<p>Australia’s Climate Change Authority—a group founded in 2011 that conducts independent research and analysis on climate change—has deemed the country’s target of a five percent cut in carbon emissions to be inadequate. According to the Authority, a 15 to 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 would put Australia “more in line with what other countries are doing,” and a report by the Authority even recommended a target reduction of 35-50 percent by 2030.

<p>On November 11, representatives from nearly 200 countries will gather in Warsaw for the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Discussion will focus on a global deal to fight climate change that would be agreed to in 2015 and implemented in 2020. A report released last Thursday by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency could complicate these talks as it addresses who is most to blame for global warming—a key discussion point in UN climate negotiations.

<p>Last Thursday, a federal review panel said that a revised mine plan for Taseko Mines’ New Prosperity copper-gold project in British Columbia still poses a threat to the environment. According to the panel, the project could harm land and resources used by certain aboriginal groups, in addition to the water quality and fish in Fish Lake. In 2010, Ottawa blocked the development of the Taseko project based on worries about damage to the environment, but Taseko claims that the new plan addresses those concerns.