US President George W. Bush has said that any international agreement on climate change can not be effective without full participation of major economic powers like India and China. "How can you possibly have an international agreement that's effective unless countries like China and India are not (sic) full participants," Mr Bush said. The issue of climate change came up during his meeting with visiting South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak at Camp David.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed skepticism over a U.S. initiative to halt the growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, during a meeting in Hanover on Sunday with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese officials said. All smiles: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe chat during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Hanover industrial fair on Sunday. AP

The European Commission is not starting to backtrack on its target of getting 10 percent of its road transport fuel from crops and biomass by 2020, a spokesman said on Monday. The January proposals have become increasingly controversial amid soaring world food prices and fears that farm land in developing countries is being diverted away from food crops towards others that can be distilled into vehicle fuel. Asked by reporters whether media reports that the Commission was reconsidering the biofuel target were true, the spokesman said: "The answer is very simple -- no."

Norway will give Tanzania $100 million over five years to cut deforestation in the east African country and try to reduce carbon emissions blamed for climate change, according to a deal signed on Monday. Norway, the world's number five oil exporter, plans to make its economy "carbon Neutral" by 2030, partly by buying emissions quotas abroad to offset its own greenhouse gas production.

Its electricity and water heating is wholly powered by photovoltaics, it uses recycled and energy efficient construction materials, and it is extensively equipped with water conservation equipment. Campaigners hope all new homes in California will be powered solely by renewable energy like the SOLARA development (Copyright Community HousingWorks) The SOLARA development in California, which officially opened last year, is what green campaigners hope will become the model for all new homes in the state.

It's Earth Day on April 22 and we are no better off. Global warming is a larger threat than terrorism because it will affect each one of us. In India, the Ganges would dry up by 2030, according to UNFCCC.

- A coalition of western US states and Canadian provinces eyeing a regional carbon credit trading market picked up an eastern member on Friday when Quebec said it would join. Premier Jean Charest said Quebec had joined the Western Climate Initiative while he was meeting at Yale University with US governors who have bypassed the Bush administration to set tough emissions limits on greenhouse gases. Early last year, the WCI set a group-wide greenhouse gas emissions target of 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

On average, 70 percent of respondents in 15 countries and the Palestinian territories said they thought oil supplies had peaked. Only 22 percent of the nearly 15,000 respondents in nations ranging from China to Mexico believed enough new oil would be found to keep it a primary fuel source. "What's most striking is there's such a widespread consensus around the world that oil is running out and governments need to make a real effort to find new sources of energy," said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, a global research organization that conducted the poll.

A mere rise in two to three degrees Celsius temperature would reduce 30 to 40 per cent of the crop yield in the South Asian region, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Dr. Peter Hayes warned recently. Dr Hayes, scientist turned diplomat addressing participants at the concluding event of 'Climate Positive Action' project explained the hazards of climate change due to the global warming and his country's commitment in the fight against the emissions of Green House Gases(GHG) which is said to be the root cause of global warming.

The "toxic Texan' discovers a belated resolve on global warming