Bush kills off hopes for G8 climate-change plan: George Bush yesterday threw international efforts to control climate change into confusion with a proposal to create a “new global framework” to curb Greenhouse gas emissions as an alternative to a planned UN process. The proposal came less than a week before a G8 summit in Germany and appeared to hit European hopes that the world’s industrialised nations would commit to halving their emissions by 2050. Guardian

Green Leaders: A guide to the world’s greenest companies: As companies fall over themselves to parade their green credentials to customers and investors, The Independent, in conjunction with Eiris (Ethical Investment Research Services) presents a guide to the greenest companies in the UK and the world.  Independent

Vatican installs solar panels: The Vatican will install solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of its Paul VI audience hall in a comprehensive energy project that will pay for itself in a few years, according to the brains behind the idea. The solar array will power the building’s heating, cooling and lighting systems year-round. United Press International

China’s plan to fight global warming: China will unveil a national plan next week to combat climate change, officials of the country’s top economic planner said yesterday. As part of the Government’s efforts to meet the challenge of global warming, the national program will encourage energy conservation and promote the use of new technology to trap Greenhouse gases, a National Development and Reform Commission official told the international media in Beijing. China Daily

An auto insider takes on climate change: There are millions of reasons to think Congress won’t do much about global warming, all stockpiled in the lobbying budgets of the US’s mightiest interest groups — automakers and other manufacturers, environmentalists, labor unions, farmers, oil companies, coal companies, utilities, the military, anti-taxers and so on. A Washington axiom holds that it’s always easier to do nothing than to do something. By that standard, tackling climate change, which would affect every industry and every private life, looks almost impossible. Time