'Copenhagen treaty' drafted by NGOs matches Indian actionsOctober 8th, 2009 BANGKOK - Tired of bickering between governments over a global climate agreement to be signed during this December's Copenhagen summit, a group of NGOs has drafted the 'Copenhagen treaty'. It has many similarities with actions being taken by India to combat global warming.
Rich countries framing climate debate to suit themselves: IndiaOctober 6th, 2009 BANGKOK - Rich countries have been framing the climate debate to suit themselves rather than looking at the way global warming affects most of the world, which is why a global treaty is proving elusive, India's top climate negotiator said here Tuesday. "They don't talk about equity, they only talk of how to protect their lifestyles," the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran told a group of Indian NGO representatives.
Mesa, Ariz., is 1,000th city to sign Conference of Mayors' climate change agreementOctober 2nd, 2009 Mesa, Ariz., is 1,000th signer for climate changeSEATTLE — Mesa, Ariz., is the 1,000th city to sign the U.S. Conference of Mayors' climate change agreement.
'Rich nations must help developing world fight climate change'September 25th, 2009 PITTSBURGH - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says developed nations would need to provide funding and affordable technology to developing nations in return for any commitments to fight climate change. "There is a broad, vague agreement that any agreement in which developing countries are also required to take any national action will have to be accompanied by credible action on the part of developed countries," he said at a post G-20 summit news conference Friday.
Obama to UN: Time for difficult work on climate change is at hand, global cooperation a mustSeptember 23rd, 2009 Obama pleads for harder work on climate changeUNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama has implored world leaders to confront climate change, saying there can be no peace without cooperative work to preserve the planet. Appearing before global leaders gathered at the United Nations, Obama said Wednesday that "the danger posed by climate change cannot be denied — and our responsibility to meet it must not be deferred."
The president said "this is why the days when America dragged its feet on this issue are over." He said he understood the tempation of nations to put economic recovery from recession ahead of climate change work, but said that must not be allowed to happen.
Nair briefs Ban Ki-moon about India's views on climate changeSeptember 17th, 2009 NEW YORK - The Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, T. K. A Nair met the UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and discussed the country's stand on climate change on Thursday.
'Rich countries stealing from poor for climate change aid'September 16th, 2009 LONDON - More than four million children could die unless world leaders deliver additional funds to help poor countries fight climate change, a report warned Wednesday. Rich countries must come up with additional funds for fighting climate change, rather than raid the money from existing aid promises, said the report by the international nongovernment organisation Oxfam.
EU citizens to pay 15-bn-euro climate change billSeptember 10th, 2009 BRUSSELS - European taxpayers should be prepared to pay up to 15 billion euros ($21.9 billion) per year to help poorer nations confront climate change, officials in Brussels said Thursday. The European Union's executive, the European Commission, moved to take the lead in the world fight against global warming by being the first major player to quantify, at around 100 billion euros (around $146 billion) per year by 2020, the amount of funding that developing countries will need to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to rising temperatures.
EU teams up with MTV to raise awareness of dangers of climate changeJuly 15th, 2009 EU teams up with MTV on climate changeBRUSSELS — The European Union is teaming up with music channel MTV to raise awareness among teens about the dangers of climate change. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas says today's youth "will bear the brunt" of climate change, including rising temperatures and sea-levels.
Climate change: developed countries unwilling to commit to 2020 targetsJuly 9th, 2009 L'AQUILA - Developed countries comprising the G8 are unwilling to commit themselves to reducing greenhouse gas emissions drastically by 2020, despite scientists across the world and developing countries urging them to do so. With the issue of climate change becoming significant during the G8-G5 summit here, especially in the run-up to the UN climate change summit to be held in Copenhagen this December, emerging economies of the G5 are exerting pressure on the G8 to commit to earlier targets on reducing emissions.
Over 100,000 NGOs operational in PakistanJune 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Over 100,000 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are currently operational in Pakistan, the country's National Assembly has been informed. Federal Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education Samina Khalid Ghurki informed the NA in a written statement: "It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 NGOs working in the country.
Obama, Brown speak by phone, discuss climate change and economic recoveryJune 27th, 2009 Obama, Brown speak on climate change, economyWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday spoke with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss climate change and the global economic recovery. Obama spoke with his counterpart by telephone as part of their ongoing consultations.
India, US to hold bilateral talks on climate changeJune 12th, 2009 BONN - Climate negotiators from the Obama administration will be in New Delhi to hold bilateral talks on what India is ready to do to tackle global warming, the leader of the US delegation to a UN conclave said here Friday. Jonathan Pershing, who led the US delegation at these preparatory talks of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the December summit in Copenhagen, said he had met the leader of the Indian delegation Shyam Saran on the sidelines of the talks here.
Talks on climate deal remain bogged downJune 9th, 2009 BONN - Officials from 182 countries Tuesday started their second reading of a draft global agreement to combat climate change, while delegates admitted in private and NGOs charged in public that no progress was being made. The negotiators gathered here to advance the draft stuck to their old positions, said Srinivas Krishnaswamy of the NGO Greenpeace India, with industrialised countries "offering very little beyond their old Kyoto Protocol commitments and developing countries saying nothing about the action they will take" to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG).
Long hard way to global climate deal: UNJune 8th, 2009 BONN - The world needs clarity on the extent industrialised countries are going to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) that are changing the climate and what "nationally appropriate mitigation action" large developing countries like India will take, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said here Monday. Speaking at the mid-point of a June 1-12 conference to prepare for this December's summit in Copenhagen where a climate agreement is scheduled to be inked, de Boer said negotiators from 182 countries gathered here should also provide clarity on "how to generate support for mitigation and adaptation (to climate change) in developing countries" through financing from industrialised countries.