Obama and Hu aim to agree greenhouse gas targets

Statement by leaders of world’s two biggest polluters could breathe new life into Copenhagen climate change talks, the Guardian has reported today.

The US and China, the world’s two biggest polluters, today said they aimed to set targets for easing greenhouse gas emissions next month, potentially breathing new life into the flagging Copenhagen climate negotiations.

Days after the US president, Barack Obama, said time to secure a legally binding agreement had run out, he and the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, agreed at a summit that they would continue to press for a comprehensive deal at Copenhagen that would “rally the world”.

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Read SUE research findings that challenge UK climate targets

UK Climate Targets ‘unachievable’

UK government plans to make carbon emission cuts of 80% by 2050 are physically impossible to achieve, according to a new analysis by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the BBC reported today.

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers says there is not enough time or capacity to build the wind turbines and extra nuclear power stations required and that under current plans, the targets will not be met until 2100.

The UK’s Climate Change Act passed into law in 2008, putting a legal imperative on the government to cut emissions by 80% of their 1990 levels by 2050, with a mid-term target of 34% cuts by 2020.

But the report investigates how practical these targets are to reach and concludes that they cannot be met with the current approaches to cutting carbon.

IMeche called for a major investment in geo-engineering and what it is calling a “war” on climate change with a beefed up government department in charge.

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Read SUE research findings that challenge UK climate targets

Hard-hitting ad campaigns in the wake of Climate Change Act: