The transatlantic rivals face growing global competition for mid-range aircraft but are virtually unchallenged in producing long-distance planes, or those with ranges of 10,000 kilometres or more, that are the most profitable to operate and in growing demand.

With jet fuel prices accounting for about half of airline operating costs, efficiency has become a key selling point. At the Paris Air Show this week, each company sought to outpace the other by promoting its latest products as greener, quieter and cheaper to operate.

Noise from civilian aviation is governed by a number of national and European-level rules and international agreements. But military aircraft are exempt from all EU-level legislation, a European Commission spokesman said.

Equally, there is little legislation governing military noise at national level, and little appetite for change. The military has long benefited from special status, its difficult mission to defend public interests affording it a certain lee-way.

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André Ferron Confrontations Europe

André Ferron Confrontations Europe

Mon, 2013-06-17 09:42

• climate-environment
• energy
• trade

André Ferron is a researcher on energy at Confrontation Europe, a European policy think-tank with offices in Paris and Brussels. Claude Fischer is president of the Confrontation Europe. They responded to EurActiv questions in writing.

The interview is available in French only.

Climate change stands as one of the most controversial global challenges, often pitting the European Union against the rest of the world in what measures should be taken and who should pay for them.

The new report Silent Killers by Stuttgart University, commissioned by Greenpeace International, calls upon the EU to halt the development of 50 new coal power plants and set binding renewable energy targets for 2030.

The report examines the negative health impacts of each of the bloc's 300 existing large power plants, and forecasts the impact of the new projects if they were to come online and concludes that pollution from coal plants resulted in thousands of premature deaths in Europe.

Speaking the day before the European Commission unveiled the preliminary results of a public consultation on the issue, Robin Miege, director of strategy at the European Commission’s DG Environment, said that while shale gas was a "game-changer" in the United States, bringing energy prices to their lowest level in a decade, conditions in Europe were rather different and would not necessarily be replicated.

According to Reuters, Francois Hollande told a business conference in Tokyo this weekend that the European Union should negotiate with China to settle the row over solar subsidies, rather than impose duties on imports from China.

Copa-Cogeca, a pan-European organisation that represents farmers and growers cooperatives, said Thursday (6 June) it was evaluating flood damage in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia.

Areas along the Danube in southern Germany and Austria, and along the Vltava in the Czech Republic, are some of the nations' most fertile agricultural and wine-producing regions.

In parts of Italy, Copa-Cogeca said, wheat, barley and oats have been affected and maize and sunflower crops could also suffer.

The German-built Schieborg Delfzijl is one of the first cargo vessels built to comply with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) standard for nitrogen oxides (NOx), using a catalytic reduction system. The IMO standards apply for new vessels starting in 2016.

The vessel’s catalytic technology uses urea, which is produced from the synthesis of ammonia and carbon dioxide, to reduce nitrogen pollutants. NOx gases are produced from fuel combustion and contribute to ozone and acid raid.