Archive by date | December 2007

International roaming of the UK carbon footprint

International roaming of the UK carbon footprint

According to the Times and the Guardian, a new study led by economist Deiter Helm of Oxford finds that the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions have actually risen 19% above 1990 levels, not fallen 15% as officially reported to the UN. The discrepancy comes from the official figures’ neglect of emissions from aviation, shipping, overseas trade and tourism, and undermines Britain’s image as a world leader in greening its economy. The study itself (PDF), though, doesn’t so much expose hypocrisy as highlight a tough methodological question: should we measure greenhouse gas produced within each country, or should we look at fossil  … Read more

Sticker-shocked Rudd backpedals on emissions cuts

Sticker-shocked Rudd backpedals on emissions cuts

Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister who won his recent election on a green platform (Nature News – subscription required) and signed Australia onto the Kyoto Protocol as his first act in office, now refuses to support a proposed 25-40% cut on 1990 emission levels by 2020. The worst part: he rejected the cut days after an Australian delegate to the UN climate conference in Bali promised support for it (Herald Sun). What’s holding up Rudd’s vision of a greener Australia? A bad case of sticker shock — specifically, fear of spiking electricity prices. According to the Herald Sun, the  … Read more

Earth monitoring: Cinderella science

Earth monitoring: Cinderella science

This year marks not only the release of a clarion IPCC report and the convening of an enormous UN climate conference, but also the 50th anniversary of the Keeling curve — the longest continuous recording of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, revealing a gradually rising carbon dioxide profile that helped trigger early concern about global warming. As part of this week’s Earth Observation special (subscription required), Nature has a commentary by Euan Nisbet, atmospheric scientist at Royal Holloway, on the Keeling curve — which “ranks very high indeed among the achievements of twentieth-century science”, he says — and similar studies in  … Read more