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[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[BUSINESS NEWS]
Friday, Nov. 27, 2009
Yen hits 14-year high amid inaction
Bloomberg

The yen rallied to a 14-year high against the dollar on Thursday amid speculation Japan's monetary authorities will tolerate further appreciation of the currency.

Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said Thursday the government needs to take action on "abnormal" currency movements.

Earlier, Vice Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda reportedly said the government isn't considering stepping into the currency market.

"Fujii's comments failed to dispel views that Japan won't intervene immediately," said Yuki Sakasai, a Tokyo-based foreign-exchange strategist at Barclays Bank PLC. "Such a view makes it easier for traders to buy the yen."

The yen rose to as high as 86.30 per dollar, the strongest since July 1995, before trading at 86.56 as of 2:36 p.m. in Tokyo. The dollar reached a postwar low of ¥79.75 on April 19, 1995. The dollar traded at $1.5111 per euro. On Wednesday, it touched $1.5144, its weakest since against the single currency since August 2008. The yen advanced to ¥130.76 per euro from ¥132.21.

The dollar began a multiyear slide versus the yen in 1995 as a result of persistent U.S. trade deficits with Japan. The strength of the yen triggered joint purchases of greenbacks by the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve that year to weaken the Asian currency.

"I am watching these movements. Right now it's time to watch them closely," Fujii told reporters in Tokyo Thursday. "We need to take appropriate action against abnormal movements."

"Despite reported comments that ruled out intervention, we shouldn't be careless about this possibility," said Osamu Takashima, chief foreign-exchange analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., a unit of Japan's biggest bank.

"The possibility of actual intervention may increase further if the yen approaches 80 and the euro rises to $1.60," he added.

U.S. Federal Reserve officials said in minutes of their Nov. 3-4 meeting released Nov. 24 that the dollar's decline has been "orderly" and they would watch for any signs that the depreciation is pushing up people's expectations for inflation.

Eisuke Sakakibara, formerly Japan's head foreign-exchange official, said Wednesday in a CNBC interview that the dollar may fall as low as \85 and the government might consider intervention at that level.

Sakakibara told the financial news channel he thought U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wants a "gradual decline" of the dollar to correct large trade imbalances, and wouldn't be inclined to intervene now.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Nov. 27, 2009
Defendant in slaying of vice health minister, wife says he killed 'beasts'

SAITAMA (Kyodo) The man accused of fatally stabbing a health ministry bureaucrat and his wife and wounding the wife of another former official pleaded not guilty Thursday at his first trial session, saying he killed "beasts," not humans.

"I assert innocence," Takeshi Koizumi, 47, said at the Saitama District Court. "I killed not people but beasts with evil hearts."

But Koizumi also said he acknowledged a large part of the indictment, although it "contains elements different" from what he may have done.

Koizumi stands accused of fatally stabbing former vice health minister Takehiko Yamaguchi, 66, and his wife, Michiko, 61, at their home in the city of Saitama on Nov. 17 last year. He is also charged with attempting to kill Yasuko Yoshihara, 73, the wife of another former vice health minister, at the couple's Tokyo home the following day.

Koizumi told police at the time that he was upset with the health officials for policies that contributed to the death of his pet.

The stabbings shocked the country at a time when it was also being rocked by a government pension record debacle.

The stabbings also put senior bureaucrats on guard and triggered tighter security around the health ministry.

At the time, Koizumi was also planning to assault former Social Insurance Agency chief Kazuko Yokoo, a figure at the center of the pension fiasco, according to earlier investigations.

One of the main focuses of the trial will be on whether Koizumi will win any leniency for turning himself in.

Koizumi was initially arrested on a suspected weapons violation when he turned himself at Tokyo police headquarters in Kasumigaseki on the evening of Nov. 22 and admitted to the three murders and attacks.

After arriving in a rented minivehicle, police conducted a search and found several knives inside along with bloodstained gloves.

Initially, Koizumi told police he was upset over a pet's death.

"I was angry because my pet was killed by a health care center in the past," he was quoted as saying. But it was not clear how the pet revenge story fit in with what the accused told the court Thursday.

news20091127jt2

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Nov. 27, 2009
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
COP15 hinges on Senate, China
By ERIC JOHNSTON
Staff writer
Second in a series

OSAKA — With just weeks before key climate talks take place in Copenhagen, the success or failure of reaching any sort of binding agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol appears to be coming down to dealing with the political concerns of the U.S. Senate and the Chinese leadership.

In the case of America, the Wednesday announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama that the U.S. will commit to a 17 percent reduction by 2020, based on 2005 levels, was immediately seen by many in Washington as a major step toward reaching a successful outcome at Copenhagen.

China meanwhile announced Thursday that although it does not feel obliged to declare specific targets at Copenhagen, it would cut its "intensity" of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 40 percent to 45 percent in 2020 compared with 2005 levels. It's not clear, however, how this cut will be quantified.

Premier Wen Jiabao will also attend the conference.

The U.S. target is considerably weaker than what EU nations and Japan have promised, while developing nations, particularly China, have long insisted developed nations set strong targets and, as recently as June, were demanding cuts of 40 percent.

The Dec. 7-18 Copenhagen conference has long been billed by environmental groups, scientists and politicians favoring tough emissions reductions as the last chance to reduce greenhouse gases to levels that will avoid irreversible change.

But although the scientific recommendations are clear, efforts to get the world to agree to them have stalled largely because of politics in the U.S. and China, the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases.

After the 2007 U.N. conference in Bali agreed to a new treaty in Copenhagen for the 2012-2020 period, nations announced different reduction goals.

Some have said cuts in line with what science says are needed.

For example, the European Union is committed to at least a 20 percent reduction by 2020 compared with 1990 levels, and will go up to 30 percent if other nations join in.

Japan, under Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, has said it will pursue a 25 percent reduction compared with 1990.

But other developed nations, facing tough political, and industry, opposition to such targets, use different base years from 1990 or have agreed to cuts far less than 25 percent.

The decisions made in Bali were based on a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the official body that advises the U.N. on climate change.

The IPCC made three recommendations that are at the center of the current stalemate.

The first was that, to prevent catastrophic climate change, developed nations need to cut emissions between 25 percent and 40 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2020, and by between 80 percent and 90 percent by 2050, also compared with 1990 levels.

The second was that developing nations could no longer continue business as usual.

And the third was that to stabilize greenhouse gases at safe levels throughout this century, worldwide emissions need to peak by 2015.

The Bali conference bound developed nations to setting specific reduction targets, but only required developing nations to take nationally appropriate mitigating actions in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner.

"The wording of the Bali decision was a political compromise between developed countries, which demanded developing countries also set targets, and developing countries, which demanded developed countries take the lead as they were largely responsible for the current crisis," said environmentalist Yurika Ayukawa, who attended the Bali conference.

That was a problem for developed countries like the United States, which, together with China, account for about 40 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.S. pointed to projections like those from the World Resources Institute, which estimates China's greenhouse gases will increase by 118 percent compared with current levels by 2025, making the country an even bigger polluter.

Regardless of Bali, U.S. opponents of strict targets said, a deal at Copenhagen that does not include specific reductions by China and other developing countries will be scientifically meaningless and politically unacceptable.

It is unclear what China's sudden announcement Thursday of apparent voluntary carbon dioxide cuts will mean for opponents of Obama's target.

In Japan, Hatoyama's decision to pursue a 25 percent cut surprised and angered many business leaders, especially in utilities and the manufacturing sector.

Like those in the U.S. opposed to strong targets, they warned of a heavy financial burden on consumers and loss of business to countries not obliged to pursue targets.

Hatoyama's announcement won accolades internationally, but he added a caveat, which was that it was hinged on the positive participation of major economies, specifically China, although what, exactly, that meant was left undefined.

In the U.S., a massive lobbying effort earlier this year by industries opposed to strict cuts, or strict cuts without a quid pro quo from China, created political difficulties for Obama and those who supported his green policies.

The nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, a Washington based research center, counted over 2,300 congressional lobbyists this year, up from a little more than 500 in 2003, working to prevent legislation that calls for tough reduction targets scientists say are needed.

The House of Representatives passed climate change legislation in June that would mean a 4 percent to 7 percent reduction compared with 1990, but strong lobbying added to the fight during the summer over health care reform meant similar legislation in the Senate was delayed.

The Senate legislation is currently being debated, but is not expected to go to a vote before Copenhagen. It is unclear how the new U.S. commitment of a 17 percent reduction will affect the Senate debate, but it's now certain the bill will not be passed until next year.

Whatever legislation eventually clears the Senate, U.N. officials are aware, in a way they were not before the 1997 Kyoto Protocol summit, that any Copenhagen Protocol must be agreed to by two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 senators, before it can become law.

"One of the biggest lessons we learned from the U.S. failure to sign the Kyoto Protocol was how important it was to pay attention to the Senate," Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, told reporters in August.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon thus visited the U.S. earlier this month to meet with Senate leaders and press them to reach an agreement in Copenhagen.

Following recent statements by many governments and U.N. officials that a complete agreement will not be reached in Copenhagen and the best that can be hoped for is a political arrangement and another conference next year to sign the final treaty, world leaders will try one last time to bridge the differences between developed and developing countries. That task, U.N. negotiators hope, will be much easier now that the U.S. and China have put specific reduction targets on the table.

On Dec. 17 and 18, leaders from 65 nations, as of late November, will attend the last two days of the Copenhagen conference.

Many EU presidents and prime ministers, as well as Hatoyama, are among those expected to attend, and they will be joined by Wen. This is proof, China claims, of the great importance the country, now the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, attaches to climate change.

Obama does not plan to be with other world leaders on Dec. 17-18, but will stop off in Copenhagen on Dec. 9, en route to Oslo, where he is to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, to give a boost to the proceedings, and especially to U.S. negotiations with China.

Obama emphasized at his recent meeting in Beijing that both leaders would not allow the conference to fail. "We agreed to work toward a successful outcome in Copenhagen. Our aim is not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all of the issues in the negotiations, and one that has an immediate operational effect. Both countries will take significant mitigation actions," Obama said following his meeting with Hu in mid-November.

The U.N., meanwhile, is warning that the time to play politics is over.

"It is essential that we achieve an ambitious climate deal in Copenhagen. The moment is now. The involvement of heads of state is crucial," said Ban in an open letter released in mid-November.

U.N. climate chief de Boer said prior to Obama's announcement of a 17 percent cut: "I am not relying on the speed of Congress.

"The climate change legislation will be dealt with early next year. But having said that, I am confident that the president of the United States can come to Copenhagen with a target and a financial commitment," de Boer said.

Obama will now come to Copenhagen with the former, but the latter remains under discussion and progress at the confab is expected to be slow. In the end, providing funds to developing nations to reduce their emissions, prevent climate catastrophes, and adopt to an inevitable degree of climate change may turn out to be far more politically difficult than reaching an agreement on percentage cuts and base years.

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[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[ART]
Bringing Japan to Britain
By VICTORIA JAMES
Special to The Japan Times

When she looked at the floor plans for Oxford's redesigned Ashmolean Museum and saw that her two Japanese galleries formed an L-shape in one corner of the building, curator Clare Pollard didn't see an awkward space. "I saw a tea-house," she explains. And there it sits, in the crook of two beautiful and meticulous displays: designed by Tokyo-based architect Isao Komoda, made by master craftsman Amakusa Eiichiro, a two-mat piece of Japan at the heart of this major new museum space.

The Ashmolean Museum was Britain's first museum, originating in the private collection of two 17th-century plant collectors, a father and son both named John Tradescant who assembled a "cabinet of curiosities" during their far-flung travels in search of botanical specimens. That earliest assemblage included a humble pair of zori sandals — a far cry from the sort of Japanese objects that would later join the collection: swords and their fittings, screens, netsuke, and one of the finest collections of Japanese export porcelain gathered anywhere in the world.

Visitors to the original Tradescant collection observed that it was like going round the world in a day, a journey between cultures. After the collection was rehoused as part of Oxford University, however, it gradually fell victim to the scholarly impetus to categorize and compartmentalize, and strict geographical and chronological divisions were imposed on the objects on show.

Now, though, following the £61 million refit of the Ashmolean, which sees its interior transformed into a stunningly airy and light-filled space, the presentation of objects has been harmonized under the theme of "Crossing Cultures, Crossing Time." It is an approach that pays particularly rich dividends in the Japanese displays.

"Here we have Japanese art for the West," says Pollard, gesturing to a wall filled with tiered shelves of bright porcelain objects and tableware, "and we've displayed these as they might have been shown at the time, maybe in a stately home or Augustus the Strong's dream of a "Porcelain Palace." ' The opposite wall is a long, gleaming case containing two golden pairs of folding screens painted with a riot of carefully depicted flowers. "Here," Pollard adds, "we have Japanese art for Japan."

Except, as the rest of this cleverly constructed space makes clear, it isn't always as simple as that. One high shelf holds three plates: one a red-and-gold Chinese piece, two Japanese. The design on all three is remarkably similar — two young women in a pastoral setting. The original design was actually the work of a Dutch trader with the East India Company, who had a good eye for what would sell back home.

He commissioned workshops in both Japan and China to manufacture the plates. The Chinese craftsmen ran it off exactly as requested; the Japanese artists, however, could not resist tampering with the design — the women are differently positioned, one turns her long neck in a gracefully elongated movement. The "mass-market" template has been turned into a distinctively Japanese creation.

This notion of cultural dialogue in the production of art objects is continued in the second gallery, which turns from the Edo Period (1603-1867) to the Meiji Era (1868-1912). "You won't find much like this displayed in Japan," explains Pollard, indicating a group of colorful Satsuma-ware vases and jars. "I call this case 'gorgeous glitter and gold.' It was what the West really fell in love with."

The Satsuma-ware owed its overseas popularity to its appearance at the great cultural Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1867 — the first in which Japan had ever participated.

The Meiji Period officially began the following year in 1868. The powerbroking Satsuma domain (present-day Kagoshima Prefecture) played a pivotal role in Japan's "opening" to the West, not least because its daimyo controlled the Ryukyus, where many ships landed seeking trade. Consequently the region's crafts were among the first known overseas.

The decades that followed saw some Japanese artists cater to the tastes of European buyers and others reject this influence and hearken back to more "traditional" forms. A few very talented individuals produced items of creative synthesis that seem to be both perfectly Japanese and at the same time perfect examples of international artistic trends.

One of these is perhaps the most exquisite item currently displayed at the Ashmolean, and one of Pollard's personal favorites: a tall, blue cloisonne (enameled) vase, flared slightly at the bottom, that captures the force and grace of a waterfall, evoking both the fall of a Japanese scroll-painting and the aesthetics of Art Nouveau.

There is, of course, much more to the new Ashmolean than its Japanese galleries. It houses a breathtaking collection of Ancient Egyptian sculpture, Italian Renaissance paintings and sketches, and the Alfred Jewel, the treasure of Anglo-Saxon Britain. But these evocative Japanese displays — which rotate regularly, so there is always something new to see — go to the heart of what the new Ashmolean Museum, and new approaches to museum presentation in general, are all about. And from Spring 2010, when regular tea-ceremonies begin, visitors will even be able to toast the museum's achievement with a raised bowl of matcha.

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, is open Tue.-Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (and Bank Holiday Mon.). Admission is free. For more information, visit www.ashmolean.org

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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Activism]
Denmark approves new police powers ahead of Copenhagen
Controversial legislation gives police sweeping powers of 'pre-emptive' arrest and extends custodial sentences for acts of civil disobedience
Felicity Carus
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 November 2009 18.14 GMT Article history

The Danish parliament today passed legislation which will give police sweeping powers of "pre-emptive" arrest and extend custodial sentences for acts of civil disobedience. The "deeply worrying" law comes ahead of the UN climate talks which start on 7 December and are expected to attract thousands of activists from next week.

Under the new powers, Danish police will be able to detain people for up to 12 hours whom they suspect might break the law in the near future. Protesters could also be jailed for 40 days under the hurriedly drafted legislation dubbed by activists as the "turmoil and riot" law. The law was first announced on 18 October.

The Danish ministry of justice said that the new powers of "pre-emptive" detention would increase from 6 to 12 hours and apply to international activists. If protesters are charged with hindering the police, the penalty will increase from a fine to 40 days in prison. Protesters can also be fined an increased amount of 5,000 krona (671 Euros) for breach of the peace, disorderly behaviour and remaining after the police have broken up a demonstration.

The Danish police also separately issued a statement in August (pdf) applying new rules and regulations for protests at the climate conference, warning that "gatherings that may disturb the public order must not take place".

Earlier this month, the Guardian published a letter by environmental activists that described the new law as "deeply worrying" and called for the Danish government to uphold their right to legitimate protest.

Tannie Nyboe, a spokewoman from campaigning group Climate Justice Action in Denmark, said the new law was designed to control civil disobedience during the summit. "These laws are a big restraint in people's freedom of speech and it will increase the police repression for anyone coming to Copenhagen to protest. Denmark normally boasts of how open and democratic a country we are. With this law we can't boast about this anymore.

"It will increase the repression of any protester or activist coming to Copenhagen. This law creates an image of anyone concerned about climate change being a criminal, which will of course also influence the general treatment of any activist who comes into contact with the police or other authorities."

A Danish justice ministry confirmed that the laws had been passed today and would come into effect before the climate conference starts on 7 December.


[News > World news > Australia]
Thirsty camels face bullet after terrorising Australian town
Northern Territory officials plan mass cull after 6,000 wild camels run amok in Docker River in search of water
Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 November 2009 12.03 GMT Article history

Australian authorities plan to round up about 6,000 wild camels with helicopters and shoot them after they overran an outback town in search of water, trampling fences, smashing tanks and contaminating supplies.

The Northern Territory government announced its plan yesterday for Docker River, a town of 350 residents where thirsty camels have been arriving every day for weeks because of drought conditions.

"The community of Docker River is under siege by 6,000 marauding, wild camels," the local government minister, Rob Knight, said in Alice Springs, 310 miles (500km) north-east of Docker. "This is a very critical situation out there, it's very unusual and it needs urgent action."

The camels, which are not native to Australia but were introduced in the 1840s, have butted water tanks, approached houses to try to take water from air conditioning units and knocked down fencing at the small airport runway, Knight said.

The carcasses of camels killed in stampedes at water storage areas were contaminating the water supply, he said.

The government plans to use helicopters next week to herd the camels about nine miles outside the town and shoot them, leaving their carcasses to rot in the desert. A grant of A$49,000 (£27,000) will be provided for the cull and to repair damaged infrastructure.

"We don't have the luxury of time because the herd is getting bigger," Knight said.

It is common to see some camels in the remote community, but the continuing drought and an early heatwave have dried up other water sources and forced more of them into the town. Much of Australia is gripped by some of the worst drought conditions on record.

In August, the federal government set aside A$19m for a programme to slash the wild camel population, including a possible mass slaughter.

Glenys Oogjes, executive director of the national advocacy group Animals Australia, said the plan to kill camels by helicopter was barbaric, and that the community could instead set up barriers to keep out the camels.

"It's a terrible thing that people react to these events by shooting," she said. "The real concern is the terrible distress and wounding when shot by helicopter ... There will be terrible suffering."

Explorers brought camels to Australia to help them travel in the desert, and now an estimated 1 million roam wild across the country. They compete with sheep and cattle for food, trample vegetation and invade remote settlements in search of water, scaring residents as they tear apart bathrooms and rip up water pipes.

Docker River residents were not especially concerned when about 30 camels came into the town looking for water a few weeks ago, said Graham Taylor, head of the local council. But fears grew as more animals arrived every day.

He said many people were too frightened to leave their homes because of the animals, which can grow up to 2.1 metres (7 ft) tall and weigh 900kg (2,000lb).

"We need to get the risk and that threat away from the people," he said.


[Environment > Copenhagen climate change congerence 2009]
PM proposes global fund to kick-start Copenhagen climate change process
Prime minister says he expects £10bn plan to be backed by Commonwealth leaders and guest Nicolas Sarkozy
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 November 2009 12.28 GMT Article history

Gordon Brown proposed a new global fund today to "kick-start" the Copenhagen climate change process and encourage poorer countries to start cutting greenhouse gas emissions immediately.

Just days ahead of the vital UN-sponsored climate change conference in the Danish capital, Brown proposed a £10bn rich-world fund – to which Britain would contribute £800m – to give incentives to developing countries to halt deforestation, develop low-carbon energy sources and prepare for the effects of a warmer climate.

The "Copenhagen launch fund" would cover the years 2010-12 and deliver funds to poorer states on a "payment by results" system, under which those which showed they were taking action to halt climate change would receive more cash.

Brown said he expected the proposal to be welcomed at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (CHOGM), which he is attending in Trinidad today.

And he said he expected it to be backed by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, who is attending CHOGM to discuss Europe's response to global warming, and by the United States.

news20091127gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Climate change]
Climate change bill splits Australia's Liberal party
Opposition divided over greenhouse gas legislation with senior MPs resigning and challenging party leadership
Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 November 2009 11.26 GMT

Australia's opposition party has splintered over a contentious bill aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, with top officials resigning due to the party leader's support for the legislation.

The lack of consensus in the opposition Liberal party stymied Friday's Senate vote on the issue, scuppering the government's aims. The debate will now resume on Monday.

Julia Gillard, the deputy prime minister, said the government was deeply disappointed that the Liberal party had failed to honour a deal made by itsleader, Malcolm Turnbull, to pass the legislation, stating: "Australia can't afford any more delays on climate change."

Australia is one of the world's worst carbon dioxide polluters per capita because of its heavy reliance on abundant coal reserves. As the driest continent after Antarctica, it is also considered one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change.

Kevin Rudd, the prime minister, has made climate change issues a priority for his government, and said he wants the legislation passed as an example to the world before he attends next month's UN summit in Copenhagen.

Turnbull had pledged the Liberal party's support for the bill, but the majority of his MPs oppose it. They want more time to amend the legislation and, with Turnbull refusing to back down, 10 politicians resigned their positions late on Thursday. Liberal legislator Tony Abbott said on Friday that if Turnbull did not change his mind on the legislation, he would call a leadership challenge on Monday.

Turnbull, who survived a leadership challenge over the same issue on Wednesday, said he would not quit nor change his mind. "I will not take a backward step [because] there's too much at stake," he told the Seven network.

"The people that are opposing me within the party do not believe in climate change at all. They are turning back the clock and Australians will punish us very, very severely at the next election if these guys have their way and we go to the election as the 'do nothing on climate change' party."

Only seven of the 32 Liberal party senators are needed to pass the legislation, but the bill never even made it to a vote on Friday thanks to long-winded speeches by those who oppose it.

"What we have seen is deliberate filibustering, a refusal to progress the bill, a refusal to get on with this legislation," said Chris Evans, the government Senate leader.

After an earlier version of the bill failed to pass the Senate in August, a compromise deal increases financial assistance to major polluters, including electricity generators, and ensures that farmers are not taxed for the methane produced by livestock.

The government plan would institute a tax on industries' carbon emissions starting in 2011 and limit Australia's overall pollution. The government wants to slash Australia's emissions by up to 25% on 2000 levels by 2020, if the United Nations can agree on tough global targets at a Copenhagen summit in December.

If the Senate rejects legislation twice in three months, Australia's constitution allows the prime minister to call a snap election before his three-year term has expired. Rudd has said he does not want an early election but anaylists suggest he could call one early next year to capitalise on his popularity if the bill fails.


[News > World news > Brazil]
Brazilian president says 'gringos' must pay to protect Amazon
Speaking before Amazon summit, Lula calls on industrialised countries to provide financial help to halt deforestation
Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 November 2009 12.02 GMT

Brazil's president said today that "gringos" should pay Amazon nations to prevent deforestation, insisting rich western countries had caused much more environmental destruction than the loggers and farmers who cut and burn trees in the world's largest tropical rainforest.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was speaking before an Amazon summit at which delegates signed a declaration calling for financial help from the industrialised world to halt deforestation, which contributes to global warming.

"I don't want any gringo asking us to let an Amazon resident die of hunger under a tree," Lula said. "We want to preserve, but they will have to pay the price for this preservation because we never destroyed our forest like they mowed theirs down a century ago."

In Brazil, the word "gringo" generally refers to anyone from the northern hemisphere.

Lula convened the meeting to form a unified position on deforestation and climate change for seven Amazon countries before the Copenhagen climate summit. But the only leaders who attended were Guyana's Bharrat Jagdeo and France's Nicolas Sarkozy, representing French Guiana, leaving top Lula aides and environmentalists to admit the gathering will have a muted impact.

Other countries sent vice-presidents or ministers, and the presidents of Colombia and Venezuela embarrassed Brazil by cancelling at the last minute.

Sarkozy supported a recent proposal by Lula to create a financial transaction tax that would be used to build a fund to help developing countries protect their forests. Details will be discussed in Copenhagen.

Despite the lacklustre summit showing, Lula aides said it was important to drive home a message that the Amazon is home to 30 million people, most of whom depend on the forest's natural riches to eke out a living. About 25 million live in Brazil's portion.

"In Europe everyone has opinions about the Amazon, and there are people who think the Amazon is a zoo where you have to pay to enter," said Marco Aurelio Garcia, Lula's top foreign policy adviser. "They don't know there are 30 million who work there."

Brazil has managed to reduce Amazon destruction to about 7,000 square kilometres a year, the lowest level in decades. But that is still larger than the US state of Delaware.

The Brazilian Amazon is arguably the world's biggest natural defence against global warming, acting as an absorber of carbon dioxide. But it is also a big contributor to warming because about 75% of Brazil's emissions come from rainforest clearing, as vegetation burns and felled trees rot.

Brazil has an incentive to protect the Amazon because the new global climate agreement is expected to reward countries for "avoided deforestation" with cash or credits that can be traded on the global carbon market.

Norway will give Brazil $1bn (£600m) by 2015 to preserve the Amazon rainforest, as long as Latin America's largest country keeps trying to stop deforestation.

Norway was the first to supply cash to an Amazon preservation fund which Brazilian officials hope will raise $21bn to protect nature reserves, persuade loggers and farmers to stop destroying trees, and finance scientific and technological projects.

Brazilian environment minister Carlos Minc has said Japan, Sweden, Germany, South Korea and Switzerland are considering donating to the fund.


[Environment > Climate change]
Scientists target Canada over climate change
Damian Carrington
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 November 2009 22.54 GMT

Prominent campaigners, politicians and scientists have called for Canada to be suspended from the Commonwealth over its climate change policies.

The coalition's demand came before this weekend's Commonwealth heads of government summit in Trinidad and Tobago, at which global warming will top the agenda, and next month's UN climate conference in Copenhagen. Despite criticism of Canada's environmental policies, the prime minister, Stephen Harper, is to attend the Copenhagen summit. His spokesman said today: "We will be attending the Copenhagen meeting … a critical mass of world leaders will be attending."

Canada's per capita greenhouse gas emissions are among the world's highest and it will not meet the cut required under the Kyoto protocol: by 2007 its emissions were 34% above its reduction target. It is exploiting its vast tar sands reserves to produce oil, a process said to cause at least three times the emissions of conventional oil extraction.

The coalition claims Canada is contributing to droughts, floods and sea level rises in Commonwealth countries such as Bangladesh, the Maldives and Mozambique. Clare Short, the former international development secretary, said: "Countries that fail to help [tackle global warming] should be suspended from membership, as are those that breach human rights."

The World Development Movement, the Polaris Institute in Canada and Greenpeace are among the organisations supporting the plan. Saleemul Huq, a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said: "If the Commonwealth is serious about holding its members to account, then threatening the lives of millions of people in developing countries should lead to the suspension of Canada's membership immediately."

Canada's environment department refused to comment on the call for it to be suspended.

The Commonwealth comprises 53 states representing 2 billion people. In the past it has suspended Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and South Africa for electoral or human rights reasons. Speaking earlier this week, its secretary general, Kamalesh Sharma, said: "I would like to think that our definition of serious violations could embrace much more than it does now."

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[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 26 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1110
News
Single-celled life does a lot with very little
Bacterial biochemistry mapped in detail.
Lucas Laursen

The blueprint of a small organism's cellular machinery has been unveiled, offering the most comprehensive view yet of the molecular essentials of life. But the research also shows just how far biologists have to go before they understand the complete biochemical basis of even the simplest of creatures.

"Our whole attempt was to establish a model organism for systems biology," says Peer Bork, a bioinformaticist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, and one of the coordinators of the project which surveyed Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacterium that causes respiratory infections.

The scientists catalogued the proteins produced in the cell, the RNA molecules transcribed from the DNA genetic code, and the chemical reactions which make up the cell's metabolism — also known as the proteome, the transcriptome and the metabolome.

{{“Our technology makes things possible that were unimaginable before.”}
Eva Yus
Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain}

The researchers found that with its relatively short genome — it has just 689 protein-coding genes, compared with 20,000 or so in humans — M. pneumoniae presses some of its molecular machinery into multiple jobs. And the transcriptional activity of the organism seems to replicate that of larger, more sophisticated organisms.

The blueprint could help researchers to control or manipulate the bacteria that are already used to create desirable molecules, such as pharmaceutical compounds or enzymes that digest industrial waste. "The large amount of data focused on one organism is really valuable," says Erik van Nimwegen, a bioinformaticist at the University of Basel in Switzerland. The bacterium's metabolome, for example, should help biologists to model molecular activity in other cells.

"The results are a significant advance towards treating cells as the systems that they are," says molecular biologist Norman Pace of the University of Colorado in Boulder. The three studies are published today in Science^1,2,3.

Old bug, new eyes

Although M. pneumonia is not the smallest organism on Earth, the researchers selected it because they had access to the lab protocols and notes that the retired German biologist Richard Herrmann had accumulated over the course of his career spent studying the bacterium.

The latest genetic sequencing technology meant that Bork and his collaborators could create a near-comprehensive description of the minimum molecular activity required to sustain M. pneumoniae. "Our technology makes things possible that were unimaginable before," says Eva Yus of the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain, the lead author on the metabolism paper³. "We can sequence a genome in a morning; a transcriptome in a few hours."

Their choice of a simple model organism sped up the genetic analysis and made the metabolic network analysis manageable. M. pneumoniae "has fewer than 200 enzymes", Yus notes, "so we could practically work out the reactions by hand".

Back to basics

Once Yus and her team had a metabolic map, they predicted the minimum nutrients necessary to grow the cells in vitro and tested 1,300 combinations of nutrients to learn how the organism responded to different environments. They eventually settled on a stripped-down medium with just 19 nutrients³, suggesting that the organism can use some enzymes for multiple tasks.

"One thing is clear," says Bork, "a single protein has several different jobs in a cell." This may help it to survive in many environments.

"This sounds plausible," says van Nimwegen. He adds that the result reinforces the idea that simplistic metabolic models, which assign just one function to each enzyme, "might be off by a lot".

Because the bacterium's genetic code did not seem to correlate with the complex protein activity observed using a mass spectrometer, the researchers are now looking for an intermediate regulatory pathway that adjusts protein behaviour.

van Nimwegen notes that the real fruits of such large, technology- and data-driven projects often take time to materialize. For now, the researchers "have set the example of how far you really have to go to more completely capture what is going on in an organism". But, he adds, there is still a long way to go before scientists can produce a complete molecular description of even the simplest cells.

References
1. Kühner, S. et al. Science 326, 1235-1240 (2009).
2. Güell, M. et al. Science 326, 1268-1271 (2009).
3. Yus, E. et al. Science 326, 1263-1268 (2009).


[naturenews]
Published online 26 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1109
News
Medical Research Council chief to step down
Early exit for Leszek Borysiewicz.
Geoff Brumfiel

{{Leszek Borysiewicz is leaving his post as head of the Medical Research Council to become vice-chancellor at the University of Cambridge.}
MRC}

Leszek Borysiewicz, the head of Britain's Medical Research Council (MRC), will step down in October 2010, a full year before his term expires. Borysiewicz, who has served as the MRC's chief executive since October 2007, is leaving to become vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, UK.
"It's a thrilling and exciting opportunity for me and one I feel I couldn't resist," says the 58-year-old.

The appointment has generally prompted acclaim for Borysiewicz from Britain's biomedical establishment. "Sir Leszek has been an outstanding leader at the MRC," Mark Walport, chief executive of the Wellcome Trust, Britain's largest biomedical research charity, said in a statement.

But for some, there is also anxiety over the future of the council. "I think that Borys has done an excellent job," says Colin Blakemore, a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford and Borysiewicz's predecessor at the MRC. But Blakemore says that he is "deeply worried about what this might mean for the MRC, especially for the support of basic biomedical research".

Borysiewicz has overseen a major increase in spending against a budget that reached £704.2 million (US$1.2 billion) this year. His scientific background, a mix of basic and applied bioscience, has been credited with helping the MRC to increase its emphasis on translational medicine, without losing its strength in basic research.

But the future seems less clear. Some researchers believe that the UK government's Department of Health may seek a larger stake in the MRC, pushing it further towards biomedical research and away from fundamental science. There are even worries that the MRC may be absorbed in the Department of Heath, or broken up.

With a general election looming next summer, Borysiewicz's departure "could make the MRC vulnerable at a very critical time", says Blakemore. "It will need a strong new leader, respected by both basic and clinical researchers."

But Borysiewicz says he sees little cause for concern. The council can claim 29 Nobel prizes, including one of this year's winners for chemistry, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Funding is healthy and relations with the rest of Britain's biomedical establishment are better than ever, Borysiewicz says. "The MRC is stronger now than it has been for a very long time."

Borysiewicz will officially leave his post at the MRC, and take up his new role at Cambridge, on 1 October 2010.

news20091127nn2

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 26 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1108
News
Japanese scientists rally against government cuts
Packed meeting hears a chorus of lament from Nobelists.
David Cyranoski

{{Reona Esaki, Susumu Tonegawa, Shigefumi Mori, Ryoji Noyori and Makoto Kobayashi have all criticized a Japanese government body's plans to slash science budgets.}
Kyodo}

At a hastily arranged symposium at the University of Tokyo yesterday, four Japanese Nobel laureates rallied against the budget-slashing policies of their new government.

The criticisms come as government-appointed working groups of roughly 20 people — with few scientists among them — reach the final week of hearings that are recommending budget cuts for 220 government-funded projects, including many major research initiatives. The recommendations form part of the government's effort to trim \3 trillion (US$33.7 billion) off next year's budget.

The proposed cuts would hit the SPring-8 synchrotron in Harima and a project to build the world's fastest supercomputer, among others. But they also call for reductions in the grants that form the lifeline for many scientists (see 'Japanese science faces deep cuts').

At the end of the Tokyo meeting, the audience was asked whether they supported a proposed statement by the distinguished scientists, calling for the government to "take into account the opinions of scientists and academics when deciding budgets for universities and allocations for research grants". In response, the audience erupted into applause.

Tsunami of protest

In the normally staid world of Japanese science policy, the past week has seen a rash of such statements. On 24 November, presidents from Japan's top nine national and private universities issued a declaration saying the government's policies "are moving in the opposite direction from the rest of the world" and called for funding of young-researcher grants and university-operating costs to be maintained.

{{“We need more money, not less.”}
Ryoji Noyori}

On 25 November, the heads of nine university-related centres that focus on computer and information technology issued a statement calling for support for the threatened supercomputer project. On the same day, the leaders of 17 Centers of Excellence at the University of Tokyo, along with the university's president, released a statement calling for the maintenance of their budgets. Leaders of Japan's five prestigious World Premier International Research Centers are preparing a similar statement, which they hope to bolster with letters of support from their foreign colleagues.

Shiro Ishii, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Tokyo, who organized the symposium, says that the sudden outcry reminds him of one of the most turbulent periods in Japanese history: the 1960 anpo demonstrations, when groups of faculty and students protested against the US–Japan security treaty (known as anpo in Japanese).

The working groups have broken new ground in Japan by opening up the mechanisms of government for all to see — the hearings are broadcast on the Internet — and by engaging more people in discussions about policy. As of the morning of 26 November, some 14,000 public comments have flooded in to the science and education ministry about the working-group recommendations for science and technology alone.

Standing room only

The Tokyo symposium is by far the biggest outpouring of protest against the recommendations to date. Although it was arranged only the night before and announced yesterday morning, about 1,000 students, journalists and faculty members attended. "We didn't expect so many students," says Ishii. Entering a few minutes late, Nobel physicist Reona (Leo) Esaki asked a student where the lecture hall was. "Second floor, but you'll never get in," the student replied. "They can't start until I do," the Nobelist responded.

Much of the discussion lamented the Japanese public's lack of appreciation for the value of basic science. "People don't realize how the fruits of basic science are all around them, in their [Global Positioning Systems], their vaccines, their mobile phones," says immunologist and Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa.

Nobel chemist Ryoji Noyori notes that the funding of graduate students in science is so limited that they often have to find part-time jobs, and that Japan's investment in university education as a percentage of its gross domestic product is lower than that of most other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. "We need more money, not less," Noyori says.

Esaki, who finally made it to his seat, tried to look on the bright side: "This is an opportunity for us to explain to everybody the significance of science."

Tonegawa told Nature he believes the working groups were "just a show", whose recommendations can be overcome if scientists protest. He now hopes to discuss the cuts with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. "I think we can have influence," Tonegawa says.

news20091127bbc3

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 09:40 GMT, Friday, 27 November 2009
Space shuttle Atlantis set for landing
{Atlantis has one more mission before heading to a museum}
The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis are preparing to land in Florida after their 11-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Nasa said it was expecting sunny skies when the shuttle touched down at the Kennedy Space Center, currently scheduled to take place at 1444 GMT.

During the mission, astronauts equipped the ISS with nearly 14,000kg (30,000lbs) of spare parts.

Five more shuttle flights are planned before the fleet's retirement in 2010.

"We got a lot accomplished," Atlantis' commander Charlie Hobaugh told ABC News as the astronauts finished a Thanksgiving Day meal that included pre-packaged smoked turkey and cornbread dressing.

"It was a fantastic mission," he added.

The astronauts took up pump modules, gas tanks, two control moment gyroscopes and components for the space station's robotic arm.

{The ISS is being stocked up with larger spare parts prior to shuttle retirement}

Nasa wants to stock the station with as many of these as possible before the three shuttles retire. None of the other visiting spacecraft is big enough to carry such large pieces into orbit.

The astronauts also prepared power, cooling and airway connections on the ISS for the arrival of the final US space station module, Tranquility, which is scheduled to be launched on a shuttle flight in February.

In addition, Atlantis is returning with a broken piece of the station's water-recycling unit.

The unit converts the astronauts' urine into drinking water. Engineers will try to fix the broken part so that it can be returned on the next shuttle flight.

And travelling back to Earth on Atlantis will be Nicole Stott, who has been living at the space station for nearly three months.

It will be the last time a shuttle is used to rotate an ISS crew-member.


[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 20:30 GMT, Thursday, 26 November 2009
Past climate anomalies explained
{The team reconstructed 1,500 years of climate using "proxies" such as coral}
Unusually warm and cold periods in Earth's pre-industrial climate history are linked to how the oceans responded to temperature changes, say scientists.
By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC News

The researchers focused particularly on intervals known as the "little ice age" and "medieval warm period".

In the journal Science, they report that these climate "anomalies" were likely caused by changes to El Nino and the North Atlantic Oscillation.

They say studying the past in this way could help refine climate models.

"We reconstructed patterns of [the Earth's] surface temperature during those two intervals," explained Professor Michael Mann from Pennsylvania State University in the US, who led the study.

He and his colleagues reconstructed 1,500 years of the Earth's climate - collecting clues from "proxies" such as ice cores, tree rings and coral. These can be used to track hundreds of years of climatic changes.

{{Some of the best clues we can get are by going back to the distant past are and seeing how the Earth actually responded}
Professor Michael Mann
Pennsylvania State University}

He explained that the data allowed the team to estimate how natural factors, including volcanic eruptions and changes in the Sun's output, altered the climate in the past.

"We then put these estimates into the climate models," he told BBC News.

The models revealed that these natural factors altered the Earth's surface temperature, which kick-started feedback mechanisms - El Nino or the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).

This produced the regional patterns in climate associated with the medieval climate era and the little ice age.

"El Nino and the NAO are dynamical patterns that can lead to shifts in rainfall and drought patterns, and influence hurricane activity," explained Professor Mann.

"They redistribute heat around the globe, leading to warming in one region [of the planet] and cooling in another."

Feeding back

The findings have allowed the team to assess which models might be missing some of the "regional mechanisms" that influence the climate.

A key thing the team discovered was that, in the past, when the planet has been warmed by natural factors it has responded with another feedback mechanism known as the La Nina effect.

This can be thought of as the opposite of El Nino - a sort of "colder phase" of El Nino phenomenon.

Professor Mann explained that a "La Nina-like climate" brings colder than normal temperatures in the eastern and central tropical Pacific and drier than normal conditions in the desert southwest of the US".

{{LA NINA EXPLAINED}
> La Nina translates from the Spanish as "The Child Girl"
> Refers to the extensive cooling of the central and eastern Pacific
> Increased sea temperatures in the western Pacific mean the atmosphere has more energy, and frequency of heavy rain and thunderstorms is increased
> Typically lasts for up to 12 months and generally less damaging event than the stronger El Nino}

Most climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show that the Earth will respond in an El Nino-like way to global warming.

But a few of the models do recreate this dynamic "La Nina effect", and suggest that that when you heat the Earth's surface, the climate system tries to offset and cool.

"If the response of the Earth in the past is analogous to the temperature increase caused by greenhouse gases... it could lend credence to this counterintuitive notion of a La Nina response to global warming," said Professor Mann.

But, he added, that the Earth's response to greenhouse-gas-induced global warming might be more complex than "natural" warming.

"What this gives us is an independent reality check," said Professor Mann.

"There is still a fair amount of divergence among the various models - in terms of how El Nino changes in response to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.

"Some of the best clues we can get are by going back to the distant past and seeing how the Earth actually responded."

news20091127bbc4

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 09:56 GMT, Friday, 27 November 2009
Commonwealth summit in Trinidad targets climate change
{The Queen will open the summit on Friday}
Commonwealth leaders are meeting in Trinidad with climate change high on the agenda in the last major summit before the Copenhagen climate talks.

For the first time, a number of other world leaders have been invited to take part in the biennial meeting.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Danish PM Lars Rasmussen are attending to give weight to any statement on climate change.

Another key issue will be Rwanda's bid to join the Commonwealth.

The 60th anniversary Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Port of Spain will also discuss the issue of the venue for the 2011 Commonwealth summit - with the UK vowing to block Sri Lanka's bid.

Rising sea levels

The global summit on climate change is due to start in Copenhagen on 7 December, and the topic is the only issue on Commonwealth summit's agenda for the first day.

{About half of members, like the Maldives, are island states}

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has described the meeting as "an important springboard towards Copenhagen".

About half of the Commonwealth's members are island states, many of them threatened by rising sea levels.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who is hosting the three-day meeting, said he hoped the summit could boost momentum for an agreement on carbon emissions at Copenhagen, amid "concerns about the way the negotiations were going".

"We hope to arrive at a political statement that can add value to the process that will culminate in Copenhagen next month... what we can do is raise our voices politically," he said.

The Commonwealth's 53 nations comprise about two billion people, a third of the planet's population.

The leaders are meeting days after pledges by the US and China to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, amid concerns that the Copenhagen meeting could fail to agree substantial cuts.

India has admitted that China's decision to unveil emissions targets two weeks before the Copenhagen summit has put it under pressure.

Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said China's decision was a "wake-up call to India".

But in another Commonwealth country, Australia, the government's plans to enact a law for an emissions trading scheme have been thrown into chaos by a revolt within the opposition Liberal Party, whose support is required to pass the bill.

Rwanda membership

The summit will also discuss Rwanda's entry into the English-speaking club.

The Francophone nation has been seeking membership following disagreements with France over events leading up to the 1994 genocide.

The issue is likely to be controversial. The nation's entry bid has received strong backing from some member states.

However, some rights activists are angry that entry would reward a nation they say is guilty of abuses dating back to the 1994 genocide.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins, in Trinidad, says the leaders are expected to admit Rwanda.

He says most of the leaders apparently believe that if Rwanda is admitted, then they will be able to apply peer pressure to improve the lives of its people.

Zimbabwe's possible re-entry could also be brought up at the meeting.

Sri Lanka controversy

The UK has indicated it will try to block Sri Lanka's bid to host the next Commonwealth summit over its handling of the recent war.

{Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans are still displaced}

A UK government source said Mr Brown had "real concerns about Sri Lanka's bid".

The source said: "We simply cannot be in a position where Sri Lanka - whose actions earlier this year had a huge impact on civilians, leading to thousands of displaced people without proper humanitarian access - is seen to be rewarded for its actions."

The UN estimates the conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels left at least 7,000 civilians dead with 150,000 people still displaced and living in camps.

At a state dinner ahead of the summit, the Queen acknowledged her hosts by wearing a gown featuring two of the Caribbean nation's national birds and its national flower.

At the banquet in the grounds of President George Maxwell Richards' official home in Port of Spain, she paid tribute to Trinidad's efforts to combat drug trafficking.


[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 13:14 GMT, Thursday, 26 November 2009
China unveils emissions targets ahead of Copenhagen
{The Copenhagen talks aim to seek a successor to the Kyoto Protocol}
China has unveiled its first firm target for limiting greenhouse gas emissions, two weeks before a global summit on climate change in Copenhagen.

Beijing said it would aim to reduce its "carbon intensity" by 40-45% by the year 2020, compared with 2005 levels.

Carbon intensity, China's preferred measurement, is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each unit of GDP.

But our correspondent says it does not mean China's overall levels of carbon dioxide will start falling.

Its economy is still growing and is mostly fuelled by polluting coal, says the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Beijing.

It will be at least a couple of decades before China's emissions peak, so it is likely to remain the largest polluter for some time to come, he adds.

But greenhouse gas emissions in China have not been rising as fast as its economy has been growing.

The Copenhagen UN summit - between 7-18 December - aims to draw up a treaty to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, although observers say this is unlikely.

{{ANALYSIS}
Richard Black, BBC News environment correspondent
The 40-45% target for cutting carbon intensity is ambitious - more ambitious than many observers had expected.
But it doesn't mean China's emissions will fall - in fact they are still likely to rise, with the rate at which economic growth rises outstripping the rate at which carbon intensity falls.
This is exactly the kind of plan that major developing countries were supposed to take to the Copenhagen summit.
Coming on the heels of President Obama's decision to put numbers on the table for cutting US emissions, it is likely to make discussions in Copenhagen a lot more straightforward.
But whether developing countries are impressed by the size of the US commitment is another matter.}

Beijing also said on Thursday that Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao would attend the talks.

That confirmation came a day after US President Barack Obama said he would go to the summit.

The US - the second largest polluter after China - said President Obama would offer to cut US emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020.

But the offer was less than hoped for by the EU, Japan and UN scientists - most other countries' targets are given in comparison with 1990 figures.

BBC environment correspondent Richard Black says that on that basis the US figure amounts to just a few percentage points, as its emissions have risen by about 15% since 1990.

This is much less than the EU's pledge of a 20% cut over the same period, or a 30% cut if there is a global deal; and much less than the 25-40% figure that developing countries are demanding.

President Obama's offer reflects figures in a bill narrowly passed by the House of Representatives in June, but yet to be confirmed by the Senate.

{{This is definitely a very positive step China is taking, but we think China can do more }
Yang Ailun
Greenpeace China}

He will arrive at the summit after it opens and will not stay until the end, when delegates hope to stitch together a deal. While in Europe, he will also collect his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.

Thursday's announcement by China marks the first time it has issued numerical targets for plans to curb the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.

A statement from Beijing's State Council, or cabinet, said: "This is a voluntary action taken by the Chinese government based on its own national conditions and is a major contribution to the global effort in tackling climate change," Xinhua news agency reported.

Our Beijing correspondent says this is a commitment to make Chinese factories and power plants use fuel more efficiently and get better results.

China is showing that it wants to play a leading role in tackling global climate change, he adds.

It has already made a pledge to increase its renewable energy targets to grow more forests and develop green industries.

Yang Ailun, Greenpeace China's climate campaign manager, told AFP news agency: "This is definitely a very positive step China is taking, but we think China can do more than this."

news20091127reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
U.S., China help climate talks, but tangles remain
Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:43am EST
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - Promises of greenhouse gas curbs by China and the United States brighten prospects for next month's U.N. climate summit but leave big tangles over cash, rich nations' emissions cuts and how to tie down a legal treaty.

"This is clearly some progress on the Copenhagen road," Frank Jotzo, deputy director of the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute, said of pledges by the world's top two emitters to tackle global warming.

But he noted China's goal of slowing its rising emissions by 2020 was voluntary and President Barack Obama's plan to cut U.S. emissions by 3 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 faced obstacles in the Senate.

Indeed, China's goal of reducing carbon intensity -- the amount of greenhouse gases emitted per yuan of economic activity -- by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels still means its emissions will rise, but less than economic growth.

However, analysts welcomed Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Obama's decisions to go to the December 7-18 talks in Copenhagen as a sign of personal commitment to a deal. Obama will visit on December 9, before the main U.N. summit on the last two days.

But Obama's emissions cuts were probably were too small to encourage other rich nations to make deeper offers in Denmark. Industrialised nations as a group are offering cuts in emissions averaging between 14 and 18 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

"It's not enough in itself to unlock new offers," said Knut Alfsen, research director of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo.

But he said that Washington could sweeten its offer, perhaps with money for research and development or aid to help poor countries adapt to the impacts of climate change such as droughts, more powerful cyclones or rising sea levels.

SILENT ON FUNDS

"The White House ... was noticeably silent about finance" in announcing Obama's plans for Copenhagen, said Kim Carstensen, head of the WWF environmental group's global climate initiative.

The United Nations wants at least $10 billion a year to help developing nations cope with climate change and convince them that the rich are committed to fighting global warming. And it wants mechanisms to raise far more in the long term.

Carstensen said Obama was likely to argue that his greenhouse goal is a 17 percent cut from 2005 levels after sharp rises since 1990 and sets the United States on a path for deeper cuts than many of its industrial allies by 2030.

Cuts by rich nations are far below demands by developing nations such as China and India that they need to cut by between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avert the worst of global warming.

Analysts also say there are uncertainties about the final form of a Copenhagen deal since most nations say time is too short for Copenhagen to agree a full legal treaty. Denmark wants a "politically binding" pact and a legally binding text in 2010.

"A politically binding promise by a politician ... is a meaningless term," said Tom Burke, of the E3G think-tank in London. "There is a serious intent but what it means is fuzzy."

Group of Eight nations, for instance, often made political promises without following up.

"At the end of the day, the atmosphere doesn't care if it's a binding agreement or not, it cares about whether countries are doing action," said Jake Schmidt, of the National Resources Defense Council in Washington.

(Additional reporting by David Fogarty in Singapore, Jeff Mason in Washington and Emma Graham-Harrison in Beijing)


[Green Business]
China says rich nations' emission targets too low
Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:51am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top climate envoy said on Thursday the nation's carbon intensity target was a step toward a peak in emissions output, adding that developed nations had set themselves goals that were too lenient to tackle global warming.

Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, also said that developed nations needed to offer more financing and technology to help poorer countries tackle climate change.

"So far we have not seen concrete actions and substantive commitments by the developed countries," Xie told a news conference in the Chinese capital. (Reporting by Chris Buckley; Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Paul Tait)


[Green Business]
Investors welcome new China, U.S. climate goals
Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:03am EST
By Gerard Wynn and Michael Szabo - Analysis

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors welcomed new China and U.S. climate targets 10 days before a U.N. summit but an Australian carbon vote delay hinted at wider difficulties to cement a global deal.

Traders in a $126 billion carbon market want tight climate targets to boost demand for emissions permits, and energy companies want to know the full future costs -- including from carbon -- of burning fossil fuels as they plan new power plants.

A December 7-18 Copenhagen meeting is intended to agree the outlines of a new global climate treaty and will shed light on future energy and carbon prices.

In jockeying ahead of that conference, the United States on Wednesday made its first offer since 1997 to cut carbon emissions and China vowed to slow carbon emissions from industry, helping drive momentum toward a global deal.

Energy analysts welcomed the U.S. and Chinese offers, although the U.S. target was widely expected and far below European Union ambition compared with a U.N. 1990 baseline.

"It increases the chances of getting a better, collaborative agreement in Copenhagen, which would in turn create a larger low-carbon marketplace," said James Cameron, vice-chairman of Climate Change Capital, an environmental investment group with $1.5 billion assets under management.

The U.S. and China moves provided a "very positive" further boost to what would be a record year for clean energy investment in 2010, consultants New Energy Finance predicted.

"I would not be surprised to see a $200 billion year," said New Energy Finance head Michael Liebreich. Investment would reach $160-$200 billion in 2010, compared with expected funding this year of about $125 billion, down from last year's record of $155 billion, Liebreich told Reuters.

CONCESSIONS

The U.S. target, to cut greenhouse gases by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, added momentum but was widely expected.

"All the U.S. said was what's already passed in the House (of Representatives). I don't see it as a particularly significant development," said Deutsche Bank's Mark Lewis.

"It's much more important to see how they are going to reduce emissions," said Michael McNamara at Jefferies Bank.

The target would also need Congress backing in the shape of a domestic climate bill. Republican opposition has stalled progress through the Senate.

The Australian Senate delayed on Thursday a vote on a similar climate plan -- both include a cap and trade scheme -- alarming analysts concerned about a weakening of the scheme.

"The legislation has reflected incredible degrees of partisan politics," said Murray Ward, from the Global Climate Change Consultancy, referring to votes both in Australia and New Zealand which passed emissions trading scheme (ETS) legislation on Wednesday.

"The same is happening in the United States. This cannot bode well as the legislation will inevitably be compromised."

The Australian delay worried carbon traders, cheered by the passage of New Zealand legislation but still waiting the first major economy to follow a European Union cap and trade scheme launched in 2005.

"The Australian delay is potentially a major setback," said one carbon trader. "It is one of the biggest countries in terms of emitters so they should really move."

QUESTIONS

The New Zealand and prospective Australian emissions trading schemes would add limited new demand for carbon offsets -- traded under the Kyoto Protocol -- but important new momentum following recession and a slump in demand for pollution permits.

British utilities increasingly question the effectiveness of emissions trading in Europe, saying carbon prices are insufficient to make new nuclear power plants and coal with expensive carbon capture technology economic.

"Obviously a good strong agreement in Copenhagen will be a great legacy, but let's be realistic, that may not happen and it may be necessary that we have other mechanisms, if you like a Plan B," said Paul Golby, chief executive of the UK arm of German utility E.ON AG.

"Utilities need secure funding in order to develop these large scale projects, and quite frankly at the moment the carbon price is too low and too uncertain to support investment without further help."

-- Additional reporting by Nina Chestney and Daniel Fineren in London and David Fogarty in Singapore

news20091127reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Kenyans plan a 300 MW wind and solar power project
Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:48am EST
By Duncan Miriri

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A group of Kenyan investors want to start a 300 megawatts wind and solar power project in the north of the country next year, the head of their enterprise said on Thursday.

East Africa's biggest economy is seeking to increase electricity generation from alternative sources like wind and solar to meet demand that is expected to rise to 9,000 MW by 2030 from this year's 1,050 MW.

"The choice of the project was informed by blackouts, low penetration rate of electricity and instability of the power that we have. We are trying to secure land for the whole project," Michael Nderitu told Reuters.

Energy sector analysts say the private sector is the best and fastest solution to bridge Africa's power deficit.

Kenya energy minister said last week the country will not meet its target of boosting connections to the national grid in rural areas to 20 percent by the end of next year, due to lack of funds.

Nderitu, whose start-up is called Giston Energy, said capital requirements for "green" energy projects were substantial but they were cheaper to run in the long term due to low maintenance costs.

He said the project would require $1 billion and the group is exploring various financing models. The funding plan would be firmed up once an ongoing feasibility study was completed.

Giston engaged British energy consultant Garrad Hassan to carry out a pre-feasibility studies, Nderitu said. They are now talking to a Belgian firm to advise them on the carbon credits side of the project.

He said the biggest challenge for a start-up in Kenya's green energy sector was lack of experience and expertise.

Kenya mainly relies on hydropower for its electricity needs but it has recently formed a geothermal firm to scale up generation from its geothermal resources in the Rift Valley.

It has also formed a second transmission and distribution firm that is expected to increase generation projects because investors will have a channel through which to sell their electricity.

Another Kenyan firm, Lake Turkana Wind Power, is installing another 300 MW wind farm, some 600 km from Nairobi.

(Editing by William Hardy)


[Green Business]
China says carbon "sinks" not covered by target
Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:49am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top climate envoy said on Thursday emissions absorbed by carbon "sinks" will not be covered by the country's carbon intensity target, which will be calculated using energy consumption and "production processes."

Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, said that China's newly announced target would be calculated on a more narrow basis than the emissions goals of developed nations.

"China's reductions are all the emissions reductions from energy intensity (cuts), they don't include the quantity in carbon sinks, and they don't include other reductions, they are only the savings from the production processes and energy consumption," he told a news conference in Beijing.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Paul Tait)


[Green Business]
UK court gives green light to Wind Hellas deal
Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:27am EST
By Simon Meads

LONDON (Reuters) - A British court has given the green light to a restructuring deal from Wind Hellas's parent Weather Investments that will wipe out the investments of the Greek telecoms giant's junior creditors.

Senior creditors earlier this month accepted a plan from Weather, controlled by Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris, to restructure Wind Hellas's 3.2 billion euro ($4.8 billion) debt burden, rejecting a bid for the business from the subordinated bondholders, owed some 1.2 billion euros.

The court agreed the appointments of Maggie Mills and Alan Hudson from Ernst & Young as administrators of the business, E&Y said in a statement on Thursday. The court sanctioned the restructuring deal, slated for November 27, which will see Weather's plan implemented.

But subordinated bondholders maintain their offer was better than Weather's and vow to continue their fight to recover their money.

"Our latest proposal offered vastly superior economic returns to all stakeholders as well as laying the foundations for an early refinancing in 2010," said a spokesman for the subordinated bondholders committee.

"We look forward to recovering value for our bonds from these actions through the courts," he added.

Subordinated bondholders, whose actions to date have been led by Aladdin Capital, said they will ask administrators to look into the actions of the Greek telecoms company in the lead up to the acceptance of the Weather bid and will also ask British and European policymakers to review insolvency laws.

Weather and the subordinated bondholders submitted the only two formal bids in the debt-restructuring process, in which Wind Hellas spoke to 29 parties, including former owner private equity firm TPG.

(editing by Andrew Callus)

($1=.6625 Euro)


[Green Business]
Clipper says Mexico wind turbines get funding
Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:28am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - Clipper Windpower Plc said financing has been received for 27 wind turbines to supply power to Wal-Mart Stores Inc in Mexico.

The $80.66 million financing loan by the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Ex-Im Bank's first project financing for wind power, will fund 67.5 megawatts (MW) of Clipper Liberty 2.5M 1461745513

The project is owned by Electrica del Valle de Mexico, a subsidiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles.

Clipper Windpower also reiterated that it expects talks with a number of parties on a possible significant investmen t in the company to conclude by the end of the year.

(Reporting by Julie Crust; editing by Victoria Bryan)


[Green Business]
European Union carbon boosted by China, U.S. pledges
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:16pm EST

LONDON (Reuters) - The benchmark contract for European Union emissions futures closed near 13 euros a tonne on Thursday, fueled by news of a U.S. commitment to emissions cuts and a Chinese pledge to reduce carbon intensity, traders said.

EU Allowances for December delivery closed 4 cents or 0.31 percent higher at 12.92 euros ($19.50) a tonne. Volume was heavy at 6,395 lots despite a U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. EUAs touched 13.22 euros in afternoon trade.

"There's a pick up in sentiment on the back of news that's broken over the last day or so," an emissions trader said.

News U.S. President Barack Obama is going to Copenhagen with an emissions reduction target lifted the market on Wednesday, and gains were extended after China committed to slow its growing emissions on Thursday.

The White House said on Wednesday the United States would pledge in Copenhagen to cut its greenhouse gas emissions roughly by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, a drop of about 3 percent below the 1990 benchmark year used in U.N. treaties.

China followed with a pledge to reduce its carbon intensity by 40-45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

U.S. oil fell toward $77 on Thursday in line with falls across financial markets and as weak demand for fuel offset potential support from a weak dollar.

German Calendar 2010 baseload power on the EEX was up 11 cents or 0.25 percent at 45.00 euros per megawatt hour.

Certified emissions reductions closed up 0.25 percent at 12.01 euros a tonne. (Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by James Jukwey)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Business Books: Arctic melts, but no big "Cold Rush" for oil
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:22pm EST
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - The Arctic is thawing fast because of global warming but a big "Cold Rush" for offshore oil and gas looks unlikely because of icebergs and high costs, a new book says.

A retreat of Arctic ice in summers is changing indigenous peoples' livelihoods and will threaten the survival of polar bears, writes Alun Anderson in "After the Ice" (HarperCollins), packed with anecdotes about shifts already under way.

"The Arctic is seeing a more dramatic change to its environment and ecosystems than any part of the planet has seen for many thousands of years," he writes in the book, subtitled "Life, Death and Geopolitics in the New Arctic".

Oil companies are looking north but Anderson, a former editor of New Scientist magazine, shows huge problems of icebergs, waves, cold and currents that would complicate drilling as well as transport of any oil or gas to shore.

"My bet is that the oil and gas boom will be short-lived and will not go far beyond the shallow seas of Russia and perhaps some of the regions close to the Alaskan shores," he writes.

Anderson, a former research biologist who lives in London, quotes experts as agreeing that prospects of a "Cold Rush" for riches of the central Arctic lie far in the future.

Still, Russia planted a flag in the waters deep beneath the North Pole in 2007 in a symbolic claim. And the U.S. Geological Survey estimated last year the Arctic could hold 90 billion barrels of oil -- enough to meet world demand for three years.

Among offshore fields closer to land, Gazprom's is planning to tap the big Shtokman gas deposit.

And efforts to control global warming could also make oil and gas less attractive than renewable energies, he writes. A U.N. summit from December 7-18 in Copenhagen will seek to agree a new pact to slow warming.

"We can be very confident that the Arctic is warming as a result of the rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," he writes. The Arctic Ocean is likely to be ice-free in summers within decades.

Shipping could benefit from a new short-cut route between the Atlantic and the Pacific but will also face problems from lingering ice, he writes. And cargoes such as Japanese computers might not survive long exposure to freezing temperatures.

On land, there are also many changes. Herders are already finding it hard to move reindeer to new pastures, for instance, because rivers are still running long after they normally freeze.

Anderson also tracks Arctic history -- noting how changing temperatures once taught Greenlanders to dance the foxtrot.

In the 1920s a shift in the Gulf Stream brought warmer water to the west coast of Greenland and new stocks of cod followed. Fish export earnings brought wealth to buy gramophones and music and "young Inuit took to the tango and the foxtrot," he writes.

Now, fish stocks may also shift and other creatures are likely to enter Arctic waters, he writes. "While the polar bear lingers on in a tiny part of his former kingdom...the new Arctic and its open summer waters will belong to the killer whale."

(Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Eddie Evans)


[Green Business]
Italy's solar power capacity rises to 700 MW: GSE
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:23pm EST

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's total capacity of the photovoltaic (PV) installations that turn sunlight into power has risen to 700.7 megawatts from 650 MW a month ago, the state-run energy management agency GSE said on Thursday.

The number of PV installations on stream in Italy, a major solar power market in Europe, rose to 56,285 now from about 53,000 a month ago, GSE said in an update on the sector.

Italy may well reach a total PV installed capacity of 800 MW by the end of this year and hit 1,200 MW by the summer of 2010, Gert Gremes, chairman of Italy's PV association GIFI told Reuters, confirming his earlier forecast.

PV installations mushroomed in Italy from about 22 MW in early 2007 after the government launched a new incentive plan that was among the most generous in Europe. The government intends to cut incentives to ease the budget burden.

The industry which needs clarity on new incentive scheme to plan future investments expects the government to announce its new plan by the end of this year or in January at the latest, Gremes said on the sidelines of a PV conference.

The southern region of Puglia, with 96.6 MW of installed capacity, is Italy's leader by PV capacity, while the northern region of Lombardy has the most installations, numbering 8,630, with a total capacity of nearly 84.9 MW, GSE said.

Installed PV capacity in Italy is expected to rise above 900 MW by the end of this year and reach 1,500 MW in 2010, a GSE official said in September. [ID:nLU164062].

(Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova, editing by Anthony Barker)


[Green Business]
EU bio industry complains over U.S. duty evaders
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:55pm EST

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's biofuels industry said on Thursday it would lodge a complaint with EU trade authorities against companies they say are evading duties slapped on U.S. biodiesel imports.

The European Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 27-nation bloc, imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties of up to five years on imports of biodiesel from the United States in May.

But the Brussels-based European Biodiesel Board (EBB) said it had strong indications subsidized and dumped U.S. biodiesel continues to enter the EU market, either via third countries based on fraudulent declarations of origin, or through blends.

"Against the background of persisting circumvention practices, the EBB General Assembly decided to proceed with the lodging of an anti-circumvention complaint to the EU trade authorities," the group said in a statement.

"If and when established, these practices will lead to heavy and retroactive financial penalties," it said.

The EBB said it would file the complaint in coming weeks, but did not identify companies it suspected were involved, nor gave figures, but a spokeswoman said the volumes involved were "substantial."

The EU's anti-subsidy duties applied to imports of pure biodiesel and fossil diesel/biofuel blends with more than 20 percent biodiesel content.

"We are seeing biodiesel blends not covered by the measures entering the European market," the spokeswoman said.

"We also suspect that pure U.S. biodiesel is being re-exported to Europe via third countries and re-labeled, especially in Canada."

"These two scenarios are in our opinion strongly undermining the effect of the EU duties."

Under the duties imposed by the Commission, U.S. agricultural processors and ethanol producers such as Archer Daniels Midland faced an additional duty of 359 euros ($541) per metric tonne of biodiesel exported to the EU.

More than 50 companies that cooperated with the Commission's investigation faced a tariff of 335 euros per tonne, while all others had to pay 409 euros per tonne.

(Reporting by Bate Felix in Brussels and Michael Hogan in Hamburg; editing by Darren Ennis)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Science untarnished by "Climategate", UN says
Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:03pm EST
By Gerard Wynn

LONDON (Reuters) - The head of the U.N.'s panel of climate experts rejected accusations of bias on Thursday, saying a "Climategate" row in no way undermined evidence that humans are to blame for global warming.

Climate change skeptics have seized on a series of e-mails written by specialists in the field, accusing them of colluding to suppress data which might have undermined their arguments.

The e-mails, some written as long as 13 years ago, were stolen from a British university by unknown hackers and spread rapidly across the Internet.

But Rajendra Pachauri, who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), stood by his panel's 2007 findings, called the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). "This private communication in no way damages the credibility of the AR4 findings," he told Reuters in an email exchange.

This report helped to underpin a global climate response which included this week carbon emissions targets proposed by the United States and China, and won the IPCC a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

The e-mails hacked from Britain's University of East Anglia last week showed scientists made snide comments about climate skeptics, and revealed exchanges about how to present the data to make the global warming argument look convincing.

In one e-mail, confirmed by the university as genuine, a scientist jokingly referred to ways of ensuring papers which doubted established climate science did not appear in the AR4.

Pachauri said a laborious selection process, using only articles approved by other scientists, called peer review, and then subsequently approving these by committee had prevented distortion.

"The entire report writing process of the IPCC is subjected to extensive and repeated review by experts as well as governments," he added in a written statement to Reuters.

"There is, therefore, no possibility of exclusion of any contrarian views, if they have been published in established journals or other publications which are peer reviewed."

"This thoroughness and the duration of the process followed in every assessment ensure the elimination of any possibility of omissions or distortions, intentional or accidental."

In another e-mail, according to news accounts, Kevin Trenberth, a climatologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, wrote: "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't." The revelation of the e-mails was more embarrassing than serious fodder for doubts about the causes of, or basis for climate change, scientists responded this week.

"It is unfortunate that an illegal act of accessing private email communications between scientists who have been involved as authors in IPCC assessments in the past has led to several questions and concerns," said Pachauri.

(Editing by David Stamp)


[Green Business]
Q+A: What is China's "carbon intensity" target?
Thu Nov 26, 2009 3:19pm EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has unveiled its first firm target to curb greenhouse gas emissions, laying out a carbon intensity goal that Premier Wen Jiabao will take to climate talks as his government's central commitment.

Following are questions and answers about carbon intensity.

WHAT IS CARBON INTENSITY?

Carbon intensity is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each unit of economic output. Often carbon dioxide is measured in tonnes, while gross domestic product (GDP) in a local currency represents economic output, but any units can be used.

Other greenhouse gasses like methane are added to the total by calculating the amount of carbon dioxide that would have the equivalent global warming potential.

Emissions are usually calculated indirectly, through looking at inputs such as the amount of coal burned in a power plant, rather than attempting to capture and weigh carbon dioxide gas.

WHY HAS CHINA CHOSEN CARBON INTENSITY?

Cutting carbon intensity allows China to meet international demands for it to count and curb its emissions, without giving up its insistence that development must come first while millions of Chinese citizens are still living in poverty.

By agreeing to control its emissions China will also pave the way for a carbon market, as accurate measurements of emissions are a vital cornerstone for any market for permits to emit.

However, if China's economy expands too fast, even massive improvements in carbon intensity may not be enough to contain dangerous increases in emissions.

A carbon intensity figure can be worked out for anything from a single factory to an entire country.

HOW CHALLENGING IS THE TARGET?

Beijing said it faces "special hardships" in meeting the goal, and Chinese experts said after a five-year energy efficiency drive further improvements would be tough.

But the current goal -- to boost energy efficiency 20 percent over the 5 years to 2010 -- has already brought even larger improvements to carbon intensity.

Every tonne of coal saved means a corresponding amount of emissions are avoided. And an expansion of renewable and nuclear power has further cut back China's emissions growth.

So Beijing is likely to be at least halfway to reaching its 2020 goal by the end of next year, many analysts say.

WHY NOT AN EMISSIONS CAP?

China has repeatedly rejected calls to commit to a peak year or level of emissions because of its worries such a target could hinder efforts to tackle poverty.

A cap could be a logical next step for Beijing if it can meet its initial carbon intensity targets.

Some Chinese experts have said emissions could peak around 2030-2035 with enough spending and the right policies, but officials have been more wary of such ideas.

Under the Kyoto Protocol and the U.N. framework which governs efforts to tackle global warming, developing countries do not have any binding obligations to cap emissions.

HOW DOES CHINA'S CURRENT CARBON INTENSITY STACK UP?

According to figures published by the United States Department of Energy, China in 2006 emitted 2.85 tonnes of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels for every $1,000 of gross domestic product (GDP), around 15 percent lower than a decade earlier.

In comparison, the United States in 2006 emitted 0.52 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every $1,000 of GDP, while Switzerland produced 0.17 tonnes, and impoverished Chad just 0.07 tonnes.

For further comparisons see: here

(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison and Ben Blanchard; Editing by David Fogarty)


[Green Business]
Q+A: Where to now for Australia carbon trade laws?
Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:19am EST

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's parliament delayed a final vote on the government's sweeping carbon trade plan on Friday, missing a key deadline and throwing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's climate change policy into doubt.

Here are some questions and answers about what will happen to the laws, which, if defeated, could trigger a snap election.

WILL THE LAWS PASS NEXT WEEK?

The upper house Senate will resume debate on the carbon-trade legislation on Monday, with the government demanding opposition politicians honor a deal to pass the laws.

But a revolt by climate skeptics within the opposition has made it difficult to predict final numbers in the Senate, where the government needs seven opposition votes to pass the laws.

Chances of the laws passing could depend on whether opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull can survive a leadership challenge, likely as early as Monday.

If leading conservative Tony Abbott or another candidate wins the leadership, the deal to pass the carbon laws could be scrapped.

But Turnbull loyalists could still support the original deal, giving the government some hope of passing the laws.

The numbers are finely balanced. All five junior opposition National Party senators will vote against the laws, and up to 15 opposition Liberal Party Senators may defy Turnbull and vote against the measure.

That leaves the government needing seven of the remaining 17 Liberal Senators to support the draft laws.

WILL THERE BE AN ELECTION?

If the laws are rejected or postponed, Rudd will have a legal right to call a snap election at any time. Opinion polls show Rudd would easily win a second term, with an enlarged majority.

Rudd is a cautious politician and has repeatedly said he does not want an early election. The next election would normally be held in late 2010.

But Rudd could call an early election in February or March to cash in on his popularity and opposition disarray. Such an election would come at the end of a forecast very hot summer and bushfires, which would likely see voters keen for action on climate change.

An election victory would then allow him to push the carbon trade laws through a special joint sitting of parliament's upper and lower houses, where he would be expected to have strong majority.

(Editing by David Fogarty)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
ANALYSTS' VIEW: China announces CO2 intensity target for 2020
Thu Nov 26, 2009 3:19pm EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has unveiled its first firm target to curb greenhouse gas emissions, laying out a "carbon intensity goal" on Thursday that Premier Wen Jiabao will take to key climate talks in Copenhagen next month.

Following are analysts' comments on the impact of the target on the Copenhagen talks and how tough it will be to achieve.

FRANK JOTZO, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CLIMATE CHANGE INSTITUTE

"China's announcement means that China's absolute emissions would still keep growing, just not quite as fast. From 2005 to 2020, China's GDP will triple if an 8 percent annual growth rate is achieved. That means under the target, emissions will 'only' double. But under a business-as-usual scenario, China's emissions might increase over two and a half times."

"A 40-45 percent reduction in carbon intensity is a little less than what China was expected to announce."

"The Chinese announcement could be broadly compatible with other countries' proposed level of effort, like the U.S. 17 percent reduction target, taking into account China's development status."

"But all the targets on the table at Copenhagen fall far short of the reductions that the science is calling for. To reduce the risk of dangerous climate change, they would have to be followed up with far, far stricter targets immediately after 2020."

NAVROZ KERSI DUBASH, SENIOR FELLOW AT THE NEW DELHI-BASED Center FOR POLICY RESEARCH

"Given that China has such high levels of energy intensity this kind of cut is necessary and welcome."

"But ultimately intensity targets can take you so far and countries should start talking about absolute numbers. But this is a fair downpayment on China's part."

TREVOR SIKORSKI, HEAD OF CARBON RESEARCH AT BARCLAYS CAPITAL

"China is targeting the emissions intensity of their growth and they want to bring that down. It means that as China continues to grow, emissions will increase but they will increase at a slower rate than they otherwise would have done."

"It's keeping a lid on emissions without formally capping them at any given level. It won't reduce emissions in absolute terms, those emissions will still probably grow in the next decade."

"Post-2020 Chinese emissions will be higher per capita and the pressure will be on them to take a biding cap will be much greater than it is now."

"Now people are just looking for China to make the right gesture. They have made a fairly good gesture and we should expect much more from them."

KNUT ALFSEN, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, OSLO

"This is very good news. From a previous stance where they said climate change was the rich world's problem ... they have now shifted position to recognize that they have to solve it together."

JOHN HAY, SPOKESMAN, U.N. CLIMATE CHANGE SECRETARIAT

"This is a huge morale booster" -- referring to both the Chinese target and the planned visit by U.S. President Barack Obama.

KIM CARSTENSEN, LEADER OF WWF INTERNATIONAL'S GLOBAL CLIMATE INITIATIVE

"It is extremely welcome news that China is now putting specific figures on its reductions of carbon intensity toward 2020."

"Given the size of China's economy, this decoupling of economic growth from emissions is one of the most important factors that will determine whether the world can get on course to keep temperature rises below 2 degrees Celsius."

"We are talking about several gigatons of avoided emissions with this new announcement by China. We believe China can achieve at least a 45 percent reduction in its carbon intensity."

CHRIS RACZKOWSKI, CHINA MANAGING DIRECTOR FOR ECOFYS, A RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSULTING COMPANY

"It is good news. We are starting to see some movement from these big countries -- China and the United States. This is the type of noise we expected from China. Not hard numbers in terms of reaching a certain amount of tonnes, but intensity targets."

"I think it will take a lot of great effort. It is also well known that in terms of energy efficiency it has a long way to go to catch up with Europe and Japan, but any time you make this sort of change, it is still difficult for a country. It is definitely a strong sign that they are getting serious about their contribution to world greenhouse gases."

"I think the question that will immediately follow this is the favorite three initials that the United States keeps talking about -- M, R, and V -- and how China is going to measure, report and verify these cuts."

ALLAN ZHANG, HEAD OF CARBON MARKETS IN BEIJING WITH PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

"I would say it is a very aggressive target. Of course, they have set a target date for reducing energy consumption by 20 percent by 2020, but they failed in the first few years and I'm not sure whether they can catch up in the years to come.

"This 40-45 percent reduction (in carbon intensity) is quite big. I am sure they will have to come up with subsequent action plans to implement it.

"This will be the official position of China and it will be quite something. I am sure it will put more pressure on the U.S. side. It is definitely a significant move, but to achieve it will be quite a challenge."

DAI YANDE, DEPUTY HEAD OF THE ENERGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE UNDER THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND REFORM COMMISSION

"It's an arduous task for China, as everybody knows energy intensity tends to rise during industrialization and thus it's difficult to cut down emissions."

"China is still in the period of heavy industrialization. It has to rely on developing renewable energy sources to cut emissions, and that is still very costly."

"This move is a demonstration of China's attitude and resolve to tackle the issue."

PAN JIAHUA, CLIMATE POLICY EXPERT AT CHINESE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

"I think this goal will be difficult for China to achieve. Already in the (current) Eleventh Five-year Plan we've made big efforts to cut energy intensity by 20 percent, and many of the easier steps have already been made. The next phase will be even more difficult, so I don't see that achieving this carbon intensity goal will be an easy one. It will be extremely difficult."

"Personally I think this number is a bit high for China's present capabilities ... Achieving it will require shifting more from old power plants, and also financial subsidies -- for example, for power-saving appliances, clean vehicles, and so on. Getting all done that won't be easy."

(Reporting by Beijing bureau, Krittivas Mukherjee in New Delhi, Nina Chestney and Gerard Wynn in London, Alister Doyle in Oslo and David Fogarty in Singapore)

(Editing by David Fogarty and Paul Tait)


[Green Business]
China to put 2010 economic stress on climate change
Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:39am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will step up construction of major projects related to energy conservation and environmental protection next year, the ruling Communist Party agreed on Friday.

The party's decision-making Politburo, at a meeting to set guidelines for economic policy in 2010, pledged to deal actively with climate change by implementing measures to cut carbon intensity, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The meeting came a day after China announced it was aiming to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each yuan of national income by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels.

The 25-member Politburo, chaired by President Hu Jintao, the head of the Communist Party, also agreed to maintain the continuity and stability of macroeconomic policies next year, Xinhua said, without going into detail.

(Reporting by Alan Wheatley; Editing by Ken Wills)


[Green Business]
Greek 5-year CDS widens to 218 bps: CMA
Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:30am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - The cost of protecting Greek government debt against default rose again on Friday, according to monitor CMA DataVision, as jitters about Dubai's debt crisis continued to roil global financial markets.

Five-year credit default swaps (CDS) on Greek government debt climbed to 218 basis points from 208.5 basis points at the New York close on Thursday, CMA said.

This means it now costs 218,000 euros per year to insure an exposure of 10 million euros of Greek government bonds, up from 208,500 euros on Thursday.

The premium investors demand to hold the 10-year Greek government bond rather than benchmark German Bunds also rose.

Ten-year Greek bonds yielded 217 basis points over equivalent-maturity Bunds, compared with 208 bps in late European hours on Thursday, but has since eased to 204 bps.

(Reporting by Ian Chua)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
China unveils carbon target for Copenhagen deal
Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:05pm EST
By Emma Graham-Harrison and Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - China unveiled its first firm target to curb greenhouse gas emissions on Thursday, a carbon intensity goal that Premier Wen Jiabao will take to a summit in Copenhagen next month hoping to aid a global climate deal.

The announcement came a day after the United States, the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases behind China, unveiled a plan to cut emissions by 2020 and said President Barack Obama would attend the U.N.-led talks in Copenhagen.

China said Wen would go to the December 7-18 talks and pledged to cut the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each yuan of national income 40-45 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels.

It was hailed as a vital commitment toward rekindling talks to fix a new framework for tackling global warming, although analysts cautioned it was technically quite modest for China.

"The U.S. commitment to specific, mid-term emission cut targets and China's commitment to specific action on energy efficiency can unlock two of the last doors to a comprehensive agreement," said Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen praised Wen's decision to attend and said China was "very active and constructive."

Even so, China's emissions were still likely to double by 2020 with the new target, said Frank Jotzo, deputy director of the Australian National University Climate Change Institute.

Without a goal "under a business as usual scenario, China's emissions might increase over two and a half times," he said.

"China has taken what is universally expected to happen, and dressed it up as a new and ambitious policy decision," said Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish statistician and author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist."

The U.N. talks have run out of time to settle a legally binding deal after arguments between rich and poor nations about who should cut emissions, by how much and who should pay. But hopes are growing that a substantive political pact can be agreed at the December meeting instead.

China's target comes after big emitters Brazil and Indonesia announced tough 2020 reduction targets. Wednesday's 2020 target from the United States and Obama's attendance are also expected to help the Copenhagen talks, analysts say.

But in a reminder of the serious disputes that still shadow the summit, China's top climate envoy took aim at developed nations he said were slacking in their efforts to cut emissions and said the new Chinese target was only "domestically binding."

"So far we have not seen concrete actions and substantive commitments by the developed countries," Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the planning body the National Development and Reform Committee, told a hastily arranged news conference in Beijing.

TOUGH GOAL?

China's cabinet said its goal, which allows greenhouse gas emissions to grow as the economy expands, was a demanding one for the developing country. It will unveil new policies including taxes and financial steps to reach it.

The target does not include carbon sinks, Xie said, and will be calculated based on energy consumption and "production processes" -- probably industrial output. Extra cuts could therefore come from forests, which absorb carbon dioxide.

Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said the plan "shows China's highly responsible attitude toward the future of mankind."

A five-year drive to boost energy efficiency and renewables by 2010 will take Beijing around half-way to meeting the carbon intensity goal by the end of this decade.

But the country's still-rapid industrialization, and its efforts in recent years, meant harder work for smaller gains in future, said Dai Yande, deputy head of the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission.

"It's an arduous task for China, as everybody knows energy intensity tends to rise during industrialization and thus it's difficult to cut down emissions," Dai said.

NEGOTIATIONS AHEAD

China said the intensity goal was a "voluntary" one that would only be binding domestically, leaving room for negotiation about what international commitments Beijing will sign up for.

"I think the question that will immediately follow this is the favorite three initials that the United States keeps talking about, M, R, and V, how China is going to measure, report and verify these cuts," said Chris Raczkowski, China managing director for Ecofys, a renewable energy consulting company.

As a developing country, China is not obliged by current treaties to accept binding caps on its emissions, and it and other poor countries have said that principle should not change in any new deal that emerges from Copenhagen.

The United States will pledge to cut its greenhouse gas emissions roughly 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, a drop of about 3 percent below the 1990 benchmark year used in U.N. treaties -- and far below the 25-40 percent cut outlined by the U.N. climate panel.

Australia's troubled carbon trade scheme was thrown into confusion on Thursday after several opposition lawmakers resigned their party positions and promised to ignore a deal to support the government's planned laws.

(Additional reporting by David Stanway, Jim Bai and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Nina Chestney and Gerard Wynn in LONDON and Alister Doyle in OSLO; Editing by Janet Lawrence)


[Green Business]
Australia carbon vote delay raises poll prospect
Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:19am EST
By James Grubel

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's parliament delayed a final vote on a government carbon trade plan on Friday, missing a key deadline, throwing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's climate change policy into doubt and raising the possibility of a snap election.

Rudd wanted the carbon scheme, central to his promise to cut emissions by between 5 and 25 percent, passed by Friday and ahead of December's global climate talks in Copenhagen, where he will play a key negotiating role.

But the upper house Senate failed to take a vote by the close of business on Friday, and will now return on Monday to continue debate on the package of 11 bills, with the government determined to push the bills through parliament.

"We are committed to this scheme. I believe the Australian public are very strongly committed to action on climate change," Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters.

If the proposed laws are defeated again in the Senate, after a first defeat in August, Rudd would have the option of calling a snap election in early 2010 and opinion polls suggest he would win with an increased majority.

The United States, the world's second largest greenhouse gas emitter, is eyeing developments in Australia as its lawmakers make slow progress on their own climate bill in the U.S. Senate.

Rudd had a deal with the opposition to pass the bills and needs seven opposition votes to pass the bills in the Senate.

But an open revolt by climate skeptics within the opposition has thrown the deal into doubt and on Friday prompted a leadership challenge as early as Monday against leader Malcolm Turnbull, who already survived one challenge on Wednesday.

A letter signed by 10 conservative lawmakers called for the fresh leadership vote on Monday, with former conservative minister Tony Abbott saying he will challenge for the job.

But the most likely candidate to replace Turnbull would be his treasury spokesman, Joe Hockey, who has publicly supported the carbon trade deal and who remains loyal to Turnbull.

A change of opposition leader could dramatically change the outlook for the carbon trade laws. A new leader could abandon the deal with the government, making the Senate numbers uncertain.

But if Turnbull holds the job, the laws could still pass through the Senate, although as many as 18 of his senators could defy their leader by voting against the bills.

The government would need seven of the remaining 19 opposition Senators to support the bills for them to pass.

The latest opinion polls show Rudd would easily win an election with an increased majority. The Reuters Poll Trend on Tuesday found Rudd had an almost 11 percentage point lead at 55.4 percent support compared to 44.6 percent for the opposition.

Turnbull ruled out standing down as leader and warned his party to support the laws or face a crushing electoral defeat.

"We would be wiped out," Turnbull told Australian radio. "the vast majority of Australians want to see action on climate change.

"If this legislation is knocked back, Kevin Rudd will have no choice but to go to a double dissolution election. This is a fundamental plank in his platform."

(Editing by Nick Macfie)