Cutting carbon emissions Swedish-style

Cutting carbon emissions Swedish-style

• Stockholm introduced congestion charging last year. Cars going into or out of the inner city zone pay 10, 15 or 20 kronor, depending on the time of the day (the busier it gets, the more you pay).

• The government hiked the carbon tax by 2.6% in January to 2.34 kronor per litre.

• A climate change bill will be presented in September, which could include measures to promote freight transport by rail at home and a possible increase to the green car rebate. "We will be focusing on the transport sector," says the Swedish environment minister, Andreas Carlgren. In Sweden, most oil and gas is used for transport.

• Sweden gets all its electricity either from hydroelectric power or nuclear plants.

• The Swedish government concluded last week a 1bn kronor (£84m) contract with China to develop wind power there.

BBC: Warming 'affecting poor children'

The UN children's agency says that increases in floods, droughts and insect-borne disease will all affect health, education and welfare.

While richer societies can adjust, it says in a new report, poorer ones do not have the resources.

It is asking western governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions swiftly and provide money to help poor nations.

"Those who have contributed least to climate change - the world's poorest children - are suffering the most," said David Bull, executive director of Unicef UK.

"If the world does not act now to mitigate and adapt to the risks and realities of climate change, we will seriously hamper efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and sustain development progress thereafter."

The report is launched in the UK 10 years to the day after the government signed the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Missed goals

The eight Millennium Goals include such targets as eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, reducing infant mortality rates by two-thirds and halting the spread of diseases such as HIV and malaria.

Progress has been good in some parts of the world, but earlier this month the World Bank warned some targets were likely to be missed; sub-Saharan Africa was likely to miss all eight, the Bank said.

Unicef concludes that climate change is already making achieving them more difficult.

Agricultural productivity is forecast to decline markedly in most of Africa, South Asia and Latin America; countries such as Zambia are already seeing a significant reduction in rainfall; the threat of waterborne diseases such as cholera is projected to increase.

The 2006 Stern Review concluded that climate change could increase annual child deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia by up to 160,000 through GDP loss alone.

"All the essential effects we are seeing now are associated with a temperature increase since 1850 of less than 1C," Sir Nicholas Stern writes in a foreword to the Unicef report.

"Past actions and the likely trend of emissions... imply that another 1-2C will be hard to avoid.

"Rich countries' responsibility for the bulk of past emissions demands that we give our strong support."

The UN climate convention contains funds designed to help the poorest countries adapt to climate impacts, but critics say the sums are far too small to make a difference.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Several environmental groups said they filed a legal complaint Monday to force the federal government to put the wolf back on the list of endangered species, claiming some states were allowing indiscriminate killing of the animal.

The US government early last year removed the wolf from the list of endangered species in six US states, after successful recovery and reintroduction programs brought the animal back from the brink of extinction.

Since the protective measure was lifted, management of local wolf populations has reverted to state governments on condition they ensure the species' survival.

However, 12 environmental groups went to federal court in Missoula, Montana, asking that the protective measure be restored in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, where northern Rockies gray wolves "remain threatened by biased, inadequate state management plans."

Defenders of Wildlife said in a statement that Wyoming and Idaho authorities had given their residents a blank check for the "senseless and indiscriminate killing of wolves."

"For example, on the very day delisting took effect -- March 28, 2008 -- Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed into law a new Idaho law allowing Idaho citizens to kill wolves without a permit whenever wolves are annoying, disturbing or 'worrying' livestock or domestic animals," the environmental groups said in another statement.

They added that Wyoming, in turn, "has implemented its 'kill on sight' predator law in nearly 90 percent of the state.

"Not surprisingly, these hostile state laws have resulted in a wave of wolf killings."

Wolves in 1974 almost disappeared as a species in 48 US states -- excluding Alaska and Hawaii -- except for some isolated packs in Minnesota and Michigan.

In 1995, 66 wolves were released by the government in Idaho and in the nearby Yellowstone National Park with the hope they would propagate and multiply.

The program was successful. Currently, an estimated 1,200 wolves roam Idaho, Montana and Wyoming and, to tourists' delight, in Yellowstone's 8,900 square kilometers (3,440 square miles) of parkland.

However, influential farmers in the region opposed to the reintroduction of the predator argue strongly about the financial drain caused by wolf attacks on livestock.

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BBC: Nature's carbon balance confirmed

But they say humans are now emitting CO2 so fast that the planet's natural balancing mechanism cannot keep up.

The researchers, writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, say their findings confirm a long-believed theory.

Carbon spewed out by volcanoes is removed from the air by rock weathering and transported to the ocean floor.

Using evidence from an Antarctic ice core, the team calculated that over a period of 610,000 years the long-term change in atmospheric CO2 concentration was just 22 parts per million (ppm), although there were larger fluctuations associated with the transitions between glacial and interglacial conditions.

By comparison, two centuries of human industry have raised levels by about 100 ppm - a speed of rise about 14,000 times faster.

"These long term cycles are way too slow to protect us from the effect of (anthropogenic) greenhouse gases," said Richard Zeebe from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

"They will not help us with our current CO2 problem. Right now, we have put the system entirely out of equilibrium."

Scientists have long believed that the Earth’s climate was stabilised by a natural carbon thermostat.

In their model, carbon released into the atmosphere, primarily by volcanoes, is slowly removed through the weathering of mountains, washed downhill into oceans, and finally buried in deep sea sediments.

"A lot of people had tried to refute this hypothesis, but our study provides the first direct evidence (that it is correct)," said Dr Zeebe.

He studied levels of CO2 recorded in air bubbles trapped in a 3km ice core drilled from an Antarctic region called Dome Concordia (Dome C).

Data from the ice core, drilled by the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (Epica), was first published in 2005.

But rather than focusing on the peaks and troughs of CO2 - as other researchers have done - this group looked at the long term trend, and compared the ice core data with records of carbonate saturation in the deep sea for the last six glacial cycles.

"It is remarkable how exact the balance is between the carbon input from volcanoes and the output from rock weathering," said Dr Zeebe.

"This suggests a natural thermostat which helps maintain climate stability."

The delicately balanced carbon thermostat has been a key factor in allowing liquid water, and life, to remain on Earth, he said.

"If it weren’t for these feedbacks, the Earth would look very different today."

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Reuters: Australia splashes A$13 bln to secure water supplies

Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:09am EDT

By James Grubel

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The Australian government outlined plans to secure water supplies and repair ailing rivers on Tuesday, to protect the nation's drought-hit food bowl, which produces about A$22 billion ($21 billion) worth of food exports.

The A$13 billion 10-year water plan includes A$3 billion to buy river water back from irrigators in the Murray-Darling River basin, which produces 41 percent of Australia's agriculture, as well as money to secure water for the nation's thirsty cities.

"Water shortages are a serious threat to our economy and way of life," Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said on Tuesday.

"We can, and we must, make better use of our available water resources," Wong said.

Australia, the driest inhabited continent on Earth, has been suffering more than seven years of drought, with water inflows into the nation's rivers at record lows and farmers facing tough restrictions on irrigation.

The drought has also had an impact on cities, which are home to bulk of Australia's 21 million people, with strict restrictions on watering gardens and most cities banning people from using a hose to wash their cars.

In March, authorities said inflows into Australia's largest river, the Murray, doubled over the past year, but were still only about 25 percent of the long-term average, with the lakes near the river's mouth described as in grave condition.

Without major winter rains, irrigators face the possibility of receiving no water allocations as river managers keep water for environmental flows and to secure drinking water for towns and cities along the river system.

Farmers along the Murray-Darling basin use the river for dairy farming and to water crops such as cotton, rice, corn, grapes and other fruit and vegetables, drawing the water from the river by using irrigation.

The government wants to buy back their water rights so more water will flow along the river, helping to combat salinity, especially in the vast lakes near the Murray mouth in the South Australia state, where the river only meets the sea with the help of constant dredging.

The Murray-Darling river catchment covers 15 percent of Australia, an area the size of France and Spain combined, with the Murray River also providing about half the drinking water for the southern city Adelaide's 1 million people.

Wong said under the nation government's plan, A$3 billion would be spent to buy water from irrigators to try to nurse the Murray River back to health, while almost A$6 billion will be spent on projects to help make irrigation more sustainable.

She said the May 13 national budget would also include A$1 billion for desalination and recycling projects to help secure long-term water supplies in the nation's cities.

Australia's main farmer's group the National Farmers' Federation said it supported the water buyback, as long as it was only from willing sellers.

"We believe the market should operate, people should be able to make their own decisions and water should not be compulsorily acquired," said Brett Heffernan from the Farmers' Federation.

Australia's wheat farmers do not rely on irrigation water. A private forecast suggests a record winter wheat crop of 27 million tonnes, based on early seasonal rainfall, more than double last year's drought-hit 13 million tonnes.

($1=A$1.07)

(Editing by Valerie Lee)

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Bloomberg: Australia to Spend A$12.9 Billion on Better Water Use (Update1)

By Madelene Pearson
April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Australia, the world's driest inhabited continent, will spend A$12.9 billion ($12 billion) over the next 10 years to improve the way water is used and to ensure long-term supply in the face of a changing global climate.
The government will spend A$5.8 billion to enhance the efficiency and productivity of water use and A$3 billion buying back water to be returned to rivers under its `Water for the Future' plan, Penny Wong, minister for climate change and water, said today in notes prepared for a speech.
The push to conserve water comes as Australia tries to recover from its worst drought on record. The drought has cut farm output and slashed supplies in the Murray Darling Basin, the nation's biggest river system.
``Climate change is a major threat - for much of Australia it means more droughts and less rain,'' Wong said. ``We can, and we must, make better use of our available water resources.''
The Labor government's plan follows a A$10 billion proposal by former Prime Minister John Howard's coalition government to improve the nation's water efficiency.
Water shortages are a ``serious threat'' to the nation's economy and way of life, Wong said.
Australia's rainfall is the lowest of all the world's continents, excluding Antarctica, according to the Web site of Melbourne Water, a water management authority owned by the Victorian government.
``In our towns and cities we must secure water supplies for current and future needs, including from a range of new sources that rely less on rainfall given the clear threat climate change poses to traditional water sources,'' the minister said.
The plan also includes A$1 billion committed during last year's election for an urban water and desalination program, she said. Water allocations bought to return to rivers in the Murray Darling Basin will be owned by a new government body called the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, Wong said.
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BBC: Steel firms warn EU climate fight could hit jobs

Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:47pm EDT

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's steel industry joined forces with a workers' union on Monday to warn that European Union efforts to curb climate change could put tens of thousands of steel industry jobs at risk.

The EU aims to cut CO2 emissions by at least one fifth by 2020 from 1990 levels, but several energy intensive industries say the cost of curbing emissions will make them uncompetitive against rivals from outside the bloc.

A joint statement by the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) and the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries (EUROFER) issued a statement calling for the EU proposals on CO2 to strike a "fair balance" between climate change and the competitiveness of EU industry.

"The statement underlines the negative impact the proposal may have on the steel industry and its workforce if it is not adjusted towards technically feasible objectives, while ensuring the EU's CO2 reduction commitments," said Peter Scherrer, General Secretary of the EMF.

Gordon Moffat, EUROFER Director General, said EU Commission proposals would cut growth in the steel industry and could lead to a cost increase of 10 percent to 20 percent per ton of steel.

(Reporting by Pete Harrison, Editing by Peter Blackburn)

The Chacacltaya Glacier in May 2005 (Photo by Thomas Wilken)

Lima, Peru's capital city, has a population of about seven million. (Photo by Patrick Barry Barr)

Vergara says "water runoff in the glaciated basin that feeds El Alto has diminished as glaciers have retreated and water supply is now just about enough to meet demand during dry season."
Large cities in the region depend on glacial runoffs for their water supply. Quito, Ecuador's capital city, draws 50 percent of its water supply from the glacial basin, and Bolivia's capital, La Paz, draws 30 percent of its water supply.
The volume of the lost glacier surfaces of Peru is equivalent to about 10 years of water supply for Lima, Vergara says.
Power supplies also will be affected as most countries in the Andes are dependent on hydroelectric power generation. Peru gets 81 percent of its electricity from hydropower, Colombia generates 73 percent from hydropower, Ecuador is 72 percent hydro-dependent, and Bolivia, 50 percent.
Vergara estimates that the economic consequences of glacier retreat are enormous, running into billions of dollars for the power sector alone.
For example in Peru, the annual incremental cost to the power sector is estimated at US$1.5 billion, if rationing is allowed, or US$212 million, if a gradual adaptation scenario is implemented.
In any case, Peru will have to invest in additional power capacity, most likely based on burning fossil fuels, at a cost of about US$1 billion per gig watt installed, resulting in higher cost to end-users and another cycle of increased carbon emissions.
The World Bank and Global Environment Facility are supporting the development of adaptation plans prepared with the assistance of a multidisciplinary group that includes expertise in glaciology, remote sensing, agriculture, water and power supply, and rural development.
Some adaptation measures to climate impacts in the glaciarized basins of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru include development of alternative water supply sources, water demand management, and engineered water storage.
Diversification of energy supplies, shifts to alternative crops and development of advanced irrigation systems also can help Andean communities adapt to climate change.

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