Kyoto Protocol

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UN Climate Summit Meets Today, Doomed as Usual

Kyoto extension the top item on the docket

(Newser) - Seventeen thousand delegates from 194 countries are meeting in Doha, Qatar, today for the 18th UN climate change conference, and pretty much no one is expecting anything useful to emerge from it. Here's what you need to know:
  • The stakes are especially high this year because the Kyoto Protocol
...

US CO2 Emissions Dive to 20-Year Low

Cheap natural gas has made a huge difference

(Newser) - America's carbon emissions have, amazingly, dropped to levels near where they would be in an alternate reality where President Al Gore signed the Kyoto Protocol. Emissions of the greenhouse gas are at their lowest in 20 years and government officials say the dramatic fall is thanks to cheap natural...

Canada Slammed for Kyoto Pullout

Canada gov't says fines huge, no real environmental help

(Newser) - Countries and environmentalist groups around the world are slamming Canada for pulling out of the Kyoto climate treaty on Monday, reports the Guardian . "Preposterous" and "an excuse to shirk responsibility," was how the withdrawal was described by China, the world's largest carbon dioxide producer . The UN...

Canada Drops Out of Kyoto Accord to Curb Carbon Emissions
 Canada Drops 
 Kyoto Accord 
Dec 12, 2011 5:43 PM CST

Canada Drops Kyoto Accord

Treaty won't work without US and China: minister

(Newser) - Canada's environment minister said today his country is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Peter Kent said that Canada is invoking its legal right to withdraw and said Kyoto doesn't represent the way forward for Canada or the world. Canada, joined by Japan and Russia,...

UN Climate Talks Stall Over Divide Between Industrial, Developing Nations
 Deal Cut at UN Climate Talks 
updated
Dec 10, 2011 10:43 PM CST

Deal Cut at UN Climate Talks

Next agreement will include emission limits for all countries

(Newser) - A UN climate conference reached a hard-fought agreement today on a complex and far-reaching program meant to set a new course for the global fight against climate change for the coming decades. The 194-party conference agreed to start negotiations on a new accord that would put all countries under the...

Cancun Climate Talks: A Decent Step Forward
Cancun Climate Talks:
A Decent Step Forward
analysis roundup
Dec 11, 2010 1:20 PM CST

Cancun Climate Talks: A Decent Step Forward

They seem to have gotten world negotiators back on track

(Newser) - The climate talks in Cancun are over, and the assessments seem to fall into the modest-but-better-than-expected range, mainly because they set the stage for future talks. Monsters and Critics has highlights here , including a goal by the nearly 200 participating nations to limit the rise in world temperatures to 2...

Copenhagen Summit a Face-off Between US, China
Copenhagen Summit a Face-off Between US, China 
Analysis
Dec 14, 2009 11:31 AM CST

Copenhagen Summit a Face-off Between US, China

Tensions flaring over whether China deserves international aid

(Newser) - The Copenhagen talks are starting to look like an economic face-off between Washington and Beijing, with the US concerned by China’s growing footprint and China accusing the US of not living up to its responsibilities. Nearly half the growth in global greenhouse gas emissions over the next 20 years...

New Proposals Boost Hopes of Copenhagen Deal
New Proposals Boost Hopes of Copenhagen Deal
climate summit
Dec 11, 2009 4:00 PM CST

New Proposals Boost Hopes of Copenhagen Deal

Negotiators appear ready to extend, build on Kyoto protocol

(Newser) - New draft proposals at the Copenhagen summit have renewed optimism that negotiators will find consensus on a substantial deal. One plan would renew and extend the Kyoto protocol—this time, presumably, with a US endorsement—which is set to expire in 2012. Another draft proposal, framed as a "Kyoto...

Biofuel Laws Make No Sense: Scientists

Kyoto Protocols actually encourage harming the environment

(Newser) - Biofuel laws around the world actually encourage harming the environment, prominent scientists argue in the latest issue of Science. Under the Kyoto Treaty, in laws throughout Europe, and in the bill that passed the US House, biofuels count as carbon-neutral, on the theory that the plants the fuel is made...

Coal Harms the Planet —and Owns the Senate
 Coal Harms the Planet 
 —and Owns the Senate 
Jeffrey Sachs
Oct 21, 2009 8:32 AM CDT

Coal Harms the Planet —and Owns the Senate

Blame industry as well as ideology if US shirks Copenhagen

(Newser) - As the world turns to Copenhagen this December, the US, which never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, may once again fail to sign up to save the world from serious climate change. Ideology plays a part, Jeffrey Sachs notes, as many Republican senators are "intent on derailing any Obama initiative....

Airlines Pledge to Halve Emissions by 2050

Industry makes vow to UN ahead of Copenhagen summit

(Newser) - The airline industry is pledging to cut carbon emissions by 50% in 2050, reports the Guardian, in a reluctant concession meant to stave off more dramatic action—but one that will likely increase fares and trigger a race for new, greener technology. The plan will be presented at the UN ...

The Latest Ozone Villain: Laughing Gas

Nitrous oxide nothing to chuckle about, climate scientists say

(Newser) - Nitrous oxide is the new chlorofluorocarbons. A study published today fingers N2O, aka laughing gas, as the most dangerous ozone-depleting gas in the air, Time reports. Nitrous oxide isn’t as dangerous as CFCs, but it’s incredibly common, emitted by everything from fertilizer to sewage treatment plants to cars....

Industry Muffled Own Scientists on Warming

Coal, oil, companies suppressed experts' findings for years

(Newser) - A coalition of industries linked to fossil fuels lobbied for more than a decade to cast doubt on global warming—while the companies' own scientists advised them that climate change was irrefutable, the New York Times reports. The Global Climate Coalition, financed by the oil, coal, and auto industries, conducted...

Warming Is Polar Bears' Top Killer, Host Nations Agree

US, Russia, Norway, Denmark and Canada sign joint statement on bear population

(Newser) - Five nations whose land is home to polar bears signed a joint statement today declaring global warming to be the biggest threat to the animals, AFP reports. Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Norway, Russia, and the US agree that “long-term conservation of polar bears depends upon successful mitigation of climate change,”...

Hopes High in Climate Fight as Obama Takes Lead
Hopes High in Climate Fight as Obama Takes Lead
analysis
Mar 1, 2009 11:40 AM CST

Hopes High in Climate Fight as Obama Takes Lead

US to take major role in new environmental treaty

(Newser) - The Kyoto Protocol signed more than a decade ago faced roadblocks to achieving its environmental goals—but with President Obama pushing hard on climate change, new international agreements could be much stronger, the New York Times reports. Obama has placed the US “at the forefront of the international climate...

Billions Wasted in UN Carbon Program: Study

Most funded projects 'won't reduce emissions'

(Newser) - Billions of dollars spent to encourage developing nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions are being wasted on projects that don't qualify, according to two new studies of the UN's carbon credit program. The Kyoto agreement arranges for wealthy countries unable to meet emission reductions to instead subsidize green energy projects...

Gore's New Hard Truth: Nothing Is Changing

Climate change too low on priority list: Gore

(Newser) - Despite the impact of his movie, An Inconvenient Truth, the success of Live Earth concerts and news stories about melting ice caps, little has changed and action is needed more urgently than ever to stem global warming, Al Gore tells the Sun. The Nobel Prize-winning former vice president believes it's...

Bush Warms to Global Warming
Bush Warms to Global Warming
Dec 29, 2007 1:53 PM CST

Bush Warms to Global Warming

The president looks to lead on climate change, in his own way

(Newser) - Aiming to polish his legacy, President Bush is mulling new climate policy that may include mandatory emissions caps, the Washington Post reports. The Post tracks his evolution from climate skeptic to advocate of higher fuel efficiency and a $37 billion investment in alternative fuels—although critics remain dubious of a...

Bali: What Was Accomplished?
Bali: What Was Accomplished?
Dec 16, 2007 11:00 AM CST

Bali: What Was Accomplished?

Developed and developing nations agree to work to end global warming

(Newser) - Dismantling the “Berlin Wall of climate change”—the idea that rich nations alone should lead the fight against global warming—was the big breakthrough at the UN climate change conference in Bali, reports Time. It made it possible for the US, after a bruising confrontation and near-collapse of...

Last-Minute US Compromise Saves Bali Talks

Officials agree to reach accord in 2009—after end of Bush term

(Newser) - The Bali climate summit averted failure at the eleventh hour today when the US capitulated under sharp criticism and agreed to further talks to forge a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol in 2009 that will include the US and developing nations. The deal came after the US dropped opposition...

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