Blog

RIO +20 - the Future we REALLY want

This year, the Earth Summit will take place from 20-22nd June. Although the Greens acknowledge that progress towards sustainable development has been made since the Rio Summit 20 years ago, they warn that considerable implementation gaps remain and that many commitments by the international community have not yet been met...  

Climate roadmap: both our climate and the EU´s international reputation at stake

because of Poland, the EU environment council did not manage to reach a consensus on the climate roadmap last week. All eyes are now on the European Parliament...  

Environment Ministers must ensure EU leadership continues

This Friday, the Environment Council will hold a series of discussions on important items, including the malfunctioning EU emissions trading scheme in which the low carbon price is seriously undermining green investments and emissions reductions.  

Fukushima one year on: Lesson learnt?

A joint message from our two Greens/EFA Co Presidents & Co-chairs of the European Green Party  

More energy efficiency: a solution to the EU economic crisis

Tomorrow the Industry committee of the European Parliament will vote on the Energy Efficiency Directive. The Greens hope the committee will vote for the strongest and most ambitious text possible...  

Europe must keep tar sands out of its territory!

Today, the EU Members States will vote on a draft law to label fuel from tar sands as highly polluting. The Greens hope that the EU will remain firm in its target...  

Aviation/ international: the EU must convince of the fairness of including the sector into the ETS

Today the EU/ China summit was held in China. There were many items which the Greens had called on to be discussed with the Chinese leadership, including aviation and the EU ETS  

Moving to a 30% carbon target makes eco-nomic sense

Today the Environment Committee gives its position on the EU low carbon roadmap. The Greens ask for the EU ETS to be fixed urgently in order to put and end to high-carbon investments...  

Great hopes for the new EU Presidency!

The new year is bringing some new hopes with the new Danish EU Presidency, and the Greens thus have great expectations for the six months to come....  

Aviation sector in the EU ETS: Stand Firm! EU institutions must enforce their laws

The EU law requiring the inclusion of aviation into the EU ETS continues to be challenged by third countries but the EU must stand firm on this crucial piece of legislation!  

Canadian government chooses to invest in the energy of the past rather than the one of the future

Yesterday, Canada officially announced that it will pull out of the Kyoto Protocol. The Greens strongly criticize this move, which shows that Canada puts polluters before people.  

COP 17: talks about future talks

The COP 17 finally ended with an agreement early this morning after 35 hours of intense negotiations. But the deal will not be enough to avoid dangerous climate change before it is too late...  

COP17: a glimmer of hope?

We are now on the last day of the COP, but the negotiations might well last until very late tomorrow morning … or even be extended by hours, possibly days....  

Some of us may have had the same dream last night

Last night, a great number of negotiators negotiated until dawn... while other were hoping for the best...  

UN Climate summit: one step forward, two steps back?

With the high level discussions starting today, the atmosphere at the UN climate summit is getting more and more tense...  

Durban- COP17: talks are heating up as the second week starts

Despite the fact that last week proceeded smoothly with positive progress on several technical aspects, this week ahead looks much busier...  

Durban/ COP 17: First week of UN Climate Summit

The first week of the new UN climate summit is nearly over. The opening days have been reported by NGOs to be `sound` and `very smooth` but outcomes on the key items are still unpredictable...  

Why we cannot wait until after the debt crisis to deal with the climate challenge

Why the next UN talks in Durban should (and do) matter

For some Durban will only be a step in the process of agreeing to a global climate treaty. Yet, it would be wrong to ignore the next COP as many decisions are still needed to steer us away from the worst impacts of the climate crisis...  

EU Proposals on energy infrastructure: Proposals skewed in favour of gas pipes over renewable energy needs

The EU Commission has presented its legislative proposals on European energy infrastructure. Very disappointingly, the proposals are seriously skewed in favour of gas pipe projects...