Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a youth version of its latest Human Development Report, which focuses on climate change. "We hope the call to action against climate change will be heard in every continent, every country, city and town and in every family," said Cecilia Ugaz of UNDP's Human Development Report Office. "We can change our today, little by little, person by person and with that obtain a more sustainable tomorrow for coming generations," she continued.

Young people aged 16 to 25 prepared the report, including their own messages, artworks and testimonials as well as summarizing the main points of the Human Development Report. "Do not wait fifty years to gaze regretfully at your changed face in the mirror and the scarred face of Mother Earth around you. Know that when you heard the call you listened and you played your part. The choice is yours!" write the compilers.

China is to double sales tax on cars with engines larger than four litres and cut taxes on the smallest cars to reduce pollution. "Autos are the giants of energy consumption and pollution emissions and this is a major part of the effort to conserve resources and reduce emissions," the Finance Ministry announced. China is the world's second largest market for passenger cars. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution triggers diseases that kill over half a million Chinese residents each year.

The United States could reduce fuel consumption by a half over the next 25 years if lighter, hybrid vehicles were available claims a new report from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The researchers estimate that the weight of the average car could be cut by 20 to 35 per cent without compromising security and convenience and that this would cut fuel consumption by between 12 and 20 per cent. Hybrid electric cars could reduce consumption by up to a factor of four. But it's not just a matter of technological development, drivers attitudes must also change. "We've got to get out of the habit of thinking that we only need to focus on improving the technology - that we can invent our way out of this situation," says co-author John Heywood. "We've got to do everything we can think of, including reducing the size of the task by real conservation."

At least thirty cities in the United States are expected to commit to disclosing their greenhouse gas emissions under a new voluntary programme. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability will provide the reporting tools and each city will assemble comparable emissions data.

"Over 70 per cent of total global emissions are generated from cities and if you don't measure these emissions, you cannot manage them," said CDP chief executive Paul Dickinson. "This is a vital step for city councils who wish to gain a better understanding of their own impact and, by improving their understanding of risks and opportunities associated with climate change, best prepare their cities for a carbon constrained world," he continued.