Definitive agreement on zero emission mobility

619 free charging points to be installed by 2011 in North East England

Regional Development Agency One North East and car manufacturer Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., today entered the next phase of their partnership on the development of zero emission mobility in North East England. The two parties have signed a definitive agreement which sets out a road map for the roll-out of electric vehicles and infrastructure in North East England and cements the region's status as the national centre for the development of ultra low carbon vehicles.

Deutsche Bank completes 250-kw solar project at Piscataway facility

New Jersey Project Part of Deutsche Bank's Commitment to be Carbon Neutral by 2012

Deutsche Bank has announced the completion of a 250-kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) system at its Piscataway, NJ, office. The roof-mounted array will offset a portion of the facility's electricity consumption and reduce its carbon emissions by 143 metric tons annually, equivalent to 16,232 gallons of gasoline.

How globalisation will affect air quality

Members of three Cornell colleges will work together to develop a suite of computer models to forecast regional air quality levels, thanks to a four-year grant of almost USD600,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"The models developed will help extend predictions of future air quality by taking into account not only changes in global climate change, but also changes in trade patterns and economic geography associated with globalisation, future transportation infrastructure and technology, power generation and transmission, fuel sources and emissions," said Peter Hess, associate professor of biology and environmental engineering, who is leading the effort.

International framework needed to address climate change

Photo:Gyre/Wikimedia"The world urgently needs an international framework to address climate change, but cannot wait for political agreement. Effective actions must be taken now," said David Runnalls, president and CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

IISD is kicking off the second week of the international climate change conference in Copenhagen with three separate side events to build momentum for low carbon development strategies, fossil-fuel subsidy reform and action on trade and climate change.

Major land use loophole could leave out up to a billion tons of emissions annually

As negotiators get to work in Copenhagen, an alarming loophole in how emissions from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) would be accounted for in a global climate agreement remains a major obstacle.

The loophole could result in up to one billion tons of CO₂ annually, roughly the equivalent of Japan's annual emissions, being ignored by industrialised countries. One of the core issues is whether or not countries will account for the full amount of emissions from the forestry sector, as they are required to do for every other sector.

EU Council must address loopholes and weak targets

As the European Council prepares to meet in Brussels, WWF is calling on Heads of State to take what will be their final opportunity to push EU targets to the level needed to limit atmospheric warming to well below two degrees, before high level talks at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen begin next week.

"The EU is using a possible move to a 30 per cent emission reductions target as a bargaining chip, but it is an empty gesture," says Jason Anderson, Head of EU Climate and Energy Policy at WWF.

ISWA calls for emission cut in waste sector

Photo:Fruggo/WikimediaInternational Solid Waste Association releases white paper

The International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) calls the attention of the delegates of the UN COP15 to the important contribution of the waste sector to reduce substantial CO₂ emissions.In its White Paper on Waste and Climate Change ISWA confirms that significant CO₂ emission reductions can be achieved through the better management of solid wastes (i.e., residential and commercial rubbish).

Atmospheric CO2 mixing ratios over China

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is the most important greenhouse gas regulated by the Kyoto Protocol. Human activities, such as fossil fuel burning and land use change, are major emitters of CO₂, which is widely recognised as drivers of global warming and climate change. In the past decades, the field campaign and research program were only conducted at a few sites in China by different agencies.

However, none of those measurements could effectively document spatial and temporal distributions of atmospheric CO₂ and provide essential information for our understanding of regional differences and distributions over China.

Diesel truck engine with barely measurable emissions

Photo: Sebastian Pflaum, TU MuenchenDiesel's alma mater drives engine technology toward green extreme

Just three months after the Euro 5 Norm for exhaust emissions went into force for all new car models, researchers at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have demonstrated an engine that is already close to meeting the more stringent Euro 6 emissions standard. A research team headed by Prof. Georg Wachtmeister from the Chair of Internal Combustion Engines has succeeded in reducing the pollutants in exhaust emissions to barely measurable levels.

CO2 emissions continue significant climb

The annual rate of increase in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels has more than tripled in this decade, compared to the 1990s, reports an international consortium of scientists, who paint a bleak picture of the Earth’s future unless "CO₂ emissions [are] drastically reduced."

These CO₂ emissions increased at a rate of 3.4 per cent per year from 2000 to 2008, in contrast to 1 per cent each year in the previous decade, scientists from the Global Carbon Project report in the current issue of Nature Geoscience.

Billion hectares of forests with potential for restoration

Land areas around the world, bigger than Canada, have been identified as having potential to be restored to good quality, healthy forests, a new study has found.

As the global effort to help tackle climate change by reversing the earth's alarming loss of forests steps up, scientists using sophisticated satellite mapping have produced a world map identifying areas in which more than a billion hectares of former forest land and degraded forest land has restoration potential.

Addressing public health impacts of climate change

New strategies promote health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Strategies to reduce greenhouse gases also benefit human health, according to studies published today in the medical journal The Lancet. The Lancet series highlights case studies on four climate change topics – household energy, transportation, electricity generation, and agricultural food production.

Debating strategies for reducing atmospheric carbon and future warming

Even if the world's policymakers all agree to dramatically reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, and everything were in place by the middle of the century, the world still could not meet the goals of the climate change meetings in Copenhagen, Dec. 8-18, of reducing CO₂ in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million (ppm), say Cornell researchers.

If everyone were on board, maybe we could contain CO₂ in the atmosphere to about 400 ppm by 2050, said Cornell climate expert Charles Greene, who has published numerous papers on climate change and global ocean ecosystems.

Intensive land-management leaves Europe without carbon sinks

Image: CarboEurope TeamA new calculation of Europe's greenhouse gas balance shows that emissions of methane and nitrous oxide tip the balance and eliminate Europe's terrestrial sink of greenhouse-gases

Of all global carbon dioxide emissions, less than half accumulate in the atmosphere where it contributes to global warming. The remainder is hidden away in oceans and terrestrial ecosystems such as forests, grasslands and peat-lands. Stimulating this "free service" of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems is considered one of the main, immediately available ways of reducing climate change.

Main greenhouse gases reach highest level ever since pre-industrial time

Levels of most greenhouse gases continue to increase. In 2008, global concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which are the main long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, have reached the highest levels recorded since pre-industrial times.

Since 1990, the overall increase in radiative forcing caused by all long-lived greenhouse gases is 26 per cent and the increase was 1.3 per cent from 2007 to 2008. These latest figures, published today in the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) 2008 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, confirm the continued trend of rising atmospheric burdens of greenhouse gases since 1750.

DEWA Establishes Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence

In execution to the vision of HH Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president, prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has celebrated the signing of a MoU with UNDP to establish the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence.

The MoU was signed in the presence of HH Sheikh Saeed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairman of the Supreme Council of Energy, HE Dr. Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahd, minister of environment & water, members of the Supreme Council of Energy together with a number high official of the Government and Senior employees of DEWA.

Is global warming unstoppable?

Theory also says energy conservation doesn't help

In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions – the major cause of global warming – cannot be stabilised unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day.

Berkeley lab lends expertise to India to promote energy efficiency

Photo: Meg and Rahul/WikimediaSmarter grid, greener buildings could cut pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.

India may rank only a distant fourth in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, behind China, the United States and Russia, but its rapid economic growth rate coupled with aging and inefficient energy infrastructure suggest dire environmental consequences if "business as usual" continues. That's why experts from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been working to expand collaborations with India on energy efficiency.

Human emissions rise despite global financial crisis

Photo:CSIRODespite the economic effects of the global financial crisis (GFC), carbon dioxide emissions from human activities rose 2 per cent in 2008 to an all-time high of 1.3 tonnes of carbon per capita per year, according to a paper published in Nature Geoscience.

The paper – by scientists from the internationally respected climate research group, the Global Carbon Project (GCP) – says rising emissions from fossil fuels last year were caused mainly by increased use of coal but there were minor decreases in emissions from oil and deforestation.

Glimpsing a greener future

Photo: University of California, IrnvineUCI computer model foresees effects of alternative transportation fuels

It's the year 2060, and 75 per cent of drivers in the Greater Los Angeles area have hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that emit only water vapour.

Look into Shane Stephens-Romero's crystal ball - a computer model called STREET - and find that air quality has significantly improved. Greenhouse gas emissions are more than 60 per cent lower than in 2009, and levels of microscopic soot and ozone are about 15 per cent and 10 per cent lower, respectively.