Planetary Ruin

LONDON (Reuters) – Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has already taken on an international role as a Middle East envoy, is now tackling climate change with a plan for the world to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Blair traveled to Tokyo on Friday to unveil a climate change initiative and said on his Web site he will go to China and India in the next week to discuss his proposals with the world’s two largest developing economies.

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MAKUHARI, Japan (Reuters) – Rich nations must come up with billions in new money to help poor countries fight global warming and not just repackage development aid to score diplomatic points, environmentalists at a meeting of top polluters said on Friday.

The three-day Japan meeting gathers 20 of the world’s top emitters of greenhouse gases and includes rich nations the United States and other G8 states as well as rapidly developing China, India and Brazil.

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[BEIJING] China and the European Union (EU) can significantly advance low-carbon technologies if they cooperate closely on technological development and market access, according to a new report.

‘Interdependencies on Energy and Climate Security for China and Europe’, outlines common challenges faced by the China and the EU in dealing with the impact of climate change on energy security — despite differences in their economic development.

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OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s oil safety authority found “serious deficiencies” behind a December oil spill at StatoilHydro’s Statfjord field in the North Sea and ordered the company to make improvements, the watchdog said on Thursday.

The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) also said: “No damage to the marine environment has so far been identified as a result of the spill.”

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HONG KONG (Reuters) – China is producing far more carbon dioxide than previous estimates and this will frustrate global aims to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gases, a group of U.S. economists said.

China is the world’s second-largest emitter of CO2 and some studies suggest it might already have overtaken the United States last year. The report could add to calls for China to sign up to binding cuts, something it has refused to do.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Environmental Protection Agency toughened standards for ozone pollution on Wednesday, but these new requirements are more lax than the agency’s own scientists recommended.

Stephen Johnson, the agency’s chief, said he complied with the Clean Air Act and with scientific data in setting the new ozone standard at 75 parts per billion in ambient air in the United States. The previous standard was 80 parts per billion.

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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation.

Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of “new” sins such as causing environmental blight.

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Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa is raising surcharges on domestic and European tickets as the price of oil continues to soar.

Travelers will pay an extra 17 euros each way from Thursday, up from 14 euros previously.

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ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie said on Monday he would not compete in the Olympic marathon because of fears that Beijing’s air pollution would damage his health.

The Ethiopian runner, who suffers from asthma, said he would still compete in the shorter 10,000 meters event in the August Games.

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FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A warm winter cut demand for heating oil and gas sending German carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2007 down by 2.7 percent to almost 857 million tons, the federal environment agency UBA said on Monday.

But it warned that the fall in pollution was no reason to lower the guard against climate-changing CO2 pollution.

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