Austria will invest 160 million euros ($213.4 million) in climate protection projects in Europe to cover the gap it faces to meet commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich said on Wednesday.

He said the money would go towards "green investment scheme" projects in other European countries.

Austria needs to buy the equivalent of 32 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) to meet its carbon reduction requirements under the Kyoto accord, he said in a statement.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann expects petition drives to start in at least six European Union members this year with the goal of having the EU abandon nuclear power, he said in a newspaper interview.

Under the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, petitions that attract at least one million signatures can seek legislative proposals from the European Commission, and Faymann said rules on this should be ratified by June.

European farmers are likely to fall behind in the competitive world grain market as EU consumer hostility to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) drives away research and prevents cultivation of high-yield and pest-resistant crops.

The European Union has approved only one GMO grain for cultivation - Monsanto's insect-resistant MON810 maize (corn). Fierce opposition has led Germany, Austria, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and Bulgaria to ban it.

European farmers are likely to fall behind in the competitive world grain market as EU consumer hostility to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) drives away research and prevents cultivation of high-yield and pest-resistant crops.

The European Union has approved only one GMO grain for cultivation - Monsanto's insect-resistant MON810 maize (corn). Fierce opposition has led Germany, Austria, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and Bulgaria to ban it.

The European Commission said on Wednesday it had approved an Austrian scheme to support renewable energy production.

The Austrian plan would create incentives to increase the production of renewable energy while also limiting distortions to competition, said a statement from the Commission, which acts as competition regulator in the 27-member European Union.

The scheme aims to help Austria reach the EU's 2020 renewable energy target and includes operating aid in the form of subsidized feed-in tariffs and investment grants.

WASHINGTON: Key steps on pollution control would slow down global warming by 0.5 degree Celsius, increase crop yields by 135 million tonnes and prevent thousands of premature deaths every year in India, Nepal and Bangladesh by 2050, reveals a study. The 14 steps, highlighted by NASA scientist Drew Shindell, are the outcome of an analysis of 400 control measures by an international team, based on technologies evaluated by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria.