On the 20th anniversary of the saola's discovery, conservationists say the population of the reclusive species has dropped dramatically

Alok Jha, green technology correspondent guardian.co.uk,

Lighting the way ... a solar panel in China's Olympic village. Photograph: Dan Chung

China is the world's leading producer of energy from renewable sources and is on the way to overtaking developed countries in creating clean technologies, according to a report by the Climate Group.

Published today, the group's report, China's Clean Revolution, shows that supportive government policies investing billions of dollars in energy efficiency and renewables are driving huge levels of innovation in China.

Time is fast running out to stop irreversible climate change, a group of global warming experts warns today. We have only 100 months to avoid disaster. Andrew Simms explains why we must act now - and where to beginAndrew Simms

Planet earth viewed from space. Photograph: Corbis

Polar bears were declared a threatened species by the US government today, ending a court battle over protecting the animals from melting sea ice caused by climate change. The Bush administration was given a deadline of tomorrow to decide on protecting the bears after environmental campaigners filed a lawsuit. Yet US officials remained defiant in warning that the bears' status was not intended to help regulate emissions in the Arctic.

Polar bears may get more attention

McCain today will call for free-market principles and engagement with China and India to reduce global-warming emissions, signalling that environmental issues will play a part in the November general election, and indicating that whoever is elected, the next administration will confront global warming in a way George Bush has declined to.

Britain's efforts to become more environmentally friendly are being thwarted by social forces that are causing more people to live alone, the Office for National Statistics warned yesterday.

Rising food prices could spark worldwide unrest and threaten political stability, the UN's top humanitarian official warned yesterday after two days of rioting in Egypt over the doubling of prices of basic foods in a year and protests in other parts of the world.

For Londoners used to paying an

The good news about a recent report for the government about UK costs of complying with EU targets for renewables is that it should put no more than an extra 5% on our national energy bill. The bad news is that the government want to cut this cost by subsidising continental biomass consumption as a substitute for supporting our own renewable energy sources. The subsidised biomass will consist largely of wood burning in eastern Europe from forests that may not be replaced.