China and the U.S. — the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases — have agreed to bring specific emissions reduction targets to Copenhagen, which could “reignite stalled progress for a global climate agreement” argues a piece at Bloomberg. But others say the targets amount to nothing more than business as usual.

An agreement among the world’s wealthiest nations to contribute at least $10 billion annually to help poorer nations combat the effects of global warming would go a long way toward making climate talks in Copenhagen end in success, said U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer.

Grist’s Copenhagen Central supplies a wealth of background information on the climate talks, as well as up to the minute twitter coverage of related news.

A series of studies published in British medical journal The Lancet found that cutting greenhouse gas emissions could save millions of lives each year.

The world’s largest corporations are investing 3-5 percent of their annual revenues in clean technologies. SolveClimate looks at how investment is spurring green job growth.

With climate legislation once again on the Congressional back burner, a Senate jobs bill may be an “interim opportunity to get some solid green jobs legislation passed,” according to Its Getting Hot In Here.

Researchers at M.I.T. believe they’ve developed a way to harness gadgets’ waste heat for energy use.

Local Green: A new solar panel manufacturing plant in Philadelphia could create 400 to 500 new jobs.

California regulators approved a new transmission line that will carry solar energy from the inland desert to the state’s coast.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of jimg944/ / CC BY 2.0

Yet another major utility - the third in a week - is leaving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the group’s opposition to climate change legislation. Some question whether the Chamber’s top official - who is also on Union Pacific’s board of directors - can be an unbiased leader in the climate legislation debate.

Fossil fuel producers’ opposition to climate change legislation may hinder the industry’s growth because investors increasingly see opportunities in the clean energy sector.

Investors might want to check out Newsweek’s inaugural Green Rankings.

Green living is ingrained in Europe’s social contract while America lags behind.

New science suggests climate change-related problems will be bigger and arrive sooner than was believed a few years ago. But old industries and outdated political philosophies relegate action to the political back burner, argues Paul Krugman.

American religious groups back climate legislation in large numbers from across the faith-based spectrum.

The Wonk Room recently spoke with the William J. Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative’s senior policy adviser Ira Magazine.

MoveOn’s Will Work For Clean Energy events will be held across the country on Friday to highlight the connection between clean energy and good jobs.

“Energy farming” is helping rural America weather the recession and create good paying jobs.

Local Green: Philadelphia hopes to institute a $1.6 billion plan to divert storm water, save energy and reduce wear on the city’s aging sewage.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of live w mcs /  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

The International Energy Agency says the money made available for greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects through various economic stimulus plans around the world fall “far short” of necessary funding.

Delegates convened in Germany this week to work on the text of an international climate treaty.

The International Organization for Migration warns that climate change could create 200 million refugees by 2050.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee plans to work out details of a renewable energy standard and building efficiency codes this week.

Anticipating renewable energy standards, American Electric Power Company issued a proposal for the long term purchase of up to 1,100 megawatts of clean energy.

The potential to abuse public lands and funds in the name of clean energy is pushing the Interior Department to keep a closer watch over emerging projects.

Local Green: Vermont became the first state to adopt a broad feed-in tariff system.

A variety of clean energy and energy efficiency projects are on Hawaii’s horizon, as it works to generate 70 percent of its energy through renewables by 2030.

Utah’s senators say funding requests for clean energy projects have more than doubled recently.

Some worry that Texas’ reluctance to embrace clean energy will tarnish the state’s reputation as a leading energy producer.

Texas A&M University researchers expect climate change to increase hurricane-related damage along the Texas coast in coming years.

Philadelphia is weatherizing thousands of aging row houses and training a green-collar workforce to get the job done.

–Christopher Greenspan

Road projects receive $28 billion in stimulus money today with a hope of creating and keeping 150,000 jobs in the next two years.

State legislatures are being urged to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act, but unions and their allies are fighting back.

G.M. says the auto industry faces its deepest slump since the end of World War II.

Remarks made by Energy Secretary Steven Chu indicate the department will make a radical departure from its decades-long focus on OPEC in order to concentrate on clean energy.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will discuss the future of a national smart grid at a hearing tomorrow.

A piece at Grist calls President Obama’s proposed cap-and-trade program, which prices CO2 at $14.30 per ton, “a start, but a very slow one.”

The U.S. House of Representatives abandoned plans to make its offices carbon neutral. The Green the Capitol program initiated the idea of a carbon neutral House .

Pressed by the tight financial market, OptiSolar sold $400 million in solar projects to thin-film panel developer First Solar.

Green-collar job training programs are cropping up across the country, as many workers anticipate the Obama administration’s proposed green jobs corp.

A commercial real estate development association claim that an energy efficiency mandate is unreasonable is based on a flawed and limited analysis.

Local Green: Two young social entrepreneurs in Ohio have siezed the opportunity in the economic downturn to create jobs with a weatherization program.

Some critics say Washington state Senator Chris Marr’s proposed changes to the state’s clean energy mandate would “effectively nullify” it.

In Philadelphia, green-collar industries are emerging on old industrial brownfield sites.

–Christopher Greenspan