by Dr. Hermann Scheer (published in the German Edition of “Le Monde Diplomatique”, February issue) The main reason why the public around the world were so shocked by the shameful outcome of the World Climate Conference in Copenhagen was that they were basically unprepared for failure. Everything seemed to be pointing to success: a manifestly pressing problem, upbeat government announcements, urgent appeals from NGOs, worldwide media interest and the participation of numerous heads of state, who hoped to turn the meeting into a "G120" summit.

3TIER® today announced the completion of its REmapping the World™ initiative, which was launched in March 2008 to address the biggest barrier to global renewable energy adoption – the lack of reliable information regarding resource potential and availability. With today’s release of a global solar map and dataset, the company has completed its unprecedented goal of identifying and mapping the world’s wind and solar resources using a globally consistent methodology.

A new ranking of the world’s nations by environmental performance puts some of the globe’s largest economies far down the list, with the United States sinking to 61st and China to 121st.