Despite new leadership in the United States promising to cap the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, some environmental leaders say it is unlikely that an international climate treaty will pass in the next year.
During his campaign, U.S. president-elect Barack Obama supported a global cap-and-trade agreement for regulating his nation’s carbon emissions. As a result, many international observers are hoping the United States will agree to binding emissions-reduction targets at thehigh-profile climate change negotiations scheduled for December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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SYDNEY (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Australians took part in mass protests around the country Saturday to call for tough government action on climate change, organizers said.

The demonstrations were held as Australia prepares to set national greenhouse gas emissions targets, expected around the end of this month. Environmentalists accuse industry of pushing for targets that are likely to compromise the environment.

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BOSTON, Nov 12 (Tierramérica) - The Antarctic holds the world’s largest amount of fresh water in its icy grip, and it is most certainly warming as a result of greenhouse gases, say new scientific studies.

“We’re able for the first time to directly attribute warming in both the Arctic and the Antarctic to human influences,” said Nathan Gillett of the University of East Anglia, in Britain, who led the study.

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Global institutional investors holding more than $6 trillion in assets pushed policymakers Tuesday to quickly hash out a binding agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and promote clean technology.

More than 130 big investors, including London Pensions Fund Authority, want countries to agree to reduce the climate- warming emissions by 50 percent to 80 percent by 2050.

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Back on September 9, John Podesta’sCenter for American Progress released a study called Green Recovery , which promised two million new jobs from a $100 billion investment over two years. That day was also my birthday, so my attention was elsewhere. But nearly two months later in the wake of the financial meltdown, taking a second look at the report seems worthwhile, since now more than ever, a road to recovery for the United States and the world could very well be paved with green bricks.

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Both US presidential candidates have called for an end to America’s dependence on foreign oil and more investment in renewable resources, but even Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama said his plan to stop using Middle Eastern oil might sound like “pie in the sky” talk.

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Opponents have taken a small lead in the latest poll on a California ballot measure that calls for half the state’s electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2025, a Field Poll issued on Friday shows.

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