Time to get over fossil fuel addiction as oil slick heads toward Europe
Thursday, 10 June 2010 14:32
As the latest round of UNFCCC climate negotiations finish up in Bonn this week, progress has been made in some areas and not in others. (Check back here for a wrap up once the session concludes.) One thing that has definitely progressed, however, is the amount of affected area covered by the ever-expanding BP oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.
The United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) releases trajectory forecast maps once a day predicting the extent and concentration of the oil near the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. This week, NOAA released a trajectory map with a forecast up to 130 days (4+ months) after the accident. Chillingly, the modelling shows the spill heading straight toward Europe...
EU Fast Start Finance interim reporting has little meat
Thursday, 03 June 2010 16:22
Today in Bonn the EU presented its interim reporting on fast start finance (FSF) committed under the Copenhagen Accord. NGOs had called for complete transparency and a country-by-country analysis of what had been pledged, in what sectors and how and when it would be delivered. Today's reporting did not offer up much more detail on these issues, especially as the EU continues to be unclear on just how to define "new and additional" money.
Today the UN climate negotiations restarted in Bonn, Germany, serving as the first fully-fledged negotiating session since last December's climate flop in Copenhagen. Although certain elements in the media would have you believe that infighting has already begun, CAN remains optimistic. While we have pointed out some issues that need to be addressed in the coming two weeks - e.g., fast start finance, logging loopholes, the "gigatonne gap" between what's been pledged and what's needed - we see no real impediment to these things being resolved before the next Conference of Parties (COP) in December in Cancun. In other positive developments, a new, streamlined text that will serve as the basis for a new negotiating text has been released. So it's really not all doom and gloom!
Many members of the CAN Europe network will be here in Bonn over the next two weeks, urging strength of character from the EU. Later this week, expect a CAN Europe reaction to an EU analysis of fast start finance pledges, due for official release by the EU on Thursday.
In the meantime, you can keep up to date with ECO, CAN International's daily newsletter at the negotiations.
Photo: No loan sharks demonstration in Bonn, by Hanne Malat, courtesy Oxfam
Highway robbery in broad daylight!
Friday, 28 May 2010 17:20
Corporate greediness exposed
During the last week, two interesting reports have been released that paint a harrowing picture of how Europe’s manufacturing industry is profiting from the current climate regime in the EU.
A new report by Sandbag, an NGO expert in EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) data, estimates that the European manufacturing industry under the EU ETS will hoard up to 18 Billion EUROs worth of surplus allowances during the trading period 2008-2012. These are, in fact, allowances that they received from EU governments for free. Sandbag also states that this surplus, which can be used until 2020 and beyond, will lead to no domestic emission reductions in the EU until 2017 at least. Ten of the EU's most polluting firms, including ArcelorMittal, Lafarge, CEZ and CEMEX, will have surplus carbon dioxide (CO2) allowances worth over €3 billion after 2012. With these assets in play, those sectors would certainly be able to absorb the move to a higher reduction target, such as the 30% target presented by the European Commission this week.
Shell-shaped maple leaf visits European Parliament
In previous articles on this website, we have drawn attention to the anti-climate lobby activities of European companies acting both inside and outside the EU. It seems this week one such company is bringing reinforcements from across the Atlantic. Alberta’s environment [sic] minister Rob Renner is meeting EU policy makers in Brussels and Strasbourg this week. Rumour has it that the main goal of this auspicious visit is to water down EU fuel legislation, which otherwise would allow the EU to bar the import of carbon- intensive and highly polluting tar sands-extracted oil.
The icing on the cake of his visit is the dinner offered by Royal Dutch Shell, assisted by MEP Christian Ehler (EPP - Germany), to the members of European Parliament. The topic of the dinner debate, as you might have guessed, is tar sands oil extraction.
At a time when another European oil company is responsible for a major environmental disaster in the Mexican Gulf, Shell clearly sees no problem with force-feeding EU policy makers into implicitly endorsing another damaging oil exploitation scheme.
In previous articles on this website, we have drawn attention to the anti-climate lobby activities of European companies acting both inside and outside the EU. It seems this week one such company is bringing reinforcements from across the Atlantic. Alberta’s environment [sic] minister Rob Renner is meeting EU policy makers in Brussels and Strasbourg this week. Rumour has it that the main goal of this auspicious visit is to water down EU fuel legislation, which otherwise would allow the EU to bar the import of carbon- intensive and highly polluting tar sands-extracted oil.
