Tiempo Climate Newswatch

Jim Hansen, a leading climate researcher in the United States, has accused the Bush administration of stifling scientific evidence on global warming. "In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now," he said. Hansen is director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.

Speaking at the University of Iowa, he accused the administration of only wanting to hear results that "fit their predetermined, inflexible position." Evidence that might raise concern is often dismissed as not being of interest to the public. Reports that outline the potential dangers of climate change are edited to make the problem seem less serious. "This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disaster," he concluded.

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• ABC

• New York Times

Britain is requesting a higher greenhouse gas emissions allowance from the European Union (EU) in the run-up to the launch of an EU carbon trading scheme on January 1st 2005. The justification is a 7.6 per cent increase in carbon output in sectors involved in the scheme since a projection was made in April that set the national baseline. Margaret Beckett, environment secretary, said the existing quota "would have had a devastating effect on industry." Britain is asking for an increase in its national allowance of close to three per cent (19.8 million tonnes of carbon).

Under the European Union's carbon trading scheme, governments will set individual targets for plants - power stations, pulp mills, cement factories, and so on - that are large emitters. Pollution permits will be assigned that can be bought and sold on the open market. It is anticipated that 2.2 billion tonnes of carbon a year will be traded to ensure these targets are met. Plants that exceed their target will be fined 40 euro a tonne of excess carbon during the initial three-year period, increasing to 100 euro a tonne thereafter.

The UK government's climb-down resulted in considerable anger and disappointment. Tony Blair and the Department of Trade and Industry "have failed to put the environment ahead of industry," accused Friends of the Earth. "This is further evidence that Tony Blair will never bite the bullet when it comes to the environment," concluded Liberal Democrat politician Norman Baker.

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• Terra Daily
• Scotsman

• BBC
• DETR

Representatives of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) met in Tanzania during the week of October 25th to discuss their joint approach to the Conference of the Parties to the climate treaty in December. "We have to come up with a common position on issues like the Kyoto Protocol, a subject that is of late at the centre of international controversy," said conference chair Richard Muyungi.

The meeting will also consider initiatives such as the National Adaptation Programmes of Action, a major concern of the group. Opening the meeting, Tanzanian Minister of State for the Environment Arcado Ntagazwa urged LDCs to unite in opposition to those activities of the developed nations that were giving rise to climate change.

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• Terra Daily