CLIMATE CHANGE

It could save the rainforests of Borneo, slow climate change and the international community backs it. But a plan to pay tropical countries not to chop down trees risks being discredited by opportunists even before it starts.

Most global industrial companies that emit a lot of greenhouse gases are not adequately detailing their climate strategies in U.S. financial filings, two studies by environmental and investment groups showed on Wednesday.

Japan should shun a politically inexplicable option of a rise in greenhouse gas emissions when it sets a 2020 target in coming days, the U.N.'s top climate change official said on Wednesday.

The U.S. climate change bill making its way through Congress is the best legislative bet to help the country take the lead in tackling global warming on the world stage, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Monday.

U.S. domestic policy on curbing carbon emissions is crucial for a global climate deal this year, a top Indian negotiator said on Monday, adding rich countries also had to provide a commitment on funding for poorer nations.

An environmental start-up backed by Al Gore's venture capital firm aims to take advantage of coming U.S. climate change legislation by helping companies like Coca Cola and even cities cut pollution.

Poland will spend 5 billion zlotys ($1.55 billion) over the next few years to meet its renewables target under the European Union's strategy to combat global warming, Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki said.

Climate change accounts for more than 300,000 deaths per year around the world and $125 billion of economic losses annually, as this factor creates condition where more people feel the effects of natural disasters or suffer environmental degradation, the Global Humanitarian Forum said in a report Friday.

Linking the European Union's emissions trading scheme with a U.S. cap-and-trade scheme will be difficult and require adjustments on both sides, EU market participants said on Friday.

The health sector can play a leadership role in reducing the magnitude and consequences of global warming by reducing its climate footprint. These efforts, some of which are already underway, can greatly reduce the serious health threats posed by global warming and set an example for other sectors.

Europe's next big move to confront climate change should be to tackle rapidly growing emissions from transport, with more road tolls and greener cars, trains and trucks, a top EU environment official said.

The global market for carbon emissions trading doubled in value last year, but actual realised emissions cuts fell as the global economic slowdown dented clean energy financing, the World Bank said on Wednesday.

Ties between the United States and China could be transformed by cooperation on climate change, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, linking environmental concerns to human rights and the rule of law.

Top executives from utilities, electric car, solar and wind power companies demanded on Tuesday that governments turn away from fossil fuels when they sign a new climate pact, expected in December.

(Corrects paragraph 10 to read 'cap-and-trade system' instead of 'capping grade system')

Top emitters of greenhouse gases tried on Monday to break a deadlock about sharing the burden of cuts in a U.N. climate pact, and Washington rejected charges that it was lagging Europe in fighting global warming.

U.S. President Barack Obama is walking a tightrope on climate change -- and so far appears to be achieving a delicate balance.

Industry should play its part in the fight against climate change by persuading governments to aid carbon cuts rather than lobbying against them, the U.N. Secretary-General told a business conference on Sunday.

The U.S. oil refining industry on Friday blasted the Waxman-Markey climate bill which passed yesterday evening in Congress, saying it would increase imports of crude and refined products thus impeding national energy security.

A delegation of U.S. lawmakers led by House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit China in coming days to discuss international efforts aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a climate bill on Thursday that aims to tackle greenhouse gas emissions in the United States to stave off global warming and shift the nation to clean energy technologies.