GEOMAR coordinates research program for evaluating industrial climate regulation. Spraying sulfur particles into the atmosphere or fertilizing the oceans with iron: numerous commercial measures for artificial climate regulation are currently in discussion. A new priority program of the German Research Foundation will examine the side effects of so called “Climate Engineering”. The program is coordinated by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.

Free Solar study lights for 1.6 million school children in poor villages. Chhattisgarh State decides to distribute free solar lights to 1.3 million poor households instead of continuing subsidies for kerosene lamps / quality light replaces subsidies for fossil fuels.

The world has suffered from severe regional weather extremes in recent years, such as the heat wave in the United States in 2011 or the one in Russia 2010 coinciding with the unprecedented Pakistan flood. Behind these devastating individual events there is a common physical cause, propose scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The study will be published this week in the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and suggests that man-made climate change repeatedly disturbs the patterns of atmospheric flow around the globe's Northern hemisphere through a subtle resonance mechanism.

What are the effects of Fairtrade on rural development in the producing countries of the South? Which are the decisive factors for an ideal influence? On the occasion of its 20th anniversary, TransFair e.V. Germany and Max Havelaar Switzerland commissioned a study that assesses the effects of Fairtrade in several product ranges on three continents. “The latest results show that Fairtrade creates an improved income and contributes to poverty reduction in rural areas,” said Dieter Overath, General Manager of TransFair.

Dear President Obama:

Good luck on your journeys overseas this week, and congratulations on decisively winning your second term as our president! The first time you won four years ago, most of us couldn't contain our joy and found ourselves literally in tears over your victory.

Access to family planning is an essential human right that unlocks unprecedented rewards for economic development, says new UNFPA report. 222 million women in developing countries have an unmet need for family planning. Additional $4.1 billion in funding is needed to address current needs and those of the growing youth population.

Important books have been written on sustainability and sustainable development. But none like this: it’s on the cultural history of the term. By Udo E. Simonis

Studies of Germany's largest river reveal a correlation between periods of low activity of the sun and regional cooling. Scientists have long suspected that the Sun's 11-year cycle influences climate of certain regions on Earth. Yet records of average, seasonal temperatures do not date back far enough to confirm any patterns. Now, armed with a unique proxy, an international team of researchers show that unusually cold winters in Central Europe are related to low solar activity - when sunspot numbers are minimal. The freezing of Germany's largest river, the Rhine, is the key.

"We cannot allow short-term food-price spikes to have damaging long-term consequences for the world's most poor and vulnerable”  – World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim | Given the exceptional drought in the US, current crop conditions in other grain producing regions, and the resulting increase in international food prices, the World Bank today expressed concern for the impacts of this volatility on the world's poor, who are highly vulnerable to increases in food prices.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the main cause of global warming – increased by 3% last year, reaching an all-time high of 34 billion tonnes in 2011. In China, the world’s most populous country, average emissions of CO2 increased by 9% to 7.2 tonnes per capita. China is now within the range of 6 to 19 tonnes per capita emissions of the major industrialised countries. In the European Union, CO2 emissions dropped by 3% to 7.5 tonnes per capita. The United States remain one of the largest emitters of CO2, with 17.3 tonnes per capita, despite a decline due to the recession in 2008-2009, high oil prices and an increased share of natural gas. These are the main findings of the annual report ‘Trends in global CO2 emissions’, released today by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL).