What are a million live trees worth, anyway? Read More

Climate change, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, Copenhagen and the Coalition. It's been a few weeks of Cs in Canberra. But what is the CPRS about? What is the science that underpins the necessity for such an action? Why does Australia need a carbon trading deal in place before going to the global climate summit in Denmark? Should we care about what happens in some wintry Scandinavian capital far away from sunny Sydney? Emissions trading aka the CPRS - what's... Read More

The UN's environment chief said Tuesday he is optimistic that the climate change talks beginning in Copenhagen next week will reach a deal setting firm targets to cut carbon emissions. Recent offers by the United States and China appear modest compared with European Union proposals and scientists' demands, but probably represent only first offers, said Achim Steiner, director of the UN Environment Program. "This is a dramatic negotiation process in its final... Read More

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released a copy of a long-suppressed report by officials in the George W. Bush administration concluding that, based on the science, the government should begin regulating greenhouse gas emissions because global warming posed serious risks to the country. The report, technically known as an "endangerment finding," was prepared in 2007 but the Bush White House refused to make it public because the administration opposed new... Read More

China pledged yesterday to slow the growth of its emissions despite the rapid expansion of its economy. President Hu Jintao told nearly 100 leaders at a UN summit on climate change that China would cut carbon dioxide emissions by a notable margin by 2020. “We have taken and will continue to take determined and practical steps to tackle this challenge,” he said. China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is overwhelmingly dependent on coal. Mr Hu said... Read More

WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say. The conflict in southern Sudan, which has killed and displaced tens of thousands of people, is partly a result of drought in Darfur. Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed... Read More

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has put jobs and climate change at the centre of Labor's agenda towards the next election, flagging a $100 million plan to create 50,000 green jobs and training opportunities. The announcement was the centrepiece of his speech to Labor faithful at the start of the three-day ALP national conference today. He took to the stage with much less fanfare than two years ago, when Labor was just months away from what turned out to be a successful federal... Read More

Every year, more than 15 million hectares of tropical forest — an area larger than the state of New York — are cut down, releasing millions of tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Without action now, many of the world’s tropical forests will be lost by this century’s end. With these forests we will lose important species, natural resources and local livelihoods, as well as the opportunity to slow climate change. In fact, recent studies show that... Read More

Bob Geldof, who collaborated with Michael Jackson on the 1985 Live Aid song We Are The World, paid tribute to the deceased pop star today as he unveiled a musical coalition that will record a new version of Midnight Oil's Beds are Burning as part of a global campaign to tackle climate change. Geldof will work with artists including Duran Duran on the initiative, unveiled at the Cannes Lions International  Advertising Festival. The plan to record a new version of Beds are... Read More