Climate Change: latest news and comment

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.

20.09.2004 The ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere, assailed for decades by chemical products used in industry and agriculture, could begin to regenerate itself in the years ahead, predicts Rajendra Shende, director of the United Nations Environment Programme's Energy and Ozone Action Unit.

20.09.2004 The presidential campaign has briefly touched on issues of science, with President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry answering questionnaires compiled by the journals "Nature" and "Science."

16.09.2004 Countries are today being urged to re-double efforts to assess the quantities of an ozone-damaging chemical being used to kill pests on shipments of rice, maize, nuts and other big commodity export crops.

16.09.2004 NAIROBI, Kenya — Iraqi scientists will assess pollution ranging from oil spills to scrap metal from destroyed military vehicles in an effort to tackle environmental damage in the war-ravaged country, the United Nations said this week.

With violence gripping Iraq, environmentalists are struggling to draw attention to damage caused during last year's U.S.-led invasion, the 1991 Gulf War, and waste discharged by industry struggling with years of sanctions.