[News] from [guardian.co.uk]
[Environment > Climate change]
Oxfam: 4.5 million children at risk of aid 'raids' to pay for climate change
People already go hungry, take children out of school or sell livestock because of climate-related problems, says agency
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 September 2009 11.28 BST Article history
At least 4.5 million children could die and tens of millions more could miss out on schooling if rich countries "raid" existing aid funding to pay for measures to help poor nations cope with climate change, Oxfam warned today.
The aid agency believes $50bn a year (£30bn) is needed to help developing countries cope with the impacts of global warming including droughts, floods, storms and rising sea levels.
And it says the money must be provided in addition to the 0.7% of GDP developed nations have pledged as aid to improve the lives of people in some of the world's poorest countries – or efforts to tackle poverty will stall.
A report by Oxfam warns that diverting $50bn from existing aid pledges to fund climate measures would lead to the death of 4.5 million children, while 75 million fewer youngsters would be likely to go to school and 8.6 million fewer people would have access to HIV/Aids treatment.
It could prove a major setback to efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals which aim to end hunger and poverty and boost education, health, gender equality and environmental sustainability by 2015, the report warns.
Oxfam said it was already seeing people going without food, pulling their children out of school or selling livestock to pay for debts caused by failing crops and other climate-related problems.
According to the aid agency, just three countries including the UK are in favour of additional funding for climate measures – and the issue could prove to be a deal breaker in the upcoming crunch talks aimed at agreeing global emissions cuts in Copenhagen in December.
A failure by developed countries to address the problems surrounding adaptation funding has led to distrust between the two sides and could undermine efforts to secure a deal to cut emissions.
Oxfam is also concerned that a Conservative government in the UK would divert existing aid provisions to pay for measures such as flood prevention and the introduction of drought-resistant crops.
Barbara Stocking, chief executive of Oxfam Great Britain, said: "Forcing poor countries to choose between life-saving drugs for the sick, schooling for their children or the means to protect themselves against climate change is an unfair burden that will only exacerbate poverty.
"Stealing money from tomorrow's schools and hospitals to help poor people adapt to climate change is neither a moral or effective way of rich countries paying their climate debt.
"Funds must be increased, not diverted," she said.
Oxfam wants to see a carbon market in which rich countries have to buy allowances to cover national emissions under a new global deal to slash greenhouse gases, with the money going towards paying for adaptation measures.
The scheme, similar to one which has been proposed by the Norwegian government in advance of Copenhagen, would avoid the "familiar problem" of developed countries failing to meet aid promises, the Oxfam report's co-author Robert Bailey suggested.
A spokeswoman for the Department for International Development (DfID) said: "Climate finance will be one of the most important and most challenging issues to be addressed over the coming years and that is why the UK are leading the way by offering new investment in addition to our existing aid commitments.
"In June the UK became the first country to publicly address the issue with the proposal for an annual $100bn global fund, to help developing countries both prepare for the impacts of climate change and build for a low-carbon future."
The shadow international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, said: "We must tackle both the causes and the consequences of global climate change.
"As well as setting the framework for carbon markets, international agreements will be key to establishing additional support for adaptation.
"We believe that Britain must work towards an ambitious global deal at Copenhagen that will limit emissions and see substantial financial resources made available for adaptation."
[Environment > Electric, hybrid and low-emission cars]
UK cars rank behind other European countries on efforts to reduce emissions
CO2 emissions from cars in Portugal, Italy and Spain all below Britain's average, according to survey
Adam Vaughan
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 September 2009 14.54 BST Article history
The UK is lagging behind other European countries on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars, campaigners warned this week.
Britain ranks 16th out of 25 EU member states in a league table of average CO2 emissions from cars, with emissions higher than those in Portugal, Italy and Spain. The survey by campaigners Transport and Environment, which shows Denmark and France are cutting average CO2 levels faster than the UK, comes as several new low-carbon cars were launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show today.
The findings reveal the best-performing car makers have made cuts of up to five times those by the worst manufacturers. BMW and Mazda were two of the fastest-improving firms for CO2 emissions from cars sold in Europe in 2008, with BMW the only company to achieve double-digit (10.2%) cuts in average emissions on 2007 levels. Campaigners said the reason it was now 9th out of 14 car makers on average CO2 levels was because it had introduced efficiency features to all its range, rather than limited to specific models, as Toyota has done with cars such as the hybrid Prius.
PSA Peugeot-Citroen came bottom of the table for improvement, largely because it has made significant progress on efficiency in previous years and is already ranked second best on average emissions behind Fiat.
Major automotive manufacturers are being forced by EU legislation to improve the efficiency of their vehicles — by 2015, all new cars in the EU will be required, on average across European fleets, to emit less than 130g/km CO2. The UK's new cars have average CO2 emissions of 158g/km compared with the best performer, Portugal, on 138g/km. The European Environment Agency estimates cars are responsible for 14% of the EU's CO2 emissions.
Jos Dings, director of transport and environment, said: "The new EU law is already having an impact. If the overall drop in average CO2 emissions was purely related to the financial crisis, fuel prices or changing consumer behaviour, we would have expected to see every company reducing much more equally. But what is actually happening is that carmakers are seeing how far they have to cut and changing their fleets accordingly."
Tony Bosworth, Friends of the Earth's senior transport campaigner, called on the UK government to tax less efficient cars. "These new figures show that some carmakers who were dragging their feet towards cutting emissions have raised their game. But the UK is well down the EU league table of emissions from new cars. The government must do more to encourage drivers to buy smarter cars that use less fuel by increasing the tax on gas guzzlers," Bosworth said.
As part of the push to a new generation of lower and zero emission cars, several new electric and hybrid cars were unveiled by European car-makers at the Frankfurt Motor Show today. BMW's new hybrid X6 has been criticised over its green claims because it emits 231 grams of CO2 per kilometre - far higher than many conventional cars. VW presented a three-seater electric concept car, called the E-Up, capable of 0-62mph in 11.3 seconds, a top speed of 84mph and a range of "over 80 miles" in between charges - more than the UK's G-Wiz L-Ion but less than Norway's TH!NK City. Other new concept cars on show included Renault's electric saloon, the Fluence Zero, a hybrid RCZ by Peugeot and Audi's e-Tron, a high-performance electric sports car.
[Environment > Climate change]
Oxfam: 4.5 million children at risk of aid 'raids' to pay for climate change
People already go hungry, take children out of school or sell livestock because of climate-related problems, says agency
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 September 2009 11.28 BST Article history
At least 4.5 million children could die and tens of millions more could miss out on schooling if rich countries "raid" existing aid funding to pay for measures to help poor nations cope with climate change, Oxfam warned today.
The aid agency believes $50bn a year (£30bn) is needed to help developing countries cope with the impacts of global warming including droughts, floods, storms and rising sea levels.
And it says the money must be provided in addition to the 0.7% of GDP developed nations have pledged as aid to improve the lives of people in some of the world's poorest countries – or efforts to tackle poverty will stall.
A report by Oxfam warns that diverting $50bn from existing aid pledges to fund climate measures would lead to the death of 4.5 million children, while 75 million fewer youngsters would be likely to go to school and 8.6 million fewer people would have access to HIV/Aids treatment.
It could prove a major setback to efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals which aim to end hunger and poverty and boost education, health, gender equality and environmental sustainability by 2015, the report warns.
Oxfam said it was already seeing people going without food, pulling their children out of school or selling livestock to pay for debts caused by failing crops and other climate-related problems.
According to the aid agency, just three countries including the UK are in favour of additional funding for climate measures – and the issue could prove to be a deal breaker in the upcoming crunch talks aimed at agreeing global emissions cuts in Copenhagen in December.
A failure by developed countries to address the problems surrounding adaptation funding has led to distrust between the two sides and could undermine efforts to secure a deal to cut emissions.
Oxfam is also concerned that a Conservative government in the UK would divert existing aid provisions to pay for measures such as flood prevention and the introduction of drought-resistant crops.
Barbara Stocking, chief executive of Oxfam Great Britain, said: "Forcing poor countries to choose between life-saving drugs for the sick, schooling for their children or the means to protect themselves against climate change is an unfair burden that will only exacerbate poverty.
"Stealing money from tomorrow's schools and hospitals to help poor people adapt to climate change is neither a moral or effective way of rich countries paying their climate debt.
"Funds must be increased, not diverted," she said.
Oxfam wants to see a carbon market in which rich countries have to buy allowances to cover national emissions under a new global deal to slash greenhouse gases, with the money going towards paying for adaptation measures.
The scheme, similar to one which has been proposed by the Norwegian government in advance of Copenhagen, would avoid the "familiar problem" of developed countries failing to meet aid promises, the Oxfam report's co-author Robert Bailey suggested.
A spokeswoman for the Department for International Development (DfID) said: "Climate finance will be one of the most important and most challenging issues to be addressed over the coming years and that is why the UK are leading the way by offering new investment in addition to our existing aid commitments.
"In June the UK became the first country to publicly address the issue with the proposal for an annual $100bn global fund, to help developing countries both prepare for the impacts of climate change and build for a low-carbon future."
The shadow international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, said: "We must tackle both the causes and the consequences of global climate change.
"As well as setting the framework for carbon markets, international agreements will be key to establishing additional support for adaptation.
"We believe that Britain must work towards an ambitious global deal at Copenhagen that will limit emissions and see substantial financial resources made available for adaptation."
[Environment > Electric, hybrid and low-emission cars]
UK cars rank behind other European countries on efforts to reduce emissions
CO2 emissions from cars in Portugal, Italy and Spain all below Britain's average, according to survey
Adam Vaughan
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 September 2009 14.54 BST Article history
The UK is lagging behind other European countries on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars, campaigners warned this week.
Britain ranks 16th out of 25 EU member states in a league table of average CO2 emissions from cars, with emissions higher than those in Portugal, Italy and Spain. The survey by campaigners Transport and Environment, which shows Denmark and France are cutting average CO2 levels faster than the UK, comes as several new low-carbon cars were launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show today.
The findings reveal the best-performing car makers have made cuts of up to five times those by the worst manufacturers. BMW and Mazda were two of the fastest-improving firms for CO2 emissions from cars sold in Europe in 2008, with BMW the only company to achieve double-digit (10.2%) cuts in average emissions on 2007 levels. Campaigners said the reason it was now 9th out of 14 car makers on average CO2 levels was because it had introduced efficiency features to all its range, rather than limited to specific models, as Toyota has done with cars such as the hybrid Prius.
PSA Peugeot-Citroen came bottom of the table for improvement, largely because it has made significant progress on efficiency in previous years and is already ranked second best on average emissions behind Fiat.
Major automotive manufacturers are being forced by EU legislation to improve the efficiency of their vehicles — by 2015, all new cars in the EU will be required, on average across European fleets, to emit less than 130g/km CO2. The UK's new cars have average CO2 emissions of 158g/km compared with the best performer, Portugal, on 138g/km. The European Environment Agency estimates cars are responsible for 14% of the EU's CO2 emissions.
Jos Dings, director of transport and environment, said: "The new EU law is already having an impact. If the overall drop in average CO2 emissions was purely related to the financial crisis, fuel prices or changing consumer behaviour, we would have expected to see every company reducing much more equally. But what is actually happening is that carmakers are seeing how far they have to cut and changing their fleets accordingly."
Tony Bosworth, Friends of the Earth's senior transport campaigner, called on the UK government to tax less efficient cars. "These new figures show that some carmakers who were dragging their feet towards cutting emissions have raised their game. But the UK is well down the EU league table of emissions from new cars. The government must do more to encourage drivers to buy smarter cars that use less fuel by increasing the tax on gas guzzlers," Bosworth said.
As part of the push to a new generation of lower and zero emission cars, several new electric and hybrid cars were unveiled by European car-makers at the Frankfurt Motor Show today. BMW's new hybrid X6 has been criticised over its green claims because it emits 231 grams of CO2 per kilometre - far higher than many conventional cars. VW presented a three-seater electric concept car, called the E-Up, capable of 0-62mph in 11.3 seconds, a top speed of 84mph and a range of "over 80 miles" in between charges - more than the UK's G-Wiz L-Ion but less than Norway's TH!NK City. Other new concept cars on show included Renault's electric saloon, the Fluence Zero, a hybrid RCZ by Peugeot and Audi's e-Tron, a high-performance electric sports car.
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