<p>Last week, the State Council, China's cabinet, announced a set of support guidelines aimed at augmenting the country's new-energy vehicle market, which has performed far below the government's expectations. Battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and fuel-cell cars will all be eligible under the plan, set to be phased in over the next two years.

<p>The United Kingdom's government announced last week that it would cap subsidies for renewable energy projects at £200 million ($340 million) a year, a move that frustrated green energy advocates and small businesses in the industry. The decision will affect the funding of large-scale, low-carbon installations from wind and solar farms to biomass-burning power plants.

<p>The <em>Guardian</em> reported that plans by the World Bank to relax the conditions on which it lends up to $50 billion per year to developing countries have been condemned as potentially "disastrous" for the environment and likely to weaken protection of indigenous peoples and the poor.