Ten days before the UN climate conference opens in Copenhagen, EU officials welcomed emissions pledges by China and the US as a crucial step towards an agreement, but stressed that the commitments had to match the developed world’s ”common target” of keeping global warming below 2°C. “We will continue to urge the US, China and all our other partners in [...]

Washington — In the poor, but mineral-rich mountains of the eastern United States known as Appalachia, coal millionaire Don Blankenship hosts a rally for “Friends of America” to hear country music and “learn how environmental extremists and corporate America are both trying to destroy your jobs.” On the other side of the globe, with an [...]

UN climate talks in Barcelona last week ended with little progress, prompting speculation that a legally binding treaty will need another year to negotiate. “I don’t think we can get a legally binding agreement by Copenhagen. I think that we can get that within a year after Copenhagen,” UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said [...]

It’s being billed as the meeting that will determine the future of humanity. Come early December, we will be inundated with news from the Copenhagen summit. Can it really save us from climate catastrophe? Catherine Brahic and Fred Pearce for New Scientist sift through the mass of science and policy to pick out the key [...]

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the lifecycle and supply chain of animals raised for food account for 51% of annual emissions caused by humans and should be given higher priority in global efforts to fight climate change, World Bank Group experts argue.  While livestock are already known to contribute to GHG emissions, their levels have been underestimated or simply overlooked, [...]

As world leaders struggle to hash out a new global climate deal by December, they face a hurdle perhaps more formidable than getting big polluters like the United States and China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: how to pay for the new accord. The price tag for a new climate agreement will be a staggering [...]

The proposed directive introduces minimum levels of taxation on different types of fuels linked to the intensity of their emissions, to be effective from 2013. According to New Energy Finance, the European Union will propose a carbon-related tax to be levied across all member states. The proposed directive introduces minimum levels of taxation on different [...]

Confronting the challenge Google has launched an interesting tool in preparation for GOP15 that allows users to explore what the world might look like if various levels of warming, sea rises, and so forth occur. You’re able to see played out some of the what-if scenarios you’re hearing about as the Copenhagen date approaches. And [...]

In what the Greenhouse Neutral Foundation sees as a complete copout the EU has bailed on reducing its emissions for the worst case polluting industries. Experts from the 27-member bloc agreed on a list of industries ranging from plastics manufacturing to iron and food processing that will be largely exempted from CO2 trading after 2013 for [...]

WASHINGTON — As world leaders gather in New York for the highest-level conference yet on climate change, European leaders are expressing growing unease about the United States’ stance in international talks aimed at reaching a global agreement in Copenhagen in December. Officials of several European countries have cited what they see as a lack of [...]