<p>New South Wales will extend its ban on hydraulic fracturing until April to give the state, the most populous in Australia, time to strengthen standards for the extraction process. The move, which adds an additional three months to the state's moratorium, comes shortly after the release of a Senate committee report that recommended the suspension of all new coal seam gas projects in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, pending further research on fracking's effects.

<p>Environment Minister Peter Kent declined to confirm or deny that Canada is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol, a move that would save the country as much as $6.7 billion and make it the first of 191 signatories to annul its obligations. Kent declined to confirm that Canada would pull out of Kyoto, but he did say the government wouldn't make further commitments to it. "Kyoto is the past," he said at a press conference.

<p>A government study indicated that the United Kingdom may substantially surpass carbon reduction targets, an accomplishment that Chris Huhne, secretary of state for energy and climate change, hopes will demonstrate to Durban that cuts are achievable. The report "shows other economies that, with the right planning, the transition to a low-carbon economy is achievable and affordable," said Huhne. Emissions have dropped by 25% since 1990, but the report indicated that those cuts were much easier to achieve than those needed over the next 20 years.