– A round-up of the day’s top climate change stories
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UK: Prince Charles has criticised climate change sceptics and warned against delaying action saying: “we can’t wait until we are absolutely sure the patient is dying”. The Prince said those opposing action were “confirmed sceptics” and an “international association of corporate lobbyists”. (The Guardian)
Prince Charles dismissed climate sceptics and “international corporate lobbyists” (Source: Flickr/Dan Marsh)
Canada: Plans by the EU to classify Canadian oil sands as dirty could be challenged by Canada at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The EU plan could discourage the use of oil sands fuels by increasing cost through environmental regulations. Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said the issue could well end up at the WTO. (Reuters)
Australia: The crisis in the European carbon market has spilled over to Australia. The government placed a charge of A$24 per tonne on the largest emitting industrial sectors with a switch to a full cap and trade system linked to the EU’s kicking off in 2015. A planned increase in the tax free income tax threshold that was linked to money raised by the carbon tax has now been postponed. (RTCC)
UK: Shale gas exploration will spread to southern England with Cuadrilla confirming it will sink test wells during the summer. No fracking will take place. Yesterday the country’s energy minister Michael Fallon said it was important the government did not “hold back unnecessarily” on shale gas development. (Daily Telegraph)
World Bank: The World Bank has said it will return to making investments in hydropower after banning them in the 1990s over fears of damage to local ecosystems and communities. “Large hydro is a very big part of the solution for Africa and South Asia and Southeast Asia. . . . I fundamentally believe we have to be involved,” said Rachel Kyte, the Bank’s VP of sustainability adding that the decision to leave “was the wrong message. . . . That was then. This is now. We are back.” (Washington Post)