SINGAPORE (Reuters) – In July 2010, U.S. investor Todd Lemons and Russian energy giant Gazprom believed they were just weeks from winning final approval for a landmark forest preservation project in Indonesia.

A year later, the project is close to collapse, a casualty of labyrinthine Indonesian bureaucracy, opaque laws and a secretive palm oil company.

SINGAPORE, Aug 16 (Reuters) – In July 2010, U.S. investor
Todd Lemons and Russian energy giant Gazprom believed they were
just weeks from winning final approval for a landmark forest
preservation project in Indonesia.

A year later, the project is close to collapse, a casualty
of labyrinthine Indonesian bureaucracy, opaque laws and a
secretive palm oil company.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Atmospheric levels of methane, 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2) at trapping heat, stayed steady for two decades to 2006 on wider fertilizer use to grow rice or a surge in natural gas demand, according to two separate studies in the journal Nature.

Climate researcher Fuu Ming Kai from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Singapore research center said in one study that methane output from rice fields in the Northern Hemisphere dropped during the period as fertilizers replaced manure and because of reduced water use.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Creating crops with deeper roots could soak up much more carbon dioxide from the air, help mankind fight global warming and lead to more drought-tolerant varieties, a British scientist says in a study.

Douglas Kell of the University of Manchester says crops can play a crucial role in tackling climate change by absorbing more of mankind’s rising greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Creating crops with deeper roots could soak up much more carbon dioxide from the air, help mankind fight global warming and lead to more drought-tolerant varieties, a British scientist says in a study.

Douglas Kell of the University of Manchester says crops can play a crucial role in tackling climate change by absorbing more of mankind’s rising greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia can’t get enough power to feed its booming economy and fortunately for Mochamad Sofyan, investors are lining up to invest billions of dollars in the country’s growing green power sector.

Sofyan, head of the new and renewable energy division at state utility PLN, is busier than ever as an increasing number of foreign and local firms file into his office looking to invest in geothermal, hydro and biomass power projects.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The world’s forests can play an even greater role in fighting climate change than previously thought, scientists say in the most comprehensive study yet on how much carbon dioxide forests absorb from the air.

The study may also boost a U.N.-backed program that aims to create a global market in carbon credits from projects that protect tropical forests. If these forests are locking away more carbon than thought, such projects could become more valuable.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Wetlands, forests and farmlands soak up large amounts of carbon dioxide but rising amounts of the gas in the atmosphere mean these carbon “sinks” could become less effective at fighting climate change.

Scientists say land ecosystems are an essential brake on the pace of climate change because plants soak up large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) as they grow. This also boosts the level of carbon in soils.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Environmentalists criticised the United Nations on Tuesday after it ruled that a large Indian coal-fired power project is eligible to earn carbon credits worth $165 million at current prices.

Several green organisations said the U.N. rules, or methodology, applied to the 4,000 MW supercritical plant owned by Reliance Power were flawed and that the project was viable without the sweeteners of tradeable carbon credits called certified emissions reductions (CERs).

SINGAPORE, July 12 (Reuters) – Environmentalists criticised
the United Nations on Tuesday after it ruled that a large Indian
coal-fired power project is eligible to earn carbon credits
worth $165 million at current prices.

Several green organisations said the U.N. rules, or
methodology, applied to the 4,000 MW supercritical plant owned
by Reliance Power were flawed and that the project was
viable without the sweeteners of tradeable carbon credits called
certified emissions reductions (CERs) .