Cancun climate summit to ensure trust and transparency

Having learnt "lessons" from the failure of last year's climate change talks in Copenhagen, steps are being taken to ensure that no country is left out of the negotiation process and transparency is maintained at the Cancun summit in November, the new UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said during her visit to India, writes The Hindu. Copenhagen meet was plagued with "trust deficit" as small groups of nations alleged they were ignored during the negotiations.

EU to boost investments in grid, energy efficiency

Europe needs better grid to meet the EU's targets in terms of renewable energy, security of supply and energy independence. For investments, the EU energy ministers meeting (Energy Council) held this week proposed to launch an Energy Round Table Conference, which will gather the stakeholders - industry, financial and public sectors - in Europe. More public investments will also be needed in energy efficiency. The EU Commission aims to come up with a solution to this issue in its next European Energy Efficiency Action plan.

Smart meters alone may not save much energy

Smart meters to boost energy efficiency in homes do not automatically achieve a significant reduction in energy demand, shows a study from the University of Oxford, writes Reuters. According to the study there is the potential to use smart meters for demand reduction if there is a strong strategic intention to do so, and if the social support is there. Previous studies have also shown that smart meters encourage homeowners to cut their energy use by 3 to 15 percent, but consumers also need educating about energy use.

Chinese offshore wind power gains ground

Domestic energy companies are expected to submit bids for the first batch of offshore wind power projects, having combined investment of over 20.8 billion yuan (USD3.06 billion), writes China Daily. The four offshore projects, with a total installed capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW), will come up in coastal areas of Jiangsu province. Analysts said the nation's plan to focus on offshore wind power projects underscores the sector's importance over onshore units.

EU leading the way in newly installed solar cells

In 2009, newly installed photovoltaic (PV) cells worldwide produced a peak amount of electricity estimated at 7.4 gigawatts (GW), out of which 5.8 GW was located in Europe, shows a study from Joint Research Centre. By the end of 2009, Europe's cumulative installed PV electricity generation capacity was about 70 percent of the world's total of 22 GW. Germany ranks first in the world with capacity of 9.8 GW, followed by Spain with 3.5 GW, thanks to the renewable energy legislation in these countries. Price of solar modules has reduced almost 50 percent over two years.

Trains to feed power to the grid

A pilot project in Philadelphia will soon begin harvesting energy from braking trains and trolleys to feed electricity into the power grid, writes SustainableBusiness.com. Mass transit systems across the U.S. are striving to maintain high quality service while facing growing fiscal challenges which are further compounded by rising energy costs. The pilot represents a large and untapped potential for transit systems to help meet these challenges and at the same time improve grid reliability in highly populated urban neighborhoods.

Progress seen on "Green Fund" for climate deal

Almost 50 nations made progress on Friday toward a "Green Fund" to help poor countries fight global warming but hosts Mexico and Switzerland said a full U.N. climate treaty was out of reach for 2010, according to Reuters. "We think we should be able to establish the Green Fund in the conference in Cancun," Mexico's Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said after the environment ministers and senior officials meeting in Geneva.

UN climate chief: World cannot afford worsening disasters

The world cannot afford escalating disasters of the kind recently witnessed in Pakistan and Russia, the top UN climate change official said on Thursday, underscoring the need for governments to take swift action to lead the world towards a low-carbon future. "There is a growing sense of urgency amongst governments that they need to take this next step in Cancun," Christiana Figueres, said on the margins of a financing for climate change meeting in Geneva. She stressed that "concrete proposals on how to do financing are now required."

Europe's seas get criteria for good environmental status

The European Commission has adopted a decision outlining the criteria necessary to achieve good environmental status for Europe's seas. This will help Member States to develop coordinated marine strategies within each regional sea to achieve the EU's objective of good environmental status for all marine waters by 2020 and allow progress to be compared between regions. Good status means that the overall state of the environment in marine waters provides ecologically diverse and dynamic oceans and seas which are healthy and productive.

Financing said vital for world climate change deal

A global fund to help poorer countries switch to green industrial technology is vital in any new international pact to battle global warming, according to Franz Perrez, Switzerland's top climate negotiator, writes Reuters. He spoke on the eve of a two-day gathering of environmental ministers and experts from some 45 countries in Geneva. The talks will try to pin down differences on how the funding will be set up and who might provide it. "An agreement might be reached by 2012 on how to create the mechanism," Perrez, whose country has organized the meeting together with Mexico, hoped.

Russia submits 'breakthrough' JI project for UN registration

Russia has submitted for registration its first Joint Implementation (JI) emission reduction project. The move could signal a substantial increase in the number of projects under this promising Kyoto Protocol mechanism. "This is a much anticipated and very welcome development," said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC. "It is another clear sign that JI has an important role to play in directing investment to emission reduction in industrialized countries."

China restricts exports of rare earths

China, which produces about 90 percent of rare earths in the world, will gradually reduce the production and exports of these minerals, according to Xinhua. Rare earths are widely used in solar cells and batteries for electric cars, for instance. "Rare earths exist in land where environment is very fragile, so a large amount of extraction hurts China's natural environment. Thus, we had to impose limits on production and trade of rare earths," said Minister of Commerce Chen Deming.

U.S. cars to get new fuel economy labels

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are proposing changes to the fuel economy labels consumers see on the window of every new vehicle. The new labels would provide straightforward energy and environmental comparisons across all types of vehicles, including electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and conventional gasoline-powered vehicles. The new labels would appear on the windows of as many 2012 model year vehicles as possible.

U.N. climate panel urged to reform, stick to science

The U.N. climate panel should only make predictions when it has solid evidence and should avoid policy advocacy, scientists said in a report on Monday that called for thorough reform of the body, writes Reuters. The report called, for instance, for an overhaul of the panel's management, including the creation of an executive committee that would include people from outside the IPCC. Regarding the errors in IPCC reports, the review group called for stronger enforcement of the panel's scientific review procedures to minimize future mistakes.

Japan plans to bind large firms to CO2 caps

Japan's compulsory emissions trading scheme is set to start in April 2013 and cover large CO2 emitting companies, a draft of the government's proposals showed on Monday, but several issues are still open to debate. The draft, obtained by Reuters, will be presented on Tuesday to an expert committee at the Environment Ministry, which aims to finalize its proposal for Japan's cap-and-trade scheme by the end of this year.