Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The Australian government has released a new plan for combating climate change. "We confront a daunting reality: we cannot continue to pour carbon pollution into the atmosphere as if there is no cost," said Penny Wong, climate change minister. "As one of the hottest and driest continents on earth, Australia’s economy and environment will be one of the hardest and fastest hit by climate change if we don’t act now," she continued. The goal is to cut national emissions by 60 per cent by the year 2050.

The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which is essentially an emissions trading scheme, will cover stationary energy, transport, fugitive emissions, industrial processes, waste and forestry sectors and all six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol. It will come into operation in 2010. "Placing a limit and a price on pollution will change the things we produce, the way we produce them, and the things we buy. It will open new doors to a cleaner energy future," Wong said. There will be an action fund to help help business make the transition to a cleaner economy and households, particularly poorer ones, will be compensated.

Growing demand for food, fuel and wood is placing unprecedented pressure on the world's forests, according to the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a coalition of international, regional and community organizations. "Arguably, we are on the verge of the last great global land grab," warns Andy White, co-author of a new RRI report.

Without a sharp rise in agricultural productivity, land equivalent to twelve times the area of Germany will need to be converted for crop production to meet demand in the year 2030. "Unless steps are taken, traditional forest owners, and the forests themselves, will be the big losers," White predicts. "It will mean more deforestation, more conflict, more carbon emissions, more climate change and less prosperity for everyone."

New York's taxi cabs will go green over the next five years. "It will be the largest, cleanest fleet of taxis anywhere on the planet," said Michael Bloomberg, the city's mayor. "And because taxis are so heavily used, the new standard will have the equivalent effect of removing 30,000 individually-owned gas-powered vehicles from our streets," he continued.

One thousand hybrid taxis, powered by gasoline and electricity, are to be introduced by October this year and the remainder of New York's 13,000 taxi cabs will be replaced by the year 2012. Three major automobile manufacturers have committed to delivering 300 hybrid vehicles per month for use in the taxi fleet. The Taxis for All Campaign, working on behalf of the handicapped, is concerned that the new hybrid taxis would not have lifts nor enough space for a wheelchair.