EUROFLASHMOB : 6 Airports Across Europe!

The day of the Eurovision song contest: 12 noon, Saturday 16th May 2009

12 noon - on the dot! - flash your red t-shirt in the departures section of Heathrow Terminal 1

Flash Heathrow! Flash Paris! Flash Frankfurt! Flash Amsterdam! Flash Brussels! Flash Dublin!

Each airport will sing Eurovision classics from the past (song-sheets provided!)

Join us! Bring your friends, wear a red t-shirt, bring instruments, download your favourite eurovision song onto your ipod or phone, wear a silly hat or wig, dust off your dancing shoes! Let's party!

Now for the serious bit: airport expansion is seriously bad for local people, increased noise, air pollution, and especially the climate. The aviation industry want to expand airports across the UK and Europe, but opposition is huge, and the scientists are telling us we have to drastically cut emissions if we are to beat climate change. Flashmobs are a fun way to highlight the real opposition there is to expansion at airports across Europe. Here's another big chance to show our opposition to a 3rd runway at Heathrow.

See you in Departures at Terminal 1 at 12 noon on the dot!

All over by one o'clock.

Tell BAA to get in tune! No Third Runway!

www.euroflashmob.eu

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Greenpeace Shut Down EON Coal Plant Construction in the Netherlands

Supported by the Rainbow Warrior, a hundred of our volunteer activists occupied the construction site of the new E.ON coal fired power plant in Rotterdam. They halted construction for 10 hours before they were all arrested by police. Special police cut their chains and neck locks and removed everyone from the site by the end of the day.



Later there where 100 arrests and the Rainbow Warrior was ceased.

One-hundred activists were taken away, scattered in police holding cells all over Rotterdam. Removed from a peaceful protest - a climate defenders camp - on the building site of the new Eon power station in Rotterdam. The night came; Rainbow Warrior and Beluga2 settled into it, at anchor. My telephone rang, it was the police. It rang again, the police were ordering me to come inside harbour. I was in a difficult position as I wanted to comply but had to refuse for two reasons: 1) it was now dark and dangerous to navigate, and 2) we were all very tired - following a long day of activity. It was safest to remain at anchor, the weather was good. The police threatened to ‘storm the vessel’ and the phone stopped ringing. It was quiet for an hour.

Two objects moved in the Maas Mond. I watched their trails indicate they had turned - they were headed our way. Two large police boats were approaching and Rainbow Warrior became lit up in the beam of a search light. I counted silhouettes behind the wheel-house windows as they passed down our side. Shouting. Someone was shouting from the police deck to remove the inflatables from the side of the Rainbow Warrior “or we will be forced to crush them” the voice screamed out. More shouting, “move it, move it”. A time limit was imposed. The shouter came on board, red in the face with rage. He brought eight heavily armed me with him.

More details on the story here.

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ENVI documents european climate policy.

Some major decisions have come out of Europe on Tuesday 6th. Decisions which none the less have to pass national govornments before comming law. These decisions where taken by Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and all of the documents that they where discussing along with the ammendments can be found on there website.

If anyone knows where you can read the actual decisions i`d like to know!

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EU Propose Old Coal Ban, sets long term climate targets, decides on some auctioning.

Major news from the EU. A coal emissions limit equal to that in California has been proposed from 2015. Coal power plants will have to release less than 500g co2 per KWh. This is thought by many to mean only coal with carbon capture and storage will be permitted. As many believe that CCS is false hope used to deflect attention from the inherent unsustainability of coal, there is general scepticism weather ccs will infact take off. With Russia having its hand on the gas puipeline it looks like renewables and possibly nuclear have the day. Nuclear of course cant proceede without huge safety subsidies and many will question weather it might be wiser to subsidise clean technologies which atleast give us clean and risk free energy.

But coal was only one of the issues voted on this past tuesday (Via Climate Change Corp):

Easy on industry, tough on utilities

On reforming the ETS after 2012, the Environment Committee broadly followed the European Commission's original proposal. However, on the controversial question of auctioning of emissions rights, MEPs said 15 percent of allowances for heavy industry should be auctioned in 2013, rising to 100 percent in 2020. This is a far lighter touch compared with the Commission's starting point for auctioning of 60 percent.

This may represent a weakening of the proposals in some eyes, but Doyle had to break ranks with her own colleagues even to achieve this. Most members of her centre-right European People's Party (EPP) group wanted even more free allowances for industry. Following the vote, German EPP lawmaker Karl-Heinz Florenz was strongly critical, saying “this is going to cost us jobs,” because industry may decide to relocate to lower cost regions.

Other positions on the ETS backed by lawmakers include full auctioning of allowances to the power sector from 2013 (though with some exceptions, for example for district heating), payment of half of auction revenues into an international climate protection fund, inclusion of shipping in cap-and-trade, and a higher exemption threshold for small-scale emitters (up from the Commission's proposed 10,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year to 25,000 tons).

Outside the markets

While the ETS obliges industry to cut emissions, Finnish Green MEP Satu Hassi oversaw proposals requiring EU countries to reduce non-ETS emissions by 10 percent overall between 2013 and 2020. This will contribute to a goal of a 20 percent cut by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, rising to 30 percent if an international climate deal is done. Under Hassi's direction, the Environment Committee added new longer-term emissions reduction targets – 50 percent by 2035, and 60-80 percent by 2050.

Lawmakers also agreed that countries should incur potentially steep automatic fines for missing emissions targets: €100 for each excess ton of CO2, with over-achieving countries able to sell their excess entitlements to laggards. Meanwhile, the use by countries of offset credits from the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) will be more tightly controlled than originally foreseen by the Commission – spelling more uncertainty for CDM project developers.

Speaking after the votes, Hassi declared it “a good day,” though she warned that the question of carbon fines would be “a hard issue” in negotiations with the EU Council.

Coal plants face 2015 ban

The third part of the package was carbon sequestration, a technology that promises much, but has so far failed to get off the ground, largely due to cost. As a boost to its deployment, lawmakers said that from 2015, new power plants should have an emissions limit of 500 grams CO2 per kilowatt hour. This would have the effect of banning new coal-fired power stations, unless they capture and store their carbon. The Bellona Foundation, an environmental group strongly pushing CCS, called the vote “historic.”

Lobbyists and environmentalists will now spend weeks poring over the complex details of the Committee's votes. But the stage has been set for negotiations with the EU Council, and hoped-for finalisation of the legislation before the European elections in mid-2009.

Related:

• Business Green
• EurActive
• Times
  
• BBC
• NYT
• Climate Change Corp
  

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Minutes of April 23rd Global Climate Campaign Conference Call

Global Climate Campaign conference call 23rd of April

On the call:

1. Fiona Dear Campaign against Climate Change (UK)
   
2. John Ackers Campaign against Climate Change (UK)
   
3. Diana Vogtel Campaign against Climate Change (UK)
   
4. Ben Margolis GCAP (Global Call against Poverty) (UK)
   
5. Dylan Penner Act for the Earth (Canada)
   
6. Felix Nieto Globalizate (Spain)
   
7. Will Bates 350.org (US)
   
8. Christina Hering Klima Allianz (Germany)
   
9. Mareike Britten Greenpeace International
   
10. Susann Scherbarth FOE Europe
    

• Reports from countries around the world on prospects for the Global Day of Action 2008 and other campaigning activities:
  
  Felix reports from Spain: on 20th April over 40 organisations including Greenpeace Spain and FOE Spain organised a rally through Madrid. There was a turnout of 3000, which was smaller than expected due to bad rain, but at the protest they started leafleting for the GDA demonstration, which will be on 29th November as 6th December is a bank holiday. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Spain will also be involved in the Spanish GDA protest this year.
  
  Dylan reports from Canada: they are starting a tour on biotechnology and biofuels, and are also planning a climate camp this summer at Parliament Hill. This event can be used to spread the word about the next GDA mobilisation. There is one obstacle in Canada for the next GDA as the 6th of December is the Day against violence against women (remembering a massacre 20 years ago). However, Act for the Earth is trying to make as many links as possible to women’s groups and the gender aspect of climate change to turn this obstacle into an advantage. As an aftermath of the protests last year 6 people who got arrested will face trial this May. Act for the Earth will try to use these trials as an opportunity to put the national climate policies “on trial”. Another focus for Canadian organisations will be the G8 that will be back in Canada in 2010.
  
  Will reports from the US: in the US a team of campaigners (including former campaigners from Step it Up) are concentrating on a campaign called 350 to push the international community to adopt CO2 emissions reduction targets that will keep CO2 gases under 350ppm. The webpage will be ready end of May/beginning of June. The idea is to organise days of action around the number and to find people supporting this campaign in their countries.
  
  Mareike reports from Greenpeace International: For the build up to the Poznan talks GI are organising a boat tour with the first ship having already left from New Zealand to reach Poland later in the year passing China, India and Spain. In Poland itself Greenpeace will organise a climate camp next to an open coalmine. For the Poznan talks the Solar Generation Network (the global youth network of Greenpeace) is planning to get involved with actions.
  
  Susann reports from FOE Europe: FOE Europe supports the GDA 2008. They are focusing more on the talks in Copenhagen in 2009 rather than the Poznan talks. However, FOE youth groups will organise a meeting in Poland with about 50 delegates from around Europe and collecting messages from all around the world to display at the Poznan talks. Other FOE groups will get involved in actions in their own countries and it is also planned to use the ESF in Sweden for promotion.
  
  Christina reports from Germany: the Klima Allianz will organise local actions all around Germany for the GDA and they will also mobilise people from the eastern part of Germany to go to Poznan. Beforehand there will be two big demonstrations at coal plants on September the 13th.
  
  Diana reports from Australia: the organisers of the Walks against Warming (climate demonstrations all over Australia that saw over 100.000 people out in the streets at the last two events) have reported that they will join in on the GDA this year (last year the Walks against Warming happened two weeks before their national elections to push climate change up the election agenda and get rid of a climate unfriendly government –successfully!) and will start preparations for this event soon. At the moment they are getting their thinking caps on for how to make the Walks against Warming even bigger and more appealing this year.
  
  Fiona reports back from the UK: the three main campaign issues for groups in the UK are at the moment (1) Biofuels (CCC has just organised a public protest against the introduction of the RTFO -Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation - in the UK – working together with BiofuelWatch), (2) Aviation (together with Greenpeace UK, Hacan, NOTRAG and the 2M group CCC is organising a big rally against the plans for a third runaway at Heathrow Airport on 31st May) and (3) the building of new coal fired power plants (there is a proposal pending to build the first new coal plant in the UK for 30 years in Kingsnorth, Kent) For the GDA 2008 there are plans to bring all three of these issues together in a huge rally in London..
  
  Ben reports from GCAP: the Global Call against Poverty (GCAP) just recently started to work on climate change (they have focused more on development and poverty issues in the past) and make the connection between these two issues. They sent a small team to Bali and are now figuring out how to get involved and build alliances.
  
  Report back from Warsaw and Brussels meeting:
  
  Diana reports back from the Brussels meeting: on the 8th of March representatives from European groups from Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Italy as well as representatives from Greenpeace International, FOE Europe and the European Green Party met to discuss their plans for the GDA 2008 and plans for the Copenhagen talks. It has been decided to meet again in Copenhagen this year in September before the ESF to discuss how the GDA can be expanded in Europe and the mobilisation in 2008 can build up to the next GDA in 2009 to ensure a huge mobilisation at the critical Copenhagen talks.
  Information about the upcoming meeting in Copenhagen will be distributed around the Global Climate e-mail list.
  
  The meeting in Warsaw initiated by Greenpeace Poland and CCC saw lots of energy coming from the Polish groups that attended the meeting to mobilise for this year’s GDA. The idea of a big rally followed by a concert was raised and the Polish climate alliance will follow up on that idea. The Polish groups will meet soon, both in Poznan and Warsaw, to build a steering group and discuss further details.
  Information about the mobilisation process in Poland will be distributed around the Global Climate e-mail list.
  
  Global Climate Campaign meetings in the build-up to the GDA 2008:
  Copenhagen meeting – see report back from the Brussels meeting above
  
  Events we can use to promote the GDA 2008:

• Global Greens meeting (1st-4th May): Fiona from CCC will attend and give a workshop about the Global Climate Campaign in cooperation with GCC colleagues from Nepal
• Mini COP in Bonn (2nd-13th June): Christina and Mareike will be there; Greenpeace and FOE will have actions there.
• G8 (5th-9th July): someone from CCC will probably attend, GCAP will be there and Greenpeace and FOE have local offices there that could be contacted to find out what Greenpeace Japan and FOE Japan are planning around climate and the G8

Major Emitters meeting (in July):

Mini COP Ghana (in August): Ghana National CSO Youth Coalition just launched – Dylan will send out more information on the Global Campaign e-mail list

ESF (17th-21st September): Global Climate Campaign meeting in Copenhagen shortly before the ESF. CCC will organise workshops there and are looking for other organisations to work together to push the climate issue at the ESF

GCC newsletter and collation of reports, photos, videos from GDA 2008:

One idea at the Brussels meeting was to start a platform for exchanging news and ideas from different climate campaigns in Europe and around the world – Diana offered to start by using the news section of the Global Climate campaign webpage to put up news bits etc. and to develop this into a regular short e-mail update later in the year (depending on time capacity in the CCC office). So all climate campaigns are invited to send their recent updates, news etc… to info@globalclimatecampaign.org and Diana will put the info up on the GCC webpage. John mentioned that the GCC webpage gets 400-500 hits per day during the year and 4000-5000 hits per day in the run up for the GDA in November/December.

Dylan reported from their plans in Canada to produce a YouTube video to promote the GDA 2008. They had a good experiences with this last year and he reckons that we could use also the video outside Canada and translate it into other languages. He asks for help with translation as well as video footage from the last GDA from around the world. Mareike mentions that GI is working with volunteer translators who may help with that.

AOB:

Ben points out that the 10th of December is the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights and suggests building up good links to human rights groups in the run-up to the GDA 2008.

Next call:

The next conference call will be on the 21st of May at 12 noon, GMT.

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tWP75: The Carbon Taxman

The latest episode of TheWatt Podcast is out now. (30MB, MP3)

Panel discussion podcast with Mark Seall, Rod Adams, Robb Worthington and Ben. Topics include carbon taxes vs cap-and-trade policies, OECD Environmental Outlook, nuclear power in the UK, carbon limits on cars in the EU, $106/bbl oil.

Panelists:

Mark Seall - Talk Climate Change and Green Options

Rod Adams - The Atomic Show Podcast and Atomic Insights

Robb Worthington - Sustainable Living

Ben Kenney - theWatt

Topics/Show Notes:

A good carbon tax/cap-and-trade discussion

2008 OECD Environmental
Outlook - How much will it cost to address today's key environmental problems?

Showdown between France and Germany: Carbon emission limits on cars in
the EU

UK 'to seek more nuclear power',

Nobel winner: Nuke power
must be part of the equation

Oil prices/OPEC giving Bush some tough love

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Think Globally Radio

Sometimes it strikes me that society is in an extrodinarily good state. Now, you may be thinking that i have finally lost my mind. In fact, no, i`ve been reading some history. I`ve been reading about the Black history in the US. One of the striking aspects about this strugle for eqaulity is the period of time involved in overcomming this gross injustice. Even after the American revolution and the 'emancipation of the slaves' Blacks where far from free. The Jim Crow laws implemented a new injustice on former slaves. It was nearly 100 years from the 13th Ammendment ending slavery untill the overthrow of the Jim Crow laws!

Today we seek to utterly transform society, from fossil powered to renewable energy future, from exponential economic growth to qaulitative evolution. Ideas spread across the world at the speed of light, and the range of people who can contribute to this quest is vast. Two recent developments exemplify the remarkable connectedness of global knoledge. Mearly two years ago the thirst for biofuels seemed unquenchable. The down sides didn't seem to exist, the world was on a dangerously naive path. How rapid has the change been since then? Report after report warning of the dangers, biofuels have a future but a closely monitored one. Not least by nacent NGO Biofuelwatch. On the more positive side, Bus Rapid Transit. BRT first reached my attention 6 months ago. It's orogins are admitedly some two decades past in Curitiba, Brazil, but international attention on this system has grown to such a point that there can scarecely be a major city that dosent understand the concept. The world is full of smart people and great ideas, this knoledge is now accessible readily by everyone with a computer, such a state of affairs is unprecidented and hugely encouraging.

I just came across another great source of radio programmes, an english language radio show from Stockholm. Think Global Radio has a superb collection of shows, enjoy!

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Cap and Trade systems explained in detail: Collaboration by WRI, Pew

The EU has had an emissions trading scheme for some time, the first revision was absurdly overallocated so the price of credits fell through the floor. We will have and wait to see how this develops, one of the major changes going forward is the movement towards a auction based system. The system is also becoming broader. With the US likely to adopt a similar system soon it's important to take a look at what works and what dosent. The New America Foundation, the Pew Centre for Global Climate Change and the World Resources Institute have produced a series of 10 (6 currently available) detailed videos looking at every aspect of effective emissions regulation.



Video:

Webinar 1: Introduction to Cap-and-Trade Programs

Moderator: Sonia Hamel, New America Foundation
Speakers: Judi Greenwald (Pew Center), Franz Litz (World Resources Institute)

Webinar 2: Program Scope and Point of Regulation

Moderator: Franz Litz (World Resources Institute)
Speaker: Judi Greenwald (Pew Center)

Webinar 3: Electricity Sector Options

Moderator: Franz Litz (World Resources Institute)
Speakers: Richard Cowart (Regulatory Assistance Project),
Dallas Burtraw (Resources for the Future)

Webinar 4: Cap-and-Trade Design Issues in Depth, Part I: Lessons from the US/Canadian Acid Rain SO2 and NOx Trading Programs

Moderator: Judi Greenwald (Pew Center)
Speakers: Brian McLean (U.S. EPA),
Denny Ellerman (MIT),
John Hutchison (Ontario)

Webinar 5: Cap-and-Trade Design Issues In-Depth, Part II: Lessons from the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and the Northeast Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)

Moderator: Franz Litz (World Resources Institute)
Speakers: Peter Zapfel (The European Commission), Chris Sherry (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection & RGGI*)

Webinar 6: Design Elements in current Federal Cap-and-Trade Proposals

Moderator: Judi Greenwald (Pew Center)
Speakers: David McIntosh (Senator Lieberman’s Office), Lorie Schmidt, Counsel, Energy and Commerce Committee, US House of Representatives

>Still to come

Webinar 7: Distributing Allowances

Moderator: Franz Litz (World Resources Institute)
Speakers: Christopher Nelson (Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection*), Jill Duggan (United Kingdom, DEFRA), Kelley Kizzier (Ireland, EPA)


Webinar 8: Offsets

Moderator: Judi Greenwald (Pew Center)
Speakers: Mike Burnett (The Climate Trust), Chris Sherry (New Jersey DEP)


Webinar 9: Linking Cap-and-Trade Programs

Moderator: Sonia Hamel (New America Foundation)
Speakers: Jonathan Pershing (World Resources Institute), Damien Meadows (European Commission*)


Webinar 10: Emissions Trading Market Fundamentals

Moderator: Franz Litz (World Resources Institute)
Speakers: Olivia Hartridge (Morgan Stanley*), Gia Schneider (Credit Suisse*)

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Subprime Carbon

On Febuary 14th the third gathering of institutional investors took place at UN Headquaters in New York City. The "Investor Summit on Climate Risk" was a joint venture between climate risk investment group CERES , the UN Foundation and the UN Fund for International Partnership.

According to UNFIP:

The Summit will focus on how investors can advance solutions to climate change, with a particular emphasis on the benefits of energy efficiency. The Summit aims to help investors
Examine recent scientific findings on climate risk and technological solution

>>Assess potential capital flows into energy efficiency and clean technologies

>>Learn how treasurers, institutional investors and financial services firms worldwide are factoring climate risk into their policies and strategies

>>Consider prudent steps investors can take to address climate risk and opportunities.

At the confernece around $20 trillion worth of assets where represented. A subsection of the group, with assets valued at 1.75$ Trillion signed up to a Climate Action Plan produced by CERES. There was also growth in the companies who, although dodging the solid commitments of the climate action plan have the Investor Network in Climate Risk now involves companies with $5 trillion of investment.

McKinsey Global also announced a significant report at the conference, highlighting the good
returns possible on investment in the vast qauntity of energy infrastructure expected to be
required over the next 50 years.

Al gore was one of the speakers at the conference and he warned of a Subprime like risk due to carbon--indicating that the financial esposure is currentl underestimated.

"You need to really scrub your investment portfolios, because I guarantee you — as my longtime good redneck friends in Tennessee say, I guarandamntee you — that if you really take a fine-tooth comb and go through your portfolios, many of you are going to find them chock-full of subprime carbon assets,"

Related:

Climate Change Action Business Posts.
Video of the morning session.
Video of the afternoon session.
Conference homepage with agenda and overview.

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EUmissions targets

The EU announces its plans and targets to, if not combat, then at least gesture rudely in the general direction of climate change. Throbgoblins welcomes the move to increase renewables and to slow the biofuel bandwagon. Having said that...leaving most of the solution in the (invisible) hands of the market which fashioned the problem in the first place seems a tad foolish, but, in the absence of an organ grinder we must make do with monkeys.

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Review: EU approves energy and climate change package.

The EU Comissions has today announced (official statement) what it calls a 'climate change package'. These measures are the follow up from a previous meting (march 9th, Guardian) where a 20% reduction target for energy usage and carbon emissions was made alongside a pledge to increase European renewable energy penetration to 20% (from the current 8%). A two page citizens guide is avialable to explain the motivations behind the climate package and the elements that it is trying to balance.

The citizens guide is the straightest talking policy document i have ever seen:

What is the problem?

• The EU needs to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. This is not happening fast enough.
• Dependence on imports of oil and gas is growing. The EU needs to find new energy alternatives and to produce more of its own energy.

According to EurActiv some of the most significant issues are:

• Total EU industrial emissions in 2020 capped at 21% below 2005 levels which equates to a 1.7% annual reduction. [I thought the 20% was on 1990 levels is this back tracking?]
• The scheme will be enlarged to include new sectors, including aviation, petrochemicals, ammonia and the aluminium sector...around 50% of all EU emissions will be covered. [Road Transport, Shipping, Buildings, Waste, Agriculture and Forestry will remain excluded].
• In order to achieve an average 10% reduction of greenhouse gases from sectors not covered... the Commission has set national targets according to countries' GDP. Richer countries are asked to make bigger cuts – of up to 20% in the case of Denmark, Ireland and Luxembourg – while poorer states...will in fact be entitled to increase their greenhouse emissions in these sectors – by up to 19 and 20% respectively for Romania and Bulgaria. [Understandable but environmentally inadequate if this principal where to be expanded to the rest of the world at Romanian development levels...what we need is a deal where such countries take on these targets and the wealthy take on a portion of the costs]
• Smaller installations, emitting under 10,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, will be allowed to opt out from the ETS, provided that alternative reduction measures are put in place. [I see why--red tape--but i wonder how significant this is are we talking about double digit percentages that can opt out?]
• Industrial greenhouse gases prevented from entering the atmosphere through the use of so-called carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology are to be credited as not emitted under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. [I fully support this...its long past time such schemes where implemented]
• The proposal foresees a huge increase (up to 60% of total credits) in auctioning as early as 2013. It adds that "full auctioning should be the rule from 2013 onwards for the power sector", which is expected to lead to a 10-15% rise in electricity prices. In other sectors, free allocations will gradually be completely phased-out on an annual basis between 2013 and 2020. Nevertheless, certain energy-intensive sectors could continue to get all their allowances for free in the long term if the Commission determines that they are at significant risk of relocation to third countries with less stringent climate protection laws. [This increase in auctioned credits appear to me as the start of a serious emissions trading scheme, it is the most efficient way to do things and has the added benefit of brining in large revenues which if sensibly hypothicated to renewable energy projects, and --my personal favourite--paying for international climate funds e.g REDD, Tech Transfer, Adaptation, can go a long way to helping the world cope with and mitigate climate change.]
• The distribution method for free allowances will be developed at a later stage by expert panels within the Commission (through the so-called 'comitology procedure'). [It's going to be some kind of grandfathering but the good news is that this part is becoming rapidly less relavent]
• Competativeness concerns are a significant so decision on these issues has been put of untill 2011. Nevertheless, the text warns that if no global pact is reached by then, some sort of "carbon equalisation system" will be introduced – whether in the form of additional free allocations or by making third-country producers of carbon-heavy goods participate in the ETS in order to access the EU market. [Translation: shit gets ugly if we dont reach a global deal...is forced participation of foreign firms a tariff on high carbon goods? The avoidance of such tarrifs is apparently the reason the Kyoto protocol was initiated.]
• Assuming a global climate change deal is reached, member states will continue to be entitled to meet part of their target by financing emission reduction projects in countries outside the EU, although the use of such credits will be limited to 3% of member states' total emissions in 2005 –around one quarter of the total reduction effort. [This is still a significant amount of carbon trade, but it seems to me that markets and trade of all kinds in carbon makes this kind of limit hard to measure: how do personal and business offests work into this, or internal business trades...i think this is all getting murky we need a global treaty with a cap.]

The talk on competativeness and forced involvement in the EU ETS for foregin companies trading into europe brings up our old friend the WTO (past article). Commission President José Manuel Barroso:

"If our expectations about an international agreement are not met, we will look at other options such as requiring importers to obtain allowances alongside European competitors, as long as such a system is compatible with WTO requirements."

On the issue of cuts in emissions from industries not included in the ETS, national targets vary dramatically based on prosperity, but buy in large everyone has been hard done by; some have been more stoic but it's ammusing none the less. Germany's economy minister is quite typical:

"We really don't need this plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it will destroy jobs in industries which consume a lot of energy"

The main points that i have seen made on this are 'its simply not good enough' and 'it's to far, its to tough on this country, why do we need to take orders from Brusselles.' The former has been the message of Rajendra Pachuri of the IPCC, and the science if you would care to read it, the latter is from the likes of the Times and other right leaning papers.

Related:

• Extensive coverage of this "climate change package" and its role in Eu climate policy can be found on the EurActiv website.
• The climate change package and associated documents.

Related General Articles:

• AFP "EU sets emissions targets to fight climate change"
• Earth Times "EU approves ambitious energy and climate change package - Summary"

Articles on the main issues:

• The cap and rate of cuts: WWF critical of draft EU climate law. CAN Europe reaction.
  
• New sectors included: Refineries, Airlines, Phased into ETS (Reuters)
  
• Distribution of Non-ETS emissions cuts: EU faces tough climate change road. (BBC)
  
• Increase in auctioning: EU's Barroso says pollution permits to be auctioned (Guardian) All carbon credits for EU ETS Phase 3 to be auctioned for power sector (Forbes)
  
• Carbon Capture and Storage: Could Carbon Capture Replace Cuts? (BBC)
  
• Competativeness: EU Threatens Trade Partners (AFP) Editorial (FT)
  
• Carbon trade with other nations: CAN Europe reaction.
  

[UPDATE]

• Celsias has just posted an article on this topic.
• Treehugger has also briefly covored the issues.
  

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EC's Joint Research Council criticises biofuel policy.

The European Comission's in-house research agency--the Joint Research Council--has just come out against biofuel expansion in the EU.

"The unpublished working paper by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission's in-house scientific body, makes uncomfortable reading for the EU's executive body ahead of a meeting Wednesday where it is to detail a plan for biofuels to make up 10 percent of all transport fuels in the EU by 2020."

It looks like the EC are determined to go ahead with a biofuels mandate seperate from a biomass target, despite the fact that biomass can be a more efficient usage of fuel.

"The report concludes that by using the same EU resources of money and biomass, significantly greater greenhouse gas savings could be achieved by imposing only an overall biomass-use target instead of a separate one for transport."

Friends of the Earth and Birdlife International have been perticularly outspoke on EU's seeming inability to change course despite the clear message coming from its own research.

The report gives a clear 'thumbs down' on all three accounts:

• Greenhouse gas savings: due to the indirect effects of growing biofuels, the JRC concludes that the, "uncertainty is too great to say whether the EU 10 per cent target will save [greenhouse gas emissions] or not". The report highlights that the greenhouse effect of using nitrogen fertilisers is "significantly higher" than previous estimates and that land use changes (e.g. deforestation, draining of peatlands or ploughing grasslands) could potentially release enough greenhouse gas to negate the savings from EU biofuels.
• Security of supply: the EU would be better to invest in extra storing capacity to create a strategic oil reserve to buffer short term supply shocks rather than invest (much higher sums) in biofuels which would give a limited solution to the problem of insecurity of supply. "There would be a positive effect, but its value is small compared to the costs," the report says.
• Employment creation: potential job creation risks being little more than wishful thinking as jobs created in the biofuels sector are likely to be offset by job destruction in other sectors affected by the biofuels target. "The net employment effect of the programme would be insignificant," according to the JRC.
• Cost-benefit analysis: "The costs of using biofuels outweigh the benefits of doing so," the report states. It calculates that, "the decrease in welfare caused by imposing a biofuel target is between 33 and 65 billion euros within an 80 per cent probability range".

Related:

• Royal Comission Study, Sustainable Biofuels: Prospects and Challenges.
• Past content--videos, reports and articles on Climate Change Action.
• Foe/Birdlife International press release.
• Agriculture chief makes her position clear.
  

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Climate Change At: Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem Party Conferences

There has been quite a bit of noise in the runup to the various party conferences in the UK. The information of this topic is dispersed all over the web. This is my attempt at bringing
together the relavent publications, websites, audio&vidoe etc...

• Climate Clinic: A Chance for a broad coallition of NGO's to educate and lobby MP's.

• Comment/Blogs:

Plane Stupid where represented at the climate clinic by Joss Garman,  Dr Parr of Greenpeace
was also there making it quite clear that there is no accomidation to be found between rampant
airport growth and serious climate policy. 

Dr Parr accused the aviation industry of not engaging with the challenges posed by climate change, asserting that it was 'rhetorically accepting it, but actually not dealing with it'.

Christain Aid where also in attendence at the conference. In perticular Rosalia, who i met at the Climate Camp, spoke to a group of MP's about climate change in El Salavador.

Gordon Brown told me the UK has set an example in the past with debt cancellation and that his government was aware of the Christian Aid and I Count campaign but he didn’t commit himself beyond that.

Then we had a panel with MPs and activists, chaired by the director of WDM, Benedict Southworth and the chairman of the IPPC, Dr Rajendra Pauchavri.

We shared the experiences of how the poor in Kenya and El Salvador are affected by climate change.

We showed them that climate change is real, it’s really happening; it is the poor of the world, who are the smallest emitters of greenhouse gases, who are the most affected by the carbon pollution of the developed industrialised countries like the UK.

Greenpeace UK's also have posts from the Labour Party Conference. The session with NGO's and the aviation industry together was apparently rather stormy.

In political parlance it was a "full and frank exchange of views!" But don't let me tell you about it, read the write up in the Guardian. They called it: "one of the most fractious fringe event so far." I think I am happy with that. Greenpeace has a reputation for confronting issues head on, and there is no better way to do this than a real political event where temperatures run high and passionate arguments are made.

• Audio:
  

The institute of public policy research has quite a bit of audio, some on climate change, transport etc., from both the Lib Dem and Labour Party conferences.

• Video
  

The Lib Dems are the only ones who have taken climate change on as a central party theme for there conference. For this reason, there is a fair amount of video available with the party leader and other party members discussing the issue as a central part of the conference proceedings.




The main documents to be published prior to the party conferences where the Zerocarbon Britain report by the Lib Dems and the Qaulity of Life Comissions outcomes by the tories. Unless it's passed me by there hasnt been anything significant by Labour.

• Video
  

Conservatives climate change video for the 2007 conference...



Current minister for environment speech (yes thats Labour)



Lib dem video....



Related links:
Labour Party Conference
Lib Dem Party Conference
Conservative Party Conference

 

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Call to prepare a 2008 climate camp in Germany

Call to prepare and organise a climate camp in Germany!

1. The idea
2. How the idea emerged and how where we can go from here
3. Why organise a climate camp?
4. Communication

1. The Idea

Following the model established by the Camp for Climate Action in the UK, which was held for the second time this year, we want to initiate the process of organising a Climate-Action Camp in Germany in 2008. Just like in the UK we want to create links between the exchange of knowledge (in workshops), self-organised living (in the camp) that minimises our ecological footprint, networking and direct action.

The last two camps in the UK specifically targeted particular installations, against which direct or thematically appropriate actions were organised. Last year’s target was the UK’s largest coal-fired power station, while this year the camp drew attention to the aviation industry and the expansion of London’s Heathrow airport. Whether we should also choose such focal points in Germany should be discussed at the preparatory meetings.

2. How the idea emerged and how where we can go from here

This email and initial call emerged from this year’s Camp for Climate Action in the UK, when several German-speaking people met there who had all, independently of each other, had the idea of organising such a camp in Germany. We hope to use a first planning meeting either on the last weekend in October or the first weekend in November (26.-28.10. / 2.-4.11) somewhere in the geographical centre of Germany to decide how to go on from here. If you want to attend the meeting, go to http://www.doodle.de/yu8vxh39em9zh7s7 and enter your preferred date – we can then select the most suitable date (provided it doesn’t clash with local organisation). Both date and location should be agreed on by the end of September.

3. Why organise a Climate-Action Camp

Climate chaos is a reality. And there’s not much time left to limit the damage. Which is exactly why we can’t simply jump into knee-jerk activism that simply reproduces the causes of the problem. Rather, we need to take profound direct action, without of course excluding people. We also need grounded analyses of the fundamental structures that serve to highlight the urgent need for social transformation and can communicate information about the underlying causes to a wider audience.

Climate Change is not only an ecological problem, but also a question of the distribution of its consequences. It thus also poses social questions. This is why we need immediate and direct action. Of course, we also need to discuss many other questions, for example the following (a first rough list compiled by us in the camp):

• How can we act effectively?
• What does a carbon-neutral life look like? What kind of utopias do we need? Which alternatives can we live already now?
• Why are the media suddenly interested in the issue of climate change? Which interests are pushing this? Are these interests also our own?
• Do we trust states and businesses to save us? Or do we create our own solutions?
• How do we judge the climate change policies pursued until now by environmental NGOs? What are their effects?
• Is it possible to protect the climate in the context of the current socio-economic system? Or is there a need for radical social change?
• Who profits from climate change? And what does that mean for our actions?

A climate camp could pursue these and many other questions, inspire people to think and act politico-ecologically, it could be a space for experimentation, think-tank and a space to network further common actions. Of course, we’d first have to decide:

• What could a climate camp in Germany look like?
• How could it be organised?
• Who would join?

4. Communication

For future communication sign up to our email list

http://lists.trilos.net/mailman/listinfo/klimacamp

We are also working on setting up some sort of internet-presence. Details to be decided at our first meeting.

http://www.klimacamp.org/

If you want to get in touch with us directly, let us know via the mailing list. We are from different parts of Germany (e.g. Freiburg, Berlin, Wendland region, Bremen) and can maybe travel to where you are to report back from the Camp with fotos and movies (as motivation in the run-up to the first organisational gathering).

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NGO Directory of South Eastern Europe

A Directory and Survey Findings of West Balkan Environmental Civil Society Organisations

An amazing resource if you are looking for contacts in the area, i`m amazed this directory can be downloaded for free! Published Dec 2006.

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A view of the environment from eastern europe.

I just found out about a very interesting Free magazine, from the Regional Environmental Centre for Eastern Europe.

An English language publication covering environmental issues in eastern Europe, that's something i haven't seen before.

What Green Horizon dose...

Green Horizon assists the REC in its mission to promote public participation in environmental decision making by providing information on the environment and encouraging cooperation among regional stakeholders.

Green Horizon reports on the cases and stories that shape the environment and sustainable development in Central and Eastern Europe. The magazine is useful for professionals working for businesses, international organisations, national governments, local authorities, non-governmental organisations, academic institutions and the media.

The views and opinions expressed in Green Horizon do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe.

...
Green Horizon serves as a common source of information for governments, administrators, experts, professors, businesses and NGOs in this region. It’s also a platform for communicating regional concerns to the rest of the world.

...
Green Horizon alerts readers to environmental degradation, developments in policy, changes in society and innovations in business and technology.We provide pertinent reporting and authoritative guidance from experts who work in the region.

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Culture under climatic threat.

It remains surprising, to this day, that human civilisation is so dependent on climate. Often these links are not obvious, this being particularly the case in industrialised nations. However, these links are real, and more and more areas are being investigated for climate vulnerability.

A project--Noah's Ark--by the European Commission to investigate the impacts of climate change on Europe's cultural heritage has just been launched.

This EC project takes a detailed look at climate impacts, using the latest knowledge of material science. A brochure with programme outline and an simple explanation of the work can be downloaded from here (PDF)


The project is however, limited in scope to Europe, another organisation very much involved with architectural preservation is UNESCO. A report earlier in the year by UNESCO on the threat posed by climate change to world heritage sites received a great deal of attention. More on UNESCO and climate change here.

The threats posed by climate change to natural and cultural sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List are outlined in a new UNESCO publication, "Case Studies on Climate Change and World Heritage"^*. The report features 26 examples - including the Tower of London, Kilimanjaro National Park and the Great Barrier Reef - case studies that are representative of the dangers faced by the 830 sites inscribed on the World Heritage

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Sea Ice...how is it changing? Compollation of research by EU

The EU's science framework includes a significant amount of emphasis on better understanding climate change. A Dec '05 meeting lead to the production of a book (PDF) on sea ice research, pulling together much of the science available on changes in the Arctic region.

The wide-ranging papers in the book cover the methods used to measure ice thickness, on scales from basinwide down to local; the results obtained; the modelling of ice thickness;and the implications for Man’s activities. Palaeoclimatic studies are also described, which reveal periods during the past 100,000 years when the Arctic Ocean has been ice-free, a challenge to our understanding of Earth system processes. Since the disappearance of the Arctic sea ice is literally the most visible aspect of global warming in action – we can see the change in the face of the planet from space - it is appropriate that the European Commission should take the initiative in seeking to understand this phenomenon.

Peter Wadhams (University of Cambridge)

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Cycle Denmark: The Bike as King

What would cities look like if large numbers of journeys where taken by bicycle not by car? What about if no cars where allowed in the city centre, and if bicycles where given priority for planning transportation?

Well,all of these things can be said of Coppenhagen in Denmark.

It's an amazingly positive thing to see the bike living up to it's potential as the greatest form of transport. I perticularly like the tricycles...the whole city reminds me of a permanent 'critical mass' event.

Short video clip (5 Minutes of Cyclist Watching)

Cycle Denmark- Johnny Stardust Exclusive

COPENHAGEN, Denmark-
How do you make a world class cycling city? Join CrankMyChain! video correspondent, Johnny Stardust, as he takes you on a tour of bicycle friendly Copenhagen. We'll find out that it doesn't happen by accident and some of the solutions may make some American's uncomfortable, e.g. hefty taxes on gasoline and automobiles.
Enjoy an original score by Danish Composer, Chris Juris

Long video clip (15 Minutes of commentary on how a cycling friendly city is created)

This is a lo-res version of a 15-minute movie that's available in hi-res on iTunes http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZ...

Or at http://carltonreid.libsyn.com/

The film features lots of happy cyclists from the Netherlands, Denmark and Colombia, and shows how creating a bicycle-friendly city is the civilised thing to do.

Scripted by Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá and the poster-child for city-wide bicycle advocacy, the movie was produced by the Netherlands-based Interface for Cycling Expertise (I-CE).

It was made in 2004 and received a financial contribution from the Dutch Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS). Shimano sponsored the CD distribution of the movie. These CDs are handed out at global cycle campaigning events.

www.Quickrelease.tv received permission to broadcast the film from I-CE. www.cycling.nl

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Carbon Capture and Storage in europe (Video)

Development in "Carbon Capture and Storage" in Europe. More about ccs can be read under the CCS label bellow; including reports by the IPCC and MIT.

Global warming is one of the biggest issues of our time, the European Commission says in its description of this video report.

To meet the targets set for reducing CO2 emissions, it's widely accepted that new technology will play an important role sometimes as a "bridging technology"- while alternative sustainable energy sources are being developed.

One of the most promising technologies is Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). This a means of capturing CO2 from sources such as power plants, compressing the CO2 and storing it away safely in geological formations underground or under the seabed instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.

The video report shows: A CCS project under construction at a lignite power plant run by the energy company Vattenfall at Schwarze Pumpe, south of Berlin, An EU backed carbon storage project at Ketzin in Germany, A North Sea oil field run by the Norwegian company Statoil which was the first place in the world to begin CCS on a commercial basis, How both the EU and the US are working hard to develop the Carbon Capture and Storage technology.

Interviews with key figures including: Staffan Görtz, Vattenfall Professor Frank Schilling GFZ National Research Centre for Geo-Sciences Matti Vainio, Energy & Environment Unit, DG Environment, European Commission Boyden Gray, US Ambassador to the EU Arve Thorvik Statoil, Statoil Sleipner West gas rig

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