U.S. Starts Setting Itself Some Standards

A 684 page carbon cutting legislation called the American Clean Energy and Security Act kicked off the long anticipated battle over climate change for the United States. The U.S. Congress included energy policy changes, ranging from a mandate that 25 percent of U.S. electricity come from renewable sources by 2025 to energy efficient codes for new buildings.

The most controversial aspect of the bill is its proposal to place a price on carbon and other climate changing gases by implementing a cap - and - trade system. The program would require any business that emits more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year, such as oil companies, electric utilities or large industrial plants, to buy federal share or allowance.

"This legislation will create millions of clean energy jobs, put America on the path to energy independence and cut global warming pollution," said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman. Climate Science

Norway Invests In The Trees

The country of Norway is set to give 375 million euros a year to help prevent deforestation in developing countries.
"This could yield significant and rapid reductions in carbon dioxide emissions at a low cost," Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday.
Deforestation in developing countries are responsible for about 20 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. Source.

Best Week Ever: Trees.

Earlier this week Indonesia decided that it was time to enforce stricter deforestation laws, today the results of a new study is also in favor of the trees.
Five world renown organizations,
World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF),
the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR),
the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT),
the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA),
and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), have conducted a study on the financial stability of deforestation, for the past 20 years, and presented the results at the UNFCC Conference in Bali.
The outcome?
With the economy changing to favor environmentally friendlier products and with the market for carbon credits on the rise, in some places mandatory, it is costing major deforestation countries more to cut down the trees then to actually leave them in the ground.
Southeast Asia, Central Africa and the Amazon Basin were all found to bring in less then $5 per every ton of carbon they released. While US and European buyers are paying upwards of $35, 23 Euros, to offset a one ton reduction in carbon emissions.
"Deforestation is almost always driven by a rational response to what the market values and for some time now, it has just made more financial sense to many people in forested areas to cut down the trees," said Brent Swallow, leader of the study and Global Coordinator of the Partnership for Tropical Forest Margins. "What we discovered is that returns for deforestation are generally so paltry that if farmers and other land users were rewarded for the carbon stored in their trees and forests, it is highly likely that a large amount of deforestation and carbon emissions would be prevented."
The report observes that offering economic repayment for carbon storage, keeping the trees alive, would be effective to recover the lost income from their carbon emissions not to mention rebuild ecosystems & prevent countless species from becoming extinct.