WHY?

According to an article in the L.A. Times, U.S. representatives are insisting that specific carbon reduction targets be removed from draft guidelines for the successor document to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

WHY?

The guidelines would call for industrialized countries to achieve a 25% to 40% reduction in carbon emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. United Nations climate chief Tvo de Boer said this level of reduction was “critical to halting the runaway train of man-made global warming and stimulating investment in technologies to bring emissions under control” EU countries have already agreed to accept a 20% cut in emissions by 2020 and is warm to the idea of a 50% reduction by 2050. Chief U.S. negotiator Harlan L. Watson expressed the opinion that stating a specific target for carbon reduction levels is “something that we don’t feel will be helpful as a starting point.”

WHY?

Okay, so a better starting point would be….?

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) arrived in Bali on Sunday and expressed the opinion that for any significant change to occur developing countries such as China, India and Brazil would need to take more aggressive steps to reduce emissions.

WHY?

So…we don’t want to be tied to any specific targets but would like to see developing countries stick to aggressive reduction plans?

…Sometimes I just don’t get it. Two years - just wait for two more years - that is the word around Bali. With the U.S. elections just around the corner. the feeling in the air is that all of this might be dramatically altered with the agenda of the next U.S. President. We can only hope. Vote Green.

MSNBC Warming World Interactive Map

According to a recent article by Joel Makower, Executive Editor at GreenBuzz, the EPA launched The GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership with ten large supermarkets and suppliers in late November. Refrigeration consumes massive amounts of energy for retailers and brands and the writer of the article on Greenbiz.com wrote that “someone once told me that Wal-Mart’s second-biggest cost (after people) is energy, and that its biggest energy cost is refrigeration.

GreenChill aims to promote technologies, strategies, and practices that protect the ozone layer, reduce greenhouse gases, and reduce energy costs. EPA estimates that “Improved equipment design and service could reduce refrigerant emissions by one million metric tons of carbon equivalent per year, the equivalent of taking 800,000 automobiles off the road every year.”

The GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership is an EPA cooperative alliance with the supermarket industry and other stakeholders to promote the adoption of technologies, strategies, and practices that reduce emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) and greenhouse gases (GHGs) and increase refrigeration system energy efficiency.

Working with EPA, GreenChill Partners:

- Transition to non-ozone-depleting refrigerants.

- Reduce emissions of both ozone-depleting and non-ozone-depleting refrigerants.

- Promote supermarkets’ adoption of advanced refrigeration technologies that offer:

- Reduced ODS/GHG emissions (e.g., reduced refrigerant charges and leak rates);

- Potential for improved energy efficiency;

- Reduced maintenance and refrigerant costs;

- Extended shelf life of perishable food products; and

- Improved system design, operations, and maintenance

and Reduce the total impact of supermarkets on ozone depletion and global warming.

Joel Makower writes further “A few years ago, Coca-Cola examined its carbon footprint and found that refrigeration — in vending machines and drink dispensers in restaurants — represented the biggest portion. It formed a partnership with Pepsi, McDonald’s, Unilever, and other big companies — not to mention Greenpeace — to form Refrigerants Naturally!. Coke, for its part, estimated that by replacing its 10 million vending machines with the most energy-efficient models would save nearly a half-biliion dollars in energy costs annually, the equivalent of taking 750,000 cars off the road. That’s almost as much as GreenChill’s anticipated overall annual benefit.”

Friends of the Earth International recently posted on their website a free downloadable PDF report containing nine testimonies from community members around the globe who have dramatic first-hand experience of the devastating impacts of climate change. The report was released ahead of the UN Climate talks taking place as we speak in Bali. The nine testimonies chronicle specific environmental changes and how they are impacting the lives of the local area. According to CENSAT Director Tatiana Roa Avendano said: “We are on the brink of a global climatic catastrophe and poor, vulnerable communities - who are the least responsible for climate change - are already being hit by its impacts including displacement, disease, the destruction of livelihoods and ecosystems. Industrialised countries must accept responsibility for deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions within the coming fifteen years.. The costs of climate adaptation in developing countries will amount to many billions of dollars per year.”

Read Article

AgraQuest Inc. a Davis, Calif.-based maker of environmentally-friendly pesticides, has raised $20 million in a mezzanine round. Loudwater Trust Ltd. was joined by return backer TPG Ventures. “Global demand for biopesticides in general, and AgraQuest’s products specifically, is accelerating. As a result, the investment community is enthusiastic about our prospects.”

In part, the new funds will provide AgraQuest with the capital needed to develop its product line and expand its international footprint with the eco-friendly product. Over the next two years the company anticipates bringing five new eco-friendly products to the U.S. market, including an insecticide, a novel biofungicide, and a fumigant. Additionally, AgraQuest will continue to aggressively expand its international offerings in Europe, Central America and Asia.

AgraQuest is a biotechnology company that focuses on developing, manufacturing and marketing effective, safe and environmentally friendly natural pest management products for agricultural, institutional and home markets. The company sells Serenade Garden, Rhapsody, Sonata and Ballad fungicides. AgraQuest received the Presidential Green Chemistry Award from the EPA for the discovery and commercialization of Serenade Biofungicide. In 2004, AgraQuest received a Red Herring Top 100 Private Company Award and the World Technology Award for the Environment. The company’s headquarters are located in Davis, California.

See PE Hub Article

SustainUS, an excellent organization geared to bring together the eco and socially responsible youth of the world, is accepting applications for delegates to attend the 46th Session of the United Nations Commission on Social Development coming up in February. Want to apply? Click here.

Want to get more involved in supporting eco-friendly and socially responsibility in business and government policy? Visit their website.