By John Parnell
– The day’s top climate change stories as chosen by RTCC
– Tweet @RTCCnewswire and use #RTCCLive hashtag
– Updates from our team at the UN Convention in Biological Diversity summit in Hyderabad
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– Updated from 0830-1700 BST (GMT+1)
Thursday 11 October
Last updated: 1715
US: Plans for a solar farm at the Pearl Harbor Navy base have been met with opposition from veterans’ groups who say the plans would give the site of the 1941 Japanese attack “an industrial feel”. The US Military has a goal of sourcing 50% of its energy needs for bases from renewable sources. (Renewable Energy World)
IPCC: A leading climate scientists has said he is losing faith in the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the body charged with assembling and reporting the latest climate findings. The IPCC’s next assessment report, documents that can shape national and international climate policy around the world, has been criticised by Professor Kevin Trenberth of US National Centre for Atmospheric Research said: “it will be less successful than the last assessment, and I think it will be blander – I’m disappointed in what I’ve seen so far”. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Germany: The government of Germany has announced plans to raise its 2020 renewable energy target from 35% to 40%. That is double the EU-wide target of 20%. The expansion must be “constant and predictable,” Environment Minister Peter Altmaier said. (Bloomberg)
CBD COP11 in Hyderabad: Another cracking round-up from the biodiversity summit courtesy of @rtcc_tierney including money, vultures, more money and some dancing delegates.
China: A former Chinese official who has written books on alleged environmental abuses has gone on trial. Liu Futang who exposed illegal forest clearing is charged with not attaining the correct permits required for publishing. (The Guardian)
Australia: A report by an Australian climate thin tank says the country can no longer use China as a scapegoat for its own climate inaction. The Climate Bridge report by says using a flurry of recent policies from Beijing mean hiding behind China is “increasingly difficult, if not impossible”. (Herald Sun)
Canada: Canadian provincial environment ministers will not discuss Alberta’s oilsands and the construction of new pipelines transporting the area’s oil to the West coast for export.
“There’s always opportunity for people to add more items to the agenda,” said Alberta Environment Minister Diana McQueen.
The country’s Environment Minister Peter Kent will also attend. (Calgary Herald)
India: New research suggests an unusual answer to cleaning up oil spills along coasts, Banana fibres.
When treated with chemicals the fibres can absorb 18 times their weight in oil, according to researchers from the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai. (SciDev)
Worldwide: The Global Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Institute says 130 installations prevent carbon emissions entering the atmosphere must be operational by 2020 to keep the world below the two degree limit.
They suggest targeting heavy emitting coal power stations and industrial plants. (Reuters)