Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The European Union (EU) has agreed to adopt a binding target for renewable energy as part of its climate change strategy. By 2020, 20 per cent of EU energy will be generated by renewable systems such as wind and solar power, contributing to an overall goal of a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Targets for individual nations within the EU will be set according to national circumstances.

"We can say to the rest of the world, Europe is taking the lead, you should join us in fighting climate change," commented European Commission president José Manuel Barroso. The new EU commitment also includes a ten per cent minimum target for biofuel use in transport by 2020. There may be a ban on incandescent bulbs in homes, offices and street lights this decade, compelling the use of low-energy fluorescent light bulbs. While underlining concerns about safety and security, the plan recognizes that nuclear power may contribute to "meeting the growing concerns about safety of energy supply and carbon dioxide emissions reductions." "Nuclear energy is too expensive. Nations should invest more cleverly in developing other energy sources," responded Jan Kowalzig from Friends of the Earth.

The United States will release around 20 per cent more greenhouse gases by 2020 than during the year 2000. The assessment comes from a draft report by the Bush administration obtained by Associated Press. As global warming develops, the report predicts, amongst other impacts, a higher frequency of droughts and, because of a reduction in the spring snowpack, water supply problems in the northwest of the United States. Michael MacCracken, chief scientist at the Climate Institute in Washington, commented that "we're on a path to exceeding levels of global warming that will cause catastrophic consequences, and we really need to be seriously reducing emissions, not just reducing the growth rate as the President is doing."

The Bush administration's plan to set new fuel economy standards has been criticized by the Senate Commerce Committee as timid and inadequate. The plan calls for a four per cent annual tightening of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger vehicles from the year 2010 and for heavy trucks from 2012. The Senate panel considered that the administration's recent record in improving fuel economy in light trucks demonstrated a lack of urgency, calling the action "miniscule." "We are just nibbling at the margins in the most timid and reluctant and ineffective way," said Senator John Kerry. "You guys just don't excite the marketplace, you're not willing to challenge it."

Pollution from the Far East is affecting global weather patterns according to Renyi Zhang, a researcher at Texas A&M University in College Station in the United States. He claims a "direct link" between rising pollution levels from China and India and increased strength of the North Pacific storm track. "During the past few decades, there has been a dramatic increase in atmospheric aerosols - mostly sulphate and soot from coal burning - especially in China and India," he says. The soot and sulphate aerosols can affect cloud droplets and dynamics and, hence, storm character.

"The Pacific storm track can impact weather all over the globe," Zhang says. "The general air flow is from west to east, but there is also some serious concern that the polar regions could be affected by this pollution. That could have potentially catastrophic results." Soot on the polar ice will accelerate melting of the ice caps and contribute to rising sea levels. "Every time the weather changes, people are very quick to point to the fact that it must be climate change," comments David Phillips of Environment Canada. "You can be seduced into going there. And yet we also know that changes in the chemistry of the atmosphere can influence changes in climate." He concludes that the study shows that we're still learning about how complex the climate is.