Monday, December 18, 2006

European Parliament votes in favour of renewable energy

On Thursday the European Parliament voted in favour of a considerable switch to renewable energy (50% by 2040), and an improvement of energy conservation in the European Union (EU) by 2050. Particularly significant was that Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted in favour of binding, sector-specific renewables targets to be included in a "road map" for renewable energy that is about to be launched in January by the European Commission.

Press reports on the proposed new policy said the EU Commission draft only included a general primary energy target, and did not set sector-specific targets for the growth of renewables in the heating, electricity and cooling sector. Renewable energy experts considered this to be very problematic and that - if approved - it would undermine the current growth of renewable electricity and heat technologies in the EU.

The Parliament also suggested EU leaders should agree by the end of next year on a binding EU CO2 reduction target for 2020 of minus 30% and an indicative minus 60-80% goal for 2050. They also recommended a "comprehensive strategy" for transport, aiming to phase out fossil fuels from the sector. They rejected an amendment that would have potentially incorporated nuclear electricity into EU targets for renewables.

The renewable energy industry was pleased, but remained worried about the proposals that will be made by the EU Commission in January.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Climate change an election issue?

I have the feeling this Reuters news story is a bit over-optimistic. I think we are far from seeing climate change being truly an election issue. However, certainly things are rapidly changing in politicians' perspective on climate change - partly thanks to successful campaigns and a change of attitude in the media. Also, if we compare the situation this year to the situation just one year ago - certainly there are some signs of change.

The article suggests that, just as Bill Clinton used the battle cry "It's the economy, stupid!" to keep his 1992 presidential campaign focused, political leaders worldwide are chanting a "new mantra" based on growing alarm about global warming.
Mainstream parties in Germany, Britain, France, Canada, the United States and Austria believe tackling climate change is a vote winner while established Green parties in Germany and Austria are experiencing a renaissance, the article says.

"Climate change, if presented the right way, is a topic that voters are definitely opening up to," Manfred Guellner, managing director of Germany's Forsa polling institute, told Reuters. "We're seeing you can score points with it.

In addition, this month, Canada's opposition Liberals elected former environment minister Stephane Dion as their leader. Dion campaigned on green issues and said he would focus on the need to cut emissions from the booming Alberta oil area.

Watch this space!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Good news from China

This Reuters story is pretty heartening. All eyes - and rightly so - are on the US and Australia, who have not ratified Kyoto. Clearly countries such as China which are growing at a rapid pace (although their per capita emissions are way below those of industrialised countries) also need to start thinking of how to slow down growth of emissions.

And this is precisely what a a top Chinese energy policy maker said on Tuesday.

"China plans to reduce its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent by 2010," he said.

Another issue is what they will do about their reliance on coal. "Because we're a coal dominant country, we have to take responsibility for lowering greenhouse emissions," Zhang Guobao, vice-chairman of the energy-policy setting National Development and Reform Commission, told an energy conference in Australia.

Improving energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy is crucial (and China has pretty ambitious goals on this already). But burning coal in more efficient power stations should also be a top priority...(more on this to follow in future posts).

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

ok - now the good news....

I have to compensate for the gloominess of yesterday's post! A nice and optimistic film about climate change from US campaigners...

Monday, May 08, 2006

Scary stuff about Asia - from the Independent

Ok - it's not ideal to re-start posting on this blog after a period of silence with such gloomy news......Next time I'll try to post something more upbeat on the many things happening around the world to combat climate change...But this is really a wake-up call and it needs to be publicised.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences - the country's top scientific body - has announced that the glaciers of the Tibetan plateau are vanishing so fast that they will be reduced by 50 per cent every decade, the Independent reported today. The glaciers have been receding over the past four decades, as the world has gradually warmed up, but the process has now accelerated alarmingly.

The vast environmental changes brought about by the process will increase droughts and sandstorms over the rest of the country, and devastate many of the world's greatest rivers.

Prof Dong Guangrong, speaking for the academy - after a study analysing data from 680 weather stations scattered across the country - said that the rising temperatures would thaw out the tundra of the plateau, turning it into desert. He added: "The melting glaciers will ultimately trigger more droughts, expand desertification and increase sand storms." The water running off the plateau is increasing soil erosion and so allowing the deserts to spread.

Sandstorms, blowing in from the degraded land, are already plaguing the country. So far this year, 13 of them have hit northern China, including Beijing. Three weeks ago one storm swept across an eighth of the vast country and even reached Korea and Japan. On the way, it dumped a mind-boggling 336,000 tons of dust on the capital, causing dangerous air pollution.

Perhaps worst of all, the melting threatens to disrupt water supplies over much of Asia. Many of the continent's greatest rivers - including the Yangtze, the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Mekong and the Yellow River - rise on the plateau.

In China alone, 300 million people depend on water from the glaciers for their survival. Yet the plateau is drying up, threatening to escalate an already dire situation across the country. Already 400 cities are short of water; in 100 of them - including Beijing - the shortages are becoming critical.

Even hopes that the melting glaciers might provide a temporary respite, by increasing the amount of water flowing off the plateau - have been dashed. For most of the water is evaporating before it reaches the people that need it - again because of the rising temperatures brought by global warning.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Comments now allowed

From now onwards you can comment on this blog. I had so far not allowed comments because I was afraid it would create too much work for me. But given the traffic at the moment is limited (I am not doing much to publicise the blog anyway) I will allow them, to see how it goes.