Shipping CO2 Controls To Raise Transport Costs UK: April 11, 2008 LONDON - The world's shipping industry plans to limit its growing carbon dioxide emissions by taxing marine fuels and signing up to a new climate change deal in moves likely to raise transport costs for raw materials. Experts say the measures, aired at an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) meeting on fuel pollutants in London last week and about a year away from being formally agreed, will be painful but are necessary in the fight against climate change.

France, Germany Nearer To Cars CO2 Deal - Diplomats BELGIUM: April 10, 2008 BRUSSELS - France and Germany are making progress on finding a common position over proposed new European Union limits on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from cars, diplomats said on Wednesday. "There are signs that they are very near to an agreement," one of the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The European Commission, as part of its plans to fight climate change, has proposed legislation to reduce CO2 emissions from cars and steep fines on manufacturers that fail to comply.

Business Leaders Unite To Sway UN Climate Talks DENMARK: April 10, 2008 COPENHAGEN - Business leaders, scientists and policymakers from around the world have joined forces to try to influence politicians negotiating a post-Kyoto deal at next year's UN Climate Conference in the Danish capital. The newly formed Copenhagen Climate Council will include such prominent business leaders as Sir Richard Branson, founder and chief executive of Virgin Group, and Li Xiaolin, chairwoman and CEO of China Power.

Ford Wins Over Critics With Greenhouse Pledge US: April 10, 2008 DETROIT - A group of activist investors including the state of Connecticut Wednesday dropped a campaign targeting Ford Motor Co after the No. 2 US automaker detailed plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions over the next 12 years. Ford's action made it the first US automaker to spell out how it intends to cut by 30 percent the greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles it sells by 2020, according to the activist investor groups that pushed it to make the pledge.

The Environmental Conservation Levy Bill, which provides for the government to charge an Environmental Conservation Levy, was passed in Parliament yesterday without a debate. The new Bill also proposes the setting up of a National Adaptation Fund, in keeping with a proposal made at the UN Global Climate Change Summit, held in Bali last December -- which called upon countries to adopt mechanisms to face the challenges of global warming

Marriott International has signed a landmark deal with the Brazilian state of Amazonas that will see the hotel group launch a carbon offset programme for its guests and invest in a fund aimed at securing 1.4m acres of rainforest. The company has invested $2m in the fund, which aims to prevent the deforestation of the threatened Brazilian rainforest. Marriott guests will be invited to invest in the fund, which the company said would offset the carbon emissions associated with their stays.

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.

Scientists at two UK universities have produced evidence to debunk a popular alternative theory to explain climate change. The scientists were unable to find a link between cosmic rays and cloud cover Following a year long study, emeritus professors Terry Sloan, of Lancaster University, and Arnold Wolfendale, of Durham University, said they could find no link between cosmic rays and global warming.

U.N. climate talks agree on agenda for next global pact BANGKOK, Thailand

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, here comes along James Hansen, head of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the world's most respected climate scientists (except in the White House), with an even more depressing assessment of how climate change will unravel over the coming decades - if, that is, we don't act fast to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.