For a long time the European Union has been leading against climate change. Part of this leadership was its emission trading scheme (ETS), a cap and trade scheme that was designed to cut industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

As I noted back in 2009, the emissions trading (more…)

Bloomberg news reports that European Union carbon permits dropped to their second-lowest close ever, after the bloc canceled an auction of permits for the first time as bids failed to reach a secret reserve price.

The sale was called off because the price would have cleared “significantly” below the prevailing (more…)

According to the European statistics agency, Eurostat, in the 27 members of the European Union, 40% of treated municipal waste was recycled or composted in 2011, up from 27% in 2001. While these are good news, let’s have a look at the official statistics. (more…)

According to a brand new study carried out by consultancy Ecofys and commissioned by the WWF, the European Union can halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

We have seen time and again that the European Union has been a leader in the fight against climate change when it unveiled its now famous 20-20-20 by (more…)

According to a new study presented by the Renovate Europe Campaign, weatherizing European buildings in an important way could boost local GDP by up to 291 billion Euros ($370 billion) by 2017.

Furthermore, gross annual investments of €41 to €78 billion per year in the EU could bring ongoing annual (more…)

The European Union has been committed for years to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 (compared to 1990).

As we have seen in a recent article, reaching such targets is very plausible and wouldn’t need much additional effort from the 15 historic members nor the enlarged 27 countries Union. (more…)

China has become the world’s largest producer of solar panels, and the European Union has become the largest consumer of solar panels. Due to the economic climate within Europe, it is natural for them to bolster their own solar industry in the interest of keeping and adding employment and growth. However, China which is Europe’s largest supplier has been accusing (more…)

Here is some really good news coming from the European Union. From the EU environmental agency – EEA, located in Copenhagen – greenhouse gases emissions from the 15 first Member States decreased by 3.5 % between 2010 and 2011. The EU-15 emissions are now 14.1 % below the base-year level under the Kyoto Protocol. (more…)

The German government’s decision to phase out all of the nation’s nuclear power plants following the 2011 Fukushima disaster has led to an increase in coal-burning within Europe’s largest economy.

Coal consumption in Germany has grown by 4.9 percent since Chancellor Angela Merkel announced (more…)

The European Union has introduced strict new auto emissions standards that officials say would cut carbon dioxide emissions by a third by 2020. The new standard, which must be approved by all member states and the European Parliament, would require that new passenger cars emit no more than 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer driven, (more…)