Click on the headline (link) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
EU agrees deal to reduce carbon emissions by 20%
Staff and agencies, Guardian
The EU today agreed an ambitious deal for tackling climate change, committing the bloc to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and to producing a fifth of its energy via renewable sources by the same date.
The agreement, thrashed out at a summit in Brussels despite a series of objections from some eastern European members and France, gives the EU “ambitious and credible” targets to tackle climate change, said the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.
(9 March 2007)
Split on nuclear power threatens agreement on global warming
David Gow and Ian Traynor, Guardian
Divisions over nuclear power and renewable energy threatened to derail the EU’s campaign to assume a global leadership role in the fight against climate change at the bloc’s spring summit which began last night. Warning that “it is closer to five past midnight than five to midnight” for international measures to combat global warming, Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel, chairing the meeting, urged EU leaders to “deliver results for our grandchildren” by making Europe the world’s first low-carbon economy via a unilateral 20% cut in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
(9 March 2007)
Europe Takes the Lead in Fighting Climate Change
Carsten Volkery , Der Spiegel
The EU has reached what is being described as an historic agreement on climate protection. But the devil will be in the details of the implementation.
…[German Chancellor Angela] Merkel is therefore not wrong when she talks of a “qualitative breakthrough” and a “new dimension of European cooperation.” [European Commission President Jose Manuel] Barroso rightly points out that this is the most ambitious climate protection program in the world.
But the problems only really begin now. The Council has only formulated an abstract goal. The real struggle is reserved for the EU Commission, which now has to negotiate with each individual member state over its emissions and its energy mix. At the summit, Merkel has already had a foretaste of just how much each country defends its own interests, whether that is cheap coal (in the case of Poland) or nuclear power (in the case of France).
The decision over renewable energy in particular led to heated discussions which could only be defused on Friday morning. France joined together with several Eastern European countries to create a front against the plan proposed by Germany, the UK, Italy and the Scandinavian countries to set a binding target.
(9 March 2007)
In Europe, Germany May Have to Take the Wheel in Going Green
Mark Landler, NY Times
Europe prides itself on its pioneering approach to climate change – a commitment that Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany aims to deepen in her term as president of the European Union.
There is just one problem: her country, home of the autobahn and the Porsche sports cars that tear along it, is among Europe’s worst offenders when it comes to cars that spew carbon dioxide into the air.
…German auto executives concede that they will have to do more, especially since passenger car emissions account for 12 percent of Europe’s total emissions, and are rising rather than falling, unlike overall greenhouse gases here. But the industry’s reluctance to fully embrace the fears about climate change was palpable at the International Motor Show in Geneva this week.
(6 March 2007)
UK Government: “energy security and climate change”
Chris Vernon, The Oil Drum: Europe
On 5 March 2007 David Miliband MP delivered a lecture titled “The transition economy: a future beyond oil?” Full text available here. The 18MB MP3 audio file is available here.
Nice title, so who is he? Miliband is Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, a senior cabinet position in the Blair Government. He became an MP for Labour in 2001 and was appointed to the cabinet in 2005. At just 41 he’s regarded as young for his position and there has even been press speculation he might challenge Gordon Brown for leadership in the summer when Blair steps down.
…Miliband is to be commended however, this lecture was more radical than I’ve heard any minister make. I believe it is peak oil inspired even though he can’t bring himself to say the words and whilst he predictably looks towards (largely inappropriate) technology to provided answers, demand reduction is stated as the number one transformation our energy system needs:
(9 March 2007)
BNP: Going “Green” – thinking beyond Peak Oil!
Gloucestershire correspondent, British National Party (BNP)
We are constantly being told by the Government that we, as a nation, must reduce the size of our “Carbon footprint”. The fact that we are adding, net, some 250,000 people to our population each year through immigration – whom, in aggregate, adds significantly to that footprint – and probably cancels out any reduction made by the current population – appears to have escaped this government!
If the government were serious on this issue then they would halt immigration immediately.
However, having said that, we can all make a contribution – by walking to the local shops for our groceries or taking the kids to school on foot – rather than using the car.
Indeed if we all just used the car solely for those journeys that are impossible by foot then we, our kids and our wallets would be that little bit more healthier (and wealthier)!
Our Gloucestershire correspondent this morning recommends a recent Panorama programme in connection with “going green” – which is in many cases is easier said than done! The programme may be viewed here – standalone RealPlayer recommended.
(March 2007)
As is discussed on The Oil Drum’s Drumbeat for March 09, the BNP is a far-right, anti-immigrant party in the UK. They do have a web site devoted to peak oil, however, and they are trying to clean up their image, as have other far-right parties in France and Italy. In the event of disruption to oil supplies, they will have an advantage over other parties since they have thought through peak oil and have come up with their own solutions. I think only the Green Party would give them any competition. -BA
