Climate change

European Union could agree to 45 percent cuts by 2030

For my last 2013 post for Cleantechies, I wrote about how the European Union is working on its climate change projects for 2030. It is considering 35 to 45 percent greenhouse gases emissions reduction compared to 1990 levels. As I am stating there, this would be a bit unambitious as the European Union has already […]

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Stunner : carbon dioxide role known as early as 1932

While vested interests are still denying the warming role in our atmosphere of carbon dioxide, TreeHugger has unearthed a study from early as 1932 showing that this gas is actually warming our Planet. This was 81 years ago ! I had heard or rather read that this was known from at least since the 1980s

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Could Australia axe its carbon tax ?

For the past weeks I have collected quite an impressive amount of articles on Australia, as its recent elections have brought to power a Conservative Prime Minister, Tony Abbott. A climate denier backed by fossil fuels interests, Mr Abbott is willing to axe the country’s carbon tax. As the Guardian reported, this would cost the

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Is China growing too big to breathe ?

I really appreciate reading Thomas L Friedman’s articles in the New York Times. His latest piece – Too Big to Breathe? – just nails it on how putting economic growth before anything else is endangering us all. There the acclaimed author of Hot, Flat and Crowded writes about how Harbin – a 10-million inhabitants city in China

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Death, devastation and climate discussions

Today’s two main topics are closely related, and this albeit they are taking place thousands of kilometers apart. The first one is of course the Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda that left death and devastation in its wake in the Philippines. To CNN, the Guardian and many other sources, at least 10,000 people have perished. As

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Global CO2 emissions increase slowed down in 2012

What better kind of news than good ones ? So let’s start this month of November by something that will cheer you up as the fight against climate change and rising temperatures may well soon be reaching a turnaround moment. To a brand new report from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, global carbon dioxide emissions

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United States emissions decreased by 3.8 percent in 2012

According to new data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA, how confusing…), the national energy-related carbon dioxide emissions declined by 3.8 percent last year, thus reaching their levels of 1994 while the economy grew. Many factors contributed to this drop in emissions. Among them are a warmer winter, a more efficient economy (notably new

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European Union already close to its 2020 climate goals

Here is another post on Cleantechies, this time focusing again on how the European Union is succeeding in cutting its greenhouse gases emissions, and this without even trying that hard. Here is the introduction : ” According to the European Environment Agency, the European Union is already close to its 2020 climate objectives as it

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Cleaning Chinese skies won’t be cheap

If you like me you are wondering sometimes what it would cost China to clean its air, here is the answer, and it is quite astounding. To a Chinese official, it would cost a mere 5 trillion yuan, or around $820 billion ( around 600 billion euros). For the capital city of Beijing alone, it

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The IPCC latest report is out

You must have heard or read about it : Friday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has published the first part of its latest report. The results are even more frightening than in 2007 and stress how urgent action is needed. Now the IPCC is between 95 percent sure that most of the warming is

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