CLIMATE CHANGE

European Union states are struggling to agree on a common stance for a U.N. climate pact in Copenhagen in December, after leading the way among rich nations, draft documents indicated on Friday.

Global warming will leave the Arctic Ocean ice-free during the summer within 20 years, raising sea levels and harming wildlife such as seals and polar bears, a leading British polar scientist said on Thursday.

The Canadian and Alberta governments said on Wednesday they will spend C$779 million ($756 million) on a carbon capture project planned by TransAlta Corp, their second such funding announcement in less than a week.

The world may have to wait until the dying seconds of a U.N. climate summit in December for a global deal to channel business dollars into low-carbon energy, industry and analysts said on Wednesday.

Despite fears of failure facing global climate change negotiations in December, the U.N. climate panel chief said Wednesday it was still possible to agree a pact, including levels of emission cuts by rich nations.

Following are the negotiating positions of the top greenhouse gas emitters in the run-up to a U.N. meeting in Copenhagen in December due to agree a new pact for combating climate change

Australia's government will be asked to exempt farmers from carbon trading in order to pass landmark emissions laws through parliament under changes being pushed by opposition lawmakers on Wednesday.

Despite fears of failure facing global climate change negotiations in December, the U.N. climate panel chief said on Wednesday it was still possible to agree a pact, including levels of emission cuts by rich nations.

The world needs to build 100 major projects for capturing and burying greenhouse gases by 2020 and thousands more by 2050 to help combat climate change, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

The market for companies choosing to offset their carbon footprints is not achieving meaningful emissions cuts yet, market players said at a carbon industry conference in London on Tuesday.

Extending the trade in sovereign emissions rights into a new global climate pact could deter investment in clean energy projects post-2012, Barclays Capital said on Tuesday, siding with the U.S. view on the matter.

Negotiators at global climate change talks are not delivering on promises by their leaders to clinch a deal at a key meeting in Copenhagen in December, a top U.N. environmental official said on Monday.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Monday he was still hopeful President Barack Obama would be able to sign a domestic carbon-cutting bill before a crunch global climate meeting in Copenhagen in December.

The president of carbon offset developer Blue Source said his company and Goldman Sachs Group have completed a transaction of carbon credits worth $12 million that he called the largest publicly announced U.S. offset deal.

A rising population will make it harder for the United States to make 2050 cuts in greenhouse gas emissions than for Russia and some other rich nations with shrinking populations, a Reuters survey showed.

A technology to bury underground the greenhouse gas emissions produced from burning coal must be ready for global deployment by 2017-2019, U.S. energy secretary Steven Chu said on Monday. Coal is the world's single biggest source of carbon emissions, at 40 percent. Other sources included burning oil and natural gas, and deforestation and the production of cement.

As the world wrestles with how to cut greenhouse gas emissions, new technologies are gearing up to grab climate-warming carbon right out of the air.

Staples Inc and Home Depot Inc are collaborating with environmental groups in a pilot program aimed at conserving fast-disappearing Southern U.S. forests, organizers said on Thursday.

Poorer countries are helping shape a broader pact to fight climate change but their efforts are being stymied by rich nations' lack of commitment on finance and tougher emissions cuts, the U.N. said on Thursday.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce isn't taking Apple's resignation quietly after Apple announced on Monday it was quitting the organization because it disagrees with the chamber's policy on climate change.

The United States came under pressure to show leadership in U.N. climate talks on Wednesday with Mexico saying its neighbor is a stumbling block in efforts to try to craft a tough global climate agreement by December.