UNFCCC Executive Secretary says significant funds needed to adapt to climate change impacts

6 April, 2007 - Brussels -- On the occasion of the launch of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) assessment of present and future impacts of climate change, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer has said that the world urgently needs to launch an agreement on future international action to combat climate change as well as to look for effective ways to generate the funds needed for adaptation. more (Courtesy: UNFCCC)

UK proposes Security Council to discuss “Energy, Security and Climate"
The UK proposes that the Security Council hold on 17 April 2007 an open debate exploring the relationship between energy, security and climate. more

(Courtesy: UNFCCC)

UNFCCC: Kyoto Protocol's International Transaction Log on track
2 April 2007, Bonn -- The secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is on track to put in place the International Transaction Log (ITL) and make it available for industrialized countries that have signed up to the Kyoto Protocol to link to their national registries. This is in line with the timeframe of April 2007 set by the Parties to the Protocol.
Press release (138 kB)

(Courtesy: UNFCCC)

Germany releases conclusions of the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting
15 -17 March, 2007 - Potsdam
The G8 Environment Ministers, plus the Environment Ministers from the leading emerging economies (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) discussed strategic issues of climate protection and energy policy in order to give political impetus to the international climate protection negotiations planned for 2007.
Chair's conclusions (103 kB)

(Courtesy: UNFCCC)

Kyoto 's clean development mechanism can lead the way to low-carbon future – new CDM Executive Board chair

The Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) is a glimpse of the future when it comes to the global response to climate change, says Hans Jürgen Stehr, the newly elected chair of the Executive Board that oversees the mechanism. Press release

(Courtesy: UNFCCC)

Kyoto Protocol clean development mechanism passes 500th registered project milestone
The Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) registered its 500th project on Monday, an 8.75 megawatt wind farm in Gujarat , India . The project is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 15,300 tonnes annually. Press release (Courtesy: UNFCCC)

UNFCCC Executive Secretary calls for speedy and decisive international action on climate change

Against the background of the most conclusive scientific evidence to date that the warming of the climate system is unequivocal and accelerating, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo de Boer, today called for speedy and decisive international action to combat the phenomenon. Press release
(Courtesy: UNFCCC)

Global warming is man-made

Earth Could Be 6°C Hotter By 2100: UN Panel

( 3 rd Feb. 2007 )

The world's top climate scientists said on Friday that global warming is man-made, spurring calls for urgent government action to prevent severe and irreversible damage from rising temperatures.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMDMjQXIwMDEwMA==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

It's official: Humans to blame for global warming

UN Climate Panel Report Puts Pressure on World Governments To Do More To Avert Doomsday

(3 rd Feb, 07)

The UN climate panel issued its strongest warning yet on Friday that human activities are heating the planet, adding pressure on governments to do more to combat accelerating global warming.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA3LzAyLzAzI0FyMDIyMDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

Warmer Tibet can see Brahmaputra flood Assam

Saibal Dasgupta | TNN

( 3 rd Feb. 2007 )

As global warming takes centre stage at international discussions, north-east India is faced with the prospect of its snow-fed rivers, including the Brahmaputra, going into spate due to faster melting of Himalayan glaciers.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMDMjQXIwMTMwMg==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

FUTURE IS HEATING UP

Coastal Areas and Cities like Mumbai and Chennai Will Be the First to Feel Impact of Global Warming

Nitin Sethi | TNN

( 3 rd Feb. 2007 )

Global warming is bound to hit Indian economy and environment badly, if the climate change predictions of the UN panel, come true. India could lose as much as 9% of its GDP, largely from events like submergence of low-lying coastal areas. A report by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, has put the quantum of loss at a staggering 9%, but several studies predict direct consequences like flooding as well as fall in agricultural productivity. Rice yields could fall by as much as 40% as sowing seasons, and consequently, growth period of the crops, change .http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMDMjQXIwMTMwMA==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

Man to face ‘heat' for heating up earth

( 3d Feb. 2007 )

Either we face the “heat” for driving earth to a veritable apocalypse or act fast. Only humans are responsible for global warming — which will cause severe and permanent damage — world's top climate scientists have said.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMDMjQXIwMjQwMQ==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

UN PANEL - Climate report alarming, wake-up call to govts: Carbon emission checks not enough, earth warming up, expect heat waves, more floods

Alister Doyle

( 1 st Feb. 2007 )

THE UN climate panel is set to issue its strongest warning yet on Friday that human activities are causing a damaging global warming that is likely to raise global temperatures by up to 4.5 degree Celsius by the end of this century and cause more heat waves, droughts and rising seas in the immediate future.

The group, the most authoritative on climate change with 2,500 scientists from 130 countries, is also due to say that oceans will keep rising for more than 1,000 years even if governments stabilize greenhouse gas emissions this century.

Scientists and government officials in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been meeting in Paris since Monday to review the report, including a 15-page summary for policymakers.

The report, increasing certainty that humans are to blame for warming, may put pressure on governments and companies to do more to curb a build-up of greenhouse gases mainly from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars.

(Courtesy: The Indian Express)

UN climate report raises warming alarm blames human activity

( 2 nd Feb 2007 )

“It is very likely that (human) greenhouse gases caused most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century,” according to a final draft.

“Very likely” means a probability of at least 90 per cent — up from a judgment of “likely”, or a 66 per cent probability, in the previous 2001 report. The report is the first of four this year by the panel that will outline threats of warming.

The Paris study, looking at the science of global warming, will also project a “best estimate” that temperatures will rise by 3 C by 2100 over pre-industrial levels, the biggest change in a century for thousands of years. It says bigger gains, of up to 6.3 C in one model, cannot be ruled out but do not fit well with other data. The world is now about 5 C warmer than during the last Ice Age.

The draft projects that Arctic ice will shrink, and perhaps disappear in summers by 2100, while heat waves and downpours would get more frequent. The numbers of tropical hurricanes and typhoons might decrease but the storms would become stronger. The Gulf Stream bringing warm waters to the North Atlantic could slow, although a shutdown is highly unlikely, it says.

And sea levels are likely to rise by between 28 and 43 cm this century, a lower range than forecast in 2001. Rising seas threaten low-lying Pacific islands and low lying coastal nations from Bangladesh to the Netherlands . “Governments planning coastal defense have to live with large uncertainties for now, and quite some time in future,” said Stefan Rahmstorf of Germany 's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

UN officials hope the IPCC report will spur stalled talks on expanding the fight against global warming. Thirty-five industrial nations aim to cut emissions of greenhouse gases to five percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12 under the UN's Kyoto Protocol and want outsiders such as the United States , China and India to do more. Last week US President George W. Bush said climate change was a “serious challenge”. But he has stopped short of capping emissions despite pressure from Democrats who control both houses of Congress — arguing Kyoto would damage the economy.

(Courtesy: The Indian Express)

 After climate panel rap, plan to set up institute

Indian Institute of Environmental Technologies proposed to take up projects with industry for green technologies

( 5 th Feb, 2007 )

IN ORDER to do its bit to contain the problem of global warming, the Science and Technology Ministry has proposed to set up a high-end research institute to look for green technologies for industry.

Proposed to be named the Indian Institute of Environmental Technologies, the institute will take up projects in collaboration with the industry to develop greener technologies.

The proposal comes three days after the United Nations' Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report in Paris saying human activities were chiefly responsible for global warming and urgent action was required by governments to contain the damage.

Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said the idea for the institute was mooted last month, long before the IPCC came out with its report, and was in continuation of India 's efforts to cut down on its contribution to global warming.

“We believe that in the times to come, as a nation seeing a 9 per cent growth rate, India is bound to contribute to global warming. It is therefore important that we develop and use technologies and material that are greener and help in containing the damage due to harmful emissions,” Sibal said the IPCC report, though quite important, did not say anything that wasn't already known. “We had expected these kinds of findings. We are alert and conscious of the dangers of climate change and are already taking ur gent steps to move to cleaner alternatives.” He did not, however, put a time-frame for the institute to come into existence but said the proposal had been put on a fast-track.

To start with, the institute, which will be based on a public-private partnership, will engage with the construction industry. “We will take an industry-wise approach and in due course, will work with every sector to ensure that the emission of greenhouse gases is capped,” Sibal said.

India is not the only one thinking of setting up such an institute. Britain had also come out with a similar proposal. “We are going to work closely with the English and try to extend the network.” “We want to be the front-runners in developing technologies for global good,” he said.

Sibal said global warming and steps to tackle it would also be one of the discussions at the India-EU ministerial conference on science later this week.

(Courtesy: The Indian Express)

 Climate Change - Warning in new report: Water crisis, threat to food security if India doesn't act now

Rise in temperature shrinking glaciers, depleting water, farm yield, says report to be out April 

Sonu Jain

( 11 Feb., 2007 )

THE world sat up and listened when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its report released last week in Paris , said that climate change was real and man-made. If this first chapter — people have begun calling it a doomsday scenario — was worrying, the real wakeup call will be in the IPCC's second report which will deal with impacts of climate change and vulnerabilities of different regions of the world.

While the language and fine print will be debated and voted before the report's final release in Brussels this April, the scientific findings are unlikely to be different from the background papers presented by 25,000 scientists for the preparation of the report. The Indian Express had a sneak preview of some of the papers from India that will form the chapter on Asia and found that climate change is more real and closer home than ever before.

The first report said that temperatures in the next century are expected to go up by 2.5 to 4.5 degrees Centigrade. What does this exactly translate for India ? Most figures add up to a serious shortage of water and threat to food security. It just might be the wake up call that policy-makers in India need.

These findings are for 2030, a little more than two decades away: ¦ Himalayan glaciers will shrink from 500,000 sq km to 100,000 sq km ¦ Per capita availability of water will shrink from 1,800 cubic m to 1,000 cubic m, making India a water-scarce country

(Courtesy: Indian Express)

IPCC adopts major assessment of climate change science

Media Advisory

Late last night, Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) adopted the Summary for Policymakers of the first volume of “Climate Change 2007”, also known as the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).

http://www.ipcc.ch/press/prwg2feb07.htm

(Courtesy: IPCC

Sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies, 7-18 May 2007, Bonn , Germany

The twenty-sixth sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held from 7-18 May 2007.

http://unfccc.int/meetings/sb26/items/3919.php

(Courtesy: UNFCCC)

Africa : UN Climate Chief Calls for Action on Climate Change

Shadrack Kavilu
( 26 th Feb 2007 )

The UN has called for speedy and decisive international action on climate change.

http://unfccc.int/files/press/backgrounders/application/pdf/factsheet_africa.pdf

(Courtesy: UNFCCC)

(26 th Feb 2007)

That decision came as the European Union executive trimmed Spain's plan allocating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rights in 2008-2012 to 152.3 million tonnes annually, just under the country's proposal of 152.7.

 Companies in Spain will be allowed to use foreign credits under the Kyoto Protocol only to meet 20 percent of their emissions obligations in 2008-2012, the European Commission said on Monday.

http://www.eitb24.com/new/en/B24_36667/life/EMISSIONS-TRADING-SCHEME-EU-limits-Spanish-firms-use-Kyoto/

(Courtesy : East African Business Week ( Kampala ))

Governors Team Up On Global Warming

California is teaming up with four Western states to set carbon dioxide emissions standards, track and "manage" the greenhouse gas pollutants, and install a cap-and-trade system for businesses to comply, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced this morning from Washington , D.C.

The alliance is similar to a nine-state program getting started in New England that requires power plants to reduce their carbon emissions 10% by 2019. There, each state receives an allocation of emissions credits, which power plants can bid on. But the Western agreement could extend even tougher standards akin to California 's own greenhouse gas program signed into law last year.

The new program--for Arizona , California , New Mexico , Oregon and Washington --essentially combines two regional global warming agreements into one larger entity. Schwarzenegger's office said a "regional target" for reducing greenhouse gas emissions would be developed in the next six months, and a market-based program to spur businesses to comply would emerge after 18 months. A five-state registry would track the entire program.

Schwarzenegger's office, citing the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , said the West has been hit particularly hard by global warming, with "prolonged drought, decreased snowfall, increased and earlier snowmelt, and more severe and devastating forest and rangeland fires in recent years as a result of changes in the climate."

With the federal government mostly disengaged on global warming, the state alliances represent a emerging and powerful new form of government--regionalism. Historian Gar Alperovitz says Schwarzenegger's moves on global warming "point to the kind of decentralization of power which, once started, could easily shake up America's fundamental political structure ."

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Schwarzenegger, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signed an MOU to jump-start the program.

"In the absence of meaningful federal action, it is up to the states to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country," said Napolitano.  "Western states are being particularly hard-hit by the effects of climate change."

(Courtesy: Los Angeles Times)

Kyoto Protocol clean development mechanism passes 500th registered project milestone

(Press Release)

12 Feb 2007 )

Bonn , 12 February 2007 – The Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) registered its 500th project on Monday, an 8.75 megawatt wind farm in Gujarat , India . The project is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 15,300 tonnes annually.

http://unfccc.int/files/press/news_room/press_releases_and_advisories/application/pdf/070212_pressrel_en.pdf

(Courtesy: UNFCCC)

Kyoto 's clean development mechanism can lead the way to low-carbon future – new CDM Executive Board chair

Press Release

( 16 Feb. 2007 )

The Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) is a glimpse of the future when it comes to the global response to climate change, says Hans Jürgen Stehr, the newly elected chair of the Executive Board that oversees the mechanism.

http://unfccc.int/files/press/news_room/press_releases_and_advisories/application/pdf/20070207_eb29_cdm.pdf

(Courtesy: UNFCCC)

Weather freezes US hearing on global warming

Chidanand Rajghatta | TNN

( 15 th Feb. 2007 )

As ironies go, it can't get starker. The US Congress has had to postpone a hearing on global warming on Wednesday because of — bad weather. Make that real bad weather, the kind that could all debate about global warming. Although Washington DC has been spared the worst of it — icy rain, sleet, and some snow was enough to deter Congress — the American northeast and Midwest has been getting hammered by record snowfall, with more to come.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMTUjQXIwMjAwMA==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

Burying greenhouse gases could work, confirm scientists

( 16 th Feb. 2007 )

Scientists have progressed on one front in their war against global warming. A new study claims that injecting carbon dioxide into wet, porous rocks deep underground may be a good way to reduce emissions of this major greenhouse gas because the rocks trap the gas better than previously thought, reports LiveScience.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMTYjQXIwMjEwNQ==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

India to be among hardest hit by global warming

( 16 th Feb. 2007 )

Nicholas Stern, whose eponymous report had recently stirred the world into debating climate change afresh, reiterated that India and other countries in the subcontinent stood to suffer the most from global warming. He said this in Washington , talking at a two-day legislators' conference on climate change.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMTYjQXIwMTMwMQ==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times News Network)

Report: This Jan was hottest ever

( 17 th Feb 2007 )

It may be cold comfort during a frigid February, but last month was by far the hottest January ever. The broken record was fuelled by a waning El Nino and a gradually warming world, according to US scientists who reported the data on Thursday.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMTcjQXIwMjIwMg==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

 Let's Face the Heat

( 18 th Feb. 2007 )

First the facts: of the 12 hottest years on record, 11 have occurred since 1995. Temperatures have risen by 0.74 degrees Celsius in the past century. (It may seem really small, but not when you keep in mind that the difference in temperature between the ice age and now is about 5 degrees C.) And, human activity appears to be an important cause for all this.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMTgjQXIwMTUwMw==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

Big lakes detected under Antarctica 's ice cover

( 19 th Feb. 2007 )

Lasers beamed from space have detected what researchers have long suspected: big sloshing lakes of water underneath Antarctic ice.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMTkjQXIwMTcwNg==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

PMO urged to set up panel on climate change

Commerce Ministry Moves Proposal, Planning Commission Also Favours Such A High-Level Taskforce

Nitin Sethi | TNN

( 19 th Feb. 2007 )

The PMO has got a proposal from the commerce ministry to set up a high-level taskforce to deal with the emerging climate-change scenario.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMjAjQXIwMTkwMA==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

Global group of top firms sets out to fight warming

( 21 st Feb. 2007 )

More than 100 corporate heads, international organisations and experts set out a plan on Tuesday to cut greenhouse gas emissions, calling on governments to act urgently against global warming.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMjEjQXIwMzUwMQ==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )

 ANTARCTICA 'S SECRETS South Pole Meltdown Reveals Exotic Creatures

( 27 th Feb. 2007 )

The collapse of two ice shelves in Antarctica has exposed an exquisite seabed ecosystem, including species of crustaceans and marine anemones that had never been identified, researchers said on Sunday.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDcvMDIvMjcjQXIwMjEwMw==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

(Courtesy: Times of India )