Climate new this week: Poznan protests, California's plan, more pro-climate business

Over the past two weeks the news wires have been buzzing with news from the UN climate talks in Poznan, Poland. While negotiations occurred inside, grassroots action heated up outside, and in other parts of the world.

Thousands of climate protesters, some dressed as polar bears, devils or penguins, demanded on Saturday swifter action from the United Nations to combat global warming.

Outside U.N.-led talks in Poland aimed at pushing 187 countries toward stiffer targets to fight global warming, some 1,000 demonstrators said governments were risking the planet's future by delaying action to squabble over who was to blame.

Several thousand more protesters took part in a march through London to demand "urgent and radical action" from the British government on climate change.
…

Marches, bicycle rides and other events were scheduled around the world on Saturday to mark a "Global Day of Action on Climate," said the Global Climate Campaign, an umbrella group for participants.

London police said between 4,000 and 5,000 people took part in a rally which organizers said was aimed at reminding governments not to let the issue of climate change slip down a global agenda dominated by the financial crisis.

Today’s headlines also bring more news from Europe, as European Union officials agreed on steps for both economic recovery and climate change prevention.

The leaders of Europe adopted what they described as a historic pact to combat global warming Friday and challenged President-elect Barack Obama to join in their commitment to drastically reduce greenhouse gases despite the global economic crisis.

The 27 European Union nations also endorsed a $260 billion economic stimulus plan, equivalent to 1.5 percent of the bloc's gross domestic product, and urged the Obama administration to prepare similarly ambitious measures and financial reforms for coordinated action at a summit of the world's 20 major economic powers scheduled April 2 in London.

The appeals, at a two-day European Union summit in Brussels, reflected widespread expectations among European leaders that Obama and his team will be easier to work with than the Bush administration and that, to a large extent, the president-elect shares their assessment of the need for bold steps to slow global warming and revive economies that have sapped by financial turmoil.

"Our message to our global partners is, 'Yes, you can,' " said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the union's executive commission, echoing one of Obama's campaign slogans. "Especially to our American partners," he added.

The European leaders, particularly President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who holds the union's rotating presidency, committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Europe by 20 percent before 2020 -- and by 30 percent if other countries make comparable pledges at a U.N. environment conference scheduled next year in Copenhagen.

In keeping with the current global spirit of progress on climate change, the state of California, ever on the forefront of energy efficiency and other green solutions, adopted a bold new climate plan.

The California Air Resources Board voted unanimously to adopt the nation's most comprehensive global warming plan, outlining for the first time how individuals and businesses would meet a landmark 2006 law that made the state a leader on global climate change.

The plan would hold California's worst polluters accountable for the heat-trapping emissions they produce — transforming how people travel, how utilities generate power and how businesses use electricity.

At the heart of the plan is the creation of a carbon-credit market designed to give the state's major polluters cheaper ways to cut the amount of their emissions. That market and the many other strategies referenced in the plan will be fleshed out and adopted over the next few years.

California's plan comes at a time when governments around the world are struggling with a financial crisis that threatens to undermine efforts to fight climate change. California itself is facing a forecast budget gap of $41.8 billion through June 2010.

Last month we were excited to learn about a new pro-climate business coalition. It looks like climate-friendly business is a growing trend. This week the Ceres investor coalition released a report analyzing climate change practices of 63 of the world’s largest companies, naming IBM the top one!

"This is recognition of IBM's longstanding dedication to managing its involvement with energy and climate change," said Wayne S. Balta, vice president, Corporate Environmental Affairs and Product Safety at IBM. "From how we run our operations to what we provide to our clients, IBM is committed to leadership in energy efficiency and climate protection across the breadth of its business."
…

IBM's longstanding commitment regarding climate protection is backed by almost two decades of measuring energy efficiency and assessing climate impact. The results have been significant. For example:

Between 1990 and 2007, IBM saved 4.6 billion kWh of electricity consumption, avoided nearly 3.1 million metric tons of CO2 emissions (equal to 45 percent of the company's 1990 global CO2 emissions) and saved over $310 million through its annual energy conservation actions alone. IBM's procurement of renewable energy and RECs increased from 11 million kWh in 2001 to 455 million kWh in 2007, which accounted for 8.5% of IBM's total 2007 global electricity purchases. To further extend these achievements IBM set a "2nd generation" goal to reduce CO2 emissions associated with IBM's energy use 12% between 2005 and 2012 through energy conservation, use of renewable energy and funding RECs.

In news from the scientific community, a new report issued by the NOAA this week provides new evidence for the impact of climate change, including observations that climate change is unevenly heating the North American continent.

"The continent as a whole is warming, mostly as a result of the energy sources we are using," William J. Brennan, acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said at a briefing on the nation's climate since 1951.

But there is a "warming hole" where no change occurred in the center of the country, roughly between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians, added Martin Hoerling of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory.

…
He said that human-induced warming is the overall driving factor and also is the major cause of changes in sea-surface temperature.

Sea temperatures, in turn, result in the uneven changes over land by affecting wind and storm movement. Climate experts have learned a lot about this effect in recent years by studying the periodic El Nino and La Nina patterns of unusual warming or cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean and how those changes alter weather.

Currently the Pacific is in a neutral condition between the two extremes, and in a separate report Thursday NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said neutral conditions are likely to continue through early next year.

And in yet a third report released Thursday, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reported that November's average temperature for the contiguous United States was 44.5 degrees, 2.0 degrees warmer than average. It was the warmest November on record for the Western states.

That’s it for this week’s climate news. Be sure to check out previous blog posts for updates on the Poznan talks, as well as the transition team’s picks for environmental leadership. And as always, please feel free to post any other newsworthy stories in the comments section.