Much has been made of the role of airlines and oil companies in the fight against climate change, but few think of the built environment. Yet property is thought to account for nearly half of all carbon emissions and about half of those come from commercial buildings. Last year's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report highlighted the construction sector as that with the most potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and in the most cost effective way.

Andy Redfern, co-founder of the website Ethical Superstore.com, has no illusions about consumers who claim to be green. "We had a rush last year on solar iPod charges . . . and most of them were going to Glastonbury," he says. Even if people who buy things with an environmentally friendly claim do so for selfish purposes, there is no doubt that people are buying more of them.

Soccer - Austria Aims For Green Soccer Championship AUSTRIA: April 15, 2008 VIENNA - Austria has said energy efficient stadiums, tap water and ethical sponsorship will help it host an environmentally-friendly Euro 2008 despite criticism that organisers' plans are not green enough. Corporate sponsors will fund schemes to compensate for the 40,000 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide emitted by the three-week event in Austria, the government said.

The government is likely to offer tariff concessions on the import of energy conservation products like geysers/burners for effectively dealing with the crises. This was decided at a high level meeting held to review National Energy Conservation under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Environment, Hameed ullah Jan Afridi here on Monday.

Commercial buildings and new homes have become the latest buildings to fall under the Government's energy performance certificate scheme. The next stage in the roll out of the scheme - which aims to improve energy efficiency in UK buildings - came into effect on April 6. All commercial properties being built or put up for rent or sale which have a floor area over 10,000 square metres will now require a certificate rating their energy efficiency and recommending improvements. The Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) now also apply to the construction of all new homes.

Bangladesh Introduces Improved Stove To Save Fuel BANGLADESH: April 14, 2008 DHAKA - Bangladesh has introduced an improved cooking stove that will consume 50 percent less of the biomass used for cooking in rural areas, a senior official said on Sunday. "About 95 percent of Bangladesh, with 145 million people, uses traditional fuels like cow dung, agricultural wastage and wood totalling 60 million tonnes most inefficiently, worth 100 billion taka ($1.46 billion)," said Erich Otto Gomm, programme coordinator in Bangladesh of German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

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.

Federal government has agreed to continue to prepare short-term policy recommendations and awareness-building under ongoing new ADB financing project "Sustainable Energy Efficiency Development Programme". Under this programme, new government will further develop recommendations for removing the institutional bottlenecks to government-sponsored energy efficiency and conservation programmes and support mechanisms playing a more effective role in nurturing a nascent energy efficiency industry and consumer culture.

By 2012, all of Japan should be using energy-saving fluorescent bulbs rather than incandescent bulbs as part of the effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari said Saturday. "I think this is a prime example of a campaign that is accessible and can be participated in by everyone," Amari told a news conference after attending a public meeting on environmental issues in Toyako, Hokkaido, where the annual Group of Eight summit will be held in July.

The Indian automobile industry is on its way towards a cleaner and more energy-efficient future, so what if it is being driven by the government to do so. With the stringent Bharat Stage IV emission norms expected to kick in by the first half of 2010, the ministry of power has now decided to accord energy (read fuel) efficiency ratings to all automobiles manufactured in India.