As we blogged yesterday some environmentalists are questioning the ecological impact of biofuels. Now it seems they are also questioning the latest "alternative energy" source in Spain: Olive pips.

Tomorrow the EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs will present the "eagerly-awaited" Green Paper on Energy Policy, where he will outline a common European response to issues such as energy security and climate change.

Once again Britain’s credentials as a leader in the fight against climate change are being undermined. Tomorrow, one of the country’s leading scientific research organizations – the Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc) – will vote on closing three strategic research centres.

They may be in favour at the White House, but a new report attacks the concept of biofuels being the panacea for either climate change or energy security.

Written by the British-based think tank Science in Society (ISIS), it says that Biofuels have gained prominence from politicians and environmentalists because they are “carbon neutral”, in that they do not add any greenhouse gas into the atmosphere; burning them simply returns to the atmosphere the carbon dioxide that the plants take out when they were growing in the field.

The UK had nearly three times as many as its nearest rival: Poland has seven, the Czech Republic six, Spain five and Germany four.
So much for Britain's green and pleasant land.
The UK had nearly three times as many as its nearest rival: Poland has seven, the Czech Republic six, Spain five and Germany four.
So much for Britain's green and pleasant land.
A new report has concluded that Britain is still the "dirty man of Europe", with the worst number of polluting power stations. Eighteen of Europe's 50 filthiest power stations are in the UK, killing

Two contrasting views of Africa this week in the British press.

On Wednesday The Financial Times published a "Special Report" on Africa's oil and gas, giving it an upbeat assessment. Under the headline: "Continent all set to balance power" the paper reported how: "West Africa, with its copious reserves of natural gas, its sweet light oil and its favourable location between Europe and the US is one of the regions already helping balance the power among the world's oil producers."

A new study in the journal Science has found that the Antarctic ice sheet is melting so fast it is contributing to the rise in global sea levels. 

The first ever satellite study of the continent's ice inventory has revealed that Antarctica is releasing around 35 cubic miles of water into the sea each year, which equates to an increase in sea levels of 0.4mm a year. "This is the first study to indicate the total mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet is in significant decline," argues Isabella Velicogna of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

I always thought the one problem with carbon markets or pollution credits is that they allow companies to carry on polluting. They don't actually fix the problem. Now the UK policy group, the Cornerhouse has published a briefing attacking carbon trading. It was also published by the think think, Foreign Policy in Focus.

According to the Larry Lohmann, from the Cornerhouse: "In their efforts to deal with climate change, most governments are pinning their hopes largely on the carbon markets that, under US influence, have been enshrined in both the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
"This is a mistake"

So the spiral of violence in Nigeria continues. Although six hostages being held by militant youths in the Delta region of Nigeria have been released, a further three are still being held.

On the day that Tony Blair hosts a crisis Downing Street summit to address what he calls "the major long-term threat facing our planet", there is more bad news for the climate.

The Guardian reports how "the Earth's temperature could rise under the impact of global warming to levels far higher than previously predicted, according to the United Nations' team of climate experts".

According to a draft of the influential UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, scientists are now unable to place a reliable upper limit on how quickly the atmosphere will warm as carbon dioxide levels increase. The Guardian