VOA News - Officials Gather for UN Climate Change Conference in Bali

VOA News - Officials Gather for UN Climate Change Conference in Bali:

Government officials and environmentalists are converging on the Indonesian island of Bali to debate ways to deal with climate change. As VOA's Nancy-Amelia Collins reports from Jakarta, one of the main topics of conversation at the United Nations-sponsored conference will be a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, which expires in 2012.

Armed police officer stands guard near a banner of UN Climate Change Conference as an unidentified foreign tourist walks past by in Nusa Dua, Bali island, 02 Dec 2007

The 1997 Kyoto accord required industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions - which are generally thought to be responsible for global warming - by specific amounts by the year 2012.

But developing economies, including China and India, were exempt from the accord. And the United States, then the largest emitter, now second behind China, never formally signed on.

Ten years later, however, most of the world agrees that global warming is a man-made threat. Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar tells VOA he expects that the Bali meeting will achieve more comprehensive results than Kyoto.

Sweden Renewable

2007.04.01 00.52 | Sweden Renewable

Goran Persson, the former Prime Minister of Sweden, announced that Sweden would try to end its fossil fuel dependency by 2020.

The plan is mostly based on investments and tax incentives for the use and research and development of alternative sources of energy.

The main reason for the effort is, according to Persson, global warming: "We are frightened by climate change today.

The mean temperature of the earth is rising, and it is rising most nearest to the poles..." Persson said that 35% of the cars driven by government employees would either run completely on electricity or renewable fuels, or be hybrid cars. What else is there to add but: "Go Sweden! Show us how its done!"

2007.03.28 01.32 | Biofuel

I'm taking journeys into the biofuel and ethanol manufacturing. Production might be a better word. There is quite a movement for biofuels in USA.

I can see that it's a part of the national security policy. I have been listening to podcasts and reading blogs. I can feel a lot of enthusiasm among the pioneers. But the big industries are also jumping on the band wagon.