Climate Briefs: New coal plants may

tip global warming levels

PUBLISHEDDEC 2, 2015, 5:00 AM SGT     Source: The Straits Times

    LE BOURGET (France) • While scientists agree humanity needs to phase out coal within 35 years, thousands of new plants are being planned that would doom hopes of keeping global warming to safer levels.

    Greenhouse gas emitted by these 2,440 potential plants - on top of those already in operation - would breach the United Nations (UN) target of restricting the planet's temperature rise, according to a mid-range estimate by Climate Action Tracker, a respected research group.

    Members of the UN are striving for a pact to keep warming under 2 deg C higher than pre-industrial levels.

Hybrid grass may remedy climate change

    CHANGSHA • A hardy, fast-growing grass known as "green heart" in Chinese may be a welcome new addition to the world's arsenal in the war against climate change.

    The grass can grow 5m in two months and acts like a carbon sponge, capturing much higher levels of carbon dioxide than trees, according to researcher Lei Xuejun, who is in Paris for the climate change conference.

    Mr Lei, director of the Carbon Cycle Research Centre in central China, first cultivated the grass in 2013 and has led the research since.

气候简报：新型碳汇植物或可颠覆全球变暖水平

         勒布尔歇（法国）：虽然科学家一致认为人类应该在35年之内淘汰煤炭的使用，但数千个使用煤炭的大型工厂正在计划开设，这将使我们把全球气温保持在安全范围之内的希望破灭。

一个著名的研究小组，气候行动追踪组织（Climate Action Tracker），对此情况在中度范围内进行了评估。他们认为，包括一些已经在运作的这2,440家工厂排放的温室气体将使联合国控制全球升温的目标成为泡影。

杂交草或可挽救气候变化

          长沙：一种来自中国的、生存能力极强的、被称作“绿心”的速生草也许会成为全球对抗气候变化战争的兵工厂里的新成员。

据参加巴黎气候变化会议的研究者雷学军所说，这种草可以在2个月时间内生长至高达5米，它就像一个吸碳能力极强的海绵，其捕碳能力远高于木本植物。

雷学军先生是华中地区碳循环研究中心主任，他于2013年开始种植并研究这种草。