POLITICS & POLICIES

23.10.03 (Bloomberg): STATES, GROUPS SUE EPA OVER GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION RULING  - Twelve states and more than a dozen environmental groups filed suit against the US Environmental Protection Agency to reverse its refusal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Read more

24.10.03 (Australian Ministry of Environment and Heritage): AUSTRALIA, CHINA BILATERAL COOPERATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE Officials from Australia and China held a workshop in Beijing in September where they agreed on a Joint Declaration on Bilateral Cooperation on Climate Change, which sets out cooperation in climate change policies, climate change impacts and adaptation, national communications (greenhouse gas inventories and projections), technology cooperation and capacity building and public awareness. Read more

24.10.03 MOSCOW, RUSSIA (Reuters): GLOBAL WARMING, THE QUADRILLION DOLLAR QUESTION With solutions costing up to a mind-numbing $18,000,000,000,000,000, it is among the most expensive questions in history: "How do you stop people from causing dangerous global warming?" Read more

23.10.03 (PA News): UK JOINS GLOBAL WARMING CHALLENGE TO US AND RUSSIA Britain has joined forces with France and Germany to issue a challenge to the US and Russia over global warming. Read more

ENERGY & EMISSIONS

22.10.03 WASHINGTON, DC, US (Delta Farm Press): GREENHOUSE GAS AGREEMENT SIGNED US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association to identify and advance cost-effective ways for rural electric cooperatives to work with farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Read more

23.10.03 (The Irish Times): USE OF ANIMAL WASTE IN CEMENT PROPOSED Meat and bonemeal from slaughtered Irish cattle should be incinerated and incorporated into cement in the Republic, a report to the Cabinet has recommended. If implemented, Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions would be cut by 250,000 tonnes, the report suggested. Read more

22.10.03 ZHANJIANG, CHINA (New York Times): CHINA'S GREENHOUSE GAS OUTPUT RAISES WARMING FEARS China's rapid economic growth is producing a surge in emissions of greenhouse gases. Read more

19.09.03 (Irish Examiner): IRISH BUSINESSES ACCUSED OF FAILING TO REDUCE EMISSIONS The Irish Government’s Economic and Social Research Institute has accused Irish businesses of failing to meet their obligations to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Read more

08.09.03 (Building Product News): AUSTRAL JOINS PROGRAM Australian company Austral Bricks has pledged to reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent over the next three years. Read more

04.09.03 (Press Herald): REGION IS MISSING ITS MARK FOR POLLUTION CUTS In the US the New England states are falling short of the goals they set two years ago to reduce the pollution that causes global warming, according to a report released Wednesday. Read more

03.09.03 (China Daily):ASIAN COUNTRIES ACHIEVE ENERGY UNDERSTANDING A mutual understanding was reached between China and four countries from East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region in three areas on accelerating  renewable energy use and energy efficiency co-operation. Read more

MARKETS & PRODUCTS

23.10.03 OTTAWA, CANADA (Point Carbon): EUROPEAN CARBON FUND TO BE LAUNCHED CDC Ixis, an AAA-rated French financial institution that is also responsible for developing the French greenhouse gas registry, is now in the process of launching a European Carbon Fund to invest in JI and CDM projects. Read more

24.10.03 LONDON, UK (Reuters): UK'S BLAIR WOOS BANKS FOR EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME Ten major investment banks sat down to an "environmental" breakfast with Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair at Downing Street this week to discuss the European emissions trading scheme. Read more

24.10.03 BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (EU): LINKING DIRECTIVE PREPARATIONS The EU Environment Council will meet in Luxembourg on Monday. Among the issues to be discussed is the Directive on linking JI and CDM projects to the EU emissions trading scheme. Read more

24.10.03 (The Philippine Star): PEREZ LAUDS KYOTO PROTOCOL The Philippines should profit from Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects after the Philippine senate ratified the Kyoto Protocol, said Philippine Energy Secretary Vincent S. Perez. Read more

23.10.03 OTTAWA, CANADA (Government of Canada): GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY AGREE ON PRINCIPLE FOR A CARBON MARKET IN CANADA The International Emissions Trading Association's (IETA) Canadian Working Group on the Carbon Market (CWGCM) and the Government of Canada agreed today to a set of principles for the design and functioning of a market for greenhouse gas emission (GHG) compliance instruments in Canada. Read more

23.10.03 OSLO, NORWAY (Point Carbon): UPDATED RANKING OF JI HOST COUNTRIES Point Carbon, in cooperation with Vertis Environmental Finance, has released updated carbon market country profiles for Central and Eastern Europe. Our latest update shows that Romania and Slovakia increased their lead a little above the rest of the pack, while Bulgaria's delivery of projects, as it begins to show its true promise, has helped it climb two places just ahead of Poland and Hungary. For more information, including the country profile for Ukraine downloadable for free, see 

23.10.03 OTTAWA, CANADA (Point Carbon):-FIRST CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM TO BE REGISTERED EARLY 2004 The first CDM projects will most probably be registered at the first meeting of the CDM Executive Board (EB) in 2004, said Hans Jürgen Stehr, the Chairman of the CDM EB. His remarks were made in a keynote address at the IETA's 3rd Forum on the State and Development of the Greenhouse Gas Market, in Ottawa, Canada, yesterday. Read more