Tiempo Climate Newswatch

An informal meeting of legislators from the Group of Eight (G8) and major developing nations - Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa - has agreed that "climate change is a global issue and there is an obligation on us all to take action, in line with our capabilities and historic responsibilities." The latest G8+5 Climate Change Dialogue was held in Washington DC in the United States. The aim of the Dialogue is to plan a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. The participants urged the G8 to adopt a 2009 deadline for establishing a post-Kyoto agreement. The outcome is seen as a further step towards engagement of the United States and the major developing nations in a global climate regime.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have vowed to push strongly for new emissions goals during 2007. There will be an international meeting on climate change in May in preparation for the Group of Eight summit the following month. In the United States, pressure is mounting on the Bush administration to shift its position on global warming. Following the Democratic takeover of Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set a July deadline for climate change legislation. In the developing world, China is about to adopt its first greenhouse gas emissions programme. According to Zhang Guobao of the National Development and Reform Commission, China aims to cut carbon emissions by ten per cent over the next five years. Finally, Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio da Silva, has attacked the hypocrisy of the developed nations in calling for a halt to deforestation in the South. "The wealthy countries are very smart, approving protocols and holding big speeches on the need to avoid deforestation; but they already deforested everything," he said. "We need a different campaign... to get rich countries to reduce gas emissions."

About 60 million people in the developing world would lose their homes as a result of a three-foot rise in sea level, according to a new World Bank report. In Egypt, much of the Nile Delta would be flooded. Large parts of Vietnam, including the Mekong Delta, would become submerged, with ten per cent of the economy destroyed. Commenting on the lack of knowledge of potential impacts on developing nations, report author Susmita Dasgupta said that "knowing which countries will be most affected could allow better targeting of scarce available resources and could spur vulnerable nations to develop national adaptation plans now and avoid big losses later."

"The degradation of the global environment continues unabated... and the effects of climate change are being felt across the globe. But it is the poor, in Africa and small island states, who will suffer the most, even though they are the least responsible for global warming," charged Ban Ki-Moon, secretary-general of the United Nations. He was speaking following the release of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "It is also becoming increasingly clear, in North and South alike, that there is an inextricable, mutually dependent relationship between environmental sustainability and economic development," he continued.

Airlines should follow more efficient flight paths in order to cut emissions, says Giovanni Bisignani of the International Air Transport Association. "You will all be aware that our industry is taking a beating in the environmental debate," he said, addressing a conference in Holland. "Our critics may have lost perspective. But they are absolutely correct in demanding more efficiency."

There is a 12 per cent inefficiency in airplane routing, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "That 12 per cent translates into up to 73 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and nearly $US13.5 billion in unnecessary fuel costs," according to Bisignani. "Every minute of flying time that we can save reduces fuel consumption by about 62 litres and carbon dioxide emissions by 160 kilograms."