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U.S. Negotiator Dismisses Reparations for Climate
10 12 2009 The top American envoy to climate talks here flatly rejected arguments Wednesday by diplomats from poor lands that the United States owes a debt to developing nations for decades of American emissions that contributed to global warming.
It was not the first time that the American negotiator, Todd D. Stern, had dismissed the notion. But his words highlighted the divide that persists between the poor and the wealthy as nearly 200 nations try to sketch the outlines of a new pact on climate change here.
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Climate Conference Begins to Feel Pressure of the Clock
10 12 2009 Delegates to the international climate talks accelerated theirnegotiations on Wednesday, racing among the booths and offices ofcountries large and small, comparing competing “nonpapers” — sectionsof the proposed text with no official existence — in the quest to hashout a realistic draft of a new climate agreement by the weekend.
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Danish Police Seize Protest Equipment
10 12 2009
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Obama to Pledge Emissions Cuts at Copenhagen
09 12 2009 President Obama will tell the delegates to the climate conference that theUnited States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions “in therange of” 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050,officials said. The administration has resisted until now delivering afirm pledge on emissions reductions because Congress has not yet actedon global warming legislation and because several large developingnations, including China and India, have not detailed their own plans.
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China Joins U.S. in Pledge on Emissions Targets
09 12 2009 The Chinese government set a targetto slow the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, a day afterthe Obama administration set a provisional target for reducing UnitedStates emissions. The Chinese offer,which focuses on energy efficiency, contrastswith the strategy of other nations to reducetotal emissions. China has resisted demands to adoptbinding limits on its emissions, arguing that environmental concernsmust be balanced with economic growth and that developed countries mustfirst demonstrate a significant commitment to reducing their ownemissions.
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Hacked E-Mail Prompts Calls for Research Changes
09 12 2009 Some prominent climate scientists are calling for changes in the way research on global warming is conducted after a British university said thousands of private e-mail messages and documents had been stolen from its climate center.
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E-Mail Fracas Shows Peril of Trying to Spin Science - Column
09 12 2009 As scientists denigrate their critics in the e-mail messages, they seem oblivious to one of the greatest dangers in the climate-change debate: smug groupthink.
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Climatologist Leaves Post in Inquiry Over E-Mail Leaks
09 12 2009 The head of the British research unit at the center of a controversy over the disclosure of thousands of e-mail messages among climate-change scientists has stepped down pending the outcome of an investigation. Phil Jones, the director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Angliain England, said that he would leave his post while the universityconducted a review of the release of the e-mail messages. Theuniversity has called the release and publication of the messages a“criminal breach” of the school’s computer systems.
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Europe Bypassed on Climate Summit
09 12 2009 No political entity has pushed harder for the Copenhagen conference on climate change to succeed than the European Union. But just days before the opening of the United Nations-sponsoredmeeting, the Europeans have been largely pushed to the sidelines,watching as the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, Chinaand the United States, seek to set the rules of the game. Europeans say they have gone further than anybody else in movingtoward a low-carbon economy that could serve as a model for the rest ofthe world. But the bloc’s ability to exercise global influence throughprogressive standards and moral leadership, rather than throughsuperpower status, is facing a key test.
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India Announces Plan to Slow Emissions
09 12 2009 India, one of the world biggest generators of greenhouse gases, staked out its early position for upcoming climate talks by announcing that it wouldslow the growth of emissions by 2020. Officials also left open the possibility of taking bolder steps if an“equitable” deal can be reached during negotiations. The Indian initiative follows pledges made in recent weeks by several countries including the UnitedStates, China, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa in making a domesticemissions pledge prior to the Copenhagen talks. However, India’s approach, like that of China, is focused on improving energy efficiency,rather than accepting mandatory limits in total emissions.
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Bloomberg Drops an Effort to Cut Building Energy Use
09 12 2009 After intense opposition from building owners, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has dropped the most far-reaching initiative of his plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The plan, which the owners said was too costly, called for allbuildings of 50,000 square feet or more to undergo audits to determinewhich renovations would make them more energy efficient, and for ownersto then pay for many of those changes.
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Investigator Assigned to Review British Climate Research
09 12 2009
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Obama Shifts His Visit to Last Day of Climate Conference
09 12 2009 Citing progress on many issues, the White House said Friday that President Obama had shifted the date he would appear at the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen to Dec. 18, the last scheduled day. In a written statement, it said the president believed that he couldhave a more decisive impact by appearing at the end of the 12-dayconference, when as many as 100 other heads of state are scheduled toshow up, rather than next Wednesday as originally planned. The original date was timed to coincide with the president’s trip to Oslo on Thursday to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
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That Climate Change E-Mail - Editorial
09 12 2009 No one should be misled by all the noise over recent e-mail exchanges between prominent American and British climatologists. Some are mean-spirited, others intemperate. But they don’t change the underlying scientific facts about climate change.
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In Face of Skeptics, Experts Affirm Climate Peril
09 12 2009 Two years ago, a United Nations panel that synthesizes the work of hundreds of climatologists around the world called the evidence for global warming “unequivocal.” But an intense uproar over climate scientists' e-mails highlights that skepticism about global warming persists, even as many scientists thought the battle over the reality of human-driven climate change was finally behind them.
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Under Banner of Urgency, Delegates Tackle Policy - Feature
09 12 2009 The opening day of the Copenhagen was filled by symbolism about the threat posed by global warming.But any serious political horse trading among nations is expected to take place nextweek, when world leaders start to arrive. President Obama is scheduled to visit on Dec. 18, the last day of the meetings
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Copenhagen Meeting Opens With Calls for Urgent Action
09 12 2009 A much-anticipated global meeting of nearly 200 nations — allseeking what has so far been elusive common ground on the issue of climate change — got under way here on Monday with an impassioned airing of whatleaders here called the political and moral imperatives at hand. From now until Dec. 18, delegates will try to hammer out some of themost vexing details involved in the pursuit of a global climate accord.Among these are broad cuts in greenhouse gas emissions — particularlyfrom big polluters like the United States and China — and a commitmentfrom wealthy nations to deliver what could ultimately be hundreds ofbillions of dollars in financing to poor countries, who argue that theyare ill equipped to deal with a problem they did little to create.
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Greenhouse Gases Imperil Health, E.P.A. Announces
09 12 2009 The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final ruling that greenhouse gases posed a danger to human health and the environment, paving the way for regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, power plants, factories,refineries and other major sources. The announcement was timed to coincide with the opening of the United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen, strengthening President Obama’s hand as more than 190 nations struggle to reach a global accord.
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The Endangerment Finding - Editorial
09 12 2009 The Environmental Protection Agency formally declared on Monday that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases constitute a threat to human health and welfare. The move empowers the agency to regulate these emissions and gives President Obama an important tool if Congress fails to pass legislation to reduce global warming emissions.
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Global Warming Is Not Slowing, Report Says
09 12 2009 Despite recent fluctuations in global temperature year to year, which fueled claims of global cooling, a sustained global warming trend shows no signs of ending, according to new analysis by the World Meteorological Organization made public on Tuesday. The decade of the 2000s is very likely the warmest decade in the modern record, dating back 150 years, according to a provisional summary of climate conditions near the end of 2009, the organization said.
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Smaller Nations Weigh Power of the Walkout
09 12 2009 The second day of the Copenhagen conference was marked by theappearance of leaked competing texts outlining a possible new climate treaty. The proposals, which were circulating among delegations andadvocacy groups, reflected sharp differences between countries over how to payfor and police central components of any new pact.
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