AP: Beijing to ban half its cars during high pollution

AP: Beijing to ban half its cars during high pollution

BEIJING - Beijing will ban half of its 3.4 million cars from the roads during periods of very heavy pollution, a state news report said Friday.

The city will temporarily reinstate measures it introduced during the Olympic Games and ban cars on alternate days — depending on whether their license plates are odd or even — if pollution levels rise to extreme levels, the China Daily newspaper said.

"To protect public health over the long term, we must use both methods that increase the number of good air quality days and more stringent measures for when conditions are extremely unfavorable," the deputy director of the city's environmental protection bureau, Du Shaozhong, was quoted as saying.

Work would also be suspended at construction sites and high-polluting factories during extremely polluted periods, the newspaper said.

The restrictions will only be imposed if the air pollution index reaches 300, a threshold far above the city's normal air quality level, it said.

The driving restrictions imposed during the Olympic Games allowed Beijing's 17 million residents to enjoy clear blue summer skies as the city recorded its lowest August pollution levels in 10 years.

Since then, there have been calls in newspaper editorials for an extension of the Olympic traffic measures.

Last month, Beijing officials announced they would introduce some traffic restrictions for a six-month trial period.

At the start of October, city officials took nearly a third of government vehicles off the road. Starting next week, the remaining government cars, together with privately owned vehicles, will be banned from roads one day a week on a rotation basis according to license plate numbers. The rules do not apply on weekends and are to continue through February.

Thursday's pollution level was 47. Levels of 51-100 are considered moderate pollution, and anything over 100 is harmful to susceptible groups, including children and the elderly.

During the Olympics, the level dropped as low as 17 after registering nearly 100 just a day before the opening ceremony, according to the government.

by Christian Spillmann Sat Oct 11, 10:36 PM ET

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The financial crisis and slumping economic activity are threatening Europe's ambitious plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions, with governments eager to avoid saddling companies with additional burdens.

"The Germans are giving up and the Italians are getting ready to follow," said one European negotiator on condition of anonymity.

The European Union's French presidency wants EU leaders to agree to "keep the balance and the fundamental framework" of Europe's ambitious plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions, according to draft conclusions obtained by AFP.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants EU nations to confirm the tough objectives imbedded in the plan.

"It's not certain that this will be accepted," a French diplomat acknowledged.

Likewise, at the European Commission, a senior official said: "I do not think that there will be very ambitious conclusions on this point."

"The governments are on the defensive, they are less favourable towards the agenda and discovered a lot of problems," he said.

Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso aims to put them on the spot by asking them "to say whether they consider the objectives to no longer be justified and if this is the case then to assume their responsibilities," according to the source.

EU governments, the European Commission and the European Parliament are in the midst of difficult negotiations over the plans with the aim of striking a deal by the end of the year.

"If member states are no longer up to the challenge then we might as well stop," a European negotiator said.

Europe aspires to lead the world in cutting greenhouse gas emissions with plans to cut such pollution by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. Some of the road has already been travelled with a six percent reduction registered in 2005.

Heavy industry such as steelworks, power and petrochemical plants, which generate 40 percent of the EU's emissions each year, will have to carry a particularly heavy burden.

They are supposed to cut their emissions by 21 percent from 2005 levels and pay for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emit starting in 2013.

Industry has baulked at the duty, which it says will make European companies uncompetitive against rivals in China, India, Russia and the United States.

Although lawmakers at the European Parliament rejected on Tuesday a German demand to water down the constraints on industry, Berlin remains up in arms.

"Manufacturing sector companies facing the toughest international competition should benefit from 100 percent free emission quotas until an international agreement is reached," the BusinessEurope association said on Thursday.

Their demand has the support of German and Polish leaders, who are working hard to form a blocking minority.

The French EU presidency has brought out a compromise proposal which would offer 100 percent free emissions quota but just for specified industries.

"The current context is worsening concerns. We have to respond while not undermining the targets and balances on the plan," said French European Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet.

Back to Menu

______________________________________________________________________

Reuters: Exotic climate study sees refugees in Antarctica

Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:03pm EDT

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - Refugees are moving to Antarctica by 2030, the Olympics are held only in cyberspace and central Australia has been abandoned as too dry, according to exotic scenarios for climate change on Monday.

British-based Forum for the Future, a charitable think-tank, and researchers from Hewlett-Packard Labs, said they wanted to stir debate about how to avert the worst effects of global warming by presenting a radical set of possible futures.

"Climate change will affect the economy at least as much as the 'credit crunch'," their 76-page report study said.

The scenarios range from a shift to greater energy efficiency, where desalination plants run on solar power help turn the Sahara green, to one where refugees are moving to Antarctica because of rising temperatures.

"We still have the chance to alter the future," Peter Madden, head of the Forum, told Reuters. "This is what the world could be like and some of these options are not very pleasant."

Madden said that most reports about climate change focused on scientific findings about carbon dioxide emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, without taking account of psychological or social responses.

"Historians of the future may look back on these as the 'climate change years'," he said. "They will either look back on our generation as heroes or view us with incomprehension and disgust -- as now we look back on those who allowed slavery."

He said the crystal ball survey did not seek to project what was most likely to happen, just some of the possibilities.

HOTTER

EFFICIENCY FIRST - Technological innovation will help solve climate change and spur strong growth and consumerism. The Sahara is green and the eastern seaboard of the United States, for instance, is "protected by eco-concrete wall that generate power from waves and tidal surges."

SERVICE TRANSFORMATION - Sky-high prices for emitting carbon dioxide have led to a shift to a service-based economy. People no longer own cars but use bicycles. "Central Australia and Oklahoma have been abandoned due to water shortages. Athletes stay at home in the world's first virtual Olympics, competing against each other in virtual space with billions of spectators."

REDEFINING PROGRESSS - A global depression from 2009-18 forces people into more modest lifestyles and focus on well-being and quality of life. In the United States, people "do 25 hours of work a week and up to 10 hours voluntary work."

ENVIRONMENTAL WAR ECONOMY - The world has failed to act on climate change, world trade has collapsed after oil prices break through $400 a barrel. Electrical appliances get automatically turned off when households exceed energy quotas. Refugees are moving to Antarctica, with the population set to reach 3.5 million people by 2040.

PROTECTIONIST WORLD - Globalization is in retreat after a poorly coordinated response to climate change. Morocco has been asked to join the European Union in exchange for exclusive access to solar energy supplies until 2050.

• 
  ASEAN looks towards environmentally sustainable cities –Nhan Dan
  
• 
  East Asian environment ministers visit Ha Long city – Nhan Dan