South Africa

It is time for a global price on carbon

It seems more and more countries around the world are willing to put a price on carbon as the evidence of carbon dioxide fueled climate change is more than overwhelming. Indeed, extreme weather events are heating all continents, all countries, all regions. France thought about it in 2009 and retracted. The Emission Trading Scheme in Europe …

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How Africa is embracing cleantech

I have recently noted that cleantech is booming globally, but what does it mean for Africa ? In today’s post I will try to give a few answers to this crucial question as still 600 million Africans have no access to electricity. To a study titled Mega Trends in Africa: A bright vision for the …

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New climate talks round starting today in Durban

The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which is starting today in Durban, South Africa is THE event to follow during the next two weeks. According to Dr. Rajendra Pachauri ” Global climate talks need to focus on the growing threat from extreme weather and …

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Why continuing the Kyoto Protocol is crucial

To TreeHugger : ” If (the) Kyoto Protocol dies at COP17 climate talks, so does our climate “. This article reminds us that the next round of UNFCC climate talks will start in less than two months in Durban, South Africa. It also reminds us that it is the only law we have on a …

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Emerging powers call for extending climate deal

To the AFP : ” Brazil, South Africa, India and China said Saturday that November’s UN climate talks should aim to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the only binding global deal to cut greenhouse gases. “ ” The four key emerging powers – seen as critical to the success of any future effort to combat climate …

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South Africa to build a 5,000 MW solar park

The main problem with renewables today is scale. Even if they are growing faster and faster, we very rarely see projects that will bring more than a few hundred megawatts to the grids. But it is changing. Indeed, to CleanTechies, South Africa will soon build a five gigawatt park where technologies in photovoltaic and concentrated …

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The carbon footprint of the Football World Cup

Since Friday millions of people – me included – are following the 2010 Football FIFA World Cup which is taking place this year in South Africa. It will last one full month. This event will have according to EU Infrastructure a carbon footprint of 2.7 millions tons of carbon dioxide. Out of this 1.9 million tons …

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The top 10 coal-burning countries

We all know it : coal is by far the most greenhouse gases emitting energy source. It is also a major air pollutant. For these two reasons it is the environmental enemy #1. (cf The Economist’s cover, back to 2002) However, many countries like China, India, Germany or the United States are still relying importantly …

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Developing nations to cut emissions

India, the most populated nation and largest democracy announced it would cut its greenhouse gases emissions by 20 to 25 percent by 2020 or 2030. As you can see, the targets are very wide. This happens as China decided to cuts the carbon intensity of its growth by 40 to 45 percent by 2020. CleanTechies …

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