No that is not some long-haired environmentalist speaking, but the ex-chairman of Shell, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart. He is arguing that the EU should ban the sale of cars that do under 35 miles to the gallon (good thing his is not saying that in America – the roads would be empty!!)
European Union
Barroso Urges EU Businesses to Act On Climate
The President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso is urging companies to treat the fight against climate change as a business opportunity and not a burden. His call comes ahead of Wednesday’s unveiling in Brussels of tough new greenhouse gas emission limits, which are necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% … Read More
Business Plays the Job Card
The scare-mongering over climate continues. Instead of seeing climate change as a business opportunity, employers and trade unions see it as a threat. The European Trade Union Confederation is warning that to 50,000 steelworkers’ jobs could go if their industry moves to areas with lower costs for polluters. And lobby group BusinessEurope says companies will … Read More
Another industry off the hook…
The EU has caved in to another powerful industry. EU ministers have finally agreed to impose carbon emissions quotas on airlines in an attempt to fight climate change. However, the start date for the EU emissions trading scheme will be delayed to 2012, a year later than MEPs were asking for. The scheme also faces … Read More
Car Industry to Fight EU CO2 Plans
The European car industry has pledged to fight the already watered-down plans to reduce CO2 from new cars. Leading the fight will be the Germans and their powerful car industry, which is dominated by gas-guzzling cars like BMW, Porsches and Mercedes-Benz. Even the country’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has opposed the plans saying they were “not … Read More
Europe Divided Over Car Targets
It’s a political row that has been going on for months. Tomorrow the European Commission is due to publish its long-awaited plans to reduce carbon emissions from passenger cars to 120 grams per kilometre within five years. But a bitter fallout between France and Germany has plunged the key negotiations into crisis. French manufacturers such … Read More
Sarkozy Warns China of Carbon Tariffs
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has warned China that the EU could penalise cheap imports from high carbon-emitting countries in order to defend European companies that are obliged to meet strict environmental standards. In a speech to students at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, Mr Sarkozy urged China to shoulder its environmental responsibilities as a global economic … Read More
EU: A More “Robust” ETS Scheme Needed
European environment ministers have agreed to revise the EU’s CO2 emissions-trading (ETS) scheme with the aim of clamping down on weak caps proposed by member states and ensuring that all significant emitters pay the right price for their pollution. Late last month EU ministers called for a full review of the ETS scheme, which has … Read More
EU Challenges OPEC
EU officials and OPEC met in Vienna yesterday for an “Energy Dialogue”. The EU argued that oil prices were about as high as consumers could bear, challenging OPEC to lift restrictions on production. OPEC retaliated that the oil market is already “well supplied.” Talks between the groups ended on a conciliatory note, however, with the … Read More
EU-US Divided Over Climate
Divisions over climate change threaten to derail next week’s set piece EU-US summit. The meeting, which will be hosted by George Bush and attended by Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, was seen as an opportunity for Europe and the US to align their positions on climate change before a G8 meeting in June.