News wrap

Paul Allen, Tue 08 Apr 2008

Power station pollution

The big green stories of the week and how they were reported in the press

Permits to pollute

The EU’s scheme to curb carbon emissions is stirring up controversy, with reports that it could hand Europe’s major power companies profits of up to 71bn euros (£56bn).

The Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) gives energy providers a set allowance of credits to cover their emissions. If they exceed this amount, they have to buy extra credits on the open market.

But the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says the scheme is flawed because the companies are initially given free offset credits.

"Handing free pollution permits to power companies is like handing them a cash bonus," WWF's Emissions Trading Scheme Co-ordinator, Sanjeev Kumar told Roger Harrabin at BBC News,

"So long as dirty companies are going ahead with these pollution factories instead of clean renewable alternatives, the emissions trading scheme will have failed," says Robin Oakley, climate campaign manager for Greenpeace UK.

David Gow in the Guardian reports that German power companies, in particular, stand to gain the most – despite the industry being highly dependent on coal.

The WWF report found that the free allocation reduced the incentives for dirty power plants to invest in low emissions technology.

“German groups, which are investing heavily in new coal-fired power plants and pass on high levels of CO2 costs into wholesale prices, could gain between 14bn and 34bn euros in the same period.”

Malaria warning

The effects of climate change aren’t just about shrinking icecaps. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), they are behind an increase in the incidence of diseases like malaria and dengue fever.

Shigeru Omi, the head of the WHO's Western Pacific office, says that at least 150,000 more people are dying each year of malaria, diarrhoea, malnutrition and floods, all of which can be traced to climate change.

"Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are now found in areas where there was no malaria before," reports the Environmental News Network. “Malaria kills at least 100,000 people each year.”

The problem is not limited to developing world countries either. The British Medical Association (BMA) adds that climate change “could bring malaria and other infectious diseases to the UK”.

“Higher temperatures and heavier rainfall may increase the spread of infections like malaria that have previously been virtually non-existent in the UK,” said the BMA’s Head of Science and Ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanso.

According to Tony McMichael of Australia's Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, between 20 million and 70 million more people were likely to be living in malarial regions worldwide by 2080.

Right of way?

The new Marine Bill, passed last week, creates a new right of way for walkers around the English coast. The Independent focused on the environmental, questioning if the bill will be “tough enough to adequately protect wildlife”.

Conservation groups, such as the RSPB, are concerned that the new proposed legislation will not provide sufficient protection for marine species and ecosystems. “In recent weeks, the RSPB identified some 70 areas around the country's coasts which it said were of importance to breeding birds and which would make suitable sites for marine conservation zones,” writes Emily Beament.

The Telegraph, meanwhile, concentrated on more human concerns. With some landowners arguing that the coastal route will result in a loss in capital value for some beachfront properties, Charles Clover reports that a legal battle may be imminent.

The Country Land and Business Association says it is difficult to see how the owners of currently exclusive access to the beach could avoid a loss in the capital value of their properties.

GM

Consumer fears over the safety of GM food are likely to grow with the news that scientists have discovered the seeds of some genetically modified crops alive and well in soil at least 10 years after they were "eradicated".

Swedish researchers examined a field planted with experimental oilseed rape a decade ago, and found transgenic specimens were still growing there.

BBC Environment Correspondent Richard Black reports that the Swedish Board of Agriculture “sprayed the field intensively with chemicals that should have killed all the remaining plants. And for two years, inspectors looked specifically for volunteer plants and killed them.”

Nevertheless, 15 plants had sprung up 10 years later “carrying the genes that scientists had originally inserted into their experimental rape variety,” says Black.

“Rules to plant genetically-modified crops such as oil seed rape may have to be tightened,” concludes Roger Highfield, Science Editor at the Telegraph.

And finally...

Another week, another bizarre “green” invention. Over in the States, popular blog Treehugger tells us of Big Shrimpy's new Whisker-Wide Bowl – a locally made cat food dish using 100 per cent recycled glass.

“It's defining feature? The bowl is shallow and wide enough to fit the entire width of your kitty's distinguished whiskers, so sensitive cats can chow down in greater comfort,” writes Jasmin Malik Chua. Priced at $24 (£13) the bowl is available in two colours and apparently dishwasher-safe.