The inconvenient truth of carbon offsets

Kevin Anderson explains why he refused to purchase a carbon offset, and why you should steer clear of them too

Nature | 04 April 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

End of coal power plants? EPA proposes new rules

The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed the first-ever standards to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants -- a move welcomed by environmentalists but criticized by some utilities as well as Republicans, who are expected to use it as election campaign fodder

By msnbc.com Staff | MSNBC | March 27, 2012

This coal-fired power plant is used by the city of Chicago, which last month decided to close it down by the end of 2014. A second coal plant will be closed by the end of this year. Chicago is the only large U.S. city with coal-fired power plants operating within its city limits. M. Spencer Green / AP

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Popping the carbon bubble

How much ‘unburnable’ carbon is there on the world’s stock exchanges? Last year, the Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI) published an analysis asking this question. CTI compared the global ‘carbon budget’ needed to stay below a rise of two degrees Celsius in average temperatures (above pre-industrial levels) with the emissions potential of the proven coal, oil and gas reserves owned by listed companies

James Leaton | Climate Spectator | 23 Mar 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Coal-reliant Poland increasingly out of step with Europe on climate change

Frustrations with Poland are growing in the European Union after the coal-powered nation for a second time blocked the EU’s long-term plans for cutting carbon emissions

By Associated Press | The Washington Post | March 14, 2012

Coal is transported at the Zeran Heating Plant in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Frustrations with Poland are growing in the EU after the coal-powered nation blocked for a second time last week. (Alik Keplicz/Associated Press)

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Celestial Green Ventures: 20 million hectares of REDD carbon offset projects in Brazil

Celestial Green Ventures is a carbon trading company based in Dublin, Ireland. In November 2011, the company claimed to have “the carbon credit rights to an area of land in excess of 20 million hectares of vulnerable rainforest in the Amazon region of Brazil.” That makes it one of the biggest REDD companies in the world. Not bad for a 15-month-old company

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 13th March 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Korea to Plant Trees in Indonesia for Carbon Emission Credits

Korea plans to receive 100 million tons of carbon emission credits over the next decade in return for planting trees on a 200,000-hectare plot of land in Indonesia. That amount of credits would normally cost W2.2 trillion (US$1=W1,116), or $20 per ton, but Korea will save more than W1 trillion through the tree-planting deal

The Chosunilbo | March 5, 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

China Tightens Energy Targets

China is calling for energy-intensive industries such as steel and textile manufacturing to reduce their energy consumption more sharply compared with targets set last year, in a move intended to help cull obsolete capacity to contribute to efforts to reduce its carbon footprint

By Chun-Wei Yap | The Wall Street Journal | February 28, 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Power groups face huge carbon bill

Victoria's major power generators have emerged as some of the biggest carbon emitters in the country and will pay hundreds of millions of dollars under the carbon tax - costs that will largely be passed on to consumers

David Wroe | The Age | February 29, 2012

Hazelwood Power Station. Photo: Pat Scala

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Indonesia's moratorium will not significantly reduce emissions, but has other benefits, finds analysis

Indonesia's moratorium on new forest concessions alone "does not significantly contribute" to its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent from a projected 2020 baseline, concludes a new analysis by the World Resources Institute (WRI)

mongabay.com | February 27, 2012

Click image to enlarge

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

China sets up first renewable-energy think tank

China has established its first national think tank on renewable energy to conduct research and develop programs and policies, as part of the country's effort to deal with climate change and carbon emissions

By Du Juan | China Daily | 02-24, 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Out of the woods: Emissions from deforestation

Forests are chock-full of carbon. Some three-quarters of the stuff on the Earth's surface lies trapped in leaves, branches, stems and roots. Two to three times more is buried in the soil but it is hard to dislodge

The Economist | Feb 12th 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Japan emissions rising after atomic crisis: report

Japanese manufacturer's greenhouse gas emissions are rising after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, hurting the country's carbon reduction goals, a report said Sunday

AFP in Google News | 30 Jan 2012

Japanese manufacturer's greenhouse gas emissions are rising after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster (AFP/POOL/File, David Guttenfelder)

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Cutting Climate Change is Simple: Just Stop Subsidising Fossil Fuels

I knew that this was true but I didn’t realise the effect was so great. The simple way to cut climate change is to stop subsidising fossil fuels

Tim Worstall | Forbes | 29 January 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Gas no good to bridge coal and renewables, says study

The amount of greenhouse gases released by unconventional gas drilling ''exceeds that of oil or coal'', an American study says in contradiction of some claims made by Australia's growing coal-seam gas industry

Ben Cubby | Sydney Morning Herald | January 21, 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

One company behind U.S.'s top three biggest greenhouse gas emitters

The Atlanta-based Southern company owns the top three biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. according to recent data released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Jeremy Hance | mongabay.com | January 16, 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Power Plants Accounted for 72 Percent Of Greenhouse Gases Reported in 2010

Power plants emitted 2.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) in 2010, 72.3 percent of reported emissions nationwide, according to data released by the Environmental Protection Agency Jan. 11

By Andrew Childers and Avery Fellow | Daily Environment Report™ in Bloomberg News | January 12, 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

China orders 7 pilot cities and provinces to set CO2 caps

China has ordered seven provinces and cities to set caps on greenhouse gas emissions in preparation for the launch of local pilot carbon markets, according to a notice issued by the country's state planning agency on Friday

Reuters | Jan 13, 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

Energy Resources China plans tax on carbon emissions

China, the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases, plans a tax on carbon emissions

UPI.com | Jan. 9, 2012

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

The Debate over Aviation Emissions

Starting January 1, the EU will require all international air carriers flying in and out of the airports of member states to participate in its carbon trading regime governing greenhouse gas emissions

Toni Johnson | Council on Foreign Relations | December 29, 2011

Heathrow airport, London (Eddie Keogh/Courtesy Reuters)

Read more... Sphere: Related Content

International airlines will be charged for carbon emissions, EU court rules

All airlines flying to and from EU airports will buy permits under the Europe's emissions trading scheme, from 1 January 2012

Reuters in guardian.co.uk | 21 December 2011

The European court of justice has ruled that all airlines flying to and from the EU will buy carbon permits. Photograph: Corbis

Read more... Sphere: Related Content