Steps President Barack Obama has taken on climate and clean energy have shown that the United States is getting ready to lead the world in fighting global warming, a White House official said on Tuesday.

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The Arctic offers new energy and fishing resources as a result of global warming and new technology, the European Union said on Thursday.

Melting ice also presented new navigation possibilities such as a short route to the Pacific Ocean, the EU executive said.

The German government wants extensive exemptions for energy intensive industrial sectors for their carbon emissions caps from 2013, Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief spokesman said on Friday.

Loose regulation, now blamed for ills ranging from the US financial crisis to imports of tainted Chinese goods, is drawing increasing fire from opponents of the Bush administration's environment program.

In the final months of President George W. Bush's two terms in office, criticism about the use of regulation instead of legislation to craft environmental policy has grown louder.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said Friday that his province, which has been riding a commodity-driven boom, should not be saddled with new environmental taxes as prices for oil and grain fall from their highs of a few months ago.