May 16, 2012
Peatlands store tremendous amounts of carbon. However, when they are drained and used – mainly for agriculture, grazing and forestry – peatlands become significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Peatlands drainage and peat fires are responsible for almost one-quarter of carbon emissions from the land use sector.
This report is a handbook for policy makers, technical audiences and others interested in peatlands. A decision support tree guides through opportunities...
May 3, 2012
China must act urgently on multiple fronts if it is to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its rapidly expanding cities and hit government targets for curbing carbon intensity, a new report from the World Bank said on Thursday.
Cities generate an estimated 70 percent of energy-related greenhouse gases and with China set to increase its number of urban residents by 350 million over the next 20 years, the Bank says the case for urgent action is strong.
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April 30, 2012
At the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, the latest on-site measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography reveal that global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations reached 391.3 parts per million (ppm) in 2011, up from 388.56 ppm in 2010 and from 280 ppm from pre-industrial times.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in order to have a 90 percent chance of avoiding dangerous...
April 19, 2012
Workable financial mechanisms are essential to abate greenhouse gas emissions. Deforestation, which contributes a large proportion of total global emissions, must be avoided as an effective emissions-reduction tactic, and to alleviate biodiversity loss and poverty.
However, incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) have had mixed and suboptimal success because of opportunity costs and administrative and technical issues, in...