Ecology and Sustainable Development
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Biomass: Wood – Europe’s fuel of the future, really?
11 April 20137414 The Economist London -
Poland: Consigning waste to the scrapheap
4 April 20131469 Polityka Warsaw -
Shale Gas: Brussels douses hopes of a “revolution”
28 March 201346110PresseuropHet Financieele Dagblad -
Netherlands: ‘Starve to death or be shot?’
11 March 2013397PresseuropDe Volkskrant -
Greenland: The wealth that lies beneath
6 February 20133004 De Standaard Brussels -
Renewable energy: Ireland back in the green
7 January 201313337 La Repubblica Rome -
Biofuels: Brussels will have to revise its policy
29 May 20121389 Respekt Prague -
Environment: Statistical fog in battle against CO2
20 April 20121334 The Guardian London -
Durban conference: Union hampered by its own polluters
13 December 20111262 Público Madrid -
Pollution: A time bomb under the Northern seas
16 November 20119572 Trouw Amsterdam -
River transport: The Danube is running dry
26 October 2011161 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
FOOD INDUSTRY: The great fish robbers have got away again
14 July 2011115 The Times London -
Climate change: Poland cold to more CO2 reductions
5 July 20112PresseuropRzeczpospolita -
CO2: Bleak prospects for climate, warns IEA
30 May 2011161PresseuropThe Guardian -
Sweden: Europe’s happy rubbish collectors
23 May 201111926 Polityka Warsaw -
ICELAND: Europe under threat from new eruption
23 May 2011PresseuropMorgunblaðið -
Environment: Green energy — but not in my back yard!
6 May 20112064 Il Post Milan -
Biodiversity: Brussels wants to save the animals
4 May 201120PresseuropEl Periódico de Catalunya -
Portrait: Power, not nuclear
2 May 20111522 VoxPublica.ro Bucharest -
Environment: Fish quota system to be overhauled
2 March 2011PresseuropThe Guardian -
United Kingdom: Companies spy on environmentalists
15 February 2011PresseuropThe Guardian -
Spain: Cities gasping for air
9 February 2011PresseuropPúblico -
Environment : Europe devours Amazon, claims NGO
25 January 2011358PresseuropPúblico -
CO2: Hackers steal €200 million of carbon credits
21 January 201192PresseuropLibération -
Climate Change: We need eco-democracies
13 December 20103464 Der Freitag Berlin -
COP16: The end of easy green money
29 November 201060 Il Foglio Milan -
Italy: Naples still under rubbish mountain
23 November 2010PresseuropLa Stampa -
Environment: Toxic red sludge engulfs west Hungary
6 October 2010PresseuropNépszabadság -
CO2: EU carbon credits discredited
6 October 2010PresseuropInformation -
Renewable energies: A new frontier for green power
20 August 20102081 The New York Times New York -
Forest fires: Portugal counts the cost
16 August 2010Presseuropi -
Fires: The ghost of Chernobyl again floating over Europe
12 August 2010PresseuropDie Tageszeitung -
Biodiversity: Mediterranean in hot water
3 August 2010158 Público Madrid -
Energy: Let's storm the petrol Bastille
14 July 2010651 Frankfurter Rundschau Frankfurt -
Biofuels: Not so green after all
16 June 2010291 Trouw Amsterdam -
Waste management: EU tackles waste problem
15 June 201011PresseuropDziennik Gazeta Prawna -
Global warming: Holidays on Lake Baltic?
25 May 2010PresseuropNewsweek Polska -
CO2: EU aims to take lead on emissions
21 May 20101PresseuropLe Monde -
Netherlands: Save the planet - tax meat
7 April 20101PresseuropNRC Handelsblad -
Controversy: Of climate sceptics, cryptoscience and bunk
12 February 2010352 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
Baltic Sea: The big cleanup begins
11 February 2010PresseuropHelsingin Sanomat -
Czech Republic: Eco-racketeering, a business with a future
25 January 2010962 Lidové noviny Prague -
COP15: Save the planet - get rid of the state
22 December 2009122 El País Madrid -
COP15: Going round in circles
18 December 200916 Presseurop -
COP15: Homo Economicus goes to the wall
17 December 2009703 The Guardian London -
COP15: Rebels divided about the cause
14 December 20091 Die Zeit Hamburg -
COP15: Fossil fuels, for the dinosaurs
10 December 200927 El Mundo Madrid -
COP15: Is Moscow behind Climategate?
8 December 2009PresseuropMladá Fronta DNES -
Wind power: Answer is blowing in the North Sea wind
8 December 20091PresseuropDe Morgen -
COP15: Much CO2 about nothing?
7 December 2009Presseurop
In order to produce energy without further increasing CO2 emissions, what could be easier than using existing furnaces to burn trees that could be replaced as they are used? Although this idea has much financial backing, it is only efficient over the long term.
Eager consumers and producers of enormous quantities of waste, Poles are coming under pressure from the EU and will soon convert to a new approach to packaging – the religion of "re": reduction, recycling and reuse. 
For a long time, prawns were all that Greenland was famous for. However, the melting ice caps mean that natural resources are there for the taking. This development is both a curse and a blessing and one that puts the Danes in a difficult situation. 
After two years of radical austerity the Irish economy is going through an upswing, thanks to new revenue the state is collecting from renewable energy and from taxing fossil fuels and rubbish. 
To achieve its CO2-emissions goals, the EU encourages biofuel crops to be grown on European farmland that once produced food. The result, though, is that the growing of the food crops is shifting to developing countries – along with the CO2 pollution and biodiversity impacts. Those unintended consequences are forcing the Commission to redraft its laws. 
The EU’s plan to reduce CO2 emissions is lauded for being the most ambitious scheme of its kind. But unclear criteria and wayward accounting put into doubt the success of steps taken so far. 
The EU has been unable in Durban to reach a common position on greenhouse gas emissions quotas after 2012. The veto of the former communist countries of the EU, who defended the current quotas that are so advantageous to them, is partly to blame. 
The seas around Europe are threatened by a new source of pollution. Thousands of tonnes of chemical weapons will corrode and start to leak. In the Baltic, the possible consequences are being investigated. 
The Danube, Europe's second longest river, is one of the most poorly navigable rivers on the continent. Despite the EU’s Danube Strategy, the summer drought has resulted in even lower water levels, resulting in an enormous traffic jam. 
The EU plans to overhaul its fishing policy to stop complete depletion of our overfished seas. But the weight of industrial lobbies and the short-sightedness of some member states will make this a hard task. 
While some local authorities are struggling to cope with the burden of domestic waste, their colleagues in other countries see it as an opportunity for financial gain. Polish weekly Polityka reports on Sweden’s booming waste industry. 
Odd as it may seem, the main victims of environmental conservation appeals are not nuclear power plants or incinerators, but the hydroelectric power stations, solar energy installations and wind farms much-loved by the Green and ecologically minded. 
Founder of one of the first cooperatives for producing renewable energy, Germany’s Ursula Sladeck has won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in the United States. 
The major climate conferences aren’t just about CO2 emissions. They’re also about whether there are democratic ways to ward off an ecological catastrophe. Der Freitag champions environmental democracy over environmental autocracy. 
The crisis has put a dent in carbon emissions – and in the foundations of Europe’s planned green economy. By calling subsidies for inefficient technologies into question, that blow might yet be a boon for the renewable energy sector. 
Pioneering Portugal has radically reduced its dependence on fossil fuels. This year nearly half of its electricity will come from renewable sources. 
Hundreds of scientists have put together the first comprehensive study of the state of the world’s seas, from the Arctic through the tropics to the Antarctic, and come to an alarming verdict: the Mediterranean is the most endangered sea on the planet.
No-one knows how long it will take before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will be capped. Reason for which we ought to turn to the sun and start an energy revolution, argues German sociologist Ulrich Beck. 
The European Commission has introduced a new biofuels certification scheme to combat deforestation, among other laudable objectives. But biofuel production uses up a great deal of arable land and if food crop farmers have to move elsewhere, more land may end up being cleared.... 
Climate sceptics are riding high these days. With a sizeable helping of bad faith, they exploit every little scientific slip-up to claim that global warming is not due to human activity – and to malign the IPCC, the international organisation to gauge climate change, warns the NRC Handelsblad. 
The arrest of an environmental activist who demanded money to withdraw his opposition to real estate projects has lifted the veil on a new type of blackmail, which writer Ivan Brezina maintains pales in comparison with the stock and trade of major public figures in the environmental movement. 
The main obstacle to a climate deal at the Copenhagen Conference was state sovereignty. The solution, argues political scientist José Ignacio Torreblanca, lies in exporting the EU’s know-how and institutional approach. 
Widely hailed as one of the last chances to save the planet, the Copenhagen conference has proved unequal to the challenge, laments the European press. From diplomacy to the economy, it may be time to learn a lesson or two from this global washout. 
The likely failure of the Copenhagen climate summit to achieve progress on climate change is due to an inability to imagine a humanity that can no longer live without restraint. An impassioned plea by British environmentalist author George Monbiot. 
They come to Denmark disguised as pirates to frighten the guardians of the fossil-fuel energy system, or to stage mock trials of CO2–spouting polluters: tens of thousands of climate activists have descended on Copenhagen. But behind their seemingly united front, the big climate organisations are at loggerheads, reports Die Zeit, over whether to join or disrupt the talks. 
Changing our energy system is the key to curbing CO2 emissions and global warming. In the run-up to the Copenhagen Climate Conference (COP15), the European Union has announced plans to generate 20% of its energy using renewable sources. 
The Copenhagen summit, which is opening with great ambitions, might well come up with no deal at all – or worse: a short-lived deal that never gets ratified or implemented. Climate sceptics, for their part, challenge the very premise of the conference. Here’s today’s press in review on the COP15. - 1 of 2
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