The World Bank seeks to play a bigger role in sustainable energy projects around the globe including experimental carbon capture and storage (CCS) research, Vice President Katherine Sierra said on Thursday.

Global energy demand is expected to soar 44 percent over the next two decades with most of the demand coming from developing countries such as China and Russia, the U.S. government's top energy forecasting agency said on Wednesday.

Global emissions of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide will jump more than 39 percent by 2030 without new policies and binding pacts to cut global warming pollution, the top U.S. energy forecast agency said on Wednesday.

Nearly 200 nations are set to meet late this year in Copenhagen to hash out a new agreement to control greenhouse gases as the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Industry needs financial backing to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change, business leaders told a climate conference on Monday, drawing criticism that they put profits before the environment.

Solar power plants in deserts using mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays have the potential to generate up to a quarter of the world's electricity by 2050, a report by pro-solar groups said on Monday.

Aiming to drastically cut its emissions of planet-warming pollutants, Britain is telling its home builders to design a new generation of super-efficient houses that use only clean power and add no net carbon to the atmosphere.

Industry should play its part in the fight against climate change by persuading governments to aid carbon cuts rather than lobbying against them, the UN Secretary-General told a business conference on Sunday.

Mangalore, May 20 The Dharwad-headquartered Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB), which has financed over 12,000 solar light units under its area of operation, is now planning to make 80 villages solar villages.