The Brazilian Government published its National Climate Change Plan.

The Global Carbon Project (GCP), an international research initiative launched in 2001, published world CO₂ emissions data for 2007. According to their estimates, global CO₂ emissions increased from 6.2 billion (bn) tonnes in 1990 to 8.5 bn tonnes in 2007.

The French Environment Minister presented his Ministry's 2009 budget. Out of a total of 20,2 Md€ earmarked for the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning, the Ecology, Sustainable and Spatial Planning part accounts for 10,1 Md€. The 2009 budget planned for the Ecology part is almost the same as that for 2008 (+0.1%).

A greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme was launched involving 10 northeastern USA Federal States under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The State Governments began auctioning permits for 233 power plants whose CO₂ emissions are to be capped under the scheme.

The European Parliament's Environment Committee approved the report prepared by MEP Guido Sacconi on the proposal for a regulation setting CO₂ emission standards for passenger cars. The vote in plenary is planned for October or November 2008.
See CITEPA's monthly newsletter C'est dans l'Air n° 117 p.2 (forthcoming).

The European Parliament's Environment Committee approved in first-reading a draft report, prepared by Claude Turmes (rapporteur) on the proposal for a directive on the promotion of energy from renewable sources, presented by the European Commission on 23 January 2008 as part of its climate-renewable energy package .
See CITEPA's quarterly reportEtudes documentaires n° 166 p.I.245.

An international conference on aviation and CO₂ was held in Budapest ( Hungary ) with the aim of sharing best practices in the field of sustainable air transport.

The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), The European Safety Organisation for the Safety of Air navigation (Eurocontrol) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) signed a five-point Flight Efficiency Plan designed to reduce fuel consumption (and thus CO₂ emissions) from civil aviation flights.

The European Parliament, meeting in plenary, approved a compromise deal worked out with the Member States on the proposal for a regulation laying down harmonised technical provisions for the type-approval of hydrogen-powered vehicles . The compromise text must be formally approved by the EU Council before it is published in the EU Official Journal.
See CITEPA's quarterly report Etudes documentaires n° 165 p.I.153.

The Commission is organising a stakeholder meeting in Brussels in order to hear their views on the contents of the future legislative proposal to be drafted aimed at reducing CO₂ emissions from light commercial vehicles (vans and minibuses).

20^th anniversary of the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), set up by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Programme for the Environment (UNEP). The celebrations, in Geneva , will be followed by its 29^th plenary meeting until 4 September 2008 .

The third session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Climate Convention (AWG-LCA 2) and the first part of the sixth session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol took place in Accra (Ghana). The aim of the talks is mainly to move forward the set of decisions known as the Bali roadmap.
See CITEPA's monthly newsletter C'est dans l'Air n° 113 p.1.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB), established in April 2007, published its "version zero" of its principles and criteria for sustainable agrofuels following a worldwide consultation of experts.
See CITEPA's quarterly report Etudes documentaires n° 164 p.III.55.

The European Commission announced that the EU's Community Independent Transaction Log (CITL) and Member State registries will be connected to the UN's International Transaction Log (ITL) before December 2008 at the latest . The link means that it will be possible to transfer carbon credits issued under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to the registries of EU Member States.

The European Commission launched a public consultation on the EU's approach to a global climate change agreement beyond 2012 when the current Kyoto Protocol targets will end. Stakeholders and the general public are invited to put forward their views on a number of critical issues (medium-term GHG emission reduction targets for developed countries, emission reduction actions for developing countries,…), The results will help shape the EU's position on the global post-2012 agreement. Deadline for replying : 29 September 2008 .
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=climatepost2012