The UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, told a meeting of world leaders that scientific evidence of the damaging global impact of climate change was sound and that the moment to act decisively was now.

Managing emissions is one of the fastest-growing segments in financial services, and companies are scrambling for talent. Their goal: a slice of a market now worth about $30 billion, but which could grow to $1 trillion within a decade.

idon Eshel, a fellow at Bard College in upstate New York, said his studies showed that the average American diet required the production of a ton and a half more greenhouse gases than a strictly vegetarian diet.

Writing in the May 10 issue of the journal Nature, a Cornell biogeochemist describes an economical and efficient way to help offset global warming: Pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by charring, or partially burning, trees, grasses or crop residues without the use of oxygen

Climate experts may turn up their noses at far-fetched-sounding fixes, but interest in projects with a science fictional twist appears, if anything, to be growing.

Two companies, both with different ethoses, believe that seeding the ocean with iron will promote phytoplankton production. The plankton absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, and could help slow climate change. Many scientists, however, are skeptical.

Australia has banned incandescent light bulbs, and put other energy saving measures in place.

The US Supreme Court ruled that the EPA had the authority to regulate the emission of green house gases, despite the Bush administration suggesting that such regulation was outside the jurisdiction of the EPA.

New tertiary extraction methods may dramatically increase oil recovery rates