German cities ban dirty vehicles

Three German cities--the capital Berlin, Cologne, and Hanover--introduced a new air pollution curbing system on January 1, which bans the dirtiest vehicles in their city centres.

European Commission proposes stringent auto emission caps

The European Commission has proposed tighter emission caps on cars, to be enforced with steep fines. The plan will fine manufacturers for every gramme of co2 emitted beyond the limit, with penalties that will begin at 20 (us $29) in 2012 and rise to 95 (us $137) in 2015.

German sets ambitious climate target

Germany has issued the world's most ambitious climate target: a 40 per cent greenhouse gas emissions reduction from its 1990 levels by 2020. One of the major goals of the Integrated Energy Climate Change Programme is to increase reliance on renewable energy sources from the current 12 per cent to between 25 and 30 per cent by 2010, while using existing resources more efficiently.

UNFCCC meet fails to secure emission commitments

december 14, Bali, Indonesia: a much anticipated un meet concludes. The meet was expected to work out a consensus to deal with climate change once the Kyoto Protocol expires. It did come out with an action plan to give direction to a series of meetings over the next two years. And it's expected that these

Bali: the mother of all no-deals

The Bali conference on climate change is over. But the fight against climate change has only just begun. The message from Bali is the fight will be downright brutal and selfish. Let us cut through the histrionics of the Bali conference to understand that as far as an agreement is concerned, the world has not moved an inch from where it stood on climate some 17 years ago, when negotiations began. The only difference is that emissions have increased; climate change is at dangerous levels. Only if we drastically cut emissions, will we succeed in avoiding a full-blown catastrophe.

India reacts sharply to human development report

India has reacted sharply to the latest human development report released by the undp, which recommends that developing nations should undertake mandatory emission cuts.

The post-Kyoto fix

All attention is on the climate conference in Bali. Most people hope that the ongoing negotiations within the un will, however, culminate in an inclusive--and effective--agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions once the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. For that to happen, however, attitudes of the main actors have to change dramatically.

Climate change meet in Uganda by Commonwealth Heads yield no results

There were substantive discussions on climate change at the three-day Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda. It ended on November 25, however, without agreeing to binding emissions cuts.

First ethanol plant unveiled in UK

The uk officially opened its first ethanol plant on November 23. The plant, which actually started functioning in September this year, has the potential to produce 70 million litres of ethanol a year from sugar beet.

Economic aid in lieu of Guyana's rainforests.

Guyana, a nation with more than 75 per cent of forest cover, is seeking to capitalize on in the emerging market for carbon offsets for forest conservation. Recently it offered its rainforest as a giant carbon offset to the uk government in return for economic aid.