– A round-up of the day’s top climate change stories
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UK: A top EU environment official has warned that adapting to rising sea levels could cost Britain billions of pounds. Jacqueline McGlade, who leads the European Environment Agency, said it would be a “significant problem” for coastal areas of the UK and urged the government to act now. (ITV News)
Some scientists predict sea levels will rise 1m by 2100 – placing key landmarks like the House of Commons at risk of flooding
UK: Developing nations are spending $396bn on fossil fuel subsidies a year while receiving $5bn in support to tackle climate change, according to a new study by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). (RTCC)
EU: Ministers from Germany, France, UK, Italy, Sweden and Denmark have written a joint letter asking Parliamentarians to support proposals to postpone the distribution of millions of carbon credits – they say this will further weaken the EU’s emissions trading scheme (Letter here)
New Zealand: Climate Change Minister Tim Groser says the country is “on track” to make Kyoto commitments – “It is encouraging to see that current projections show that New Zealand will have a surplus of 29.6 million emission units for the Kyoto Commitment Period of 2008-2012”, he said. (Voxy NZ)
Libya: The Tripoli government is nearly ready to issue tenders for two new solar plants and aims to get a fifth of its power from renewable sources by 2020, while its sunshine could one day supply all of Europe (Reuters)
USA: The historic drought that blazed across America’s corn belt last year was not caused by climate change, a federal government study found. (Guardian)
USA: Wind turbine prices have fallen by a third in the past four years but the American Wind Energy Association warns companies are starting to find their margins whittled away – raising concerns over the industry’s future (FT)
Qatar: The Sahara Forest Project has launched a project to see if you can grow a forest in a desert. Backed by the UN it uses restorative practices to establish vegetation in arid areas and reverse the trend of desertification. (Earthling)