The UN’s carbon credits scheme could have caused emissions
to rise by 600 million tonnes, due to weak regulation and “perverse
incentives”, says a new study. Russia and Ukraine in particular
come under fire for creating more waste in order to destroy it,
earning tradable carbon credits in the process.

The UN’s carbon credits scheme may have increased emissions
by 600 million tonnes, according to a new study by the Stockholm
Environment Institute. Russia and Ukraine in particular come under
fire for using the mechanism to earn money instead of cutting their
greenhouse gas emissions. The useless credits have undermined the
EU’s emissions trading scheme, which a UN official
tells

President Barack Obama is undertaking an 11-day “climate
change tour”, where he will speak on the topic in Las Vegas, New
Orleans and Alaska. Brian Deese, a senior White House advisor, said
it was an attempt to speak “frequently and frankly” about the
issue. His comments at the Las Vegas Clean Energy Summit yesterday
have already been widely covered.

The Jakobshavn glacier in western Greenland has shed a chunk
of ice measuring around 12.5 square kilometres this week, in what
is one of the most significant calving events on record. Images
from the European Space Agency show images of the fast-moving
glacier before and after the event. The level of ice lost “could
cover the whole of Manhattan Island by a layer of ice about 300m
thick”, according to comments reported by the

India’s environment minister Prakash Javadekar has given
more clues about the possible contents of India’s contribution to
the UN climate deal, known as its “INDC”. Briefing media on Monday,
he said that India might target 300 gigawatts of renewable energy
by 2030, according to comments reported in the

The Earth could lose an area of forest equal to the size of
India by 2050 if world leaders don’t take stronger steps to reduce
deforestation, according to a new report from the Center for Global
Development. This means that forests are disappearing even faster
than thought, largely thanks to logging and agriculture industries,
which could have implications on efforts to tackle climate
change.

The Black Lives Matter campaign is complementary to the
climate justice campaign, argues Elizabeth C Yeampierre in The
Guardian. Across the US, many of the communities most vulnerable to
climate change impacts and environmental problems are inhabited by
black communities, including in Hurricane Katrina, where most of
the fatalities were black people. Similarly, she says, “a climate
movement led by people of traditional power and privilege will not
relieve the crises we face.”

At present, there is a lack of clear methods to set
consistent greenhouse gas emissions targets for companies, a new
study says. The researchers aim to address this by proposing a
method of setting targets based on carbon intensity. The method can
then be used by companies, policymakers, investors or other
stakeholders as a benchmark for tracking corporate climate
performance and actions, the researchers say.