Tag: greenhouse gas emissions

All countries should outline their long-term plans for curbing greenhouse gases next year, earlier than favoured by Washington, to revive the stalled fight against climate change, the European Union proposed on Tuesday (28 May).

Governments must rally to make sure the EU's next long-term budget is geared towards curbing climate change, said an envoy from the World Bank and European lawmakers, warning that the globe was on track for a 4°C temperature rise.

The EU’s proposal to grant “super credits” to carmakers for low-emission vehicles threatens to add at least 10g of CO₂ per kilometre to the EU’s 2020 target, say Green groups and other transport stakeholders.

EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger has written to Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn, reassuring him that proposed EU regulations to cut vehicle CO2 emissions will not harm the German automobile giant because of relaxed rules for "supercredits". EurActiv reveals the content of the leaked letter.

Europe’s motorcycle industry is having a tough ride in the current economic times despite being touted as one of the solutions to road congestion and pollution.

Europe is uniquely well-positioned to lead the world in reducing carbon emissions, argue Shin-pei Tsay and Deborah Gordon of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. They outline four major ways this could be achieved.

If the EU wants to reach its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% by 2050, it will have to adopt a different approach to transport policy, writes Christian Egenhofer from the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

A large fall in greenhouse gas emissions brought about by a reduction of industrial activity led by the economic crisis has put the EU on a fast track to meet its Kyoto commitments, but Austria, Denmark and Italy are falling behind, according to new figures.

International carbon emission offsets are likely to continue to be based on the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), as the EU's proposal to replace it with sectoral crediting will not be feasible for years to come, Eva Filzmoser, coordinator at CDM Watch, told EurActiv in an interview.

The US and China will have to put their cards on the table before the EU can increase its CO2 reduction target to 30%, Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said yesterday (23 November), after EU environment ministers had met to clarify tactics for the UN climate conference in Copenhagen.

EU environment ministers yesterday (21 October) said the new climate agreement to be reached in Copenhagen should correct an important omission in the Kyoto Protocol by tackling continuously rising emissions from planes and ships.

Many regional initiatives are already taking place in the EU to tackle climate change, but the array of different tools for measuring global warming gases make the results difficult to compare, a recent study showed.

The EU expects China and other emerging economies to cut their emissions by up to a third compared to business-as-usual scenarios, Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said yesterday (1 September).

Over 350 cities united in a pledge to reduce their CO2 emissions by more than the EU's 20% target for 2020 at the launch ceremony of the Covenant of Mayors yesterday (10 February), with €15 million in financial support from the European Investment Bank in the pipeline. 

Following the agreement on a roadmap to negotiate a succesor to the Kyoto Protocol at the UN conference in Bali, EurActiv examines some of the main policy options and instruments available for mounting a global response to climate change. 

An attempt by Dutch government officials to throw out a Franco-German deal that would delay stricter CO2 rules for carmakers gathered 'wide-ranging support' among EU environment ministers, government sources told EurActiv.

The EU 15 should comfortably reach their collective Kyoto target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8% by 2012 compared to 1990 levels, but only if good performers cover for laggard states, new projections show.

Satu Hassi, the Finnish Green MEP steering a proposal through Parliament on how EU countries should share the "effort" of cutting a fifth of their CO2 emissions by 2020, is optimistic that an ambitious result will be achieved in today's environment committee vote, despite attempts by some member states to water down the bloc's climate policy.

A business group consisting of some of Britain's largest corporations is calling for a cross-party effort to deliver the necessary "transformational change" across the economy to meet the threat of climate change. 

The latest round of UN climate talks began yesterday (21 August) in Accra, Ghana, in a bid to overcome disagreements over the tools that countries can use to cut greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate progress towards a new climate treaty by the end of 2009.

To tackle the current global challenge of climate change, the world must balance two crucial objectives: stabilising atmospheric greenhouse gases while maintaining economic growth, argue a group of consultants from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) in a June 2008 report.

EU member states have made progress in cutting their greenhouse gas emissions to be on course to meet their Kyoto targets, according to data released for 2006. But the Commission is particularly concerned about emissions rises in the new member states.

MEPs have declared a de facto war against national governments by maintaining their demands for strict emission reduction targets for Europe's rapidly growing aviation sector, despite ministers' insistence on a more industry-friendly approach.

With automobile manufacturers expected to miss their voluntary commitments made last year to reduce CO2 emissions, the European Commission has proposed new binding legislation. Amid pressure from the car industry, which currently finds itself weighed down by economic recession, a compromise deal on the new laws was struck in December 2008.