Archive for the ‘Europe’ Category

Threatened surge in coal emissions

With countries abandoning nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster there is likely to be a massive increase in coal use that could have devastating consequences for the fight against climate change.

That was the stark message delivered today at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi by Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA), who warned that those countries now committed to phasing out nuclear power are likely to see greenhouse gas emissions rise in the short to medium term Read the rest of this entry »

A Malagasy-German research team has discovered a new primate species in the Sahafina Forest in eastern Madagascar, a forest that has not been studied before. The name of the new species is Gerp’s mouse lemur (Microcebus gerpi), chosen to honour the Malagasy research group GERP (Groupe d’Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar). Several researchers of GERP have visited the Sahafina Forest in 2008 and 2009 to create an inventory the local lemurs Read the rest of this entry »

Germany saw solar output rise a record 60 per cent last year to more than 18 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, according to new figures from the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar).

The trade body said the output was equivalent to the entire electricity consumption of the state of Thuringia and could theoretically provide clean power to 5.1 million households for an entire year. Read the rest of this entry »

Facebook has made a major commitment to renewable energy, pledging to work with Greenpeace to source more clean energy to power its giant data centres.

The social networking giant announced this afternoon that it will work closely with Greenpeace to enhance the energy efficiency of its IT infrastructure, switch from coal to renewable energy where possible, and promote clean energy to its millions of users.

The agreement represents a major victory for the green NGO, which has run a high-profile, two-year campaign dubbed Unfriend Coal, designed to encourage Facebook to reduce its reliance on the coal-fired power stations it often uses to run its giant server farms. Read the rest of this entry »

A last-gasp international deal was agreed in the early hours of the Durban Summit yesterday morning, which for the first time commits all countries to signing on to a new legally bound climate change treaty.

In dramatic scenes, Ministers reached an agreement on a new text almost 36 hours after the scheduled close of the two week summit.

The text, known as the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, will see the EU and a handful of other countries extend the Kyoto Protocol into a second commitment period, allowing for the continuation of emission reduction initiatives enabled by the treaty such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Read the rest of this entry »

Indian officials have rejected the EU-backed proposals targets for a binding global climate treaty agreed by 2015 Senior diplomats also accused China of failing to clarify whether it will sign up to legally enforced emissions

Reports in The Guardian said that Indian environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan yesterday ruled out signing up to the EU proposal, which would see the Kyoto Protocol extended for a second commitment period on the understanding that all countries, including large emerging economies, agree to finalise a parallel binding treaty by 2015. Read the rest of this entry »

EU secures support from developing country for new plan that would see parallel treaty run alongside Kyoto

In Durban an intensive first week of negotiations culminated on Friday with the release of a new ‘roadmap’ from the EU, outlining plans to extend the Kyoto Protocol and agree a parallel legally binding treaty that will set emissions reductions targets for all countries

However as ministers gather today observers have again warned that long running talks to reach an international agreement on climate change are at risk of collapse.

The EU is proposing that a new treaty be agreed by 2015 and enacted by 2020, delivering binding commitments from all countries to curb emissions. Read the rest of this entry »

The Durban conference on Climate Change seems to have sprung into life as the Least Developed Countries (LDC) bloc and the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis) tabled papers saying a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, which expires next year, should not be delayed. No surprise here – after all, it is these nations that are most vulnerable to climate change.

The need for a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which sets emissions reduction targets and provides the basis for global carbon markets, was also brought home by a Brazilian negotiator admitting there is no future for the UN’s carbon trading system without such a deal. Read the rest of this entry »