Brussels, March 27 - EU officials today published details of their planned approach to climate and energy policy until 2030. Friends of the Earth Europe has described the plans as ‘dangerously inadequate’ and particularly criticised the lack of legally binding targets to encourage more energy from renewables and more energy savings.
The European Commission’s strategy paper [1] indicates the executive’s clear support for a legally binding target for reducing EU greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
A new report out today shows that the European Union could benefit from €200 billion net savings per year providing it gets on track to meeting its stated 20% by 2020 energy savings target [1].
The report written by Ecofys and commissioned by Friends of the Earth Europe and Climate Action Network Europe also looks to 2030 and finds that net savings in the order of €250 billion per year could be achieved if the EU reduces its energy use by roughly 35% below 2005 levels by 2030.
Members of the European Parliament’s environment committee voted today in favour of a proposal to delay the introduction of permits into the EU Emissions Trading System.
The proposal, referred to as ETS ‘backloading’, is designed to increase the carbon price and help make the scheme more effective in driving emissions reductions. But over-reliance on this failing scheme is a dangerous distraction from more effective action against climate change, according to Friends of the Earth Europe.
A European Parliament committee vote tomorrow (Wednesday July 11), with a major bearing on EU budget spending for the 2014-2020 period, must reject the re-classification of fossil fuels as 'low-carbon', urged environmental groups today.
Failure to do so would permit these drivers of climate change to be awarded potentially billions of euros of EU taxpayers' money intended solely for energy efficiency and renewable energy, say CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth Europe.
Halfway through its term in office, the European Commission is falling behind in the race to create sustainable long-term prosperity in Europe, warn Europe's leading green groups in a critical assessment of the Commission's environmental performance since 2010.
Europe’s energy ministers have reached a compromise on improving energy efficiency in Europe. This follows months of negotiations with the European Parliament. The compromise deal is a welcome step, but lacks ambition and is too weak to fully realise the EU's agreed 20% energy savings target according to Friends of the Earth Europe.
The European Union could benefit from over €200 billion net savings per year through energy efficiency measures, according to new research released by Friends of the Earth Europe and Climate Action Network Europe today. The research concludes that for every Euro saved through reduced energy use, businesses and consumers save an additional Euro as energy efficiency measures drive down energy prices.
Brussels, February 28 – The European Parliament's Energy Committee (ITRE) voted today in favour of binding legislation to deliver Europe's target of 20% energy savings by 2020.
MEPs from all major parties reached an agreement to strengthen plans to reduce Europe's energy use [1] by supporting a binding 20% target and recommending tougher measures to save energy.
Final negotiations with national governments, which are less supportive of binding efficiency legislation, are expected to begin shortly.
A plan to reduce Europe's energy use unveiled in Brussels today will not make savings to the extent promised, or on the scale needed to fight climate change. That is the verdict of Friends of the Earth Europe – and the plan's own authors – on the Energy Efficiency Directive published by the European Commission.
Two important climate and energy papers were released today by the European Commission in Brussels amid criticism from Friends of the Earth Europe.
The environmental group argues that the proposals for how Europe might tackle climate change over the next 40 years show the EU is effectively abandoning its pledge to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.