Should the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change fail to agree this December, it could have severe harmful effects on international trade, warns the World Trade Organisation chief.
Not only would temperatures continue to rise with a range of threats to populations if no international accord on climate change is found, but the international system of trade would also be jeopardized.
“I sincerely hope that (agreement) will happen in Copenhagen. If it doesn’t happen, our job at the WTO will become more difficult,” Pascal Lamy, head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) tells the Financial Times.
He refers to the trend that some countries impose taxes or similar measures on goods from countries with lower standards in climate protection. This trend will only grow stronger if a new, more comprehensive agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol does not come in place.
“Going-alone measures will not achieve the desired results. Relying on trade measures to fix global environmental problems will not work. I am of the firm conviction that the relationship between international trade and climate change would be best defined as a follow-up to a consensual international accord on climate change that successfully embraces all major polluters,” says Pascal Lamy.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Japan tightens up on climate targets
Japan’s next Prime Minister considers a new carbon tax and a domestic emissions trading market to reach a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gasses. COP15 host Connie Hedegaard congratulates Japan on its "strong leadershipThe Japanese Prime Minister in waiting, Yukio Hatoyama, declared today that he will aim for a 25 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 compared with 1990 levels. The target is a huge step forward compared to his predecessor’s. In June, outgoing Prime Minister Taro Aso unveiled an eight percent reduction during the same time frame.
”It is one of our pledges stipulated in our (election) manifesto so we need the political will to aim at its realization by utilizing all policy tools,” Hatoyama said in a speech today during the Asahi World Environment Forum in Tokyo, according to Japan Today.
He added that Japan would ”aim to establish a fair and effective international framework involving all major countries in the world”, indicating an intention to strongly urge other countries to set ”ambitious goals” in cutting emissions.
According to Reuters, his Democratic Party considers a new carbon tax. It also plans to create a domestic emissions trading market and introduce a ”feed-in” tariff for renewable energy to help expand capacity for clean energy sources.
Denmark’s Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard, who hosts December’s UN climate conference in Copenhagen (COP15), congratulates Japan on its ”strong leadership”:
”For a long time, everybody has been waiting for everybody in the international [climate] negotiations. Now Japan has taken a big step forward by setting an ambitious target, and I hope it will inspire other countries to follow,” she says in a statement.
The environmental group WWF also welcomes the ”courage” of the Japanese Prime-Minister-elect.
“Japan used to be the country driven by industry groups, but now we see a new Prime Minister with true leadership”, says Takamasa Higuchi, CEO of WWF Japan.
Kim Carstensen, the leader of the WWF Global Climate Initiative, says “the decision by an important player such as Japan to do more and get serious about low carbon future can help break the deadlock between developed and developing countries”.
“The climate negotiations are at a critical point and we need urgent progress to get a fair, ambitious and binding deal in Copenhagen this December.”
”It is one of our pledges stipulated in our (election) manifesto so we need the political will to aim at its realization by utilizing all policy tools,” Hatoyama said in a speech today during the Asahi World Environment Forum in Tokyo, according to Japan Today.
He added that Japan would ”aim to establish a fair and effective international framework involving all major countries in the world”, indicating an intention to strongly urge other countries to set ”ambitious goals” in cutting emissions.
According to Reuters, his Democratic Party considers a new carbon tax. It also plans to create a domestic emissions trading market and introduce a ”feed-in” tariff for renewable energy to help expand capacity for clean energy sources.
Denmark’s Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard, who hosts December’s UN climate conference in Copenhagen (COP15), congratulates Japan on its ”strong leadership”:
”For a long time, everybody has been waiting for everybody in the international [climate] negotiations. Now Japan has taken a big step forward by setting an ambitious target, and I hope it will inspire other countries to follow,” she says in a statement.
The environmental group WWF also welcomes the ”courage” of the Japanese Prime-Minister-elect.
“Japan used to be the country driven by industry groups, but now we see a new Prime Minister with true leadership”, says Takamasa Higuchi, CEO of WWF Japan.
Kim Carstensen, the leader of the WWF Global Climate Initiative, says “the decision by an important player such as Japan to do more and get serious about low carbon future can help break the deadlock between developed and developing countries”.
“The climate negotiations are at a critical point and we need urgent progress to get a fair, ambitious and binding deal in Copenhagen this December.”
Consequences of climate change has a bad taste
Now and then, animals experience heat stress during transport to the abattoir, and the quality of the meat is affected. Cattle begin to suffer heat stress already at 20 degrees Celsius and pigs at 31 degrees. In the future, heat stress among farm animals may be more common, New Scientist reports.
”The one thing we can be sure of is that they'll experience those harmful temperatures more often with climate change,” says Neville Gregory of the Royal Veterinary College in Hatfield, UK.
Over a decade, Neville Gregory has studied how meat quality varies with the temperature at which animals are kept. His findings are published in Food Research International this month, and they are not particularly appetizing. Heat-stressed pork meat ”resembles soggy white blotting paper”, and a rump steak will taste blander and look darker, ”almost mahogany in colour, or umber, and in the worst case, black,” he tells New Scientist.
”The implications of global warming for animal production have not been given much thought...Hopefully, this paper will stimulate some much-needed debate among policy makers,” urges Peter Hansen, an animal scientist at the University of Florida in Gainesville, according to New Scientist
”The one thing we can be sure of is that they'll experience those harmful temperatures more often with climate change,” says Neville Gregory of the Royal Veterinary College in Hatfield, UK.
Over a decade, Neville Gregory has studied how meat quality varies with the temperature at which animals are kept. His findings are published in Food Research International this month, and they are not particularly appetizing. Heat-stressed pork meat ”resembles soggy white blotting paper”, and a rump steak will taste blander and look darker, ”almost mahogany in colour, or umber, and in the worst case, black,” he tells New Scientist.
”The implications of global warming for animal production have not been given much thought...Hopefully, this paper will stimulate some much-needed debate among policy makers,” urges Peter Hansen, an animal scientist at the University of Florida in Gainesville, according to New Scientist
Global warming is a wake-up call
Climate change is not only about rising temperatures. It may alter the geology of the Earth dramatically, scientists say.
Earthquakes, avalanches and volcanic eruptions may increase, when our Earth faces a warmer future. According to a report by international groups of researchers to be presented at a London conference next week, the impact of climate change is rather dramatic.
”Not only are the oceans and atmosphere conspiring against us, bringing baking temperatures, more powerful storms and floods, but the crust beneath our feet seems likely to join in too,” says Professor Bill McGuire, Director of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College London. McGuire is one of the organizers of the Climate Forcing of Geological Hazards conference, which will open on September 15.
Melting glaciers will set off avalanches, floods and mud flows in the Alps and other mountain ranges, and disappearing Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets threaten to let loose underwater landslides, triggering tsunamis, the Guardian reports.
”Global warming is not just a matter of warmer weather, more floods or stronger hurricanes. It is a wake-up call to Terra Firma,” McGuire says, according to the Guardian.
Earthquakes, avalanches and volcanic eruptions may increase, when our Earth faces a warmer future. According to a report by international groups of researchers to be presented at a London conference next week, the impact of climate change is rather dramatic.
”Not only are the oceans and atmosphere conspiring against us, bringing baking temperatures, more powerful storms and floods, but the crust beneath our feet seems likely to join in too,” says Professor Bill McGuire, Director of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College London. McGuire is one of the organizers of the Climate Forcing of Geological Hazards conference, which will open on September 15.
Melting glaciers will set off avalanches, floods and mud flows in the Alps and other mountain ranges, and disappearing Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets threaten to let loose underwater landslides, triggering tsunamis, the Guardian reports.
”Global warming is not just a matter of warmer weather, more floods or stronger hurricanes. It is a wake-up call to Terra Firma,” McGuire says, according to the Guardian.
Green tax on tourism to help finance Maldives climate plan
Budget constraints and lack of funding from foreign investors have prevented the vulnerable island state from moving forward with its ambitous plans to become carbon neutral within a decade.
The president of the Maldives Mohammed Nasheed said Monday he plans a $3-a-day green tax for all tourists at its popular island resorts to help pay for the country's ambitious goals in fighting climate change.
Budget constraints have so far kept the government from moving forward with its plan to become carbon neutral, as it awaits foreign investors willing to pay for green development projects.
The country's tourism ministry says the Maldives had 683,012 tourist arrivals in 2008.
Since taking office last year, Mohammed Nasheed has emerged as an important voice on the impact of climate change amid fears that within a century, rising ocean levels could swamp this Indian Ocean archipelago. Its islands average 7 feet (2.13 meters) above sea level, making the Maldives the lowest-lying nation on Earth.
Nasheed has announced plans for a fund to buy a new homeland if the 1,192 low-lying coral islands are submerged. He also has promised to make the Maldives, with a population of 350,000, the world's first carbon-neutral nation within a decade.
The president of the Maldives Mohammed Nasheed said Monday he plans a $3-a-day green tax for all tourists at its popular island resorts to help pay for the country's ambitious goals in fighting climate change.
Budget constraints have so far kept the government from moving forward with its plan to become carbon neutral, as it awaits foreign investors willing to pay for green development projects.
The country's tourism ministry says the Maldives had 683,012 tourist arrivals in 2008.
Since taking office last year, Mohammed Nasheed has emerged as an important voice on the impact of climate change amid fears that within a century, rising ocean levels could swamp this Indian Ocean archipelago. Its islands average 7 feet (2.13 meters) above sea level, making the Maldives the lowest-lying nation on Earth.
Nasheed has announced plans for a fund to buy a new homeland if the 1,192 low-lying coral islands are submerged. He also has promised to make the Maldives, with a population of 350,000, the world's first carbon-neutral nation within a decade.
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