Greenhouse Gases and the Climate on the Web

According to a recent study by University of Montana researchers published in the journal Science, the plants of the world have been absorbing less CO2 since 2000. The researchers came to this conclusion after analysing NASA satellite images and observing that in the last 10 years our planet’s vegetation has absorbed less carbon–550 tons per year, or the equivalent of the emissions from 350 cars–particularly because of droughts in Australia, Africa and South America. Fortunately, warmer weather has also lengthened the growing season in the North, which has allowed northern forests to trap more carbon, even though this cannot compensate for the decline in the Southern Hemisphere. Again, global warming is involved: the last decade is the hottest ever recorded since instrument-based measurements began in the 1880s.
>> Read a review of the article on DiscoveryNews.

 

its first major climate report to the United Nations in four years, the United States projects that climate-warming greenhouse gases will grow by 4 percent through 2020. Besides a 1.5 percent rise in CO2, the report highlighted the rise of hydrofluorocarbons. HFCs were promoted worldwide to replace chemicals that harm the globe's ozone layer under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, widely viewed as one of the most successful environmental treaties ever. Presently at 2 percent of world GHGs, the share of HFCs is expected to represent 33% by 2050. The report also renewed US commitment to help developing countries deal with the effects of rising temperatures, with a fund that will attain $100 billion a year by 2020, a ten-fold increase since 2009.
>> Read the article on Fox News.

Only 15% of people living in Quebec refuse to believe that global warming could be caused mainly by human activities. An overwhelming majority of Quebecers thus agree with the conclusions of almost all scientific studies and with the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concerning the present evolution of our planet’s climate. This makes Quebec the most “enlightened” area on the subject in North America. On the other hand, certain surveys indicate that the number of sceptics in the United States has increased over the last year, which could be due to the controversy that hit Great Britain’s University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit a few weeks before the Copenhagen Climate Summit. “Climate skeptics” represent 22% of the population in the Atlantic Provinces, 34% in Ontario, 44% in Alberta and in Manitoba, 52% in Saskatchewan and… 59% in the United States.
>> Read the article in L’actualité (in French only).

We’ll be hearing about climate warning for some time. For Christiana Figueres, the U.N.'s new climate chief, the solution will be the outcome of a “gradual” process which will take several decades. Yet the Porto Rican, who succeeded Yvo De Boer after he resigned following the Copenhagen climate summit, believes that the next important conference could be a success. From November 29 to December 10, 182 countries will meet in Cancun to try to implement the promises of Copenhagen, e.g., in terms of the fight against deforestation or the financial support that is needed to help poor countries fight the effects of climate warming. Figueres, who finds it “simplistic” to focus on a legally binding agreement, prefers to see this meeting as a major step forward in a process which could take 20, 30, or 40 years.
>> Read the article on Canada.com.

In an open letter published by Science magazine, 255 American climatologists, members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences–including 11 Nobel Prize winners–sent out a warning to those who doubt that human activity contributes to climate change. “For a problem as potentially catastrophic as climate change, taking no action poses a dangerous risk for our planet.” The signatories declared they were “deeply disturbed by the recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and on climate scientists in particular.” Lobbies have leveraged the “Climategate”–emails from climatologists at the University of East Anglia, in the United Kingdom, that were hacked and disclosed just before the Copenhagen climate change conference–to discredit the idea that global warming is caused by human activity, thus paralysing the UN conference talks, held December 7 – 18, 2009.
>> Read the letter published in Science magazine

In “Building a Green Economy”, a long article published in the New York Times, Paul Krugman, 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, argues that we should weigh the costs of limiting GHG emissions against those of long term damage and even of “utter catastrophe”–a realistic possibility which he says “should dominate cost-benefit calculations”. Despite the rise of scepticism, says Krugman, climate modelers have sharply raised their estimates of future warming in the last years, making action all the more imperative. Krugman, who leans towards drastic cap and trade market incentives–along with some direct controls over coal use–for reducing GHG emissions, maintains that the costs are manageable. “All we need now is the political will.”
>> Read Building a Green Economy in the New York Times.

Nicholas Stern, who signed in 2006 an influential report on climate change and the economy, declared in an interview with Le Monde, a French leading publication, sees cause for concern in the present campaign against the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He notes that the campaign, which is based on a series of errors in a report, obviously strives to discredit the IPCC while avoiding to confront the real issues. Noting that not a single study actually contradicts the climate warming hypothesis, Stern explains that if we take science seriously and it turns out that the risks were overestimated, “we will have discovered many useful technologies, we’ll have a cleaner world, and we will have secured our energy supplies”. However, if we make light of the problem we could end up putting the human species in danger. Stern, who now believes that his report was too “optimistic”, recognizes that measures will be expensive, but warns that inaction could prove even more expensive.
>> Read the interview in Le Monde (in French only)

Used as “proof” that climate researchers systematically conspire to suppress any evidence that goes against the “dogma” of human-caused global warming, the e-mail archives stolen from the University of East Anglia last November had a devastating effect on the climate-change summit in Copenhagen. In an editorial, influential Nature magazine stated that the emails revealed no scientific conspiracy. It also maintained that “multiple, robust lines of evidence” show that global warming–“almost certainly caused by human activities”–is real.  After pointing out that climate-change researchers need support in the face of ongoing harassment from “denialists” determined to undermine trust in scientists and science, Nature said they also need to strive for transparency, “lest they provide their worst critics with ammunition.” The magazine expressed concern that a powerful denialist trend may undermine efforts in the US to sign a “much-needed” climate bill in 2010.
>> Read the Nature editorial

Research done by five U.S. and Canadian universities shows that the Canadian Arctic is experiencing a heat wave seldom matched in 200,000 years. The new scientific paper is based on the study of sediments found at the bottom of a remote lake on Baffin Island. “This historical record shows that we are dramatically affecting the ecosystems on which we depend. We have started uncontrolled experiments on this planet,” said Dr. John Smol, a biologist at Queen's University in Kingston. The new findings add to many studies suggesting that spectacular and far-reaching change is under way in the Arctic, which is considered the part of the world most at risk from climate change.
>> Read more on the University of Alberta’s ExpressNews Media Clippings.

Concerned that time is running out and that next December talks in Copenhagen might be unfruitful, a group headed by Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General, Peace Nobel Prize laureate and President of Global Humanitarian Forum, has launched the world’s very first music petition. Over 60 artists from around the world have collaborated in a remake of the popular ‘Beds are Burning’ hit. “Climate change is having a real impact on communities and individuals around the world,” declares Annan in a dramatic introduction. The goal: create the largest online petition ever, targeted at world leaders so that they can convince them to take “fair and robust decisions that deliver a just climate deal.”
>> Watch the ‘Beds are Burning’ video
>> Visit the Timeforclimatejustice website
 

Today, average global temperature is almost 0.8 degree Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures and a full 1-degree Celsius increase may already be inevitable. For the European Union (EU), the Copenhagen agreement is a rare window of opportunity to prevent global warming from reaching dangerous levels of 2-degree Celsius or more above pre-industrial temperatures, which could trigger irreversible and catastrophic changes. The EU–who envisions the Copenhagen agreement as a single, legally binding instrument that would build on the Kyoto Protocol–warns that this meeting is likely to be the last chance to prevent climate change from reaching 2 degrees Celsius or more. “In one decade or more it will be too late to prevent dangerous climate change.”
>> Read more on The Hindu.

At the Copenhagen Summit, December 7 to 18, countries of the world are to decide what will be the successor to the Kyoto protocol, in which 37 industrialized countries committed to a quantified reduction of their GHGs. Experts believe that success hinges on the leaders of planet, who will have difficult decisions to make. The involvement of developing countries– who now produce more GHGs than developed countries–is a major stake. Yvo de Boer, the current Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said: "All of the ingredients for success are on the table, and what we must do now is to hold back from self interest and let the common interest prevail." Is it mere coincidence? On December 10, Barack Obama will be receiving the Peace Nobel Prize in Oslo, a few hundreds of kilometers from Copenhagen…
>> More on Euroinvestor (in French only)

Countries that adapt quickly to a carbon constrained world will be in a better position to offer their citizens lasting prosperity, says a report produced for E3G, an independent not-for-profit organization, and the Climate Institute from Australia. For prominent British economist Nicholas Stern, “the global economic recovery presents an ideal opportunity for countries to shift towards low carbon growth.  Countries which don’t seize this opportunity will undermine their future competitiveness and prosperity.” However, the report notes that a majority of countries are not taking the necessary measures to avoid global warming from exceeding the 2 degree Celsius mark. The most “developed” countries in this respect are Mexico and Argentina, followed by China, South Africa, and Germany.
>> More on the E3G website.
 

A report commissioned by Greenpeace predicts that by 2020 the GHG from Alberta's oilsands–which presently equal that of Estonia and Lithuania–could exceed that of countries like Belgium and Denmark. Report says energy exports to the US and tar sands production have placed Canada among the world’s top per capita GHG emitters. Oilsands use up enormous amounts of natural gas and electricity, and the–yet unproven–carbon capture and storage technology destined to make coal-fired electricity plants (which supply oil companies) cleaner will cost taxpayers $2 to $3 billion a year until 2029 (Alberta’s Carbon Capture Council estimate). Oilsands are the world's largest energy project and they are likely to expand 300 to 500% by 2020 says the report, thus threatening to “tip the scales towards dangerous and uncontrollable climate change.”
>> More on CBC.ca.

Methane, which is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, is the main cause of global warming, says leading scientist Dr. James Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who’s been called “a grandfather of the global warming theory”. Methane emissions cause nearly 50% of the planet’s human-induced warming. EarthSave, an organization committed to building awareness about the environmental impact of our diet, suggests that decreasing global meat consumption is the quickest way to cool the earth, since animal agriculture is the No 1 source of methane worldwide. However, meat consumption has increased by 500% in 50 years, with little sign of abating. Yet, as the website says, As Eartsave puts it, “Cuts in agricultural methane emissions are achievable at every meal”. One can wonder if it will prove easier to change human eating habits than to fight the auto and oil industries…
>> Read more on EarthSave’s website.

Major German companies (RWE, Siemens…) and the German Space Agency plan to implement large thermal solar power stations in the Sahara. This would allow Europe to meet its objective of generating 20% of its electricity through renewable energies by 2020 (at 8% currently) and cover 15% of its electricity requirements in 2050. Cost: 400 Billion Euros. That is one of the “20 Projects to Save the Planet” indexed by Consoglobe.com, a French portal devoted to sustainable development and eco-friendly consumption. Also reviewed: home-based mini power plants; marine or water turbines; livestock production that mimics the migrations of wild herds; advanced geothermics; cheap and simple biomass-powered stoves and… universal access to family planning.
>> Read more on Consoglobe.com (in french only)
 

During almost 20 years, Chinese ecosystems soaked up between 28 and 37% of the country’s emissions of CO₂ from fossile fuels. Mainly located in the south, where more humid conditions encourage plant growth, the Chinese carbon sink was supported by reforestation programs and a modernization of agricultural methods. However, these figures–which compare with the USA’s (20 to 40%) and are higher than Europe‘s (12%)–have dropped since 2000, because of a severe increase in fossile fuel consumption. These observations come from a study carried out by an international scientific team headed by Shilong Piao, from the University of Beijing, the results of which were published in Nature magazine.
>>  Learn more on Enerzine.com (in French only)

According to Rajendra Pachauri, chairmain of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its summit held at L’Aquila, Italy, in early July 2009, the G-8 “clearly ignored” any concrete measures which would help limit climate change. Pachauri, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, welcomed the decision to slash half of global greenhouse gases by 2050 compared to 1990 levels and reduce emissions from industrialized countries by 80% by 2050, in order to keep global temperature increase within 2° centigrade. However, industrialized nations did not consider any of the measures set forth by the IPCC to achieve these goals.
>> Read more on Canoë (in French only)

The 50 least developed countries, which generate less than 1% of the world’s CO₂, are hit the hardest by global climate warming, says a report from the Global Humanitarian Forum, chaired by Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Each year global warming–which the report says could cause the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time–kills 300.000 people a year and costs $125 billion. If nothing is done, by 2030 every year nearly 500.000 people will die because of climate change and related costs could reach some $300 billion. Kofi Annan highlighted the necessity for a “courageous post-Kyoto agreement”, in Copenhagen, next December. The alternative is to “continue to accept mass starvation, mass sickness and mass migration on an ever growing scale."
>> Read more on the Davis Climate Change Law Practice Group Blog

As the Arctic thaws, it will intensify climate warming, according to an article published in Nature magazine. In 15 to 20 years, new plants that appear as the Arctic gets warmer and greener will no longer act as buffer, which could trigger a global warming spiral: the more temperatures rise, the more permafrost thaws, releasing more greenhouse gases that reinforce global warming, etc. Worse, much of the gas trapped in permafrost is methane, which is more than 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. By 2025 or 2030, the Arctic would thus emit 1 billion tons of greenhouse gases a year. This is the equivalent of present tropical deforestation and represents about 15% of the greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuels. Lead author Ted Schuur stresses that the process, once started, will be irreversible.
>> More on MSNBC

According to a former chief economist at the World Bank, roughly 1% of the world's economic output–about 10% of current military spending–for the next decades could suffice to mitigate climate change. Nicholas Stern’s book, Blueprint for a Safer Planet, proposes six essential elements, e.g. adopting binding targets for GHGs (i.e. 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 for developed countries and by 2020 for developing nations), creating a global carbon trading system integrating national and regional schemes, halting deforestation (one of the cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions), and developing and sharing clean energy technologies. Stern hopes to fuel a vision for a global deal that could be acceptable to all major parties to the Copenhagen conference in December 2009.
>> Find out more, on nature.com.

As soon as 2010, Quebec intends to team up with Ontario to implement a register and a verification system to cross-check reports on greenhouse gases (GHGs). The goal is to put a cap on the emissions of certain sectors, starting in 2012, and to position the Montreal Stock Exchange, which has an agreement with the Chicago Stock Exchange to manage the carbon market. The present bill would make Quebec the first jurisdiction in America to vote a law establishing a limit for GHG emissions. Quebec has modeled its approach on the “Cap and Trade” system used by the US in the Nineties to control acid emissions.
>> Find out more on LeDevoir.com (in French only).

A federal government report released on Earth Day revealed that Canada had produced a total of 747 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2007. This is nearly 26% more than in 1990 and is 33.8% above the target established for Canada’s Kyoto commitment. Total emissions have increased in particular because of a greater reliance on coal-fired electricity, the growing exploitation of oilsands and a hike in heating fuels caused by a more rigorous winter. Équiterre called the situation “catastrophic”. According to the well-known Quebec organization, Canadian emissions are no longer controlled at the federal level, since what it calls “the dismantling of programs designed to fight climatic change”.
>> Find out more on the SRC’s website (in French only). View Canada's 2007 Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
 

In a gesture described as historical, the Obama administration presented a bill designed to include six GHGs–CO2 in particular–among the chemical contaminants that disrupt global climate and ecosystems, besides threatening public health, especially that of the destitute. Recognizing that GHGs represent a serious problem for present and future generations, Barack Obama appealed for a low carbon economy which would allow the United States to take the lead in the area of clean energies and climate protection, while supporting the creation of green jobs by the millions and putting an end to the dependence on foreign oil. The major auto makers were given 60 days to react to the project.
>> Find out more on LeDevoir.com (in French only).

Earth Day Quebec has a mission to develop awareness among citizens, municipalities, organizations and businesses about our current environmental challenges, and to encourage them to take action. On April 22, all are therefore encouraged to “Step back, assess the situation and gather our energies to push forward!” One of the event’s spokespersons, Jacques Languirand, philosopher and radio host for 50 years, said: “Today, more than ever, we must reconsider the way we envision the future”. Over 300 activities are planned for the Earth Day Quebec 2009.
>> Check out the calendar of events on the official Earth Day Quebec website (in French only), or visit the Earth Day Canada website.

According to science leaders and environmentalists, the latest G20 meeting in London paid little attention to climate change and the green economy, despite the fact that urgent action is needed. World leaders agreed to inject US$1.1 trillion into the global economy, but failed to commit to using any of this amount on developing clean-energy technologies. Climate change and low-carbon technologies are mentioned only in the final paragraphs of the statement on actions to take–apparently as an afterthought. Said specialist Nicholas Stern: "Low-carbon growth will be the only sustainable growth story and will be full of opportunity. An attempt at high-carbon growth will unravel and ultimately end in failure, and low growth is unacceptable in a world of poverty."
>> Read more on naturenews.com.

According to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), scientists have underestimated the speed and extent of the damage caused by GHGs.  Increased temperatures threaten both unique and vulnerable ecosystems and less developed societies located on low shorelines. “The more we know about this problem, the closer and more severe the danger seems to be”, says the report. The surest way to reduce the danger would be to “speedily reduce greenhouse gas emissions”. According to these specialists, the remedy would prove less expensive than inaction. “We’re not talking about a costly proposal: it represents no more than 3% of the world’s gross domestic product in 2030.”
>>Read more on notre-planete.info (in French only).

Hundreds of scientists gathered in Denmark to review climate change issued a warning that global warming is accelerating quickly than anticipated, threatening to cause “irreversible” damages. For example, by the end of the century sea levels could go up by 50 to 100 cm–rather than 18 to 58 centimetres as predicted–particularly because of melting polar ice. They consider that political decision makers already have at their disposal all the tools they need to fight against greenhouse gas emissions. However, the scientists agree that these tools need to be used broadly and vigorously in order to bring about the social transformations that are necessary to make our economies less carbon-dependant.
>>Read more on AFP (in French only).
 

"We have less than 100 months to alter our behaviour before we risk catastrophic climate change, and the unimaginable horrors that this would bring," Prince Charles told a meeting of Brazilian business leaders and officials in Rio de Janeiro during a recent Latin America tour. "Any difficulties the world faces today will be nothing compared to the full effects global warming will have on the world-wide economy." The prince praised Brazil for measures it has implemented to protect the Amazon–sometimes called "the lungs of the Earth" because of its role as a carbon sink–describing them as part of a new approach that dovetails with the search for solutions to the present global economic and financial crisis.
>>Read more on AFP.

Greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere faster than expected, according to climatologist Chris Field of Stanford University, and a leading member of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This increases the probabilities of an irreversible climate change. Moreover, the tropical forest, which theoretically absorbs CO2, is actually beginning to emit the greenhouse gas. Moisture evaporation makes the whole area more and more vulnerable to forest fires, and as a result the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increases. This could trigger a global warming spiral. Our only hope, according to the expert, lies in more drastic measures designed to counter CO2 emissions.
> > Find out more on eurekalert.org.

Ottawa has invested $2.5 billion to fight against pollution with “no measurable results”, says the federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development in his annual report. For example, $635 million were invested to refund users of public transportation in order to reduce Canada’s GHG emissions by an estimated 220.000 tons. The actual reduction due to this measure was 30.000 tons, which means that each ton cost $21.200, at a time when a ton is “worth” about $43 on the European markets. Another example is the fact that the provinces and territories received $1.5 billion to fight climate change but were in no obligation to report on the results. Finally, the report concludes that the federal government does not ensure that the tools it uses to curb GHG emissions are efficient.
> > Find out more on LeDevoir.com (in French only). Also see how Canada compares with other developed countries.

A team of scientists has launched a three-year project to take airborne measurements of greenhouse gases aboard an advanced research aircraft. Their task: track with unprecedented precision the estimated 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted by human activities each year. The research jet, which is owned by the US National Science Foundation and operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, has a range of about 7,000 miles, and gathers air samples from 1,000 feet to as high as 47,000 feet. Says principal investigator Steven Wofsy of Harvard, "This is giving us a completely new picture of how greenhouse gases are entering the atmosphere and being removed from it, both by natural processes and by humans."
>> Read more on Environment News Service.

The French Minister of ecology, Jean-Louis Borloo, announced that in 2007 France had reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 2%. With this new reduction, which comes after a 2.2% decrease in 2006, greenhouse gas emissions in France have reached an all-time low since 1990. Moreover, France’s GHG emissions are 5.6% lower than the maximum level set by the Kyoto protocol for 2008-2012. This makes France–along with Germany–one of the few industrialized countries to go beyond its international commitment. And that’s not all. “We intend to do much better”, commented the Minister.
>>Read about this on the “the Prime Minister’s portal” (in French only).

A scientific study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) concludes that carbon dioxide (CO²) emissions will cause 1,000 years of climactic changes after they are completely stopped. Consequences include irreversible regional climate impacts such as decreasing human water supplies, increased fire frequency, expanded deserts, rising sea levels, and ecosystem change. “Carbon dioxide loss and heat transfer (…) work against each other to keep temperatures almost constant for more than a thousand years, and that makes carbon dioxide unique among the major climate gases,” said NOAA senior scientist Susan Solomon. Her conclusion: “Current choices regarding carbon dioxide emissions (…) will irreversibly change the planet.”
>>Learn more on the NOAA’s website.

For the first time, a NASA orbiting satellite–the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, set to launch in early 2009–will record daily measurements of our planet’s carbon dioxide, analyzing the sources and sinks of this greenhouse gas. Highly sensitive instruments will measure the distribution of carbon dioxide over scales as small as a medium-sized city. The new technology will help scientists to more accurately distinguish movements of carbon dioxide from natural sources versus from fossil fuel-based activities.
>>Read more on Science Daily.
 

According to a Danish study published in Geoscience Nature, some broad ocean areas of the planet could suffer a lack of oxygen, with dire consequences. Two scenarios, with different quantities of emissions, both predicted ocean oxygen depletion in the first 500 meters of the oceans and especially a slowing down of the “ocean overturning”, which moves oxygenated surface water downwards. There is only one way we can avoid unpredictable, large-scale consequences on the structure and productivity of the ocean ecosystem: “Substantial reductions in fossil-fuel use over the next few generations are needed if extensive ocean oxygen depletion for thousands of years is to be avoided”.
>>Read the abstract on CiteULike, a free online bibliography manager.
 

For the first time, a NASA orbiting satellite–the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, set to launch in early 2009–will record daily measurements of our planet’s carbon dioxide, analyzing the sources and sinks of this greenhouse gas. Highly sensitive instruments will measure the distribution of carbon dioxide over scales as small as a medium-sized city. The new technology will help scientists to more accurately distinguish movements of carbon dioxide from natural sources versus from fossil fuel-based activities.
>>Read more on Science Daily.

In 2008, Canada slipped from 53^rd to 56^th position on the annual Climate Change Performance Index, which ranks the “climate protection performance” of the 57 countries that, together, are the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, responsible for more than 90 per cent of global energy-related emissions. Canada arrived last among OECD (industrialized) countries, with only one country–Saudi Arabia–behind it.
>>Read more on the Pembina Institute’s website. 

Europe will have to develop technologies to capture and store carbon (CSC) on a large scale, according to a study by McKinsey & Company. Fossil energies will continue to play an important role in the energy mix until at least 2050, and carbon storage is one of the most effective means to reduce CO₂ emissions. The study estimates that carbon storage would make it possible to reduce global emissions of CO₂ by 3.6 billion tons a year by 2030. The projects are viable in the long term, but McKinsey recalls that it will take subsidies of more than 10 billion euros to build a first generation of 10 to 15 demonstration plants.
>>More on Euractiv, an independent media.

A leading Chinese official has recognized China is now the world’s top GHG producer. Although willing to combat climate change, China sticks to its coal-dominated energy mix with no intention to sacrifice economic development, arguing that the economic take-off of rich countries produced nearly all the human-produced GHGs, and that China's per capita emissions, at about a fifth of the U.S. average, remain much lower than rich countries'. U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimates that in 2007 fossil fuel combustion produced 1.8 billion tonnes of carbon in China, and 1.6 billion tonnes in the U.S. Analysts say “top polluter position” is politically charged, touching on a nerve point at UN talks to address climate change.
>>Find out more on Reuters.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences estimates that China's annual greenhouse gas emissions could more than double by 2020, reaching 2.5 to 2.9 billion metric tonnes of pure carbon (maybe even 4.0 billion tonnes a year by 2030). Natural sinks can absorb about 2 billion metric tons a year. With current global emissions at about 8.5 billion metric tonnes per year, scientists believe global emissions would have to fall at least 80% below today's levels by 2150 to attain climate stability. Since China refuses to sacrifice economic development to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, only one solution remains: to develop clean and cheap energy sources that can power sustainable development in China and elsewhere.
>> Find out more on Reuters.

GHG emissions are still on the rise, indicates the annual report of the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Between 2000 and 2006, 40 industrialized countries emitted 18 billion tons of carbon dioxide, a 2.3% increase. Highlights: a 7.4% GHG emissions increase in the former Soviet republics between 2000 and 2006, a 0.1% decrease in the US in 2006, and a global 0.1% decrease between 2005 and 2006. US President Elect Barack Obama has committed to invest $150 billion over 10 years in the clean energy sector and reduce GHG emissions by 80% compared to 1990 by 2050.
>>Read more on Silobreaker, an online search service for news and current events.

If the populations of richer countries diminished their meat consumption by the equivalent of one hamburger per person per day, it would be enough to influence climate changes, according to British medical magazine The Lancet. Meat consumption in the richest countries is actually 10 times higher than in the poorest countries (200 to 250 grams of meat per day, compared to 20 to 25 g). Agriculture produces 22% of the world’s emissions greenhouse gases (almost as much as the industrial sector and more than transportation) and nearly 80% of agricultural emissions are from cattle, particularly food and transportation.
>>Read more on Radio-Canada’s website (in French only).
 

After 18 months of observation, SCIAMACHY, the world’s largest environment monitoring satellite, on board European satellite Envisat, made it possible to draw up a world map of the distribution of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), a gas primarily produced by man. Established over an 18-month period, this “high-resolution” map gives a clear picture not of only the vertical columns of nitrogen dioxide coming from America and Europe’s large cities, for example, but also from South Africa’s coal-fired electricity plants. It even shows the “atmospheric wake” of ships navigating along very busy routes, such as the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, between Indonesia and the southern point of India.
>>Learn more on the European Space Agency’s website (in French only).

A NASA/university team has published maps revealing how carbon dioxide moves around in Earth's troposphere, about 8 km above the Earth’s surface. The troposphere is compared to “international waters," where "what's produced in one place will travel elsewhere." Thus, increased levels of carbon dioxide detected over the western North Atlantic are attributed to emissions from the Southeast U.S., while carbon dioxide over the Mediterranean results from North American and European sources, carbon dioxide from South Asia ends end up over the Middle East, and carbon dioxide from East Asia flows out over the Pacific Ocean.
>>Read more on the Nasa’s website. 
 

Atmospheric carbon dioxide could be fatal for krill, the tiny crustacean at the heart of the Antarctic food web. An Australian krill breeding research facility was used to expose larvae to atmospheric carbon dioxide level increased to the worst-case 2100 level. "Their anatomy wasn't quite right," said researcher Lilli Hale. "They were a bit deformed, and they were listless. It's unlikely they would have survived through to adulthood." This would have a catastrophic impact on several species–seabirds, penguins, seals, whales, etc.–which depend on Antarctic krill for food. Carbon dioxide is most easily absorbed by the sea in the colder Southern Ocean.
>>Read more on the Sydney Morning Herald’s website.
 

Leading industrialized nations–Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States–have pledged more than US$6.1 billion to the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), to help developing countries in their efforts to mitigate increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to climate change. The first projects are to be announced early in 2009. Potential recipient countries are Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey.
>>More on The World Bank’s website.
 

In the American West, a recent succession of mild winters has brought about the dehydration of the Pinus Contorda (“twisted pine”), causing its natural barriers to collapse, creating a fertile environment for the proliferation of the bark beetle, a small insect originally from the Rockies whose natural habitat is the bark of this tree. BEACHON, an international research project, will evaluate the apprehended effects of the proliferation of this insect over four years, including: an interruption of the photosynthesis and the emission of large quantities of carbon dioxide; local temperature rises (from 2 to 4 degrees); forest loss; soil drainage and evapo-transpiration, as well as soil temperature increases, and; a significant reduction of the water table. In a nutshell, what is feared, as a result of the over-multiplication of this small insect? Nothing less than major water supply problems for several American states!
>>Read more about BEACHON in Innovations Report.
 

BP's chief scientist Steven Koonin, who was a professor of theoretical physics at Caltech for 30 years, believes the onus of establishing the rules to curb global warming is on governments. According to Koonin, humanity’s habitual way of coping with problems “partially” will not suffice to prevent concentrations of CO² from rising. On markets: “I think markets are good for tactical allocation, but it's not obvious to me that they're the right thing for strategic allocation [or] longer-term planning.” On oil companies: “…companies are wonderful optimizers of their situation. If the government sets the playing rules appropriately, they will respond strongly and rapidly.”
>>Read the interview in Technology Review.
 

For some scientists, trying to curb greenhouse-gas emissions is not enough: they advocate re-engineering the Earth. “Geo-engineering” sets forth a broad range of solutions, e.g.: planting fast-growing genetically modified trees in order to capture carbon dioxide quickly; fertilising the oceans with iron to stimulate a bloom of planktonic algae that would suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere; “deliberately polluting the stratosphere with sulphate in order to reflect solar heat back into space,” and; ejecting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at the Earth’s poles by using lasers to ionize molecules of carbon dioxide and radio waves to spin these molecules at the correct rate, thus causing them to spiral away along the lines of our planet’s magnetic force.
>>More in The Economist .

“Unprecedented” and “most astonishing” emissions growth for 2000-2007 surpass worse-case scenarios
According to the Global Carbon Project, the global growth rate of emissions continues to speed up: Man-made CO² emissions “have been growing about four times faster since 2000 than during the previous decade.” Increasing emissions from developing nations China and India, decreasing forest cover in tropical countries, and less efficient natural land and ocean CO² sinks are seen as the major causes of the trend.
>>Read about it on Science Daily
 

According to Global Footprint Network, by September 23 humanity had used up more resources than our planet will produce this year. The research organization, which measures the way we exploit natural resources, says humanity has been in “ecological overshoot” since the 1980s. In other words, we are using our resources faster than they can be regenerated and putting carbon into the air faster than it can be reabsorbed. On a global scale, we now require the biological capacity of 1.4 planets, says Global Footprint Network. As a result, our supply of natural resources–e.g. trees and fish–is shrinking, while our waste–primarily carbon dioxide–accumulates.
>>Read more on the ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability site

A recent United Nations Environment Programme study says changing patterns of employment and investment resulting from efforts to reduce climate change and its effects are already generating new jobs in many sectors and economies, and could result in the creation of millions of new “green jobs” in the coming decades, in both developed and developing countries.
>>Read more on the International Labour Organization’s site
 

More than two decades after it was discovered, the famous “ozone hole” over the South Pole is not getting any smaller. In fact, most scientific models indicate that we might have to wait until 2060 or 2075 before the ozone concentrations reach the levels they were at before 1980… However, according to a report published in online magazine Science Actualité, the international scientific community still hopes to see it shrink one day, even portraying the ozone case as an example of a positive interaction between scientists, policians and business leaders, and as “an example, also, of an effective international joint effort to tackle a major environmental problem.”
>> Read more on Science Actualités (In French Only).

Today, climate change is a reality that can no longer be ignored. How can we slow it down? What actions can we take to adapt to it? In the context of an international conference, the “Vingt-et-unièmes Entretiens”, held by the Centre Jacques-Cartier, on October 7th Hydro-Quebec will set forth pragmatic answers drawn from experience, presented by President and CEO Thierry Vandal. Other topics include the role carbon markets can play in reducing GHG emissions and the best ways to adapt the production, transportation and distribution of electricity to climate change.
>> Read more on the Conference site (in French only)

Scientists predict the Earth's temperature may stay roughly the same for a decade, as natural climate cycles enter a cooling phase. A new computer model developed by German researchers, reported in the journal Nature, suggests the cooling will counter greenhouse warming.  However, they say temperatures will again be rising quickly by about 2020.
>> Read more on bbc.co.uk.

For the first time, researchers have been able to estimate the fluctuations of the concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane in our atmosphese over the last 800.000 years by studying Antarctic ice extracted during the EPICA drilling. They hope this will help them develop more accurate scenarios of our planet’s future climate.
>> Read more on CEA.fr (article in French) 

Japan is to carry carbon footprint labels on food packaging and other products in an ambitious scheme to persuade companies and consumers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The labels, which are to appear from next spring on many items including food and drink, detergents and electrical appliances, will provide detailed breakdowns of each product's carbon footprint under a government-approved calculation and labeling system.
>> Read more on guardian.co.uk.