The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council and other non-EU member states agreed to launch a formal protest against the EU last week over its plans to charge for carbon emissions from airlines, a move ICAO and other countries called discriminatory and inconsistent with global laws. Starting in January, airlines will have to buy permits from the Emissions Trading Scheme for 15% of carbon emissions produced during flights to and from Europe.

European's conservation values vary greatly by region, according to a study supported by the European Commission. The study investigated whether members of the public valued conservation priorities similarly by conducting 1,502 interviews asking how much people were willing to pay to conserve different species. Researchers chose three coastal locations in Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Poland to carry out their survey, and found significant differences in the way people valued mammals, fish, birds, algae, and invertebrates.

The EU Commission will re-open carbon offset spot trading step-by-step as each registry proves its security, EU officials said, after a possibly concerted theft of carbon permits worth up to 30 million euros led to a week-long freeze last Wednesday. The theft, focusing on markets in the Czech Republic and Austria, led to an investigation that declared 14 of the EU's 27 registries "not up to scratch," according to the European Commission's climate action spokeswoman Maria Kokkonen.

After hearing that the European Union (EU) was set to fall halfway short of its 20% energy efficiency savings by 2020 goal, leaders of the 27 member states overhauled its energy strategy to develop one that may set it on track for 25% carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions cuts by 2020. Currently, the EU as a whole is set to achieve a savings of only 8.9%, less than half its goal, while Germany, Hungary, and Poland will likely fall short by over a third.

The European Commission is developing a strategy to simultaneously recycle and assist countries in Africa in sustainably mining rare earth materials, partially in response to a reduction in export quotas by China, provider of 97% of the world's supply. China issued an outright ban on rare earth exports to Japan in a dispute over fishing rights last year, and a few weeks ago Caijing magazine reported that China would begin stockpiling materials.

Several of the largest energy companies in Europe announced that they would support greater greenhouse gas emission cuts on Friday. The firms included Britain's Scottish & Southern Energy, Denmark's Dong Energy, and Dutch firm Eneco, and they issued a statement in advance of EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard's strategy paper expected on Tuesday. The current carbon dioxide target is 20 percent below 1990 levels, but the firms suggested the EU should enact a 25 percent cut target.

The European Union (EU) plans to include maritime transport in emissions trading, in addition to possibly imposing charges on carbon dioxide discharges from ships. Global maritime transport is the source of almost three percent of carbon dioxide discharges, and the International Maritime Organization has failed to agree on measures to curb emissions from ships for more than a decade. Yvon Slingenberg, head of the emissions trading unit at the European Commission, said that the EU will create a "parallel track" to use its own tools to limit maritime pollution.

Point Carbon analysts said that UK's plan to introduce a price floor for carbon emissions permits may harm business by introducing a £9.3 ($15) billion burden, but will likely cut emissions from the energy industry by 5.3 percent. The proposed floor will begin at £16 ($26) per metric ton in 2013 and rise to £30 ($49) per metric ton by 2030. However, according to Point Carbon, the price could rise to €54 ($78) per metric ton by 2020, while the rest of EU's Emissions Trading Scheme sees prices closer to €36 ($52).

U.S. climate negotiator Todd Stern and European climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said that they didn't think that a climate deal at talks in South Africa in December was likely. "There is just this feeling that it's simply not doable for Durban," said Hedegaard after a meeting of the Major Economies Forum. Nations at last year's Cancun meeting agreed to curb the loss of forest, help transfer clean technology to poorer nations, and set a goal to provide $100 billion a year in aid by 2020.

Indonesia and the European Union have reached a voluntary partnership agreement aimed at stopping trade in illegal timber, said Agus Sarsito, Director for International Cooperation at the Indonesia Ministry of Forestry. The agreement is expected to be signed by both sides in October. The pact, designed to protect the third largest tropical forest nation in the world, will likely make Indonesian timber more competitive in other markets, such as the United States, that have adopted illegal timber curbing policies, according to the EU.