Satellite data show that changes in the sun are contributing to global warming but to a smaller extent than human activity, a space scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington told a group of petroleum geologists Wednesday. "The sun is playing a role that you can detect, but it's not the dominant role," Judith Lean told a crowded session at the 2008 convention of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in San Antonio.

China plans to build a major emissions-free coal burning power station by 2015, the project chief said on Wednesday, putting it at the front of a tight global race to build the first commercial scale plant. GreenGen president Su Wenbin said he has escaped the funding and planning problems that have delayed similar ventures in the US and Europe because tackling climate change is a top priority for Beijing. "In China our system is different. When we decide to do something we can just push on with it...we know we will get government support," he told Reuters in an interview.

Hokkaido Gov. Harumi Takahashi has issued an environmental appeal ahead of July's Group of Eight summit in her prefecture, calling on each of Hokkaido's 5.6 million residents to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from homes by 10 percent, or 1.1 kg a day, from current levels. The targeted figure is bigger than the 1-kg-a-day proposal by the Environment Ministry. Takahashi said at a symposium in Sapporo on Monday she expects the appeal to become a regional model used the world over for environmental preservation.

Canada's greenhouse gas emissions increased by 25 percent from 1990 to 2005, the highest amount of any G8 nation, according to government figures released on Tuesday. Canada has only about 0.5 percent of the world's population but contributes about 2 percent of global emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide that are linked to climate change, according to Statistics Canada.

Hokkaido Gov Harumi Takahashi issued an environmental appeal Monday ahead of July's Group of Eight summit at the Lake Toya hot spa resort, calling on each of Hokkaido's 5.6 million residents to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from homes by 10%, or 1.1 kilograms a day, from current levels. The targeted figure is bigger than the 1-kg-a-day proposal by the Environment Ministry.

Norway will give Tanzania $100 million over five years to cut deforestation in the east African country and try to reduce carbon emissions blamed for climate change, according to a deal signed on Monday. Norway, the world's number five oil exporter, plans to make its economy "carbon Neutral" by 2030, partly by buying emissions quotas abroad to offset its own greenhouse gas production.

- A coalition of western US states and Canadian provinces eyeing a regional carbon credit trading market picked up an eastern member on Friday when Quebec said it would join. Premier Jean Charest said Quebec had joined the Western Climate Initiative while he was meeting at Yale University with US governors who have bypassed the Bush administration to set tough emissions limits on greenhouse gases. Early last year, the WCI set a group-wide greenhouse gas emissions target of 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

A mere rise in two to three degrees Celsius temperature would reduce 30 to 40 per cent of the crop yield in the South Asian region, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Dr. Peter Hayes warned recently. Dr Hayes, scientist turned diplomat addressing participants at the concluding event of 'Climate Positive Action' project explained the hazards of climate change due to the global warming and his country's commitment in the fight against the emissions of Green House Gases(GHG) which is said to be the root cause of global warming.

More cross-border energy deals are in the pipeline