World leaders agreed last year to curb emissions and limit the rise in global temperature to 2°C. Global carbon emissions reached a record level last year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The watchdog says emissions rose again after a dip caused by the financial crisis in 2009, and ended 5% up from the previous record in 2008.

China and India account for most of the rise, though emissions have also grown in developed countries.

The increase raises doubts over whether planned curbs on greenhouse emissions will be achieved, the group says.

At a meeting last year in Cancun, Mexico, world leaders agreed that deep cuts were needed to limit the rise in global temperature to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

But according to the IEA’s estimate, CO2 emissions reached a record 30.6 gigatonnes in 2010.

The IEA’s Fatih Birol said the finding was “another wake-up call”.

“The world has edged incredibly close to the level of emissions that should not be reached until 2020 if the 2°C target is to be attained,” he added.

“Unless bold and decisive decisions are made very soon, it will be extremely challenging to succeed in achieving this global goal agreed in Cancun.”

Source: BBC

Despite numbers of staff employed by central government falling slightly over the last decade, costs have increased by 10 per cent.

“Work to identify potential savings in central government’s staffing costs has begun, but there are a number of areas of weakness.

“Increasing numbers of higher grade posts have led to much of the recent cost growth. The centre of government needs to review its ability to understand and challenge these management decisions. There is also a lack of a structured approach to delivering the staff cost reduction required across government in the next Spending Review period.

“If these areas of weakness are not dealt with, real risks to value for money remain.” says Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office.

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The government has announced plans to review Tupe regulations, as well as collective redundancy and discrimination compensation, as part of its efforts to reduce the burden of red tape.

The three newly-targeted areas were highlighted by Ed Davey, Minister for Employment Relations, in a speech to the Institute for Economic Affairs. He said that Tupe (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) regulations which protect employees pay and conditions when an organisation is transferred from one owner to another, were being reviewed because some businesses think these rights are gold plated and overly bureaucratic.

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The 2011 Sunday Times Rich List, published this weekend, reveals that the 1,000 wealthiest people in the country are now worth a combined £395.8 billion, equivalent to more than a third of the national debt.

The number of billionaires has risen from 53 to 73, while nine people have seen their fortunes rise by £1 billion or more during the past 12 months alone.

The soaring fortunes of Britain’s wealthiest men and women have put them within striking distance of the pre-recession boom in 2008, when there were 75 billionaires and the 1,000 wealthiest people were worth £413 billion.

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