By John Parnell
– The day’s top climate change stories as chosen by RTCC
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– Updated from 0830-1700 BST (GMT+1)
Tuesday 13 November
Last updated: 1655
Kenya: An environmental advisor in the Prime Minister’s office has described interest among candidates in the upcoming Presidential election as “lukewarm”. The country’s Climate Change Authority Bill, which tackles mitigation and adaptation is yet to be ratified. There are now fears that the legislation could be side-lined if it is not passed before parliament is dissolved prior to the Presidential election. (AllAfrica)
China: Airbus China has said that it is confident that a $12bn order with Chinese airlines will go ahead now the EU aviation row has been put on hold. “We hope we will go back to business as usual … and that we won’t have to worry about ETS when we do business here,” said Laurence Barron, president of Airbus China. (Reuters)
Nigeria: African scientists must work to combat climate change and not just talk about it, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has said. Speaking to an audience of scientists he said: “Beyond science, climate change is also about the future of Africa and the survival of its citizens. Rather than discuss simply as representatives of science academies, participants should seize this platform to relate science and climate change to the future of our continent and humankind.” (News24Nigeria)
Qatar: Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker joined the condemnation of the EU’s aviation stance saying the EU “goofed” on its decision to include international airlines in its regional carbon trading scheme. “I know that maybe the EU is trying to back track and they realised they have goofed on this matter, and this is a face saving way to say they are going to delay,” he told Arabian Business.
Asia: The EU is still negotiating “with the gun on the table” according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. The group was responding to the news that the EU will suspend the inclusion of international aviation for one year to allow a global deal to be agreed. The EU warned however that if there is no agreement, conditions will automatically return to their current state. (Reuters)
EU: The EU has proposed postponing the auctioning of 900m carbon credits in an attempt to boost the prices of emissions allowances in its carbon trading platform. Three proposals had been under consideration to withhold 400m, 900m or 1.2bn allowances. (Reuters)
New Zealand: Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has refused to be drawn on the current government’s decision not to commit to the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol. The UN Development Programme Administrator did however point to the growing prominence of climate change in the US saying: “In this second term there has to be a prospect that the president will see tackling climate change as part of his legacy.”
Clark’s own organisation recently joined the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, which targets reductions in soot, methane and a number of other short-lived chemicals that drive global warming and in some cases also directly affect human health. (Stuff)
US/Canada: Trains could provide an alternative to pipelines for the transport of heavy tar sands oil from Canada to US refineries. With the Keystone XL pipeline project the continued focus of protests one company is set to open a dedicated rail terminal for tar sands. While this would answer many of the environmental concerns about the pipeline’s operation, it would not resolve the effects of carbon-heavy tar sands oil on the climate.
Protests at Keystone XL construction sites have entered a second month. (Calgary Herald)