Scepticism grows over the viability of green projects - Times Online

Lord Turner of Ecchinswell is to investigate the collapse of funding for renewable energy projects in Britain after the recent exit of a string of companies, including BP and Shell.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and of the Government’s Committee on Climate Change, said that the study was a response to mounting scepticism over the Government’s plans for a huge expansion of wind and tidal power.

FT.com / Brussels - Europe tells poor nations to curb emissions

The European Union made its opening gambit in negotiations for a global framework on climate change on Wednesday with proposals that developing nations curb the growth of their greenhouse gas emissions.

Rich countries, including those in the EU as well as the US, are adamant that poor countries must take on such obligations if negotiations this year on a successor to the Kyoto protocol – the main provisions of which expire in 2012 – are to be successful.

So far, coal winning out over nuclear; another $2.4 billion to be wasted because of the CO2 scam - Erika Lovley - Politico.com

Initially, the confirmation of Energy Secretary Steven Chu seemed to have brightened the future of both nuclear power and clean coal — two controversial energy lobbies vying for green stimulus funding. But for now, coal is emerging as the favorite.

The most recent version of the House economic stimulus package, set for a floor vote on Wednesday, allots $2.4 billion for carbon capture technology but nothing for nuclear power.

The madness of John Kerry: "Climate Change Will Be Increasingly Central To Our Foreign Policy"

That's what new Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry said Wednesday at a hearing where his remarks did not go entirely unnoticed but were overshadowed by the testimony of Al Gore. But it may have deserved to be the headline (and obviously it's what I went with). I already wrote just yesterday that energy/climate change will be one of the top three foreign policy issues of the year, at least on the congressional agenda.

It was a matter of both words and deeds. Wrote Time: "The fact that Kerry chose to make global warming the subject of his first hearing as chairman of the committee signals that in President Barack Obama's Washington at least, Gore's views on the severity of climate change and the need for action are gaining clout — and not just for environmental reasons."

[Via Benny Peiser]