By Ed King
– The day’s top climate change stories as chosen by RTCC
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– Updated from 0900-1700 BST (GMT+1)
Latest news: Wednesday 12 September
UK: Climate change is regarded as a ‘real and present’ danger by a substantial number of major businesses, according to a report out today from the Carbon Disclosure Project. Their Global 500 study found that 81% of companies have identified the physical risks to their operations and supply chains.
EU: Senior negotiator says the two degrees target is in danger of being missed unless real ambition is shown at COP18 in Doha. Pete Betts, the UK’s director of international climate change said: “We are not on a 2C trajectory and we need to do more. The reason we are not doing more is ultimately political conditions in many of our partner countries in the world.”
USA: Drought leaves soya stocks lowest for four decades – with the country predicted to ‘run out’ of the commodity by march 13 next year. US farmers will reap 13 percent less than a year earlier after the worst Midwest drought in 76 years, according to the average of 34 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Saudi Arabia: The UN climate talks in Qatar should be seen as an opportunity to encourage the world’s largest oil producer to adopt a greener agenda. UK minister for energy and climate change Greg Barker admits holding a climate summit in the Gulf could be seen as a ‘bit bizarre’, but said this is a major chance to convince the Saudis to go low-carbon.
USA: The average US wind farm creates over 1,000 new jobs, according to a new report. A 250-megawatt project generates 522 construction jobs, 432 positions in manufacturing, 80 for planning and development, 18 sales slots and 27 for operations. (Bloomberg)