– A round-up of the day’s top climate change stories
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UN: A collective of low carbon project developers has called on the UN to lead the way in supporting its own offsetting programme by cancelling enough credits to cover the emissions of all its own activities. The Project Developer Forum, which includes Camco, Ecosecurities and Climate Change Capital launched the petition. The group offset the emissions of the Doha climate change talks at the end of last year. (Change.org)
USA: Solar power is now cheaper than coal when purchased from Texas-based utility El Paso Electric. It’s new 50MW solar development (built in New Mexico) will generate electricity at a cost of 5.79¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) versus 12-14¢/kWh for electricity from its new coal power plant. (EDF)
India: The Indian Government has announced a new project to monitor changes in the Arctic region to assess the impact on the Indian monsoon. “Changes in the Arctic region do impact Indian monsoon and it is important to study how it impacts the Asian subcontinent, especially India,” said Shailesh Nayak, secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences. (Zee News)
Canada: A Canadian Minister has said all decisions on the Keystone XL pipeline by his government and by US Secretary of State John Kerry will be based on facts not ideology. Meanwhile Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May said having seen Kerry operate at the UN climate talks “I don’t see John Kerry being at all happy with the prospect of approving Keystone XL”. (CTV)
Australia: The Pacific Island of Kiribati will receive A$15m from the Australian government to rebuild a road that has been damaged by creeping sea levels. Australia’s Foreign Minister said Kiribati was “at the front line of climate change”. (3 News)
Science: The Amazon rainforest may be facing less of a threat of destruction than many people think, scientists say – because carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from human activities, can have a beneficial effect. Carbon dioxide can also act as an airborne fertiliser for vegetation. (RTCC)