Environmental News Network

U.N.'s Ban urges 2009 deadline for climate deal

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world on Wednesday to agree to work out a new climate treaty by 2009 but said it might be "too ambitious" to set goals for greenhouse gas cuts in Bali.
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StatoilHydro says 25,000 barrels of oil spilled in N.Sea

OSLO (Reuters) - About 25,000 barrels of oil spilled into the Norwegian sector of the North Sea at the Statfjord oilfield on Wednesday, field operator StatoilHydro and oil officials said.
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Study: Policy Trumps Technological Change in Beating Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A new study finds that policy changes, not technological advances, are necessary to stem the tide of rising greenhouse gas emissions. And the amount of climate-changing pollutants emitted could grow more quickly in the next 50 years than the last half-century, according to report authors Richard Eckaus of MIT and Ian Sue Wing of Boston University and MIT. “Technological change will not necessarily reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Energy taxes or a system on energy use and trade in emissions permits are necessary,” Eckaus says. >> Read the Full Article
U.N. aims to provide carbon neutral example

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - More countries should follow the examples of Costa Rica, Norway and New Zealand and aim to wipe out their contribution to climate change altogether, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Wednesday.
"This is not peanuts, it's whole countries," UNEP chief Achim Steiner told a news conference.
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China takes U.S. to task on currency, food safety

XIANGHE, China (Reuters) - An assertive China fended off U.S. pressure over currency policy and food safety on Wednesday and told Washington to put its own house in order rather than blame Beijing for its economic problems.
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Australia's PM hands over Kyoto papers in Bali

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Australia's new prime minister handed over documents ratifying the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations in Bali on Wednesday and said his own country was already suffering from global warming.
Kevin Rudd handed the documents to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of climate talks on the Indonesian island, where 190 nations are trying to initiate two-year talks on a global pact to fight a warming planet.
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Australia's PM hands over Kyoto papers in Bali

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Australia's new prime minister handed over documents ratifying the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations in Bali on Wednesday and said his own country was already suffering from global warming.
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Climate change drying up mountains in Western U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - By 2040, climate change will have melted the glaciers of Glacier National Park in Montana and the spring snowpack in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, scientists said on Tuesday.
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Hitting Back, Nonviolently
This Tuesday morning, around 10 a.m., on the 99th day of my climate emergency fast, I'm going to the Senate office on Capitol Hill of Mitch McConnell, the top-ranking Republican in the Senate. And I'm going to stay there for a while, attempting to draw attention to the anger that a lot of us feel about this latest outrage by Republican leaders in Washington out of touch with even their own rank and file. According to a recent Zogby poll, 77% of Republicans agree that utilities should be required to produce some of their energy from clean sources such as wind and solar. >> Read the Full Article
Bali fetes 10th birthday of Kyoto Protocol

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - A U.N. climate conference in Bali held a half-hearted 10th birthday party for the Kyoto Protocol on Tuesday with Japan likening the U.N. pact meant to curb greenhouse gases to a wayward child.
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