By John Parnell
– The day’s top climate change stories as chosen by RTCC
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– Updated from 0900-1700 BST (GMT+1)
Latest news – Wednesday 5 September
1700: Campaigners from Greenpeace picketed the premiere of Volkswagen’s latest Golf hatchback in Berlin’s National Gallery, accusing the company of doing little to reduce fuel consumption.
1605: Best idea of the day. A Swedish social enterprise building towering skyscraper sized greenhouses to tackle global food shortage.
1520: President Obama and Mitt Romney took part in an online science debate last night. Romney acknowledged that the earth was warming and that humans were at least partly responsible but condemned carbon taxes and cap and trade systems.
“I believe we should pursue what I call a “No Regrets” policy — steps that will lead to lower emissions, but that will benefit America regardless of whether the risks of global warming materialize and regardless of whether other nations take effective action,” said Romney.
1445: Shell has announced that it will build its landmark Quest carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Canada to trap emissions from oil sands.
“If you want to achieve climate change goals, CCS has to be part of the solution. We are helping to advance CCS technology on a number of fronts around the world, but Quest will be our flagship project,” said CEO Peter Voser.
1320: Following the start of the Democratic Convention last night in the US, Reuters has reviewed the strength of environmental debate in the country’s election campaign. The result, pale green.
1300: There’s more NGO reaction to the Bangkok climate talks. Mohamed Adow, international adviser on climate change at Christian Aid takes the prize for best metaphor.
“Bangkok has been the process of peeling back the banana skin of the ‘Durban agreement’ and its clear the insides are very soft and squishy.”
We’ll bring you the full NGO reaction shortly.
1110: Negotiating groups are making their submissions to the UN climate process as the talks in Bangkok end. The African Group has pointed out that developing countries have made greater emission reduction pledges than developed nations (4 giga tonnes of CO2 equivalent versus 5Gt).
1020: A group of NGOs including WWF and Greenpeace have just finished their press conference at the UN climate talks in Bangkok. They praised the progress on a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol but raised concerns over the lack of ambition and the danger of a deadlock on finance at the next climate summit in Doha this November.
@greenpeace @toveryding at @canintl: Bangkok #UNFCCC talks made progress on technical issues, #COP18 can deliver if there is political will
— Sébastien Duyck (@duycks) September 5, 2012
0855: Fun piece in Forbes on designing sustainable buildings: “It’s like making a souffle, the intimidation factor is needlessly high.”
0840: The UN climate change talks in Bangkok come to a close today. The extra round of talks were added to the schedule in May to boost progress from governments on a global deal on climate change.
“The investment in Bangkok has paid off. Government negotiators have pushed forward key issues further than many had expected and raised the prospects for a next successful step in Doha,” said Christiana Figueres, UN climate change chief.
0835: A new Oxfam report suggests the impact of climate change on food prices has been grossly underestimated. The Extreme Weather, Extreme Prices study says that while the longer term of effects of climate change have been factored into estimates of food prices, extreme weather events have not.