– The day’s top climate change stories as chosen by RTCC
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– Updated from 0830-1700 BST (GMT+1)
Tuesday 11 December
Last updated: 1730
India: The government’s New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah has said that India could become the world’s number one wind energy producer. Speaking at the Delhi Clean Energy Conference, minister Abdullah also bemoaned the lack of progress from developed countries to cut emissions. “It is not so easy for them to bring their emissions down. We keep on telling them but we fail,” he said. (Economic Times)
UK: The City of London’s watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has raised concerns about carbon credits. “We continue to have deep misgivings about carbon credits and have yet to see any convincing evidence that investors can make money from investing in them,” said Jonathan Phelan, of the FSA. (BBC)
Europe: Business groups have called on the EU to pursue its own, more ambitious, climate and energy policies in the wake of the UN Doha negotiations’ incremental progress. BusinessEurope director general Markus Beyrer said: “We remain committed to the fight against climate change but in light of the lacklustre results from UN climate negotiations, the EU must rethink its own energy and climate policies.” (The Parliament)
Carbon price: Latest round of UN climate talks have done little to rescue a flat-lining carbon price, according to analysis from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon. Despite agreement over an extension to Kyoto, countries failed to cut the huge surplus in emission credits hoarded by eastern European states. “The low price we currently see in the offset market is caused by the lack of demand for reductions through crediting mechanisms. Without deeper reduction targets, investment in the CDM is likely to dry up and it will be very difficult to get any of the new market mechanisms discussed at UN level off the drawing board.” Stig Schjølset, head of EU carbon analysis at Point Carbon (Thomson Reuters Point Carbon)
USA: Analysts RTCC has spoken to see little evidence of a change in US climate policy post Doha. Despite effects of Hurricane Sandy the Obama administration appeared unwilling to provide any firm assurances on climate finance to developing countries and held back efforts to develop and effective loss and damage mechanism to compensate countries for extreme weather events linked to climate change.
Belarus: Reuters reports that Belarus is considering quitting the Kyoto Protocol and Ukraine and Kazakhstan may do the same. According to the news agency: “In the final moments of the conference the delegations of the three nations found, buried in an annex to the document, a complicated provision that capped their emissions at 2008-2010 levels – the height of the financial crisis when the increase in their emissions slowed – for the next eight years.”
Australia: Three in five 18-24 year olds say they are concerned about climate change, but appear unwilling to change their lifestyles as a result. A report by SkyNews Australia also reveals that concern about the environment and water shortages peaks among those aged 55 to 64.