[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
LONDON
Mon Jan 4, 2010 8:22am EST
UK's Brown says climate change agreement possible
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday he believed a global agreement to combat climate change might still be possible despite the limited results of last month's Copenhagen meeting.
"I've got an idea about how we can actually move this forward over the next few months and I'll be working on this," Brown told the BBC, when asked what came next after the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen.
"I think it's not impossible that the groundwork that was done at Copenhagen could lead to what you might call a global agreement that everybody is happy to stand by," Brown said.
"I'll be working on that in the next few months and I can see a way forward because what prevented an agreement was suspicion and fear and forms of protectionism that I think we've got to get over," he said, without giving details of his plan.
The Copenhagen talks ended with a bare-minimum agreement when delegates "noted" an accord struck by the United States, China and other emerging powers that fell far short of the conference's original goals.
Environmentalists and many policymakers voiced disappointment at the outcome.
The accord set a target of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times, seen as a threshold for dangerous changes such as more floods, droughts and rising seas, but failed to say how this would be achieved.
Another round of climate talks is scheduled for November 2010 in Mexico. Negotiators are hoping to nail down then what they failed to achieve in Copenhagen -- a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
[Green Business]
Chris Buckley
BEIJING
Sun Jan 3, 2010 11:02pm EST
North China struggles with icy cold snap
BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing authorities shut schools, mobilized extra buses and ordered thousands of residents to help clear icy roads and paths with shovels on Monday, as the Chinese capital struggled with its harshest winter weather in years.
North China began the working week after a blast of harsh cold and heavy snow blanketed the region over the weekend, paralyzing highways and forcing the cancellation of many flights.
"Low temperatures and ice-covered roads are expected to severely affect local traffic on Monday," Song Jianguo, the head of the Beijing traffic management bureau, told the official Xinhua news agency.
So far there are no signs the cold spell will trigger the weeks-long disruptions and power cuts that hit some parts of southern China in unusually icy weather in 2008.
But the snow and cold could push up food prices by stalling shipments and damaging greenhouses, delay flights, and hold up some business in Beijing and other cities for a few days.
"Vegetable prices already went up yesterday. It's nothing if you have money, but you notice it if you're just an ordinary resident," said Wu Yidong, a carpenter on a building site riding a battered bicycle on an icy lane in downtown Beijing.
"It's cold on the bicycle, but feels even colder standing still," he said before moving on.
The icy snap could also strain gas and coal supplies. Unusually cold weather in the past two months has caused gas shortages as distribution networks struggled to meet demand.
Sections of highways around Beijing, the nearby port city of Tianjin, as well as neighboring provinces, including the big coal producer Shanxi province, remained cut on Monday morning, the national ministry of transport said.
FAR NORTH
The wave of cold is expected to continue through the first part of the week. China's national meteorological office warned that temperatures in the nation's far north could fall to around minus 32 degrees Celsius (-26F).
Beijing is likely to shiver at about minus 10 degrees Celsius in daytime and colder at night, touching records that have stood for decades.
Large parts of the Korean peninsula were also blanketed with snow on Monday that snarled the rush hour commute in Seoul, where the main domestic airport, Gimpo, canceled all domestic flights.
The Chinese capital has become used to milder, largely snow-free winters in recent decades. The snow over the weekend was the biggest in Beijing since 1951, with falls of up to 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) in the city's far north near the Great Wall, local television news reported.
On Sunday, more than 90 percent of flights at Beijing's Capital International Airport, the country's busiest, were canceled or severely delayed. Many highways out of Beijing were shut too, and on others stalled cars and jack-knifed trucks created long tailbacks of traffic.
On Monday, many flights out of Beijing still held up by the backlog of delayed planes, and cars crawled on ice-covered roads.
The cold spell across southern China last year prompted public grumbling about an initially tardy, fumbling official response. This time, the government appears determined to avoid such complaints.
Railway, airport and road authorities have all announced plans to minimize delays and get transport moving.
(Additional reporting by Yu Le in Beijing and Christine Kim and Yoo Choonsik in Seoul; Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim and Alex Richardson)
[Green Business]
TAIPEI
Mon Jan 4, 2010 7:36am EST
Outdone by Dubai, Taiwan tower seeks green award
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Outdone by an tower extending over 800 meters in Dubai, the world's former tallest building, Taipei 101, wants to become the highest green structure by completing a checklist of clean energy standards, a spokesman said on Monday.
Green Business | Lifestyle
Taipei 101 will spend T$60 million ($1.9 million) over the next year to meet 100 criteria for an environmental certificate that it would hold over Dubai, spokesman Michael Liu said.
The office-commercial tower that reigned for five years as the world's highest building at 509 meters (1,670 feet) expects the U.S-based Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design to give it the certificate in 2011.
"We're focused now on becoming a Taiwan landmark, that won't change, and on going green. We'd be the tallest building to get a green certificate," Liu said by telephone.
Taipei 101, he said, would work with its 85 office tenants to cut electricity and water use, while encouraging them to recycle more refuse. Annual utility savings should total T$20 million.
Restaurants would be asked to bring in supplies from as close as possible to reduce transportation.
"We can reduce power, trash and water by more than 10 percent," he said. "We're already pretty green. In principle there's no major problem."
The Taiwan skyscraper, complete with an observation deck popular with tourists, has already met 60 of the checklist items, including double-paned windows to retain cool air.
Green towers are unusual in Asia, a region with the world's busiest construction sector yet one of the poorest records for eco-friendly building.
Burj Dubai, started at the height of the economic boom and built by some 12,000 laborers, will now become the world's tallest building. It was set to open on Monday as Dubai seeks to rekindle optimism after its financial crisis.
(Reporting by Ralph Jennings, Editing by Ron Popeski)
[Green Business]
LONDON
Mon Jan 4, 2010 8:22am EST
UK's Brown says climate change agreement possible
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday he believed a global agreement to combat climate change might still be possible despite the limited results of last month's Copenhagen meeting.
"I've got an idea about how we can actually move this forward over the next few months and I'll be working on this," Brown told the BBC, when asked what came next after the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen.
"I think it's not impossible that the groundwork that was done at Copenhagen could lead to what you might call a global agreement that everybody is happy to stand by," Brown said.
"I'll be working on that in the next few months and I can see a way forward because what prevented an agreement was suspicion and fear and forms of protectionism that I think we've got to get over," he said, without giving details of his plan.
The Copenhagen talks ended with a bare-minimum agreement when delegates "noted" an accord struck by the United States, China and other emerging powers that fell far short of the conference's original goals.
Environmentalists and many policymakers voiced disappointment at the outcome.
The accord set a target of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times, seen as a threshold for dangerous changes such as more floods, droughts and rising seas, but failed to say how this would be achieved.
Another round of climate talks is scheduled for November 2010 in Mexico. Negotiators are hoping to nail down then what they failed to achieve in Copenhagen -- a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
[Green Business]
Chris Buckley
BEIJING
Sun Jan 3, 2010 11:02pm EST
North China struggles with icy cold snap
BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing authorities shut schools, mobilized extra buses and ordered thousands of residents to help clear icy roads and paths with shovels on Monday, as the Chinese capital struggled with its harshest winter weather in years.
North China began the working week after a blast of harsh cold and heavy snow blanketed the region over the weekend, paralyzing highways and forcing the cancellation of many flights.
"Low temperatures and ice-covered roads are expected to severely affect local traffic on Monday," Song Jianguo, the head of the Beijing traffic management bureau, told the official Xinhua news agency.
So far there are no signs the cold spell will trigger the weeks-long disruptions and power cuts that hit some parts of southern China in unusually icy weather in 2008.
But the snow and cold could push up food prices by stalling shipments and damaging greenhouses, delay flights, and hold up some business in Beijing and other cities for a few days.
"Vegetable prices already went up yesterday. It's nothing if you have money, but you notice it if you're just an ordinary resident," said Wu Yidong, a carpenter on a building site riding a battered bicycle on an icy lane in downtown Beijing.
"It's cold on the bicycle, but feels even colder standing still," he said before moving on.
The icy snap could also strain gas and coal supplies. Unusually cold weather in the past two months has caused gas shortages as distribution networks struggled to meet demand.
Sections of highways around Beijing, the nearby port city of Tianjin, as well as neighboring provinces, including the big coal producer Shanxi province, remained cut on Monday morning, the national ministry of transport said.
FAR NORTH
The wave of cold is expected to continue through the first part of the week. China's national meteorological office warned that temperatures in the nation's far north could fall to around minus 32 degrees Celsius (-26F).
Beijing is likely to shiver at about minus 10 degrees Celsius in daytime and colder at night, touching records that have stood for decades.
Large parts of the Korean peninsula were also blanketed with snow on Monday that snarled the rush hour commute in Seoul, where the main domestic airport, Gimpo, canceled all domestic flights.
The Chinese capital has become used to milder, largely snow-free winters in recent decades. The snow over the weekend was the biggest in Beijing since 1951, with falls of up to 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) in the city's far north near the Great Wall, local television news reported.
On Sunday, more than 90 percent of flights at Beijing's Capital International Airport, the country's busiest, were canceled or severely delayed. Many highways out of Beijing were shut too, and on others stalled cars and jack-knifed trucks created long tailbacks of traffic.
On Monday, many flights out of Beijing still held up by the backlog of delayed planes, and cars crawled on ice-covered roads.
The cold spell across southern China last year prompted public grumbling about an initially tardy, fumbling official response. This time, the government appears determined to avoid such complaints.
Railway, airport and road authorities have all announced plans to minimize delays and get transport moving.
(Additional reporting by Yu Le in Beijing and Christine Kim and Yoo Choonsik in Seoul; Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim and Alex Richardson)
[Green Business]
TAIPEI
Mon Jan 4, 2010 7:36am EST
Outdone by Dubai, Taiwan tower seeks green award
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Outdone by an tower extending over 800 meters in Dubai, the world's former tallest building, Taipei 101, wants to become the highest green structure by completing a checklist of clean energy standards, a spokesman said on Monday.
Green Business | Lifestyle
Taipei 101 will spend T$60 million ($1.9 million) over the next year to meet 100 criteria for an environmental certificate that it would hold over Dubai, spokesman Michael Liu said.
The office-commercial tower that reigned for five years as the world's highest building at 509 meters (1,670 feet) expects the U.S-based Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design to give it the certificate in 2011.
"We're focused now on becoming a Taiwan landmark, that won't change, and on going green. We'd be the tallest building to get a green certificate," Liu said by telephone.
Taipei 101, he said, would work with its 85 office tenants to cut electricity and water use, while encouraging them to recycle more refuse. Annual utility savings should total T$20 million.
Restaurants would be asked to bring in supplies from as close as possible to reduce transportation.
"We can reduce power, trash and water by more than 10 percent," he said. "We're already pretty green. In principle there's no major problem."
The Taiwan skyscraper, complete with an observation deck popular with tourists, has already met 60 of the checklist items, including double-paned windows to retain cool air.
Green towers are unusual in Asia, a region with the world's busiest construction sector yet one of the poorest records for eco-friendly building.
Burj Dubai, started at the height of the economic boom and built by some 12,000 laborers, will now become the world's tallest building. It was set to open on Monday as Dubai seeks to rekindle optimism after its financial crisis.
(Reporting by Ralph Jennings, Editing by Ron Popeski)
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