14th December 2008 Poznan
Ponder
Negotiations at the UN Climate Change summit in Poznan, Poland,
have been criticised for slow progress. However, the Climate Change
Adaptation Fund should begin to deliver funds next year.
14th December 2008 Scotland
the Brave
The Scottish Government has announced details of its targets for
cutting greenhouse gas emissions. In its draft climate change
bill it sets a goal of an 80 percent reduction in emissions by
2050.
14th December 2008 Chu's
Choice
Nobel laureate, Steven Chu, has been appointed by Barack Obama
as head of the US Department of Energy. Chu is likely to accelerate
implementation of low carbon technologies.
14th December 2008 Flood
Defence
Janos Bogardi and Koko Warner of the United Nations University
in Bonn, Germany, have called for policy-makers to look at mass
migration as a form of climate change adaptation.
14th December 2008 Carbon
Sink
Peter Kelemen and Jürg Matter of Columbia University have
identified a potentially important geological sink for atmospheric
carbon dioxide via its reaction with magnesium-rich peridotite.
23rd November 2008 Salt
and Shake
Steven Bryant and colleagues at the University of Texas have suggested
that using brine as the medium for underground carbon dioxide
storage may help to reduce leakage.
23rd November 2008 Carbon
Dating
Ken Caldeira, of the Carnegie Institution for Science in California,
has highlighted the very long lifetime of much of the anthropogenic
carbon dioxide that is currently being released.
23rd November 2008 People
In Greenhouses
Andreas Stohl, of the Norwegian Institute of Air Research, has
calculated the greenhouse gas emissions arising from his colleagues'
work-related activities, including conference travel.
5th November 2008 Onus
on Obama
US President-Elect, Barack Obama, has outlined his plans for tackling
climate change. A key target is an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions by 2050 relative to 1990.
5th November 2008 Fungal
Fuel
Gary Strobel and colleagues at Montana State University have isolated
a fungus from rainforest trees that can apparently form hydrocarbon
fuels similar to diesel.
5th November 2008 Canadian
Climate
Hannah Hoag has reviewed the future of climate change policy in
Canada following the failure of the Liberal Party to depose Stephen
Harper on an environmental agenda.
10th October 2008 Place
Your Bets
Mark Serreze and Julienne Stroeve, at the University of Colorado
in Boulder, have highlighted recent losses and outlined the likelihood
of an ice-free Arctic Ocean in summers to come.
10th October 2008 Algal
Bloom
Dutch company Algae-Link have developed an improved system for
intensive algal growth and biomass production for use as low carbon
feedstocks to replace fossil fuels.
10th October 2008 CEO
Carbon
Valli Moosa, president of the International Union for the Conservation
of Nature, has called for all businesses to have at least one
executive director with environmental knowledge.
10th October 2008 20
by 20
Ed Miliband, UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary, has said
that the EU's target of reducing greenhouse gas emission by 20
percent by the year 2020 is still achievable.
28th September 2008 Green
Jobs
The United Nations has predicted that the demand for low and zero
carbon technologies in the next few decades will create millions
of new jobs around the world.
28th September 2008 Hardy
Annuals
The Global Crop Diversity Trust has begun the search for crop
varieties with traits that will allow them to better cope with
variations in water availability and temperature due to climate
change.
7th September 2008 Raj
Diet
Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Integovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, has called for a reduction in meat consumption to help
reduce emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases.
7th September 2008 Clean
Coal
The Schwarze Pumpe power station in Germany is about to bring
on-line its first oxyfuel boiler to provide CO2-enriched exhaust
gas suitable for capture and geological storage.
7th September 2008 Storm
Force
James Elsner of Florida State University, and colleagues, have
identified an increase in the strength of the most powerful tropical
storms over the last 25 years using satellite data.
7th September 2008 Ice
Hockey
Michael Mann of Penn State University, and colleagues, have further
justified their controversial 'hockey stick' reconstruction of
global temperature change over the last 2,000 years.
19th August 2008 Maasai
Methods
Leading aid agency Oxfam has suggested that the survival skills
of Maasai pastoralists in Africa could help them and others to
better adapt to the impacts of climate change.
7th August 2008 Four
Degrees
Bob Watson, chief adviser to the UK's Department of Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs, has said that preparations for a 4 degree
C rise in average global temperature should be made.
13th July 2008 Ghost
Gas
Michael Prather, of the University of California, has warned of
the rising emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas nitrogen trifluoride.
The gas is used in manufacturing semiconductors.
13th July 2008 Double
Vision
The leaders of the G8 have announced their shared vision for global
cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of 50 percent by 2050. But there
remains disagreement over which nations should do most.
13th July 2008 Heat
Shocks
Alex Rogers of the Zoological Society of London, and colleagues,
have warned that up to one third of all coral species are facing
extinction due to threats such as climate change.
25th June 2008 Fertile
Sinks
Dave Reay, of GHGonline.org, and colleagues in the UK, US and
Italy, have revealed that increased global nitrogen pollution
will have little benefit in terms of reducing carbon dioxide.
25th June 2008 Bang
for your Buck
Joseph Romm, of the Center for American Progress, has argued that
efforts to set a global price on carbon would be better spent
on the rapid use of low carbon technologies.
25th June 2008 British
Summertime
UK energy Minister Malcolm Wicks has revealed plans for a concerted
push to increase the number of homes with solar water heating.
Up to one quarter of all homes could be included.
8th June 2008 Pop
Go the Targets
Kerri Smith of Nature has highlighted the risk that the
projected human population of 9 billion by 2050 will destroy efforts
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change.
8th June 2008 Worthy
Additions?
The BBC's World Service has revealed that some projects aimed
at cutting greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Development
Mechanism fail the key test of additionality.
8th June 2008 Filibustered
The Warner-Lieberman Bill, aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emission
in the US via caps and tax relief, has been blocked in Congress
by so-called filibuster tactics.
8th June 2008 Fronting
Up
Martin Parry and co-authors on the IPCC Impacts Working Group
have warned that emissions cuts and adaptation plans must be strengthened
to avoid dangerous climate change.
17th May 2008 Mounting
Methane
NOAA in the United States have revealed that, after almost a decade
of stability, methane concentrations in the atmosphere are once
again on the rise. The reason for the increase remains unclear.
17th May 2008 Warming
Fingerprints
Cynthia Rosenzweig at NASA's Goddard Institute in New York and
colleagues from around the world have shown that major changes
in Earth's natural systems are being driven by global warming.
17th May 2008 Model
Answers
Climate modellers from around the world have called for a huge
climate prediction project using a dedicated super computer and
on the scale of the Human Genome Project.
22nd April 2008 Quick
Sand
Georg Wohlfahrt of Universität Innsbruck, Austria, and colleagues
at the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, have revealed that
desert areas may act as important carbon sinks.
22nd April 2008 Cosmic
Correlations
Jon Egill Kristjansson of Oslo University has cast further doubt
on the idea that cosmic rays can explain recent variations in
Earth's climate. He reports no clear response in cloud formation.
12th April 2008 Trading
Places
Glen Peters and Edgar Hertwich, of the Norwegian University of
Science and Technology, have highlighted the importance on international
trade in global greenhouse gas emissions.
12th April 2008 Hell
and Hansen
James Hansen, of NASA's Goddard Institute, has said that the target
concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere should be 350
parts per million - 30ppm less than the current level.
19th March 2008 Glacial
Ill
The UN Environment Programme has reported a large increase in
the rate of glacial shrinkage around the world. Average rates
in 2006 were five times those observed between 1980 and 1999.
19th March 2008 Good
Wood
Alex Salmond has opened the UK's largest wood-fired power station
at a site in Lockerbie, Scotland. The power plant will use nearby
forests to provide electricity for 70,000 homes.
19th March 2008 Chip
and Charge
Graham Whitney of IBM has called for globally-binding greenhouse
gas reduction targets for post-2012 to ensure that the world's
IT industry invests more in low carbon technologies.
4th March 2008 Black
Test Bed
Laurus Energy in Montreal are planning to combine coal gasification
with carbon capture and storage as a more cost-effective way to
reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal use.
4th March 2008 Cool
Response
Carl Mears and Michael Schlesinger are among those climate scientists
who have responded to claims that recent cold weather is proof
against human-induced climate change.
16th February 2008 Iron,
but no Brass
Planktos, the company set up with the aim of fertilising ocean
waters with iron to promote algal growth and carbon dioxide drawdown
has been unable to raise the funds required.
16th February 2008 Double
Jeopardy
The International Maritime Organisation has revealed that global
carbon dioxide emissions from cargo ships is double that from
aviation. Both sectors are outside of Kyoto protocol targets.
16th February 2008 Climate
Engineers
Dave Reay of Edinburgh University and GHGonline.org has highlighted
the key role played by microorganisms in the global fluxes of
carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
24th January 2008 Smoking
Gun
The council of the American Geophysical Union has revised its
position on climate change, stating that the best explanation
for recent climate change is human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
24th January 2008 Final
Countdown
Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Commission has announced the
Europe-wide roadmap for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The
aim is for a cut of at least 20 percent cut by 2030.
8th January 2008 Thin
Sink
President Silva of Brazil has revealed a sharp rise in deforestation
in the Amazon. More than 1,000 square miles of rainforest were
felled in the last 5 months of 2007.
8th January 2008 Greenhouse
Grass
Ken Vogel and colleagues at the US Department of Agriculture have
reported that ethanol derived from switchgrass can cut carbon
dioxide emissions by over 90 percent compared to petrol.
8th January 2008 Happy
New Year
Here's wishing everyone a very happy 2008. On a personal note,
it should be a busy one - this year sees the launch of our new
MSc in Carbon Management at the University of Edinburgh.