Preventing risks of severe damage from climate change not only requires deep cuts in developed country greenhouse gas emissions, but enormous amounts of public and private investment to limit emissions while promoting green growth in developing countries.
Pact To Include OECD Countries, China
Reuters NEW YORK
THE European Union and the United States are holding talks on forging a pact with OECD countries and China to eliminate duties on green goods as part of incentives to Beijing in a potential global climate deal.
EUROPEAN ministers warned that December's landmark UN climate talks could fail, as the EU Commission urged rich nations to stump up tens of billions of euros to help the developing world combat global warming.
A global trading scheme is the most effective means of cutting carbon emissions in the shipping sector, five shipping industry associations said in a study on Wednesday.
Shipping and aviation are the only industry sectors not regulated under the Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for greenhouse gas emissions by rich countries from 2008-12.
Ecuador, a member of OPEC, is willing to preserve a tropical forest with reserves of 900 million barrels of oil if rich countries pay it about $360 million a year to keep the petroleum in the ground.
Japan's new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has pledged to target a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020, despite opposition from industry, which says the goal will hurt the economy.
The target, more ambitious than the previous government's, is premised on a deal on goals being agreed by major nations.
UNFCCC warns of delays the latest round of consultations on climate change held in the German city Bonn between August 10 and 14 ended in disappointment. The 199-page negotiating text with more than 2,500 brackets was the only highlight of the meet. The lack of progress has raised concerns that finalizing a comprehensive deal in Copenhagen in December to replace the Kyoto Protocol,
