Finnish Industries says it has identified five conditions that need to be in place to successfully achieve the 2030 emissions reduction target. Achieving a more ambitious EU 2030 target will however require companies to make unprecedented investments – and within less than a decade, it warns. Therefore, economic reconstruction, recovery funding and climate measures need to…
Environment
EU Climate Neutral by 2050?
Environment Committee MEPs have voted to make climate neutrality obligatory by 2050 in both EU and member states and call for a more ambitious 2030 emissions reduction target. On Friday, the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety adopted their report on the EU climate law with 46 votes for, 18 against and 17…
EP To Vote on Recovery Plan
MEPs are set to demand the European recovery plan dedicates billions to large-scale energy efficiency programmes to lift millions out of energy poverty, in a vote in the European Parliament on Wednesday (16 September). As energy poverty rates soar due to Covid-19, energy savings and building renovations could finally get the attention they deserve, says…
EU Aid for Flood Damage in Italy
The European Commission granted €211.7 million from the EU solidarity fund to Italy following the extreme weather damages in late October and November 2019. This EU assistance will contribute to alleviate the extraordinary financial burden of the severe damages caused by floods and landslides, including the flooding in Venice. It will finance retroactively the restoration of…
Europe Needs Housing Action Plan
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has sounded the alarm and called for an urgent European housing action plan, stressing that an EU strategy is essential to ensure universal access to decent, sustainable and affordable housing in the future. Decent and affordable housing is running short in the EU and, for this reason, a…
Strong Emission Targets for 2050
Parliament’s Environment Committee has adopted strong emission targets for 2030 and enforceable right to climate protection The news was greeted on Friday by German Greens MEP Sven Giegold. He told this site: “Again and again, important things happen in Brussels that hardly anyone notices. While climate change is coming to a dramatic head, Europe is…
African Wildlife Agency Receives Protection Boost
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the agency tasked with the safekeeping of wildlife in some of Africa’s most iconic protected areas, has received a boost to its operations with the handover of new equipment worth over US$50,000 from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). The items have been purchased with support from the TUI Care Foundation and the African…
European Climate Law
Following a vote on Thursday in the European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) on Climate Law, the S&D Group stressed its “satisfaction for the important outcome achieved.” The EU Parliament’s chief negotiator and committee on environment S&D coordinator, Jytte Guteland, commented: “This is a significant improvement of the Commission’s proposal and makes the European Climate Law fit for purpose….
European Forest Strategy
The European Parliament Agriculture and Rural Development Committee has adopted MEP Petri Sarvamaa’s (EPP/FI) own initiative report on the European Forest Strategy. The Confederation of European Paper Industries (Cepi) welcomes the adopted report and encourages the European Parliament to adopt it in plenary session this month of October. The report manages to strike a balance between the many…
Slovenia Slams Frackers
A UK gas company, Ascent Resources, has officially begun procedures to start an investor dispute against Slovenia for taking measures to protect its groundwater from fracking, in a case that could see the country paying out tens of millions of euros in damages, under the controversial Energy Charter Treaty. The case has emerged today, as…