"Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) yesterday backed off efforts to block EPA from weighing contested ethanol emissions after Administrator Lisa Jackson pledged that biofuels rules will reflect uncertainty around international indirect land-use change emissions."

"The Commerce Department unveiled the first 77 'smart grid' standards today aimed at removing a major barrier to the implementation of digital grid technologies."

"REDD -- A plan to save the world's rainforests looks like it could carry the day at the international climate talks in Copenhagen in December."

"A 50 percent leap in the shares of lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems Inc on their first day of trading looks likely to jumpstart the market for clean-tech share offerings."

"After weeks of waiting, it now looks like the Senate will see a climate bill next week after all. At an event in Pittsburgh ahead of the G20 summit, bill cosponsor John Kerry (D-Mass.) announced that the bill will be released next Wednesday."

Environmentalists are criticizing paper companies for making ultra-soft toilet paper out of cut trees instead of recycled fiber.

"Climate researchers now predict the planet will warm by 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century even if the world's leaders fulfill their most ambitious climate pledges, a much faster and broader scale of change than forecast just two years ago, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations Environment Program."

Alan Carlin, a 72-year-old analyst and economist made a splash in June with his contrarian views on global warming. He -- and conservative commentators and Congressional Repuplicans -- claimed EPA had muzzled him. But documents disclosed in response to a FOIA request show that scientists challenged his views, that his scholarship was shoddy, that he had no academic qualifications on climate, and that he was free to talk to the press.

"Two top U.S. natural gas producers called on the industry to release data about the chemicals they use in the fast-growing Marcellus shale development to counter fears it was polluting water supplies."

"The Group of 20 will agree to phase out subsidies on oil and other fossil fuels in the 'medium term,' but will not set a firm timetable for the move aimed at combating global warming, a draft statement said."