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World Bank increases fossil-fuel funding despite pledge
Christopher Swann, Bloomberg
Once the new Tata Ultra Mega power plant in western India is fired up in 2012 and fully operational, it will become one of the world’s 50 largest greenhouse-gas emitters. And the World Bank is helping make it possible.
A year after World Bank President Robert Zoellick pledged to “significantly step up our assistance” in fighting climate change, the development institution is increasing its financing of fossil-fuel projects around the globe.
The $4.14 billion, coal-powered Ultra Mega plant will emit more carbon dioxide annually than the nation of Tunisia, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The World Bank in April agreed to provide $450 million in loans and guarantees for the project and also may buy a $50 million stake in it.
(24 August 2008)
Polar bears’ long swims blamed on global warming
Ed Struzik, Edmonton Journal
Nine polar bears found swimming 20 to 100 kilometres off the northwest coast of Alaska last week represent another sign that the rapid retreat of ice in the Arctic is forcing bears to make dangerous, long-distance swims to get to land or ice, scientists and environmentalists say.
The bears were spotted in the Chukchi Sea by scientists surveying the area in advance of plans for offshore oil development. The scientists were on contract with Minerals Management Service, a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Polar bears are strong swimmers, and it’s not unusual to see the occasional one so far from the land or the ice they hunt on.
But scientists say seeing so many in one day is extraordinary and worrisome, especially in light of an apparent increase in drownings in recent years.
(23 August 2008)
Global warming time bomb trapped in Arctic soil: study
AFP
Climate change could release unexpectedly huge stores of carbon dioxide from Arctic soils, which would in turn fuel a vicious circle of global warming, a new study warned Sunday. And according to one commentary on the research, current models of climate change have not taken this extra source of greenhouse gas into account. Scientists have long known that organic carbon trapped inside a blanket of frozen permafrost covering one fifth of the world’s land mass would, if thawed, release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
… The study, published in the British journal Nature Geoscience, found that the stock of organic carbon ‘is considerably higher than previously thought’ — 60 percent more than the previously estimated.” AFP had the story August 24, 2008.
(24 August 2008)
