EU-DIGEST

UN Pact To Expose Europe’s Biggest Polluters

A new United Nations pact is set to blow the cover of Europe’s biggest polluters, according to the world body’s Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The UN Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers – the first-ever legally binding pact on pollutants – requires countries to report every year on the amounts of certain types of pollutants released in the air or transferred to other facilities by industrial sites as well as smaller, widespread sources such as traffic and agriculture. That information will then be listed on the Internet. The pact – which will enter into force on 8 October, 90 days after France ratified it on 10 July – will help to identify the largest polluters in communities across Europe. Facilities releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases, which amplify global warming, will also be bound by the treaty. Past experience has shown that public disclosure of information on the release of pollutants has driven companies to improve their environmental performance, and the Protocol will give people in the 36 countries and the European Community, which are party to it, a new weapon with which to lobby for a drop in pollution.

The new pact is a protocol to the so-called UNECE Aarhus Convention, or the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, which entered into force in October 2001.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, United Nations

The Islam and the Environment - The Environmental Crisis is also a Spiritual Crisis

It's rather unusual for Islam and environmental protection to be mentioned in the same breath. What sort of environmental concepts does Islam have to offer? There are regulations known from the Islamic regions from former times that one could describe as instruments for nature and wildlife conservation and attempts are now being made to try to revive these. Among these are the so-called harim and hima zones, for example. They include the idea of having protective zones around springs and watercourses, where, for example, no settlements are permitted, so as to keep the water from becoming polluted. Also, in the words and deeds of the prophet and the early Muslims, which have come down to us, there are examples to be found that tell us we should be sparing and prudent in our use of natural resources and provide well for our animals. They provide an example to be followed by later generations.

Labels: Environment: climate change, Islam

Gavin Starks, CEO of AMEE, a web services platform that helps track and measure carbon consumption, scared the heck out of the audience recently at the Green:Net conference in San Francisco. He started off by pointing out that a 2.5-kilogram MacBook costs the equivalent of 460 kilograms of carbon dioxide. The solution in Stark’s talk begins with the understanding of each person’s energy use, the creation of what he calls an “energy identity.” To create such an identity there are open standards that should be created (AMEE is trying) as well as privacy concerns that must be addressed, given the granularity of the information that will be shared. Such information could include your purchases, your energy consumption habits such as when you watch TV and what time you turn out the lights and go to bed. Securing such data will be key as well.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, Internet, US

The environment: Coca Cola Tests a Hybrid Truck in Bruxelles, EU - by James Kanter

Beverage giant Coca-Cola has been delivering some of its products with hybrid electric trucks in North America for some time. Now the company says it will roll out the first hybrid vehicle of its kind to be used in a European city. Coke says the hold-up in Europe was a special formula – not for the famously secret recipe for its cola but for manufacturing hybrid engines for delivery vehicles in urban areas, where frequent stops and starts are common. The new Coca-Cola truck, which weighs 12 tons, will serve a 20-kilometer route in the center of Brussels running both diesel and electric engines. A battery feeds the electric motor to start and accelerate up to 20 kilometers an hour. Then the diesel motor takes over when the vehicle normally consumes the least fuel, at speeds over 20 kilometers an hour.

The pilot program, to run in Brussels until July, is part of Coke’s efforts at “developing a sustainable transport strategy across our European business,” Mr. Patricot said.

Labels: Coca Cola, Environment: climate change, EU

What do cars and cows have in common? No, not horns - Carl Mortished

Proposals to tax the flatulence of cows and other livestock have been denounced by farming groups in the Irish Republic and Denmark. A cow tax of €13 per animal has been mooted in Ireland, while Denmark is discussing a levy as high as €80 per cow to offset the potential penalties each country faces from European Union legislation aimed at combating global warming. The proposed levies are opposed vigorously by farming groups. The Irish Farmers' Association said that the cattle industry would move to South America to avoid EU taxes.

Livestock contribute 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Labels: Alternative fuels, Environment: climate change, EU, Taxation

Nice for the butt, bad for the environment

For the complete report from the guardian.co.uk click on this link

The Environment - The Environment - Multi-Ply Toilet Paper - Nice for the Butt, bad for the Environment

The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country's love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public's insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom. "This is a product that we use for less than three seconds and the ecological consequences of manufacturing it from trees is enormous," said Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Future generations are going to look at the way we make toilet paper as one of the greatest excesses of our age. Making toilet paper from virgin wood is a lot worse than driving Hummers in terms of global warming pollution." Making toilet paper has a significant impact because of chemicals used in pulp manufacture and cutting down forests.

More than 98% of the toilet roll sold in America comes from virgin forests, said Hershkowitz. In Europe and Latin America, up to 40% of toilet paper comes from recycled products. Greenpeace this week launched a cut-out-and-keep ecological ranking of toilet paper products.

Note EU-Digest: What did people use before toilet paper? Well, just use your imagination: grass, leaves, fur, mussel shells, corncobs, stinging nettles... okay, maybe not that last, at least not more than once. The ancient Greeks used stones and pieces of clay; ancient Romans used sponges on the ends of sticks, kept in jugs filled with salty water. Corncobs and pages torn from newspapers and magazines were commonly used in the early American West. People from the Middle East and the Mediterranean commonly used the left hand, which is supposedly still considered unclean in the Arabian region. In 1928 Hans Klenk became the first European to roll paper bands however the American Arthur Scott had previously accomplished the same effect in 1890. W.C. Alcock created an alternative to the current popular newspaper use in the 1880s. The modern toilet paper roll has definitely made life much easier and more hygienic for us all. At last count there were over 5,000 companies who produce bathroom tissue in various parts of the globe. If we can use recycled paper to make bathroom tissues and thereby contribute to a cleaner environment, why not?

Labels: Environment: climate change, Tissue Paper, Toilet Paper, US

Britain has the most polluted roads in the EU, posing a serious risk to health and threatening to restore the nation's status as the "dirty man" of Europe. A report from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says hundreds of local authorities breach EU limits for nitrogen dioxide, which has been linked to asthma, stunted lung growth in children and premature death. The fumes on certain stretches of road breach safety levels in 95 per cent of cities and regions in Britain, compared with 82 per cent in Austria, 52 per cent in Germany and 21 per cent in France.

The report warns that Britain faces huge fines for breaching EU air pollution laws unless it takes radical measures such as introducing subsidies for electric cars or a national road pricing scheme.

Labels: Britain, Environment: climate change, EU, Roads

China, Europe and Climate Demand - by James Kanter

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with European Union officials on Friday morning in Brussels, and while significant parts of the gathering concerned the global financial crisis and human rights, the two sides also signed agreements on forestry and clean power in a further sign of how energy and environment are key components of the global agenda. The forestry measures are designed to reduce demand for illegal timber, said Johannes Laitenberger, a spokesman for José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission. The clean power measure aims to establish a permanent center in Beijing to promote greener technologies, and to assist China in becoming a low-carbon economy, said Mr. Laitenberger. Talking without notes and “from the heart,” Mr. Wen emphasized how the world is increasingly “multipolar” and how the E.U., the world’s biggest bloc of countries, needed to work with China, the fastest-growing country, on issues like climate change.

Labels: China, Environment: climate change, EU, Global Economy

Europe to U.S.: You’re a Big Polluter - by Sarah Graham

Now that George W. Bush has left the White House, European Union leaders are piling pressure on President Barack Obama to adopt regulations on climate change. The ideal scenario for Europe would be for the United States quickly to establish a system to cap and trade carbon dioxide, and then pledge to put pressure on other rich countries to do the same thing. The European Union already has adopted potentially costly policies that could hurt the trade bloc’s industrial competitiveness. If the United States resists that model, or delays action, Europe’s policies could lose their legitimacy.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, US

Observing the Earth - Keeping an eye on Wilkins Ice Shelf

As the Wilkins Ice Shelf is at risk of breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula, ESA’s Envisat satellite is observing the area on a daily basis. The satellite acquisitions of the ice shelf are updated automatically on this website to monitor the developments immediately as they occur.

In late November, new rifts developed on the ice shelf that scientists warn could lead to the opening of the ice bridge that connects the ice shelf to the Charcot island. If the ice bridge were to open, it could put the entire ice shelf at risk of further disintegrating.

Labels: Environment: climate change, ESA, EU

Italy to veto new EU climate targets if there are no concessions-by Robin Pomeroy

(Reuters)Italy's environment minister said today his country will veto new European greenhouse gas limits for 2020 unless it gets concessions,suggesting the EU might have to wait a year before adopting new climate change policies. French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants a European Union summit he will chair next month to agree a 20 percent emissions cut, something the EU would use to press other countries for a new global treaty for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Most EU diplomats believe Italy is posturing to try to eke out a better deal for its industry and that Berlusconi would not dare risk the stigma of torpedoing the EU's long-held and self-declared role as global leader in climate change policy.

Without a deal at the December 11-12 Brussels summit, there is practically no chance the EU could agree in time for a climate change conference in December 2009 where the world is supposed to define a post-Kyoto treaty.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, Italy

Alternative Energy Suddenly Faces Headwinds - by Clifford Krauss

For all the support that the presidential candidates are expressing for renewable energy, alternative energies like wind and solar are facing big new challenges because of the credit freeze and the plunge in oil and natural gas prices.Shares of alternative energy companies have fallen even more sharply than the rest of the stock market in recent months. The struggles of financial institutions are raising fears that investment capital for big renewable energy projects is likely to get tighter. Advocates are concerned that if the prices for oil and gas keep falling, the incentive for utilities and consumers to buy expensive renewable energy will shrink. That is what happened in the 1980s when a decade of advances for alternative energy collapsed amid falling prices for conventional fuels.

Note EU-Digest

like most reactions in the financial world this one is also based on just a snapshot of the actual moment. Medium and long term predictions are a gradual phase out of fossil fuels and a rapid increase of alternative technologies and fuels.

Labels: Alternative fuels, Environment: climate change, Stock Market

EU heads towards mandatory Eco-labelling - by Armin Mayer

Brussels policy-makers are planning a far-reaching expansion of mandatory labelling and “eco-design” requirements in the European Union, as part of a push to cut carbon dioxide emissions, resource use and waste.

The existing labeling scheme for energy-using products such as washing machines and refrigerators will be extended to all manufactured consumer goods, from windows and bathtubs to shoes and clothing. The EU’s voluntary “flower” or “eco-label”, which can be found on consumer goods such as detergents and shampoos with a low environmental impact, will also be simplified in an effort to cover more products.

Labels: Alternative Energy Resources, Environment: climate change

EU leaders slam White House climate plan | EU - European Information on Climate Change

Outgoing US President George Bush's plans to cap CO2 emissions by 2025 have attracted scorn in Europe, where the proposed measures are seen as insufficient and overdue. But the US is also critical of 'rhetorical' CO2 commitments and favors clean tech development.And Andrej Kranjc, environment secretary for Slovenia, which currently holds the rotating EU Presidency, expressed his "disappointment" with the 2025 target, which is widely seen as 'too little, too late' compared with the EU's commitment to slash GHG emissions by 20% by 2020.

Labels: Climate Change, Environment: climate change, EU

Replace 'GDP': Toward a new Political Economy of Social Justice and Environmental Protection - by John Stokes

It is about time that responsible members of the economics profession begin a constructive dialogue on the relative merits of the continued use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), along with corresponding Leading Economic Indicators. Arguably, GDP should be replaced. It is a highly dysfunctional measurement context. The GDP measurement context pivots on a highly reductionist and materialistic conception of economic development. The economics profession maintains this economic performance index to the detriment of human civilization. Indeed, GDP manifests the economic sensibilities of the colonial European powers, and the United States in the nineteenth century. Such a political economic governance context ignored the plight of the poor, and viewed the environment to be a 'great toilet' for the pollution of "industry", that represented progress to the elites.

Labels: Economy, Environment: climate change, EU, GDP, US

Polluting The Friendly Skies - by Edward W.Miller

Scientists say water vapor is the most interactive effluent exerting a strong impact on atmospheric temperatures. Most jet exhaust is produced at subsonic cruise altitudes in the upper troposphere and mostly in the northern hemisphere-especially over the US, Western Europe and Japan. A 1998 NASA study of jet contrails suggested maximal depolarization ratios were produced by ice crystals with radii as small as several tenths of a µm, explaining why they disappear in less than 20 seconds and so have different radioactive properties than cirrus clouds. In addition to producing vapor trails stretching thousands of miles across the sky, jet exhaust also seeds the atmosphere with cloud-forming aerosols - droplets of sulfuric acid and particles of soot. NASA's tests revealed that, at jet cruising altitudes, acid droplets account for at least 10 percent of the sulfur emissions. Transatlantic jets burn between 2.5 and 3 tons of fuel per hour. In 1988, before the Iraqi war, commercial aircraft consumed an estimated 70 percent of all jet fuel (with military and business craft accounting for another 24 percent). The world's aircraft currently produce about 3 percent the carbon dioxide (CO2) gases attributed to human activity. During takeoff, a jumbo jet can devour 2 million liters (528,344 gallons) of air per second. In the first five minutes of flight, a commercial airliner burns as much oxygen as 49,000 acres of forest produce in a day.

Note EU-Digest: The EU-Parliament should start looking far more seriously at this problem than they have done so far.

Labels: Airline Industry, Environment: climate change, Pollution and the environment

Europe Turns Back to Coal, Raising Climate Fears - by Elisabeth Rosenthal

Over the next five years, Italy will increase its reliance on coal to 33 percent from 14 percent. Power generated by Enel from coal will rise to 50 percent. And Italy is not alone in its return to coal. Driven by rising demand, record high oil and natural gas prices, concerns over energy security and an aversion to nuclear energy, European countries are expected to put into operation about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years, plants that will be in use for the next five decades. Europe’s power station owners emphasize that they are making the new coal plants as clean as possible. But critics say that “clean coal” is a pipe dream, an oxymoron in terms of the carbon emissions that count most toward climate change. They call the building spurt shortsighted.

In terms of cost and energy security, coal has all the advantages, its proponents argue. Coal reserves will last for 200 years, rather than 50 years for gas and oil. Coal is relatively cheap compared with oil and natural gas, although coal prices have tripled in the past few years. More important, hundreds of countries export coal — there is not a coal cartel — so there is more room to negotiate prices. “In order to get over oil, which is getting more and more expensive, our plan is to convert all oil plants to coal using clean-coal technologies,” said Gianfilippo Mancini, Enel’s chief of generation and energy management. “This will be the cleanest coal plant in Europe. We are hoping to prove that it will be possible to make sustainable and environmentally friendly use of coal.”

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU

Scotland: Biomass power generation the ecological emperor's new clothes?

All carbon combustion produces double its weight in carbon dioxide so that even if dry timber were produced on site, its burning would not eliminate one molecule of greenhouse gas. Biomass electricity claims to be carbon neutral only in that the generated in combustion is supposedly balanced by that extracted from the air and locked into trees in the form of carbon.As for the commercial viability of biomass power generation, the only publicised funding for the Lockerbie enterprise is £18 million from the National Lottery. But there are many funding sources for both the establishment of plant and the growing of its timber requirement, ranging from exemptions from inheritance and income tax for forestry to the Bioenergy Capital Grants scheme which provided major funding for Lockerbie. And of course financial support is also available from the EU, which introduced the Biomass Action Plan to produce stronger and sustainable economic growth and to enhance international co-operation in an integrated and coherent energy policy throughout the Union. It would appear to be Germany, rather than Scotland, that is reaching out beyond its borders.

Labels: Climate Change, Environment: climate change

Financial Instability, Climate and Club Med Dominate EU Talks

Speaking after new figures were released at the close of Asian trading which showed the single currency hitting a new high over $1.56, Sarkozy told the summit that the heads of state and government had every reason to be concerned about market instability. The French president said he was satisfied that the issue had been raised at the summit and that it was now time for action to avert a future financial meltdown. European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso tried to instill calm by telling the summit that the European Central Bank (ECB) would take control of the situation should it be required to. "The ECB will do what is necessary to secure financial stability," Barroso said. The EU also formally backed ambitious French plans for a Union for the Mediterranean, but watered it down to such an extent that it had to be given a new name. According to a last-minute addition to the draft conclusions of their regular spring council in Brussels, the new organization is to be called "Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean." The Barcelona process is the name of the EU's 13-year-old policy which deals with the bloc's southern neighbors and which many critics say has so far failed to deliver.

The latest draft of the proposal, brokered by Germany earlier this week and submitted to leaders over dinner on Thursday, includes all of the EU's member states and vaguely talks about "projects with an accent on regional cooperation."

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, Mediterranean region

Giant Steps for Carbon Trading in Europe - by Mark Scott

It's not every day the European Commission (EC) is compared to a magician. Yet like a conjurer pulling a rabbit out of a hat, Brussels has created a multi-billion dollar industry almost out of thin air since the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) started charging companies for emitting carbon dioxide back in 2005. Europe's ongoing effort to combat climate change took a big step forward this Jan. 23 when the EC announced the third phase of the ETS, which extends the program to 2020 and sets more stringent reduction targets for the EU's energy and manufacturing sectors. For the first time industries such as aluminum and chemicals were added to the ETS, which will now cover almost half of Europe's total emissions. The goal is by 2020 to lower carbon output 20% from its 1990 level through a market-based mechanism that fixes the problems of earlier schemes and creates a more realistic price for carbon credits. One way Europe intends to do this is by requiring some companies, beginning in 2013, to purchase carbon emission rights via auction, rather than by receiving them as grants

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, Pollution and the environment

Latest report on European attitudes towards the issue of biodiversity

Only a minority of respondents in all Member States disagreed that it was either our moral obligation to slow down the speed of biodiversity loss or that it would be important to halt the loss as it could cause a decrease in our well-being and the quality of life. Maltese and Greek interviewees, (85% and 84%, respectively), were the most likely to strongly agree that it was important to halt biodiversity loss simply because it was our moral obligation as stewards of nature. In almost all other Member States, a majority of respondents also strongly agreed with this statement, the exceptions being the Netherlands and Sweden, where slightly less than half of respondents strongly agreed that it was a moral obligation (47% and 48%, respectively). Respondents from Malta and Greece (80% and 78%, respectively), were also the most likely to strongly agree that it would be important to slow down the current speed of biodiversity loss because the levels of well being and the quality of life would deteriorate as a consequence of biodiversity loss. The Dutch respondents were again the least likely to strongly agree with this statement (30%).Biodiversity loss at a global level was considered to be more important than biodiversity loss at a national level. Almost seven out of 10 EU citizens thought that the decline and possible extinction of animal species, natural habitats and ecosystems were very serious global problems.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, Eurobarometer

US banks lag Europeans on climate - by Alan Zibel

US banks lag Europeans on climate - by Alan Zibel

An analysis of 40 major banks worldwide released Thursday by Boston-based Ceres found 24 major commercial and investment banks in the U.S., Europe and Japan have set internal targets for reductions of emissions linked to global warming, but only 14 actively consider risks posed by climate change as part of their lending process. Ceres and environmental groups have been pressing the US Securities and Exchange Commission to require companies to disclose financial risks that may result from climate change.The most climate-friendly banks on Ceres' list were all European: HSBC Holdings PLC, ABN Ambro Holding NV, Barclays PLC, Deutsche Bank AG, HBOS PLC -- the holding company for Bank of Scotland -- and Deutsche Bank AG. Unlike the U.S., Europe has firm greenhouse-gas limits.U.S. giants Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. ranked sixth and seventh, respectively.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU

The hush-hush regreening of Europe - by Doug Saunders

Mr. Thibert's most recent efforts, on the rear 15 hectares of his land, are examples of Europe's most dramatic and least publicized agricultural innovation — the complete abandonment of farming. Like hundreds of thousands of farmers across Europe, he has taken money from the European Union to cut out agriculture entirely and turn his fields back into wild forest. When he gets older, he says, he might join the growing population of farmers who are ending generations of agriculture and letting the forests return.Europe's accomplishment, little understood even by its practitioners, offers valuable lessons for other countries.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU

Resistance to Europe's Emissions Plan - by Leo Cendrowiccz

"Passenger cars account for about 12% of overall E.U. carbon dioxide emissions and emissions from transport are continually increasing," said E.U. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. "The aim of the legislation is to reduce CO2 emissions from cars in order to help fight climate change." The proposals come just days after a U.N. agreement in Bali on the next stage of global climate change negotiations after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. The E.U. executive says that if Europe is to stake a credible claim for leadership on climate change, it will have to show serious resolve in cutting car emissions, the main gas blamed for global warming.

While French and Italian carmakers cut their average emissions by 1.6 percent between 2005 and 2006, emissions from German cars actually increased by 0.6 percent. "Germany's fine automotive engineers should be focusing on making cars leaner and more fuel efficient," said T&E director Jos Dings. "Sadly, based on recent progress, they mostly seem to be intent on building ever heavier, larger and more gas-guzzling cars that simply don't belong in the 21st century." The car industry employs 2 million Europeans and indirectly supports another 10 million in related industries. Europe is clearly a key world player: of the 46 million passenger cars produced globally, 38% are made in the E.U.

Labels: Car Industry, Environment: climate change, EU

Bali: Anger at US Bali proposals 'two weeks too late' - by Charles Clover

The EU wants to see formal negotiations launched for a new treaty with an end date of 2009 for signing a deal, and continued to insist on mention of a science-based target of 25 per cent to 40 per cent emissions cuts for developed countries. In the morning, Stavros Dimas, the European Environment commissioner, said: "We are entering the final hours and I can report that there has been progress."Friends of the Earth executive director Tony Juniper said: "The US are behaving like first class passengers on a jumbo jet who believe an emergency in economy class does not affect them. "But if we go down, we go down together and the US needs to realize that very quickly." Sources close to European delegations said that "big beasts" from the US, taken to mean vice-president, Dick Cheney, had been telephoning European delegations to seek out a compromise over the emission reduction figures in the agreement.

EU-Digest: The US will probably get a "consensus" because the EU has not got the courage to bi-pass the US (Bush Administration) and go ahead on setting goals with the rest of the world, or even let this conference die and wait one year to call another meeting, after the "evil forces" in the White House have been replaced by more moderate Republicans or Democrats. What is this great fear of America on issues which can mean life or death on the planet ?

Labels: Bali Climate Conference, Environment: climate change

2007: worst year for the environment - by Jonathan Leake and Richard Lovet

The American Geophysical Union's annual meeting, in San Francisco, is one of the largest scientific conferences in the world - and it coincides exactly with the second half of the Bali meeting. There, in a series of symposia, climate scientists reported how 2007 was becoming a "year of worsts". So far the year has seen the least sea ice in the Arctic, fastest retreat of mountain glaciers on Kilimanjaro, and the quickest decline of snow in Greenland.

Some even wondered if the earth is now nearing a "tipping point" in which climate change will become irreversible, sliding humanity into a future of floods, heat, and rising sea levels.

Labels: Environment: climate change

UN conference expected to reach agreement on watered-down climate deal

"There is a wrecking crew here in Bali, led by the Bush administration and its minions. Those minions continue to be the governments of Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia and others," said Jennifer Morgan, of the Climate Change Network.A draft of the final report to a UN climate conference suggests Canada is about to get its wish of watered-down targets from the ones proposed by Europe and poorer countries. The 11th-hour draft strips out any reference to tough global emissions targets for 2020, which were blocked by several wealthy countries, including the United States, Japan, Russia and Canada. The draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press, leaves in a more opaque statement that global emissions should "peak" within 10 or 15 years, and must fall to well under half of 2000 levels by 2050. The reference to 2000 will come as a letdown to many Kyoto signatories - especially the Europeans.

Labels: Bali Climate Conference, Environment: climate change

Bali: U.S., China Not Ready to Limit Climate EmissionsAt the half-way point of the UN climate change conference in Bali, delegates from the world's biggest polluters, the United States and China, are declining to commit to the steep cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases scientists say are necessary to avert the worst impacts of global warming. The senior U.S. negotiator said Washington would draft its own plan to cut emissions gases by mid-2008, and would not commit to mandatory caps at Bali. "We're not ready to do that here," said Ambassador Harlan Watson.

A Chinese goverment climate expert who is part of the Chinese delegation in Bali conference says developing nations like China need not adopt binding emissions cuts because they have not been pumping out greenhouse gases as long as industrialized countries.

Note EU-Digest: "the arguments by the US and China expressed at Bali show little foresight and advanced thinking. They are unfortunately motivated by greed and short term economic profit."

Labels: China, Environment: climate change, US

Ex-president to utilize wind power at Walker's Point, Maine-by Anne Gleason

Recently, a 33-foot-tall windmill was installed to generate electricity for the oceanfront home of former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara. The Bushes decided to buy and install a windmill after being approached by Southwest Windpower, a nationwide company that manufactures wind turbines, said Jim Appleby, personal aide to the former president. "After looking at the specifications, the pros and the cons, they decided that they'd give it a try," he said. The wind turbine, a Skystream 3.7 model, is capable of generating electricity once wind speed reaches 8 mph, said Bob Greig, president of All Season Home Improvement Co. in Augusta, which installed the windmill.

Labels: Environment: climate change, George Bush Sr., Windpower

Biogas-Powered Train in Sweden -by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau

The city of Linkoeping in Sweden (south of Stockholm) will be linked to the city of Västervik 80 kilometers away (50 miles) by the first train to run entirely on biogas that comes from organic waste. A small one-carriage train that can carry 54 passengers has been converted: its diesel engines have been replaced by two Volvo gas engines. "The train is equipped with eleven canisters containing enough gas to run for 600 kilometers (375 miles) before needing a refill, and can reach a maximum speed of 130 kilometers (80 miles) per hour".

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, Sweden, Trains

France kicks off ‘green revolution’ talks

Green campaigners and big business have opened a marathon two-day round-table with the French government aimed at kick-starting an environmental revolution in Europe’s third-biggest economy. President Nicolas Sarkozy closes the summit on Thursday with a speech outlining a master plan to slash France’s environmental impact, in the presence of the Nobel Peace Prize winning climate crusaders Al Gore and Wangari Maathai. Thousands of French people - as well as the Eiffel Tour - joined in a five-minute "lights-out" for the planet late on Tuesday in a show of support for the event, which concludes weeks of talks between government, business, farmers and campaigners.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, France

Europe Launches New Aviation Research Program - by Chris Kjelgaard

EU administrators will provide official funding for a group of 36 research projects that they believe will help make air transport greener, safer, more secure and more cost-efficient. The four large and 32 smaller projects to be funded will research key areas such as using flight physics and alternative fuels to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for aircraft, and developing new systems to improve aircraft safety in bad weather.

Researchers will also work on developing aircraft materials that can repair themselves, and creating blast-proof aircraft cabin structures. Other projects will seek ways of reducing production and development costs for airframes, aircraft structures, engines and components.

Labels: Aircraft Industry, Environment: climate change, EU

Arctic ice shrinks to record low - by Catherine Brahic and Reuters

Arctic sea ice shrank this year to its smallest area of coverage since satellite measurements began some 30 years ago. The record low is a result of long-term climate change combined with particular weather conditions during 2007, say US scientists. The remarkable decline made international headlines in September when European and US space agencies announced that the ice-clogged North-West Passage had completely opened for the first time, allowing vessels to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Labels: Environment: climate change

Sweden’s green role model city - by David Wiles

The Swedish city of Växjö has reduced its emissions of carbon dioxide per inhabitant by nearly a quarter, and is aiming to go lower still. Now it has won a Sustainable Energy Europe Award for its environmental efforts.

Biogas is produced at the municipal sewage works, the university is heated by pellets and the city’s swimming pool has solar panels on its roof. Cycle paths have been extended at the expense of roads, and residents and companies can receive subsidies to buy environmentally friendly cars, and can then park for free.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, Sweden

Bush climate proposal gets mixed reviews in Europe; some see end run around UN

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel criticized the White House move as an attempted end run around world climate talks. "It looks a little as though the American administration wants to halt the whole United Nations process in climate protection and go a special way," Gabriel told Deutschlandradio Kultur radio. "That would certainly not be what the (German) government wants, what Europe wants." European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also said Bush's proposal was not enough.

Labels: Bush, Environment: climate change, EU

Bush pushes vague new climate change plan

US President George Bush said on Thursday he would urge major industrialised nations at a summit next week to join a new global framework for fighting climate change after the Kyoto Protocol lapses. Environmental groups immediately criticised the plan as vague and based on non-binding limits on the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, but Britain and Germany hailed the move as an important, if symbolic, step forward. "The United States will work with other nations to establish a new framework on greenhouse gas emissions for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012," Bush said in a speech laying out his agenda for the June 6-8 G8 summit in Germany.

Labels: Bush, Environment: climate change

In today's EU-U.S. summit in Washington DC to call for 'urgent' climate action - by Noah Barkin

The European Union and United States will agree at a summit on Monday that climate change is a central challenge that requires "urgent, sustained global action," according to a draft statement seen by Reuters. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, making her first trip to Washington since assuming the presidency of the EU, hopes the joint statement will lay the groundwork for a broader deal on combating global warming at a June G8 summit she will host in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, US

For the complete report in the VOA News click on this link

Virgin Group Founder Commits Billions of Dollars to Help Environment - by Kane Farabaugh

Richard Branson sits on the top-ten list of the United Kingdom's richest citizens, with an estimated wealth of roughly eight billion dollars. As the company he founded -- Virgin Group -- tries to expand its airline operations into the United States, Branson is committing billions of dollars of the company's future profits to developing renewable energy.

In February, Branson announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, a $25 million prize for the person who develops a working solution to remove greenhouse gases from the Earth's atmosphere. "To devise a way of removing greenhouse gases, at least the equivalent of one billion tons of carbon per year -- hopefully much more, and you will have the satisfaction of saving thousands of species and possibly even mankind itself."

Labels: Environment: climate change, Richard Branson, Virgin Group

Climate report predicts heat waves, floods, species' end in Europe - by Eliane Engeler

Dying dolphins in the Mediterranean, reduced livestock in Britain, the extinction of plants in the Alps, and frequent heat waves across the continent -- this is what is awaiting Europe in the next decades because of climate change, according to a report released yesterday.

With warmer European winters, less energy will be needed for heating homes and businesses, but torrid summer temperatures will escalate the demand for cooling systems. By 2100, heating requirements will decrease 20 percent to 30 percent in Finland and about 40 percent in Switzerland. But scientists estimate that in some parts of southern Europe, such as Italy or Spain, electricity needs for cooling will increase by 50 percent.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, Europe

Climate change to hit Europe's Mediterranean region hard, scientists say

Climate change in Europe's Mediterranean region will sap electric power generation, reverse long-standing tourism trends, raise sea levels and leave millions of people with water shortages, scientists said Tuesday. Mediterranean ecosystems are among the world's most sensitive and will be among those hardest-hit by global warming, said Jose Manuel Moreno, a Spanish professor of ecology. Moreno also coordinated a group of scientists who wrote the chapter on Europe in the report issued Friday in Brussels by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, Mediterranean region

Climate change in the Netherlands will be costly

To cushion the effects of climate change, the Netherlands will need to invest tens of billions of euros in the coming fifteen years. Widening and deepening the rivers alone will cost at least EUR 26 billion. EUR 23 billion is needed for the construction of climate-proof buildings.

Labels: Environment: climate change, EU, Netherlands

UN agreement on severity of climate change-- even though some Governments censored parts of report- by Richard Holt

Climate change will cause severe droughts and food shortages for billions of people unless governments act now, UN experts have agreed.

Scientists angrily confronted government negotiators who they feared were watering down their findings.

The United States, China and Saudi Arabia raised many of the objections to the phrasing, often seeking to tone down the certainty of some of the more dire projections.

Labels: China, Environment: climate change, India, United Nations, USA

US fudging of climate science - details revealed - by Kelly Young

"The Bush administration has again been charged with interfering with federal climate science, in order to underplay the significance of global warming. In a continuing investigation, the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held its second hearing on the issue on Monday. Documents "appear to portray a systematic White House effort to minimise the significance of climate change", said a memo released by the committee.

The committee heard from James Hansen, the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and one of the first scientists to warn of the threat of climate change. In written testimony, Hansen said: "In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it has now."

Labels: Bush, Environment: climate change, Pollution and the environment, US

US, other G8 members split on climate change

Differences between the United States and other Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries were highlighted on the closing day of an environment ministers' conference in Potsdam near Berlin that ended on Saturday. German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the US, by contrast with other members of the G8, did not want to participate in paying financial compensation to developing countries for progress in combating climate change. This affected countries like Brazil, where there had been considerable success in reforesting the Amazon rainforest, Gabriel said. Germany currently holds the G8 presidency.

A second point of conflict was the US refusal to back the Emissions Trading Scheme operating in Europe that allows companies in energy-intensive industries to trade carbon-dioxide emissions.

Labels: Environment: climate change, G8, Pollution and the environment

Margaret Beckett - Europe must be bold

They say a day can be a long time in politics. A year is time enough for everything to change. Last winter I was still having to convince some people – politicians, businessmen, members of the public – of the threat posed by climate change. Twelve months on that scepticism has evaporated: no serious scientist or commentator is in any doubt as to the scale and the immediacy of that threat. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has laid out the stark facts and the unequivocal evidence. Politicians across the world – not least in Europe – are expected to respond.

Labels: Environment: climate change

Gore's global warming doc wins Oscar - by Gary Gentil

"An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary that turned former vice president Al Gore's power-point presentation on global warming into an engaging and entertaining film, won the Oscar Sunday night. The best-documentary win was a triumph for Gore, who has kept a sense of humor about his loss in the 2000 election that was decided in George W. Bush's favor by a U.S. Supreme Court decision. "I am Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States of America," Gore says in the film, repeating a line he has used often. Sunday, Gore used the Oscar win not to further his political career but to boost his campaign to find solutions for global warming and other environmental problems.

"My fellow Americans," Gore said to laughter from the crowd. "People all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It's not a political issue, it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started with the possible will to act. That's a renewable resource. Let's renew it."

Labels: Environment: climate change

Merkel: Decisive Action on Climate Change Needed

Without decisive action on climate change, the entire world will experience reduced prosperity, so the fight against climate change is also an economic investment in the future, Chancellor Angela Merkel told a group of legislators from the G8 and key emerging economies meeting in Washington on February 14.

Merkel delivered the keynote address, via video, at the opening of the Legislators Forum on Climate Change and Energy Security, held on Capitol Hill February 14 and 15. It is the second such forum held in the framework of the G8 + 5 Climate Change Dialogue. The legislators, including Democratic and Republican members of Congress, are being joined by some of the world’s key business leaders, international development institutions, as well as global civil society organizations.

Labels: Environment: climate change