More than 50 countries, including the US, China, and EU member states, submitted plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC) prior to a Jan. 31 deadline set by the non-binding Copenhagen Accord. Relative to 2005 levels, the US has pledged to reduce emissions to 17%, while China has targeted a 40 to 45 percent reduction per GDP unit. EU members pledged a 20% reduction below 1990 levels. The countries submitting plans to the UNFCC represent two-thirds of worldwide emissions. Critics of the Copenhagen Accord say it lacks the enforcement mechanisms needed to ensure compliance, and is unlikely to limit global temperature rise to the indicated levels. Another round of climate change talks are scheduled for December, with the hope being that a binding resolution can be developed from the pledges made under the current accord. (Jurst, Feb. 1)

Citing budgetary constraints, President Barack Obama has cancelled the US project designed to take humans back to the Moon. The Constellation program envisaged a new crew ship called Orion to put astronauts on the lunar surface by 2020. But in his 2011 budget request issued Feb. 1, Obama said the project is too costly, "behind schedule, and lacking in innovation." The president said he plans to turn to the private sector for launch services. "While we're cancelling Constellation, we're not cancelling our ambitions," said Jim Kohlenberger, chief of staff at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). (BBC News, Feb. 1)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has now admitted that it made a mistake in asserting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035 in its last report, and the climate change deniers have been having the predictable feeding frenzy. But as IPCC chair Dr. Rajendra Pachauri told the BBC News Jan. 25, "Let me emphasize that this does not in any way detract from the fact that the glaciers are melting, and this is a problem we need to be deeply concerned about."

President Barack Obama on Jan. 29 ordered the federal government to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 28% by 2020. The reduction is pursuant to Executive Order 13514, signed by Obama in October. The order provides that "Federal agencies shall increase energy efficiency; measure, report, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from direct and indirect activities; conserve and protect water resources through efficiency, reuse, and stormwater management; eliminate waste, recycle, and prevent pollution." The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) will be responsible for implementing the initiatives outlined in the order at the agency and departmental levels.

Continuing global economic growth "is not possible" if the world is to stop devastating climate change, according to a report by the New Economics Foundation (Nef). The study, entitled "Growth Isn't Possible," finds that "unprecedented and probably impossible" carbon reductions would be needed to hold temperature rises below 2 degree C (3.6 F), the limit beyond which global warming will become dangerous for human civilization. "We urgently need to change our economy to live within its environmental budget," said Nef's policy director Andrew Simms. "There is no global environmental central bank to bail us out if we become ecologically bankrupt."

The world's 370 million indigenous people suffer disproportionately high rates of poverty, health problems, crime, unemployment, human rights abuses, and their cultural and sometimes physical survival are threatened, according to the first ever United Nations report on the question. The report, "State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples" stresses that land rights, self-determination, and the principles of free, prior and informed consent are necessary for the survival of the world's indigenous peoples both in developed and developing countries.

Citing a more "hopeful state of world affairs" in relation to the twin threats posed by nuclear weapons and climate change, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is moving the minute hand of its famous Doomsday Clock one minute away from midnight. It is now 6 minutes to midnight. The decision by the BAS Science and Security Board was made in consultation with the Bulletin's Board of Sponsors, which includes 19 Nobel Laureates.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Jan. 7 proposed stricter smog standards that would replace the Bush administration's broader 2008 national smog regulations, complying with scientific recommendations. The new smog restrictions would reduce the amount of smog emissions to between 0.060 and 0.070 parts per million (ppm) from the previous 0.075 ppm. The EPA estimates that these changes will help reduce the effects of climate change and improve public health, saving the US between $13 billion and $100 billion in health care costs.