Kyoto News

Mitsubishi begins greenhouse gas cut project in Poland.

Alexandra Heeney — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:33:34 -0400

apanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp. said Friday it has started operations of a facility to cut emissions of dinitrogen monoxide at a nitric acid plant in southern Poland. Mitsubishi expects to reduce the equivalent of 2.58 million tons of carbon dioxide by the end of 2012. The company will acquire CO2 emission credits through the project, based on a mechanism of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and sell them mainly to Japanese companies. [

See the JCN Network story]

How the provinces rank in the climate-change battle

Alexandra Heeney — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:27:54 -0400

A new report by the David Suzuki Foundation, released on the eve of the annual premiers conference, ranks provincial and territorial climate change plans: Best -British Columbia; Very Good - Quebec; Good - Manitoba, Ontario; Fair - New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Nunavut ; Poor - Newfoundland, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan; Worst - Alberta [

See the Globe and Mail story]

Japan to buy Ukraine's excess emissions allowances

Alexandra Heeney — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:18:41 -0400

Japan on Monday signed a basic agreement with Ukraine to buy the eastern European nation's surplus allowances for greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, government officials said. The memorandum of understanding, signed in Kiev, marks the second such agreement for the Japanese government following one with Hungary signed under the Green Investment Scheme (GIS). Monday's agreement does not state how many tonnes of carbon dioxide credits the Japanese government will buy, or the payment for the transferred credits. Under the Kyoto Protocol, governments are able to sell such surplus emissions rights to other countries that overshoot their emissions targets, like Japan. Japan, the world's fifth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is in talks with countries including Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia on similar deals, as Tokyo aims to buy 100 million tonnes of credits between 2008 and 2012. The Green Investment Scheme was created to force governments selling emissions rights to invest the revenue in clean energy projects. (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori) [

See the Reuters, UK story]

Andes face glacial meltdown: Melting glaciers in the Andes pose massive threats to the region - yet governments are reluctant to intervene.

Alexandra Heeney — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:13:29 -0400

Glaciers in Peru are melting so quickly that by 2015 almost all of them may have disappeared. This is not just a problem for Peru but for the whole Andean Community of Nations, including Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador. These countries generate around 73% of their electricity from hydro energy. Ironically, this renewable source of energy risks disappearing because of melting glaciers caused by climate change. The report, Climate change knows no borders, provides a chilling reminder of the catastrophic impacts of climate change on the Andean region. The evidence predicting the rapid loss of glaciers and a fiercer, more frequent El Ni�o effect, where ocean temperatures rise along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru, causing droughts and floods, reveals an uncertain and potentially destructive future for the region. The El Ni�o of 1997/8 had a devastating impact, leaving thousands dead or homeless, crops ruined, roads and bridges left smashed. The bill ran into billions of dollars. If this wasn't enough, climate change could lead to further losses of up to $30 billion a year by 2025 in the Andean region while the effect of melting glaciers could place 40 million people at risk of losing their water supply. [

See the Guardian, UK story]

Opinion poll backs emission law.

Alexandra Heeney — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:11:05 -0400

An opinion poll on the emissions trading scheme has found more people support it than not. The survey of 514 people, conducted by DigiPoll last month, found 34 per cent for and 24 per cent against the legislation. The bill has been reported back by the finance select committee and the Government is trying to muster enough support among the smaller parties to get it passed before the election. Nearly half of respondents agreed: "New Zealand should be one of the world leaders on climate change and work at the same pace as other countries which are determined to make a difference." Forty-four per cent disagreed with the assertion: "New Zealand's carbon emissions are so small that any action we take will not make any difference to the effects of climate change." Thirty-four per cent agreed with the statement. And 87 per cent said they were personally prepared to take steps or accept costs to reduce the effects of climate change. But price resistance set in somewhere between $10 and $20 a week when asked how much more they would pay for power and petrol. [

See the New Zealand Herald story]

Hungary links to Kyoto emissions trading scheme.

Alexandra Heeney — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:39:33 -0400

Hungary successfully linked to a carbon trading scheme under the Kyoto Protocol on Friday, allowing the country to sell government-level emissions permits, a Hungarian ministry spokesperson said. Countries wanting to trade permits for climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions internationally are required to link their emissions registries to a UN-backed system called the International Transaction Log (ITL). "I can confirm Hungary has connected to the ITL for AAU trading only," the spokesperson for Hungary's Ministry of the Environment and Water Management said, referring to the government-level credits. Trade in Assigned Amount Units, which allows industrialized countries comfortably below their Kyoto targets to sell the difference to other industrialized nations, has attracted controversy since the credits are not necessarily related to any emissions cuts. [

See the Reuters story]

UN agency says G-8 leaders 'missed opportunity' on climate change.

Alexandra Heeney — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:34:32 -0400

Commenting on the outcome of the Group of Eight (G-8) Summit in Japan, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said the world’s richest countries had shown insufficient leadership on climate change. “We are under pressure to act. We have no time left to waste,” said UNEP Executive Director-General Achim Steiner. “However, I think the G-8 leaders missed an opportunity to provide the kind of signal that would accelerate the international negotiation process,” [he added. ] Mr. Steiner noted that the G-8 countries’ agreement to reduce carbon emissions by at least 50 per cent by 2050 was a positive outcome of the Summit, but said that it did not go far enough. “I think the G-8 delivered what it could. But in terms of what the world needs, what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has asked for and what is necessary in view of the Copenhagen meeting in 2009 the results fall short,” he said. “The South African Minister of the Environment called it empty slogans – where is the substance?” [

See the UN News Service story]

UN telecom agency to assess how technology impacts climate change.

Alexandra Heeney — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:28:46 -0400

he United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) today announced that it is examining how to slash greenhouse gas emissions from information and communication technologies (ICT). Since the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in late 1997, the number of ICT users has tripled globally, and the sector releases some 2 to 3 per cent of all emissions. But ITU stressed that these technologies are also part of the solution to climate change, and could help curb emissions by anywhere between 15 and 40 per cent, depending on the methodologies used to come up with the estimates. The agency’s newly-created Focus Group, which seeks to wrap up its work plan by next April, will create internally agreed standards to assess the effect of the technologies on the environment. “ICTs are a contributor to global warming, but more importantly they are the key to monitoring and mitigating its effects,” said the agency’s Secretary-General Hamadoun Tour�. [

See the UN News Service story]

UN climate chief: G8 emissions aims still unclear despite 50 percent mid-century goal.

Alexandra Heeney — Wed, 9 Jul 2008 17:01:44 -0400

The U.N.'s top climate official said Wednesday the major industrial countries failed at their summit in Japan to set out a clear aim to curb carbon emissions, despite endorsing a vague goal to halve pollution by mid-century. Yvo de Boer, who leads United Nations negotiations to forge a new climate change treaty, said the target for a 50 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 mentioned no base line, and was open to vastly different interpretations. In other discussions, the U.S. has spoken of 2005 as its starting point, while the Kyoto Protocol — the current standard on climate change — uses 1990 as its base. In those intervening 15 years, U.S. emissions rose by 23 percent. De Boer said the Group of Eight said nothing about making that 50 percent goal legally binding. The G-8 also made no mention of targets for the year 2020, which was "the main thing I was looking for," de Boer told The Associated Press. Adopting midterm goals would provide business with clearer investment guidance and would encourage developing countries to join efforts to control pollution blamed for global warming, he said. [

See the International Herald Tribune story]

G8 patches up climate deal, others want more.

Alexandra Heeney — Wed, 9 Jul 2008 16:58:45 -0400

The world's biggest polluters agreed on Wednesday on the need for "deep cuts" in greenhouse gas emissions, but differences between developed and emerging economies kept them from setting specific targets. Climate change has been the most contentious topic at this year's Group of Eight summit in Japan, which the heads of big emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil were invited to join on the third and final day. The statement by leaders of 16 countries, including top emitters China and the United States, came a day after the G8 rich nations endorsed a target of halving global emissions by 2050 while stressing they could not achieve that goal alone. Tuesday's G8 statement papered over deep gaps, with the United States opposed to committing to firm targets without assurances big emerging economies will act too. Developing countries, along with the European Union and green groups, say rich countries must take the lead and specify interim targets for how to reach the mid-century goal, which scientists say is the minimum needed to prevent dangerous global warming. [

See the Reuters story]