Save our planet Archives: December 2007

  • PES proposes Oil Forum for the EU

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    Rating: 5/5 with 2 votes

    Published Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 14:59
    by Editor (1079 views and 2 comments)

    Breaking Europe’s dependence on oil should be the focus of an ‘Oil Forum’ bringing together politicians, industry, scientists and EU institutions say PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and Swedish Social Democratic Party Leader Mona Sahlin.

    The Forum would draw up a programme to reduce Europe’s dependence on oil – identifying where EU-regulations come into conflict with efforts to end the dependence on oil, and propose new policies at the EU level.

    “Oil, together with other fossil fuels, contributes up to 90 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions” said Mona Sahlin. “To tackle climate change we must break our dependence on oil.”

    “The rising cost of oil poses a major threat to our economies” said Poul Nyrup Rasmussen “and has the potential to cause instability and conflict.”

    Read the full press release and the letter from Rasmussen and Sahlin to Commission President Barroso.

    What do you think about the idea of a European ‘Oil Forum’?

    Tags: environment, oil, PES

  • Cash money for saving trees?

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    Rating: 5/5 with 4 votes

    Published Friday, December 14, 2007 at 11:03
    by Editor (1134 views and 2 comments)

    Today is the last day of the UN climate conference in Bali. The big question that has driven the talks in Bali is whether world leaders can agree on a ‘new Kyoto’ – find common grounds for a new international agreement on how to deal with climate change.

    One of the major topics was how to deal with the reduction of forests. Forests are a major ally in combating global warming, since trees and other green plants take CO2 out of the air. When forests are cut down and trees are burnt it has a doubly damaging effect – not only are there less trees to remove CO2, but the carbon contained in the trees is released into the atmosphere.

    In Bali environmental ministers agreed that financial rewards for not cutting down trees should be a part of a new global climate deal. Money should be ‘bait’ for developing countries to preserve their rainforests.

    At first hand this may sound like a good solution. However, NGOs have aired concern that financial compensation is just a convenient excuse for rich countries not to take actions against emissions within their own boundaries. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have, for example, suggested that instead of... » read more ...

    Tags: climate change, CO2, UN

  • On the road to Copenhagen - Bali afterthoughts

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    Rating: 4.7/5 with 6 votes

    Published Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 10:00
    by taipale Join PES activists (1171 views and 5 comments)

    Best regards from Bali. I was there last week to organize and speak in two side events on behalf of the Ministry of the Environment of Finland. The topic in both of the events was to highlight the energy and emission savings potential of buildings and construction. Big.

    Now, it is time to focus on Copenhagen, where the new climate protocol should be finalized and agreed upon in 2009. This is a huge challenge not only for the City of Copenhagen and Denmark hosting the meeting, but to Sweden’s EU Presidency and to the European Union as a whole.

    The EU needs it own “roadmap” towards Copenhagen, making sure that the EU not only upholds but strengthens its position as the world leader in progressive and innovative climate policies. This means including all aspects of sustainable use of energy, such as energy for development, fair mechanisms of technology transfer, and decent work. This also requires that the European Union is unanimous and strong in its positions.

    The EU should use its best diplomacy, most determined political cooperation, and financial bilateral mechanisms to make certain that developing countries, China and India in specific, will play a fair but... » read more ...

    Tags: climate change, CO2, environment, renewable energy

  • PES Council: moving forward with ‘Save our planet’

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    Rating: 4.8/5 with 5 votes

    Published Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 16:27
    by Editor (1353 views and 4 comments)

    A roundtable debate on the ‘Save our planet’ manifesto theme concluded the first day of PES Council. Here are a few opinions and impressions from the debate:

    Hans Eichel, former German Minister of Finance, and chair of the PES Lisbon Network, encouraged the governments of the Left in Europe to develop a coherent and realistic strategy of sustainable development. Eichel explained that the idea of an effective green growth policy has always been one pillar of the Lisbon Strategy, but he underlined that with the “integrated policy guidelines” a good instrument has now been developed for linking the different strategies that used to be separate.

    Modern environmental policies are essentially knowledge based; without advanced technologies and innovative policies, the necessary transition to a low carbon future might take too long.

    Herbert Schmalstieg, President of the Union of Socialist Local and Regional Representatives in Europe, who had been Mayor of the city of Hannover for 34 years, stressed how important citizens’ involvement is for climate change policy. He emphasised the importance of cities – where more than 50 percent of Europe’s population... » read more ...

    Tags: climate change, CO2, council, environment, nuclear energy, tax