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.

Climate negotiators considered a compromise work schedule for talks leading to a sweeping global warming pact, apparently overcoming a heated dispute over a Japanese proposal on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. The proposed agenda, shown on today evening to The Associated Press, laid out the issues negotiators will work towards the pact, to be concluded by the end of 2009.

Former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran knows more than a thing or two about tough negotiations. Considered a key player in hammering out the Indo-US nuclear deal, he knows there's a long road ahead in his new assignment as the Government's point man on climate change. It's most natural, therefore, that as he draws out a "national action plan,' he draws parallels between the rich, polluter nations and the nuclear club governed by the international politics of NPT.

The Electricity Supply Board has urged government to consider various ways in which different modes of transport could be powered by electricity as a way of reducing Ireland's carbon emissions and meeting EU targets. Speaking at the Irish Management Institute national conference, ESB chief executive Padraig McManus said that the ESB was working towards having zero net carbon emissions by 2035. He estimated that it would take 2,000 megawatts a day to power all of Ireland's cars, noting that this could easily be supplied by electricity companies during the night, when demand is low.

GM Plans 1,000 Fuel Cell Cars In Califoria By 2014 US: April 4, 2008 SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - General Motors Corp plans to have 1,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in California between 2012 to 2014 to comply with the state's goal to put thousands of cleaner cars on its roads. GM has about 60 Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicles in Southern California now, the automaker's vice president for research & development and planning, Larry Burns, said at the National Hydrogen Association conference here.

US warns on economy as Africa seeks climate aid Agence France-Presse . Bangkok The United States warned Thursday a worsening economy limited what it could give to help poor nations fight global warming, as African activists appealed for major polluters to commit one per cent of GDP. More than 160 countries are meeting in Bangkok in a bid to lay the groundwork for a deal on combatting climate change after the landmark Kyoto Protocol's commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions run out in 2012.

US warns on economy as Africa seeks climate aid Agence France-Presse . Bangkok The United States warned Thursday a worsening economy limited what it could give to help poor nations fight global warming, as African activists appealed for major polluters to commit one per cent of GDP. More than 160 countries are meeting in Bangkok in a bid to lay the groundwork for a deal on combatting climate change after the landmark Kyoto Protocol's commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions run out in 2012.

THE Eddington report contains the right approach to reducing greenhouse emissions from transport, but the assumptions it makes deserve to be challenged. They are, in some cases, far too timid, in other cases over-optimistic and, in general, heavily biased towards business as usual. Eddington's approach, which is correct, is to propose a bundle of changes that could lead to a reduction in emissions from transport. These changes are: reducing travel demand, boosting public transport share, improving vehicle technologies, and increasing vehicle occupancy.

18 US States Sue EPA Over Greenhouse Gas Pollution US: April 4, 2008 WASHINGTON - Eighteen states sued the US Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday for failing to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new cars and trucks, one year after the Supreme Court ruled that the agency had the power to do so. The suit seeks EPA's response to the high court's April 2, 2007, ruling, a landmark decision seen as a sharp defeat for the Bush administration's policy on climate change.