World bank arm offers $200m in loans to reforest Indonesia

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:05:34 GMT

The International Finance Corp (IFC) is offering loans to Indonesian companies that are interested in reforesting degraded land, in an effort to reduce carbon emiss...

Carbon trust highlights need for climate innovation centres

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:02:11 GMT

A global network of Climate Innovation Centres is required to meet the local clean tech requirements of developing countries more effectively and to address the failure of existing technology transfer arrangements from the developed world.

These are the findings of a joint paper written by researchers at the UK�s Carbon Trust and the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. The report, which builds on earlier work, was published in the November issue of

Better protection for homes and communities from flooding and drought

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:20:03 GMT

Communities, homes and businesses will be better protected from the risk of flooding and water shortages in future under plans published in the Flood and Water Management Bill by Defra today. The Bill addresses many of the recommendations from Sir Michael Pitt�s review of the summer 2007 floods. It will give the authorities that manage flood risk better powers to do so, putting local authorities in charge of dealing with local flood risk and the Environment Agency in charge of overseeing f...

Ceres applauds SEC decision allowing financial risks in environmental and social resolutions

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:11:36 GMT

Ceres president Mindy Lubber praises the Securities and Exchange Commission for its decision yesterday to allow shareholder resolutions seeking information from companies on the financial risks they face from social and environmental issues including climate change.

The decision, outlined in SEC Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14E (CF) reverses an SEC rule that prevented investors from directly asking companies about the impacts of climate change and other pressing concerns on their financial bott...

Climate issues loom at the UN world food summit

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:12:28 GMT

A three-day United Nations summit on world food security opened in Rome this week, with a grim message from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that on any one day more than 17,000 children will die of hunger - one every five seconds, 6 million a year - even as the planet has more than enough food for all. Climate related factors are a major cause of this problem, he added.

`Today, more than one billion people are hungry,` he told the assembled leaders, calling for immediate action on long-term re...

Australia`s climate bill row heats up

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:35:50 GMT

The simmering tensions between Australia`s government and the opposition over the country`s proposed climate change bill threatened to boil over today, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd accusing opposition climate sceptics of adopting a Medieval mentality.

`It is as if we are back into the trial of Galileo or something and they are simply arguing somehow that the science is fiction and that they alone, in their own prejudiced universe, occupy fact,` Rudd told parliament, as his Labor governmen...

WWF tops list of NGOs that are best for business support

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:29:55 GMT

WWF and Forum For The Future lead the growing numbers of NGOs advising top UK firms on environmental issues, according to a new report from industry analyst

Zerofootprint unveils VELOmetrics™ enabling peer groups to compare carbon footprint

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Zerofootprint, a leading developer of tools to measure and reduce the environmental footprint of individuals and organizations of all sizes, announced today at New York Climate Week the availability of the industry�s first benchmarking service VELOmetrics�.

The call this week at the Climate Summit in New York has been to encourage companies and organizations to measure and compare carbon footprint metrics. To meet this challenge Zerofootprint is launching a tool that works with any carbon...

International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations issues call for abstracts for World Clean Air Congress

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations (IUAPPA) has issued the call for abstracts for the World Clean Air Congress, September 12-16, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The 2010 Congress will bring together specialists from academia, industry, consulting, environmental advocacy groups, and government to present innovative ways to improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and minimize environmental impacts.

US and China ink emission reporting co-operation deal

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:15:00 GMT

The flurry of bilateral environment agreements signed this week between the US and China delivered a significant new deal yesterday designed to improve China`s ability to monitor its greenhouse gas emissions.

According to reports, the US

Medvedev toughens up Russia`s 2020 emissions target

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:05:50 GMT

The chances of next month`s Copenhagen summit ending in a meaningful international deal on climate change received a significant boost yesterday when Russia signalled it would increase its emission target for 2020.

Officials confirmed that Russian President...

Green technologies in peril as rich nations dither on climate deal

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:59:29 GMT

Vital business investment in clean technology to tackle climate change is being threatened by delays and doubts over the Copenhagen deal on climate change, senior figures have told the Guardian.

Without urgent progress which will stimulate funding for renewables, nations could be l...

Environment ministers talk up Copenhagen chances

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:13:22 GMT

Environment ministers yesterday talked up the chances of a meaningful political deal being agreed in Copenhagen next month, following two days of informal talks in the Danish capital.

The meeting, which coincided with encouraging signals from US president Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao that th...

Iceotope unveils first modular liquid-immersion cooled server

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Supercomputing 2009, Portland Oregon; 17th November 2009: Iceotope (www.iceotope.com) today launched its new liquid-cooled server technology. The system is believed to be the first to use modular �liquid immersion� of the server components and is able to reduce data centre cooling costs by 93%, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars over its lifetime. The technology is being...

Carbon Accounting - Building the case for a green work place

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

An environmentally friendly office is not hard to achieve says ACCA (the Association for Chartered Certified Accountants) as it offers ten practical tips for a sustainable workplace as part of its drive towards carbon accounting.

Wyn Mears, Director of ACCA UK says: �With politicians struggling to come to an agreement on climate change, and with the global Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen weeks away, it is now more important than ever that businesses large and small help to become more...

Hydroxpert releases hydropower software SIMAHPP 4 Professional

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hydroxpert is glad to announce the release of SIMAHPP 4 Professional, the latest release of SIMAHPP software series. SIMAHPP 4 Professional is an easy to use windows based simulation tool for hydropower optimization and project feasibility studies. Unlike the previous versions of SIMAHPP, SIMAHPP 4 Professional is designed to be used for both small-scale and large-scale hydropower projects thanks to the newly added financial module that enables users choose investment budget calculations and ada...

Is Canada ready for a “Cap and Trade” system? The importance of setting standards in the GHG profession

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

To entice companies to comply with greenhouse gas emission reduction targets regulators are looking into financial trading tools.

One popular idea is to set a maximum emission level for a company, industry, or political jurisdiction otherwise known as a �cap� and then allow polluters to buy emission reduction credits from people who have a positive impact on emissions reduction.

The first step in establishing such a system as a regulatory implementation mechanism for greenhouse gas...

Mustang completes Continuous Emissions Monitoring (CEMS) study at BP`s Cherry Point Refinery

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Mustang recently completed a front-end engineering study for a Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) reliability project at BP�s Cherry Point, Wash. refinery. Mustang evaluated the automation of BP�s CEMS to meet environmental agency compliance requirements and provided recommendations for improvements in environmental data management activities.

Mustang�s Automation and Control business unit has extensive environmental consulting expertise in process operations and data manag...

EPA announces new energy tar requirements for audio/video equipment

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:25:51 GMT

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing new requirements for audio/video (AV) products to earn the Energy Star label. AV products meeting EPA�s new, more stringent specification will help protect the environment and reduce energy costs because they will be up to 60 percent more efficient than conventional models.

If all AV products sold in the United States met the new Energy Star requirements, Americans would save more than $1 billion in energy costs annually while reducing ...

Wing tips fly to the rescue of aircraft emissions

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:15:38 GMT

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has this week announced plans to attach new wing tip devices to all its A320 aircraft as part of an initiative to curb fuel use by 3.5 per cent, resulting in an estimated annual saving of 700 tonnes of fuel for each aircraft.

The so-called `sharklet` wing tips will be fitted to Air New Zealand A320 aircraft from 2012 and all other models from 2013, the company said.

`Sharklets are not just part of Airbus`s response to addressing environmental iss...

Great barrier reef at risk without 90 per cent emissions cut, say scientists

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:12:07 GMT

Australia`s iconic Great Barrier Reef is at risk of dying unless the world`s industrialised countries cut carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent by 2050, according to scientists.

Rising sea temperatures have already resulted in the bleaching and death of coral on the reef, a group of Australia`s top reef and climate scientists told parliament yesterday, adding that the world`s largest reef could soon be wiped out, putting A$5.4bn (US$5bn) of economic activity at risk.

If CO2 output fr...

New targets for Scotland`s water

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:14:26 GMT

The first river basin management plans, compiled by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), set out how the Scottish Government, SEPA and all Scotland`s other responsible authorities and public bodies will protect and further improve our water environment in the future.

The water environment in Scotland has fewer environmental problems than most other parts of the UK, with good water quality in many areas. However, a healthy water environment is about more than just how clean the ...

Commissioner Piebalgs welcomes political agreement on energy performance of buildings

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:10:05 GMT

Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs welcomes the political agreement on energy performance of buildings reached yesterday by representatives of the European Parliament and the Council. The agreement will greatly contribute to achieving EU Climate and Energy objectives for 2020 and to boost European economy. The agreement will strengthen the building codes and energy performance requirements for buildings across the EU and fixes 2020 as deadline for all new buildings to be nearly zero energy bui...

US and China to cooperate on clean energy

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:01:48 GMT

President Barack Obama and China`s President Hu Jintao announced on November 17 a far-reaching package of measures to strengthen cooperation between the United States and China on clean and renewable energy. The presidents began by establishing a U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center to facilitate joint research and development of clean energy technologies by scientists from both countries. The center will be supported by $150 million in public and private funds over the next five years, split...

Fossil fuel CO2 emissions up by 29 per cent since 2000, new testing confirms

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:11:25 GMT

The strongest evidence yet that the rise in atmospheric CO2 emissions continues to outstrip the ability of the world�s natural �sinks� to absorb carbon is published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience.

An international team of researchers under the umbrella of the Global Carbon Project reports that over the last 50 years the average fraction of global CO2 emissions that remained in the atmosphere each year was around 43 per cent � the rest was absorbed by the Earth�s carbon sinks on l...

Latest News & Press Releases - Air & Climate

World bank arm offers $200m in loans to reforest Indonesia

Carbon trust highlights need for climate innovation centres

Better protection for homes and communities from flooding and drought

Ceres applauds SEC decision allowing financial risks in environmental and social resolutions

Climate issues loom at the UN world food summit

Australia`s climate bill row heats up

WWF tops list of NGOs that are best for business support

Zerofootprint unveils VELOmetrics™ enabling peer groups to compare carbon footprint

International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations issues call for abstracts for World Clean Air Congress

US and China ink emission reporting co-operation deal

Medvedev toughens up Russia`s 2020 emissions target

Green technologies in peril as rich nations dither on climate deal

Environment ministers talk up Copenhagen chances

Iceotope unveils first modular liquid-immersion cooled server

Carbon Accounting - Building the case for a green work place

Hydroxpert releases hydropower software SIMAHPP 4 Professional

Is Canada ready for a “Cap and Trade” system? The importance of setting standards in the GHG profession

Mustang completes Continuous Emissions Monitoring (CEMS) study at BP`s Cherry Point Refinery

EPA announces new energy tar requirements for audio/video equipment

Wing tips fly to the rescue of aircraft emissions

Great barrier reef at risk without 90 per cent emissions cut, say scientists

New targets for Scotland`s water

Commissioner Piebalgs welcomes political agreement on energy performance of buildings

US and China to cooperate on clean energy

Fossil fuel CO2 emissions up by 29 per cent since 2000, new testing confirms