The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, and the resulting oil spill began a cascade of effects on the coastal areas of the Gulf and on the wealth of species that inhabit those areas. This report addresses the importance of wetlands in general, the ecology of the coastal wetlands in the Gulf, impacts of oil spills on wetland habitats, response options, the implications of hurricane season for the spill's impacts, and cleanup and recovery issues. The emphasis is on the nearshore environment, although a few species found in deeper waters will be mentioned. In addition, some lessons from past spills such as the Exxon Valdez in Alaska will be discussed, along with issues that may arise as response and recovery transition to restoration of the Gulf.

The new 'Grenelle II' laws are presented in the French Parliament. The Grenelle II (2010) follows the Grenelle I (2007) and a second public consultation round with representatives of large companies. Detailed plans are presented for building, transport and energy sector. Local authorities are asked to play a more important and facilitating role. The new law package contains six pillars and contains the 'outlines' and 'logistics' of the application on regional and local level: - 1. Improving the Energetic Performance of Buildings. Among the measures are : insisting on 'Batiments a Basse Consommation' (BBC, < 50 KW/H/m2 per year) for new buildings and to reduce the consumption of existing buildings by 38% untill 2020. - 2. Creating a change in Transport Use. Among the measures presented are : speeding up the process of public transport infrastructure, insisting local public authorities on offering 'lease-bikes' and car-sharing programs, and subvention of electric and hybrid car development. - 3. Reducing significantly Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions. Measurements foreseen are : Obligation of all enterprises with over 500 employees and municipalities with more than 500.000 inhabitants to calculate CO2 emissions on a yearly bases. -4. Preserving Biodiversity. Pharmaceutical and hospital products will be more …

This meeting summary report presents the major findings and discussion from the IPCC Expert Meeting on "Industrial Technology Development, Transfer and Diffusion."

This report provides information on major design options related to the allocation of emissions allowances under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (the EU ETS, or "the Scheme"). The report was developed to assist the European Commission in the context of the review of options for the EU ETS after 2012, during the third and subsequent phases of the Scheme. The report covers topics related to allocation alternatives as well as several other issues. All of the material contained here was developed initially as a set of briefing notes for the Commission in 2007. The topics covered in the report are divided into two major categories: (1) assessment criteria and other general features, including cap-setting; and (2) allocation alternatives and issues specifically related to allocation.

This report presents two series of studies performed before COP-6 and COP-6bis, in order to provide DG Environment with economic analysis of the issues at stake in international climate negotiations. These analysis used the background information provided by the large scale world energy partial equilibrium model POLES. They were also based on an extensive use of the Marginal Abatement Cost Curves produced by the POLES model through the ASPEN-sd software, specifically designed to produce assessment.

The objective of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) under the brand 'Solar India' is to establish India as a global leader in solar energy, by creating the policy conditions for its diffusion across the country as quickly as possible. The scope of these guidelines is to select new projects and provide the necessary policy framework for development of projects under the "bundling scheme" for Phase I of the JNNSM.

This handbook is a collaboration of research and consultations by the Council on Environmental Quality concerning analyses prepared under the National Environmental Protection Act. This guide introduces interested parties to collaborative principles, and includes suggestions for successful collaborative efforts.

This executive order establishes sustainability and energy efficiency as priorities in the operations of the federal government.

This report discusses likely energy prices and weather over the winter of 2010-2011.

This treaty takes action to control the introduction and spread of pests of plants and plant products. The treaty protects natural as well as cultivated plants, so it has implications for agriculture as well as biodiversity. While the IPPC's primary focus is on plants and plant products moving in international trade, the convention also covers research materials, biological control organisms, and anything else that can act as a vector for the spread of plant pests including containers, soil, vehicles, and machinery.

The production of bioenergy - renewable energy derived from biomass - could potentially increase national energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to rural economic growth. This report provides analyses of commonly discussed biomass feedstocks and their relative potential for power generation. Additional biopower issues - feedstock accessibility, the biomass power plant carbon-neutrality debate, and unintended consequences of legislative activities to promote bioenergy - are also discussed.

This report focuses on the mandated minimum usage requirements - referred to as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) - whereby a minimum volume of biofuels is to be used in the national transportation fuel supply each year. It describes the general nature of the biofuels RFS and its implementation, and outlines some of the emerging issues related to the sustainability of the continued growth in U.S. biofuels production needed to fulfill the expanding RFS mandate, as well as the emergence of potential unintended consequences of this rapid expansion. This report does not address the broader public policy issue of how best to support U.S. energy policy.

The diminishment of Arctic sea ice has led to increased human activities in the Arctic, and has heightened concerns about the region's future. Issues such as Arctic sovereignty claims; commercial shipping through the Arctic; Arctic oil, gas, and mineral exploration; endangered Arctic species; and increased military operations in the Arctic could cause the region in coming years to become an arena of international cooperation, competition, or conflict. This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress, and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific Arctic-related issues.

This activity report summarizes the main outcomes of the inter-regional workshop on the Human Health Impacts from Climate Variability and Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya Region (India 2005). The objectives of the workshop were: to inform government organizations, nongovernmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders about the impacts of climate change; to Identify specific human health risks linked to climate variability and change in the Himalayan mountain regions; to propose strategies for integrating health with relevant sectors; to achieve consensus on a draft framework for national action in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain region.

This report is the first report of its kind that attempts to overlay a detailed distillation of climate change science with U.S. insurance industry activities around climate change. This report aims to go beyond an investigation of only hurricanes to also address the implications for the U.S. insurance industry of other impacts of climate change including forest fires, floods, and storm surge (although storm surge is not commercially insured, this report describes how government insurance backstops interact intimately with commercial insurance products and with consumer perception of risk). The report finds that U.S. insurers are far ahead of many of their overseas counterparts in assessing current catastrophic (cat) risk through sophisticated cat risk modeling that is based on historical weather events; however, U.S. insurers appear to lag behind their European peers who have begun to conduct studies of climate change and are beginning, though slowly, to incorporate future climate change scenarios into cat risk models, particularly for flooding.

For African countries, it is imperative to increase capacity for implementing both the Climate Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, in view of the continent’s vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change, including the threat to food security and sustainable development. The country surveys, which are framed around the list of perceived capacity building needs annexed to Decision 10/CP.5, provided insight into the capacity building needs of the project-countries. Hence, the aspects examined during the assessment exercise reflect some of the concerns of African countries; and the stakeholders’ responses can be taken as indications of the capacity building needs of the African countries assessed.

This publication is part of a series of UNDP-sponsored studies that present methods, tools and good practices to map corruption risks, develop strategies and sustain partnerships to address challenges and tackle corruption in the education, health and water sectors. They complement UNDP’s MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF), which has been endorsed by the UN Development Group and enables governments and development partners, within established national processes, to identify and systematically prioritize the bottlenecks to progress toward achieving the MDGs, and then devise strategies to overcome them. The studies bring together UNDP’s efforts to support countries to develop frameworks to accelerate their efforts to meet the MDGs as well as successfully meet the commitments of the UN Convention against corruption.

The final report from an advisory panel of 15 scientists and industry experts finding that humans are responsible for climate warming and that Utah is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions per capita than the rest of the nation. It makes about 70 recommendations for fighting global warming including: developing significant amounts of renewable energy with incentives and tax credits, encouraging the capture and disposal of carbon dioxide, improving efficiency at power plants, implementing an aggressive mass-transit strategy, and preserving open space and agricultural land and protecting forests. The report, however, does not include specific policy recommendations or rules to implement action.

Making poverty history and tackling climate change go hand-in-hand because receding forests, changing rainfall patterns and rising sea levels trap people in hardship and undermine their future. Studies in Ethiopia show that children exposed to drought in early childhood are 36 percent more likely to be malnourished five years later.

This report from the Transportation Research Board suggests that federal, state, and local policy makers need informed guidance about the effectiveness, costs, feasibility, and acceptability of transportation strategies to mitigate transportation greenhouse gas emissions, to conserve energy, and to adapt to climate change. The report covers strategies affecting travel and mode choice, models and decision tools, infrastructure investment options and infrastructure construction, operation, and maintenance. The report recommends beginning a research and development initiative by making a modest investment of $40 million to $45 million annually in the next surface transportation authorization that would be used to develop the best available guidance quickly on the basis of existing information and then begin to improve that guidance over time as new research is completed.

This document addresses climate change adaptation issues in the Greater Mekong countries. It also presents the WWF's call for an Asia’s first regional climate change adaptation agreement, that should help Greater Mekong nations prepare for the inevitable impacts of climate change.

Establishes first-in-the-world comprehensive program of regulatory and market mechanisms to achieve real, quantifiable, cost-effective reductions of greenhouse gases (GHG).

This report presents findings from a review of the service activities of informal private water vendors in Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s capital is a rapidly growing city, and around 70% of the population lacks proper housing and lives in informal settlements. Large parts of the city remain unserved by the water utility and many of those who have access to the piped network suffer from intermittent supply. As a result, small-scale private water vendors provide an essential service for many, in particular low-income households in the city.

This study analyzes the employment, macroeconomic, energy and environmental impacts of implementing the Climate Protection Scenario.