Bloomberg.com

Prime Minister John Howard set a target for 15 percent of Australia's energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, in a bid to woo voters ahead of an election before early December. By Gemma Daley

Friends of the Earth and Ecojustice Canada, two environmental advocacy groups, sued the Canadian government for failing to draft a plan for meeting the pollution-reductions goals of the Kyoto Protocol. By Joe Schneider

Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended an arms treaty with NATO that limits the deployment of conventional forces across Europe, citing concerns that the agreement undermines Russia's security. By Maria Ermakova

The US must begin to cut emissions of greenhouse gases before it can expect developing nations such as China and India to do so, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said.

Clare Idriss was so concerned about carbon emissions generated by her wedding guests traveling across Australia in October that she bought A$350 ($283) of pollution credits to offset the greenhouse gases. By Angela Macdonald-Smith

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered all city taxis to operate on hybrid engines by 2012 as part of his drive to reduce air pollution. By Stacie Servetah and Adam Cataldo

Wild relatives of peanuts and potatoes are increasingly at risk of extinction as a result of climate change, depriving their cultivated versions of a valuable gene pool, researchers said. By Alex Morales

Australia, which relies on agriculture for 20 percent of its exports, will provide grants to farmers stricken by the worst drought in 100 years and will spend A$4.3 billion tackling climate change and water use. By Gemma Daley

Halliburton Co., the world's second-largest oilfield-services provider, will move chief executive David Lesar to a new corporate headquarters in Dubai to help the company expand in the Middle East and Asia.

The biggest oil spill Exxon Mobil Corp. has to answer for isn't the cargo that gushed from the Exxon Valdez tanker into Alaska's Prince William Sound. It's the fuel soaked into the ground beneath a working class section of Brooklyn, New York. By Matthew Leising

Environmentalists concerned about global warming want the U.S. Supreme Court to turn up the heat on President George W. Bush. By Greg Stohr

The world's ecosystem is being degraded by humans at an unsustainable rate that risks causing ``irreversible damage'' to the planet, the conservation group WWF said. By Alex Morales

The Government may provide details on options for a carbon tax on the country's power generators as early as next week, Energy Minister David Parker said yesterday. By Gavin Evans

London Mayor Ken Livingstone said the U.K. capital will aim to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a contributor to global warming, by 15 percent by 2010 and encourage developers to use more renewable energy in a bid to make the city more environmentally friendly. By Brian Lysaght

Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Cadbury Schweppes Plc today agreed to a stricter voluntary ban that will halt almost all soda sales in kindergarten through the 12th grade to reduce obesity in children.

Kent, known as the Garden of England, is drier than Jerusalem. Or Istanbul. Or Dallas. Rainfall in southern England this year is the third-lowest on record, robbing Kent of its lush countryside. Streams have vanished and reservoir levels are plunging. By Alex Morales

Climate change will kill billions of people this century as the Earth warms, passing into a ``fever'' phase from which it may take 100,000 years to recover, James Lovelock, the scientist who propounded the ``Gaia'' theory, said.

The European Union said it will cut gas emissions blamed for global warming more than planned over the next seven years, as environmental policies such as limits on factory air pollution show results.

A special counsel is focusing on whether Vice President Dick Cheney played a role in leaking a covert CIA agent's name, according to people familiar with the probe that already threatens top White House aides Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. By Richard Keil

New Zealand household power prices will rise by at least 6 per cent because of a tax on carbon dioxide in an effort to comply with the nation's obligation to reduce emissions under terms of the Kyoto protocol, the NZ government said. By Gavin Evans

Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer, expects damage from natural disasters to rise ``exponentially'' in the coming years, triggered by human-driven climate changes such as global warming.