UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who himself studied by candlelight as a child, has pleaded for universal access to clean energy, a privilege denied to more than half the world population.

DESPITE 20 years of effort, greenhouse gas emissions are going up instead of down, hitting record highs as climate negotiators gather to debate a new global warming accord.

CARBON dioxide emitted by energy use hit a record high last year, dimming prospects for limiting global warming to two degrees celsius, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday.

CHINA yesterday disputed that it had surpassed the United States last year to become the world’s largest energy user, and defended its efforts in boosting cleaner energy sources.

China has overtaken the US as the world's largest user of energy, experts said today.

RECESSION is set to cause the sharpest fall in world greenhouse gas emissions in 40 years, according to an estimate yesterday.

THE International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that abrupt and irreversible climate change will occur unless countries act together to create “an energy revolution”.

One of the world’s leading energy experts today warned Brian Cowen that Ireland is very vulnerable to a looming global oil shock.

THE agreement on climate change reached at Heiligendamm by the G8 leaders merely sets the stage for the real debate to come: how will we divide up the diminishingcapacity of the atmosphere toabsorb our greenhouse gases?