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EU could make net savings of €250 billion per year with energy efficiency by 2030

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Internal Energy Market

The key to decarbonising Europe - Photo credit: NASA Earth Observatory

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Turning point for the ETS

The emissions trading scheme needs reform, but first it needs a patch

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New poll

Germanwatch publish results of a public opinion poll which finds 73% of…

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Misses, shortfalls and passes - ECOFIN Conclusions on climate finance

17 May 2011

EU Finance Ministers agreed on text to further the EU’s position on its contributions towards international climate finance. CAN-Europe and its members welcome the conclusions and were pleased to see the endorsement of the AGF report which highlighted a number of innovative finance sources for climate finance. Its all on the IMO and ICAO to make decisive progress to raise revenues for bunker fuels.

The text does conclude on many important issues but doesn't elaborate on the most pertinent question - how it plans to raise the 100bn promised to finance mitigation and adaptation actions in developing countries? In addition it fails to mention what sources would be looked into and misses the opportunity to address the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).

Renewables will play an essential role in avoiding climate change, IPCC report says

10 May 2011

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The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) launched (9th May 2011) its long awaited "Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources" (SRREN). The report unequivocally shows that renewable energies has an irreplaceable role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the next decades.

The 900-page report compares 164 scenarios on renewable energy and it is the most comprehensive analysis ever of trends and perspectives for renewable energy. Ambitious national policies and strong international cooperation are the key to the swift and extensive deployment of renewable energies all over the world.

The IPCC report also confirms that renewable energy can satisfy the growing demand for energy in developing countries with competitive costs and at faster rate than conventional energy sources.
However significant energy policy barriers must be removed in order to unlock the full potential of renewable energies the report concluded. There are no limits on renewable energy potential or technology – the only barrier now is the lack of political will.

Download the "IPCC SRREN Report Summary for Policy Makers".

IPCC Press Release

Time to open our eyes: "Latest scientific results on climate change impacts are shocking"

06 May 2011

While the EU institution seem to be asleep at the helm, new scientific research seems to suggest that the current EU and international agreed climate and temperature targets are in fact not safe to avoid dangerous climate change.

A recent assessment by Hansen and Sato looked at what the climate on the earth was like ten thousands years ago at a time when greenhouse gas concentrations were at the level, esteemed to be safe by the EU and the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), of 450 parts per million CO2. The scientists' conclusions are chilling: "...goals of limiting human-made warming to 2°C and CO2 to 450 ppm are prescriptions for disaster." The report contains a strong warning for European politicians: "If we are correct in that conclusion, the EU 2°C scenario [ed. the EU's goal and emission scenario to keep global warming below +2°C] implies a sea level rise of many meters. It is difficult to predict a time scale for the sea level rise, but it would be dangerous and foolish to take such a global warming scenario as a goal."