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.

California's landmark legislation to cut carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 will help the state's economy in the long run, according to a report issued Wednesday by the state agency charg

Private company Sapphire Energy, which aims to squeeze "green" crude oil from blooms of one of the planet's oldest life forms, said on Wednesday it has raised over US$100 million from investors.

The Australian government would be open to negotiations with big business over plans for carbon trading, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Wednesday, after industry complaints about government proposals.

But Rudd warned business that carbon trading, needed to help Australia cut its greenhouse gas emissions, could not be done without some cost on industry.
"It will never happen cost free. It is not a cost-free business," Rudd told the National Press Club on Wednesday.

Canada plans to boost its spending on mapping Arctic energy and mineral resources, in order to encourage development and defend Canadian sovereignty in the far North.

The government will spend C$100 million (US$95 million) over five years, building on a plan earlier this year to spend C$34 million over two years, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Tuesday as he prepared to kick off a three-day trip to the region.