Mayors from 400 cities around Europe have signed the Covenant of Mayors agreement and promised to go beyond EU’s 20% by 2020 energy and climate goals.

The whole idea with the Covenant of Mayors pact is to “go beyond” EU’s 20% greenhouse gas emission cuts and 20% renewable energy by 2020. The German city Hamburg plans to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2020. Paris on the other hand says it hopes to reduce emissions by 25 percent over the same period.

EU’s Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the plan, which will affect 80 million Europeans, is equivalent to reforest each year a surface larger than the whole of Hungary, or taking out from the streets more than 35 million cars or closing down 20 coal-fired 50MW power plants. At a conservative estimation the plan will save around €8 billion ($10.4 billion) in energy costs every year.

“Most of the energy produced in Europe is consumed in urban areas. The battle against climate change will have to fought and won in the cities. This is why, the commitment shown by Mayors across Europe by signing the Covenant of Mayors send us a strong message of hope, particularly in the difficult times that we are facing “, said Commissioner Piebalgs.

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Photo credit: suburbanbloke

As a top German scientist warns that climate change is accelerating, while 2008 ends up being the tenth warmest year ever recorded and a NOAA study shows climate change is “largely irreversible for 1000 years” we hear news about severe heatwaves and droughts in Argentina, Australia and USA.

Australians are currently facing a severe heatwave with temperatures of 40-plus Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for the southern parts of the country, making it the worst heatwave in 100 years. And the Australian government says it’s a sign of climate change.

“Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the heatwave, which started on Wednesday, was the sort of weather scientists had been warning about.

“Eleven of the hottest years in history have been in the last 12, and we also note, particularly in the southern part of Australia, we’re seeing less rainfall,” Wong told reporters.

“All of this is consistent with climate change, and all of this is consistent with what scientists told us would happen.”"

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We are already now starting to see riots and protests around the world that have been triggered by the lack of resources. And unfortunately this is a sight we will see more and more of in the future.

People are protesting in Haiti, Argentina, Cambodia, Indonesia, Egypt, Bolivia, Senegal and Yemen because of rising food costs or because they can’t even buy any food – cause there isn’t any.

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A high-speed railway system is finally coming to America. And with America I mean Argentina and not the USA.

The newly elected President, Christina Kirchner, has decided to build a 710 km (440 mile) long high-speed railway system in Argentina for a total cost of $1.35 billion.

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