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Green Notes - 11 May 09

By Chinthana ⋅ May 11, 2009 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

• The key to a new global climate change agreement will be a deal between the United States and China, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday. Blair also said climate change negotiators must find a way to integrate the United States, which has fallen far behind on controlling greenhouse gas emissions, into an agreement with Europe and other wealthy countries that have been working to reduce pollution for years.  It is no coincidence that China is home to one of the world’s leading solar energy companies. Recent legislation like the country’s landmark 2005 Renewable Energy Law has contributed to China’s rapid success in emerging renewable energy markets, Christopher Flavin, president of World Watch Institute, a think tank on sustainability based in Washington D.C., said in a recent phone interview with Xinhua.
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• The Obama administration today declined to protect polar bears from the single greatest threat to their survival – the melting of sea ice by global warming. The decision brought immediate protests from wildlife and environmental groups. “To see the polar bear’s habitat melting and an iconic species threatened is an environmental tragedy of the modern age,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said. “This administration is fully committed to the protection and recovery of the polar bear.” Bush’s rule, limiting the protections available to a species to actions taken in that animal’s home-range, legally removes the EPA’s ability to hold American industry responsible for how their actions are affecting the arctic.
• Britain and China have launched a ￡10 million (US$15 million) joint venture on low-carbon technology transfer to help clean the coal consumption of the world’s largest developing economy, a visiting UK official announced Monday. The move may help Britain to belatedly meet its Kyoto protocol promise to pass on low-carbon technology to help poorer countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, questions may arise over how much should be given away for free and how much the UK should exploit the business opportunities of being a potential leader in the industry. The partnership could also be a forerunner to similar alliances in other emerging markets, according to Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust. “We hope to act as a bridge for UK companies entering the Chinese low-carbon marketplace,” he observed. “We want this joint venture to become a successful example of an international collaboration to accelerate low-carbon innovation and technology transfer and a framework for future international agreements.”