Japanese PM pledges deep greenhouse cuts, money for poorer countries

September 24th, 2009 Planned emission cuts still means far hotter EarthWASHINGTON — A United Nations update says Earth's temperature is likely to jump nearly 6 more degrees by 2100 even if every country cuts greenhouse gas emissions as planned. Scientists looked at emission plans from 192 nations and calculated what would happen to global warming.

September 17th, 2009 UN climate strategy puts talk ahead of deal-makingUNITED NATIONS — Gather a hundred heads of state in the same place, get them talking privately among themselves and hope a global climate pact starts to gel. That's the gamble the U.N.

September 10th, 2009 EU offers €15 billion in climate aidBRUSSELS — The European Union proposed Thursday to offer up to €15 billion ($21.8 billion) a year in aid to poor developing countries to persuade them to sign a new global climate change agreement. However, development and environmental campaigners blasted the offer as insufficient because it assumes that poorer nations will bear most of the costs of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

September 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.

September 8th, 2009 EU welcomes Japan climate planBRUSSELS — The European Union is welcoming plans by Japan's incoming prime minister to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said Tuesday the proposal is "really very encouraging" for those trying to negotiate a new global climate change pact.

September 7th, 2009 TOKYO - Japan's premier-designate said Monday that his incoming government wants to make deeper cuts in the country's emissions of greenhouse gases. Yukio Hatoyama, who is slated to become the next prime minister after his Democratic Party of Japan won last week's parliamentary election, said the party wants emissions cuts of 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.

September 7th, 2009 Japan's likely next PM pledges big emissions cutTOKYO — The man expected to become Japan's next prime minister said Monday his government will follow through on a campaign pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020. It is a more aggressive goal than the previous administration's, which would have only cut emissions by about 8 percent from 1990 levels.

September 7th, 2009 New Japan leaders vow 25 percent cut in emissionsTOKYO — Japan's incoming prime minister promised Monday to aim for a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 — among the most ambitious cuts proposed by an economic power and significantly more aggressive than the current plan. The reduction, which will be measured from 1990 levels, was immediately hailed by environmentalists, who are watching target proposals closely ahead of a major international climate conference in December.

September 3rd, 2009 GENEVA - The members of the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Thursday approved an agreement to set up a global mechanism for sharing information on the climate and weather. The Global Framework for Climate Services would be established in stages, coming into effect by 2011.

September 1st, 2009 EU presses US on climate changeBRUSSELS — The European Union urged U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday to ensure the United States makes deep cuts in carbon emissions as part of negotiations to reach a new global climate change accord.

July 20th, 2009 Top UN climate expert faults G-8 goal without deedUNITED NATIONS — The chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said Monday that the Group of Eight nations had "clearly ignored" taking any concrete action to accomplish its new goal of limiting climate change.

July 9th, 2009 Big polluters want to help poorer countries adaptL'AQUILA, Italy — The world's industrialized countries are looking to provide "significant financial resources" to the developing world to help them combat global warming and will ask a September meeting of the world's 20 major economies to take up the issue, U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday.

July 8th, 2009 Obama administration agrees on greenhouse gas cutsL'AQUILA, Italy — The Obama administration says it agrees that industrialized nations should sharply reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over the next four decades. White House officials said Wednesday that the administration supports a goal of an 80 percent greenhouse gas reduction from industrialized nations by 2050.

June 10th, 2009 UN climate chief: Rich nations short on CO2 goalsBONN, Germany — Japan unveiled a new target Wednesday for reducing greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent by 2020, but the plan was slammed by environmentalists and the U.N. climate chief as leaving the industrial world dangerously short of its pollution goals.

June 4th, 2009 BRUSSELS - The European Union (EU) Wednesday hit a deadlock over the question of how to fund the fight against climate change in the developing world, EU diplomats said. The bloc is committed to supporting climate-change mitigation measures in poorer countries as part of a bid to win global acceptance for strict limits on emissions of greenhouse gases at a meeting in Copenhagen in December.