http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Earth_Community-and-Politics_Kyoto-protocol_18_193_729.html Press Review of the Earth from the most relevant websites. Keep in touch with the Earth and your future ! fr-FR http://www.earth-stream.com/logo-stream-Earth.png http://www.earth-stream.com Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:52:42 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Trade-and-Climate-Policies-Must-Be-Linked-in-Post-Kyoto-World_18_193_729_134629.html An article over at SciDev.net today has caught my attention, as it should yours. Written by Glen Peters, a senior research fellow at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo, Norway, the article focuses on the idea that in a post-Kyoto Protocol world, trade and climate policies must be linked. Peters’ main example was, rightfully so, China, and the mixed responsibilities in ensuring that their export and trade industry does not singlehandedly doom the planet to a carbon ridden future. Read more of this story » Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:20:42 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Stephen-Harper-s-Right-Hand-Man-Helped-Organize-Anti-Kyoto-Astroturf-Group_18_193_729_134553.html A good indicator of a man's character is the company he keeps. So DesmogBlog decided to have a closer look at the all-powerful staff in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Office. We started at the top with Guy Giorno, who was appointed Chief of Staff when Ian Brodie had to slink out of the building in humiliation after he was caught leading information to the media that seriously impacted the U.S. nomination race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton - part of the so-called?? NAFTA-gate.Giorno is a Toronto-based lawyer, corporate lobbyist and chief of staff to then-Ontario premier Mike Harris during the so-called ???common sense revolution???. Giorno was also a vocal opponent of the Kyoto protocol ??? to the point that he was a key member of an anti-kyoto front group group called Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions (CCRES). According to Source Watch, CCRES was set up by National Public Relations - Canada???s largest public relations firm - when Giorno worked for them. National Public Relations is also the Canadian affiliate of the often controversial international firm Burson-Marsteller. In classic Astroturf fashion, CCRES members are a who???s who of industries that would be affected by mandatory CO2 emission reductions. They include:Canadian Association of Petroleum ProducersCanadian Energy Pipeline AssociationPetroleum Services Association of CanadaPropane Gas Association of CanadaCanadian Association of Oilwell Drilling ContractorsAutomotive Parts Manufacturers AssociationAlberta Chamber of ResourcesAlberta Chambers of CommerceThe Cement Association of CanadaCanadian Council of Chief ExecutivesGiorno organized a wine and shrimp fete in 2002 to allow CCRES members to lobby top-level Ontario cabinet ministers in an effort to oppose action on climate change. The As Harper???s chief of staff, Giorno is now one of the most powerful people in the country, from which position it must be considerably easier to represent industries that are ... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:20:54 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Internet-auction-sees-256-000-Kyoto-offsets-sold_18_193_729_134504.html Reuters: A total of 255,592 Kyoto offsets were sold via online auction on Thursday, brokers and auction organizers CantorCO2e said. The offsets, issued by the United Nations and known as CERs, were sold for 19.05 euros ($26.57) each to four anonymous buyers, CantorCO2e said. "Demand for the CERs outstripped supply by a significant margin," CantorCO2e said in a statement, adding the auction attracted bidders from the United States, Japan, and nine European countries. Benchmark ... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:37:12 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Stephen-Harper-s-Right-Hand-Man-Helped-Organize-Anti-Kyoto-Astroturf-Group_18_193_729_134227.html A good indicator of a man's character is the company he keeps. So DesmogBlog decided to have a closer look at the all-powerful staff in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Office. We started at the top with Guy Giorno, who was appointed Chief of Staff when Ian Brodie had to slink out of the building in humiliation after he was caught leading information to the media that seriously impacted the U.S. nomination race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton - part of the so-called  NAFTA-gate.Giorno is a Toronto-based lawyer, corporate lobbyist and chief of staff to then-Ontario premier Mike Harris during the so-called “common sense revolution”. Giorno was also a vocal opponent of the Kyoto protocol – to the point that he was a key member of an anti-kyoto front group group called Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions (CCRES). According to Source Watch, CCRES was set up by National Public Relations - Canada’s largest public relations firm - when Giorno worked for them. National Public Relations is also the Canadian affiliate of the often controversial international firm Burson-Marsteller. In classic Astroturf fashion, CCRES members are a who’s who of industries that would be affected by mandatory CO2 emission reductions. They include:Canadian Association of Petroleum ProducersCanadian Energy Pipeline AssociationPetroleum Services Association of CanadaPropane Gas Association of CanadaCanadian Association of Oilwell Drilling ContractorsAutomotive Parts Manufacturers AssociationAlberta Chamber of ResourcesAlberta Chambers of CommerceThe Cement Association of CanadaCanadian Council of Chief ExecutivesGiorno organized a wine and shrimp fete in 2002 to allow CCRES members to lobby top-level Ontario cabinet ministers in an effort to oppose action on climate change. Giorno also sent an email on behalf of CCRES to all members of the Ontario Legislature urging them to write letters to their constituents and to newspapers apposing action on clim ... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:44:15 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Australia-Climate-Plan-Must-Be-Realistic-Adviser_18_193_729_134220.html Reuters: Australia's planned emissions trading scheme and ambitions for a new post-Kyoto international climate pact must be cautious and realistic, says the government's chief climate adviser. Ross Garnaut, asked by the centre-left government to design an emissions trade scheme to make the US$1 trillion economy less polluting, hands his final report to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd later on Tuesday. "I am putting a pin in the delusion (that an ambitious agreement is possible)," Garnaut said ... Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:50:30 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Bring-emerging-nations-into-new-Kyoto-goals-Japan_18_193_729_133822.html Japan has proposed emerging economies set mid-term targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, aiming to bring them into a structure of binding levels to combat global warming. Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:52:28 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Bring-emerging-nations-into-new-Kyoto-goals-Japan_18_193_729_133543.html Reuters: Japan has proposed emerging economies set mid-term targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, aiming to bring them into a structure of binding levels to combat global warming. 'Emerging economies should be engaged to the middle level binding measures, clearly not the same as those of developed economies,' Hiroshi Oe, deputy director-general for global issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a news conference. He was speaking after Japan submitted a list of proposals for a ... Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:25:34 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Australia-climate-plan-must-be-realistic-adviser_18_193_729_133522.html Reuters: Australia's planned emissions trading scheme and ambitions for a new post-Kyoto international climate pact must be cautious and realistic, says the government's chief climate adviser. Ross Garnaut, asked by the center-left government to design an emissions trade scheme to make the $1 trillion economy less polluting, hands his final report to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd later on Tuesday. "I am putting a pin in the delusion (that an ambitious agreement is possible)," Garnaut said ... Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:21:55 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/California-adopts-carbon-reporting-protocols_18_193_729_133382.html Business Green: California's Air Resources Board (CARB) has adopted three voluntary carbon reporting protocols designed to prepare local government and environmental projects for the introduction of its wide-reaching AB32 climate control legislation. Under AB32, California will effectively fall into line with the Kyoto Agreement, setting binding targets to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and introducing a state wide cap-and-trade scheme. CARB has now moved to support the legislation with ... Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:47:10 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Carbon-markets-A-flare-for-credits_18_193_729_133341.html The Middle East has been slow to cash in on cutting emissions. That is now changing. Projects to cut greenhouse gas emissions should be big business in the Middle East, as they are in other emerging markets such as China, because of the Kyoto protocol. Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:57:25 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Russia-s-Rosneft-signs-Kyoto-deal-to-use-wasted-gas_18_193_729_133040.html The World Bank has signed a deal with Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, to cut planet-warming emissions by making use of gas from an oilfield rather than flaring it off, Rosneft said on Monday. Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:15:03 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Mayors-Get-It-on-Climate-Change_18_193_729_132965.html Ironically, the most ambitious U.S. action in the fight against global warming is coming from big cities and their mayors. It seems preposterous on its face. Each city’s emissions are only a tiny fraction of the global pie. Cities can’t force utilities to shift to renewables, or make Detroit produce smarter cars. Nonetheless, some of the biggest U.S. mega-cities are stepping up in a big way on global warming: In San Francisco: Mayor Gavin Newsome committed his city to reduce emissions 20% below 1990 levels by 2012 using everything from zero emission public transit to LED streetlights. In New York City: Bloomberg called for 30% cuts from current emissions by 2030 (and 2017 for municipal operations) and supplanting the Manhattan skyline’s quaint rooftop water tanks with wind turbines. In Chicago: earlier this month, Mayor Daley announced a detailed and comprehensive program to reduce Chicago’s emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020, noting that at today’s energy prices this is a cost cutting program for Chicagoans. The Mayor observed “We can’t solve the world’s climate change problem in Chicago, but we can do our part.” In addition, more than 884 cities to date have signed on to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, under which they aspire to “meet or beat” the Kyoto Protocol emissions targets. Cities, of course, are critical to any global challenge. More than half the world’s population is now urban, and cities consume 75% of the world’s energy while producing 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. The question is: why are cities stepping up the plate, while Congress continues to drag its feet? Here are three possible reasons: First, cities are on the front lines of global warming scenarios that increasingly look all too real. When natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and sustained heat waves strike, dense population centers—and their mayors—feel the most pain. Ask Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas— ... Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:07:41 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Japanese-make-post-Kyoto-plan_18_193_729_132629.html McClatchy-Tribune: The Japanese government plans to propose setting more than one base year in the post-Kyoto Protocol framework, in a bid to improve the current system believed to be disadvantageous to Japan as it has already made progress in energy saving, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. In the proposed framework that will succeed the Kyoto accord in 2013, the government also will call on the United Nations to impose obligations on countries considered by Japan as newly industrialized countries, such ... Sun, 28 Sep 2008 09:57:41 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Think-Climate-Think-Doooom-_18_193_729_132533.html Editor's Note: Another contribution from our friends at Alternative Media Group Professor Ross Garnaut’s supplementary report on emission reduction trajectories and targets is even more exciting than it sounds, yet it seems to have been read by very few people who hold strong opinions about its apparent conclusions. Some pundits – the Akermans, Devines, Marohasys, Nelsons, etc.. – seem pleased that Garnaut’s 2020 target of 10% is so small, and so beset by national conditions and global politics and economic aspirations, that it may even dwindle to 5% if Kyoto completely stalls. They claim that this proves that they ... Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:04:19 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Global-carbon-emissions-rising-rapidly-study_18_193_729_131805.html Reuters: Global carbon emissions rose rapidly in 2007, an annual study says, with developing nations such as China and India now producing more than half of mankind's output of carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for global warming. The Global Carbon Project said in its report carbon dioxide emissions from mankind are growing about four times faster since 2000 than during the 1990s, despite efforts by a number of nations to rein in emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Emissions from ... Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:00:43 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Bush-Gets-Schooled-by-the-Senate-On-Environmental-Policy_18_193_729_131244.html The Senate met today to review Bush’s environmental record. It was sparked by the EPA’s denial of a California waiver to regulate automotive greenhouse gases. The committee entitled, “Bush Administration Environmental Record at Department of Interior and Environmental Protection Agency,” met today. Senator Barbara Boxer called the hearing to explore how the administration has held up with respect to environmental integrity. A driving force behind the committee was the denial of California’s petition to curb greenhouse emissions by allowing the state to regulate vehicular fuel efficiency. The hearing was also looking into a proposal to loosen rules protecting endangered species. You can watch a full video of the hearing here. Boxer, who is chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, wasn’t too happy when two high-level officials at the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Interior failed to show up for the hearing. “They’re cowardly and they have been a danger to the people of this country,” Boxer said. Below is just a taste of what Bush and Co have been up to since taking office. A History of Bush’s Environmental Record Proposed drilling of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - October 2000, this was a campaign trail proposition! Blocks safeguards on arsenic in drinking water, sulfur in diesel, and releases of raw sewage - January 2001, Inauguration Day Bush repudiates the Kyoto Protocol - March, 2001 178 Countries agree to Kyoto, Bush does not - June 2001 Bush kills more of Clinton’s safeguards on drinking water - July 2001 Bush cuts funds for renewables - February 2002 Introduces “Clear Skies” initiative which allows for more air pollution - February 2002 Bush denies EPA findings on Global Warming - June 2002 Proposes removing wetland protections - January 2003 EPA silences effects of global warming in environmental report - June 2003 Creates “Healthy Forrest” initiative which allows more logging ... Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:47:59 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Japan-to-Buy-Excess-Czech-Emissions-Allowance_18_193_729_130690.html Reuters: Japan has signed an agreement with the Czech Republic to buy surplus allowances for greenhouse gas emissions, helping it achieve its reduction goals under the Kyoto Protocol, the Czech Environment Ministry said on Tuesday. Japan, the world's fifth-biggest emitter, is seeking emissions credits overseas after lagging behind in its obligation to cut emissions to 1.19 billion tonnes in carbon dioxide equivalent by 2012, or 6 percent below 1990 levels. It emitted 1.340 billion tonnes in ... Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:14:57 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Chicago-latest-US-city-to-unveil-comprehensive-climate-plan_18_193_729_130347.html Business Green: Chicago has announced a climate change action plan designed to reduce the city's carbon emissions to three quarters of 1990 levels by 2020. The goal, which goes well beyond the requirements of the Kyoto protocol, has been praised as aggressive by environmental commentators. The plan, which is part of a longer-term goal to cut carbon emissions to 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050, consists of 35 separate actions spanning five broad categories: building efficiency, clean and ... Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:54:08 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Towards-the-New-Climate-Deal-The-Trail-from-Accra_18_193_729_130230.html We're now nearly halfway to the New Climate Deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012. The deadline is 2009 in Copenhagen. While public attention was temporarily swept up by the Beijing Olympics, government negotiations have been plodding on for a week from the 21st to 27th last month. According to the characteristically rose-tinted phraseology of the UN press release (PDF), "Important progress has been made during the latest round of United Nations-led climate change talks in Accra, Ghana, on key issues relating to a new international agreement to tackle global warming." "We're still on track ... Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:50:55 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Community-and-Politics/Kyoto-protocol/Indigenous-Groups-Criticize-Climate-Talks_18_193_729_130148.html Worldwatch Institute: As international climate negotiations move closer to including forests in the successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, indigenous and traditional peoples realize they have either a lot to gain or everything to lose. If industrialized countries are allowed to purchase the carbon rights of forests, groups from the Americas, Africa, and Asia fear their ancestral lands may be taken away. They worry that the benefactors of the carbon market will be governments or wealthy landholders, and ...