Today’s top five climate change stories chosen by RTCC
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1 – EU should act on tar sands, say scientists
Over 50 European and US scientists have written to the president of the European Commission, urging him to press ahead with a plan to label tar sand more polluting than other forms of oil, defying intensive lobbying from Canada. Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, scientists said that plans for trade deals between the US and Europe risks permanently freezing the legislation for good.
2 – Funding to jumpstart NY Green Bank
Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced US$ 210 million in initial funding for the New York Green Bank, an initiative he proposed in his 2013 State of the State address as the “financial engine” that will mobilise private investment in clean energy projects. With this funding, the Green Bank is expected to open for business and offer its first financial products in early 2014, reports the Central New York Business Journal.
3 – Australian government threatens protected forest
The Australian government has decided to push ahead with a plan to remove Unesco World Heritage Status from a swath of Tasmanian forest, the Guardian reports, potentially reopening bitter divisions over the state’s timber industry. The Coalition has argued the listing threatens jobs and investment in a region that suffers from relatively high unemployment.
4 – Yeb Sano one of ’10 people who mattered most’
Filipino Climate Change Commissioner Yeb Saño has been cited by international weekly science journal Nature as one of 10 people who mattered this year for having “focused the world’s attention – briefly – on global warming” reports GMA News Online. Sano gave an emotional speech at the UN’s climate change conference in Warsaw this year, pledging to fast until meaningful action had been achieved.
5 – Some plants will struggle to adapt to climate change
Researchers have suggested that some plants may not have the traits needed to respond quickly enough to human-induced climate change, reports the Business Standard. Scientists at the University of Florida found that some plant lineages, including many crops, will not have the underlying genetic attributes that will allow for rapid responses to climate change.