carbon emissions news from mongabay.com

Logging may destabilize carbon in forest soils

2013-06-14T18:40:00Z

Logging in temperate zones may release more greenhouse gases than previously thought by destabilizing carbon stored in forest soils, argues a new paper published in the journal Global Change Biology-Bioenergy.

CO2 emissions hit record in 2012

2013-06-10T21:05:00Z

Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels use hit a record in 2012, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Southern U.S. logging soars to meet foreign biofuel demand

2013-06-06T18:12:00Z

In order to meet the European Union's goal of 20% renewables by 2020, some European utility companies are moving away from coal and replacing it with wood pellet fuel. The idea is simple: trees will regrow and recapture the carbon released in the burning of wood pellets, making the process supposedly carbon-neutral. But just like other simple ideas, it misses out important details that can turn it on its head.

Brazil's GHG emissions fall 39% since 2005, now 10% below 1990 levels

2013-06-06T12:34:00Z

Brazil’s greenhouse-gas emissions dropped 39 percent between 2005 and 2010, largely due to a reduction in deforestation, reports an inventory released yesterday by the Brazilian government.

Higher CO2 levels cause 'greening' from fertilization effect

2013-05-31T17:34:00Z

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels has triggered 'greening' in arid regions around the world due to a fertilization effect that has increased plant growth, reports a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Market for REDD+ carbon credits declines 8% in 2012

2013-05-30T22:34:00Z

The market for carbon credits generated from projects that reduce deforestation and forest degradation — a climate change mitigation approach known as REDD+ — dipped eight percent in 2012 according to an annual assessment of the global voluntary carbon market.

Indonesia's largest coal plant will be built despite protests, minister says

2013-05-26T17:26:00Z

Indonesia will go ahead with construction of what is set to be its largest coal-fired power plant in Batang, Central Java next year, a senior government official has said, downplaying opposition from environmental groups and the local community. Developers have struggled to acquire the approximately 200 hectares of land needed for the planned PLTU Batang plant, which would have a 2000 megawatt (MW) capacity. Residents of five villages have protested the project, with some refusing to release their land on fears of potential environmental damage to the area. Environmental groups also oppose the plant, saying it overlaps with a marine protected area and runs counter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

China to begin cutting carbon emissions one city at a time

2013-05-23T13:34:00Z

China has unveiled details of its first pilot carbon-trading program, which will begin next month in the southern city of Shenzhen. The trading scheme will cover 638 companies responsible for 38% of the city's total emissions, the Shenzhen branch of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced on Wednesday. The scheme will eventually expand to include transportation, manufacturing and construction companies.

Mystery of Amazon River carbon emissions solved

2013-05-21T23:01:00Z

Bacteria living in the Amazon River digest nearly all wood plant matter that enters the river before it reaches the Atlantic Ocean, triggering the release of carbon locked up in the vegetation instead of sequestering it in the deep ocean, finds a new study published in Nature Geoscience. The research explains the mechanism by which the world's largest river 'exhales' large amounts of CO2.

Canadian government drops over $16 million on advertising its tar sands

2013-05-16T15:33:00Z

The Canadian government has nearly doubled its advertising spending to promote the Alberta tar sands in an aggressive new lobbying push ahead of Thursday's visit to New York by the prime minister, Stephen Harper. The Harper government has increased its advertising spending on the Alberta tar sands to $16.5m from $9m a year ago.

Last time CO2 hit 400 ppm, temperature was 8C warmer, seas 40m higher than today

2013-05-12T14:22:00Z

The future of a globally warmed world has been revealed in a remote meteorite crater in Siberia, where lake sediments recorded the strikingly balmy climate of the Arctic during the last period when greenhouse gas levels were as high as today.

A new world?: carbon dioxide concentrations in atmosphere hit 400 ppm

2013-05-11T16:10:00Z

For the first time since homo sapiens evolved, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have struck 400 parts per million (ppm) due to burning fossil fuels. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that readings of carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii hit the symbolic number on Thursday and are expected to continue rising in coming years. The last time concentrations were this high for a sustained period was 4-5 million years ago when sea levels were 5-40 meters higher than today and the poles were 10 degrees Celsius hotter. During this epoch, forests grew along the shores of the Arctic Ocean and coral reefs were almost wholly absent.

Brazil's satellite monitoring reduced Amazon deforestation by 60,000 sq km in 5 years

2013-05-08T23:41:00Z

Brazil's advanced satellite monitoring system, coupled with increased law enforcement, was responsible for nearly 60 percent of the 101,000 square kilometer-drop in deforestation observed between 2007 and 2011, argues a new study published an international think tank.

Sugarcane production impacting local climate in Brazil

2013-05-01T17:59:00Z

Intensification of Brazil's sugarcane industry in response to rising demand for sugar-based ethanol could have impacts on the regional climate reports a new study by researchers from Arizona State University, Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution for Science. Following the conversion of cerrado grasslands into sugarcane in Brazil, a recent study in Geophysical Research Letters found local cooling that approached 1 degree Celsius during the growing season and maximum local warming near 1 degree Celsius post-harvest.

What if companies actually had to compensate society for environmental destruction?

2013-04-29T15:39:00Z

The environment is a public good. We all share and depend on clean water, a stable atmosphere, and abundant biodiversity for survival, not to mention health and societal well-being. But under our current global economy, industries can often destroy and pollute the environment—degrading public health and communities—without paying adequate compensation to the public good. Economists call this process "externalizing costs," i.e. the cost of environmental degradation in many cases is borne by society, instead of the companies that cause it. A new report from TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity), conducted by Trucost, highlights the scale of the problem: unpriced natural capital (i.e. that which is not taken into account by the global market) was worth $7.3 trillion in 2009, equal to 13 percent of that year's global economic output.

Environmentalists unhappy with new palm oil standard

2013-04-25T18:48:00Z

Environmentalists are unhappy with Thursday's approval of new criteria for the world's leading palm oil certification standard. After members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in a special assembly approved the body's new 'principles and criteria' (P&Cs) for palm oil certification, several groups voiced concern that the rules won't protect against conversion of carbon-dense rainforests and peatlands for oil palm plantations.

Low carbon prices may spur deforestation

2013-04-23T04:24:00Z

Low carbon prices may spur deforestation in New Zealand according to a survey by a researcher at Canterbury University.

'Carbon bubble' could cause next global financial crisis

2013-04-22T13:24:00Z

The world could be heading for a major economic crisis as stock markets inflate an investment bubble in fossil fuels to the tune of trillions of dollars, according to leading economists. "The financial crisis has shown what happens when risks accumulate unnoticed," said Lord (Nicholas) Stern, a professor at the London School of Economics. He said the risk was "very big indeed" and that almost all investors and regulators were failing to address it.

Fighting deforestation—and corruption—in Indonesia

2013-04-11T16:46:00Z

The basic premise of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) program seems simple: rich nations pay tropical countries for preserving their forests. Yet the program has made relatively limited progress on the ground since 2007, when the concept got tentative go-ahead during U.N. climate talks in Bali. The reasons for the stagnation are myriad, but despite the simplicity of the idea, implementing REDD+ is extraordinarily complex. Still the last few years have provided lessons for new pilot projects by testing what does and doesn't work. Today a number of countries have REDD+ projects, some of which are even generating carbon credits in voluntary markets. By supporting credibly certified projects, companies and individuals can claim to "offset" their emissions by keeping forests standing. However one of the countries expected to benefit most from REDD+ has been largely on the sidelines. Indonesia's REDD+ program has been held up by numerous factors, but perhaps the biggest challenge for REDD+ in Indonesia is corruption.

30% of Brazil's emissions from deforestation are export-driven

2013-04-05T18:01:00Z

2.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions or 30 percent of the carbon associated with deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon between 2000 and 2010 was effectively exported in the form of beef products and soy, finds a new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. The research underscores the rising role that global trade plays in driving tropical deforestation.

U.S. CO2 emissions fall to lowest level since 1994

2013-04-05T17:00:00Z

Carbon dioxide emissions from energy consumption in the United States during 2012 fell to the lowest level since 1994, finds a new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a branch of the Department of Energy.

Improving the rigor of measuring emissions from deforestation, agriculture

2013-04-03T19:14:00Z

While much has been written about the potential of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by protecting tropical forests, a proposed program to do just that has been challenged by a number of factors, including concerns about the accuracy of measuring for carbon reductions. Failure to properly account for carbon could undermine the effectiveness of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) program as a tool for mitigating climate change and securing benefits for local people. To help address the technical issues that underpin carbon measurement, the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have launched a new Certificate in Advanced Terrestrial Carbon Accounting.

Carbon Management in the Built Environment - book review

2013-04-02T16:07:00Z

Carbon Management in the Built Environment, written by Rohinton Emmanuel and Keith Baker, is the complete introductory textbook covering low carbon management for the built environment. Carbon Management in the Built Environment integrates climate change science, design, materials science, and policy into a classroom friendly text.

Burning coal may be killing over 100,000 people in India every year

2013-03-13T19:06:00Z

India's dependence on coal-fired power plants for energy may be leading directly to the deaths of 80,000 to 115,000 of its citizens every year, according to the first ever report on the health impacts of coal in the country. The report, commissioned by the Conservation Action Trust and Greenpeace-India, deals only with the direct health impact of coal and not climate change. But even ignoring the rising pain of global warming, the bleak report outlines that coal consumption in India is causing over 20 million asthma attacks, nearly a million emergency room visits, and killing some 10,000 children under five annually.

Rainforests may be more resilient to global warming - in isolation - than previously forecast

2013-03-11T01:41:00Z

Tropical forests may be less sensitive to global warming than previously thought, argues a new study published in Nature Geoscience.

China delays carbon tax

2013-03-07T22:04:00Z

China will not introduce a carbon tax in 2013, reports Bloomberg.

Near-record jump in carbon concentrations in global atmosphere last year

2013-03-06T18:09:00Z

Carbon dioxide now makes up around 395 parts per million in the atmosphere, according to new data from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Measuring atmospheric carbon in Mauna Loa, Hawaii, the NOAA notes that last year saw a jump of 2.67 parts per million, second only to a record jump in carbon concentrations in 1998—2.93 parts per million. The news further dampens hopes that nations will stick to their goal of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

Good news about climate change? Evolving technology could make cleaning the air more profitable than fouling it

2013-02-26T14:24:00Z

In the wake of the hottest and driest summer in memory throughout much of North America, and Super-storm Sandy that flooded cities and ravaged large swaths of the Mid-Atlantic coast, many now recognize that the climate change isn’t just real, but that it is already at our doorstep. As this realization continues to sink in, the political will may ripen to take more aggressive action to put a brake CO2 emissions. Already, President Obama, who had remained mostly silent on the issue during his reelection campaign, has made it clear that tackling climate change will be among his top second-term priorities. But the fact remains that even if the entire world switched magically to 100 percent solar and other non-polluting power sources tomorrow, it’s too late to roll back some of the impacts of climate change.

Rise in 1.5 degrees Celsius likely to spark massive greenhouse gas release from permafrost

2013-02-25T20:26:00Z

While nations around the world have committed to keeping temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial era, new research published in Science suggests that the global climate could hit a tipping point at just 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit). Studying cave stalactites and stalagmites in Siberia, scientists found that at about 1.5 degrees Celsius the Siberian permafrost melts, potentially releasing a greenhouse gas bomb of 1,000 giga-tonnes, according to some experts.

Deforestation, wetlands loss in Brazil and Indonesia generated 45b tons of CO2 in 20 years

2013-02-22T02:48:00Z

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched a global set of statistics on carbon emissions from deforestation, agriculture and other forms of land use for the 1990-2010 period.

China to tax carbon emissions

2013-02-20T16:56:00Z

China will introduce a carbon tax, reports official state media.

Over 35,000 march on Washington demanding climate action and rejection of Canada's 'carbon bomb'

2013-02-18T17:23:00Z

Yesterday over 35,000 people rallied in Washington D.C. for urgent action on climate change, which, according to organizers, was the largest climate march in U.S. history. Activists called on the Obama Administration to do much more to tackle climate change, including rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would bring carbon-heavy tar sands oil from Canada through the U.S. to a world market.

Obama connects climate science and policy in State of the Union

2013-02-13T19:16:00Z

After several years of silence on climate change, U.S. President Barack Obama has begun speaking out following his re-election last November. The President surprised many by giving climate change a central role in his inauguration speech last month, and he followed-up in his State of the Union speech last night when he called on congress to "pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change," but added that the administration would take action itself if congress failed.

Carbon release, storage by rainforests may increase by 50b tons for each degree of climate warming in the tropics

2013-02-08T01:16:00Z

Faster plant growth due to higher concentrations of carbon dioxide may offset increased emissions from forest die-off in the tropics, claims a new study based on climate modeling.

Finance and carbon markets dictionary with English and Spanish versions

2013-02-07T17:48:00Z

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently released a lexicon—or dictionary—of carbon finance and markets terms.

WWF and National Geographic ask: 'How much stuff do you need?'

2013-02-04T15:16:00Z

Seven billion people inhabit the planet and all require food and water, but less than one percent of the water found on the planet is fresh and accessible and 70 percent of that goes to growing crops. Meanwhile temperatures are rising worldwide due to the overuse of fossil fuel energy. Given these issues, a new series of videos by WWF and National Geographic, entitled Make Choices Count, aims to get people thinking about the environmental impact of commonly used items. The first video (see below) focuses on one of our most ubiquitous items: the cotton T-shirt.

Rate of tree die-off in Amazon higher than conventionally believed

2013-02-01T20:50:00Z

The rate of tree mortality in the Amazon rainforest due to storm damage and drought is 9-17 percent higher than conventionally believed, reports a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Palm oil, paper, biofuels production on peatlands drive large GHG emissions

2013-01-31T22:44:00Z

Degradation of peat swamps for oil palm and timber plantations is a substantially larger source of greenhouse gas emissions than previously believed, finds a new study published in the journal Nature.

China responsible for 46 percent of global coal consumption

2013-01-30T19:16:00Z

A new chart by the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows how China's coal habit has grown to such an extent that it now accounts for 46.9 percent of the world's consumption. In 2011 coal consumption hit 3.8 billion tons in China, making up nearly half the world's coal use of 8.1 billion tons. Coal comes with a number of environmental issues—including toxic air and water pollution—but the most pressing globally is climate change.

Paradigm shift needed to avert global environmental collapse, according to author of new book The Blueprint: Averting Global Collapse

2013-01-10T16:23:00Z

Global strategist, trained educator, and international lecturer Daniel Rirdan set out to create a plan addressing the future of our planet. His book The Blueprint: Averting Global Collapse, published this year, does just that. "It has been a sixty hour a week routine," Rirdan told mongabay.com in a recent interview. "Basically, I would wake up with the burden of the world on my shoulders and go to sleep with it. It went on like this for eighteen months." It becomes apparent when reading The Blueprint that it was indeed a monumental undertaking.

Fires burn over a third more land than estimated

2013-01-02T19:55:00Z

Scientists currently detect fires around the world using moderate resolution satellite imagery, however a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research finds that this tool misses many of the world's smaller fires, which add up.

Paper giant breaks pledge to end rainforest logging in Sumatra, says group

2012-12-26T13:52:00Z

Pulp and paper giant Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) continues to destroy large areas of rainforests and peatlands despite a commitment to end natural forest logging by 2009, says a new report issued by a coalition of Indonesian environmental groups. The Eyes on the Forest report finds that APRIL and its suppliers cleared at least 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres) of natural forest between 2008 and 2011 in Riau, accounting for 27 percent of all forest loss in the province during the period. Some of the area cleared by APRIL and its subsidiaries consisted of deep peat swamp forest, which stores massive amount of carbon.

Climate Summit in Doha characterized by lack of ambition

2012-12-09T20:23:00Z

Ahead of the 18th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Doha, Qatar a variety of reports warned that the world was running out of time to avoid dangerous climate change, and that there was a widening gap between what nations have pledged to do and what the science demanded. A landmark report by the World Bank painted an almost apocalyptic picture of a world in which global temperatures have risen 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, including unprecedented heatwaves and droughts, rising sea levels, global agriculture crises, and a stunning loss of species. In addition, scientific studies released near the two week conference found that sea levels were rising 60 percent faster than predicted, forests around the world were imperiled by increasing drought, marine snails were dissolving in the Southern Ocean due to ocean acidification, and ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica was on the rise.

Dams are rapidly damning the Amazon

2012-12-08T03:48:00Z

Dam-builders seeking to unlock the hydroelectric potential of the Amazon are putting the world's mightiest river and rainforest at risk, suggests a new assessment that charts the rapid expansion of dams in the region.

Tropical deforestation emissions were 3 billion tons/yr from 2000-2005

2012-12-03T23:59:00Z

Two prominent groups of researchers have reached a consensus estimate for emissions from tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2005.

With deforestation falling, energy sector to become Brazil's biggest CO2 source

2012-12-03T23:36:00Z

With its annual rate of deforestation falling more than 80 percent since 2004, energy is set to soon become Brazil's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, reports a new study seen by Reuters.

Animals dissolving due to carbon emissions

2012-12-03T21:11:00Z

Marine snails, also known as sea butterflies, are dissolving in the Southern Seas due to anthropogenic carbon emissions, according to a new study in Nature GeoScience. Scientists have discovered that the snail's shells are being corroded away as pH levels in the ocean drop due to carbon emissions, a phenomenon known as ocean acidification. The snails in question, Limacina helicina antarctica, play a vital role in the food chain, as prey for plankton, fish, birds, and even whales.

'No-one is listening to the entire scientific community': global carbon emissions set to hit new high

2012-12-03T17:02:00Z

Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial sources are set to hit a new record high this year according to a new analysis by Global Carbon Project. The analysis in Nature Climate Changes predicts that CO2 emissions will rise another 2.6 percent, hitting 35.6 billion tonnes. The scientists warn that such steep climbs in global emissions year-after-year means that the door is rapidly closing on a global agreement to keep temperatures from rising 2 degree Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

Indonesia lost 8.8m ha of forest in the 2000s, generating 7 billion tons of CO2

2012-12-02T23:58:00Z

Indonesia's greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation could have been reduced by hundreds of millions of tons had a moratorium on new concessions in high carbon forest areas and peatlands been implemented earlier, reported a researcher presenting at a forests conference on the sideline of climate talks in Doha.

Organic farming keeps carbon out of the atmosphere

2012-11-28T16:33:00Z

With the worst effects of climate change, we are seeing how pollution hurts both human health and the environment but there is good news: a new study shows that organic farming stores more greenhouse gases in the soil than non-organic farming. By switching to organic methods, many farmers across the globe may be helping to solve the climate crisis at the same time as they improve soil quality and avoid the use of pesticides.