Australia will delay the introduction of its proposed emissions trading scheme by one year until mid-2011, bowing to industry demands for more relief amid a recession.

Canberra

The head of Edinburgh University Business Schoo l is intrigued by a fundamental question: why do business school academics not spin out more businesses?

Nick Oliver raises the issue as Edinburgh reveals it has secured significant investment from Haymarket Media Group to support its ambition to become a leading centre for studying the business implications of climate change.

Project delays and cancellations across the renewable energy industry mean that this year

Flood cover: weather disasters in Asia are on increase
Munich Re, the world

The Gorgon project off the coast of Western Australia, one of the world's largest gas developments, passed a milestone yesterday when an environmental regulator gave conditional approval to the site's expansion.

Facing a crisis: globalisation has helped spread infection far and wide

The Japanese government is drawing up plans to finance investments in agricultural production in developing countries, in the latest sign of nervousness about food security among countries that import agricultural commodities.

The economic impact of climate change on four of south-east Asia's biggest nations will be 2.5 times more severe than the global average by 2100 if carbon emissions continue at their current level, the Asian Development Bank warns in a new study.

The carbon market showed a remarkable growth spurt in the first quarter of this year, with trading volumes up 37 per cent, new data show.

Trading was driven by price volatility and companies selling carbon permits to raise short-term cash.

Brussels is expected to put a dramatic reduction in the size of the European fishing fleet at the heart of efforts to overhaul a fisheries policy that it acknowledges has failed to curb over-fishing.