The first tensions at the UN climate talks have emerged as island and African nations criticised rich countries for refusing to offer new emissions cuts.

The first tensions at the UN climate talks have emerged as island and African nations criticised rich countries for refusing to offer new emissions cuts.

Thawing permafrost covering almost a quarter of the northern hemisphere could increase global warming when the world is already struggling to control rising greenhouse gases, according to a UN report.

Nearly 200 countries launched a fresh round of UN climate talks in Doha, facing urgent appeals to scale up the fight against greenhouse gas emissions.

Talks on a new climate pact have started in oil and gas-rich Qatar, where nearly 200 countries will discuss fighting global warming and helping poor nations adapt to it.

Extreme weather events such as superstorm Sandy and this summer’s drought in the US will become more frequent as the climate changes.

CANADA has become the first country to announce it would withdraw from the Kyoto protocol on climate change, dealing a symbolic blow to the already troubled global treaty.

Canada’s environment minister has said his country is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

CLIMATE negotiators agreed a pact yesterday that would for the first time force all the biggest polluters to take action on greenhouse gas emissions, but critics said the action plan was not aggressive enough to slow the pace of global warming.

NEGOTIATORS from Europe, islands threatened by rising oceans and the world’s poorest countries sought to keep alive the only treaty governing global warming, struggling against an unlikely alliance of the US, China and India.

GOVERNMENT ministers from across the world are joining UN climate talks in South Africa this week as Europe pushes for action on a new legally-binding deal to tackle global warming.

THE UN’s top climate scientist has cautioned climate negotiators that global warming is leading to human dangers and soaring financial costs, but containing carbon emissions will have a host of benefits.

GREENHOUSE gas emissions have risen in the agriculture, energy and industrial sectors — even though the country’s overall emission figures have fallen.

Greenhouse gas emissions rose in Europe last year, but the EU remains on track to meet international commitments to cut gases which cause climate change, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said today.

Scientists have revealed today that Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions fell for the first time in 20 years because of the economic downturn.

THE forestry sector has warned that Government cuts in the sector are going to cost jobs at a time when every action should be taken to protect employment.

THE new climate change treaty under negotiation for the past two-and-a-half years begins with a brief document called A Shared Vision.

A new legal agreement committing the world to curb greenhouse gas emissions is unlikely to be completed before the end of 2011, two years later than originally envisaged, the United Nations' climate chief said.

THE news that China’s oil consumption rose by 28% last year and the admission by the International Energy Authority (IEA) that the world’s oil reserves are being depleted at 6.2% a year should be a wake-up call.

China, the world’s biggest polluter, today accused developed countries of backtracking on their duty to fight climate change.

The atmosphere both inside and outside the UN climate conference has become more tense after talks were suspended for most of yesterday's session, and police detained up to 200 protesters on Copenhagen's streets.

The UN climate summit hit major turbulence yesterday when developing nations staged a five-hour walkout and China accused the West of trickery, as the spectre of failure loomed heavily over Copenhagen.

POOR countries ended a boycott of UN climate talks yesterday after getting assurances that rich nations were not conspiring to soften their commitments to cutting greenhouse gases, European officials said.

Developing countries today agreed to resume climate change negotiations in Copenhagen after a half-day suspension.

The UN’s top climate official admitted today that a final global warming treaty will be impossible this year.

CLOSE to 600 journalists, TV crew members and international commentators are expected to focus the world’s attention on Ireland during voting on the Lisbon treaty referendum in six week’s time.

THE Kyoto Protocol set Ireland’s target for greenhouse gas emissions at 13% higher than its 1990 level – yet in 2006 it was 24.5% higher.

ENERGY Minister Eamon Ryan has said that more than 200,000 Irish motorists will drive electric cars in just over a decade.

GREEN leader John Gormley delivered another blow yesterday when announcing that the €200 levy on second homes would go ahead.

GREENHOUSE gas emissions are decreasing thanks to the downturn in the economy, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report has found.

The recession could help Ireland to come closer to meetings its Kyoto targets on greenhouse gas emissions, according to the latest data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

BORD Gais (BG) entering the domestic electricity supply market is being heralded by the Government and others as a victory for competition.

Friends of the Earth has described today's Budget as "scattered and inadequate in its response to the climate crisis".

An environmental organisation is calling on the Government to treat the issues for climate change as seriously as they are treating this year's budget.

THE call by the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr RK Pachauri, for a reduction in the global consumption of meat signals the final nail in the coffin of scientific reality at the UN.

The lobby for carbon taxes is growing in strength, writes Claire O’Sullivan.

TWENTY-FOUR hours, 365 days a year, trucks the size of three-storey houses roll across an Arctic wasteland, scooping up a sticky sand that has become the holy grail of global oil companies and multinational investors.

MORE than 340 journalists from around the world will be reporting from Ireland tomorrow on the Lisbon treaty, including several media groups from as far away as Japan and the US.

THERE was an air of inevitability about yesterday’s warning from the Department of Finance about the real cost of our commitment to confronting climate change.

Environment ministers from top industrial countries today called for an agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, declaring that developed nations should take the lead in battling global warming.

CONFUSION about the new motor tax system could result in consumers losing out on potential savings when buying new vehicles, car dealers have warned.

Australia’s prime minister Kevin Rudd says the country is on track to meet its Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas emission target.

YESTERDAY, as Met Éireann told us that Valentia Island has enjoyed the warmest winter since records began in 1892, two other significant events took place and a milestone was passed.

IRELAND is on course to renege on its greenhouse gas obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, according to emissions figures released yesterday.

Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen slightly but are still far short of agreed reduction targets, a report revealed today.

JAPAN took over the presidency of the Group of Eight club of the world’s leading economies yesterday, with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda vowing to put a focus on climate change and environmental issues.

Attempts to forge a road map for a new international climate-change agreement are entering their final day today amid accusations the US is trying to wreck the deal.

Former US vice president Al Gore today forecast America's attitude to climate change would be different once President Bush steps down from power.