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AFP: Companies' CO2 cuts fall short of scientific needs: study
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AFP: Companies' CO2 cuts fall short of scientific needs: studyTue Aug 25, 4:01 pm ET The world's 100 largest companies are failing to meet scientific recommendations on cutting CO2 emissions to contain global warming, a new study released Tuesday warned. "We are facing a Carbon Chasm," said the study by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent organisation based in London. "To cut emissions in developed economies by the required 80 percent by 2050, we need to see a minimum annual global reduction rate of 3.9 percent" per year, it said. "However analysis of reduction targets from the Global 100 companies shows they are currently on track for an annual reduction of just 1.9 percent" per year. The CDP analysts said 73 percent of Global 100 companies reported some form of reduction target, while a significant minority -- 27 percent -- did not. "There is an urgent need for all companies to establish and achieve required targets," the study said, warning that company target setting was "motivated by market forces - not scientific requirements." "The analysis done by CDP identifies a serious Carbon Chasm. "The Chasm highlights the gap between current Global 100 reduction targets and what we need to see if we are to reduce in line with scientific recommendations. "It shows the majority of companies are currently failing to deliver the reductions required to avoid dangerous climate change." The CDP said more aggressive targets were needed "if business is to reduce emissions sufficiently" and called for government leadership and action to ensure that happens. The CDP's recommendations included that every company should set CO2 reduction targets and target years, which should reflect scientific recommendations made by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It also said governments needed to agree on clear medium- and long-term reduction goals during key climate change talks in Copenhagen in December where more than 180 nations are to negotiate an agreement to replace the existing Kyoto Protocol. The vision is to set curbs on emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases beyond 2012, with intermediate targets for 2020 that would be ratcheted up all the way to 2050. In its analysis of the Global 100 responses to the Carbon Disclosure Project the study found that European companies had the strongest target setting with 84 percent reporting a CO2 reduction target, followed by the United States with 71 percent and Asian companies with 66 percent. But it added that the popularity of the target years up to 2012 "suggests that businesses are waiting to hear outcomes" of the Copenhagen conference before setting longer term reduction goals. "At present we are not on track to achieve the 2050 targets but the key issue will be how companies respond to this challenge as many of them set targets beyond 2012," the study said. There is no consensus among climate scientists about what is a safe level of warming, but many have urged policymakers to peg the rise to no more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. This would require cuts of between 25 and 40 percent by rich countries by 2020, but would also require a brake in the growth of emissions by the emerging giants, according the UN's panel of climate scientists. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Reuters: Climate protests play cat and mouse with UK policeTue Aug 25, 2009 8:38am EDT Climate change campaigners will on Wednesday launch a week of protests against financial institutions, big corporations and the government, a test for London police after criticism of its handling of G20 protests. Organizers say more than 1,000 people will set up camp at an undisclosed location in protest at what they say is "green posturing" by politicians and business executives who talk about saving the environment while expanding airports, coal-fired power stations and other sources of planet-warming gases. At the G20 summit in April, a newspaper seller died after being shoved by a policeman during a protest near the Bank of England. The demonstrators plan to target 22 organizations, including the London Stock Exchange, Heathrow Airport and the finance ministry, according to organizers' plans leaked to the media. They may force their way into offices, unfurl banners from rooftops or glue themselves to buildings in London's financial district, organizers said. They are refusing to tell police where they plan to camp because they do not trust them. "The City of London is the epicenter of a global economic system whose obsession with economic growth is taking us to the edge of an ecological catastrophe," Climate Camp spokesman Peter McDonnell told Reuters. The central bank is one of six gathering points where protestors will learn details of the campsite's location on Wednesday via email, text message and the Twitter site. Other meeting points include Stratford train station, near the 2012 Olympics site in east London, and the offices of oil major BP and mining company Rio Tinto. POLICE 'UNDER SCRUTINY' Protesters will also meet at Stockwell underground train station in south London, where police shot dead a Brazilian man mistaken for a suicide bomber in 2005. "Police behavior is rightly under scrutiny," said Tim French, who will join the Stockwell protest. "Environmental activists are increasingly being criminalized for our actions." About 200 extra officers have been drafted in from across Britain to create a 500-strong force to cover the camp, which police estimate will attract between 1,000 and 1,500 activists. The force will be stretched over the weekend by the Notting Hill Carnival, one of Europe's biggest open-air parties. Scotland Yard's Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison said he would adopt a "neighborhood style" of policing, but he refused to rule out a controversial tactic known as kettling, where protesters are corralled and held within a cordon for hours. "It is a contingency plan," he told reporters. "We have got no evidence that we are going to get into that kind of situation at all. There is no intelligence of any disorder."
ROA MEDIA UPDATE THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS Wednesday, August 26, 2009 UNEP or UN in the News Nigeria: FG to Build Ozone Village Daily Trust (Abuja): The Federal Government is to build an ozone village. This was contained in a press statement from the ministry of environment. Mr. John Odey, Minister of Environment, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Safiya Muhammad made this known in his address at the 13th Joint Meeting of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) Officers Network For Africa (ODSONET/AF) held in Abuja. The village according to Mr. Odey will serve as a technology development and training center. As part of this project, some locally fabricated prototype ozone friendly machines have been developed. The machines include a box foaming machine, CFC recovery and recycling machine and hydrocarbon refrigerant production machine. The Minister added that the box foam machine has been certified by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as globally competitive. He however, called for the support of the organisation to consider the hydrocarbon production machine as a pilot demonstration project, under the HCFC phase out programme. On the ozone layer, the Minister said that the world has made tremendous progress in its efforts to protect it. He stated that it has been a quiet revolution in the International chemicals management agenda. In his speech at the occasion, Dr. Gilbert Bankobeza of Ozone Secretariat congratulated all the 195 countries who are parties to the Montreal Protocol for the enormous sacrifice, support and hard work invested so far to phase out ODS since 1987 when the agreement was reached. http://allafrica.com/stories/200908250489.html Tanzania (Norway Gives USD 6M for Forests Dar es Salaam: Communities involved in the forest conservation in Tanzania will benefit from USD 6 million (about 7bn/-) support from Norway, as part of the latter country’s commitment to addressing the global challenge on climate change. The Norwegian Embassy in Dar es Salaam yesterday signed a five-year contract with the Tanzania Forests Conservation Group (TFCG) for the implementation of Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) pilot activities. Svein Baera, Minister Counsellor at the embassy said at the signing ceremony that Tanzania could in future benefit from a new global climate regime where countries that will have cut the loss of forests and directly reduced greenhouse gas emissions will be rewarded. “The contract will make important contributions towards the partnership on climate change between our two countries. Twenty per cent of greenhouse gas emissions are as a result of the loss of forests and through REDD activities we are moving into cutting back these emissions,” he said. The project will support the development of a community carbon cooperative that will focus on an area covering 50,000 hectares of forests in Tanzania’s Eastern Arc mountains and coastal forests. It will, among other things, establish baselines of deforestation rates and market carbon credits. It is expected that, by the end of five years, the project will have achieved a 110,000-tonne reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and degradation and ensure that 20,000 poor people benefits from sustainable forest management and carbon financing. “REDD has a direct link with climate change because previously the loss of forests wasn’t linked to climate change, but today we know that deforestation and degradation increase greenhouse gas emissions,” said Charles Mesach the executive director of TFCG. “REDD provides opportunities for rural communities that are sustainably managing or conserving Tanzanian forests to benefit directly from payments,” he added. The REDD activities are also pivotal in current global negotiations, including the coming Copenhagen (Denmark) Summit on Climate, which could see countries being paid for retaining carbon through conservation of forests and related activities in a new climate regime - after 2012. The pilot activities in Tanzania are also expected to be used as learning points that could be shared by other countries. “As a country with large forest estates, Tanzania could play an important role in mitigating climate change by reducing the rates of deforestation and be rewarded in the process by the international community,” noted Ivar Jorgensen, Counsellor for Climate Change and Environment at the embassy, during the ceremony. The support is the first of pilot projects on REDD that Norway will fund in Tanzania towards fighting climate change. Kenya: State Could Force Farmers to Plant Trees On Their Land Business Daily (Nairobi): The government may soon require farmers to put 10 per cent of their land under trees as part of a set of measures to save the shrinking forest cover. This action will be taken as a last resort as the country continues to suffer the effects of years of environmental degradation that has last left it starved of water, food and energy. "The government has the power under the law to force people to plant trees on their land," agriculture permanent secretary, Dr Romano Kiome, has said. Under the Agriculture Act, the minister can institute rules that prohibit, regulate, and control clearing of land in a bid to promote soil and water conservation and prevention of the destruction of vegetation. Dr Kiome said this during the World Congress of Agroforestry in Nairobi on Monday. The international forum brought together researchers and policy makers in agroforestry--the combination of agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable and sustainable land-use systems. The proposed directive by the government follows findings from the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) that show that whereas forests cover is shrinking, the number of trees being grown on farms is increasing and this may restore equilibrium in the eco-system. The study revealed that over one billion hectares accounting for 46 per cent of world's farmlands have forest cover exceeding the United Nations recommended 10 per cent. Kenya's forest cover is roughly two per cent, therefore still significantly below the UN recommendation. This forest cover may be compromised further unless those allocated land in the Mau Complex, East Africa's biggest and most important water catchment area, vacate the land. The Mau forest is receding at an alarming rate. http://allafrica.com/stories/200908260028.html Africa: Trade Carbon for Food Security IPS (Nairobi): Forget the view of climate change as impending catastrophe for a moment: if negotiators can recognise sustainable agriculture by African smallholders and forests as mitigating factors in climate change, carbon trading could become an important support for Africa's food security. There's no doubt that climate change is a threat: Africa contributes only 3.8 percent of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, but it will suffer worst impacts of climate change. This is because of limited mechanisms and resources to mitigate and adapt to this significant change from one climatic condition to another. Examples of adaptation activities include introducing different crops to compensate to local climate change and protection of coastal areas from sea-level rise. But when the UN Climate Change summit opens in Poznan, Poland on Dec. 1, a delegation from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) will be pushing for changes in the carbon trading market. "More than four billion people in developing countries around the world who live off agriculture are excluded from this trade and Africa should use this trade to invest in food security which is under threat," COMESA Secretary General, Sindiso Ngwenya told delegates at a meeting earlier this month in Nairobi, Kenya. http://allafrica.com/stories/200908250828.html General Environment News Eritrea: Conserving Biodiversity Imperative for Guarantying Future Generation Shabait (Asmara): Raising public awareness regarding the preservation of natural resources is imperative for the sustainability and conservation of biodiversity, said Ms. Aster Redazgi, Director of the Environment branch in the Ministry of Land, Water and Environment. In a meeting held in Keren town in which sub-zonal administrators, ministries branch heads, representatives of the PFDJ, national associations and the people in Anseba region took part, she outlined the various damages inflicted on natural resources over the past years by the people. Ms. Aster further indicated that deforestation and wildlife extinction have been prevalent in the country due to climatic change, which in turn led to poor agricultural output. In this regard, she stressed the need for exerting coordinated endeavors on the part of all institutions and the general public so as to promote sound ecology. Also speaking at the meeting, the Administrator of the Anseba region, Mr. Gergish Girmay, underline the need to take urgent action to preserve biodiversity and maintain environment sanitation. http://allafrica.com/stories/200908250142.html Back to Menu ________________________________________________________________ RONA MEDIA UPDATE THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS Tuesday, August 25, 2009 UNEP or UN in the News 
Reuters: China says climate talks stymied by political interests The Ottawa Citizen: True science is beautiful Directory: cpi -> briefs briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news Download 198.86 Kb. Share with your friends:
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