– A round-up of the day’s top climate change stories
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India: Progress at the UN climate talks is “painfully slow” and nations should look at what they can do to limit emissions themselves, according to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Singh told the Clean Energy Ministerial meeting in Delhi that: “The goal of stabilising global temperatures at acceptable levels is nowhere in sight.” (Day and Night News)
India’s PM Manmohan Singh says the 2°C target is nowhere in sight (Source: Flickr/London Summit)
Clean energy: The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that the development of low carbon energy is too slow to limit warming to less than 2°C, as recommended by climate science. “Despite much talk by world leaders, and a boom in renewable energy over the past decade, the average unit of energy produced today is basically as dirty as it was 20 years ago,” said Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the IEA. (Reuters)
Australia: Climate change Minister Greg Combet has said the government will review the impact of yesterday’s EU vote against reforms of the carbon market. Australia will link its own carbon trading system to the EU’s but with prices in Europe tumbling yesterday, new forecasts of the scheme’s potential revenue are required. (PerthNow)
UK: British children are deeply concerned about climate change according to a poll by UNICEF. Three quarters of children between 11 and 16 said they were worried about how it would affect them in the future and hoped that governments would do more to tackle the problem. (The Guardian)
Ireland: Former US Vice President Al Gore has urged delegates at a climate justice summit in Ireland to make sure people connect the dots on extreme weather and climate change warning that “we are sleepwalking towards a cliff”.
“We have to win the conversation about climate change. When you hear denial, speak up,” he added. (Irish Times)
Drought: Severe land degradation is now affecting 168 countries across the world, according to new research released by the UN Desertification Convention (UNCCD). Land degradation and drought are impeding the development of all nations in the world,” Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja told RTCC. The figure is a marked increase on the last analysis in the mid-1990s, which estimated 110 states were at risk.“ (RTCC)