McKinsey: Cost of Rapid CO2 Cuts "Manageable" (AP)
Rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade to curb global warming would cost less than 1% of world gross domestic product by 2030, a report from consulting firm McKinsey & Co has said.
Todd Stern’s Strategy for Climate Negotiations: Not Another Kyoto (Earth2Tech)
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has appointed Todd Stern to be America’s special envoy on climate change. Stern worked on the Kyoto Protocol talks in the Clinton administration, but it seems he has no plans for a repeat performance.
California Scores Vindication, Environmental Win (AP)
California scored a big environmental victory yesterday when Pres. Obama announced that his team would revisit the Bush’s decision to deny California and 13 other states permission to control tailpipe emissions.
Geography Is Dividing Democrats Over Energy (New York Times)
Most of the lawmakers charged with shaping US climate legislation come from California or the East Coast, regions that lead the nation in green regulations. That’s a problem, says a group of Congressional Democrats from coal-dependent Midwest and Plains States.
FERC: Electric Vehicles Must Be Integrated Into Grid (Dow Jones)
Newly appointed Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff has said that regulators and the automobile industry must integrate electric vehicles into the national power grid.
Report: Some Climate Damage Already Irreversible (AP)
Many damaging effects of climate change are already irreversible, federal researchers have declared, warning that even if CO2 emissions can be halted, temperatures around the globe will remain high until at least the year 3000.
Clean Tech Still Sizzles as Venture Investments Cool (Bits, New York Times)
Venture investing slowed to a crawl in 2008. The single bright spot was in clean-energy technologies, with investors pouring $4.1 billion into 277 clean-tech start-ups, 52% more than they invested in 2007.
China to Subsidize Purchases of Clean-Energy Cars (Reuters)
China’s central government will subsidize purchases of electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles for public fleets in 13 cities to help the automobile industry develop green technology, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.
