AFP, April 15

LOS ANGELES — China has already surpassed the United States as the world's largest carbon polluter, the authors of a California study said Tuesday.

"Our best forecast has China's CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions correctly surpassing the United States in 2006 rather than 2020 as previously anticipated," said the study by researchers at the University of California.

The report, written by economic professors Maximilian Aufhammer of UC Berkeley and Richard Carson of UC San Diego, is to be published next month in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

Researchers compiled information about the use of fossil fuels in various Chinese provinces and forecast an 11 percent annual growth of carbon emissions from 2004 to 2010.

[...]

Aufhammer said the results showed the "emissions growth rate is surpassing our worst expectations, and that means the goal of stabilizing atmospheric CO2 is going to be much, much harder to achieve."

Nasa scientist warns the world must urgently make huge CO2 reductions.

The Guardian, By Ed Pilkington, April 7

New York - One of the world's leading climate scientists warns today that the EU and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of fears they have grossly underestimated the scale of the problem.

In a startling reappraisal of the threat, James Hansen, head of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, calls for a sharp reduction in C02 limits.

Hansen says the EU target of 550 parts per million of C02 - the most stringent in the world - should be slashed to 350ppm. He argues the cut is needed if "humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed". A final version of the paper Hansen co-authored with eight other climate scientists, is posted today on the arXiv.org website. Instead of using theoretical models to estimate the sensitivity of the climate, his team turned to evidence from the Earth's history, which they say gives a much more accurate picture.

The team studied core samples taken from the bottom of the ocean, which allow C02 levels to be tracked millions of years ago. They show that when the world began to glaciate at the start of the Ice age about 35m years ago, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere stood at about 450ppm.

"If you leave us at 450ppm for long enough it will probably melt all the ice - that's a sea rise of 75 metres. What we have found is that the target we have all been aiming for is a disaster - a guaranteed disaster," Hansen told the Guardian.

New York Times, By Sheryl Gay Stolberg, April 16

WASHINGTON — President Bush will deliver a Rose Garden speech on Wednesday to lay out specific goals for limiting the greenhouse gases that scientists say are responsible for warming the planet — a first for a White House that has been accused of dragging its feet in addressing the problem of climate change.

Mr. Bush will use the speech to “make a commitment” to other nations about the intentions of the United States and will announce “an intermediate goal that will lead to a long-term goal,” said Tony Fratto, the deputy White House press secretary.

Mr. Fratto would not be more specific, but he said Mr. Bush did not intend to lay out a specific plan for achieving the reductions.

The announcement will deliver on a promise Mr. Bush made last June, when he said the United States would set specific targets for reducing emissions and called on other high-polluting nations to do the same.

[...]

“If he’s not going to outline how you actually get to the goals,” Professor Victor said, “it’s hard to see that this is going to have much credibility.”

AP, By Jamey Keaten, April 16

PARIS - As riots erupt over food shortages in the Caribbean and Africa and hunger approaches crisis stage in parts of Asia, an international report said farmers worldwide must reduce dependency on fossil fuels and better protect the environment.

The report, three years in the making, was released yesterday at UNESCO headquarters in Paris as surging food prices fanned violence and exposed serious concerns about the global food supply in coming decades.

The report, known as the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, takes a broad look at farming in relation to hunger, poverty, the environment, and social equity.

"The IAASTD encourages us to take up what can be called a paradigm change. The status quo today is no longer an option," said Guilhem Calvo, an adviser with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's ecological and earth sciences division.

Citing the impact of oil prices on transportation and production of farm products, he said, "We must develop agriculture that is less dependent on fossil fuels, favors the use of locally available resources and base research efforts . . . on intensification of natural processes," like using natural fertilizers and protecting soil and water supply.

AP, By Randolph E. Schmid, April 17

WASHINGTON — Planet Earth continues to run a fever. Last month was the warmest March on record over land surfaces of the world and the second warmest overall worldwide. For the United States, however, it was just an average March, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday.

NOAA's National Climatic Data Center said high temperatures over much of Asia pulled the worldwide land temperature up to an average of 40.8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.9 degrees Celsius), 3.2 degrees (1.8 C) warmer than the average in the 20th century.

While Asia had its greatest January snow cover this year, warm March readings caused a rapid melt and March snow cover on the continent was a record low.

Global ocean temperatures were the 13th warmest on record, with a weakening of the La Nina conditions that cool the tropical Pacific Ocean.

Overall land and sea surface temperatures for the world were second highest in 129 years of record keeping, trailing only 2002, the agency said.