Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The European Commission suspended trading in carbon permits last week after permits worth millions of euros were stolen in online attacks on electronic registries. "It could be a concerted action by fraudsters to get access and steal permits from legitimate accounts to sell on spot markets before the thefts were discovered," said Maria Kokkonen, speaking for Connie Hedegaard, European commissioner for climate action.

"Although such incidents are negligible in terms of actual market impact, they will, over time, undermine the credibility of carbon trading as a policy measure to reduce emissions in Europe," commented Kjersti Ulset at Point Carbon. An alternative capital market approach, based on government-backed green bonds to help secure debt financing of low-carbon projects, is being promoted by some traders. The episode highlights the need to invest in more secure systems, according to Kokkonen. "By investing tens of thousands of euros to upgrade their IT systems, member states could prevent losses on the scale of millions of euros," she said.

Ban Ki-moon, United Nations secretary-general, has called for a global revolution to tackle the world's energy challenges. "Our challenge is transformation. We need a global clean energy revolution - a revolution that makes energy available and affordable for all," he said in his address to the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Ban's Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change has put forward two ambitious targets for the year 2030: universal access to modern energy sources and a 40 per cent increase in energy efficiency. "To achieve this, we must invest in the intellectual capital that will create new green technologies. We need to increase private and public spending on research and development, and governments need to create the right incentives," he said. "So let us pledge to invest wisely. We need to get our priorities right. People everywhere should be able to enjoy the health, educational and social benefits that modern energy sources offer," he added.

Scientists from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have produced a superstorm scenario for California, warning that the one in 100-200 year event could bring an unprecedented scale of destruction. The storm could last for 40 days, generate up to three metres of rainfall and cause as much as US$300 billion of damage.

The ARkStorm scenario is based on geologic flood history, modern flood mapping and climate-change projections. USGS head Marcia McNutt warned that the time to begin taking action is now, before a devastating natural hazard event occurs. "This scenario demonstrates first-hand how science can be the foundation to help build safer communities," she said.