Climate change: 2020 deadline is the crucial “litmus test.” Few of the more than 600 energy ministers, officials and experts from 80 countries attending the Vienna Energy Conference believe that there will be a meaningful agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the global climate talks this December in Copenhagen. [News Source]

Carbon capture probably doable, experts say, but barriers exist. Here, in this open field under a blue Alberta sky, is the business end of what the energy industry hopes will be a crucial part of its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and what the provincial government prays will get the world off its back. [News Source]

US Interior Secretary proposes solar energy zones. Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday announced measures he said would expedite solar energy projects on federal lands. Although hundreds of solar plant projects have applied for leases, none have been approved, and the fast-track effort was applauded by industry. [News Source]

CO2: A bane and a boon to Wyoming energy. Dozens of oil companies are eagerly awaiting additional carbon dioxide supplies from Wyoming gas processing facilities. They want to inject CO2 into oil reservoirs, sweeping millions of barrels of known reserves that remain after initial production. [News Source]

Oil sands to take hit from U.S. bill. Alberta's oil sands producers and their U.S. refiners face sharply higher costs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and championed by U.S. President Barack Obama. [News Source]

Norway pushes ahead with carbon capture-storage. As countries struggle to find ways to reduce their carbon footprints, an ambitious state-backed project involving Norway's main oil company is under way to capture carbon dioxide and inject it into the seabed under the North Sea. [News Source]

The environmnetal risks of Arctic shipping. As the Arctic warms, an expected increase in shipping threatens to introduce invasive species, harm existing marine wildlife and lead to damaging oil spills, according to a recent report from the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum of Arctic nations. [News Source]

Global: climate change information for the poor. Under-resourced media are failing rural people in developing countries, who are most vulnerable to climate change and in greater need of information to protect themselves from more intense cyclones and longer droughts, according to a new study on Climate Change and the Media. [News Source]

Weather disasters may rise in China. The nation is bracing for a higher risk of more extreme weather as a trend toward increasing weather-related disasters has been recorded since the 1990s, top weather experts have said. [News Source]

Climate change hits hard on food production. Developing countries such as Rwanda need to conserve as much water as they can sustain, in order to counteract the problems of global warming and maintain agriculture at a level commensurate with the needs of the population. [News Source]

Using inaccurate statistics against climate bill. The climate change bill heads to the Senate--and in all likelihood, so will some inaccurate statistics. Some opponents of the climate change and energy bill are still using numbers they’ve been told are wrong. [News Source]