Demand for organic products continues to rise in Germany. At a trade show in Nuremberg, international suppliers are touting their products to retailers in the German market, the world's second largest for organic foods.

Tomatoes from the Netherlands, cucumbers from Spain, bananas from Columbia and lentils from Canada - a stroll through the offering of organic foods in German supermarkets turns quickly into a culinary voyage around the world.

More than 18,000 tons of organic tomatoes alone were imported to Germany last year. Sales of organic products in 2011 rose nearly 10 percent. Local producers can't supply enough, and some don't even want to try: They've found another profitable area - supplying corn to biogas producers.

BRUSSELS - Organic goods produced in the United States and in Europe will be sold and certified under the same "organic" label in both markets after a trade deal signed on Wednesday (15 February).

Previously, both European and US farmers had to obtain separate certifications. A European farmer, for instance, wishing to sell organic food in the US would have had to obtain a US "organic" label and vice-versa.

Under the new deal, which is to be launched in June, producers on both sides of the Atlantic will have one standard and one certificate issued by existing US or EU national authorities.

Want to understand why we're not solving climate change? Then follow the money - which in this case means following the carbon. I've spent much of the past 24 hours crunching data and it turns out there's a very striking - and oddly overlooked - correlation between fossil fuel reserves and national negotiating position on climate change.

First, though, some background. Last year I wrote about the emerging concept of a "carbon bubble" and the risks for investors of putting money into companies that hold fossil fuel reserves. After all, if the world is to meet its stated 2C target for limiting global warming, most of those fuels will need to be left in the ground.

Eight Nobel laureates including Archbishop Desmond Tutu have written to the prime minister to argue that oil derived from Canadian tar sands "threatens the health of the planet" and that the UK should support European moves to classify the controversial energy source as highly polluting.

A similar letter has been sent this week to the transport minister, Norman Baker, by the shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, asking him "to vote in favour of labelling oil from tar sands as highly polluting immediately and in line with the European commission's proposals".

Britain and France are to sign a landmark agreement to co-operate on civil nuclear energy, paving the way for the construction of a new generation of power plants in the UK.

Deals between British and French companies - worth more than £500m - will allow work to start on new facilities, creating more than 1,500 jobs.

Nice timing. It will be a defining moment in Sarkozy's re-election campaign. He has given up on building new reactors in France; no problem, we'll build French reactors in the UK! (no other clients on the horizon...)

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

EU parliamentarians have agreed a compromise text ahead of a vote this month that should increase pressure on the European Commission to remove carbon allowances to prop up prices on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), which have plumbed record lows.

The news helped carbon prices, with the benchmark contract price rising nearly 4% to €8.68 per tonne within hours.

The compromise wording, as expected, does not specify how many carbon allowances might be withheld to tackle a huge surplus in the market.

Instead, it calls on the Commission to amend the regulation on auctioning carbon permits and to implement measures, which may include "withholding the necessary amount of allowances," a parliamentary source said.

"The good thing is it is giving the Commission a mandate to act before the third phase [of the carbon market, from 2013]. However, we lost the numbers. It was just not possible to get broad support," Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout said.