Climate Change: latest news and comment

15.10.2004 A worrying rise in the levels of so-called greenhouse gases linked to climate change highlights the importance of the Kyoto Protocol, British Environment Minister Elliot Morley said on Wednesday.

06.10.2004 The chief scientific advisor to the UK government recently claimed that climate change is a more serious problem than terrorism partly because global warming would increase the number of people threatened by hunger, disease and extreme weather conditions.

In this letter, Indur M. Golkany of the US Department of the Interior, argues money would be better spent addressing present-day vulnerabilities to malaria, flooding, and food and water than on "heroic" efforts to mitigate climate change.

06.10.2004 The United States is planning to try and block European plans to make airlines pay for the climate-changing gases they emit. The move will be a major challenge to Tony Blair who has promised to champion the EU proposals on the international stage, and follows in the wake of the Russian cabinet's decision to approve the Kyoto protocol on tackling climate change.

05.10.2004 Many conflicts in war-torn Africa are rooted in increasingly parched and degraded land exacerbated by global warming, the first of a series of U.N. regional checkups of the planet's health found.

05.10.2004 Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to ask parliament to ratify the Kyoto Protocol should belatedly allow the anti-global-warming treaty to come into force, but it's far from saving the climate.

While Putin, who once joked that the chilly regions of Russia could benefit from global warming, basks in the praise of environmentalists, climate experts say that even with the treaty in place, the world has barely started to tackle climate change.

30.09.2004 BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Union's environment commissioner designate hinted Wednesday that not all E.U. countries will be ready on time to start the Kyoto Protocol's emissions trading scheme to reduce greenhouse gases.

30.09.2004 Today the Russian government is examining a draft federal law on ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change, which can come into force only if Russia ratifies.

24.09.2004 A plan to require automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks by about 30 percent is expected to be approved on Thursday by the California Air Resources Board, backers and opponents said.

The plan, the first of its kind among U.S. states, would phase in reductions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming in two four-year steps for cars and trucks sold in California from 2009 through 2016.

24.09.2004 Glaciers in Antarctica are thinning faster than they did in the 1990s and researchers have discovered an unexpected folded section deep beneath the ice cap, findings that may indicate the ice is less stable than had been thought.

24.09.2004 GLAND, Switzerland, September 23, 2004 (ENS) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed six key ministers to sign the ratification documents for the Kyoto climate protocol, an international environmental group said Wednesday.