are living as refugees in neighbouring countries, UNICEF said. The agency said that insecurity and underfunding continue to put urgent lifesaving activities at risk, while attacks on humanitarian conveys threaten the deployment of relief supplies to the interior of the country. According to UNICEF, Pope Francis was expected to visit the country on Sunday, for a two-day visit aimed at promoting reconciliation. UNICEF said that a song for peace, written and sung by children, that calls for national unity and an end to the fighting has been playing on radio stations ahead of the Pope's arrival. “We are hopeful that the voices of these children will be heard, and that the Pope's visit to CAR will promote reconciliation, in a country that is in desperate need of peace,” said Mr. Fall. Further, UNICEF called on all parties to the conflict to grant unrestricted access to organizations seeking to aid those affected by the crisis. The agency said that even in areas that are not affected by the conflict, communities continue to need support, with nearly one third of the population having no access to safe drinking water and 41 percent of children under five are chronically malnourished. Of the required USD 70.9 million in funds to provide urgent lifesaving interventions for the most vulnerable in 2015, UNICEF has received only USD 37 million, just over 50 percent of the required amount, despite the scale of the emergency. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52684#.Vl_KgF7eums

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EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE: NEPAL: More than 3million children at risk of death/ disease during harsh winter months

“The plight that children and their families are facing in the country has been worsening by the day and will deteriorate further in the winter months,” said UNICEF Regional Director of UNICEF for South Asia, Karin Hulshof in a news release. Over the past 10 weeks, vital imports of essential commodities have been severely restricted at Nepal’s southern border due to unrest over the country’s new constitution.
According to UNICEF, the Government’s regional medical stores have already run out of BCG vaccines against tuberculosis and stocks of other vaccines and antibiotics are critically low.
“The risks of hypothermia and malnutrition, and the shortfall in life-saving medicines and vaccines, could be a potentially deadly combination for children this winter,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.
Nepal, still recovering from two major earthquakes in April and May, has over 200,000 families affected by the temblors still living in temporary shelters, at an altitude above 1,500 metres where weather conditions will be harshest this winter, explained UNICEF, adding that children could be the most affected.“During my recent visit to Nepal, I witnessed first-hand the precarious living conditions of many of the earthquake survivors. They could now be facing a new disaster – without adequate food, protection from the cold, or healthcare,” added Mr. Lake. Further, UNICEF noted growing fears that the rising dependence on firewood because of the fuel crisis is increasing indoor pollution, which in turn could lead to a spike in cases of pneumonia, as over 800,000 children under five suffer from the condition and around 5,000 children have already died in the last year. Additionally, the 125,000 new-borns expected in Nepal in the next two months are also at particular risk, the agency warned. UNICEF said that ambulance services across the country have been hit by the fuel shortage, resulting in a drop in births in hospitals and health centres and the lack of fuel for heating also increases the risk of hypothermia and death for new-born babies who are not fully capable of controlling their own body temperature. “Children need to be protected from disease, cold and hunger. UNICEF urges all sides to address the restrictions on essential imports of supplies to Nepal. There is no time to lose,” urged Ms. Hulshof.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52685#.Vl_KbV7eums

CLIMATE CHANGE PEACE BUILDING: Thousands of stateless people granted nationality in Thailand

1 December 2015 – Welcoming Thailand’s announcement that it has granted nationality to more than 18,000 stateless people in the past several years, the United Nations refugee agency today hailed the move as a further step in accelerating the global campaign to end stateless by 2024.
“UNHCR [The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees] welcomes an announcement by the Royal Thai Government that more than 18,000 people have been granted nationality in Thailand in the last three years,” William Spindler, UNHCR Spokesperson, told the regular press briefing in Geneva.
Stateless people hardly enjoy their human rights, have poor access to basic services such as healthcare and education, and have limited employment opportunities, according to a newly-released report by UNHCR.
As such, the agency has worked with the Thai authorities with outreach to affected communities to expedite application process, build capacity and finance the deployment of mobile teams in remote areas. Moreover, UNHCR helps to sensitize communities and assist in application procedures.
The Thai Government, also acknowledging the problem, not only established a legal framework but has enacted legislative changes since 2008.
Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn further launched campaigns to ensure school-aged children and vulnerable people have greater access to nationality.
There are some 443,862 stateless people in Thailand. Many of them are from hill tribes living in remote or border areas, with limited information on accessing to rights and nationality.
“UNHCR hopes that Thailand’s progress in granting nationality can be a positive example to other countries in the region,” said Mr. Spindler, noting that there are more than 10 million stateless people worldwide, over 40 per cent of them from Asia.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52702#.Vl_GvF7eums

EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE: Flow of refugee and migrant children into Greece doubles

1 December 2015 – About a third of the refugees and migrants who have drowned in the Aegean Sea this year were children, while the number of children applying for asylum in the European Union has doubled compared to 2014, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported today, warning of the increasing perils facing youngsters as winter takes hold.
“So far, the winter had been mild, but this is changing, and the response now is not only about warm clothes, baby socks and blankets, but about providing children with a sense of stability and protection after what they have been through,” UNICEF spokesperson Sarah Crowe told a news briefing in Geneva in the latest update on the influx.
So far this year, children make up over a quarter of the 730,000 sea arrivals in Greece and the flows heading further into Europe through the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, according to the latest update issued by UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
After a slow-down last month, the number of arrivals in Greece has increased again, with 2,500 yesterday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson William Spindler told the briefing. Some 140,000 people crossed the Mediterranean in November compared to 220,000 in October, with the slowdown due to weather and a Turkish crackdown on smuggling.
In October alone, at least 90 children died in the Eastern Mediterranean, with nearly one in five under the age of two. Most of those who have drowned this year are from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, and are under the age of 12.
“Unpredictable border crossings in the Balkans, the procedures taking place at those borders and the harsh winter have compounded challenges facing children on the move,” Ms. Crowe said. “Over the past month, 52 per cent of those crossing the borders in the Balkans were women and children, up from 27 per cent this summer. This crisis now became a crisis for children and their mothers.”
Babies and small children are particularly at risk, as are children with disabilities and special needs, those separated from their families during the journey, stranded children who have exhausted their resources, unaccompanied and separated adolescents, and trafficked children.
“Women who have recently given birth are less resilient to the stresses of the journey and risk being unable to continue breastfeeding, as families are swept along migration routes, through reception centres, and loaded onto buses and trains,” the update stressed.
“Babies are born every day along the migration routes – in very unfavourable conditions – and carried along as newborns… With winter fast approaching, there is a heightened risk of these children dying at sea or on land, or becoming seriously ill with hypothermia or pneumonia. Babies and small children are more at risk of drowning, as they can slip from parents’ arms during shipwrecks.”
Overall, 61 per cent of refugee and migrant arrivals in Greece are from Syria, 22 per cent from Afghanistan, 7 per cent from Iraq, and 3 per cent from Pakistan, all countries affected by conflict, insecurity and political unrest.
About 10 per cent – or 15,000 – of the over 143,000 sea arrivals in Italy are children - 29 per cent from Eritrea, 13 per cent from Syria, 11 per cent from Egypt, 9 per cent from Somalia and 7 per cent from Nigeria.http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52700#.Vl_HGl7eums

COP21: UN spotlights need to protect forests and agriculture to improve livelihoods, feed the world

1 December 2015 – The impacts of climate change on forests and agriculture were in the spotlight today at the United Nations climate change conference (COP21), as new alliances among organizations and stakeholders were announced aiming to eliminate natural deforestation and forest degradation, and to prevent threats to sustainable farming and people’s livelihoods.
Many of the events on the second day of the global gathering in Paris, France took place in the context of the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) – a joint undertaking by the Governments of Peru and France, the Office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the organizer of the current conference, the 21st meeting of the Convention’s States Parties. The Action Agenda was launched in December 2014 by the previous meeting of the UNFCCC parties in Lima, Peru.
As highlighted in a press release issued by UNFCCC, the LPAA aims to strengthen climate action beyond COP21, by “mobilizing robust global action towards low carbon and resilient societies and providing enhanced support to existing initiatives.”
During the two-week conference, 12 thematic focus events are being organized to expose how climate issues affect various sectors and to suggest relevant solutions to tackle them. On Tuesday, with forests and agriculture taking center stage, leaders from governments, the private and public sectors, civil society and indigenous peoples voiced their environmental concerns.
This included how agriculture, forestry and other land uses are responsible for nearly a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions – about half of that from deforestation and forest degradation, mostly driven by demand for food and wood products and inequities and inefficiencies in the use of land for their production.
“Forest countries in partnership with other governments, the private sector and civil society are set for an increased international effort to eliminate natural deforestation and forest degradation in a few decades,” said Peru’s Minister of the Environment Manuel Pulgar-Vidal speaking at a press conference.
“The success of the LPAA and its action area on Forests relies on effective synergies between state and non-state actors, between investment and forest management – all together rallied behind sustainably managed forests as a common goal,” he added.
According to UN estimates, approximately one billion people depend directly on forests for their livelihoods and each year, approximately 12 million hectares of forest are destroyed. This loss of forest cover is said to be responsible for roughly 11 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Meanwhile, governments and organizations, including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), announced six new cooperative initiatives that aim to protect the long-term livelihoods of millions of farmer and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The entities highlighted how agriculture is one of the sectors most seriously affected by extreme climate but it also accounts for 24 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions which cause climate change.
The initiatives focus on four key areas: soils in agriculture, the livestock sector, food losses and waste, and sustainable production methods and resilience of farmers. The new partnerships are expected to deploy money and know-how across both developed and developing nations to help hard-pressed farmers become key actors in the global drive to achieve a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.
UNFCCC said today’s events reveal the “effective and concrete progress” that can be made when a wide, international set of stakeholders work together to build resilience and low-carbon systems of production in agricultural and food systems.
 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52699#.Vl_ESV7eums

UK coal plants must close by 2025. Britain will stop burning coal for electricity within a decade and build a new fleet of gas power plants to keep the lights on

Amber Rudd, the energy secretary, has announced.
Unveiling a new energy strategy in a speech on Wednesday, Ms Rudd will say it is “perverse” that coal, the “dirtiest fossil fuel” is still such a major part of the UK’s energy system – providing 29pc of the UK’s electricity last year.

The country’s dozen remaining unabated coal-fired power stations must all close by 2025 at the latest, and will be restricted in their usage from 2023, she confirmed ahead of the speech. A consultation on the plans will be held in the spring.

“It cannot be satisfactory for an advanced economy like the UK to be relying on polluting, carbon-intensive 50-year-old coal-fired power stations. Let me be clear: this is not the future,” Ms Rudd will say in her speech.

Coal in the UK, 1882-2025. 1st country to use coal for electricity will become the first major country to completely phase it out. Big news!

— Ben Caldecott (@bencaldecott) November 17, 2015

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/12001752/UK-coal-plants-must-close-by-2025-Amber-Rudd-to-announce.html

Clean Cook Stoves Can Slow Climate Change

There's a major downside to the reliance upon wood stoves. The cheap, antiquated stoves used by rural dwellers in Africa and elsewhere aren't very efficient, and they spew smoke that contains black carbon, consisting of tiny particles that are only partially burned. It's the same stuff that's found in fireplace soot, and it's a serious health risk to the people who breath it in.Beyond that, black carbon gets into the atmosphere where it's many times more potent than more plentiful carbon dioxide. Black carbon is a significant contributor to the greenhouse effect that's altering our planet's climate. "It absorbs sunlight so much more strongly than any other type of pollution," explained Christopher Cappa, a University of California, Davis professor of civil and environmental engineering.....

To that end, the UN has formed a public-private partnership, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which is coordinating efforts to get 100 million households worldwide to burn wood more cleanly.
It's not been an easy transition. "There remain substantial economic and cultural challenges to having these technologies adopted," Cappa said. "People are currently working to develop cookstoves that better replicate the feel of traditional stoves but that emit less pollution to facilitate increased adoption."
One potentially powerful innovation is the BioLite HomeStove, created by product developers Alec Drummond and Jonathan Cedar, which contains a thermoelectric generator that converts some of the fire's heat into usable electricity. That current, in turn, is used to power an internal fan, which forces more air into the fire and improves combustion, so that it's cleaner and nearly smokeless.

Read full article from the source:  http://news.discovery.com/human/clean-cookstoves-could-slow-climate-change-151118.htm

Climate change is not just Chevy's problem, it's humanity's problem, created in part by every automaker, every car owner and every person who has ever used a car as transportation

Chevrolet is trying its luck. The company just completed a five-year carbon reduction initiative. It spent $40 million buying carbon offsets from over 30 different projects across America. When a company buys a carbon offset, it usually pays another company to reduce emissions, in order to "offset" emissions elsewhere. Chevy bought offsets that reduced the amount of carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere by 8 million metric tons. "That's like planting a forest the size of Yellowstone," according to the initiative's website. It's also equivalent to about 3 percent of the annual carbon pollution from cars that Chevrolet's parent company, GM, sells in a single year. Though the magnitude is small compared to the damage that cars do across the U.S., the 8 million metric tons of offsets that Chevy bought over the last five years made up a huge chunk of the voluntary carbon market.  The company also won an award from the Environmental Protection Agency in early 2015 for the Campus Clean Energy Campaign it created as part of Chevy's offsetting initiative. The campaign helped universities set up the right protocols to be able to sell their own carbon credits on the voluntary carbon market. Chevy then bought credits from the universities.......

The EPA estimates the average car emits 4.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Therefore, 8 million metric tons of carbon is, incidentally, about equal to the annual emissions total of the number of cars Chevrolet sold in the United States in 2010, when Chevy launched its offsetting initiative. With about 2 million Chevy cars sold in 2014, that emissions total is up to about 9.4 million metric tons.
Chevrolet's parent company, GM, sold almost 10 million cars around the world in 2014. That would put GM's indirect carbon emissions at 47 million metric tons for 2014, while it offset only 1.6 million metric tons. And the initiative won't continue now that Chevy has met its five-year goal.  
Read full article from the Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chevy-ends-sustainability-plan_564df5fde4b031745cf0164d?utm_hp_ref=business
Shane Ferro Business Reporter, The Huffington Pos

RENEWABLE ENERGY: INNOVATING PEACE IN CHANGING CLIMATE NEWS: 11/16/2015-11/22/2015

World leaders seek new path to slow warming of planet | Reuters
(2 Additional Articles)

... Corp and Walter Energy Inc have filed for bankruptcy as tighter regulations, falling energy prices and an economic slowdown in China have taken a toll. The UN says investment in renewable energy has grown 500 percent since 2004 to $270 billion in 2014, and prices have fallen sharply. Britain, home of the Industrial Revolution, now plans to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2025. Even ...

(964 words by reuters.com

Canada's Alberta to introduce economy-wide carbon tax in 2017 | Reuters
(2 Additional Articles)
... Democratic Party took power earlier this year, ending 44 years of Conservative rule. "It will help us access new markets for our energy products, and diversify our economy with renewable energy and energy efficiency technology," Notley said in Edmonton. "Alberta is showing leadership on one of the world's biggest problems." Alberta has the world's third largest crude reserves, but its ...

(396 words by reuters.com

Canada's Alberta to introduce economy-wide carbon tax in 2017 | Reuters
(3 Additional Articles)
... New Democratic Party took power earlier this year, ending 44 years of Conservative rule. "It will help us access new markets for our energy products, and diversify our economy with renewable energy and energy efficiency technology," Notley said in Edmonton. "Alberta is showing leadership on one of the world's biggest problems." Alberta has the world's third largest crude reserves, but its ...

(467 words by reuters.com

Canada's Alberta to introduce economy-wide carbon tax in 2017 | Canada | Reuters

... Democratic Party took power earlier this year, ending 44 years of Conservative rule. "It will help us access new markets for our energy products, and diversify our economy with renewable energy and energy efficiency technology," Notley said in Edmonton. "Alberta is showing leadership on one of the world's biggest problems." Alberta has the world's third largest crude reserves, but its ...

(241 words by reuters.com

Analysis - Britain needs to start doing favours to win EU friends | Reuters
(2 Additional Articles)
... Cameron may need to help Poland's new nationalist government by offering support for it to keep subsidised, polluting coal mines open longer and slow its EU obligation to switch to renewable energy sources. "Clearly Poland has no interest to have Britain out of the EU. It all depends how they can make a package," said Grela. "That used to be a strength of British diplomacy." (Writing by ...

(1060 words by reuters.com

Top News Stories - 11/21/2015

Renewable Taos Seeks 100% Renewable Energy That Is "Accessible To All"

... Renewable Taos Seeks 100% Renewable Energy That Is "Accessible To All" November 21st, 2015 by Rocky Mountain Institute Originally published on RMI Outlet . By Laurie Guevara-Stone New Mexico is officially known as the "Land of Enchantment." However, before 1941, the state's license plates declared New Mexico "the Sunshine State." It's the third sunniest state in the U.S., behind Arizona ...

(1540 words by cleantechnica.com

How Nova Scotia Will Become A Green Powerhouse

... Will Become A Green Powerhouse November 20th, 2015 by Roy L Hales Originally published on the ECOreport Nova Scotia has made some impressive strides towards adopting more renewable energy. Less than a decade ago, fossil fuels produced 85% of its electricity, and now it is obtaining 24% from renewables. The former carbon junkie now has a report that explains how Nova Scotia will ...

(594 words by cleantechnica.com

Merkel: 10 years in office and no signs of stopping - Yahoo News
(4 Additional Articles)
... all of the country's reactors would be shut off by 2022 as part of the "Energiewende" roughly, "energy turnaround." She embarked upon one of the world's most ambitious plans for renewable energy, pledging that sources including wind and sun would make up 40-45 percent of Germany's energy mix by 2025, and 55-60 percent by 2035. The decision was popular in Germany, but readying Europe's ...

(1204 words by yahoo.com

Russia, Egypt sign deal to build Egypt's first nuclear plant - CNN.com

... The deal was signed by Sergei Kirienko, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, and Egypt's Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker, Rosatom's press service told RIA Novosti. The plant is expected to be operational within 12 years, the report said. Rosatom chief: Plant to meet international safety standards It will be comprised of four nuclear power ...

(123 words by cnn.com

Greens propose new $500m renewable energy body
(5 Additional Articles)
... million government authority would deliver a 15-year pipeline of clean energy projects through a combination of reverse auctions and direct investment under a Greens plan to boost renewable energy and close down coal-fired power stations. Federal Greens Leader Richard Di Natale will on Sunday announce RenewAustralia, a key element of the party's policy to make Australia's energy generation 90 ...

(309 words by smh.com.au

Top News Stories - 11/20/2015

SunEdison Raises $403 Million for TerraForm to Buy Wind, Solar - Renewable Energy World

... SunEdison Inc., the best-performing U.S. solar company, raised $402.5 million to help buy renewable energy plants in emerging markets, and then purchased more than 2 gigawatts of wind and solar projects in Central America and Asia. The company completed a $335 million private placement deal for part of its stake in TerraForm Global LLC, a unit created to own and operate power plants, ...

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China’s Guangdong Province Speeds Up Development of the Province’s Clean Energy Industry - Renewable Energy World

... The Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission has recently issued a development road map for the province's nuclear and renewable energy sources, including natural gas, wind power and solar power, entitled the Implementation Plan for Speeding up the Development of Guangdong Province's Clean Energy Industry. It is important to note that, at variance with the rest of the world, ...

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Japan Should Continue Its Road Towards Renewables - Renewable Energy World

... The power sector crisis in Japan has entered a new stage. The recent refusal of Japanese utilities to grant grid access to new renewable energy projects should not be seen as a failure of Japan's renewable energy policy, but as a consequential and necessary phase to extend Japan's technological leadership into the power sector. Through its feed-in tariff for renewables projects, Japan ...

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With 1.6 GW of Wind Capacity Installed in Q2, American Wind Power Continues To Ramp Up in 2015 - Renewable Energy World

... that momentum, Congress also took a step in the right direction yesterday when the U.S. Senate Finance Committee voted 23-3 to extend the primary federal tax incentives for growing renewable energy as part of a larger tax policy extension bill. "With a near-record amount of wind capacity under construction, this looks to be a strong year for American wind power," said Tom Kiernan, CEO of the ...

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Marine Energy Making Waves on Both Sides of the Pond - Renewable Energy World

... development of the wave energy sector have been launched in the U.S. and Europe. As part of the ongoing work to establish a viable United States wave energy industry, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SANDIA) are working on the creation of a sophisticated open-source modeling tool known as WEC-Sim and the U.S. Department of Energy is also ...

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Top News Stories - 11/19/2015

Renewables in North Africa: A Nation-By-Nation Report Card - Renewable Energy World

... restrictions, and inadequate regulatory frameworks. Even so, power generation projects and structural reforms to support them are pushing forward in this region and in many cases renewable energy is the best solution, particularly tapping into solar and wind resources, according to recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan. Total power installed capacity in the North Africa region was roughly 6 ...

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Renewable Energy Is Driving the Energy Transformation: REWNA Recap Video - Renewable Energy World

... Orlando, Florida -- Renewable energy stakeholders are well aware that clean energy is slowly but steadily transforming the energy landscape and that message couldn't have been more clear at the recently concluded Power-Gen International, the largest show for the traditional power generation industry. Since all forms of power generation are represented at the show through the four co-located ...

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US Government Recommits to Renewable Energy Ramp-up - Renewable Energy World

... an executive order re-establishing one of the proclamations from the climate change plans it issued this summer: significantly boosting the U.S. federal government's support of renewable energy to supply 20 percent of its energy consumption by 2020. The U.S. federal government's broad climate-change initiatives issued earlier this summer gained a lot of notice for their emphasis on ...

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The Big Question: Where Do You See Renewable Energy Growth Potential in 2015? - Renewable Energy World

... The annual outlook issue of Renewable Energy World magazine is our attempt to predict what will happen within the renewable energy industry over the course of the year. To do this, we went straight to the top of major renewable energy companies, asking CEOs and presidents to tell us where they are devoting their company resources in order to capitalize on some of the market growth that they ...

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Obama’s International Climate Strategy: More Grease for Renewables - Renewable Energy World

... Virginia, USA -- It was good news for renewable energy when President Barack Obama in June proposed carbon dioxide restrictions on existing power plants. It is even better news now that he may use the plan to leverage an international climate accord. That’s the word from renewable energy advocates who are closely watching as Obama works to broker a climate agreement with the world&rsquo ...

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Top News Stories - 11/18/2015

MHK risk assessment tool set for demonstration in London this month - Renewable Energy World

... Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and consultancy firm Frazer-Nash, both based in the UK, will perform a live demonstration of their marine hydrokinetics (MHK) energy project risk assessment tool during the International Tidal Energy Summit pre-conference risk and reliability workshop in London on Nov. 23. The risk assessment tool was constructed using open source software and the ...

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Cuomo Can Boost Leadership Role with Renewable Energy - Renewable Energy World



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Virtual Reality and Wind Energy: A Powerful Combination - Renewable Energy World



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China's Kong Sun to Double Solar Power Installations Next Year - Renewable Energy World



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Cities, States, Industry Increase Commitments to Promote Community Solar - Renewable Energy World



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Top News Stories - 11/17/2015

Quest to Boost Microalgae Growth Promises More Sustainable Energy - Renewable Energy World

... Bruce Rittmann and physicist Klaus Lackner will lead a new research project to aid U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) efforts to boost production of a promising source for clean, renewable energy. DOE has awarded ASU a three-year, $1 million grant to fund the Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Capture and Membrane Delivery project aimed at enabling more large-scale cultivation of microalgae. ...

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Listen Up: Solar Safety - Renewable Energy World

... and $500 heating bills. There are literally hundreds of products, tricks and techniques that we can use to dramatically reduce these costs very affordably. The Energy Show on Renewable Energy World is a weekly 20-minute podcast that provides tips and advice to reduce your home and business energy consumption. Every week we'll cover topics that will help cut your energy bill, explain new ...

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Scotland Rejects Two Wind Farm Proposals From Windkraft, SSE - Renewable Energy World



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Guatemala Considering 200 MW Geothermal RFP in 2016 - Renewable Energy World



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Skyfill: Where the Sky is a Free Sewer, Are Bioeconomy Thermodynamics Extremely Flawed from the Get Go? - Renewable Energy World



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Top News Stories - 11/16/2015

Wind Derivatives: Has Their Time Come? - Renewable Energy World

... Source: CAPP, Crude Oil Forecast, Markets & Transportation, June 2014 The Changing Landscape In 2008, governments began offering tax breaks and incentives to firms building renewable energy projects. By having a top priority in distribution coupled with the added incentives, renewable energy has become the power of choice for small players, such as financial investors. Today, however, ...

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France to Push On With Climate Summit After Paris Attacks - Renewable Energy World



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Microgrids Seen as Answer for 620 Million Africans Without Power - Renewable Energy World



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Moniz Highlights Five Technologies as Solutions for Carbon Reduction - Renewable Energy World



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Apple to power Singapore operations with renewable energy | Reuters
(11 Additional Articles)
... Apple announced on Sunday that it has struck a deal to power all of its Singapore operations with renewable energy, the latest in a series of steps from the company to turn its operations worldwide green. Starting in January, solar energy developer Sunseap Group will provide Apple with 100 percent renewable electricity from its portfolio of solar energy systems built atop more than 800 ...

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SOURCE: CARBON CREDIT REPORT  a free service of the University of Illinois that tracks daily global mainstream and social media coverage of climate change and all 15 core energy sectors and energy industries and offers analytical reports, person, organization, location, and news outlet biographical profiles, interactive timelines and maps, and numerous other analytical features to help translate the deluge of daily news into a wealth of actionable insight.

UPDATE: Climate Change News For 11/16/2015-11/22/201 from Carbon Capture Report

click link to read full article:

Five US states where climate change could be disastrous - BBC News
(2 Additional Articles)

... Image copyright Getty Images Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events around the world. One US group has given the 50 states a report card, ranking the risk of potential disasters and long-term dangerous changes. Most US states are well-prepared for current natural disasters, but across the country, states have done little to factor in how climate change ...

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Moroccan solar plant to bring energy to a million people - BBC News
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... of Atlantic wind, mountain hydro power and scorching Saharan sun. The king's plans are being enacted by environment minister Hakima el Haite. She told me: "We are convinced that climate change is an opportunity for our country." As part of its national commitment to the Paris climate conference, Morocco has pledged to decrease CO2 emissions 32% below business-as-usual by 2030, ...

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Canada's Alberta to introduce economy-wide carbon tax in 2017 | Reuters
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... country's controversial oil sands, said on Sunday it will implement an economy-wide tax on carbon emissions in 2017, addressing long-standing criticism it is not doing enough to combat climate change. The provincial government estimated the plan, including a pledge to phase out pollution from coal-fired electricity generation by 2030 and a limit on emissions from the province's oil sands ...

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Prince Charles: Climate change failure is a factor behind Syrian crisis - Telegraph

... years ago that if we didn't tackle these issues you would see ever greater conflict over scarce resources and ever greater difficulties over drought, and the accumulating effect of climate change, which means that people have to move. “And, in fact, there's very good evidence indeed that one of the major reasons for this horror in Syria, funnily enough was a drought that lasted ...

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Paris Can Be a Key Step | Robert Stavins

... from a brief trip to Paris two days before the horrific events of November 13th, which have shocked and saddened civilized people everywhere. I was in Paris for discussions regarding climate change policy at OECD headquarters. Now, I'm preparing to return to Paris in less than two weeks with my colleagues from the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements (I've inserted a list of our forthcoming "p ...

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Top News Stories - 11/21/2015

Peak District bird of prey project results 'disappointing' - BBC News

... and short-eared owl - had aimed to restore numbers to the levels seen around the time of the designation. Numerous theories have been put forward to explain the decline, including climate change, predation, disturbance and availability of food. However, Mr Thomas said none had been proven. He said in the case of short-eared owls the fluctuation in numbers was likely to be caused by the ...

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A Point of View: Has the Catholic Church really changed? - BBC News

... democracy and community as a way to get better shepherds for the flock. Enter a religion defined by God's mercy and inclusion, with a strong voice on issues like market excess and climate change and where men and women shared spiritual power. In a world under attack from testosterone-driven fundamentalism - I could have written exactly those same words before the events in Paris, but ...

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Weekend Edition: The week's best reads - BBC News

... Alex Marshall. While there have been some well known songs about the environment in general, such as Michael Jackson's Earth Song (pictured), there haven't been any big hits about climate change. Why not? Where are all the climate change songs? Image copyright Istock "Very good article," commented Andrew Kev Mathyssen. Only 50% of people who are HIV-positive are aware they have the ...

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India backs 2 degree global warming limit - French ministry source | Reuters
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... PARIS Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi clearly backs the goal of limiting global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, a source close to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday. Leaders from 195 nations will meet from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 in Paris to try to nail down an agreement after the last global climate change conference in Copenhagen in ...

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Our obsession with global warming will cost us dear - Telegraph



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Top News Stories - 11/20/2015

Bangladesh fires up large-scale solar to boost power generation | Reuters
(3 Additional Articles)
... by Syful Islam; editing by James Baer and Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and corruption. Visit www.trust.org/climate) ...

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Professor, wife convicted of fraud in $700,000 NASA contract - Yahoo News
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... that Lehigh University engineering professor Yujie (yew-jee) Ding and his wife, Yuliya (yewl-ya) Zotova, told NASA that their startup company would develop a sensor to track climate change. The contract allowed some work to be done by Lehigh students, but prosecutors say they instead did all the work. Defense lawyers argue that the research found in the couple's Upper Saucon ...

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UN official: Over 120 leaders to attend Paris climate summit - Yahoo News
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... UNITED NATIONS (AP) The attacks in Paris are affecting crucial climate change talks in the French capital starting later this month, but more than 120 world leaders strongly support the conference and have confirmed they will attend, a senior U.N. official said Friday. Janos Pasztor, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for climate change, told a news conference that preparations and some ...

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Does Obama's Backtrack on Biofuels Undermine His Climate Change Message in Paris? | Paul Alexander

... Despite the terrorist attacks in Paris, French officials have announced the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, also taking place in Paris, will proceed as planned on November 30. The conference is expected to produce a blueprint to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the main cause of global warming. President Barack Obama will be among the nearly 120 world leaders who are expected to ...

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Weekend Roundup: Paris Attacks Upend Concepts of War, Security and Alliances | Nathan Gardels

... agenda for global peace is not served by making Islam a scapegoat." Former French environment minister Corinne Lepage looks ahead in the coming weeks to a successful Paris summit on climate change as the best response to ISIS brutality. Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, hopes the Paris summit will mean a farewell to fossil fuels. In ...

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Top News Stories - 11/19/2015

Do we underestimate the power of plants and trees? - BBC News

... processing. It's necessary to write a symphony and do linear algebra, but it's not the only solution for integrating information. "We're living in a rapidly-changing environment - global warming, changes in precipitation, shifting populations. If we don't understand how a plant senses and responds to its environment and then adapts, we might find ourselves in a big problem 50 to 100 years ...

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Satellite will map Earth's plant glow - BBC News

... for Europe to have some kind of space-borne carbon monitoring capability - a tool to check that countries are implementing policies to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Esa officials are likely to ask member states at the agency's next big ministerial gathering to fund CarbonSat's instrument through to a prototype stage. Discussions will also be held in ...

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Anti-Apec protests take place in Manila - BBC News
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... ground against protesters. They are also playing loud dance music to drown out the unified voices of the protesters. World leaders at the summit have been discussing issues such as climate change and regional economic co-operation. But the ongoing dispute among several Asian countries who have overlapping claims in the resource-rich South China Sea has also been in focus. US President ...

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Could This Be the Solution To Climate Change? | Renat Heuberger

... In order to halt climate change, close to 100% of the world's scientists agree that we must drastically reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions. But how? I explored some key areas to address during my recent interview with the World Economic Forum and would like to share them with you here: As one fair and efficient way to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions, carbon markets ...

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Paris 2015: When a Historic Climate Change Agreement Isn't Enough | Thomas White

... In just over a week, representatives from 190 countries will gather for the 21st UN Climate Change Conference in Paris. As the world seems to be waking up to the colossal threat of climate change, religious and world leaders from all over are urging the international community to commit to real, measurable action. With such high expectations, Paris 2015 aims to keep global warming below 2 ...

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Top News Stories - 11/18/2015

Shunning protocol, Obama interviews Alibaba billionaire Ma - Yahoo Finance
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... bit." Ma smiled in response. He said Alibaba had been putting 0.3 percent of the company's total revenue for the past six years toward encouraging young people to find solutions to climate change and other environmental issues. Ma added that he thought it was a "fantastic idea" to invest in clean technology, referring to a recent conversation in which Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) co-founder ...

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No new date set for Utah oil lease sale delayed by activists - Yahoo News
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... emboldened by President Barack Obama's killing of the Keystone XL oil pipeline this month say stopping oil and gas drilling on U.S. public lands is their next goal in the fight against climate change. [nL1N1341NF] Activists last week also protested a lease sale in Denver, but that sale went ahead as planned. About 20 percent of the oil and about 14 percent of the natural gas produced in ...

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Big Antarctic ice melt scenarios 'not plausible' - BBC News
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... to sea-level rise this century will be significant and challenging, but that some nightmare scenarios are just not realistic. Their new study models how the polar south will react if greenhouse gases rise at a medium to high rate. The most likely outcome is an input of about 10cm to global waters by 2100. But the prospect of a 30cm-or-more contribution - claimed by some previous research - ...

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Spending Review: Department-by-department cuts guide - BBC News

... offered through the new Universal Credit. Mr Duncan Smith is reported to have threatened to resign over the issue but sources say the dispute is now over. Department for Energy and Climate Change - budget cut agreed Image copyright Reuters Annual budget: 3.9bn Budget increase since 2010: 14.3% Where 2010-2015 increases went: DECC is not a protected department so you would expect its ...

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US, Cuba sign first environmental accord since thaw - Yahoo News
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... habitats in the Gulf of Mexico and South Florida. Scientists from the U.S. and across the world are gathering this week in Havana for the 10th Ocean Sciences Conference to discuss climate change and conservation. "This opens the door to collaborating on many, many fronts so the so-called invisible lines of the Gulf (of Mexico) disappear," said Daniel Whittle, the EDF's senior director for ...

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Top News Stories - 11/17/2015

Britain must move away from coal power stations minister - Yahoo News
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... "It cannot be satisfactory for an advanced economy like the UK to be relying on polluting, carbon intensive 50-year-old coal-fired power stations," Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Amber Rudd will say, according to embargoed excerpts of the speech she will deliver at the Institution of Civil Engineers. Coal-fired power plants provided around one third of Britain's ...

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UK's coal plants 'to be phased out within 10 years' - BBC News
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... new energy system will be "competition-focused," according to Amber Rudd Concerns have also been raised about the costs to consumers of transforming the energy system to help tackle climate change. The government cut renewable energy subsidies earlier this year, which led some to question the government's commitment to tackle climate change. However, the BBC understands that the government ...

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Where are all the climate change songs? - BBC News
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... Paul's rap from Love Song to the Earth. "Mama Earth is in a crazy mess, it's time for us to do our best, from deep sea straight up to Everest," he sings. Then he explains exactly why climate change is a problem, in a way that is at least more succinct than most politicians manage: "Six billion people all want plentiness, some people think this is harmless, but if we continue there'll only be ...

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Earth's underground water quantified - BBC News
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... quickly renewed - on the scale of human lifetimes," explained study leader Tom Gleeson from the University of Victoria. "And yet this modern groundwater is also the most sensitive to climate change and to human contamination. So, it's a vital resource that we need to manage better." Finite resource To quantify just how much water is stored in the top 2km of the Earth's surface, Dr Gleeson's ...

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Spending review: Deal with seven more ministers including Iain Duncan Smith - BBC News

... "a matter for the Treasury," the source added, "agreement has been reached between them on spending." The other departments to have reached agreement with Mr Osborne are Energy and Climate Change, HM Revenue and Customs, the Cabinet Office, the Scotland Office and Office of the Advocate General, the Wales Office and the Northern Ireland Office. They bring to 11 the number of Whitehall ...

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Top News Stories - 11/16/2015

El Nio strengthening, will be among biggest on record: WMO - Yahoo News
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... disaster management campaigns to save lives and minimize economic damage. "However, this event is playing out in uncharted territory. Our planet has altered dramatically because of climate change, the general trend towards a warmer global ocean, the loss of Arctic sea ice and of over a million sq km of summer snow cover in the northern hemisphere," the WMO statement quoted Jarraud as saying. ...

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G20 sticks to goal to boost growth by extra 2 percent despite headwinds - Yahoo News
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... said in a statement on Monday. In their final communique from a summit in Turkey, the leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) also endorsed plans to address the refugee crisis, taxation, climate change, cyber security and inequality, signs the grouping is increasingly willing to widen its focus beyond hard economic issues. "We remain committed to achieving our ambition to lift collective G20 GDP ...

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Unmitigated climate change to shrink global economy by 23 percent, researchers find - Yahoo News
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... Berkeley, California (Reuters) When the world heats up, economies around the globe will cool down. That's according to a new study which predicts that rising temperatures due to climate change will wreak havoc on economic output. "Our best estimate is that the global economy as a whole will be 23 percent smaller in 2100 than if we would avoid climate change entirely," said co-author of the ...

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What's so smart about smart meters? - BBC News

... smart meters? Replace your old gas and electricity meters with natty new digital ones and you could be helping to tackle "the biggest single challenge that humankind has ever faced" - global warming. That's according to veteran environmental campaigner Jonathon Porritt anyway. And you thought smart meters were just about saving a few quid on your gas and electricity bills? Think again. Not ...

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'High impacts' from globally stronger El Nino - BBC News

... says that the implications of the weather system in a warmer world are uncertain. "This event is playing out in uncharted territory. Our planet has altered dramatically because of climate change, the general trend towards a warmer global ocean, the loss of Arctic sea ice and of over a million square km of summer snow cover in the northern hemisphere," said Mr Jarraud. "So this naturally ...

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