Wood-to-oil process could make forest thinning pay. The U.S. departments of Agriculture and Energy estimate that 8 billion dry tons of forest biomass nationwide is available for energy. Of that, 11.6 million dry tons a year — enough to make about 40 million barrels of bio-oil — could come from national forest thinning. [News Source]

Norwegian fund turns focus on environmental issues. Norway's $400 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world's second largest, has overhauled its investment strategy to increase its exposure to environmentally responsible companies in an effort to combat climate change. [News Source]

Public figures and business sign up to 10:10 climate campaign. An unprecedented coalition of scientists, companies, celebrities and organisations spanning the cultural and political spectrum will today commit to slashing their carbon emissions as part of an ambitious campaign to tackle global warming. [News Source]

German scientists call for ‘world climate bank’. German climatologists are pushing for the creation of a "world climate bank" which would allow industrialized countries to purchase emission rights from less-developed nations. The revenues would enable poor countries to finance environmentally friendly economic development. [News Source]

Climate-summit agreement still far off. Friday marked 100 days before the beginning of this year's U.N. climate-change summit, to be held in Copenhagen, which is emerging as the world's last good chance to craft a new global-warming deal. With time running out, global negotiators still seem far apart. [News Source]

Huge L.A. fire threatens more than 10,000 homes. The region's recent drought is a major factor in the fires and spotlights the contribution of long-term climate change across the West – chiefly hotter days on average and longer fire seasons. [News Source]

Risky schemes may be only hope for cooling planet. Sci-fi proposals to cool the planet are laden with risk but may be Earth’s only hope if politicians fail to tackle global warming, scientists said on Tuesday in their biggest evaluation to date of ‘geo-engineering’ concepts. [News Source]

Early warning systems for the coming storm. More than 2,500 experts and policy-makers from 150 countries are attending the World Climate Conference in Geneva this week to discuss how to improve weather forecasting and long-range seasonal weather projections, especially to help poor nations in areas such as agriculture. [News Source]

Himalayan nations hold first climate talks. Nepal's prime minister opened the first climate change conference of Himalayan nations on Monday with a warning about the dangers of melting glaciers, floods and violent storms for the region. [News Source]

UN meet aims to boost global network against climate change. Meteorologists opened the World Climate Conference on Monday in what a US official called a "critical" attempt to share information globally and help communities worldwide adapt to climate change. [News Source]

Climate risks and how to limit damage. A 150-nation conference in Geneva is looking at ways to improve climate information to help people cope with increasing droughts, floods, sandstorms and rising sea levels projected this century. [News Source]