Global Warming - The Inconvenient Truth - Al gore

Working with developing countries to tackle climate change

Global Climate Change (Part 2)

Global Climate Change (Part 1)

The Myth about Global Warming

Two Warm

Both India and China will suffer significantly from the consequences of global warming. But will both have an incentive to contribute to the global effort in checking it?

As the climate change debate gets louder, India and China are firmly on centre-stage. In fact, they have almost come to be regarded in hyphenated terms. This fierce scrutiny is more than apparent in the UNDP’s Human Development Report 2007, released on Tuesday.

China has long figured on the radar. A decade ago, environmentalists like Lester R. Brown, had flagged changing consumption patterns in China as potentially a major environmental threat. The arguments have since got far more persuasive and proven. But what’s new in the debate is the presence of India in the big league of polluters — which includes Japan, Russia and the US.

There are striking similarities between the two Asian giants that lend themselves to hyphenation. While China is the world’s fastest growing economy, accounting for one-fifth of the world’s population, India is also now firmly on the growth trajectory, with its 1.1 billion people. Although in per capita terms, emissions by both countries are much lower than the others in the big league, by 2015 per capita emissions from China and India are projected at 5.2 and 1.1 tonnes (America’s stand at 19.3 tonnes), there can be no denying the rising levels. Between 1990 and 2004, India’s emissions increased by 97 per cent, one of the highest in the world.

The other common feature both countries share — along with the US, incidentally — is a dependence on coal for power generation. Coal happens to be the world’s cheapest, most widely dispersed and most carbon-dioxide intensive fossil fuel: for each unit of energy generated, coal generates about 40 per cent more carbon-dioxide than oil, and almost 100 per cent more than natural gas. In 2006, China was building an estimated two new coal-fired power stations every week, while India over the next 10 years is planning to increase its coal-fired electricity generation capacity by over 75 per cent. Power generation, of course, is seen as the main source of carbon-dioxide emissions, and accounts for four of every 10 tonnes of carbon-dioxide despatched into the atmosphere.

There is the hope expressed in HDR 2007, that since both India and China will suffer significantly from the consequences of global warming, both will have an incentive to contribute to the global effort in checking it.

Here, too, the parallels drawn in the Report are striking. While at current rates, two-thirds of China’s glacier, including Tien Shan, will disappear by 2060, and be totally melted by 2100, the Gangotri in the Indian Himalaya is shrinking by 23 metres a year. Such glacier melt has both short-term and long-term consequences. Immediately, they could cause the bursting of glacial lakes, avalanches and floods. In the long term, there will be severe water shortage. Northern China is already one of the world’s most water-stressed regions. In parts of the Huai, Hai and Huang basins, water is being extracted at a faster pace than it is being renewed and this area supports 128 million, accounts for about 40 per cent of the country’s agricultural land area, and generates one-third of China’s GDP. Desertification, too, is a distinct possibility. Events such as the 13 major dust storms recorded in 2005 will become more common. In India, because of the melting of the glaciers, the Ganga — which supports 500 million lives and accounts for one-third of India’s land area — will experience a two-thirds decline in its July-September flow.

So what are the measures that both countries are taking to address global warming? Nothing very significant, it would appear, going by HDR 2007. While the switch to CNG that Delhi effected in its public transport system is referred to as an important step in ‘low-cost mitigation’, China has in its 11th Five Year Plan set goals like reducing ‘energy intensity’ by 20 per cent by 2010 and retiring inefficient power stations.

Yet, there are significant differences between India and China. China is 81 in the HDR ranking, India comes way below at 128. While the Chinese have a life expectancy of 72 years, an adult literacy level of 90.9 per cent, and per capita GDP of $6,757, for India the figures are much lower: 63.7, 61 per cent, and $3,452. What’s also plain is the difference in the emission level of the two countries: China’s is expected to be five times that of India’s by 2015. The average Indian uses 439 kg of oil-equivalent energy, less than one-half of the average for China. While half of India’s population still doesn’t have access to electricity, China has been able to achieve a far wider power distribution for its people.

Given the fact that both countries are at different points on the development/ emissions curve, the facile hyphenation between them may not be quite appropriate. This, however, cannot be an argument for India not taking the issue of climate change seriously, or for not changing policy and taking demonstrable and urgent steps to reduce its own carbon footprint. It should do this in its own best interests.

Climate scientists call for urgent emission cuts

Greenhouse gas emissions must be urgently cut, with reductions of at least 50% by 2050, climate scientists warned today.

More than 200 leading international climate scientists attending the UN climate change conference in Bali called for emissions to peak and decline within the next 10 to 15 years.

If emissions are not limited, millions face extreme events such as droughts, flooding and rising sea levels, the scientists said.

In the "Bali declaration", the scientists say that a new international deal on climate change must ensure global warming does not exceed a 2C rise above pre-industrial levels.

Today's declaration said: "The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now far exceeds the natural range of the past 650,000 years and it is rising very quickly due to human activity.

"If this trend is not halted soon, many millions of people will be at risk from extreme events such as heat waves, drought, floods and storms, our coasts and cities will be threatened by rising sea levels, and many ecosystems, plants and animal species will be in serious danger of extinction."

Negotiations on a new treaty have to begin now and be completed by 2009, with targets of keeping warming below 2C by reducing global emissions by 2050 and ensuring they peak and decline in the next 10 to 15 years, they said.

"As scientists, we urge the negotiators to reach an agreement that takes these targets as a minimum requirement for a fair and effective global climate agreement," the declaration said.

Corinne Le Quere, of the University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey, is one of the scientists who have signed up to the initiative, which is under the auspices of the Climate Change research centre at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

She said: "Climate change is unfolding very fast. There is only one option to limit the damages: stabilise the concentration of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

"There is no time to waste. I urge the negotiators in Bali to stand up to the challenge and set strong binding targets for the benefit of the world population."

The warning comes after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment this year, drawing on work by thousands of scientists, which said that warming was "unequivocal" and was at least 90% likely to be mostly caused by humans.

Green Ventures organises global warming rally in Chennai

Green Ventures India, a sub advisor to Green Ventures International a privately held asset management firm with a fund of $200 million under management, recently organized a rally along with the Lioness club of Madras. Close to 100 students particiapted in the rally in an effort to raise awareness on the issue of global warming and its impact on the planet. School students held placards with messages such as “It is better to be safe than to be funk” and “Be part of the solution and not the pollution.”

The students, under the guidance of the members of Lioness Club and Lions Club International distributed brochures containing information on global warming and how to mitigate its impact.

"Global warming is perceived as some kind of a complicated scientific phenomenon among the general public and they feel it is up to the scientist to come up with the solution to combat it, which is not true. We must create awareness that each and every one of us are a part of the solution and we must work together to combat this self made villain which we have created. Yes, there is still much about global warming we have to learn and research should continue. But the longer we delay, the more CO2 will build up in the atmosphere. It stays there a long time. If we wait too long before acting, we will pass a point of no return and lock ourselves into centuries of global warming. We could pass one of those dangerous tipping points that could make life very difficult. It's a risk we shouldn't take," said Vinay Bharathwaj, Vice President, Green Ventures India.

The company now plans to work with companies to reduce its carbon footprint. "We have also raised a one of its kind $200 million fund, which focuses on investing only in CER’s which are generated out of India. We are also planning to raise more such funds to invest in clean technology and various renewable energy projects. We are also planning to expand our environmental consulting division to a 30 member team to cater to the need of the market. The Indian carbon market is growing at a rapid pace; more and more companies are looking to reduce their carbon footprint and also looking at monetizing the CER’s generated. With the MCX also showing keen interest in setting up a carbon exchange, what we are looking at is the tip of the iceberg. And we believe that in the near future India would set an example to the other countries in terms of the carbon offset and being socially responsible nation," he concluded.

THE 33 FACTS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

1. The Earth was formed about 4,540,000,000 years ago.
2. In the beginning, the Earth's atmosphere contained very little oxygen (less than 1% oxygen pressure).
3. Early plants started to develop more than 2 billion years ago, probably about 2,700,000,000.
4. Through photosynthesis, plants uptake carbon dioxide into the biosphere as organic matter, and release oxygen as a byproduct.
5. Through geologic time, oxygen accumulated gradually in the atmosphere, reaching a value of about 21% of atmospheric gases at the present time.
6. Through geologic time, surplus organic matter has been sequestered in the lithosphere as fossil organic materials (coal, petroleum, and natural gas).
7. Early animals (the first organisms with external shells) started to develop around 600,000,000 years ago.
8. Animals operate in the opposite way than plants: they take up oxygen, burn organic matter (food), and release carbon dioxide as a byproduct.
9. Early humans (Australopithecus anamensis) began to develop about 4,100,000 years ago.
10. Cool climatic conditions have prevailed during the past 1,000,000 years. The species Homo sapiens evolved under these climatic conditions.
11. Homo sapiens dates back to more than 400,000 years.
12. Estimates for the variety Homo sapiens sapiens, to which all humans belong, range from 130,000 to 195,000 years old.
13. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was as low as 190 ppm during the last Ice Age, about 21,000 years ago.
14. The last Ice Age began to recede about 20,000 years ago.
15. The agricultural revolution, where humans converted forests and rangelands into farms, began to develop about 10,000 years ago.
16. The agricultural revolution caused a reduction in standing biomass in the biosphere and reduced the uptake of carbon dioxide in midlatitudinal regions, indirectly contributing, however so slightly, to global warming.
17. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased gradually from a low of 190 ppm 21,000 year ago, to about 290 ppm in the year 1900, i.e., at an average rate of 0.00478 ppm per year.
18. The industrial revolution, where humans developed machines (artificial animals, since they consume fuels, which are mostly organic matter), began in England about 240 years ago (1767).
19. In October 1999, the world's population reached 6,000,000,000, which is double that of the year 1959 (the doubling occurred in 40 years).
20. The world's population is currently increasing at the rate of about 80,000,000 per year (about 1.2 %).
21. The current world population is 6,575,000,000 (February 2007).
22. The global fleet of motor vehicles is estimated at 830,000,000 (2006).
23. The global fleet of motor vehicles has been recently growing at the rate of 16,000,000 per year.
24. Motor vehicles (cars, trucks, buses, and scooters) account for 80% of all transport-related energy use.
25. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which was at 290 ppm in the year 1900, rose to 316 ppm in 1959, or at an average 0.44 ppm per year.
26. Measurements of the concentration of carbon dioxide since 1959 (316 ppm) have revealed an increase to 378 ppm in 2004, or at an average 1.38 ppm per year.
27. The concentration of carbon dioxide has increased an average of about 1.8 ppm per year over the past two decades.
28. The concentration of carbon dioxide increased 2.87 ppm in 1997-98, more than in any other year of record.
29. The year 1998 was the warmest of record. The year 2002 was the second warmest (to that date). The year 2003 was the third warmest (to that date). The year 2004 was the fourth warmest (to that date). Last year (2005) equaled 1998 as the warmest of record.
30. About 75% of the annual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is due to the burning of fossil fuels.
31. The remaining 25% is attributed to anthropogenic changes in land use, which have the effect of reducing the net uptake of carbon dioxide.
32. Anthropogenic changes in land use occur when forests are converted to rangelands, rangelands to agriculture, and agriculture to urban areas.
33. Other patterns of land Other patterns of land degradation--deforestation, overgrazing, overcultivation, desertification, and salinization--reduce the net uptake of carbon dioxide, indirectly contributing, however slightly, to global warming.

An inconvenient truth

Blue Man Group on Global Warming

Top 50 Things To Do To Stop Global Warming

Global warming is a dramatically urgent and serious problem. We don't need to wait for governments to solve this problem: each one of us can bring an important help adopting a more responsible lifestyle: starting from little, everyday things. It's the only reasonable way to save our planet, before it is too late.

Here is a list of 50 simple things that everyone can do in order to fight against and reduce the Global Warming phenomenon: some of them are at no cost, some other require a little investment but can help you save a lot of money, in the middle-long term!

1. Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl)
   CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

2. Install a programmable thermostat
   Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.

3. Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer
   Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has more tips for saving energy on heating and cooling.

4. Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
   Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

5. Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
   Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most efficient models available.

6. Do not leave appliances on standby
   Use the "on/off" function on the machine itself. A TV set that's switched on for 3 hours a day (the average time Europeans spend watching TV) and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode.

7. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket
   You’ll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple action. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than 50°C.

8. Move your fridge and freezer
   Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they were standing on their own. For example, if you put them in a hot cellar room where the room temperature is 30-35ºC, energy use is almost double and causes an extra 160kg of CO2 emissions for fridges per year and 320kg for freezers.

9. Defrost old fridges and freezers regularly
   Even better is to replace them with newer models, which all have automatic defrost cycles and are generally up to two times more energy-efficient than their predecessors.

10. Don't let heat escape from your house over a long period
    When airing your house, open the windows for only a few minutes. If you leave a small opening all day long, the energy needed to keep it warm inside during six cold months (10ºC or less outside temperature) would result in almost 1 ton of CO2 emissions.

11. Replace your old single-glazed windows with double-glazing
    This requires a bit of upfront investment, but will halve the energy lost through windows and pay off in the long term. If you go for the best the market has to offer (wooden-framed double-glazed units with low-emission glass and filled with argon gas), you can even save more than 70% of the energy lost.

12. Get a home energy audit
    Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. You can save up to 30% off your energy bill and 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Energy Star can help you find an energy specialist.

13. Cover your pots while cooking
    Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%!

14. Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full
    If you need to use it when it is half full, then use the half-load or economy setting. There is also no need to set the temperatures high. Nowadays detergents are so efficient that they get your clothes and dishes clean at low temperatures.

15. Take a shower instead of a bath
    A shower takes up to four times less energy than a bath. To maximise the energy saving, avoid power showers and use low-flow showerheads, which are cheap and provide the same comfort.

16. Use less hot water
    It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year) instead of hot.

17. Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible
    You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year.

18. Insulate and weatherize your home
    Properly insulating your walls and ceilings can save 25% of your home heating bill and 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Caulking and weather-stripping can save another 1,700 pounds per year. Energy Efficient has more information on how to better insulate your home.

19. Be sure you’re recycling at home
    You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates. Earth 911 can help you find recycling resources in your area.

20. Recycle your organic waste
    Around 3% of the greenhouse gas emissions through the methane is released by decomposing bio-degradable waste. By recycling organic waste or composting it if you have a garden, you can help eliminate this problem! Just make sure that you compost it properly, so it decomposes with sufficient oxygen, otherwise your compost will cause methane emissions and smell foul.

21. Buy intelligently
    One bottle of 1.5l requires less energy and produces less waste than three bottles of 0.5l. As well, buy recycled paper products: it takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.

22. Choose products that come with little packaging and buy refills when you can
    You will also cut down on waste production and energy use!

23. Reuse your shopping bag
    When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.

24. Reduce waste
    Most products we buy cause greenhouse gas emissions in one or another way, e.g. during production and distribution. By taking your lunch in a reusable lunch box instead of a disposable one, you save the energy needed to produce new lunch boxes.

25. Plant a tree
    A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%. The Arbor Day Foundation has information on planting and provides trees you can plant with membership.

26. Switch to green power
    In many areas, you can switch to energy generated by clean, renewable sources such as wind and solar. The Green Power Network is a good place to start to figure out what’s available in your area.

27. Buy locally grown and produced foods
    The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.

28. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen
    Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.

29. Seek out and support local farmers markets
    They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. You can find a farmer’s market in your area at the USDA website.

30. Buy organic foods as much as possible
    Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!

31. Eat less meat
    Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.

32. Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible
    Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Look for transit options in your area.

33. Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates
    Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year. eRideShare.com runs a free national service connecting commuters and travelers.

34. Don't leave an empty roof rack on your car
    This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 10% due to wind resistance and the extra weight - removing it is a better idea.

35. Keep your car tuned up
    Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere.

36. Drive carefully and do not waste fuel
    You can reduce CO2 emissions by readjusting your driving style. Choose proper gears, do not abuse the gas pedal, use the engine brake instead of the pedal brake when possible and turn off your engine when your vehicle is motionless for more than one minute. By readjusting your driving style you can save money on both fuel and car mantainance.

37. Check your tires weekly to make sure they’re properly inflated
    Proper inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference!

38. When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle
    You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car gets only 3 miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon with a hybrid! You can find information on fuel efficiency on FuelEconomy and on GreenCars websites.

39. Try car sharing
    Need a car but don’t want to buy one? Community car sharing organizations provide access to a car and your membership fee covers gas, maintenance and insurance. Many companies – such as Flexcar - offer low emission or hybrid cars too! Also, see ZipCar.

40. Try telecommuting from home
    Telecommuting can help you drastically reduce the number of miles you drive every week. For more information, check out the Telework Coalition.

41. Fly less
    Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly. You can also offset your air travel by investing in renewable energy projects.

42. Encourage your school or business to reduce emissions
    You can extend your positive influence on global warming well beyond your home by actively encouraging other to take action.

43. Join the virtual march
    The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort to bring people concerned about global warming together in one place. Add your voice to the hundreds of thousands of other people urging action on this issue.

44. Encourage the switch to renewable energy
    Successfully combating global warming requires a national transition to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. These technologies are ready to be deployed more widely but there are regulatory barriers impeding them. Take action to break down those barriers with Vote Solar.

45. Protect and conserve forest worldwide
    Forests play a critial role in global warming: they store carbon. When forests are burned or cut down, their stored carbon is release into the atmosphere - deforestation now accounts for about 20% of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Conservation International has more information on forests and global warming.

46. Consider the impact of your investments
    If you invest your money, you should consider the impact that your investments and savings will have on global warming. Check out SocialInvest and Ceres to can learn more about how to ensure your money is being invested in companies, products and projects that address issues related to climate change.

47. Make your city cool
    Cities and states around the country have taken action to stop global warming by passing innovative transportation and energy saving legislation. 194 cities nationwide representing over 40 million people have made this pledge as part of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Find out how to make your city a cool city.

48. Tell Congress to act
    The McCain Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act would set a firm limit on carbon dioxide emissions and then use free market incentives to lower costs, promote efficiency and spur innovation. Tell your representative to support it.

49. Make sure your voice is heard!
    Americans must have a stronger commitment from their government in order to stop global warming and implement solutions and such a commitment won’t come without a dramatic increase in citizen lobbying for new laws with teeth. Get the facts about U.S. politicians and candidates at Project Vote Smart and The League of Conservation Voters. Make sure your voice is heard by voting!

50. Share this list!
    Send this page via e-mail to your buddies and, if you can, link to it in your blog, website or favourite social network. Spread this resource worldwide and make your voice heard, loud and clear: the more people you will manage to enlighten, the greater YOUR help to save the planet will be (but please take action on first person too)!

Greenland's ice sheet melts as temperatures rise

From the air, Greenland's ice sheet, the second largest on Earth, appears to be perfectly still.

But below the surface, the ice sheet is in constant motion, as ice built up in the interior pushes toward the coast in the form of massive glaciers. During warmer months, ice from these glaciers melts into the ocean.

It's an age-old process that scientists say has speeded up in recent decades because of global warming.

The fear is that melting ice from Greenland and other Arctic areas could cause sea levels to rise enough to flood low-lying cities, such as Shanghai, China, and New York City, displacing millions of people in the process.

A recent report from the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of scientists from around the world, estimates the sea level rise by 2100 could be as much as 1½ feet.

"That sea level rise is only based on melt from ice sheets, and does not include a new fast flow of ice we have detected in Greenland that is generating additional icebergs," said Dr. Konrad Steffen, a climate scientist with the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Steffen estimates sea levels could rise three feet over the next century, a stark prediction that could wreak havoc around the world if it comes to pass. Greenland holds enough ice to cause sea levels to rise 23 feet if the entire ice sheet melted, a development few scientists expect to happen anytime soon. But global sea levels have been rising at the rate of three millimeters per year since 1993.

For each of the past 17 years, Steffen has spent one month at a remote research site called Swiss Camp, located 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland. He monitors the changing ice sheet through a network of global positioning systems and weather stations, which have recorded a dramatic rise in temperatures since the mid-1990s.

"When we came here in 1990, the first two, three years were actually colder than normal. Then in 1994, 1995, it started to warm steadily and since then, we've had a temperature increase during the winter months of 4.5 degrees centigrade, 8.1 degrees Fahrenheit, which is very large, the largest temperature increase on earth," he said.

The rising temperatures feed what scientists call a "positive feedback loop." As the air warms, it melts ice on the sea and snow on land. This exposes more water and land to the sun. Those surfaces in turn absorb more of the sun's heat, leading to more snow melt and ice melt.

"When you look at our satellite analysis, we can see the melt area of Greenland over 30 years has increased by 30 percent," Steffen said.

Despite all the changes in Greenland, this is not the first time temperatures have risen on the world's largest island. During the 1920s and 1930s, there was a significant warming trend that occurred without the level of man-made greenhouse gases recorded in our atmosphere today. The majority of scientists say greenhouse gases are the chief cause of global warming.

The fact Greenland has warmed before leads some scientists to question how worried we should be about the current warming trend. Dr. Patrick Michaels, a climatologist, is part of a small group of climate change skeptics. He said Greenland's warm past didn't cause the ice sheet to disappear.

"Well, this happened for 50 years in the early 20th century, and it happened for a millennium after the end of the last ice age," he said. "And the ice didn't shed off it."

But Dr. Jay Zwally, a climate scientist with NASA, said he thinks the latest trend is different.

"The current warming trend in Greenland is very extensive and is not likely to be explained by natural variability alone," he said. Zwally said the warming is consistent with scientific predictions about the effects of man-made greenhouse gases.

Last year, satellite data collected by NASA scientists revealed Greenland is losing 100 billion tons of ice each year, more than it is gaining from snowfall in the interior. Steffen and others have also detected a new, faster movement of the ice sheet, causing the glaciers to dump more ice into the ocean, where it melts and contributes to sea-level rise.

Part of this faster flow is caused by moulins, deep holes in the ice sheet that allow water to flow beneath the surface.

"During the summer months, as the ice sheet melts, large running rivers of melt water snake down through the ice, to the bedrock base below," Steffen said.

Last year, researchers lowered a camera into a moulin to explore the depth and flow of the melt water. Once the melt water from the surface reaches the bedrock below the ice, it can lift the ice sheet and provide a layer of viscosity for the ice to move faster toward the sea, a process that could accelerate as Greenland continues to warm.

Steffen hopes his prediction of a three-foot rise in global sea level by 2100 won't become a reality. But he warned that even if we are able to reduce the world's carbon output from cars and power plants, it will take a long time for Earth's climate to stop warming and seas to stop rising.

"Even if we reduce our carbon dioxide output, the climate will continue to warm," he said. "So even by stopping the increase of carbon dioxide today, we will have a warming, we will have sea level increase."

How to Fight Global Warming

Take these steps and you'll help reduce global warming pollution.

The biggest cause of global warming is the carbon dioxide released when fossil fuels like oil and coal are burned for energy. So when you save energy, you fight global warming (and save money, of course). Here are some easy steps you can take:

1. Raise your voice - We need new laws that will steer our nation toward the most important solutions to global warming -- cleaner cars and cleaner power plants. Send a message to your elected officials, letting them know that you will hold them accountable for what they do -- or fail to do -- about global warming.
2. Choose an efficient vehicle - A car that gets 20 miles per gallon will emit about 50 tons of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. A car getting 40 mpg will emit half that much. When buying your next car, pick the least-polluting, most efficient vehicle that meets your needs. Maybe it's an innovative hybrid that combines a gasoline engine with electric motors (and never needs to be plugged in). Or maybe it's a wagon instead of an SUV. And over the average lifetime of an American car, a 40-mpg car will save roughly $3,000 in fuel costs compared with a 20-mpg car, so compare fuel economy performance before you buy.
3. Drive smart - Get your engine tuned up and keep your tires inflated -- both help fuel efficiency. If all Americans kept their tires properly inflated (and a government study shows that many don't), gasoline use nationwide would come down 2 percent. A tune-up could boost your miles per gallon anywhere from 4 to 40 percent; a new air filter could get you 10 percent more miles per gallon.
4. Drive less - When possible, choose alternatives to driving (public transit, biking, walking, carpooling), and bundle your errands together so you'll make fewer trips.
5. Buy energy-efficient appliances - Use your consumer power when buying appliances by shopping for energy-efficient models. You may spend a little more up front, but you'll save a lot on electricity, and you'll reduce pollution produced by power plants. Look for the Energy Star label, which identifies the most efficient appliances. You can also use the Energy Guide labels to compare the efficiency of specific models. Remember that refrigerators consume the most electricity in the home. Today's refrigerators consume less than one-fourth the energy of models built 30 years ago, so an upgrade could mean huge energy savings for your household.
6. Replace your light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs - While compact fluorescents are initially more expensive than the incandescent bulbs most people use, they last 10 times as long. What's more, a compact fluorescent will lower your energy bills by about $15 a year, and by more than $60 during its life. It will also keep half a ton of carbon dioxide out of the air.
7. Weatherize your home or apartment - For a very small investment, you can cut your heating and cooling expenses and reduce the burning of fossil fuels. Use weatherstripping to seal drafts around windows and doors. If a draft comes through electrical outlets or switches on outside walls, install foam draft blockers behind the cover plates. Use covers (inside or outside) on air conditioners during cold months. And make sure your home has adequate insulation. Many older homes don't have enough, especially in the attic. You can check the insulation yourself or have it done as part of an energy audit, provided by many utility companies. Call your company to see if it offers this service.
8. Choose renewable energy - If you live in a state where you can choose your electricity supplier, pick a company that generates at least half its power from wind, solar energy and other clean sources. Even if you don't have the option to select a supplier, you may still be able to support renewable energy through an option on your electricity bill.
9. Buy clean energy certificates - Another way to help spur the renewable energy market and cut global warming pollution is to buy "wind certificates" or "green tags," which represent clean power you can add to the nation's energy grid in place of electricity from fossil fuels.
10. Join NRDC/use our resources - You can help secure the changes that will stop global warming by joining NRDC, one of the most effective environmental groups in the country. And we can help you be more effective in your own environmental efforts by giving you information and action tools, and by combining your voice with hundreds of thousands of others. So take your pick, or pick them all: become a member of NRDC.

Top Scientist's Fears for Climate

One of America's top scientists has said that the world has already entered a state of dangerous climate change.

In his first broadcast interview as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, John Holdren told the BBC that the climate was changing much faster than predicted.

"We are not talking anymore about what climate models say might happen in the future."

"We are experiencing dangerous human disruption of the global climate and we're going to experience more," Professor Holdren said.

He emphasised the seriousness of the melting Greenland ice cap, saying that without drastic action the world would experience more heatwaves, wild fires and floods.

He added that if the current pace of change continued, a catastrophic sea level rise of 4m (13ft) this century was within the realm of possibility; much higher than previous forecasts.

To put this in perspective, Professor Holdren pointed out that the melting of the Greenland ice cap, alone, could increase world-wide sea levels by 7m (23ft), swamping many cities.

Safe limits

He blamed President Bush not only for refusing to cut emissions, but also for failing to live up to his rhetoric on harnessing technology to tackle climate change.

"We are not starting to address climate change with the technology we have in hand, and we are not accelerating our investment in energy technology research and development," Professor Holdren observed.

He said research undertaken by Harvard University revealed that US government spending on energy research had not increased since 2001. In order to make any progress, funding for climate technology needed to multiply by three or four times, Professor Holdren warned.

Last year, the UK's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, held a science conference to determine the threshold of dangerous climate change. Delegates concluded that to be relatively certain of keeping the rise below 2C (3.6F), CO2 levels in the atmosphere should not exceed 400 parts per million (ppm) and the highest prudent limit should be 450 ppm.

In October, at an international conference in Mexico, UK environment and energy ministers will try to persuade colleagues from the top 20 most polluting nations to agree on a CO2 stabilisation level.

Professor Holdren expressed doubt that progress could be achieved because if the US administration agreed that there was a need to limit CO2, this would inevitably lead to mandatory caps. President Bush has already rejected that option.

For more than a year, the BBC has invited the US government to give its view on safe levels of CO2. Our request is repeatedly passed between the White House office of the Council on Environmental Quality and the office of the US chief scientist.

To date, we have received no response to questions on this issue that Tony Blair calls the most important in the world. Professor Holdren called on the US Government to back the UK position.

John Holdren, in addition to his presidency of the AAAS, is director of the Woods Hole Research Center, and the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard University.

Recent Movies on Global Warming

Recent Movies on Global Warming :

1. 11th Hour

Leonardo DiCaprio's "The 11th Hour" is a feature length documentary concerning the environmental crises caused by human actions and their impact on the planet. The most powerful element of "The 11th Hour" is not a portrait of a planet in crisis, but its offer of hope and solutions. Scientists and environmental advocates such as Stephen Schneider and Sylvia Earle (who participated in Earth Under Fire) paint a portrait for a radically new and exciting future in which humanity seeks not to dominate the earth's life systems, but to mimic them and coexist. "The 11th Hour" calls for a future now within our grasp that is both sustainable and healthier.

2. An Inconvenient Truth

Description: Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.
If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom — think again. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit, An Inconvenient Truth, which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re–set the course of his life to focus on a last–ditch, all–out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. In this eye–opening and poignant portrait of Gore and his "traveling global warming show," Gore also proves himself to be one of the most misunderstood characters in modern American public life. Here he is seen as never before in the media – funny, engaging, open and downright on fire about getting the surprisingly stirring truth about what he calls our "planetary emergency" out to ordinary citizens before it's too late.
With wit, smarts and hope, An Inconvenient Truth ultimately brings home Gore's persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue – rather, it is the biggest moral challenges facing our global civilization.

Global Warming Resource Guide

Global Warming - Causes & Effects

How We Can Help To Reduce Global Warming?

The three ways in which we can help to reduce global warming are:

1. Use energy more wisely by adopting energy-efficient vehicles and appliances.
2. Switch to renewable energy sources such as wind and sun.
3. Leave forests to grow and plant trees in deforested areas.

Carbon Trading Arrives in India

When GoodNewsIndia interviewed Dr.U.Shrinivasa for the Bio-diesel story and he held forth on the coming market for Carbon Trading, it had seemed futuristic. But it has already arrived in India with Jindal Vijaynagar Steel declaring itself ready to sell $225 million worth of saved carbon over the next 10 years.

Well, what is Carbon Trading? Let’s rewind to the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 by which all countries are required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5% --from 1990 levels-- in the next ten years, ie 2012—or pay a price to those that do. The idea was to make developed countries pay for their wild ways with emissions while at the same time monetarily rewarding countries with good behaviour in this regard. Since developing countries can start with clean technologies, they will be rewarded by those stuck with ‘dirty’ ones. Say a company in India can prove it has prevented the emission of x-tonnes of carbon, it can sell this good carbon-karma to a company in say, the US which has a bad karma. An environment-fundamentalist may say it’s all a bit like an indulgent epicure paying someone else to diet for him, but then that’s another story. Right now, there is a market opportunity for India—but only till 2012. Closer to that clean-up date prices of carbon credits will rise and in the years leading up to it there will be a scramble to buy credits cheap. The World Bank has built itself a role in this market as a referee, broker and macro-manager of international fund flows. The scheme has been entitled Clean Development Mechanism [CDM] in 2000, or more commonly, Carbon Trading.

Jindal on Oct 19, said that the Corex furnace technology that it employs would prevent 15 million tonnes of carbon from being discharged into the atmosphere in the coming decade. At a sale price of $15/tonne that is a total of $225 million. Jindal says companies from the Netherlands, Canada, the US and Japan have begun talking to it. On Oct 22, the New Indian Express carried a story that said the World Bank had just handed over $10 million to India’s Infrastructure Development Finance Company to fund ‘clean’ projects that would generate saleable carbon credits. The carbon market is here. Dr. Srinivasa had imagined a role for rural India in this emerging market. He said that power generated by naturally grown fuels would yield carbon credits and revenue from their sale should be factored into, when evaluating a bio-diesel future. Will we do it before the carbon market closes? If we could, would not bio-diesel power be unbeatable economics?

What is Carbon Trading?

Emissions trading (or cap and trade) is an administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.

In such a plan, a central authority (usually a government agency) sets a limit or cap on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. Companies or other groups that emit the pollutant are given credits or allowances which represent the right to emit a specific amount. The total amount of credits cannot exceed the cap, limiting total emissions to that level. Companies that pollute beyond their allowances must buy credits from those who pollute less than their allowances or face heavy penalties. This transfer is referred to as a trade. In effect, the buyer is being fined for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions. Thus companies that can easily reduce emissions will do so and those for which it is harder will buy credits which reduces greenhouse gasses at the lowest possible cost to society.

There are currently several trading systems in place with the largest being the European Union's. The carbon market makes up the bulk of these and is growing in popularity. Many businesses have welcomed emissions trading as the best way to mitigate climate change. Enforcement of the caps is a problem, but unlike traditional regulation, emissions trading markets can be easier to enforce because the government overseeing the market does not need to regulate specific practices of each pollution source. However, monitoring (or estimating) and verifying of actual emissions is still required, which can be costly. Critics doubt whether these trading schemes can work as there may be too many credits given by the government, such as in the first phase of the European Union's scheme. Once a large surplus was discovered the price for credits bottomed out and effectively collapsed, with no noticeable reduction of emissions.

Carbon Credit Prices Seen At 7 - 9 Euros A Unit

Mr Robert Taylog, Consultant, Agrinergy of the UK, says that his firm is currently working with 50 companies in India in sugar, cement and sponge iron sectors.

Excerpts from an exclusive interview with Mr Robert Taylor:

How many companies are you working with and across which sectors?
At the moment we are working in India with 50 companies. The main sectors that we are focussing on are sugar, sponge iron and cement. We have done a couple of deals and we have secured a couple of contracts. I think the trend we find in the market at the moment is that most people have seen these high European prices and are willing to hold on to their carbon credits and sell them at a later date.

How exactly are the prices moving in that market and do you see these contracts going close to the highs that some of these benchmark contracts struck recently?
I think the prices are on the upside. We don't have the mechanism to reduce risk of delivery from CDM projects into European emission trading schemes. I don't think prices will ever make 20, 22 euros as we are seeing in Europe at the moment and my feeling is that we will settle somewhere between 8 and 12, but that is my guess at this moment. However, there are certain instances where people would want to contract forward and they may want upfront payment and as a general risk management strategy, I think that it is advisable for people to look to secure some price going forward. As it is a regulated market, at the end of the day we don't know what turn the regulation may take.

Give us a sense of the deals you struck in terms of the size of the project, the credit size and give us a sense of the band these projects have been struck at?
The average size for us is around 50,000 carbon credits a year. So we have one project that has been registered just recently, JCT, a renewable energy project. That was struck at the lower end of the current range of prices but it did involve an upfront payment. So in those instances, we do see slightly lower prices. But I would say that generally now if we are looking to sell carbon credits on a forward basis, we are looking at a price of around 7 to 9 euros depending on the risk that the seller is willing to take.
I think one must bear in mind that when we talk about prices there aren't really one standard price in the market. There is a range of prices dependant on the risks involved in the contract.

If you were to break up the carbon credit, how much of that you think India would garner because we understand China is competitive as well in that space?
The Minister of Environment said recently that India has 203 projects that it has approved and they will generate 195 million tonnes of carbon credits. I mean globally what we are seeing at UN level is that 125 million tonnes of carbon credits will be generated from the projects that have been registered and in the UN pipeline, which will not include all the CDM projects that India has approved, we are looking at 575 million tonnes of carbon credits. So India at the moment plays a significant role. I think that we had a very positive regulatory environment in this country from the Designated National Authorities (DNA) the Ministry of Environment, which helped India, move quickly. China and Brazil will come into this market longer term, mainly China with a lot of HFC projects, with a lot of coal mine methane projects and they are going to really push a large volume of carbon credits.

Could you give us some names of some of the companies in various sectors that you are working with by gas, cement or sugar?
In the sugar sector, the project we registered is a Shree Renuka Sugars and we are working now and hope to register Rajshri Sugars and Chemicals in the South and there are number of other factories in UP that we are working with. In cement sector, we are working with Gujarat Ambuja and ACC and a lot of smaller sponge iron plants in Raipur and in Chhattisgarh and we see quiet a good potential within that sector.

Anything from the power project side?
We don't as of now, we have spoken to a number of power companies, but we have not done any contracts for them. I think what happens is that everybody tends to focus on sectors and specifically the gas co-generation where it is relatively easy and then one or two other sectors. We haven't got time to do energy efficiency projects. We believe there is a huge opportunity for power companies here in India and it takes a little more time for people to figure out exactly what the potential is within the sector.

You think you would do 40-50 deals in 2006 more or less?
I would hope to make 40-50 deals and may be I will come back in a year to tell you how many we have done. I mean that the potential is still there within India. There are a number of sectors that we haven't yet touched. So I would hope we can do 40 or 50.

Corporate Biggies Warm Up To Carbon Credit Trade

MUMBAI: THE carbon credit trade is entering the big league, with large Indian business houses jumping onto the bandwagon. After small- and mid-sized companies, it’s now the turn of the Birlas and the Ambanis to explore options of cashing in on efficient production technologies to boost profitability, as polluting foreign companies rush to meet international deadlines starting next year. The trend could witness the entry of India’s Exim Bank as a key player in facilitating trading in carbon credits.

India is considered one of the largest beneficiaries in carbon credit trade, accounting for about $5bn, or 31%, of the total world carbon trade through the Clean Development Mechanism. In what could be the first such public disclosure, a senior Aditya Birla group executive said Grasim Industries is talking to various international companies, while a Reliance Industries official privately admitted that India’s largest private refiner and petrochemicals maker is negotiating with European firms to explore ways of selling credits earned through tight emission controls. Carbon credits are certificates issued to companies that reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These credits are then sold to companies who cannot fulfil the protocol norms. “We’re talking to several companies and are close to striking a deal soon,” Grasim director DD Rathi told ET, without elaborating on the financial size. Of late, there has been some hectic activity seen on this front. Chemical firm SRF has already sold 2.5m units of carbon credits to two European agencies for Rs 250 crore. Recently, refrigerant maker and mid-sized company Gujarat Fluorochemicals said it expects revenue of about Rs 500 crore over the next 6-7 years through the sale of carbon credits. News of the carbon credit sale lifted the stock of the company by 19% last month, at a time when the broader sensex grew by only 8%. According to a Reliance Industries official, the company sees “potential growth in this space and is currently talking to a European company”. But there were no financial details. A Reliance Industries spokesperson declined to comment. It’s estimated that 60-70% of emission is through fuel combustion in industries such as cement, steel, textiles and fertilisers. Some gases like hydrofluorocarbons, methane and nitrous oxide are released as by-products of industrial processes which affect the ozone layer. Cement maker Gujarat Ambuja and fertiliser major Tata Chemicals are also learnt to be studying options in this space. One credit is equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide in the international carbon credit market. Carbon credit units are currently trading at $15-20 per unit. Apart from manufacturing companies, Indian financial institutions are also taking a plunge here. A senior Exim Bank executive said the bank had approached the ministry of environment and forests for permission as a nodal player in enabling carbon credit trades. Apart from the European sale, SRF, the first mover, has put another 8m tonnes of greenhouse gas credits up for sale. The firm has appointed EDF Trading of France, Barclays Capital, Climate Change Capital Carbon Fund, ICE Cap (UK), KFW (Germany), Shell Trading and Solvey as partners for the project. SRF has also struck deals with Dutch/Shell and ICECAP to sell 5,00,000 carbon credits each. The Kyoto Protocol that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 5.2%, to below 1990 levels by ’12, is a voluntary treaty signed by some 141 countries, including the European Union, Japan and Canada. However, the US, which accounts for one-third of the total greenhouse gas emission, is yet to sign the treaty. The penalty for non-compliance in the first phase is E40 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent. In the second phase, the penalty will be hiked to E100 per tonne of CO2. Developed countries have to spend nearly $300-500 for every tonne reduction in carbon dioxide, as against $10-25 by developing countries. In countries such as India, greenhouse gas emission is much below the target fixed by the Kyoto Protocol and hence, excluded from reduction norms of emission. On the contrary, they are entitled to sell surplus credits to developed countries.

As of April 8, ’06, actually certified emissions for Indian companies added up to 7.6m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year. Of these, 3.8 MT was by SRF, whose project was formally cleared on December 24, ’05, and another 3 MT by Gujarat Fluorochemicals, on March 8, ’05. Asia and Latin America are other key sellers of carbon credit in the international market. India, Brazil and Chile together account for 58% of carbon credit. India is the largest producer of carbon credit and highest in country ratings.

Defination - Global Warming

The Planet is Heating Up—and Fast

Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are drying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace. It's becoming clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. Called greenhouse gases, their levels are higher now than in the last 650,000 years.

We call the result global warming, but it is causing a set of changes to the Earth's climate, or long-term weather patterns, that varies from place to place. As the Earth spins each day, the new heat swirls with it, picking up moisture over the oceans, rising here, settling there. It's changing the rhythms of climate that all living things have come to rely upon.

What will we do to slow this warming? How will we cope with the changes we've already set into motion? While we struggle to figure it all out, the face of the Earth as we know it—coasts, forests, farms and snow-capped mountains—hangs in the balance.

Greenhouse Effect

The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping, like the glass walls of a greenhouse.

First, sunlight shines onto the Earth's surface, where it is absorbed and then radiates back into the atmosphere as heat. In the atmosphere, “greenhouse” gases trap some of this heat, and the rest escapes into space. The more greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped.

Scientists have known about the greenhouse effect since 1824, when Joseph Fourier calculated that the Earth would be much colder if it had no atmosphere. This greenhouse effect is what keeps the Earth's climate livable. Without it, the Earth's surface would be an average of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit cooler. In 1895, the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius discovered that humans could enhance the greenhouse effect by making carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. He kicked off 100 years of climate research that has given us a sophisticated understanding of global warming.

Levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) have gone up and down over the Earth's history, but they have been fairly constant for the past few thousand years. Global average temperatures have stayed fairly constant over that time as well, until recently. Through the burning of fossil fuels and other GHG emissions, humans are enhancing the greenhouse effect and warming Earth.

Scientists often use the term "climate change" instead of global warming. This is because as the Earth's average temperature climbs, winds and ocean currents move heat around the globe in ways that can cool some areas, warm others, and change the amount of rain and snow falling. As a result, the climate changes differently in different areas.

Aren’t temperature changes natural?

The average global temperature and concentrations of carbon dioxide (one of the major greenhouse gases) have fluctuated on a cycle of hundreds of thousands of years as the Earth's position relative to the sun has varied. As a result, ice ages have come and gone.

However, for thousands of years now, emissions of GHGs to the atmosphere have been balanced out by GHGs that are naturally absorbed. As a result, GHG concentrations and temperature have been fairly stable. This stability has allowed human civilization to develop within a consistent climate.

Occasionally, other factors briefly influence global temperatures. Volcanic eruptions, for example, emit particles that temporarily cool the Earth's surface. But these have no lasting effect beyond a few years. Other cycles, such as El Niño, also work on fairly short and predictable cycles.

Now, humans have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by more than a third since the industrial revolution. Changes this large have historically taken thousands of years, but are now happening over the course of decades.

Why is this a concern?

The rapid rise in greenhouse gases is a problem because it is changing the climate faster than some living things may be able to adapt. Also, a new and more unpredictable climate poses unique challenges to all life.

Historically, Earth's climate has regularly shifted back and forth between temperatures like those we see today and temperatures cold enough that large sheets of ice covered much of North America and Europe. The difference between average global temperatures today and during those ice ages is only about 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit), and these swings happen slowly, over hundreds of thousands of years.

Now, with concentrations of greenhouse gases rising, Earth's remaining ice sheets (such as Greenland and Antarctica) are starting to melt too. The extra water could potentially raise sea levels significantly.

As the mercury rises, the climate can change in unexpected ways. In addition to sea levels rising, weather can become more extreme. This means more intense major storms, more rain followed by longer and drier droughts (a challenge for growing crops), changes in the ranges in which plants and animals can live, and loss of water supplies that have historically come from glaciers.

Scientists are already seeing some of these changes occurring more quickly than they had expected. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, eleven of the twelve hottest years since thermometer readings became available occurred between 1995 and 2006.

Music on Global Warming

Message - Global Warming

Funny Side

Indian Carbon Scenario

India, however, seems to be lagging behind in taking up trading in carbon credits owing to lack of a proper framework and regulatory measures. Under the provisions of the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act, Indian commodity exchanges cannot trade in indices or intangibles, but only in goods that can be actually delivered. The act also does not permit foreign participation in commodity exchanges. This could hinder the carbon market in India as the bulk of the demand comes from overseas buyers. The act is being amended and is awaiting Parliament’s approval. Once the approval is through exchanges like MCX would be able to commence trading in carbon credits. MCX has sought approval from Forward Markets Commission to launch futures trading in carbon credits. MCX has already tied up with Chicago Climate Exchange and obtained licence from it to trade in carbon credits for the Asia Pacific region.

“Besides MCX, a few other exchanges have applied for approval to the Centre to trade in carbon credits,” said Srikanta K. Panigrahi, director-environment and forestry, Planning Commission. National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange is also awaiting government’s approval to launch trading in the intangible commodity. However, industry experts feel that with the carbon market still in its infancy, any carbon credit trading platform is likely to be illiquid until much greater volume of credits arrive on the market. “On the sellers side, liquidity will be good on the exchanges as India is the second largest generator of carbon credits in the world after China. However, liquidity on the buyers side will emerge only in 2008, when the market is established,” said an official at a national commodity exchange. Indian companies including SRF, Gujarat Fluorochemicals and Balrampur Chini have earned huge revenues from these credits over-the-counter and commodity exchanges are also looking to grab their share. India has the highest number of clean development mechanism projects registered with the carbon market regulator and has a potential of 20 billion certified emission reduction by 2012.

What is Carbon Trading?

As demand for carbon credits rises due to tighter compliance norms thereby pushing up prices, exchanges worldwide are eyeing an entry into the lucrative emissions trading market.

Carbon credits are ‘compliance commodities’ and can be traded along with any other commodities. At present, one carbon credit is estimated at ¤13-15 (Rs 747-861). Developed countries are bound by Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions between 2008 and 2012, by at least 5 per cent of the 1990 level. One way of reducing emissions is by buying certified emission reductions or carbon credits of projects set up in developing countries.

A project, for instance, becomes eligible to sell one credit if it reduces 1 tn of greenhouse gas emission. The European Climate Exchange is planning to launch futures and options contracts of carbon credits in September, subject to regulatory approval.

Green Ventures

Green Ventures is an international environmental advisory company. The nature of our business is looking into world’s environmental and energy markets offering environmental advisory services, technology and transactional services to clients engaged in using energy and managing emissions across the world.

Green Ventures Advisors will serve to all of the world’s principal emissions markets including the Kyoto Markets (CDM, JI & European Emissions Trading), the USA compliance market and the voluntary carbon market.

We advice equity investment funds on carbon finance introduced investors to projects and structure forward sales to enable project developers to fund their investments. We help “Clean Tech” technology developers to manager their intellectual property to develop their licensing strategy and roll out their technologies throughout global network.