Tiempo Climate Newswatch

Small island states have heavily criticized the suggestion that a new climate deal might be delayed until 2018 or later. Australia and Norway have proposed a 2015 deadline, but Russia has said that this is unrealistic and that 2018 or even 2020 would be more reasonable. Joseph Gilbert, Grenada's environment minister, speaking on behalf of the Association of Small Island States described Russia's suggestion as "both environmentally reckless and politically irresponsible."

European Union climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard has called for a roadmap for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, with concrete steps and a timetable, to be agreed at the Durban climate summit at the end of the month. The aim would be to develop a binding agreement after 2014. "We have three years from now to put the flesh and blood on this. We know what should be done so 2015 - after [the next] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change review - will be time enough," she said.

Four United Nations agencies are proposing a global blue carbon market that will ensure that those who protect marine and coastal carbon sinks can benefit economically. The agencies aim to create global acceptance of ocean and coastal habitats as a new form of tradeable carbon. The report Blueprint for Ocean and Coastal Sustainability argues that standards must be agreed for blue carbon monitoring and certification, with targets set for habitat protection in the context of blue carbon.

Alongside the development of a blue carbon market, the report advances a series of proposals aimed at reducing stressors and restoring the structure and function of marine ecosystems, supporting the Blue-Green Economy, fostering policy, legal and institutional reforms for effective ocean governance, and supporting marine research, observation, technology and capacity transfer. "[The] importance of the ocean is not reflected in the political weight it has on the agenda for sustainable development," said Irina Bokova, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Global carbon dioxide generated by fossil-fuel combustion and cement manufacture increased by the largest amount on record between 2009 and 2010, according to the United States Department of Energy. With growth rates higher than anticipated since the turn of the century, levels now exceed the worst-case scenario analyzed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its 2007 assessment. "That means we're beyond the scenarios with which we're calculating the further warming of the earth," commented Jochem Marotzke, head of the German Climate Consortium.

Global carbon emissions increased by 5.9 per cent from 2009 to 2010, with coal emissions jumping by almost eight per cent. The People's Republic of China accounted for close to a quarter of the 2010 world total, 24.6 per cent, with the United States second at 16.4 per cent. China's emissions rose by 10 per cent from the previous year. In a further step to control rising emissions, China is banning imports and sales of incandescent light bulbs of 100W or greater from October next year as part of a five-year plan to phase out the technology.