Tag: sustainable development

The European Union has not forgotten the commitments made at the Rio+20 conference six months ago, said EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik. Next year, the European Commission will publish results of the follow-up work, he promised.

SPECIAL REPORT / Nearly six months after the Rio+20 global environment summit, the jury is still out on whether greener growth can truly happen. In the absence of major commitments by participating countries, EU officials were left placing their hopes on voluntary agreements by industry sectors, including plastics and PVC. But can those deliver?

Spanish hoteliers can now give their buildings an energy-efficient revamp with the help of an online tool calculating their needs, costs and investment returns.

Unilever, the European consumer products company, recently announced the first annual results of its Sustainable Living Plan aimed at improving efficiency in the full cycle of its product line – from production through consumption. Jan Zijderveld talks about how the plan – launched in 2010 – has changed the firm’s outlook.

The European Union needs to "radically transform" the way it manages water, energy and land to ensure the needs of the poorest people are met and the environment is protected, according to the new European Report on Development.

Europe faces major obstacles in achieving two of its goals at the upcoming sustainable development conference in Rio de Janeiro, a top EU official admitted yesterday (24 April), but will remain an “ambitious partner”.

The EU Fisheries Council meeting on Monday will direct Europe’s fishing fleets to confine their trawling off the coast of developing countries exclusively to “surplus resources” of fish, according to draft council conclusions seen by EurActiv.

The EU's Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik says he will “test the waters” on his priorities for the June Earth Summit during ministerial meetings in Nairobi that began today (20 February).

EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard says global development challenges cannot be met if the world's economic powers do not rethink their growth model. In an exclusive interview with EurActiv, she also addresses controversial policies on emission charges for airlines and rejects calls for a price floor to sustain Europe's depressed carbon market.

China’s growing water problems make it a likely ally for European efforts to press global action on sustainable development at a UN conference later this year, Denmark’s environment minister said yesterday (25 January).

European institutions should work together to come out with a compact programme that would allow EU negotiators to hold the leading role in the forthcoming Rio Earth Summit, says Staffan Nilsson, president of the European Economic and Social Committee, and EU consultative body.

Germany could cover Lake Constance with the clear film applied each year to seal in freshness on food packaging. But what is good for flavour is not necessarily good for the environment.

Denmark’s environment and energy ministers vowed yesterday (19 December) to make sustainability and resource efficiency priorities during the country’s upcoming EU presidency, despite pressure across Europe to prioritise short-term crisis-fighting measures.

The European Commission's proposals that urge member states to invest part of their regional development fund on low-carbon and energy-efficiency measures sounds very encouraging, argues Markus Trilling of the CEE Bankwatch Network. The question that remains though is whether these proposals will be sufficient enough to secure the conditions for a sustainable regional development.

Europe’s demand for energy, fuels and food are placing a global strain on water and other natural resources that could have particularly devastating consequences for developing nations, warns a report published today (3 November) by a conservation organisation.

As global environmental talks intensify ahead of next year's Earth Summit in Rio, Brice Lalonde, summit coordinator at the UN, called for a binding agreement on sustainable development to be reached via WTO-style negotiating rounds on topics such as energy or agriculture.

A United Nations meeting this week saw stakeholders voice their expectations for the Earth Summit in 2012, which takes place twenty years after 1992's landmark summit in Rio de Janeiro. Among the wildest ideas are plans to introduce personal carbon quotas and birth control as means of reducing global consumption.

While the future budget of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is still unclear, growing rhetoric around the concepts of "public goods" and "green growth" suggest that at least some of the money could be shifted to protecting the environment and boosting rural economies.

New ways of thinking are needed to tackle short-termism and secure our future well-being, writes Dr. Maja Göpel, director of the Future Justice department at the World Future Council, in an exclusive op-ed for EurActiv.

The European Union is bogged down in a power struggle over who speaks for the bloc at international meetings, threatening action on environmental issues from mercury pollution to whaling, EU officials say.

A United Nations initiative is making massive calculations in an attempt to put a price on nature services such as soils, forest or fresh water in a drive to convince policymakers to implement the 'polluter pays' principle to protect nature, said Pavan Sukhdev, who leads the initiative.

Despite ambitious carbon offset targets, the organisers of the Vancouver Games are being forced to drive truckloads of snow down from higher mountains to the slopes due to relatively warm weather so that the 2010 Winter Olympics can kick off next Saturday (13 February).

In an attempt to address sustainable development challenges, France this week presented a series of indicators to measure progress towards green growth and jobs.

European carmakers are being outperformed by more efficient Asian auto manufacturers as regards use of economic, environmental and social resources, a new survey shows.