Tag: climate change

'Don't tax what you earn, tax what you burn'. In an interview with EurActiv, EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard throws her weight behind an EU carbon tax and speaks about Europe's efforts to stay ahead of the game in international climate negotiations.

The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) yesterday (14 June) agreed to explore a joint climate finance initiative to provide funding for developing countries. They also made public a political agreement on mobilising billions for clean energy projects from the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme reserves.

Two weeks of climate talks in Bonn saw developing countries launch a new push to agree on stricter targets for halting global warming, only for the deal to be killed by Saudi Arabia. The blow came as new data showed that loopholes in pledges would allow rich countries to increase their emissions. EurActiv reports from Bonn.

As the latest round of talks draw to a close, outgoing UN climate chief Yvo de Boer warned of slow progress in the negotiations, leaving his successor with the daunting task of concluding a new global climate treaty in 2011. EurActiv reports from Bonn.

The EU last week (3 June) took the first step to bring clarity to international climate financing pledges by outlining at the Bonn climate talks how it intends to implement its funding commitment to help developing countries fight global warming. But poor countries are still concerned that the money will be recycled from existing aid budgets.

Providing potentially the strongest link between the EU's emissions trading scheme and sectoral approaches, sectoral benchmarks can be used for setting caps and free allocations, or can become a catalyst for linking the world's carbon markets, writes Noriko Fujiwara, head of climate change and a research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), in a May special report.

France and Germany yesterday joined the growing ranks of European countries opposed to making further unilateral moves on climate change, as the European Commission today plans to make the case for raising the EU’s greenhouse gas reduction goal from -20% to -30% by 2020.

The value of forests is growing as a result of climate policies, but the complexity of carbon markets coupled with the effects of the financial crisis are deterring investment, investors and analysts said in London on Thursday.

There are a number of possible methods to include industry in sectoral approaches to tackling climate change – including participation in a consultative body based on a public-private partnership, writes Noriko Fujiwara, research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), in a May special report.

Debate on how to cut carbon dioxide emissions has been hotting up in Europe, in part due to the international community's failure to ink a successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol at the UNFCCC conferences in Copenhagen and Durban. But what are the options - and obstacles to a new pact?

The economic slump has cut the cost of meeting the EU's current 2020 emission reduction target by nearly a third, making a move to a 30% cut affordable, according to a draft European Commission communication seen by EurActiv.

With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the US Congress is ready to reap the benefits of the European Parliament's strengthened role and renew its ties with legislators in Brussels.

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said the EU has failed to convince the developing world that it is serious about global warming.

The first UN climate meeting since Copenhagen agreed to hold extra talks before the high-level conference in Cancún at the end of the year, but hopes for a new climate treaty ran low.

The UK yesterday (31 March) attempted to revive global climate talks by offering to extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.

The UN conference in Cancún next December needs to set the basis for a new climate change treaty in 2011, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

The EU needs to up its emission reduction target if it is to create green jobs, especially now that the economic crisis has brought the bloc's current goals within easy reach, Green MEPs warned yesterday (15 March).

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday (10 March) that a group of national science academies would review UN climate science to restore trust after a 2007 global warming report was found to have errors.

Much more initiative by the private sector will be required to take the UN climate negotiations forward after the weak Copenhagen Accord agreed in December, Mark Dominik, vice president of Deutsche Bank Group, told EurActiv in an interview.

Global agreements in areas such as cement or steel could offer a solution if the UN negotiation process fails to deliver a binding climate treaty, said Jo Leinen, chairman of the European Parliament's influential environment committee.

China and India's hesitation to formally back a Copenhagen climate agreement could jeopardise $30 billion of climate aid to the developing world, a senior European Union official said on Wednesday.

Hungary could have become the second EU member state after the UK to pass an overarching climate framework bill. But the ruling socialist party backed down on Monday (22 February) citing job concerns after heavy pressure from the industrial lobby. EurActiv Hungary reports.

A new era of climate diplomacy is about to start after the Copenhagen summit fell short of agreeing a new legally-binding agreement, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said, announcing his resignation yesterday (18 February). Meanwhile, the EU's commissioner for climate action, Connie Hedegaard, will embark on a world tour to reinvigorate talks. 

Persistent divergences over UN climate negotiations augur tough times ahead, US and Indian negotiators indicated at a Brussels event on Friday (11 February).