As diplomats entered the tense concluding hours of last year's climate change summit in Durban, South Africa, leaders of Europe's 27 member nations met for a final coordinating session. European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard wanted to make something clear. Europe was dangling a promise to sign onto future carbon cuts under the Kyoto Protocol. But in exchange, it wanted a road map with a clear deadline paving the way for a new global deal that bound all major emitters -- something India, China and the United States were resisting.

Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected president of the Maldives and a crusading advocate for climate action, resigned yesterday in what is being widely reported as a coup.

Environmental activists hailed Nasheed as a visionary and outspoken leader who put his tiny Indian Ocean archipelago on the map in the international climate change arena.

The Canadian and Albertan governments released an expansive joint plan Friday for monitoring the environmental impacts of the country's oil sands region, a move that the national government said would improve the industry's image worldwide.

The plan comes as Canada awaits a decision from the European Commission as early as this month on whether to classify oil sands crude as more carbon-intensive than other fuels, an option that would reduce demand for Canada's product there. It also comes as Republicans in the U.S. Congress continue to weigh legislation that would push forward Keystone XL, a proposed pipeline that would have stretched from Alberta to Texas before it was denied a cross-border permit last month by the Obama administration.