In accord with member state opinion, moves towards a sole 2030 greenhouse gas emission-reduction target of 40% seem to be gaining traction, although the door on a 30% target for renewables has not been fully closed.

But the draft Green Paper consultation document, which EurActiv has seen, turns the lock on an energy savings goal until after a review next year of progress towards meeting the bloc’s 2020 target, despite recognising that this is non-binding, and unlikely to be met. 

The report aims to provide guidance for member states to meet the EU’s rules on implementing “cost-optimal” methodology to take into account the lifetime costs of buildings under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

The EPBD requires member states to ensure that by 2021 all new buildings have a net energy output of near zero. According to the European Commission, failure to implement the efficiency goals could result in court challenges.

"Long-term insurance business fits well with investments in ecologically and economically sustainable energy and infrastructure projects," GDV Managing Director Jörg von Fürstenwerth said in a statement.

"To invest more in this area, we need an investment environment with legal certainty and long-term stability," he added.

Jeremy Rifkin is a highly-influential American writer whose best-selling Third Industrial Revolution arguably provided the blueprint for Germany Energiewende transition to a low-carbon economy, and China’s strategic acceptance of climate policy.

Speaking to a Brussels 'Supergrid 2013' conference via a web interlink on 19 March, he sounded a warning note about obstacles to the ‘clean energy internet’ that he envisages a European supergrid becoming.

As many as 20 scientists at the world-famous Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres have ceased involvement in the Helmholtz Alberta Initiative (HAI), after a moratorium on contacts was declared last month.  

“It was seen as a risk for our reputation,” Professor Frank Messner, Helmholtz UFZ’s head of staff said stiffly over the phone from his offices in Leipzig.

Implementing the EU’s proposed 2020 auto-standard of 95 grams of CO₂ per km (g/km) for automobiles and 147 g/km for vans - as a stand-alone measure - could result in 356,000 new jobs, says the report by Cambridge Econometrics and Ricardo-AEA.

But if the realised target were 90 g/km for cars and 141 g/km for vans with annual 3% (and not 1%) efficiency gains in the following years, the jobs harvest could top 443,000.

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Chief Bill Erasmus

Chief Bill Erasmus

Wed, 2013-03-13 17:19

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Bill Erasmus is regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations and the national chief of the Dene, a Canadian indigenous group. He spoke by phone from Germany to EurActiv’s Marc Hall. This interview was edited into a shorter form.

Tell us about the situation of tar sands in Canada. What is your personal experience?

The Canadian government is pursuing a policy of oil extraction from tar sands - also known as oil sands - in western provinces that are believed to contain the world’s largest source of oil after Saudi Arabia.

Ottawa has stepped up lobbying efforts in the EU, aimed in part at quashing pending legislation it says could hurt the tar sands industry.

Under proposed amendments to the Fuel Quality Directive, the EU would label the unconventional oil as some 20% more polluting than other fuel sources.

“The current rate and quality of building renovation needs to be substantially scaled up in order to allow the EU to significantly reduce the energy consumption of the existing building stock by 80 %, relative to 2010 levels, by 2050,” the industry committee report on the EU’s Energy Roadmap 2050 reads.

The government imposed 10% price cuts on energy firms from January and flagged further cuts.

The cuts have alarmed power companies, who say they will have to foot the bill. However, the policy plays well with Hungarians who are struggling to pay household bills.

Orbán needs to boost his support because is seeking another term in office in an election next year.