Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The Canadian government has announced a 'climate-friendly' budget, including substantive measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Amongst other commitments, a Clean Fund will encourage the most cost-effective projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The number of homes retrofitted under the EnerGuide for Houses Retrofit Incentive programme will be quadrupled. There will be additional investment in local green projects and renewable energy. "There has been a lot of talk up until now about meeting our Kyoto obligations but this budget contains a serious commitment in terms of dollars and that is very positive," said Alex Zimmerman of the Canada Green Building Council. "This is a win for the economy and for the environment."

In the United States, a leading Republican critic of the Kyoto Protocol, Senator Chuck Hagel, has introduced three climate bills. The bills are intended to promote the development of clean-energy technologies, through international technology exchange, corporate loans and tax credits. Hagel remains opposed to regulatory restraints, but reckons the marketplace will evolve toward energy efficiency with support from industry incentives and voluntary public-private partnerships.

More information

• ClimateBiz
• Renewable Energy Access
• Address by the Minister of the Environment, Environment Canada

• Interview with Senator Chuck Hagel, Grist
• Washington Times

Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and their collaborators claim clear evidence of warming in the world’s oceans resulting from human activity. The evidence comes from a combination of observed data and model estimates. The analysis shows the penetration of greenhouse-induced warming into the depths of the oceans.

"This is perhaps the most compelling evidence yet that global warming is happening right now and it shows that we can successfully simulate its past and likely future evolution," commented Tim Barnett, of the Climate Research Division at Scripps. "The statistical significance of these results is far too strong to be merely dismissed and should wipe out much of the uncertainty about the reality of global warming." Barnett concludes that "the debate over whether or not there is a global warming signal is now over, at least for rational people."

More information

• Science Daily
• ABC Online

• Press release, Scripps

Polar experts have warned that the West Antarctic ice sheet is starting to collapse. Chris Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey, views the massive ice sheet as an "awakened giant". New data shows that three glaciers that form part of the ice sheet are losing more ice, mainly through iceberg calving, than is being replaced by snow.

It is estimated that the melting of these glaciers is contributing 0.24mm a year to global sea level rise. The cause of the glacial retreat remains to be established, though global warming is a likely explanation. "The fact that three of them are simultaneously accelerating suggests that is the case," says Rapley. In another British study, which the British Antarctic Survey also contributed to, the importance of shifting ocean currents in eroding ice shelves around Antarctica has been underlined by analysis of the retreat of the George VI Ice Shelf around 9500 years ago.

More information

• New Scientist
• Download presentation (2Mb), BAS

• EurekAlert