Julia Gillard's popularity slumps amid carbon tax plans (July 18, Telegraph)
Australia unveiled a carbon tax (through 2015) and cap-and-trade (after 2015) scheme last week. Public reaction in Australia doesn't look positive so far.
Hidden carbon emissions from trade offsets impact of reforestation ( July 19, eurasiareview.com)
Is carbon leakage a problem for reforestation schemes as well?
China announces plan to reduce carbon emissions (July 22, ABC.net.au)
Specifically, a pilot carbon trading program.
Markets and Investing
New business model plus model for aggregating diffuse/emerging interest groups?
Mandatory energy efficiency measures for international shipping adopted at London meeting (July 20th, ICTSD.org)
These are adopted through the UN International Maritime Organization as amendments to the existing Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. Side note: it's relatively easy for nations to control ship pollution effectively, as long as they can do it through regulations on how the ships are equipped, because ships, though they may be built anywhere by anyone, have to dock at foreign ports; and they can be refused access if they don't comply with that country's standards. So it's not a strict public goods/incentive to defect problem like most of climate change is. As long as a few key players support it, it'll happen.
US has been and still is the dominant cleantech venture capital player ($4.9 billion in cleantech according to this report), but China is rising (in second place with $479 million). US companies are finding more and more advantages in allying with Chinese companies because funding and markets are both available in China.
India to seek bids for solar projects (July 21, Wall Street Journal)
Plans for an initial 300 MW solar project, and 22 GW of capacity by 2022. How much is this in a proportionate sense? Not much. According to Wikipedia, India estimates it will have 800 to 950 GW of demand by 2030 (though that doesn't necessarily mean all of that demand will be met. I've read differing estimates of current installed capacity, but those have been between 130 and 165 GW, which tells you what kind of power generation capacity gap the big developing countries are facing.) Still, India hasn't done a lot yet in terms of installing renewables, so anything's progress.
Technology and Innovation
One player drops out of low-emissions coal race (July 16, Jacksonville Journal-Courier)
American Electric Co. had been planning a carbon sequestration project, but put it on hold. They "fully anticipated rules in place from legislators requiring carbon dioxide reduction... But with no requirement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it was 'all but impossible' to get a state regulator to approve cost recovery mechanisms for the company." ("Cost recovery mechanisms" mean rate hikes dedicated to paying for the technology.)
Lufthansa flights take off using biofuel mix in engines (July 15, Los Angeles Times)
First passenger airline to use biofuel for scheduled daily flight operations: four daily flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt.
Fun, Interesting, or Weird
Pirates stifling climate research, scientists say (July 15, CNN)
Pirates have overrun much of the Indian Ocean, and are making it difficult for scientists to collect data on climate change, such as weather, ocean heat content, and ocean currents.
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