South Africa is all set to kick off its preparations for the year-end UN climate change conference at Durban. Environment ministers from countries representing the entire spectrum of interests in the climate process will be meeting in Berlin for the Petersberg Climate Dialogue.

While American cities are synchronizing green lights to improve traffic flow and offering apps to help drivers find parking, many European cities are doing the opposite: creating environments openly hostile to cars.

Lowering greenhouse gas emissions is not only good for environment, but it also may benefit an entity’s bottom line. India has a huge potential for carbon financing, which is an emerging business opportunity for Indian companies.

The UK has assured Bangladesh of increasing its contribution to climate change resilience fund to 150 million pounds from the current 75 million pounds.

Alan Duncan, UK minister of state for international development, gave the assurance in a meeting with State Minister for Environment and Forests Hasan Mahmud at his secretariat office yesterday.

Talking to newsmen after the meeting, the stat

Ask for a camel when you expect to get a goat," runs a Somali saying that sums up the fading of ambitions for United Nations talks on slowing climate change -- aim high, but settle for far less.

Developing nations publicly insist the rich must agree far deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, but increasingly believe that only a weaker deal can actually be achieved to keep the existing Kyoto P

Bonn

New Delhi: In a game of shifting goal posts, the developed countries have pushed to flesh out rules for international scrutiny of Indian and other emerging economies even as they refuse to commit either funds or targets for emission reduction under the Kyoto Protocol.

The attempt to up the speed at which the rules for international scrutiny of emerging economies and stall progress on target

By the late 1990s, the idea of global warming had become real. For the developed world, however, emission reduction at the cost of industry-driven growth was a tough pill.

The future of the Kyoto Protocol is in peril and the global compact could end up being an empty shell by 2012. Major developed countries, including Japan, Russia and Canada, have refused to be part of the protocol in its second phase and to commit targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions under it. Europe has also changed the goalposts.

Canada confirmed on Wednesday that it would not support an extended Kyoto Protocol after 2012, joining Japan and Russia in rejecting a new round of the climate emissions pact.

The current Kyoto Protocol binds only the emissions of industrialized countries from 2008-2012. Poor and emerging economies want to extend the pact, creating a deadlock at U.N.