Some of the developing world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters are bidding to delay talks on a new climate agreement. To the anger of small islands and other vulnerable countries, India and Brazil are joining rich nations such as the US and Japan in wanting to start talks on a legal deal no earlier than 2015. The EU and climate-vulnerable blocs want to start as soon as possible, and have the deal finalised...

-Reuters   Countries will make a last ditch effort to save a dying Kyoto Protocol at global climate talks starting on Monday aimed at cutting thegreenhouse gas emissions blamed by scientists for rising sea levels, intense storms and crop failures. Kyoto, which was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005, commits most developed states to binding emissions targets. The talks are the last chance to set another round of targets...

-AP   As delegates gather in South Africa to plot the next big push against climate change, Western governments are saying it’s time to move beyond traditional distinctions between industrial and developing countries and get China and other growing economies to accept legally binding curbs on greenhouse gases. It will be a central theme for the 20,000 national officials, lobbyists, scientists and advocates gathering under U.N. auspices in the coastal city of Durban...

The stalemate in relation to the Kuda­nkulam Nuclear Po­wer Project (KK­N­PP) continues despite the ‘fail-safe’ certificate issued by former Indian President Abdul Kalam and the central panel of experts headed by A E Muthunayagam. The representatives of the people of that area are still saying, “We will never settle down for anything less than the scrapping of the KKNPP.” Srikumar Banerjee, secretary of the department of atomic energy, has expressed...

An independent study says some 250 thermal power projects that have got clearances may be meant just to grab land and water resources. THERE have been a growing number of headlines that speak of an energy crisis and the energy deficit in India in the last few years. The disparities in the demand-supply scenario, the increasing prospects of disruptions in the global supply of fuel and the consequent results of higher...