A1SaudiArabia.com

NAIROBI, Kenya – The head of the International Monetary Fund on Monday proposed a plan for the worlds governments to pool together to raise money needed to adapt to climate change, a rare step for an organization that normally does not develop environmental policies.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the Fund is concerned about the huge amount of funding needed and the effect that will have on the global economy. He added that the proposal may help efforts to reach a binding agreement on climate change later this year.

Read More

DAVOS: World trade talks are unlikely to be completed this year because the economic slowdown has raised Western fears about the impact of trade liberalization, Egypts Trade Minister said on Wednesday.

The G20 has called for an outline deal in the talks – launched in Doha in 2001 with the goal of helping poor countries prosper through trade – to be reached by the end of the year. To complete Doha in 2010, Im not very optimistic. I dont think it will happen, Rachid Mohamed Rachid said. We have to get to a starting point before mid-year, and the window is closing. Its obvious that with unemployment in the United States and Europe, it is going to be tougher to have discussions on free trade, he told Reuters at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

Read More

ABU DHABI: Copenhagen 15 was over-hyped by the media, expected too many national freedoms to be given up but left a window for progress open. So opined Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, UAEs minister of environment and water in a tough-minded address at the plenary session of the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

He asked the delegates to admit the 15th conference failed to achieve the desired international conformity with respect to facing climate change. Moreover, the outcome was disappointing judging by the opinions of many participants and observers.

Read More

ABU DHABI – World leaders raised a fresh alarm on global warming, urging international action to increase use of clean energy at a four-day forum that opened in the emirate on Monday.

“If we dont act now, our coral reefs and rainforests will die, desert countries will become unbearably hot and low lying countries like the Maldives, will slip beneath the rising seas,” said the president of the Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed.

“Tackling climate change is not like dealing with other global issues, such as trade or disarmament. We do not have the luxury of time to meet, year after year, in endless negotiations,” the leader of the low-lying Indian Ocean nation told participants at the World Future Energy Summit.

Read More

ABU DHABI: In a passionate speech that defined the mood of the keynote addresses and the entire World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed said: We do not have the luxury of time to meet year after year in endless negotiations. And the science of climate change means that we cannot accept a watered down minimalist treaty. We cannot negotiate with the laws of physics. You cannot cut a deal with Mother Nature.

The Copenhagen climate conference, he said, had secured some positive outcomes but the Copenhagen accord in its present form would not prevent catastrophic climate change. Changes had to be radical and immediate. If we dont act now, our rainforests will die, deserts become unbearable to live in and low level countries like the Maldives will slip beneath the rising sea.

Read More

PARIS – The French governments first job for 2010 is to revise its planned carbon emissions tax, raising fears among businesses they will be hurt by changes to the environmental measure.

President Nicolas Sarkozy made the tax a pillar of his 2010 budget, aiming to reduce emissions by taxing them and redistributing the revenue to reward households that cut carbon fuel consumption.

But while pursuing environmental reforms on the one hand, Sarkozy risks jeopardizing another of his major priorities: making French businesses more competitive.

Read More

JEDDAH – World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi is one of the global drivers of renewable energy development around the globe in pursuit of environmental sustainability, Dato Sri Mohd Najib bin Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia said on Monday.

He said the World Future Energy Summit will play a significant role, alongside Copenhagen, in accelerating the uptake of renewable, the future of the energy sector. He will be one of the speakers the Plenary Welcome Session that will open the World Future Energy Summit for the third year on Jany. 18-21, 2010. Other speakers in the session will include President Karolos Papoulias, President, Greece; Mohamed Nasheed, President, Maldives; The Crown Prince Felipe de Borb?n y Grecia, Spain and The Crown Prince Frederik André Henrik Christian, Denmark.

Read More

LONDON: Organizers of the inaugural Gulf Environment Forum at the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment have announced the royal court approval from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation.

With climate change talks in Copenhagen attracting global attention, this announcement from the Saudi Royal Court comes as a huge statement of commitment toward more sustainability.

Read More

AS I write these lines on the train from Amersfoot to Frankfurt, with white, fluffy snow as far as the eye can see, the world seems engrossed with the deliberations in Copenhagen, with focus on global warming and carbon emission.

However, in the hullaballoo of this entire debate, the very issue of energy poverty appears to have been sidelined. After all it affects the daily lives of billions and not millions of people. By 2050 there may be 10 billion people demanding energy a daunting prospect, considering that of todays 6.2 billion people, nearly 2 billion dont even have electricity never flipped a light switch, says Keith O. Rattie, the CEO of Questar Corporation. Rattie projects the global energy demand will in fact grow 30 to 50 percent over the next 20 years and there are no near-term alternatives to fossil fuels.

Read More

WASHINGTON: A winter storm socked the US East Coast on Saturday and dumped more than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow in some areas, creating treacherous conditions and misery for motorists on the weekend before Christmas.

Officials urged residents to stay indoors, and many heeded the warning. A mall near Richmond, Virginia, typically busy this time of year, was nearly deserted as stores opened.

Read More