News Archive: January - March 2002
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Spurred by Higher Emissions, Britain Boosts Renewables
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LONDON, UK, March 28, 2002 (ENS) - "The time for action is now,"
said UK Energy Minister Brian Wilson today, reacting to new figures
showing a small increase in emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide in the last two years.
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Report: Oil Will Dominate Growing Energy Demand
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By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, March 28, 2002 (ENS) - World demand for energy is
expected to rise by 60 percent over the next two decades, predicts a
report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The agency
says the increased energy consumption, led largely by oil, will
boost releases of carbon dioxide by as much as 3.8 billion metric
tons per year in 2020.
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More world oil use, pollution seen by 2020 - US
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USA: March 27, 2002
WASHINGTON - World oil demand is expected to grow an average 2.2
percent annually over the next two decades, helping to spew an extra
3.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year into the
atmosphere by 2020, a U.S. government energy agency said yesterday.
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Scientists Seek Climate Clues in Alaska top
NOME, Alaska, March 25, 2002 (ENS) - A team of scientists will
spend the next month traversing the Alaskan tundra by snowmobile
seeking clues into the role that snow cover plays in climate change.
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Bush oil drilling plan facing Senate defeat - survey
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USA: March 22, 2002
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush's proposal to open a remote
and pristine Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling seems doomed in
the Democratic-led U.S. Senate, a Reuters survey of lawmakers showed
yesterday.
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North Sea states urge halt to plundering of fish
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UK: March 22, 2002
BERGEN - The North Sea states urged cuts in fish catches
yesterday to rescue stocks of species ranging from cod to haddock,
and a European Commission official said trawler fleets might have to
be halved.
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Radioactive Discharges Confound North Sea Ministers
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BERGEN, Norway, March 21, 2002 (ENS)
A conflict over radioactive discharges has overshadowed this
week's ministerial conference on the protection of the North Sea.
Environment ministers from nine countries bordering the sea reached
agreement on a wide range of issues during their two day meeting.
But they failed to make any progress in resolving a long standing
dispute over discharges from nuclear reprocessing facilities in the
UK and France.
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Antarctic ice sheet breaks up top
UK: March 20, 2002
LONDON - An Antarctic ice shelf the size of a small country has
disintegrated under the impact of global warming, according to
scientists.
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Globe 2002 Showed the Sustainable Side of Business
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, March 18, 2002 (ENS)
A growing number of governments and corporations are evolving to
include environmentally and socially friendly components in their
policies, plans, and products.
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Alaska oil search proceeds outside ANWR spotlight
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USA: March 12, 2002
ANCHORAGE - Beneath the tundra on a once-overlooked stretch of
federal land in Arctic Alaskalurk potential oil riches.
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BP Reaches Climate Goals Eight Years Early top
PALO ALTO, California, March 12, 2002 (ENS)
Energy giant BP announced Monday it has reached its self imposed
greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets eight years ahead of
schedule, and is now expanding its efforts to combat global climate
change. In a speech at Stanford University, BP chief executive Lord
John Browne said the global warming goals were achieved at no net
cost to the company.
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Greens say plan new protest against Esso in UK
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UK: March 12, 2002
LONDON - The StopEsso campaign said last week it would organise a
second round of demonstrations at over 300 UK Esso petrol stations
on May 18 to persuade motorists to boycott the oil giant over its
stance on climate change.
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US says Kyoto no help to sinking isles top
AUSTRALIA: March 6, 2002
SYDNEY - The Kyoto protocol on climate change abandoned by the
United States would not save tiny Pacific islands from sinking
beneath the waves, according to Washington's chief negotiator on
climate change.
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UPDATE - EU states agree to ratify Kyoto climate treaty
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EU: March 6, 2002
BRUSSELS - The 15 European Union member states agreed this week
to be legally bound by the Kyoto treaty on cutting the pollution
blamed for global warming, which the United States has rejected.
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Senate energy fight seen on drilling, fuel standard
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USA: March 6, 2002
WASHINGTON - As the U.S. Senate prepares to debate a broad energy
bill, lawmakers who want higher fuel mileage requirements for
vehicles won't be willing to reach that goal by agreeing to allow
drilling in a protected Alaskan refuge, and vice versa, the chairman
of the Senate Energy Committee said this week.
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Nigeria sets $176 million fine for oil spills top
NIGERIA: March 4, 2002
ABUJA - Nigeria said oil tankers or production companies
responsible for oil spills in its territorial waters could face a
fine of up to $176 million.
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Daschle says has Senate votes to stop ANWR drilling
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USA: March 1, 2002
WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said this week he
has enough votes to block a move by Republican lawmakers to amend a
broad energy bill and allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge (ANWR).
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UPDATE - Facing energy battle, Bush pushes Alaska drilling
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USA: February 27, 2002
WASHINGTON - Calling fuel cells and the hybrid cars he once
mocked "the wave of the future" but not the only answer to U.S.
dependence on foreign oil, President George W. Bush this week urged
drilling in an Arctic wildlife refuge.
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Bush says US needs to drill for oil in Alaska top
USA: February 26, 2002
WASHINGTON - Facing tough odds in the U.S. Senate, President
George W. Bush launched a new campaign to gain approval for oil
drilling in a pristine Alaskan wildlife refuge, saying it would
create jobs and help wean America from foreign oil.
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Petrobras to appeal $180 mln oil spill ruling top
BRAZIL: February 25, 2002
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras said
last week it would appeal a $180 million court award to fishermen
following a major oil spill in Rio de Janeiro's scenic bay in
January 2000.
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Insurers press for climate-change controls top
USA: February 20, 2002
LONDON - Having extracted government action on exposure to
terrorist attacks, the insurance industry must now press politicians
for climate-change controls, one of its leaders said this week.
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Global Warming Effects on Sea Level Underestimated
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BOSTON, Massachusetts, February 19, 2002 (ENS)
Global sea levels could rise eight inches by the end of this
century, more than the rise predicted last year by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Melting glaciers and
collapsing Antarctic ice sheets, such as the 58 square mile iceberg
that calved from the Matusevich Glacier Tongue earlier this month,
foreshadow the problems to come.
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Bush unveils global warming plan top
USA: February 15, 2002
WASHINGTON - U.S. President George W. Bush will propose his own
plan to combat global warming today, calling for a gradual reduction
in U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases as an alternative to the
strict Kyoto treaty he rejected last year.
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UPDATE - Bush to announce Kyoto alternative today
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USA: February 14, 2002
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will announce a new global
warming proposal today, the White House said, in an attempt to
answer critics of his decision to shelve the U.N.-backed Kyoto
treaty.
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UPDATE - Storm lashes oil-leak ship off New Zealand
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NEW ZEALAND: February 14, 2002
WELLINGTON - Gale force winds and high seas lashed a Korean log
ship grounded off New Zealand's east coast yesterday and officials
warned of an impending environmental disaster if the ship breaks up.
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California Fights New Offshore Drilling top
Bush Administration Appeal on 36 Leases Irks State Officials,
Environmentalists
Wednesday, February 13, 2002, SANTA BARBARA, Calif.
Every few miles along this stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway
another offshore oil platform appears in plain view from the beach,
shimmering in the California sun like an apparition from another
age.
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NZ races against time to drain oil from beached ship
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NEW ZEALAND: February 12, 2002
WELLINGTON - New Zealand rescue workers were racing against the
weather on the weekend to drain a ship beached off the pristine
coast of 450 tonnes of fuel oil. Full Story
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Bush likely to announce Kyoto alternative next week
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USA: February 8, 2002
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush is likely to announce a new
global warming proposal next week aimed at answering critics of his
decision to shelve the U.N.-backed Kyoto treaty, officials said.
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Global Warming Plan Due White House Seeks Flexibility on
Emissions Limits top
Wednesday, February 6, 2002
The Bush administration is readying a proposal on global warming
to issue before President Bush leaves for Asia next week, hoping to
ease concerns by allies and environmentalists following the
administration's rejection of the Kyoto accord restricting
emissions.
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European Parliament Votes to Ratify Kyoto Protocol
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STRASBOURG, France, February 6, 2002
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted today by a huge
majority of 540 to four with 10 abstentions to support European
Union ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, as proposed by the
European Commission late last year.
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Global warming threatens Australia's unique habitats
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Tuesday February 5, 2002
Many of Australia's unique animals and "mega-diverse" ecosystems
could disappear before the end of this century because of global
warming, a study warned yesterday.
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CLIMATE CHANGE Studies Raise Questions about Climate Change
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February 5, 2002
Climate prediction just got trickier, according to two new
studies appearing in the current issue of the journal Science.
Analysis of more than two decades of satellite data shows that more
sunlight entered the tropics and more heat escaped to space in the
1990s than a decade earlier. Moreover, current climate models fail
to account for the new findings, suggesting that they may contain
more uncertainty than previously thought.
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Salvage experts in struggle to prevent oil spillage from beached
cargo ship top
04 February 2002
Salvage experts were battling last night to repair a 6,400-tonne
cargo ship that ran aground in high seas off the coast of Cornwall.
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Fewer Clouds Found In Tropics: NASA Scientists Discover New
Evidence Of Climate Change top
2/1/2002
After examining 22 years of satellite measurements, NASA
researchers find that more sunlight entered the tropics and more
heat escaped to space in the 1990s than in the 1980s. Their findings
indicate less cloud cover blocked incoming radiation and trapped
outgoing heat.
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Stakeholders Write Wish Lists for Sustainablity Summit
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NEW YORK, New York, February 1, 2002
To draw up a political statement and plan of action that will
move the world towards sustainable development, delegates from
around the world are meeting at the United Nations, clarifying their
hopes and dreams for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable
Development.
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Rio+10: The opportunity and the risk top
30/01/2002
The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)could make an
important contribution to healing the divisions of the world and
alleviating the poverty that leads to so many of them. However such
an outcome is dependent on participants realising that it is both
simplistic and counterproductive to try and separate the economic
and environmental components of poverty.
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Bush Administration undermining successful passage of Kyoto
climate treaty? top
29 January, 2002
Washington DC, USA – WWF, the conservation organization, is
urgently seeking clarification from the White House on its actions
regarding other countries' ratification of the Kyoto Protocol,
following remarks by US Ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci last
Friday. Full
Story
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Oil clean-up continues on two beaches top
Rayong 28/01/2002
Black tar balls on Mae Rampueng beach have been cleared, but the
clean-up from last week's oil spillage is still underway on two
beaches in Ban Chang district.
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Antarctic island called a unique climate-change lab
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USA: January 28, 2002
WASHINGTON - An unexpectedly rapid warming of lakes on a desolate
Antarctic island provides compelling evidence of the environmental
impact wrought by rising global temperatures, scientists said late
last week.
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Oil Spill Still Affects Marine Life top
1/24/2002
Remaining oil from the Exxon Valdez spill is harming local sea
otter and harlequin duck populations, scientists said Tuesday.
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Oil spill threatens Thai resort top
Tuesday, 22 January, 2002, 13:28 GMT
A huge oil spill in Thailand has reached a popular beach area and
the authorities have said it may threaten the resort island of Samet.
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Thailand mops up oil spill top
THAILAND: January 21, 2002
BANGKOK - Thailand will take at least another week to clean up
some 243 tonnes of bunker oil that leaked from a
Panamanian-registered ship off the country's eastern coast, a navy
officer said last week.
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