CLIMATE
1.1. Italy sees intermediate steps at UN climate summit
1 July 2010, AP
A U.N. climate summit in Mexico later this year won’t broker a global accord on climate change, but may represent a positive intermediate step, the Italian environment minister said Thursday after co-hosting climate change talks.
Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo said the year-end summit in Cancun will not represent a "turnaround" but can still end with a "shared framework agreement" that can serve as a basis for a future global agreement.
A December summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, fell far short of the goal of a full-fledged and legally binding accord setting emission reduction targets for major countries. Expectations for the Mexico summit have been lowered as a result.
"Now we are all aware that conditions aren’t there for a global accord," Prestigiacomo told reporters at the end of the talks held over two days in Rome.
U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern said "differences absolutely do remain" but insisted the focus remains on "how to bridge those gaps." Looking at Cancun, he said "different people mean different things" by framework.
"The thing that is important to us is that all the issues move forward together," he said. "We would not support an outcome that picked off two or three issues and left others behind. I don’t think other countries would be supportive of that."
The closed-doors talks in Rome of the Major Economies Forum ended with no significant results, Prestigiacomo acknowledged. The delegates discussed all major outstanding issues — mitigation of greenhouse emissions, adaptation efforts, financing, verification methods among others. But, as expected, no breakthroughs were announced.
The Major Economies Forum group was created last year by the United States to prod along the slow-moving U.N. negotiations on a global climate change agreement by bringing together political leaders of 17 key countries in a private, relaxed setting.
This year, the meeting, in a walled garden complex, was expanded to add five more developing countries, including Bangladesh and Ethiopia, which could be severely affected by increasing droughts and floods brought on by a gradually warming Earth.
A paper summing up the discussions said the participants "emphasized the importance of quickly implementing the Copenhagen Accord’s Fast Start financing provisions." The measure to provide $30 billion by 2012 in "fast-start" aid for developing nations to deal with climate change was one of the few concrete actions agreed upon at Copenhagen.
Still, many countries have yet to come through. Italy has not yet provided its share — euro200 million ($247 million) a year for three years — and Prestigiacomo said it might not all be "fresh" funds as demanded by the EU.
The Copenhagen conference concluded with a nonbinding three-page paper hammered out in an all-night private meeting among President Barack Obama and a handful of leaders, most importantly from China, India, Brazil and South Africa.
"We must not make the same mistake as in Copenhagen, to raise the level of expectations and then have it fail," Prestigiacomo said. "We must work to bring the positions closer and closer."
If Cancun were to conclude with an accord outlining the "architecture" of a future agreement, Prestigiacomo said, that would be a significant step forward and allow for a global accord in the medium term.
She said the talks highlighted the usual divide between the position of emerging economies that don’t want a binding legal accord and those that do. She said previously that the issue of how to ensure that countries live up to their pledges was also a thorny one.
The summary circulated at the end of the talks also said an energy and technology meeting will be held in Washington in July 19-20 to launch new initiatives on energy efficiency and energy access.
ENERGY
2.1. Studies cast further doubt on sustainability of bioenergy
29 June 2010, T&E
Two new independent scientific studies launched today cast further doubt on the EU’s policy of promoting biomass as fuel for heat and power generation, and biofuels for transport, [1] according to BirdLife International, the European Environmental Bureau and Transport & Environment.
The first study [1], carried out by Joanneum Research, identifies a major flaw in the way carbon savings from forest-derived biomass are calculated in EU law as well as under UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol mechanisms.
It concludes that harvesting trees for energy creates a ‘carbon debt’: the carbon contained in the trees is emitted upfront while trees grow back over many years. The true climate impact of so-called woody biomass in the short to medium term can, as a result, be worse than the fossil fuels it is designed to replace. [2]
“The EU is taking out a sub-prime carbon mortgage that it may never be able to pay back. Biomass policy needs to be fixed before this regulatory failure leads to an ecological crisis that no bail out will ever fix”, commented Ariel Brunner, Head of EU Policy at BirdLife International [2].
The second study [3], by CE Delft, examined the full climate impact of the main biofuels used in Europe. In particular it looked at the impact of the expansion of agricultural land into environmentally sensitive areas when food production is displaced by fuel crops, a process known as indirect land use change (ILUC). The report, based on analysis of several EU Commission-sponsored research projects and other international model studies, found that most current biofuels are as bad as fossil fuels for the climate once ILUC is taken into consideration. The study proposes concrete ways of correcting current greenhouse gas balance calculations to fully account for indirect land use change related emissions. [3]
“As long as the EU refuses to take the full climate impacts of biofuels into account, its climate strategy for transport is doomed to failure.” said Nuša Urbancic, Policy Officer at Transport & Environment [4], the sustainable transport campaigners.
Together, current EU policy on biomass and biofuels risks severe environmental impacts across the globe, and a carbon debt that could take centuries to pay off.
“If left unchanged, biomass for energy policy will soon be in the same dire and confused state as biofuel policy is today”, added Pieter de Pous, Senior Policy Officer at the European Environmental Bureau [5]. “This can be avoided if the Commission and industry are ready to face up to these facts and develop the necessary measures that will ensure bioenergy policy will actually make a positive contribution to fighting climate change”.
The three groups are calling on the EU to come forward with mandatory sustainability criteria for biomass and to incorporate indirect land use change calculations into the existing sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioenergy.
The report “Bioenergy: a carbon accounting time bomb” [6], based on the two studies by Joanneum Research and CE Delft, will be presented on 29 June 2010, from 2 to 4.30 pm, in the European Parliament, Paul-Henri Spaak P7C050.
Link: http://www.transportenvironment.org/Printer/News/2010/6/Studies-cast-further-doubt-on-sustainability-of-bioenergy/
2.2. EU fuelling hunger by grabbing land for biofuels
28 June 2010, FOEE
Development and environmental groups today warned that EU biofuels targets are leading to uncontrollable land grabbing from poor communities in Africa, pushing more people into hunger [1]. On the day before EU Member States submit their renewable energy plans to the EU, ActionAid and Friends of the Earth Europe called on European leaders to halt the expansion of biofuels.
Activists representing biofuels bandits Barroso, Ashton, Sarkozy and Merkel grabbed land outside the European Commission, highlighting the land grabs in developing countries that are taking place at an ever-increasing rate to feed the EU’s quest to meet its energy needs.
EU member states will tomorrow submit their plans to meet the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive, which demands that 10% of transport fuel comes from renewable energy by 2020 – most of it likely to come from biofuels [2]. Already, EU companies have acquired or requested 5 million hectares of land in developing countries for industrial biofuels – an area greater than the size of Denmark [3]. Often this is land used by poor communities to feed themselves. To meet the 10% target could require up to 17.5 million hectares [4].
“EU countries are only thinking about filling their fuel tanks yet over a billion people around the world cannot find enough food to fill their stomachs”, said David Barisa Ringa from ActionAid Kenya.
“Poor communities are being pushed off their land to make way for EU biofuels companies. Under the Treaty of Lisbon all EU policies must have the eradication of poverty as the primary focus – this is clearly not the case with the EU’s energy policy, which is further damaging EU progress towards the MDGs”.
Laura Sullivan, ActionAid’s European Policy and Campaigns Manager, added: “The Commission calculates that most of its renewable energy target – about 6-9% will come from biofuels. Yet an independent study released by the Commission shows that anything over 5.6% is likely to harm the environment. If biofuels are not environmentally sustainable and have major implications for global hunger, why is Europe moving to expand production?”
The EU Energy Commissioner recently said that Europe already imports around 25% of its biofuels, a figure that will only increase as biofuels use in the EU takes off. EU member states do not have the land to produce biofuels at home and are fuelling land grabs in countries where land is desperately needed to produce food.
Adrian Bebb, food and agriculture campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe said: “Huge tracts of land are being snatched across the developing world for European biofuels. Whether it’s their impact on the environment, the climate, or the need to swallow up more land, the arguments against large scale biofuels continue to grow. Only a reversal of the EU biofuel targets and urgent investment to promote environmentally friendly farming and efficiency in our transport can stop this trend”.
Link: http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2010/Jun29_EU_fuelling_hunger_by_grabbing_land_for_biofuels.html
2.3. Russia floats barge for waterborne nuclear plant
30 June 2010, Reuters
Russia on Wednesday took a big step toward the controversial creation of the world’s first floating nuclear power station, putting a barge that will house the plant into the water.
Environmentalists say Russia’s plan to dot its northern coastline with floating nuclear power plants is risky.
The head of Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, said the plant would be "absolutely safe" and predicted "big interest from foreign customers."
Nearly a quarter-century after the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster in Soviet Ukraine, Russia is planning to expand its own network of nuclear power plants and pursuing deals to build more abroad.
The vessel housing the plant, which Kiriyenko said should be ready to operate late in 2012, was launched at the Baltiisky shipyard in Russia’s Imperial-era capital on the Baltic Sea.
Kiriyenko said nuclear fuel for the plant would be loaded later in the Murmansk region, further north, and the station towed to its place of operation. It would be hauled away after 32 years of service, he said, leaving the surrounding area "the same as before the station arrives."
Environmentalists are not convinced.
"The danger begins when the reactor is installed and nuclear fuel put there," said Vladimir Chuprov, Greenpeace Russia’s energy projects chief.
"If something goes wrong … it could mean the nuclearization of several dozen hectares of land at a minimum and tens of thousands of people evacuated from the polluted area," he said.
Critics also warily recall Soviet-era nuclear accidents and Russia’s naval disasters such as the loss of the nuclear-powered submarine Kursk, which sank in the Barents Sea after explosions on board, killing all 118 crew.
Kiriyenko said the floating plant, called the Academician Lomonosov, would have the capacity to produce 80 megawatts of electricity. He said at least six potential sites for such plants have been chosen in northern Russia.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6600MV20100701
2.4. Obama commits nearly $2 billion to solar companies
4 July 2010, Reuters
President Barack Obama, under pressure to spur job growth, said on Saturday two solar energy companies will get nearly $2 billion in U.S. loan guarantees to create as many as 5,000 green jobs.
In his weekly radio and Web address, Obama coupled his announcement with an acknowledgment that efforts to recover from the recession are slow a day after the Labor Department reported that private hiring in June rose by 83,000.
"It’s going to take months, even years, to dig our way out and it’s going to require an all-hands-on-deck effort," he said.
All told, 5,000 jobs are expected to be created through use of $1.85 billion in money taken from the $787 billion economic stimulus that Obama pushed through the U.S. Congress in early 2009 over the strenuous objections of Republicans.
Obama announced the Energy Department will award $1.45 billion in loan guarantees to Abengoa Solar Inc to help it build Solona, one of the largest solar generation plants in the world near Gila Bend, Arizona.
Abengoa Solar, headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado, is a unit of Spanish renewable energy and engineering company Abengoa SA. In the short term, construction will create some 1,600 jobs in Arizona.
"After years of watching companies build things and create jobs overseas, it’s good news that we’ve attracted a company to our shores to build a plant and create jobs right here in America," Obama said.
Obama said $400 million in loan guarantees will be awarded to Colorado-based Abound Solar Manufacturing to manufacture advanced solar panels at two new plants, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.
PLANT IN EMPTY CAR FACTORY
A Colorado plant is already being constructed and an Indiana plant will be built in what is now an empty Chrysler factory.
The announcement addresses Obama’s desire to create jobs related to green technologies.
Obama, whose Democrats are anticipating losses in November 2 congressional elections because of the weak jobs picture, said the steps he is taking "won’t replace all the jobs we’ve lost overnight" and that "I know folks are struggling."
He accused Republicans of blocking a $33 billion extension of unemployment benefits that failed to pass the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
"At a time when millions of Americans feel a deep sense of urgency in their own lives, Republican leaders in Washington just don’t get it," Obama said.
Republicans say the problem is Democrats want to pass legislation that would add to the country’s debt.
In the Republican response to Obama’s address, Senator Saxby Chambliss called the country’s $13 trillion debt "one of the most dangerous threats confronting America today."
"At a time when many Americans are clipping coupons and pinching pennies, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress continue to spend money that they — we — do not have," Chambliss said.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6620NB20100704
2.5. Exclusive: Europe gets first glimpse of solar and windfarm plans
1 July 2010, Reuters
Wind turbine farms are set to expand rapidly across Europe’s coastal waters, throwing up challenges and opportunities for industry, according to a Reuters analysis of a leaked draft of EU energy strategies.
A picture of the European Union’s renewable energy landscape for 2020 is emerging for the first time as the bloc’s 27 member states scramble to meet a deadline for setting their "National Renewable Energy Action Plans."
The documents were due to be delivered to the European Commission by midnight on Wednesday, although most missed the deadline and none of the plans has yet been made public.
But a number of draft plans seen by Reuters point to massive growth in the onshore wind-farm capacity — 30 percent in Germany, 130 percent in Ireland, 230 percent in Italy and 74 percent in Spain.
Offshore wind is also expected to soar, from virtually zero today to around 10,000 Megawatts in Germany, 2,300 MW in Ireland, 1,000 MW in Italy and 3,000 MW in Spain.
That is likely to pose a massive challenge for the wind industry’s support services.
"For offshore wind we will need significant investments in infrastructure, such as grids, harbors and vessels that can accommodate and transport machines the size of offshore wind turbines across the sea," said Justin Wilkes, policy director at the European Wind Energy Association.
The plans give a detailed picture of European governments’ vision, but much hangs on how effectively they are executed. The availability of finance, subsidies and support services will play a big role, as will planning and political stability.
BAD SIGNAL
"Policy changes can be devastating to industry and really stifle investment," said Eric Peeters, vice president of Dow Corning Corp’s solar business. "Retroactive changes would be a really bad signal."
Spain — the world’s second-largest solar generator — is currently revising its subsidy system, unsettling investors.
Solar-power capacity will increase by 189 percent in Spain, according to the draft plan, while Germany will see a three-fold increase and Italy a five-fold increase.
Finance could also be an issue as Europe endeavors to pull itself out of the deepest recession in 80 years.
The world is spending only half the money needed to reach widely-held climate goals, says International Energy Agency analyst Adam Brown.
"The investment level worldwide to meet that goal is $239 billion a year between now and 2030," he said. "The current level is about half that at around $110 billion."
The financial crisis has been blamed in part for the shortfall in spending and investment, but renewable energy campaigners say that is no excuse.
"In economically challenging times, Europe needs a strong future-oriented industry and creation of new jobs," said Lucie Tesnière of the European Renewable Energy Council.
Paperwork and red tape is often a major barrier to photovoltaic power, which could be competitive within five years in the most favorable regions, said Dow Corning’s Peeters.
"In Italy, permitting is complex and is really slowing development," he said. "But Belgium is a good example. It has the lowest sun outside Scandinavia, and yet this year there will be 200 MW installed, which is very high on a per capita basis."
Peeters has just moved from the United States to Belgium and expects to have solar panels installed on his roof by September.
"In Michigan (U.S.) that would be almost impossible for a normal resident," he added.
The draft plans also reveal major plans for investment in power from biomass, particularly in eastern Europe. Bulgaria plans 433 MW of biomass generating capacity, while Poland plans 1,425 MW.
But the European Commission’s director general for energy, Philip Lowe, said he would not hide from dealing with charges from environmentalists that energy from biomass can often do more harm than good.
"At the end of the year, we have to be very realistic about this," he told a Friends of Europe conference on Wednesday. "We’re fully on board for a serious scientific examination."
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6602J220100701
EMISSIONS
3.1. EC to set 2013 EU ETS allowance quantity in ‘days’: official
30 June 2010, Platts
The European Commission is to publish the absolute EU-wide quantity of EU emissions trading scheme allowances for 2013 in the "coming days" but the precise date is not yet decided, EC press officer Lena de Visscher said
Wednesday. De Visscher confirmed that the EC would miss the June 30 deadline set out in the EU’s 2009 EU ETS directive But she said there were no legal consequences for being late and that the directive–which sets out new rules for the EU ETS after 2012–would be implemented in time.
June 30 is also the deadline for EU national authorities to notify the EC of any changes to the total allowances needed to over new installations.
"Notifications are coming in, but the Commission is to publish the adjustment of the cap for new sectors and gases only [at the] end [of] September 2010," said EC climate action spokeswoman Maria Kokkonen.
DEADLINE MISSED FOR POST-2012 AUCTION RULES
The EC will also miss the June 30 deadline for adopting new EU rules setting out the timing and administrative rules for auctioning post-2012 allowances.
"We hope for a positive vote in the [EU] climate change committee on July 14," said Kokkonen, referring to the committee made up of officials from the EU’s 27 national governments which has to approve the EC’s proposals before they can be adopted.
So far the committee has been divided over the EC’s plans to allow national auctioning platforms to run temporarily longside a new central EU auction platform for allowances. The UK and Germany are fighting for more freedom to run their national platforms in parallel, while France wants tighter controls on them.
If there is a positive vote in mid-July, the European Parliament then has three months to scrutinize the proposals and the power to reject them entirely–forcing the EC to come up with new proposals–but not to tweak details.
If the EP does not object, and assuming the EU Council–which represents national governments at ministerial level rubberstamps the EU committee’s approval, the EC would be able to adopt the new rules into law in mid-October.
Link: http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews.aspx?xmlpath=RSSFeed/HeadlineNews/ElectricPower/8858981.xml
3.2. Bad grades for carbon offset reviewers
28 June 2010, WWF
The work of evaluators who assess greenhouse gas offset projects in developing countries in the framework of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), has not improved. On the contrary, a yearly assessment by WWF shows that the work of the certification agencies is in fact often criticised by the UN: on a scale from A (best) to F (worst) the ‘best’ grade was a D, which was awarded only once.
Background:
Commissioned by WWF, the Öko-Institut analysed, for the second time, to what degree DOEs (Designed Operational Entities) fulfill the requirements of the UNFCCC CDM Executive Board (EB). More than 900 projects have been evaluated for this analysis. The rating is based on a statistical evaluation of decisions by the EB on projects that were validated positively by a DOE and which are later either registered, rejected, reviewed or requested for correction by the EB. In 2007 a separate study commissioned by WWF already showed that many of these projects are of questionable quality and do not lead to emission reductions.
‘Since our rating in 2009 discrepancies did not decrease – they increased’, said Juliette de Grandpre, climate policy officer at WWF Germany. ‘Due to the shortcomings, big amounts of non-additional CO2 certificates might be awarded. This might lead to a boosting of global emissions, quite contrary to the intended reductions for which the system was put in place.’
The number of project registrations directly accepted by the CDM EB decreased from 41% to 36% since the 2009 rating; the EB demanded corrections of 57% of the projects that were positively assessed by DOEs (2009: 51%); 7% of applications were directly dismissed by the EB (2009: 6%). In most cases the projects are not registered automatically because the EB disagreed with the DOEs that CDM funding was in fact leading to higher emissions reductions (‘additionality’).
‘The CDM is based on the assumption that a project can not be carried out without the financial support gained by generating and selling additional emission reductions. However, the ranking confirms that so far all attempts to prove additionality have failed’, said de Grandpre. ‘Rather than investing in this questionable offsetting, industrialized countries and companies would be better advised to focus on reducing their emissions at home.’
‘Europe is driving the carbon market,’ said Jason Anderson, Head of European Climate and Energy Policy at WWF. ‘In fact, there’s so much credit around, it’s undermining the European emissions trading system and allowing the EU to keep emitting while still claiming to meet reduction targets. But even worse is that the offset credits are being generated by a system showing these kinds of lasting inadequacies – it could mean Europe is actively making climate change worse, not better.’
It is certainly positive that the CDM Executive Board created a system of measurements and sanctions for the certification agencies, but this system is not operational after three years of development. Also, important information about the shortcomings of the UN assessments of DOEs is not publicly accessible.
Therefore, WWF urges the CDM Executive Board to
agree clear rules and strict procedures for climate project evaluators at the next CDM board meeting, taking place 26-30 July in Bonn,
Make the results of the evaluation assessments public.
Link: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/how_we_work/policy/wwf_europe_environment/news/?194004/Bad-grades-for-carbon-offset-reviewers
3.3. Global carbon emissions steady for first time since 1992
1 July 2010, Guardian.co.uk
Greenhouse gas emissions from rich countries fell a record 7% in 2009 because of the recession, but the cut was entirely nullified by steep increases from fast-growing China and India, according to one of Europe’s leading scientific research groups.
Overall, this meant annual global climate emissions remained steady for the first time since 1992, says the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency which drew on energy-use data from the US government, the EU, BP energy data, the cement industry, and elsewhere.
But the Dutch government-funded agency, which in 2007 was the first to correctly identify that China had overtaken the US as the world’s greatest greenhouse gas polluter, warned that the figures did not mean that rich countries had cleaned up their act.
"A large part of production capacity has been suspended, but this could be re-employed as soon as the economy improves. It is likely that a recovering economy would cause emission levels in industrialised countries to go up. Nevertheless, the economic downturn has meant that these countries can meet their reduction obligations with more ease," said NEAA spokeswoman Anneke Oosterhuis.
"Another consequence of this downturn is that some industrialised countries may need to purchase fewer emission rights from reduction projects in developing countries, which, in turn, means that there will be less money available for emission reductions in those developing countries," said Oosterhuis.
The figures will come as a relief to the world’s rich countries which – the US aside – are legally committed to reducing emissions by a collective 5.2% on 1990 figures by 2012. As it stands, says the Dutch agency, they are now 10% below 1990 levels, well below the Kyoto target level.
The research also shows that China and India’s average CO2 emissions per inhabitant are still well below those in industrialised countries. In India the emissions are now 1.4 tonnes per person and in China 6 tonnes, compared with 10 tonnes per person in the Netherlands and 17 tonnes in the United States.
China ‘s 9% growth in emissions came despite its doubling of wind and solar energy capacity for the fifth year in a row.
The report highlights the rapid growth in global emissions in the past 40 years. They are now 25% higher than in 2000, almost 40% more than in 1990, and double 1970’s figure of 15.5bn tonnes. The big growth in Chinese and Indian emissions has been relatively recent. China has doubled its emissions in nine years, and India’s have risen by 50% in that time.
But the recession has not hit all industrial countries uniformly. Russia (-11%) and Japan (-9%) have contracted their energy use the most, but the US – which is by far the most profligate power user in the world – reduced its emissions by nearly 500m tonnes in 2009. Other developing countries changed little in 2009. Emissions rose in Iran, Indonesia and South Korea but fell in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Taiwan.
2009 was a good year for renewable energy. Global wind power capacity grew by nearly one third, with nearly one third of all new installations in China. Total solar electricity installed in 2009 was 46% up on 2008. China now leads the world in large-scale hydropower with 19% of global production, well ahead of Brazil and the USA with a 12% share each.
The new figures supplement those of the International energy agency (IEA) which predicted in November 2009 that global CO2 emissions would decrease by 2.6% in 2009. At that stage it was unclear how China and India would ride out the recession.
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/01/emissions-recession
3.4. Chinese, Indian emissions nullified world cuts: report
2 July 2010, AFP
A strong rise in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from China and India nullified a decline achieved by industrialised countries last year, a Dutch environmental agency said on Thursday.
"Global emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, have remained constant in 2009," the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said in a report based on data from sources like oil company BP, the US Geological Survey, and Europe’s Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research.
"Strong increases in CO2 emissions from fast-growing developing countries such as China and India have completely nullified CO2 emission reductions in the industrialised world," said the policy advice body.
The International Energy Agency had forecast a global emission drop of 2.6 percent for 2009, it added, but instead emissions remained constant for the first time since 1992.
While emissions from fossil-fuel combustion dropped seven percent in industrial countries, partly due to the effects of the economic crisis, it grew nine and six percent in China and India, said the agency.
"A large part of production capacity has been suspended, but could be re-employed as soon as the economy improves. Therefore it is likely that a recovering economy would cause emission levels in industrialised countries to go up," it added.
The average CO2 emission of fast-growing developing countries in 2009 (1.4 tonnes per person in India and six tonnes per person in China) were still below those of industrial countries (ten tonnes per person in the Netherlands and 17 tonnes in the United States).
Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5itB0G-iZkNHVMw4tQ-24FE9TZH0w
PUBLICATIONS
4.1. Invitation to launch of Energy [R]evolution report
28 June 2010, Greenpeace
A roadmap for a 100% renewable energy future
With the European Commission preparing to present its EU 2050 energy vision, Greenpeace and the European Renewables Energy Council (EREC) will launch a blueprint for a cheaper, sustainable, job-friendly and technology-driven energy future that phases out nuclear and coal completely. Experts will also present the first-ever comparison of existing EU energy scenarios for 2050.
Press conference with Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Energy
Thursday 8 July – 2.30pm, Résidence Palace IPC, Maelbeek room
More at: http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/campaigns/choose-clean-energy/launch-of-energy-%28R%29evolution-report
EVENTS
5.1. COP 16 & CMP 6 – Launch of host country website
Mexico welcomes the delegates of the States Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, observers, international officials, media representatives and participants from organized civil society.
As the host country, Mexico will hold a plural and inclusive conference and will spare no effort in facilitating the building of understandings among States Parties to ensure that COP16/CMP6 deliver concrete and effective results for tackling the global challenge of climate change. Mexico will encourage the widest participation and dialogue among the various actors involved in the conference as well as the search for common solutions.
Web site: http://cc2010.mx/swb/
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