Rio+20

Sha Zukang Shares Insight on Rio+20 - Countless hours of planning, debate, and careful deliberation will come to their culmination in Rio de Janeiro this June, when the United Nations holds its Conference on Sustainable Development there, known more colloquially as Rio+20. (UN News Centre)

Earth Summit Strives for Energy for All - More than 130 world leaders are expected to gather in Rio de Janeiro next month for the summit, which is also referred to as "Rio+20," a nod to the 20th anniversary of the original Rio Summit. (Zulima Palacio, Voice of America)

Ghana: Nation Gears Up for Rio+20 - As the days for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) draws nearer, the country is feverishly preparing its delegates to participate in this all-important event which is scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil next month. (Mohammed Suleman, All Africa)

Energy efficiency

World living way beyond its resources: WWF - Biodiversity has decreased by an average of 28 percent globally since 1970 and the world would have to be 50 percent bigger to have enough land and forests to provide for current levels of consumption and carbon emissions, conservation group WWF said on Tuesday. (Times of India)

Microsoft Taxes Itself to Go Carbon Neutral - This week, Microsoft is announcing an unusual initiative that it hopes will change how the company operates: an internal fee on carbon. (Andrew Winston, The Huffington Post)

Renewable energy

The Artificial Leaf and Sustainable Energy for All - In case you missed it, do check out the New Yorker profile of Daniel Nocera, a scientist who has designed a “a cheap, playing-card-size coated-silicon sheet that, when placed in a glass of tap water and exposed to sunlight, split the water into hydrogen and oxygen.” (Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch)

Green energy funds: Germany to go for full bidding in power from 2013 - Germany, considered as a major green force among the European Union countries, will go for full auctioning in its electricity sector from 2013. (Times of India)

Google's offshore wind cable moves forward - A proposed $5bn transmission line connecting wind farms off the East coast of the US to the mainland is on track to come online by 2017, after the Google-backed project cleared another regulatory hurdle. (The Guardian)

Energy access

Nigeria: Power - FG Seeks Japan's Assistance - The Minister of Environment, Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia has called on the Government of Japan for assistance in the areas of renewable energy, capacity building and proper procedures that would help the country get proper environmental assessment of projects, pre-and post-project execution. (Omotola Oloruntobi, All Africa)

Sustainable energy policy

Green politics: a movement in search of a voice - Voting blue to go green was always going to require a leap of faith, and six years on from David Cameron coining that slogan it sounds a hollow ring. (The Guardian)

Government to make new policies on renewable energy: Modi - Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, on Monday, said that the government was ready to make new policies with focus on solar, bio-mass and hydro power. (Times of India)